Best way to streamline modern FM?

[endlessxcircle]

Long story short, I'm an older player (CM 00/01 days) and played religiously until around FM12. Since then I've dabbled with a couple other releases (FM16, 22 and 23) but have found it pretty monotonous because of all the bloated and tedious features now in the game. 

My question is, what's the best way to streamline the current full FM experience so it has more of that classic CM and early days FM feel? 

I know delegating tasks is one of the more recommended options, but it doesn't quite remedy everything either. The game is still exceptionally slow to plow through, we're talking 8+ hours of real time to not even progress past pre-season or through the first transfer window. With an abundance of tedious clicking thrown in for good measure.

What other options are there? Including if there are skins out there that reduce the information overload and provide a more minimal and simplified experience. 

Would really like to get back into the game without it feeling like a full-time job that you have to push everything aside for to get any value out of. 

[alian62]

It's a growing problem for players in today's busy world.  FM Touch solved that issue but it never had a pre-editor so it was a bit flawed in that way . Many people now delegate staff , as i do,  to handle many things but still my inbox gets up to 20 messages a day and the game processes slower because of it.  I spend more time reading messages than actual game time . A lot of boring repetitive things in the game now.  You do one interview with the media and then it becomes a big bore as do staff meetings . As long as you have reasonable staff I would just delegate what you dont want to be involved with . 

[BnadnerB]

I’m fully in the same boat too!

I’ve seen streamers such as RDF hammer through seasons in 12 hours but he’s literally clicking through items as quick as he can!

I don’t want to spend every waking minute like its a real job but I also don’t want to half ass it - kind of an oxymoron I suppose but I reckon a lot of people feel this

[DavyDepuydt1]

I've created a tool for that (called FM+24, also exists for 21,22 & 23) specifically for 'busy managers', to get a more streamlined and faster experience in the game, not needing to check 500 pages and over-analyze the contradictory in-game advice and ratings.
All while keeping the immersion intact (so not like editors where you get real CA/PA numbers and such... it's a no-cheat tool, it only uses what is already visible in game to you, but in a fast and user friendly manner)

As external linking is not allowed, google: "fmplus24" "football manager"
and you'll get your result on one of the biggest community sites.

[Jonthedon26]

There is an option in preferences to limit the amount of inbox items that's stops processing through the days, I use that. I also request staff meetings every 2 weeks and just request a summary to my inbox and not read it. I also very rarely use the data hub as I don't get great benefit from it unless I am massively struggling with something. As I only tend to get through about 5-6 seasons per save with one club I also limit the amount of time I spend scouting by scouting positions I need in the transfer windows (or just before), then through the rest of the season get scouts to scout certain nations and keep repeating those assignments until the transfer windows. I know it isn't best use of the scouting system in game, but it reduces the amount of time I spend on that task. Finally, I tend to focus on my team rather than the opposition, so I don't tend to analyse my opponents tactics and what not before a game, I tend to just focus on my own team and when I find a tactic that is working well I will keep it most the season and make minor tweaks here and there. I never alter my tactics to accommodate what the opposition do, again this saves a fair amount of time and I am usually still pretty successful with my team doing things this way so no need to change it. But as I said, doing all that I still only tend to get through about 5/6 seasons per iteration. 

[Andros]

6 hours ago, DavyDepuydt1 said:

I've created a tool for that (called FM+24, also exists for 21,22 & 23) specifically for 'busy managers', to get a more streamlined and faster experience in the game, not needing to check 500 pages and over-analyze the contradictory in-game advice and ratings.
All while keeping the immersion intact (so not like editors where you get real CA/PA numbers and such... it's a no-cheat tool, it only uses what is already visible in game to you, but in a fast and user friendly manner)

As external linking is not allowed, google: "fmplus24" "football manager"
and you'll get your result on one of the biggest community sites.

Doesn't this app require payment after like 6 months game time?

[Alejandro_FM]

There's no denying that the amount of admin clutter in the game is very high and the number of processing stops in the game is very high. 

I use delegation (media interactions, team training), the "continue game timeout" setting (to reduce spacebar clicking), set staff meetings to "never", and the "allow fewer processing stops" setting. Again, all in the name of shrinking the time and clutter between matches. That being said, it's still a real slog to get through a season (30-40 hours per season, because I like to scout thoroughly, and manage tactics and match days in detail).  

I wish that FM Classic / FM Touch was a game mode in the PC version. That you could just tick that box at the "start new game" screen and have a simplified experience if desired. 

Alternatively, and this may be completely impossible or weird, but I wish there was a weekly game loop (as opposed to a daily game loop), in which all the news, action items and such will come into your inbox just once per week after (or before) the matches for the week are played. 

[Jamie Cortez]

I guess it is the Sim part of this Simulation game that has grown.

Although 8+ hours to not get through pre season and first transfer window? That's either a mighty exaggeration or i am wondering what you are doing to achieve this, 8 hours play time should be most of a season.

[John Joe O'toole]

What are you doing for 8 hours?

[trevjim]

FM touch was the answer. It's such a shame they got rid of it. More and more players, (of a similar era to you, myself included) where moving over too it as the current full fat version is too bloated and tedious in places.

 

FM classic/Touch was all the good stuff of FM with all the boring stuff streamlined 

[endlessxcircle]

2 hours ago, Jamie Cortez said:

I guess it is the Sim part of this Simulation game that has grown.

Although 8+ hours to not get through pre season and first transfer window? That's either a mighty exaggeration or i am wondering what you are doing to achieve this, 8 hours play time should be most of a season.

I see it as one of those cases whee less is more. I understand wanting to provide a really in-depth simulation experience, but there is also a threshold where it actually becomes too much and in turn detrimental to the overall experience. This is now where I feel the game is at.

8 hours to get beyond pre-season or the first transfer window isn't entirely an exaggeration though, even with delegation of tasks. By the time you assess your team, scout, sell and buy players, sort your staff, create and tinker with tactics, deal with all the tedious board and staff meetings, plus the general media and welcome screens, it all adds up. It's certainly far and away from what the game used to be like. Last time I'd have completed a full season in 8 hours or less I'd have to go back to sometime before FM12 (stopped playing for several years after FM12). I'm sure there's ways to reduce that somewhat, but it's not as if we're able to power through a full season in couple of hours like once could do in say CM 01/02. 

FM has now approached a stage where it's genuinely a full-time job on its own, if you're actually wanting to get proper playability out of it. Might be okay if you're young, at uni or whatever else, but as an adult it's a damn struggle trying to squeeze in proper FM time into general life - unless I suppose you're a full-time streamer and FM is your job so to speak.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

I find my attention span wains after an hour, especially after a day's work. That's probably due to my age now, as I find my eyes can't concentrate on the screen after a while.

The tedious part for me are the recruitment meetings, but I feel as the manager I really should attend!!! The Continue Game Timeout button is a handy thing that cuts back on the clicking. 

On average I only play 1 game world week per sitting, and that's based on having one match per game week. I also don't play every day like I used to, but that's also down to my age and life getting in the way, or I've found I've got too damn comfortable on the sofa that my body refuses to move over to the pc! It takes me a super long time to get through a season. That's why I am pleased I can continue my fm23 save into fm24. 

[alian62]

4 hours ago, Jamie Cortez said:

I guess it is the Sim part of this Simulation game that has grown.

Although 8+ hours to not get through pre season and first transfer window? That's either a mighty exaggeration or i am wondering what you are doing to achieve this, 8 hours play time should be most of a season.

8 hours a season ? What are you doing then . If your playing the English Premier League then that's 38 games not counting FA Cup , League Cup and possibly Europe Games . So watching a 3D game with extended view takes approx 10 minutes to watch and quick view 5 minutes thats up to 380 minutes or 6.5 hours of just watching the games . So what's your method? 

Edited November 1, 2023 by alian62

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I would gather the only way to streamline right now is to holiday large patches of time per season.

[KeiranShikari]

Just play the aspects of the game you enjoy and ignore/delegate the less important stuff. Pretty much everything can be ignored if you wanted to, including making your own tactics. lol

Things like scouting can still be done the old way. Turn off player attribute masking when you make the game. Although I think the recruitment focuses are less work than scouting a couple of years back.

All of the training can be done by the game, or by downloading premade schedules.

Have a DOF hire staff.

Send your Assman to press conferences. 

[Jonthedon26]

11 hours ago, \'Appy \'Ammer said:

I find my attention span wains after an hour, especially after a day's work. That's probably due to my age now, as I find my eyes can't concentrate on the screen after a while.

The tedious part for me are the recruitment meetings, but I feel as the manager I really should attend!!! The Continue Game Timeout button is a handy thing that cuts back on the clicking. 

On average I only play 1 game world week per sitting, and that's based on having one match per game week. I also don't play every day like I used to, but that's also down to my age and life getting in the way, or I've found I've got too damn comfortable on the sofa that my body refuses to move over to the pc! It takes me a super long time to get through a season. That's why I am pleased I can continue my fm23 save into fm24. 

This sounds exactly like me haha. After a long day at work, then doing dinner, getting our child ready for bed, putting her to bed etc I just don't have the energy to turn my laptop on, especially having looked at a laptop screen all day. What makes matters worse is the fact that I know if I play for 45mins - 60mins I will barely get anything done in game, so I just put it off to the next day and the same process takes place again. 

[bestbrother]

14 hours ago, John Joe O'toole said:

What are you doing for 8 hours?

I was going to say, 8 hours on pre-season

Thats a full season for me tops.

 

I think some people over play the game (and each to their own of course) but you dont have to be a full on micro manager to get success in FM. I play it as close to as i would CM01/02 and its just as fun.

Alot of the game is garnish, some people love that with their meal... others will just eat the Chips and Pie.

Edited November 1, 2023 by bestbrother

[Harper]

Two things helped me get back some mojo for the game.

First was getting a MacBook. It’s powerful enough to run at speed without being plugged in. So I can take the game with me to the kitchen or the living room or the bedroom. Doesn’t have to be a MacBook, but a laptop with adequate battery life under processor use is 🤌 . FM is the only game I play now, so need for a true rig of a desktop isn’t necessary anymore.

Second is to choose a start date in the middle of the season. Dropped in like a mid-season manager change. Only focus is to get the team playing one tactic right.

Delegate everything except tactics and team talks. Have all scout reports delivered in the scout meeting to reduce the inbox clutter.

Load up the laptop play a match or two, then shut it down for the evening.

Once the first season ends, I’m more invested in the save and it’s easier to break down the traditional startup tasks into chunks.

Refine my back room staff before pre-season starts. More thoroughly setup tactics. Review scouted players and make contract/transfer offers.

Then start taking back some responsibilities based on how I want to play; particularly in the scouting and youth team training.

[endlessxcircle]

15 hours ago, John Joe O'toole said:

What are you doing for 8 hours?

Various things, as outlined in another post but touch on again. Clicking through welcome screens, staff meetings, filtering through other tedious media and inbox related matters. Assessing the squad and staff on hand, looking over finances, deciding who to sell and buy, scouting players for needed positions and other areas of interest, creating and fine tuning a tactic/s, extending contracts that need to be extended, the process of actually buying, selling and loaning players, going through and delegating all the areas not wanting to manually handle, arranging more friendlies if required, playing the friendlies, and so on.

All fairly common place stuff, a lot of which I've done since CM 00/01 but just takes 5x the amount of time it used to.

Not hard to be 8 hours in and not having reached the end of the transfer window or so, much less near enough complete a full season.

[endlessxcircle]

1 hour ago, bestbrother said:

I was going to say, 8 hours on pre-season

Thats a full season for me tops.

 

I think some people over play the game (and each to their own of course) but you dont have to be a full on micro manager to get success in FM. I play it as close to as i would CM01/02 and its just as fun.

Alot of the game is garnish, some people love that with their meal... others will just eat the Chips and Pie.

Wouldn't say I'm "micro-managing" anything, having been a long time player it's not as if I don't know what I'm doing or want to be doing. 

Given the breezy nature of how you think things are, maybe you can load up a fresh save as you normally would and after 8 hours show your progress here? 

For comparison I've loaded up the last save I played in FM23 with Chelsea (includes transfer updates). I've got 10 hours of game time logged and I'm in September of my first season - or 9 Premier League games in. Running 126k players, across 7 nations, 15 leagues (all playable). Custom DB - Large, w/ current international, players from top divisions and players from clubs in continental comps loaded across South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and Oceania. 

I signed two players, sold or loaned out 12. Hired one staff member, released none. All responsibilities delegated outside of hiring/firing senior staff and transfers, and some senior team match day responsibilities.

I wouldn't say my methods are anything extensive by any means.

Edit: Additional context I'm playing on an M1 MacBook Pro (8 Core) with 16 GB RAM.

Edited November 1, 2023 by endlessxcircle

[KeiranShikari]

Managing smaller clubs is also a way of not having to deal with a lot of the time consuming aspects of the game. 

I enjoy optimising staff and that takes no time at the lower levels. Same with managing my recruitment shortlists, it's just logical that dealing with 3 scouts takes less time than dealing with 15. There's also much less press to deal with if that's an aspect you feel you have to do, i tend to just do 'important' ones like player signing conferences,

You can also change your screen flow in the game settings to ignore things like the Social media page, I forgot to mention that in my previous post. That's a small time saver but a big annoyance saver for me. You can probably do a lot more with that screen flow screen to make your experience better.

 

[DavutOzkan]

Instant result was a game-changer for me. It took me a month to get through a season before that if I was lucky. Now, I can get through one in a week or so, which I think is about as long as I would want it to take. 

[Jamie Cortez]

17 hours ago, alian62 said:

8 hours a season ? What are you doing then . If your playing the English Premier League then that's 38 games not counting FA Cup , League Cup and possibly Europe Games . So watching a 3D game with extended view takes approx 10 minutes to watch and quick view 5 minutes thats up to 380 minutes or 6.5 hours of just watching the games . So what's your method? 

I am indeed playing the EPL a network game with my son so we are reloading the game each match weekend due to the processing bug that locks the game up if you are playing on different times/dates (as you can tell from the save count)

So 2 of us doing our own things at our own pace  and in 13 hours we are about to start season 2, we both play matches on Key Highlights with match speed about 2 notches up from normal.... so 8 hours for a solo player is perfectly reasonable to complete a season.

[BnadnerB]

FM Console or Touch via Gamepass or Apple Arcade on PC is going to be my choice going forward!

After considering it just no way I can entertain full fat

[Alejandro_FM]

1 hour ago, Jamie Cortez said:

I am indeed playing the EPL a network game with my son so we are reloading the game each match weekend due to the processing bug that locks the game up if you are playing on different times/dates (as you can tell from the save count)

So 2 of us doing our own things at our own pace  and in 13 hours we are about to start season 2, we both play matches on Key Highlights with match speed about 2 notches up from normal.... so 8 hours for a solo player is perfectly reasonable to complete a season.

Perfectly normal for the time per season to vary by player. You can spend a minute or an hour in a single screen, and both ways are fine. 

The same screenshot from my save would show season 1 (I just finished it) took 38 hours of game time. That's with the first transfer window disabled, mind you. I enjoy the slower pace, comprehensive highlights, manually scouting through player profiles, and diving into the data hub to assess team performance. I won't ever be as fast as 8 hours. It's okay. I am not expecting it. I just wish I could do it in ~20 hours per season with less admin clutter and fewer processing stops. 

And yes I agree with the comment above that said FM Classic / Touch was the answer... it was. Just not available on PC anymore

Edited November 1, 2023 by Alejandro_FM

[Jamie Cortez]

23 minutes ago, Alejandro_FM said:

Perfectly normal for the time per season to vary by player. You can spend a minute or an hour in a single screen, and both ways are fine. 

The same screenshot from my save would show season 1 (I just finished it) took 38 hours of game time. That's with the first transfer window disabled, mind you. I enjoy the slower pace, comprehensive highlights, manually scouting through player profiles, and diving into the data hub to assess team performance. I won't ever be as fast as 8 hours. It's okay. I am not expecting it. I just wish I could do it in ~20 hours per season with less admin clutter and fewer processing stops. 

And yes I agree with the comment above that said FM Classic / Touch was the answer... it was. Just not available on PC anymore

That is kind of my point, the game can be as long and in depth as you like, it also has options to speed the whole process up. 

How it is played depends on you. The player and that is ok!

[Trevor L.]

You guys would absolutely go bonkers with the way I play if 8 hours get you a season. 8 hours might get me preseason at most. It takes me about a week to 10 days to get a season done.  and thats a lower league team. If I play my Arsenal or Roma it will be about 2 to 2.5 weeks a season. It moves at the pace I want and I enjoy it.

 

Trevor L.

[kingjericho]

Detail level "minimum" to process faster

"Screen flow" remove all ticks and screens

All media interaction delegate to staff

Decline recruitment meeting, staff meetings, etc

Instant result

Doing this, I can go from one match weekend to the next in about 3-4 minutes. I don't skip matches, so in the end playing a match then going through the week until the next match is about 10-12 minutes.

 

[MorrisseyMuse]

This has become a somewhat bane of contention for some within the community it seems.  I'm certainly one; I probably love editing modern FM more than I do actually playing it nowadays.  It has become far too bloated and complicated in its quest to become even more sim-like, but it's lost some of the simple joy that made the early FM's and CM such fun to play.

FM Touch was a great idea that is sadly now limited to the Switch version, though I personally still love editing and playing FM 2008, my all-time fave of the series still.  I've just created a thread deicated to the old FM's and am hoping to release my modern update for FM08 once FM24 fully releases soon, for anyone interested!

[phd_angel]

10 minutes per round. 40 matches (rounds) per season. That's nearly 7 hours per season.

I'd say "Instant Result" button (from a mod skin) would be your best friend to reduce that to about 3 hours per season.

 

[beldar]

Well that's funny I was looking for instant result in '24 because I used it extensively in '23 but I couldn't find it.  I guess I forgot it was in a mod skin.  Does anyone have a skin recommendation for '24 that has instant result?

Edited November 8, 2023 by beldar

[Matt ex SEGA]

On 30/10/2023 at 17:02, endlessxcircle said:

Long story short, I'm an older player (CM 00/01 days) and played religiously until around FM12. Since then I've dabbled with a couple other releases (FM16, 22 and 23) but have found it pretty monotonous because of all the bloated and tedious features now in the game. 

My question is, what's the best way to streamline the current full FM experience so it has more of that classic CM and early days FM feel? 

I know delegating tasks is one of the more recommended options, but it doesn't quite remedy everything either. The game is still exceptionally slow to plow through, we're talking 8+ hours of real time to not even progress past pre-season or through the first transfer window. With an abundance of tedious clicking thrown in for good measure.

What other options are there? Including if there are skins out there that reduce the information overload and provide a more minimal and simplified experience. 

Would really like to get back into the game without it feeling like a full-time job that you have to push everything aside for to get any value out of. 

Not gonna lie - the single biggest factor in me continuing to enjoy FM is this skin:
https://www.fmscout.com/a-wannachup-fm24-instant-result-skin.html

I like the club / squad building elements and I like to try to move through seasons somewhat quickly.  I'm not bothered about coaching every match.  This lets you sim the matches, so it really speeds a season up.

Also - delegate all general training.  The AI does it well enough if you hire it some decent staff.  And I can already tell I'll be doing this with Set Pieces in FM24.  And, all media questions.

Still absolutely love the game and play every version like this. Appreciate that not everyone wants to play like this, but it works for me...:)

Edited November 8, 2023 by Matt ex SEGA

[endlessxcircle]

13 hours ago, Matt ex SEGA said:

Not gonna lie - the single biggest factor in me continuing to enjoy FM is this skin:
https://www.fmscout.com/a-wannachup-fm24-instant-result-skin.html

I like the club / squad building elements and I like to try to move through seasons somewhat quickly.  I'm not bothered about coaching every match.  This lets you sim the matches, so it really speeds a season up.

Also - delegate all general training.  The AI does it well enough if you hire it some decent staff.  And I can already tell I'll be doing this with Set Pieces in FM24.  And, all media questions.

Still absolutely love the game and play every version like this. Appreciate that not everyone wants to play like this, but it works for me...:)

Appreciate this, thank you. I presume there's a version for FM23 still out there? 

At this stage I'm pretty unlikely to buy FM24 and have since returned to CM 01/02 for my fix of getting in some casual gameplay. This sort of skin may help however if I opt to jump back into FM23 at some point, even if the general clunkiness of the franchise still remains intact. 

[Matt ex SEGA]

33 minutes ago, endlessxcircle said:

Appreciate this, thank you. I presume there's a version for FM23 still out there? 

At this stage I'm pretty unlikely to buy FM24 and have since returned to CM 01/02 for my fix of getting in some casual gameplay. This sort of skin may help however if I opt to jump back into FM23 at some point, even if the general clunkiness of the franchise still remains intact. 

Yep - same site has the 23 version.
https://www.fmscout.com/a-wannachup-fm23-instant-result-skin.html

Let me know how you get on, interested to see if it gives you the old school vibes...:)

[BnadnerB]

How are people finding FM24? 

Is delegation any better? Is playing the game any less monotonous and maybe enjoyable again?

[Arijit]

Sorry to dig out this topic after 2 months. But I am grateful I landed on this topic a couple of days ago. I finally moved to FM2024 after finishing my FM2023 save game with my satisfactory level. Since FM2024 already seen 2 patches, I believe it's in better shape than in the beginning, so I can start a long-term save now. But as another busy person like all of you, I also need to streamline my gameplay to make fast progress. Based on the discussions found here, I have made these changes in my full fat FM2024 settings: 

• Loaded 8 major EU nations with all the leagues but small database. Total ~70k players, 2.5star speed rating. Started with St. Pauili in 2-Bundesliga. 
• Removed unrelated and unwanted social feed subscriptions.
• Currently delegated staff hire, media handling to various staffs.
• Declined all staff meetings.
• "continue game timeout" set to 5s, checked "allow fewer processing stops" in settings.
• Detail level Minimum.

I see my current gameplay is a lot faster. I want to know if there's any room for improvement in gameplay loop? Maybe in some idea in scouting/recruitment section? 

I want to keep Tactics, training and developments as-is. I also use "key highlights + no replay + fast animation" during match day, so I'm not that much interested in "instant Result" button. 

[NineCloudNine]

I feel like I lose a lot of time to fiddly complexity, especially at the start of a save and end/start of a season.

I’d love more features to have a one-time setup wizard like the set pieces one. Set your preferences then forget it. One of those for training, tactics, data hub and scouting would greatly simplify the initial setup of a save.

I like the weekly staff meetings. A good TD saves scouting for staff. Player trait and additional focus suggestions are usually sensible. Of course, you only get those suggestions if you put yourself in charge of hiring / player individual training, which is as counter-intuitive as so many things about FM.

 

Edited January 29 by NineCloudNine