What do I need to look for when a competition does not start?

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

This is driving me insane. For the last 7 days I have been re-working the European Championships. I have removed the Playoffs (as a competition on it's own), and incorporated it into a Stage 1 of the Qualifiers which is Stage 0. All editor testing shows that section is working fine. My problem is the Championships never play out. I've fiddled with dates. Some tests the competition shows as trying to set up in 2024 but it is not pulling the correct amount of teams, even though I can see the teams are there in the editor test. I often get the message needs 16 teams, only found 1, or the complete opposite, where it has found 15 and needs 16. So when I study those errors and adjust things so that the errors don't appear, after an editor test it seems to just skip 2024 all together. I have run the test from June 2023 to July 2027, and I get the following screen which shows the 2024 tournament has been bypassed. What do I need to be looking at here. I have checked and double checked dates all over the place. I am going mad trying to do this!

I have also continued that test into 2029 but the cycle begins again of not being able to find enough teams. 

 

But as you can see the right amount of teams have qualified. 

 

Could anyone shed any light on this for me? It is bound to be something so simple that I have overlooked.

 

[rusty217]

Looks like a setup date/requirements issue. I'd guess it's trying to setup before qualifying has finished so only finds 1 team (the host which automatically qualifies?). For the time it found 15/16 teams it may be because host teams often don't properly "qualify" for tournaments. Often you have to tell the stage to specifically get the host team, rather than get qualified teams.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

I have spent another evening playing with dates, adding things, taking things away, testing testing testing!! I got past my teams errors and then got number of dates in stages errors. I fixed those. Even after testing when I get no errors coming up the Euros always jump to 2028 and never begin. 2024 only ever shows up when I do something to create an error. I'm missing something simple I'm sure!! Can I ask in your opinion is it best to overwrite a competition in full instead of modifying it? I am wondering if there's things in the background from the original state of the competition playing with my mind, and not allowing the smooth running of things. For example I still have this screen at the beginning:

 

Where as looking at a file you wrote for fm23 your screen does not show the original links to the file and folder that would have been there previously. Also any reason for choosing Fixed over Flexible Format Rules?

[rusty217]

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

I have spent another evening playing with dates, adding things, taking things away, testing testing testing!! I got past my teams errors and then got number of dates in stages errors. I fixed those. Even after testing when I get no errors coming up the Euros always jump to 2028 and never begin. 2024 only ever shows up when I do something to create an error. I'm missing something simple I'm sure!! Can I ask in your opinion is it best to overwrite a competition in full instead of modifying it? I am wondering if there's things in the background from the original state of the competition playing with my mind, and not allowing the smooth running of things. For example I still have this screen at the beginning:

Where as looking at a file you wrote for fm23 your screen does not show the original links to the file and folder that would have been there previously. Also any reason for choosing Fixed over Flexible Format Rules?

 

Fixed/flexible is the most important part there. That's what determines whether it overrides the existing competition rules or tries to fit alongside them. Fixed = old rules are completely replaced. Flexible = will keep parts of the old rules that weren't edited. TBH they should probably be re-named. It doesn't usually matter too much, although if you want it to use your hosting setup you'll need it to be fixed.

As for your issue, when do the Euro quals end? If it keeps skipping 2024 I'm wondering if that's due to the qualifiers ending too soon so it's not properly simulating them. If that's the case you could try either using alternative dates just for the first one so they last longer, or registering specific teams for the 2024 entry and just using qualifying for 2028 onwards.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Thanks @rusty217, I still can't get things working. The qualifiers start in March 23 end in Nov 23, the playoff draw is made 3 days later and they take place in march 24. The finals are set up a week later and then drawn a few days after that. The finals take place in June to July 24. 

I have decided to start again from scratch. If it won't work I'll keep the tournament as is for 2024, and then end it and start a new one for 2028.