steve.battisti

No luck for me, sigh. Before that, 4 out of 22 of my players weren't working post-patch. Now 19 of them don't work.

Awesome, thank you!

Bartdude, where does one add the "r-" in the config file? Thank you!

Got a laugh out of this one at Nelson in the 10th division of English football.

Ah thanks, but do you know if that's a field I could pull into a custom view? I can't find it in the list of options for custom. There's nothing under either "Average" or "Rating".

Ah, got it, thank you.

Not sure if anyone uses custom player profile pictures, but I'm running into a problem I can't quite figure out. Since I'm playing in the 9th division of English football, obviously there are no real faces. So, I got some AI-created ones from SISortitout, and was successful loading them into the game just for my team. Makes it much nicer to look at. And it was working great. Today, though, all of a sudden, four of my players are back to the ugly SI cartoony profile pictures. Here's what I tried to troubleshoot: I went back into the config.xml file, and everything looks the same there. These four players still have records, and they look just like all of the other records. I double-checked the folder where the face images sit, and all of those images are still there, and correctly referenced in the config.xml. I tried clearing the cache and reloading the skin again. The ONLY thing that I can think of that changed is that I had to restart the game. Any suggestions?

Thank you, as usual!

Is there a field I can use to add the average rating for the season to a view? I've been looking, but have been unable to find it. Preferably for use on the Squad screen...

I have a player who whines every game that he's "not suited to the role he's being asked to play." Does anyone know what causes this? He's a left fullback. I'm playing him as a left fullback. He's natural in that position. However, my tactic is asking him to be a FB (support), and when I open his profile the first role listed is FB (defend) as shown below. Is THAT what he's complaining about? Just curious. It's not really impacting his overall happiness or anything.

Thank you!!

Hey all, can someone help me understand this message below? I get the concept, but I find the screen really unintuitive. In the example below, it's suggesting I let Garry and Ian play in the U18s match. But I hadn't actually set up my first team squad for the next match yet, and they are both going to be starting, so I DON'T want them to play in this U18 match. But it's really unclear how I tell the game that. If I try the "Availability" drop-down, the only options in there are different ways to make them available. If I try the "Set All" drop-down, same thing. There doesn't appear to be any way to tell the game "I don't want them to play." Worst case, I just tell them they're only available for 20 mins, but I'd rather they not play at all. Any ideas?

Yeah, I try not to be swayed much by stars, I was just trying to use that as a reference. I try to look at key attributes for the positions/roles I want to fill, and that has worked well, but often the players who are good at those attributes also end up being 4-5 star players. Thanks for your suggestions! I will lower said expectations and see who I can bring in!

In season 2 of a non-league save. Started at level 10 of the English system, now up to 9 and doing OK early in the season. In the playoff hunt all of 5 games into the season, but got booted out of a Cup run early. The tactic I use right now seems to be good enough to allow me to over-perform for my team's skill level, so I have that advantage. But I'm really struggling to level up my side. I have a pretty good wage budget of around 2000/wk, and so far I'm only spending about 1100/wk, so I still have room for some more contracts. (I have some non-contract and some part-time players, but the top part-time players I currently have make around 150/wk.) I have a number of positions where I could really do with a difference-maker if I want to get promoted this season. I don't focus too much on the stars, but in those terms I'm looking for 4.5 - 5, the sorts of players that want "star player" minutes. I've been trying what I think are all of the "usual suspects: I'm bringing in loads of trialists. I'm using scouting to uncover more people to trial. I'm looking at the leagues above me for released players or players available for loan. (I'm not doing much with youth players, because in the 9th division I can't develop squat.) The problem I'm running into isn't a lack of quality players. At any given time I can typically find at least 5 players available for free transfers at any given position I'm looking for. I just can't seem to SIGN anyone. Every time I find a guy, he goes to another team. It's frustrating, because when I offer the contract it will say "No other interested teams," but it's like the moment I make him an offer everyone else notices him, and BOOM he signs somewhere else. Every talented player that I try to loan, the team agrees, and then the player turns me down. Usually when I get those notifications that they signed somewhere else, it's because their squad is more talented. When I negotiate with these players, they usually want decent wages, and I don't want to blow most of my wage budget on them, so I do try to negotiate them down a bit. Do I have to resign myself to only ever signing middle-of-the-road, three-star type players and trying to win with that? Or just keep at it in the hopes that eventually one will sign with me? Should I try to overpay instead of trying to get them for cheaper? Thanks for your ideas!

Awesome, thanks very much for your feedback!

Thanks for the ideas! Yeah, I try not to pay too much attention to the stars. The only thing that is irritating is when players whine about wanting me to improve at a particular position when I think we're fine there. I suspect that part of the engine is also looking at CA/stars. Then I feel like I have to sign some high star guy just to keep everyone from being grumpy (even though we're winning the league haha). I don't actually think I am likely to play Harry and Neemo together. They are very different styles. I do think maybe I pair Neemo with a supporting forward, and play for set pieces when he is in. I'll pair Harry with someone who can play him through with regularity if I can. (Amazingly, Harry can also play either wing too, so that gives me a lot of flexibility in how I want to deploy his speed.)

I posted this over in Tactics, but I wasn't sure if it was better suited for here... Hi all, I'm playing a non-league save way down in level 10 of the English system using DanFM's add-on. I have kept my tactic very basic so far. Up top I typically use two Pressing Forwards on attack. Generally, that has worked fine, as I've won the league and am heading to level 9 next season. My strikers are OK. They are all pretty average for the level, I think it's just that my direct system works well and my midfielders are very good. However, I now have an interesting question. I'm well aware that physical attributes trump a lot of other abilities at this level. And because budgets are tight, I often can't afford the five-star players I have scouted. However, I've managed to land two strikers through transfer that are real outliers for this level. Harry is a 17-yo with iffy finishing (5), but he has a 17 pace. To give you a sense of how much of an outlier that is, the next fastest player on my team has a 12. And out of all of the players I scouted in my first season down at the bottom, I never saw anyone higher than a 14. I don't pay a ton of attention to the stars, but the stars say he's a 1.5 star Pressing Forward (Attack), which is my normal attack role. His best role is Pressing Forward (Defend) at a whopping 2 stars. Neemo is a 25-yo with great finishing (14) and 8 pace. He's also 6'6/198 cm and has a 13 jumping range, but a pitiful 2 heading. He's a 0.5 star in every role. Both of these players are very different from my previous strikers, who were much more average across the board. I don't know a huge amount about tactics and the different roles, so I guess my question is, what changes should I make to either tactics or roles to take advantage of their outlier characteristics? For example, should I play Neemo as a Target Forward, and have his strike partner be in a support role? What would I do to encourage midfielders to play Harry on through balls where he can just outrun everyone? Also, I've never customized tactics to an individual player in this way before. Is there a way to set up FM to say "When Harry is in, play him into space, but when Neemo is in, put the ball on his head" without having to change the tactics every time I make a substitution or whatever? Obviously, I know that at this level, I need to keep tactics as simple as possible, but it seems like I could really take advantage of their special physical abilities, and if I can, it could really help my team because they are both super-cheap, so I can invest more money elsewhere! Thanks!

That's very helpful, thank you. Especially because in a few weeks I think most of these guys' part-time contracts expire, so they are all likely to be on non-contract at that point, I think, if I don't release them...?

I confess I'm not great about the loan thing. I'm determined to try to loan in some players once the next season starts. (I can't figure out a way to sign someone to a loan for next season while the current season still has two months to go. Am I missing something there as well?)

Yes, it's interesting. I signed with this club because they have a big wage budget, comparatively. But they are also massively in debt. So, it will be interesting to see how it goes. I've since managed to sign a few players. I'm not thrilled with my squad heading up a level, but I can't imagine the level of play is THAT different between level 10 and 9, so I'm hopeful I won't be in immediate danger of getting relegated back down.

Hi all, I'm playing a non-league save way down in level 10 of the English system using DanFM's add-on. I have kept my tactic very basic so far. Up top I typically use two Pressing Forwards on attack. Generally, that has worked fine, as I've won the league and am heading to level 9 next season. My strikers are OK. They are all pretty average for the level, I think it's just that my direct system works well and my midfielders are very good. However, I now have an interesting question. I'm well aware that physical attributes trump a lot of other abilities at this level. And because budgets are tight, I often can't afford the five-star players I have scouted. However, I've managed to land two strikers through transfer that are real outliers for this level. Harry is a 17-yo with iffy finishing (5), but he has a 17 pace. To give you a sense of how much of an outlier that is, the next fastest player on my team has a 12. And out of all of the players I scouted in my first season down at the bottom, I never saw anyone higher than a 14. I don't pay a ton of attention to the stars, but the stars say he's a 1.5 star Pressing Forward (Attack), which is my normal attack role. His best role is Pressing Forward (Defend) at a whopping 2 stars. Neemo is a 25-yo with great finishing (14) and 8 pace. He's also 6'6/198 cm and has a 13 jumping range, but a pitiful 2 heading. He's a 0.5 star in every role. Both of these players are very different from my previous strikers, who were much more average across the board. I don't know a huge amount about tactics and the different roles, so I guess my question is, what changes should I make to either tactics or roles to take advantage of their outlier characteristics? For example, should I play Neemo as a Target Forward, and have his strike partner be in a support role? What would I do to encourage midfielders to play Harry on through balls where he can just outrun everyone? Also, I've never customized tactics to an individual player in this way before. Is there a way to set up FM to say "When Harry is in, play him into space, but when Neemo is in, put the ball on his head" without having to change the tactics every time I make a substitution or whatever? Obviously, I know that at this level, I need to keep tactics as simple as possible, but it seems like I could really take advantage of their special physical abilities, and if I can, it could really help my team because they are both super-cheap, so I can invest more money elsewhere! Thanks!

Interesting. The team I inherited is almost all on part-time contracts that also include appearance bonuses.

Thanks very much. I've done pretty well with getting free agents in on trials and signing them to start last season, but I couldn't figure out when was the right time to start locking people in for NEXT season when I have no idea what the wage budget will be!

Hey, so, could use some help. Using DanFM's database to do a level 10 non-league save. Nearing the end of season 1, and one thing I'm struggling to understand is when to start signing players for next season. Perhaps I'm too steeped in American football, but I felt like I kind of needed to wait for the end of the season, but now it seems like my competitors are all making a million signings. So, should I be signing players now, in early April, even though the existing league year won't end until the end of June? My biggest concern is that I don't even know what my budget will be next year, as my club is massively in debt. Any thoughts welcomed, thanks!

Would be great to be able to filter jobs in the job centre by club reputation. When you have a relatively large setup, the league filter is jammed full of division names in no particular order, and often the division names don't make it clear where in the hierarchy a league is. For example, in my Division filter, there is "Super League" and "SuperLeague." I don't know where they are, or what level they are. For people like me who want to start at a particular quality level (like 1 star or below), it would be great to just filter by reputation. The same holds true for the "apply for positions at" holiday option. Would be cool to apply by reputation, because I don't necessarily want any "bottom tier league," because many of those are 2.5-3-star reputation clubs.