FFCMatt

Well this thread has made my mind up not to buy this year's version. Last two years the lag hasn't been fixed - changing some settings makes it just about bearable but matches never run smoothly regardless.

Verifying and deleting cache doesn't make any difference. Initially the tweak to 'Prefer maximum performance' helped, but then rain comes along and that seems to make it run badly again.

Yes. It appears worse now. Certainly when it's raining it lags a lot. Weirdly my card is being given a 1* rating as well when it was 5* before.

This has certainly improved things - the performance power mode. Still an occasional lag when the camera moves quickly or there's goalmouth action in the rain, but it's at least watchable now.

I'm also continuing to struggle getting the aforementioned mix of partial soaking up but fast transitions. I'm having success with a tactic based on counter that dominates possession and scores some brilliant team goals, but I'm not seeing nearly enough counters actually being triggered. They happen on occasion, but the vast majority of goals are movement and build-up. Not essentially what I'm after, but I'm finding success. I'll be watching this thread in case someone manages to crack it.

Thanks again for the help mate, I opted for £600 MSI in the end. Runs FM like a dream, but with Windows taking up 40gb and the graphics for FM etc it's near to the 128gb SSD already. So my question is about the USB drive you recommended - I'm thinking I'll buy the 128gb version. How would I go about making sure that only the apps are on the SSD and that I divert files, etc, on to the USB drive? Is this easy to do? I'm used to a mac before this laptop, so any advice would be great.

I managed to ruin my good start on my Fulham save (4 wins 3 draws) when I started tinkering and trying to play a particular way. My good set up was similar to how Fulham play IRL - i.e. fluid front three, lots of goals from the midfielders, dynamic middle three. I just like to see counters so want to score more of them. Seems a bad choice as I can't get it to work. This is all from memory from my playing around last night - I'll probably make some screens later tonight. Started with a similar 4141 to Cleon's in his counter-attack thread. But the idea of that is to invite pressure - and Fulham have very attacking full-backs and not great centre-back depth, plus skilful midfielders who would be wasted not on the ball more than the opposition. So I turn on play from the back, turn up the D-line and I've gone for fluid so we're more compact. That was my starting point, with Counter strategy also. Roles: Floyd Ayite was my top scorer from the left wing so wanted him to stay effective, so I gave him a winger (A) duty in order for him to still be creative and effective. I really struggled knowing what role for the striker - it's a flat midfield 4 with DM behind, so I need him to drop back without the ball, but also to find space when for when we win the ball so he's not isolated and is a passing option. I first thought Treq, but there's not enough work defensively, so I've opted for Complete Forward (S). Other considerations were the role of the DM. Cleon's thread uses Anchor, but I went for DM (S) because I want him to step up into the midfield line to press and not invite too much pressure down the middle. So my roles are something like this: ---------------- CF (S) -------------- -- W (A) --- BBM -- CM (S) --- WM (S) -- ----------------- DM (S) ---------------- -- FB (S) -- CD (D) -- CD (D) --- WB (S) -- ------------------ SK (S) ------------------ I seem to still be getting more possession, which is good, but I've suddenly started to lose and concede more goals. Full disclosure I did mess around with formations (3 at the back, wing-backs, AM instead of DM) but the above is the base I'm trying to develop from. I'm starting to think it's really hard to trigger the under the hood counter attack unless you really sit back deep, and that's not really what I'm after. Otherwise the opposition always seem to have all 4 defenders back when I win the ball and counters don't seem to happen. I'm thinking Fulham in real life, who almost always have the most possession, but break at scintillating pace when there's the opportunity. Perhaps I'm better off going more top-heavy and instead of trying to make a more aggressive version of Cleon's counter, making a deeper version of a more attacking lineup. Who knows..

Interested in this thread. I once had a successful tactic that scored lots of goals on the break, but I've struggled to make an effective formation that can transition to counters in recent versions. I'll update later with more of my requirements and what I've tried. But essentially I don't want to just soak up endless pressure then explode into attack, I'd like to trigger counters from more regular play. I'm thinking draw them in slightly into my half (but not really deep), then win the ball back quickly and with midfielders and attackers having found space then overloading the defence. Don't want to just go attacking though, as I'd like to use creative players who can keep the ball as well. I'm envisaging some through balls in behind to wingers who have stayed upfield, then cut-backs to onrushing players as quite a common way of scoring. So lots of creativity and mobility in the midfield. It's setting up the defence to win the ball and quickly make good decisions which I most often struggle with, as I can't stand defenders just lumping it and losing the ball.

Thanks Smurf. The other thing was the 1TB hard drive on the 800. I'm not sure 128gb of SSD would last that long before filling up, so that's another £70 on top of the cheaper one.

Reading this with interest as I'm going to get a new laptop in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all the input Smurf. I'm wondering, is the £200 more for the one you've just posted: https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/9S7-16J942-011-MSI-GP62-7RD(Leopard)-011UK_2066572.html worth paying ahead of the previous MSI one: https://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/9S7-16J562-1673-MSI-GL62-7QF-1673UK_2066567.html Ideally £600 is a good amount to spend, but I can pay £800 if it has better longevity. I'm not a heavy PC gamer at all, so would like it to last several years of FM and perhaps some other games in that time as well. I have PS4 for actual gaming, just looking for a good laptop to last a while really. Any advice would be great e.g. is the gfx card much better on the more expensive one, and what's the improvement in i7 compared with i5? Cheers

Happened with a new game too. I've narrowed it down, I think, to being when I have set piece routines saved... I took the various folders back into documents/FM16 and it worked, and one by one have put them back in and weirdly that's the folder that causes it to break. Has to be a bug. SI - and chance of looking into it? EDIT: I'm on a 2010 Macbook Pro

Reinstalled FM now and it's still screwed.

Even with graphics folder removed and additional hairpacks the regens still aren't loading properly. Skin still crashes on reload - is there a way to get the default skins back properly without verifying cache? As that didn't work.

I've verified the cache, and that didn't help. Is the easiest way to do what you suggest just taking out my graphics folder and letting the game load up by default?

Since loading the game this morning, all my regens are now bald.. I've checked and the folders are where the hair should be (have hairpacks installed too), I've cleared cache and restarted the game. Any ideas? Also I can't reload the skin - the game crashes when I try.. Anyone encountered this and can help?