[FM17] USA Real Life Expansion

[m2887]

22 hours ago, drewedborg12 said:

i am 3 yrs into my save with Saint Joes in the A-10 and I can answer this for you.  If you are in the first year and you start in the winter you will NOT be able to register your players for the spring season 2016.  You can play them in friendlies but not the spring group games.  Starting August 1st 2016 you can register players for the actual regular season conference and non-conference games.  However, once the season ends and you sign players in January to replace any that are too old, got drafted etc they will not be registered to play in the spring season since the August registration period lasts the "school year" (2016-2017 for example) but you can use what players are still at your school to play in the spring games.  I know that was a tl:dr but I hope this helps!

so basically it can be a bit of a ball ache to keep your team filled with enough players?

[m2887]

No matter how long I leave it there are literally no players I can sign and no players in my team. Don't know to get a save going on this datebase

[drewedborg12]

14 hours ago, m2887 said:

so basically it can be a bit of a ball ache to keep your team filled with enough players?

Its actually not that bad.  I am finding that the only teams that can actually sign my players on a free are the USL or NASL pro sides, any of the amateur sides won't be able to because its the same contract as they are on at the NCAA level.  Otherwise I am losing around 5 players a year to the superdraft and on January 1st I get around 2/3 new ones from the random academies across the nation

[Fmfan00]

The Academy leagues just about to finish my first season. My Question is, is it still the same before where players can only be here until the age of 18 or until 19? there is nothing in the rules section of the league?

[bigmattb28]

18 hours ago, drewedborg12 said:

Its actually not that bad.  I am finding that the only teams that can actually sign my players on a free are the USL or NASL pro sides, any of the amateur sides won't be able to because its the same contract as they are on at the NCAA level.  Otherwise I am losing around 5 players a year to the superdraft and on January 1st I get around 2/3 new ones from the random academies across the nation

NCAA teams can sign players though, not sure on the quality of players you could sign, or if there will be any free transfers

[Fmfan00]

Uncle Sam so we have a bit of a program that I came across. So just finished the first season of Manager of Montreal Impact Academy. After season 1 ther eis the USSDA Championship Stage. However the players are on Holidays so just wondering who is going to play for my squad if they are on Holidays until when pre-season begins?

[Fmfan00]

not sure if its a bug or error but i came across this

 

how can the quarter finals be before the end of the round robin. the quarter finals happens after round robin but werid how it shows on the bar that its before the last game of round robin

Edited July 24, 2017 by Fmfan00

[Viking]

On 2017-07-22 at 16:47, bigmattb28 said:

can tell you from reading the bugs forum that the MLS issue you describe there has been fixed, I noticed that on an earlier save I had. As for the fake players that must have been on your save as on the few I've done with this file (did a couple of test saves) and all the MLS teams have the proper players, it's only the upsl and NCAA that have the regen 'fake' players mate.

So I tried another save, started the game in March 2017 and added MLS as a playable leauge afterwards. MLS definitely adds fake players. Maybe it's because all real players are on vacation 1/1/2018 when the leauge is added in-game and the AI thinks that means there's no players in the teams. In any case, I can't use this. 

Still appreciate the effort, though.

 

[Fmfan00]

if u start a save and start USA earliest date it works fine for me if u have MLS as view only or playable if u dont plan on using MLS

[bigmattb28]

12 hours ago, Viking said:

So I tried another save, started the game in March 2017 and added MLS as a playable leauge afterwards. MLS definitely adds fake players. Maybe it's because all real players are on vacation 1/1/2018 when the leauge is added in-game and the AI thinks that means there's no players in the teams. In any case, I can't use this. 

Still appreciate the effort, though.

 

This may be the case, but as I say I had the MLS as playable from the off so I haven't seen any greyed out players at MLS clubs.

[bigmattb28]

16 hours ago, Fmfan00 said:

not sure if its a bug or error but i came across this

 

how can the quarter finals be before the end of the round robin. the quarter finals happens after round robin but werid how it shows on the bar that its before the last game of round robin

Maybe it's having the quarters the same day as your round robin as 1 of the teams in the quarters may be playing another game at the same time as the other quarters?

[Fmfan00]

the quarters still happen after the last round robin game its just werid that it shows up there that its before the last set of round robin games.

[Viking]

On 2017-07-25 at 12:22, bigmattb28 said:

This may be the case, but as I say I had the MLS as playable from the off so I haven't seen any greyed out players at MLS clubs.

I haven't seen any greyed out players at MLS clubs either. When 1/1/2018 comes, FM adds tonnes of 25+ year old fake "newgens" to all MLS clubs for me, despite the fact the rosters are already full with real players.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Viking

[Uncle_Sam]

OK, I've sorted out the USSDA and NCAA players going on vacation/holiday before the Championship tournaments. I've got one small hiccup I'm trying to sort out with the USSDA Championship but a release should be available tomorrow.

[bigmattb28]

11 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

OK, I've sorted out the USSDA and NCAA players going on vacation/holiday before the Championship tournaments. I've got one small hiccup I'm trying to sort out with the USSDA Championship but a release should be available tomorrow.

Whats the issue with the USSDA championship mate? Is it game breaking?

[Uncle_Sam]

2 hours ago, bigmattb28 said:

Whats the issue with the USSDA championship mate? Is it game breaking?

The issue is that players from most of the teams go on holiday/vacation before the Championship, so those teams have to play with gray players. The same issue exists with the NCAA. So it probably is if you want to play in those divisions. I've got it sorted, it's just that with the USSDA the Championship isn't "visible" as it's own competition. It still happens and the team that wins it still receives the honor, you just can't go see it and view it's history. So once I get that sorted it will be updated.

[bigmattb28]

1 hour ago, Uncle_Sam said:

The issue is that players from most of the teams go on holiday/vacation before the Championship, so those teams have to play with gray players. The same issue exists with the NCAA. So it probably is if you want to play in those divisions. I've got it sorted, it's just that with the USSDA the Championship isn't "visible" as it's own competition. It still happens and the team that wins it still receives the honor, you just can't go see it and view it's history. So once I get that sorted it will be updated.

Ahh bugger, any idea when the database will be updated? I'm just at the end of second season with Borussia Las Vegas, was going to go for a job in USSDA too so may wait until the database has been sorted an restart.

[Uncle_Sam]

Just now, bigmattb28 said:

Ahh bugger, any idea when the database will be updated? I'm just at the end of second season with Borussia Las Vegas, was going to go for a job in USSDA too so may wait until the database has been sorted an restart.

Apologies. It will be today, even if I have to leave the USSDA Championship invisible.

[bigmattb28]

Just now, Uncle_Sam said:

Apologies. It will be today, even if I have to leave the USSDA Championship invisible.

Okay mate cool, I don't think it's game breaking as such, as long as if the player wins the USSDA they are still recognized for it.

[Uncle_Sam]

Well I'll just kind of list here what I'm dealing with and the measures I've taken just so that guys can know the deal:

The USSDA is a PARENT COMPETITION, which means it does not show up on the list of competitions. What does show is all of its child competitions (USSDA Atlantic Division, USSDA Frontier Division, etc.). Obviously, in the USSDA you qualify for the Championship with your performance in the regular season. What I cannot do is figure out to prevent the players from going on holiday/vacation after the regular season for ALL of the teams that qualify (some teams that qualify do not go on vacation but there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why those teams). What I have done is to make the Championship as Stages IN the USSDA PARENT COMPETITION. This causes the competition to be played without the teams sending their players on holiday. The problem is that because it's a PARENT COMPETITION it is not viewable as its own competition in game. It's still played and the winner receives the honor, you just can't go and view the history. I am trying something right now to "trick" the game and see if I can get it to show but there are no promises there. I'm running a test and you can see the Competition listed in the drop down menu in game, but when you try and view it just takes you to one of the child competitions.

The NCAA I was able to fix, because the NCAA Division 1 is a COMPETITION to itself, so when I "Use Other Competition", it causes that other competition to show up in game.

[sevenhant]

When I try to lower the level of youth intake in the editor, the file doesn't work anymore.

Any idea why this happens?

[Uncle_Sam]

You have to verify the rules. I've actually set that to default in the update I'm going to release next so that you can change that on your own in a separate file.

[sevenhant]

18 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

You have to verify the rules. I've actually set that to default in the update I'm going to release next so that you can change that on your own in a separate file.

thanks!

[bigmattb28]

Jus had a look and my save is showing the ussda championship winners

[Uncle_Sam]

Yes, that wasn't the issue with the original file. It was players on most of the teams going on holiday/vacation before it started. I fixed it in a version that I haven't released yet, but the knockon effect was that the Championship not being visible.

My current iteration is pretty close. As it stands, you can't view the stages from the "USSDA Championship", you have to go to one of the Divisions to do that. But you can go to the Competition and view the history. I have one more trick I'm going to try and see if it works.

[Uncle_Sam]

What I did was to create the USSDA as a COMPETITION in the editor file with no stages. The stages for the Championship are actually in the USSDA PARENT COMPETITION, but they are set to use the USSDA Championship and to process the results of the stages to the competition that I created.

Next, my play is to create stages in the USSDA Championship, but to leave them blank so that there are stages for the results to be processed into from the PARENT COMPETITION. It may be too much for the Editor to handle, but we'll see.

[Uncle_Sam]

And yes, it crashed. One final play is to add the USSDA Championship without stages as a Child Competition to the USSDA.

[bdavies26]

1 hour ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Well I'll just kind of list here what I'm dealing with and the measures I've taken just so that guys can know the deal:

The USSDA is a PARENT COMPETITION, which means it does not show up on the list of competitions. What does show is all of its child competitions (USSDA Atlantic Division, USSDA Frontier Division, etc.). Obviously, in the USSDA you qualify for the Championship with your performance in the regular season. What I cannot do is figure out to prevent the players from going on holiday/vacation after the regular season for ALL of the teams that qualify (some teams that qualify do not go on vacation but there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why those teams). What I have done is to make the Championship as Stages IN the USSDA PARENT COMPETITION. This causes the competition to be played without the teams sending their players on holiday. The problem is that because it's a PARENT COMPETITION it is not viewable as its own competition in game. It's still played and the winner receives the honor, you just can't go and view the history. I am trying something right now to "trick" the game and see if I can get it to show but there are no promises there. I'm running a test and you can see the Competition listed in the drop down menu in game, but when you try and view it just takes you to one of the child competitions.

The NCAA I was able to fix, because the NCAA Division 1 is a COMPETITION to itself, so when I "Use Other Competition", it causes that other competition to show up in game.

Small ideas: is it possible that your qualifying rules aren't specific enough (either just using the top five places as opposed to offset top position - 0 and offset bottom position - 4, or qualifying teams for "group stage" as opposed to "group stage" + "U.S. Soccer Development Academy Championship" competition), and that is why some teams are going on vacation? Or, since the USSDA Championship isn't registered as a child comp of the USSDA, that since teams aren't registered to it as their primary division, it is considered to be taking place outside of their division's season, therefore releasing teams for holiday prematurely?

Big idea (that would require re-tooling the comp structure): change all the academies' main division to be the USSDA (vs. the region), and set their region to be the regional division for the USSDA's level as well as their secondary division. Then, run all the divisions within the USSDA comp, using regional draw and group fixture rules to create the schedule, and "take stage results into other stage" to create your divisional tables the way you have stage 2 of the regions set up right now. I have found "take stage results into other stage" on the competition tab to be much more powerful than "process results into stage X" on the stage tab, by the way. Allows you to carry results over to multiple stages as opposed to just passing it along to one stage.

You'll be able to run "other competition to use" and "get teams from division" (using the secondary division) on each stage to run the divisional competition (and thus register winners), and then have everyone qualify to your final stage (championship), and run it. Since it is all part of the same competition, teams won't go on vacation until the Championship is over. So within the USSDA comp you'd have stage 0 (init), 1 (grup), and then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 be your regions. 9 is your championship group stage (dependent on stage 1 finishing), and 10 is your championship cup.

I am in the process of NFL-ifying the MLS and I've done what I described above with the league. My file is a WIP (probably just setting up my total pyramid for now and then putting the teams and data in when 18 comes out), but feel free to take a look at the setup to decide if it's something you want to implement.

This image is from an older version when I had the playoff winner set to be written as the winner of the overall competition as opposed to the cup, but the version below has the playoff winner's history being written into the MLS Cup comp, and divisional wins (finishing 1st in their group of 7) being recorded as a separate honor as well. So they've won their division (usa_level1nwest) 3 ties, and won the playoffs twice. I think this accomplishes what you're trying to do.

 

usa pyramid v3_5BAF8FF9-3D26-45A7-A389-A909E8F10E94.fmf

Edited July 28, 2017 by bdavies26

[Uncle_Sam]

2 minutes ago, bdavies26 said:

Small ideas: is it possible that your qualifying rules aren't specific enough (either just using the top five places as opposed to offset top position - 0 and offset bottom position - 4, or qualifying teams for "group stage" as opposed to "group stage" + "U.S. Soccer Development Academy Championship" competition), and that is why some teams are going on vacation? Or, since the USSDA Championship isn't registered as a child comp of the USSDA, that since teams aren't registered to it as their primary division, it is considered to be taking place outside of their division's season?

Big idea (that would require re-tooling the comp structure): change all the academies' main division to be the USSDA (vs. the region), and set their region to be the regional division for the USSDA's level as well as their secondary division. Then, run all the divisions within the USSDA comp, using regional draw and group fixture rules to create the schedule, and "take stage results into other stage" to create your divisional tables the way you have stage 2 of the regions set up right now. I have found "take stage results into other stage" to be much more powerful than "process results into stage X", by the way. 

You'll be able to run "other competition to use" and "get teams from division" (using the secondary division) on each stage to run the divisional competition (and thus register winners), and then have everyone qualify to your final stage (championship), and run it. Since it is all part of the same competition, teams won't go on vacation until the Championship is over. So within the USSDA comp you'd have stage 0 (init), 1 (grup), and then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 be your regions. 9 is your championship group stage (dependent on stage 1 finishing), and 10 is your championship cup.

I am in the process of NFL-ifying the MLS and I've done what I described above with the league. My file is a WIP (probably just setting up my total pyramid for now and then putting the teams and data in when 18 comes out), but feel free to take a look at the setup to decide if it's something you want to implement.

This image is from an older version when I had the playoff winner set to be written as the winner of the overall competition as opposed to the cup, but the version below has the playoff winner's history being written into the MLS Cup comp, and divisional wins (finishing 1st in their group of 7) being recorded as a separate honor as well.

 

usa pyramid v3_5BAF8FF9-3D26-45A7-A389-A909E8F10E94.fmf

I'm trying your offset and Competition qualified for suggestion. In the past I've struggled to make the Competition qualified for bit actually work, but it makes sense that if they qualify for a specific competition they won't go on holiday. That would actually allow me to make the ideal, original setup work.

Your Big Idea sounds good, but on a previous version I tried setting the USSDA Parent Competition as the Division for the clubs but that caused them to stop generating players. Perhaps having it as their secondary division would still have them generate.

[bdavies26]

Just now, Uncle_Sam said:

I'm trying your offset and Competition qualified for suggestion. In the past I've struggled to make the Competition qualified for bit actually work, but it makes sense that if they qualify for a specific competition they won't go on holiday. That would actually allow me to make the ideal, original setup work.

Your Big Idea sounds good, but on a previous version I tried setting the USSDA Parent Competition as the Division for the clubs but that caused them to stop generating players. Perhaps having it as their secondary division would still have them generate.

Interesting point... I haven't gotten to the point of checking for regens yet. So that could screw it all up.

[Uncle_Sam]

On the Qualification Rules, would you leave the "Number of Top Place" field ticked, and then add Top Position Offset and Bottom Position Offset?

So, for example, would this be correct?:

Number of Top Places = 4

Top Position Offset = 0

Bottom Position Offset = 3

Edited July 28, 2017 by Uncle_Sam

[Uncle_Sam]

1 minute ago, bdavies26 said:

Interesting point... I haven't gotten to the point of checking for regens yet. So that could screw it all up.

Yea, if you want to create a whole new format then it's fine, but you'll lose all the draft and stuff.

[bdavies26]

Just now, Uncle_Sam said:

Yea, if you want to create a whole new format then it's fine, but you'll lose all the draft and stuff.

Yeah the draft will be going away in my format.

 

3 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

On the Qualification Rules, would you leave the "Number of Top Place" field ticked, and then add Top Position Offset and Bottom Position Offset?

So:

Number of Top Places = 4

Top Position Offset = 0

Bottom Position Offset = 0

Uncheck league fate

Uncheck number of top places

top position - 0

bottom position - 4

next stage - main stage name - group stage

next stage - competition - USSDA Championship

[Uncle_Sam]

I fixed my bottom position offset number, but if I wanted 4 teams to qualify it would be Top Position - 0 and Bottom Position 3, right? Because 0 is #1, 1 is #2, 2 is #3, and 3 is #4.

[bdavies26]

Yes, sorry I was thinking 5 teams for some reason. Top should be 0 and bottom should be n-1 where n is amount of teams you want to qualify.

[Uncle_Sam]

That's actually usually how I do Qualification Rules but I didn't with this file for some reason.

Well, actually just for the USSDA.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Uncle_Sam

[Uncle_Sam]

I have also used this opportunity to make the USSDA Championship more like real life. The Group Stage will now take place entirely at the Grand Park facility in Westfield, IN. The Quarterfinals will be at club sites, and the Semifinal, Third Place Playoff, and Final will be played at the StubHub practice facilities in Carson, CA.

[Fmfan00]

Just minor question.. Before i start a new file with this updated one when u release it.. Is it normal for an a add my to not allow us any staff members.. Like when i was impact academy manager I already had a coach when i started my file and when i asked the board for coaches they agreed but then in news they always say reduced so I guess I'm just sticking with current staff when u upload the new database file which is fine with me

[Uncle_Sam]

Unfortunately I'm not sure how to rectify that. That sounds like a money issue, how much do you have in the bank?

[Uncle_Sam]

The clubs get $1M for participation in the USSDA leagues, in your experience was that enough for you to operate in the black?

[Fmfan00]

16 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

The clubs get $1M for participation in the USSDA leagues, in your experience was that enough for you to operate in the black?

Well i know with me scheduling so many pre season games to get my 15-18 yr olds up to par with my tactic we were in red.. Thanks now I know we have to be in black to get more staff.. Thanks for the advice

[Fmfan00]

When the file is updated and uploaded u just gonna keep it posted to opening thread?

[Uncle_Sam]

Yes.

And unfortunately the Position Offset and Competition Qualified for fixes did not prevent the players from going on Holiday.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Uncle_Sam

[Uncle_Sam]

Version 1.2 uploaded to the opening post. Fixed USSDA and NCAA vacation issues, and also added Fresno FC. New graphics download with some new logos (club and competition) and kits.

[Fmfan00]

3 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Version 1.2 uploaded to the opening post. Fixed USSDA and NCAA vacation issues, and also added Fresno FC. New graphics download with some new logos (club and competition) and kits.

Just wondering uncle sam what changed from this verison from the orginal

[bdavies26]

4 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Version 1.2 uploaded to the opening post. Fixed USSDA and NCAA vacation issues, and also added Fresno FC. New graphics download with some new logos (club and competition) and kits.

Are you creating the kits or pulling them from somewhere else?

[Uncle_Sam]

2 hours ago, bdavies26 said:

Are you creating the kits or pulling them from somewhere else?

The only kits that I did not create were the MLS ones, which were created by kifla6 and originally downloaded from here: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/32059/usa-mls-ss2017-new-070517-not-sskcc-yet. 

[Uncle_Sam]

3 hours ago, Fmfan00 said:

Just wondering uncle sam what changed from this verison from the orginal

Changes are listed in the opening post. But if you're asking what changes I made in the rules:

-The USSDA Championship stages are now part of the USSDA Parent Competition, with both the Group Stage and the Playoff Rounds set to use "USSDA Championship". I also created a set of rules for the USSDA Championship with no stages created so that it would display in game.

-The NCAA Championship rules are now part of the NCAA Division 1 competition (where the college teams are split up for non-conference games) with the stages for the NCAA Tournament set to use "NCAA Championship".

-Neither is absolutely perfect, but everything functions "in-game" as it should now without players going on holiday.

[bdavies26]

43 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

The only kits that I did not create were the MLS ones, which were created by kifla6 and originally downloaded from here: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/32059/usa-mls-ss2017-new-070517-not-sskcc-yet. 

Impressive! 

[Uncle_Sam]

Update - Latest version 1.3

CHANGE LIST

-Fixed an issue where the NCAA teams weren't able to register players for their competitions. Now there is no registration required and they have a maximum team size of 30

-Adjusted the MLS league and playoff schedule to reflect real life

-Adjusted the US Open Cup so that the regional draw is more accurate (not perfect, but MUCH better and closer to real life). I was also annoyed that the draw was occurring the day that the round was played when it should have been the day after, so I fixed that.

-Added the new Las Vegas team to USL. They haven't announced their name/logo but there is a movement to revive the old Quicksilvers so that's what I went with, inspired by a concept designed by Raysox at SportsLogos.net

-Added several rivalries to try and spice up the lower leagues a bit