[FM18] Uncle Sam Real Life USA Pyramid - v2.5 RELEASED!

[Uncle_Sam]

7 hours ago, jellymanta said:

Anyway I can get a logo download?

That should be out by the end of the weekend.

[Boyle.se]

update on Custom Pyramid too?

[Uncle_Sam]

8 minutes ago, Boyle.se said:

update on Custom Pyramid too?

That will be another week or two. I have a few things I'm ironing out on this first, but I do have ideas about where to take the Custom pyramid.

[Boyle.se]

@Uncle_Sam

Personal Preferences

1. Scratch the MLS, USL, NASL formats, create some symmetry between the leagues in terms of league rules, number of teams, etc... Could all be under a American Major, Minor 1, Minor 2, Minor 3 format. 

2. U18 & U23 as opposed to the DA set up. 

3. Keep the playoffs. Something special about the MLS Cup being the most prized trophy of the year for me. 

4. Loved the created teams you made. Feel free to add some more in there

[Uncle_Sam]

24 minutes ago, Boyle.se said:

@Uncle_Sam

Personal Preferences

1. Scratch the MLS, USL, NASL formats, create some symmetry between the leagues in terms of league rules, number of teams, etc... Could all be under a American Major, Minor 1, Minor 2, Minor 3 format. 

2. U18 & U23 as opposed to the DA set up. 

3. Keep the playoffs. Something special about the MLS Cup being the most prized trophy of the year for me. 

4. Loved the created teams you made. Feel free to add some more in there

I'm not married to any format as far as naming, my penciled in plan was just use the existing competitions and create a structure like: MLS (24 teams) - NASL (24 teams) - USL (24 teams) - USL3 (36 teams) - NISA (36 teams) - NPSL (72 teams) (or something like that)

And yes, the plan was to just get rid of all the USSDA clubs and the division. I would definitely put in a U18, but I'm torn between a U23 and just leaving in the affiliates. The obvious problem with that is that not all the clubs would have a "B" affiliate and you can't acquire one during a save (unless I'm missing something). So I'll probably go with a U23 division.

And I did indeed plan on leaving in the playoffs. For the lower division teams will have to win at least one playoff tie to be promoted.

There will be created clubs, or at least an interpretation of proposed clubs that are yet to announce their branding (Oakland East Bay, Chicago USL, Omaha, etc). 

Edited March 22, 2018 by Uncle_Sam

[Timetxu]

Thank you so much @Uncle_Sam! I've always enjoyed your NCAA files a lot! Did you manage to solve the issue with the NCAA Championship? In your FM17 file, a month after the end of the NCAA Championship, the tournament was immediately redrawn even though the conferences didn't start for another 8 months.

[Uncle_Sam]

5 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Thank you so much @Uncle_Sam! I've always enjoyed your NCAA files a lot! Did you manage to solve the issue with the NCAA Championship? In your FM17 file, a month after the end of the NCAA Championship, the tournament was immediately redrawn even though the conferences didn't start for another 8 months.

In the tests I ran, everything seemed to work out. I made some changes that actually resulted in the competition doing a better job of getting all of the conference tournament winners before picking the at large bids. Let me know if you run into any issues.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Uncle_Sam

[Timetxu]

2 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

In the tests I ran, everything seemed to work out. It actually did a better job of getting all of the conference tournament winners before picking the at large bids. Let me know if you run into any issues.

Cool! I'll see if I encounter the same issue in this file. It put me off a little bit to start a college soccer save, because of the vagueness of how to qualify at-large rather than through the conference championships. The in-game rule tab on the NCAA championship wasn't really conclusive and there weren't any clear symbols next to teams' names when they qualify at-large.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Timetxu

[Uncle_Sam]

6 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Cool! I'll see if I encounter the same issue in this file. It put me off a little bit to start a college soccer save, because of the vagueness of how to qualify at-large rather than through the conference championships. The in-game rule tab on the NCAA championship wasn't really conclusive and there weren't any clear symbols next to teams' names when they qualify at-large.

It is a little vague, but that's actually intentional. The real life selection process for the NCAA tournament is vague. There is no "win this many games" or "finish this high in Conference X" to guarantee a bid to the tournament, so to replicate that as best I could I just used the "Get Best Teams (24) from Competition (NCAA Division 1 - which has all 206 teams). In my tests it seems to work out. If you play in the weaker conferences, you're probably going to have to win your tournament to get in. Whereas teams from the strong conferences like the ACC are more likely to get an at large bid without winning the conference tournament.

One example from one of my tests: Detroit Mercy won the regular season title in the Horizon League. However, they lost the tournament final to UIC and did not get an at-large bid to the tournament. Their record on the season was 12-3-7 (W-D-L) overall and 6-2-1 in the conference. Duke on the other hand finished second in the Coastal division of the ACC with an overall record of 12-3-5, 4-2-3 in the ACC. They even lost in the Quarter Final of the conference tournament. They did get an at-large bid to the tournament where they made it to the Quarter Final, losing on penalties to eventual champion Akron.

[Timetxu]

1 minute ago, Uncle_Sam said:

It is a little vague, but that's actually intentional. The real life selection process for the NCAA tournament is vague. There is no "win this many games" or "finish this high in Conference X" to guarantee a bid to the tournament, so to replicate that as best I could I just used the "Get Best Teams (24) from Competition (NCAA Division 1 - which has all 206 teams). In my tests it seems to work out. If you play in the weaker conferences, you're probably going to have to win your tournament to get in. Whereas teams from the strong conferences like the ACC are more likely to get an at large bid without winning the conference tournament.

One example from one of my tests: Detroit Mercy won the regular season title in the Horizon League. However, they lost the tournament final to UIC and did not get an at-large bid to the tournament. Their record on the season was 12-3-7 (W-D-L) overall and 6-2-1 in the conference. Duke on the other hand finished second in the Coastal division of the ACC with an overall record of 12-3-5, 4-2-3 in the ACC. They even lost in the Quarter Final of the conference tournament. They did get an at-large bid to the tournament where they made it to the Quarter Final, losing on penalties to eventual champion Akron.

Wow, this actually clears up a lot about what I couldn't find out in-game myself. Wasn't aware of an option like that in the editor and I must say that this rule actually replicates real life in the most realistic way. Thanks for the explanation!

[Boyle.se]

1 hour ago, Uncle_Sam said:

I'm not married to any format as far as naming, my penciled in plan was just use the existing competitions and create a structure like: MLS (24 teams) - NASL (24 teams) - USL (24 teams) - USL3 (36 teams) - NISA (36 teams) - NPSL (72 teams) (or something like that)

And yes, the plan was to just get rid of all the USSDA clubs and the division. I would definitely put in a U18, but I'm torn between a U23 and just leaving in the affiliates. The obvious problem with that is that not all the clubs would have a "B" affiliate and you can't acquire one during a save (unless I'm missing something). So I'll probably go with a U23 division.

And I did indeed plan on leaving in the playoffs. For the lower division teams will have to win at least one playoff tie to be promoted.

There will be created clubs, or at least an interpretation of proposed clubs that are yet to announce their branding (Oakland East Bay, Chicago USL, Omaha, etc). 

You should add a Saint Paul and Boston team  @Uncle Sam

On board with the U23 Div too

 

[Uncle_Sam]

7 hours ago, Timetxu said:

Wow, this actually clears up a lot about what I couldn't find out in-game myself. Wasn't aware of an option like that in the editor and I must say that this rule actually replicates real life in the most realistic way. Thanks for the explanation!

Yea, in my tests everything functions pretty close to real life. Another example, Jamie Clark was the head coach at the University of Washington. In 2018 they won the Pac-12 and he was named Soccer America coach of the year. The very next June he was hired by the San Jose Earthquakes after they fired Mikael Stahre.

[Timetxu]

17 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Yea, in my tests everything functions pretty close to real life. Another example, Jamie Clark was the head coach at the University of Washington. In 2018 they won the Pac-12 and he was named Soccer America coach of the year. The very next June he was hired by the San Jose Earthquakes after they fired Mikael Stahre.

This is really cool and I'm very impressed by the file so far. I haven't encountered the "random redraw of the NCAA Tournament in January" issue so this really makes me aching to have a go with an NCAA save. 

I just had a couple questions left:
- Where do you acquire new problems from? Do you get youth intakes in your NCAA teams or do you need to offer 16/17 year olds in other leagues (like the USSDA) a contract?
- Is there some sort of notification that says that your players go into the Superdraft? I watched the 2018 Superdraft in my save to see if I could count which players per team went into the draft, but there were so many available players that this was pretty much impossible. I did notice that most were 21-22 (which seems to reflect real life), but there was one guy who was already 24 and draft available. I tried to look him up, but he didn't play for a college, he had played for a Swedish lower league team the season before (he was American though).
- What happens when a player turns 23? He just... goes?
- The file seems to prioritize the non-conference games over the conference games. When you add a manager, you have to look up the university's name because you can't know in which regular season group they are. Their media predictions are also based on their non-conference rivals and teams are described as "last years NCAA Regular Season Group 5 winners" rather than "Pac-12 champions".
- Do the spring games affect the selection of the at-large picks or are these games mere exhibition games?

Edited March 23, 2018 by Timetxu

[Uncle_Sam]

-If take over a college team you will have to acquire youth players from the USSDA clubs and other colleges. The player acquisition process admittedly isn't perfect but that's due to the limitations of the game.

-I'm not aware of notifications for the college team, but there should be a notification late in the year announcing the players selected for the MLS SuperDraft. If any of your players were chosen, they will be on that list. Although to get that notification you may have to be managing an MLS team, I'm not sure.

-I believe that you can keep the over 23 players on the roster but they won't be able to play in any games. It's another limitation of the editor, there is no way to force a player to "graduate". 

-I wouldn't say that it "prioritizes" non-conference games, but it probably does factor in a little more towards the At-Large bids. As for the team selection it's not perfect but it's the best way to make the game function as close to real life as possible.

-The Spring games are exhibition games. They exist just to mimic real life and they do give the players more games.

[Timetxu]

Thanks for your answers. So I get that you don't get any youth intakes in an NCAA team?

[Uncle_Sam]

No, starting a couple of versions ago the USA newgens started all being created in the Academies (besides the ones created at the beginning of the game). That's hard coded and the only way to change that would be creating a new league structure which would mean no MLS All-Star game, no MLS Superdraft, etc.

[cmurda]

On 3/22/2018 at 08:45, Uncle_Sam said:

That should be out by the end of the weekend.

First time FM player here. If I start a career with the current download, can I still get the logo update, or would I need to start over? I started one this morning but if I'll need to reinstall it with the logos, I will just wait.

 

Great stuff!! It's so awesome to see that you got my USL team exactly right, down to the physio and everything. So excited to play it and get into this game.

[Viking]

Thank you for this.

[Uncle_Sam]

2 minutes ago, cmurda said:

First time FM player here. If I start a career with the current download, can I still get the logo update, or would I need to start over? I started one this morning but if I'll need to reinstall it with the logos, I will just wait.

 

Great stuff!! It's so awesome to see that you got my USL team exactly right, down to the physio and everything. So excited to play it and get into this game.

Logos and kits will still work with games that have already started. And I reckon they will be out by Monday.

[cmurda]

3 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Logos and kits will still work with games that have already started. And I reckon they will be out by Monday.

Well hell yeah. Time to dive in. Thanks

[meter]

Uncle Sam- do you suggest filling players and staff? 

Would like to play in NPSL, do they fill rosters?  

Don't usually like filling rosters with fake players but if you suggest I will.

Thanks for your work

[Uncle_Sam]

I always do fill players and staff, but that would be a preference thing I suppose. And admittedly, the NPSL and PDL clubs will struggle to fill rosters. Sometimes they will be entirely filled by "greys", while some teams will fill completely with white players. I have not been able to figure what makes that the case, and I have tried to make sure that all teams get enough money to fill squads without turning them into FC Barcelona playing in the NPSL West Region, but to no avail. The hard-coding severely affects adding levels to the existing USA structure. The way I usually play the game on one of these saves is to pick an MLS club, and the lower divisions really function to enhance that experience.

[kandersson]

Thank you for this, looks amazing!

[meter]

Sounds good.

Not sure if this is intended, running quick test - USL clubs have either 1-2 or 0 games scheduled in month of August.

[Uncle_Sam]

1 minute ago, meter said:

Sounds good.

Not sure if this is intended, running quick test - USL clubs have either 1-2 or 0 games scheduled in month of August.

I'll look at that, it's probably a holdover from when NASL was the second division and had that break between the spring and fall seasons.

[Peter G]

I noticed above you said no Youth Intakes in the NCAA. I guess, as they're all amateur, you need to try and sign players from other teams but it brings into whether they'd move etc, which most wouldn't at a young age.

[Uncle_Sam]

7 minutes ago, Peter G said:

I noticed above you said no Youth Intakes in the NCAA. I guess, as they're all amateur, you need to try and sign players from other teams but it brings into whether they'd move etc, which most wouldn't at a young age.

That is an issue, and I can't even speak from a wealth of experience from playing as an NCAA team in this file. I have in the past, and I was able to sign players from USSDA clubs and other colleges, but I'm not going to pretend that it was easy. 

[LandonDonovan10]

Hey @UncleSam, is there any money problem for nasl, usl teams? they are so broke in game.. 

[Uncle_Sam]

3 hours ago, LandonDonovan10 said:

Hey @UncleSam, is there any money problem for nasl, usl teams? they are so broke in game.. 

I have set them to get a decent amount of money each season. I really don't want them to get too much money but in my tests they all fill their squads.

[Wazakii]

@Uncle_Sam great work!

are the logos ready?

and is the ncaa tournament like in real life Where you can also qualify by winning a conference tournament?

[Uncle_Sam]

Download for logos & kits now in opening post.

[lo.simon]

@Uncle_Sam  How to make draft in editor ?

[LandonDonovan10]

On 13.11.2017 at 23:41, Uncle_Sam said:

I also want to include the new cup between the MLS and Liga MX winners.

wow sounds great! 

[Uncle_Sam]

10 hours ago, lo.simon said:

@Uncle_Sam  How to make draft in editor ?

You can't. It's hard-coded.

[meter]

Thanks for your work on this, really enjoying.

Side MLS question if you may know answer.  What effect does the Head of Youth Development play for MLS  clubs?  Do they improve quality of regens of the academy teams?  Trying to figure out what they do.

thanks again

[Uncle_Sam]

17 minutes ago, meter said:

Thanks for your work on this, really enjoying.

Side MLS question if you may know answer.  What effect does the Head of Youth Development play for MLS  clubs?  Do they improve quality of regens of the academy teams?  Trying to figure out what they do.

thanks again

I actually am not sure, but I do believe they have something to do with the youth that your Academy takes in.

[cmurda]

On 3/27/2018 at 06:58, Uncle_Sam said:

Download for logos & kits now in opening post.

Another noob question... I imported the logo download into the graphics folder. I followed all the instructions in the youtube videos I watched. Hmm. 

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by cmurda

[Uncle_Sam]

20 hours ago, cmurda said:

Another noob question... I imported the logo download into the graphics folder. I followed all the instructions in the youtube videos I watched. Hmm. 

 

Click "FM" in the top right to bring up the drop down menu, click preferences. Then go to "Interface" and click "Clear Cache". Return to the "Interface" and click the "Reload Skin" button. If that doesn't work I'm afraid I can't help.

[Uncle_Sam]

So I've been in the lab, ironing out the wrinkles in the file. It has been re-uploaded in the opening post, so you may want to re-download. Specifically I've corrected an issue where the Suncoast and Disney preseason tournaments weren't recording history. I've also corrected an issue with the USSDA championship where some of the teams were sending their players off on vacation before the competition started, and it wasn't recording history either. It's still not perfect, as to see the competition you have to go to one of the USSDA divisional competitions, but it functions as it does in real life and records the history.

I have also included some competitions that enhance the MLS experience. The CONCACAF club continental competitions have been corrected and now operate as they do in real life. I've also included the Campeones Cup that was recently announced between the MLS and Liga MX Clausura champions. I also revived the SuperLiga and Pan-Pacific competitions.

On the international side, the USA January Camp is available for download, and I've also created the Copa Nuevo Mundo, with a competition held every 4 years starting the summer of 2020 which is based on the Copa America that was held in the USA in 2016. 

The graphics file has also been updated to include logos for these changes, so please re-download that also.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Uncle_Sam

[luisrha]

4 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

I've also included the Campeones Cup that was recently announced between the MLS and Liga MX Clausura champions.

Great work mate. Just a quick issue: the Mexican team for this competition will not be the Clausura champion, but the winner of the "Campeón de Campeones" game, which is played in July between the winners of Apertura and Clausura.

[Uncle_Sam]

3 hours ago, luisrha said:

Great work mate. Just a quick issue: the Mexican team for this competition will not be the Clausura champion, but the winner of the "Campeón de Campeones" game, which is played in July between the winners of Apertura and Clausura.

Yes, thank you. Corrected and re-uploaded.

Also corrected the Pan-Pacific Championship not recording history.

[cmurda]

14 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Click "FM" in the top right to bring up the drop down menu, click preferences. Then go to "Interface" and click "Clear Cache". Return to the "Interface" and click the "Reload Skin" button. If that doesn't work I'm afraid I can't help.

I kept trying that, and it didn't work, but I think I figured out the problem! For some reason it wasn't downloading it as a zipped file, just a .rar. I saw you had an update on the entire file, so I deleted my old info and decided to start over. When I downloaded the graphics file this time it was a zipped document with the different folders. Sweeeet. Good stuff dude.

[LandonDonovan10]

18 saat önce, Uncle_Sam said:

So I've been in the lab, ironing out the wrinkles in the file. It has been re-uploaded in the opening post, so you may want to re-download. Specifically I've corrected an issue where the Suncoast and Disney preseason tournaments weren't recording history. I've also corrected an issue with the USSDA championship where some of the teams were sending their players off on vacation before the competition started, and it wasn't recording history either. It's still not perfect, as to see the competition you have to go to one of the USSDA divisional competitions, but it functions as it does in real life and records the history.

I have also included some competitions that enhance the MLS experience. The CONCACAF club continental competitions have been corrected and now operate as they do in real life. I've also included the Campeones Cup that was recently announced between the MLS and Liga MX Clausura champions. I also revived the SuperLiga and Pan-Pacific competitions.

On the international side, the USA January Camp is available for download, and I've also created the Copa Nuevo Mundo, with a competition held every 4 years starting the summer of 2020 which is based on the Copa America that was held in the USA in 2016. 

The graphics file has also been updated to include logos for these changes, so please re-download that also.

sir, you are legend!

[cheeze]

Does all of this work with existing saves? I'm in 2021 with the file you originally put out.

[JAYMEETEE]

Thanks for this, excellent work as always.

Here are some changes I made to the file to make it compatible with claasens Canada file. This USA file breaks his because it moves FC Edmonton to the Canadian Soccer League and moves TFC III from League1 Ontario in to the NSSDA.

(These changes need to be made in the USA file, not the Canada file)

• I moved FC Edmonton back to the NASL
• I moved ANB Futbol to League1 Ontario to fill the gap, instead of moving TFC III back
• I added Fort Lauderdale back to the NASL to round it up to 8 teams
• I then changed all of the parts of the NASL rules that said 6 teams to 8 teams to make it function correctly

To make this simpler, you could just make FC Edmonton extinct and move ANB Futbol to L1 Ontatio to save you diving in to the advanced rules.

I'm not suggesting Sam makes these changes, just leaving it here in case anyone finds it useful.  

Edited March 31, 2018 by JAYMEETEE

[Uncle_Sam]

So another update, I have built the CONCACAF Nations League and it ran perfectly through the first edition. I'm continuing the test to make sure that the teams are properly promoted and relegated. Here are some images:

 

I did not try to implement the qualifying phase, since it will only occur for the first edition anyway. I just allocated the nations according to the CONCACAF rankings. It may not end up working, but if it does I'll post it up this evening.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Uncle_Sam

[Crplz]

Are you releasing the Nations League as a separate file?

[Uncle_Sam]

2 minutes ago, Crplz said:

Are you releasing the Nations League as a separate file?

Yes.

[Viking]

Will FM still spam MLS with 25+ year old super regens if you start the game in 2018 and activate the league at a future date?

[JAYMEETEE]

On 31/03/2018 at 21:10, Uncle_Sam said:

So another update, I have built the CONCACAF Nations League and it ran perfectly through the first edition. I'm continuing the test to make sure that the teams are properly promoted and relegated. Here are some images:

 

I did not try to implement the qualifying phase, since it will only occur for the first edition anyway. I just allocated the nations according to the CONCACAF rankings. It may not end up working, but if it does I'll post it up this evening.

Awesome.

Edited April 4, 2018 by JAYMEETEE