[FM20]USA Real Life Expansion by Uncle Sam

[Fmfan00]

3 hours ago, Spudbilly said:

Hello,

Firstly, thanks for making this database. I have enjoyed it so far. However, I am having some trouble.

What I am wanting to do is play with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. I chose this club because they have a vision for youth development. I want to build this team to a winning team with primarily youth system players. The USSDA Whitecaps Academy works well...they also have Fresno Affiliate from the United Soccer Championship League. However, players never are willing to sign for Fresno. I could, I suppose, use the editor to modify Fresno, and I started to. However, I thought that resurrecting Whitecaps FC II (B team) would be more fun as it sticks with the Whitecaps FC brand. Full game immersion!!!

Unfortunately, using the editor to try to set this up is getting me frustrated. Here are the changes I made that I thought would do the trick...

1. made WCFC2 as not-extinct

2. added them to the USL Chamionship Western Conference

3. In the parent caps team page I set the WCFC2 to a B team designation

Now, I thought this would be it. The team shows up in-game as an affiliate. Lower rank players automatically get sent to the team. In the editor, under competitions, it shows Whitecaps FC 2 as a member of the USL Championship Western Conference. However, there are no matches or season available in game in the matches screen. It just shows under matches per-arranged friendlies but no regular season matches or cup matches.

Is this an issue where I need to increase the number of teams allowed in the chosen competition or what? I can use the editor basically, but resolving dynamic issues like this stumps me. All I want to do is have an active B team that I can develop players from the academy until they are ready for first team football. I know I could loan them out, and that has worked ok in the past. I would love to use a whitecaps branded team, but I just can't seem to get it to work.

Thanks for any support and again...Thank you for creating this awesome database.

I was able to do it for FC Montreal... I just had to rename Omaha and use all of FC Montreal's information and then i wrote down all of Toronto FC -> TFC II affiliate information and then enter it for FC Montreal. I am done work at 7pm eastern tonight i can do that for you so that it's in the file if you would like? since all clubs are fairly new I am going to have them replace San Diego Loyal SC who will be joining in 2020 just so you know

Edited April 22, 2020 by Fmfan00

[Spudbilly]

33 minutes ago, Fmfan00 said:

I was able to do it for FC Montreal... I just had to rename Omaha and use all of FC Montreal's information and then i wrote down all of Toronto FC -> TFC II affiliate information and then enter it for FC Montreal. I am done work at 7pm eastern tonight i can do that for you so that it's in the file if you would like? since all clubs are fairly new I am going to have them replace San Diego Loyal SC who will be joining in 2020 just so you know

So, are you saying that all I needed to do was rename Fresno as my WCFC2 team and then change its location and stadium etc...

If you could make those changes, I would appreciate that.

You are the best

[Uncle_Sam]

ANNOUNCEMENT: SOME BIG CHANGES COMING

NCAA:

-Thanks to a member called @ryzyi I will be posting an update where all NCAA teams play 17 games in the regular season regardless of how many conference games they played. Unfortunately, we have hit a wall trying to make it display overall records.

-I have set the NCAA Championship tournament so that the tree mimics the 48-team brackets from real life. The 16 teams who get a bye to the second round will only face teams who played a match in the first round. I have also seeded it by reputation so that the 16 highest reputation teams get byes, as is generally the case in real life. It is not drawn with any regional consideration which is slightly unrealistic, but this way reflects real-life seeding more accurately.

-I have added a 7 match exhibition Spring Season. Most college teams play a spring schedule that is about this long from March through April, so I added it to reduce the monotony of going 8-9 months without any matches.

-I have found a way to prevent professional clubs from signing away college players. This is a HUGE aggravation when playing with an NCAA team in FM so I am very excited about this part

Academy:

-I am aware that the USSDA has folded. The competition will be removed, however I cannot remove it from the database as this is how youth players are generated in the United States in FM.

-There will be an MLS Academy Division competition for the MLS academies, as has been recently announced in real life by the league. They have not announced a format, so I will be simply creating a two-conference setup with each club playing every team in their conference twice and then a playoff.

-I will also be re-instituting the USL Academy Division that I had in last year

[Uncle_Sam]

I occasionally get questions about adding teams into the database.

Here is why that is somewhat complicated: To make the league structure work like it does in real life, I have to add each team to each competition in the Advanced Rules, sometimes in multiple stages and for multiple years. So if you switch a team out in the USL League One, you will need to go to the Advanced Rules, find the team you are switching out, and replace it with the team you are putting in. If you want the team to participate in the US Open Cup, you will need to do that for both sets of rules for the US Open Cup.

[Fmfan00]

16 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

ANNOUNCEMENT: SOME BIG CHANGES COMING

NCAA:

-Thanks to a member called @ryzyi I will be posting an update where all NCAA teams play 17 games in the regular season regardless of how many conference games they played. Unfortunately, we have hit a wall trying to make it display overall records.

-I have set the NCAA Championship tournament so that the tree mimics the 48-team brackets from real life. The 16 teams who get a bye to the second round will only face teams who played a match in the first round. I have also seeded it by reputation so that the 16 highest reputation teams get byes, as is generally the case in real life. It is not drawn with any regional consideration which is slightly unrealistic, but this way reflects real-life seeding more accurately.

-I have added a 7 match exhibition Spring Season. Most college teams play a spring schedule that is about this long from March through April, so I added it to reduce the monotony of going 8-9 months without any matches.

-I have found a way to prevent professional clubs from signing away college players. This is a HUGE aggravation when playing with an NCAA team in FM so I am very excited about this part

Academy:

-I am aware that the USSDA has folded. The competition will be removed, however I cannot remove it from the database as this is how youth players are generated in the United States in FM.

-There will be an MLS Academy Division competition for the MLS academies, as has been recently announced in real life by the league. They have not announced a format, so I will be simply creating a two-conference setup with each club playing every team in their conference twice and then a playoff.

-I will also be re-instituting the USL Academy Division that I had in last year

That being said you will still have the Generation Adidas Cup still correct?

[Uncle_Sam]

7 minutes ago, Fmfan00 said:

That being said you will still have the Generation Adidas Cup still correct?

GA Cup will still be in the database until I hear that it has been disbanded. In the press release they mentioned that there will still be tournaments against international opposition, that probably just means the GA Cup.

[Fmfan00]

cant wait this should be interesting seeing other MLS academy's play each other in a league

[EnigMattic1]

Damn! This is going to be SWEET!

[Uncle_Sam]

Release will be in the morning, assuming that there are no issues in testing. I will also not be putting the USL Academy division in. It's just kind of an anchor that slows play down and I can't make it optional. The MLS Academy Division will be in.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Uncle_Sam

[Uncle_Sam]

So I've just gotten through one season of testing, but so far everything looks good.

-NCAA teams are only losing players to other colleges or to the SuperDraft. They are signing players from local academies or free transfer (recruiting classes)

-Professional teams from the USL Championship, USL League One, and NISA can no longer sign players from NCAA teams, and can only sign from their own academies.

-MLS Academy Division played through as it should

[Fmfan00]

13 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

So I've just gotten through one season of testing, but so far everything looks good.

-NCAA teams are only losing players to other colleges or to the SuperDraft. They are signing players from local academies or free transfer (recruiting classes)

-Professional teams from the USL Championship, USL League One, and NISA can no longer sign players from NCAA teams, and can only sign from their own academies.

-MLS Academy Division played through as it should

Uncle Sam just curious how many is the MLS academy season is? I mean like is it still 34 games regular season like before or different with just MLS academies in it?

Edited April 23, 2020 by Fmfan00

[Uncle_Sam]

17 minutes ago, Fmfan00 said:

Uncle Sam just curious how many is the MLS academy season is? I mean like is it still 34 games regular season like before or different with just MLS academies in it?

All 30 MLS club academies split into two conferences of 15, play each team in your conference twice for 28 games. 7 from each conference qualify for the playoffs.

And I am working on putting in a division for the USL Academy teams for the professional clubs, i.e. the Championship and League One.

[Oklahoma]

University of Cincinnati just dropped the men's soccer team

[themodelcitizen]

For displaying NCAA overall records, what about having the league standings you want set up like a "rivalry cup" where it just takes results from other comps? Would show up visually as another competition mind you;

as for the regional playoff draw, would "geographical draw" etc with a specific number of regions set work? Or too random

[meter]

11 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

All 30 MLS club academies split into two conferences of 15, play each team in your conference twice for 28 games. 7 from each conference qualify for the playoffs.

And I am working on putting in a division for the USL Academy teams for the professional clubs, i.e. the Championship and League One.

Looking forward to it Uncle Sam.  Your work is appreciated.

[meter]

on a side note, anyone know of an updated Stadium File that has USA lower leagues?

[CapoColonia]

I'm sorry if someone already asked this but what about New York Cosmos? Will they play in NISA as they are supposed to do in real life?

Edit: Nevermind, I already saw that it is part of the league although it's sad that they don't have any real players.

Edited April 25, 2020 by CapoColonia

[willz71172]

is this getting released today

[Fmfan00]

20 minutes ago, willz71172 said:

is this getting released today

He said if there was no errors it would be

[willz71172]

yeah i know must have run into sum

[CapoColonia]

If I look at the reputation of the leagues, the USL2 seems to count as two different leagues and one of them has a bigger repuation than the USLC. Why is that and can you fix it?

[Uncle_Sam]

UPDATE: Version 2.13 has been added

USA Expansion 2.13 DB File: http://www.mediafire.com/file/kw6w4oqd4vzsuzc/001_USA_Expansion_2.13.fmf/file

Canada File (Adds Atletico Ottawa to the CPL in 2020): http://www.mediafire.com/file/m4x54jqtte6duk7/006_Canada_Expansion_1.2.fmf/file

USA Graphics 2.13  File: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3aqqa893fjg7bwc/USA_Expansion_Graphics_2.13.rar/file

Club Continental Competitions: http://www.mediafire.com/file/qerynz1n1lsaic1/USA_Club_Continental_Comps_2.13.rar/file (Includes: CFU Club Championships, Copa Sudamericana, UNCAF Interclub Cup, Pan-Pacific Championship, International Champions Cup).

 

Change List:

*NCAA

-----You can now select your NCAA team by conference when starting a game

-----All teams now play 17 regular season matches

-----NCAA Championship tournament bracket format is now more accurate, and seeded more realistically

-----Professional clubs will now not poach your squad

-----7 match Spring Season will now be played

-----Fixed an issue where teams were being asked to register players in December

*Academy

-----USSDA has been removed

-----MLS Academies and professional USL Academies have now been given their own competitions

*Canadian Premier League

-----Have added a file that puts Atletico Ottawa in the CPL starting in 2020

-----Creates the single table format starting in 2020

*Club Continental File

-----Streamlined the Continental competitions, also set up the Canadian Championship to add Atletico Ottawa and remove the Ottawa Fury from 2020 on

Sample of NCAA Tournament bracket:

USL Academy Division:

CREDITS: @ryzyi deserves all of the credit for the NCAA schedule format. He sent me a file with some ways to have the NCAA teams all play the same number of matches that I had not considered. Unfortunately neither of us were able to solve the problem of processing the results from conference and non-conference play to a stage, however I will still be working at that.

DISCLAIMER: The only issue I've found is that because NCAA teams are no longer being poached, they tend to get very large (i.e. 40+ players). Players don't leave immediately after outgrowing their eligibility age, but always leave upon turning 25. Teams also sign a bevy of underage players who sit on the squad, sometimes for 2 years, before they become eligible to play. Obviously this isn't perfect, but I don't want to mess around too much with that and cause teams to become too small. When you look at the players who are actually eligible to be registered on an NCAA team the number is actually about right, around 25 or so.

[Uncle_Sam]

11 hours ago, CapoColonia said:

If I look at the reputation of the leagues, the USL2 seems to count as two different leagues and one of them has a bigger repuation than the USLC. Why is that and can you fix it?

Are you using any other files? Because I don't see that:

[Uncle_Sam]

21 hours ago, CapoColonia said:

I'm sorry if someone already asked this but what about New York Cosmos? Will they play in NISA as they are supposed to do in real life?

Edit: Nevermind, I already saw that it is part of the league although it's sad that they don't have any real players.

I don't try to mess with adding players on my file anymore. It's simply too much work to keep up with year after year considering how much work I put into the file already. What you can do, however, is create a separate DB file that just adds players to the Cosmos and as long as you don't add any competition rules it will still be  compatible. 

[Uncle_Sam]

19 hours ago, willz71172 said:

is this getting released today

Apologies for the delay in release. Some stuff at work came up, and I also tweaked the USL Academy division yesterday.

[Uncle_Sam]

On 24/04/2020 at 00:51, Oklahoma said:

University of Cincinnati just dropped the men's soccer team

Yes, I am aware of that. For now they will remain in the file. Taking them out at this point would create a great deal of reworking the format.

[Timetxu]

By taking out the USSDA, what would be the go-to spot be for NCAA teams to recruit new players? The USL Academy Division?

[Uncle_Sam]

1 hour ago, Timetxu said:

By taking out the USSDA, what would be the go-to spot be for NCAA teams to recruit new players? The USL Academy Division?

The USSDA is still in the database. I added over 300 academies myself in addition to the almost 80 that were in by default for a total of right at 400. All those clubs are still there and still generate players, there just isn't a competition for the ones not affiliated with a professional club.

[Fmfan00]

1 hour ago, Uncle_Sam said:

The USSDA is still in the database. I added over 300 academies myself in addition to the almost 80 that were in by default for a total of right at 400. All those clubs are still there and still generate players, there just isn't a competition for the ones not affiliated with a professional club.

 

I don't see the Academy League playable in the file... It's in there like i went to the MLS team clicked on the academy and went to schedule and seen it. I guess it's not playable

[Uncle_Sam]

1 minute ago, Fmfan00 said:

 

I don't see the Academy League playable in the file... It's in there like i went to the MLS team clicked on the academy and went to schedule and seen it. I guess it's not playable

At this time it is not playable. It's an "other division", similar to a Brazilian state league. I might work on making it playable in the future but right now I wanted the Academy leagues to function more like youth leagues in other playable nations. In England, for example, you can't manage the Arsenal U18's. In testing what I found is that this way the academy teams are MUCH less likely to sign players away from the college teams than if any academy competition is part of the playable league structure.

[Fmfan00]

4 hours ago, Timetxu said:

By taking out the USSDA, what would be the go-to spot be for NCAA teams to recruit new players? The USL Academy Division?

Timetxu

Normally there would be a youth intake but on January 3rd your NCAA would be assigned prospects from Academies. I am currently trying out a NCAA club and that is what happen

[Uncle_Sam]

UPDATE: Version 3.2 uploaded

USA Expansion 3.2 DB File: http://www.mediafire.com/file/h23we6x94l5kfkv/001_USA_Expansion_3.2.fmf/file

USA Graphics 3.2  File: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xj3amauupjytzbx/USA_Expansion_3.2_graphics.rar/file

 

Change List:

*MLS

-----Austin FC sponsor (Yeti) added to fantasy kits (both 2D and 3D)

*NISA

-----Added New Amsterdam FC to begin play in Fall 2020

*NCAA

-----Put a lot of work into the schedule. Matches now take place on Mondays and Fridays, closer to real life. Avoids fixture congestion (2 matches per week) and allows teams to maximize training week

-----Realigned conferences to match the 2020 season

-----Cincinnati, Valparaiso, Buffalo set to extinct

-----Bellarmine Knights (Atlantic Sun Conference) and Dixie State Trailblazers (Western Athletic Conference) added

-----LIU rebranding (Blackbirds to Sharks, colors adjusted)

-----IUPFW set to Purdue Fort Wayne

-----UMKC Kangaroos changed to Kansas City Roos and moved to Summit League

-----UConn moved to Big East Conference

-----IUPIU, Purdue Fort Wayne moved to Horizon League

-----SIU Edwardsville moved to Mid-American Conference

-----Added Virginia's new logo

 

Original Post has been updated

Edited April 28, 2020 by Uncle_Sam

[Uncle_Sam]

[Uncle_Sam]

One Note: I have added Division II team Lynn University. They are playable, but they are only in to fill out the match scheduling numbers. They will only play 7 regular season matches and will not be able to qualify for the NCAA Championship tournament.

It's not unrealistic as some teams schedule matches against DII schools.

[elc1992]

Anyone know if it is possible to make the MLS All-Star game change to MLS vs Liga MX every year?

[lbowman6]

Question... West Ham youngster Peter Stroud appears to have signed for a US college team according to his Instagram (at least on loan?) 

Not sure how this would be reflected in game?

 

 

[Bigpole]

8 hours ago, lbowman6 said:

Question... West Ham youngster Peter Stroud appears to have signed for a US college team according to his Instagram (at least on loan?) 

Not sure how this would be reflected in game?

 

 

it's a database issue, not update issue. Post this in appropriate section in database issues.

[Uncle_Sam]

11 hours ago, lbowman6 said:

Question... West Ham youngster Peter Stroud appears to have signed for a US college team according to his Instagram (at least on loan?) 

Not sure how this would be reflected in game?

 

 

Unfortunately I don't deal with individual players with this update. It's too much to keep up with every year.

[kandersson]

Playing in USL there seems to be a minor issue with schedule: my team has a pretty full schedule in april/may/june with regular mid-week fixtures while only plays two games in july and zero in august (same happened in first season). I'm not sure this is supposed to happen, though my schedule would definitely look more balanced if we could spread some games in july/august too . Amazing job btw, absolutely love this update.

 

[meter]

10 hours ago, kandersson said:

Playing in USL there seems to be a minor issue with schedule: my team has a pretty full schedule in april/may/june with regular mid-week fixtures while only plays two games in july and zero in august (same happened in first season). I'm not sure this is supposed to happen, though my schedule would definitely look more balanced if we could spread some games in july/august too . Amazing job btw, absolutely love this update.

 

I am seeing this as well.  Not a huge deal IMHO.

I am playing 2.13 version and seeing San Diego (in NISA) and Cosmos both signing players from their academy, pretty cool.  Loving this version.

[Uncle_Sam]

Fixture congestion has always been an issue in the USA in FM. I can try messing with the dates to try and add some "always used" dates earlier in the season but there is no guarantee the league would generate matches more evenly that way.

[kandersson]

It's weird because there's this sort of summer break of nearly two months in the middle of the season, while in march we had to play four games in a week . Nothing major (still won all games) and a good chance for some rotation, spreading those matches in that empty summer would be perfect though!

[Mars_Blackmon]

Is anyone else having a problem with NCAA playing guys that are U19? I’m seeing a lot of 16 year olds being signed from the academies. I’m only in year 1 so maybe this will sort itself out?

[Uncle_Sam]

3 hours ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

Is anyone else having a problem with NCAA playing guys that are U19? I’m seeing a lot of 16 year olds being signed from the academies. I’m only in year 1 so maybe this will sort itself out?

I can't keep them from signing U19 players, but registration rules make it impossible for them to play.

[Fmfan00]

3 hours ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

Is anyone else having a problem with NCAA playing guys that are U19? I’m seeing a lot of 16 year olds being signed from the academies. I’m only in year 1 so maybe this will sort itself out?

I know on January 1-3 players from mls academics move up at age 17-18

[Mars_Blackmon]

1 hour ago, Uncle_Sam said:

I can't keep them from signing U19 players, but registration rules make it impossible for them to play.

They are currently playing. Atleast in the first year of the save. Some 16 year olds that were bought from USL academy teams

[Uncle_Sam]

13 hours ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

They are currently playing. Atleast in the first year of the save. Some 16 year olds that were bought from USL academy teams

 

That is bizarre, but there really isn't much I can do about that. I have registration rules in place which should prevent that from happening, but this would mean that the AI doesn't have to follow the rules.

[themodelcitizen]

What about changing the non-MLS DA teams to top high schools. Similar to how the PDL has been rejigged to NCAA

Edited May 5, 2020 by themodelcitizen

[Unknown Hacker]

On 25/04/2020 at 12:58, Uncle_Sam said:

 Unfortunately neither of us were able to solve the problem of processing the results from conference and non-conference play to a stage, however I will still be working at that.

Would it be possible to add all the different conference tournaments to a table using the 'Extra League Games' setting or does that not work?

Also, slightly random question but what does the hidden stage 2 ('wilc') do in the MLS rules? I assume it's something to do with wildcard games and is thus redundant but I was wondering if you could enlighten me. Cheers.

[ctaylor2097]

new here. if you start this save with a team like charlotte, do you just automatically get placed in MLS once 2021 hits?