Opposition Instructions (An Easier Way)

[Algarve]

OMG, I want to have your babies!!!

Now seriously, thank you for confirming which are the key stats we should look on the opposition players for each of the instructions. Now I know for sure.

And especially thank you for providing that modification so I can easily check the opposition players' stats and define the instructions without having to go back and forward for each opposition player.

Great work!

[Xyphias9]

Since you asked for feedback...

Downloaded and installed, everything works fine.

It's brilliant, makes my life a fair bit easier before every game. I hope SI are paying attention, this is how it should be in the standard game.

[Surferosa]

Nice one guys- cheers for letting me know

I'm glad I posted it up now- wasn't sure if I was the only OI-obsessed tactician

[EthanM]

OK- I get what you mean.

Ppkd is picked info- so that is the position the player is picked for.

Ppos is the positions he can play

So you are using the correct field- the problem (I think) you'll have is the default width the field is set at is too large for the amount you can display. Therefore, you need to try and fit it in.

Try starting with a width that is probably too small to display, and then expand it out until you get to a point that it fits. So start with:

<record id="Ppos" width="30"/><!-- position -->

If it still doesnt display- your not going to be able to do it until you drop something else form the panel. If it does (but its too small), gradually increase the width until it stops appearing (then you know its as large as it gets).

To be honest, I think you'll struggle to get much more in (unless, of course, you are running a resolution larger than 1280x1024- in which case Im surprised it doesnt fit in the 1st place).

Alright, I'm gonna give it a go, and see if it works. Thanks again, these panels have been very helpful.

[Argamas]

Brilliant stuff, thanks a lot!

One question, is it possible to make something so you can set all "weaker foot" etc. on with one click? I hate it when I have to set so many OI's.

[Surferosa]

No- unfortunately not. The actual 'clicking' cannot be controlled (to the best of my knowledge) from within the panel- they are hard-coded into the game

[Surferosa]

Just to say to anyone that has downloaded the OI panel and found them useful, I have posted up some new panels in Squad Management (An Easier Way)- which might be worth a look.

/shameless plug off

Surf

[BodhiD]

This is just what I wanted. Many thanks.

Set it up and used it now problem for the match set-up. When AI made first substitution after an hour I went to tweak the settings via the "Condition Morale Form" and I had may very first FM09 crash (array out of bounds error). The opponents only had about half the players with previous form bars, the others were greyed out (maybe relevant, maybe not).

Leading 2:0 in a Europa Cup game when it happened, so not happy.

Managed a 5:0 second time around so all's not lost.

Wary about using it if it's going to cause crashes, but it's exactly what I want. Anyone else had any problems.

[Surferosa]

Sorry to hear that Bodhi

Ive had no problems at all with crashes- even when building them they either load or they don't (so when I make a coding mistake, the xml fails to load- I fix it, it then loads). Indeed all Ive done on the panels is move attribute ID's that are available (in game) onto the screen. Ive not changed the size of the boxes (ie in the panel), and you can't alter the 'coding' ini terms of game engine. So the worst that can happen is fields I've selected to show don't show.

I can't see any way where crashes are going to be caused by the panels: but, if you keep getting problems let me know. Can I ask, are you using a skin or default?

[BodhiD]

I agree, not by the panels themselves, but possibly by calling data to display that gives the array out of bounds error. The default panel for setting OI, has no data to display. I'll probably put the game on a rolling weekly save and try again, as the panels are just what I've been wanting. Thanks again.

BTW, any idea on the default OI setting panel why the subs portion of the opponent players list sometimes rearranges the player list order when I set OI instructions for a player?

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

I agree, not by the panels themselves, but possibly by calling data to display that gives the array out of bounds error. The default panel for setting OI, has no data to display. I'll probably put the game on a rolling weekly save and try again, as the panels are just what I've been wanting. Thanks again.

BTW, any idea on the default OI setting panel why the subs portion of the opponent players list sometimes rearranges the player list order when I set OI instructions for a player?

Exactly the reason I will not use 3rd party downloads however well intentioned. SI had better take note though, the Community are just as good at R+D as they are it seems, their job is to integreate the good ideas and make them workable.

[Surferosa]

Well, an array out of bounds error is usually caused at a database level- rather than at a display level. So, if you create a record in the database that has a value outside the exceptable range for a query, this is the error it will return. Historically FM used to throw array errors whenever something was wrong inside the database- its now much better at 'ignoring' them. Either way, the 'data' has already been called- we are just displaying it! So this is another thing that make me think its not a panel issue.

All the fields have a sort order setting. I have no idea why selecting something enforces one of these settings (Ive noticed it on the Selection panel too- ie if I change a player position sometimes it changes the sort order). Again, we (as in skinners), can't do anything that changes the game engine- so if we could find out what click causes order the order to be changed, we couldn't do anything about it!

[Surferosa]

Exactly the reason I will not use 3rd party downloads however well intentioned. SI had better take note though, the Community are just as good at R+D as they are it seems, their job is to integreate the good ideas and make them workable.

Well, thats one way of looking at it I suppose. Still, having been using Steklo skin for the past 2 months, panel mods since 9.3 and various other bits and pieces- I can report no crashes. Its the most stable FM I think there has ever been.

Put another way, what I think SI have done very well is bolt down the bits you can and the bits you cant change. You can only change display objects- rather than game mechanics. And the display objects don't cause crashes (as a rule).

Using 3rd party data updates is a different matter. Very reluctant to use one of those becuase of the array risk.

[BodhiD]

As I said it's the first crash I've had, and I've been playing quite a bit since I got FM09. As is often the case with software, I tend to think that the problem is related to the last thing changed: and that game was the first time I tried the panels. I have a sneaking feeling that it may be related to the fact the AEK Athens were my opponents, and I don't have any Greek leagues loaded - most of their squad were greyed out and didn't have any rating data for the last 5 matches.

Hope you don't think I'm complaining: I'm not. I think it's great that SI have made the system this way, and I'm very happy and grateful that some people have taken the time and effort to make these mods. I was just wondering if anyone else had encountered a similar problem.

I'll definately be trying the panels again, and I hope that SI are taking notes and make these panels the default for the next version. Once again, many thanks for an excellent job.

[Surferosa]

No worries mate- its definitely good to talk over these issues. If I sound defensive- its becuase I woudn't want other people to be put off by what is (probably) a red herring. But absolutely the right thing to do bringing it up And to be fair, if I had installed the panels and then got my first crash- I'd think exactly the same as you!

As you can see from the screenshots- Im playing as Witton Albion, and we play a lot of games against unplayable teams (pre-season, I play against 3 teams every year from non-leagues)- the first season in BSN, games against cup teams too: so I don't think it has to do with whether the team is playable (still think its a rogue game engine or, more likely, a db error). If you can recreate the issue- we may have a chance of getting to the bottom of it- but I suspect it won't happen again.

I presume you're not using a data update by the way?

[BodhiD]

I presume you're not using a data update by the way?

No, but it's 9.1.0 not 9.3.0.

.. but I suspect it won't happen again.

So do I.

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

Well, thats one way of looking at it I suppose. Still, having been using Steklo skin for the past 2 months, panel mods since 9.3 and various other bits and pieces- I can report no crashes. Its the most stable FM I think there has ever been.

Put another way, what I think SI have done very well is bolt down the bits you can and the bits you cant change. You can only change display objects- rather than game mechanics. And the display objects don't cause crashes (as a rule).

Using 3rd party data updates is a different matter. Very reluctant to use one of those becuase of the array risk.

To be fair I am a little cautious (overly?), but would be furious if some game mechanic change thst I was at least in part responsible for, spoilt my enjoyment at some point by "bugging". Shame, some wonderful skins, Sounpacks & Facepacks out there. but i'll play it safe for now.

[electraguard]

I am having a problem downloading your file from Filefront. I keep getting the error 'Fail to check URL'. I have logged out, cleared cookies and even rebooted but I still get the error. I have downloaded numerous other files from Filefront lately with no problem. I have sent Filefront an email but have not received a reply yet. Is there some other location from which I can download your file?

[electraguard]

I am having a problem downloading your file from Filefront. I keep getting the error 'Fail to check URL'. I have logged out, cleared cookies and even rebooted but I still get the error. I have downloaded numerous other files from Filefront lately with no problem. I have sent Filefront an email but have not received a reply yet. Is there some other location from which I can download your file?

Apparantly Filefront has shut down effective 30 March. At least there is a message on their site saying that. I find that odd since I have downloaded other files since then.

[Surferosa]

No problems with Filefront as far as I know (and it definitely hasn't shut down) :confused:

You should just be able to click the link and get sent to the download site. Can you screenshot the page it takes you to if you're still getting the problem?

[TheRealMagpies]

30 downloads and no feedback

Anyone using it? Anyone got a view of it? Anybody got a different way of thinking about OI?

Anybody out there?

Your forgetting a percentage of the people here are looking for the "thing" that gives them an 'I Win Button' and they will just want to click that continue button asap.

Personally I think what you have done is a really nice touch to quickly obtain the info needed to make those decisions, nice work & well done.

[FrazT]

Surferosa- I sent you a PM with a question about the squad panels- did you get it mate?

[Surferosa]

I did mate- sorry for not relpying sooner- got back late yesterday and straight into work today

I'll copy a reply into the squad panels thread if you're OK with that- just in case anyone has the same query..

Surferosa- I sent you a PM with a question about the squad panels- did you get it mate?

[Surferosa]

Cheers buddy Appreciate the feedback.

A bit of a shameless plug- but check out the Squad Management Panels if you found these useful.

Your forgetting a percentage of the people here are looking for the "thing" that gives them an 'I Win Button' and they will just want to click that continue button asap.

Personally I think what you have done is a really nice touch to quickly obtain the info needed to make those decisions, nice work & well done.

[Xourico]

this is a god send!

next FM please implement OI this way!!!

[Surferosa]

Cheers for the feedback mate: glad you like em

[Scooby_Doo]

Great work!

One thing I've noticed is that it's not possible to use your mouse scroll wheel to select through the drop down list. Do you think there's any way to enable that? (It works on the right hand side panel)

[Surferosa]

Good question- don't know the answer, but I'll try and find out

[Adam Church]

Surferosa I understand what i have to look for thanks to you first post :-

OI- Tight Marking: Pace, Acceleration, Dribbling, Off the Ball

OI- Closing Down: Passing, Creativity, Technique, Long Shots

OI- Tackling: Bravery, Strength, Passing, Creativity

OI- Weaker Foot: Preferred Foot, Long Shots, Crossing, Pace

im playing with brighton in my second season , first season i didnt use OI but now i wanna give them a go. When selecting them do you look for a overall for in one player or just one high stat ? also if they have good pace and passing do you use tight marking and closing down ? also because im in league 1 im thinking that stat 12 would be high enough to use a OI

Thanks

[Surferosa]

Yes- as with all of these things you can take a value relative to the league you are playing in. So a long-shots value of 15 is probably not too much to worry about at PL level- but at CCL2 its deadly (so consider tight marking / closing down + hard tackling).

The first settings I always make are my 'formation' settings (see the original post). So rather than thinking of it in terms of they have pace- think about what they are going to be doing with that pace. If your d-line is quite low, then there is less room for them to run onto through balls and take advantage of the pace- therefore a tight marking will work.

However, if you tight mark with a high d-line, your dc's are going to have balls played behind them all day long- therefore I wouldn't use a tight marking instuction. Similiar problems can be faced with passing. If you are up against a MCd, then closing him down can be a good way of not giving him time on the ball. However, if the player is in MCa or AMC territory then you have to be careful: playing against a good team / player, it could lead to your defence getting pulled out of position (as they close down) leaving a SC unmarked. I always associate high closing down with an attacking, pressured game (though it does depend on who you are closing down).

Also be aware of the limitatons of your own team. With the best will- if the whole of your back 4 has low marking and concentration attributes (relative to the league again) then tight marking isn't going to help.

[Adam Church]

Yes- as with all of these things you can take a value relative to the league you are playing in. So a long-shots value of 15 is probably not too much to worry about at PL level- but at CCL2 its deadly (so consider tight marking / closing down + hard tackling).

The first settings I always make are my 'formation' settings (see the original post). So rather than thinking of it in terms of they have pace- think about what they are going to be doing with that pace. If your d-line is quite low, then there is less room for them to run onto through balls and take advantage of the pace- therefore a tight marking will work.

However, if you tight mark with a high d-line, your dc's are going to have balls played behind them all day long- therefore I wouldn't use a tight marking instuction. Similiar problems can be faced with passing. If you are up against a MCd, then closing him down can be a good way of not giving him time on the ball. However, if the player is in MCa or AMC territory then you have to be careful: playing against a good team / player, it could lead to your defence getting pulled out of position (as they close down) leaving a SC unmarked. I always associate high closing down with an attacking, pressured game (though it does depend on who you are closing down).

Also be aware of the limitatons of your own team. With the best will- if the whole of your back 4 has low marking and concentration attributes (relative to the league again) then tight marking isn't going to help.

Cheers , thanks i will give it ago

[voidex]

First of all I got to say brilliant work there.

I'm using default skin, the squad list and short list panel is working fine with the new format, however the opposition instruction panel did not change. I have unchecked the load skin cache, but the OI panel just won't change. What went wrong?

edited: Nevermind, i'm just being thick, didn't notice you have 2 different files to download.

[Guido93]

Good work. Thank you.

I've just installed it and I'll try soon

[Surferosa]

No problems guys.. let me know what you think

[lil ole me]

Dude, i just got home from work and i have been hoping for something like this and i don`t know why i haven`t seen this topic before....Just about to set it up and will post my views soon.

many thanks Surferosa, cheers

[Surferosa]

Nice one- look forward to the feedback

If you find them useful, check the Squad management Panels out. I'm slowly working on a new version of those, so if you think anything should be amended- let me know.

Cheers

[aq_extreme]

Hi Surferosa, can you upload the panel to somewhere else, I can't seem to download from your link...

When I press the Download button, it always redirect to the homepage of FileFront...

Thank you

[Surferosa]

Just checked- its working fine

When the filefront page loads, you get a small message saying "Now preparing your download" on the page. After a short while this should dissapear and you should get a button thats says 'Download Now' (see below outlined in red). Hit that, and you will be prompted to download.

[Akim]

after clicking the downlod button filefront redirects to the mainpage for me... could you upload to another page maybe? ;(

[Surferosa]

Sorry about that people

Have added a zSHARE link as well as FileFront in the OP

[aq_extreme]

Now it's working.

Thanks m8

[lil ole me]

Dude, i just got home from work and i have been hoping for something like this and i don`t know why i haven`t seen this topic before....Just about to set it up and will post my views soon.

many thanks Surferosa, cheers

I have a rather successful football side that i have assembled over 8 years at Bolton and i normally tackle hard (if bravery 15-) or close down and tight mark in certain matches but have never 100% understood which values were involved....until now.

I know it is early days but in my first two league games, i beat Chelsea(3rd) 3-0 and Southampton 6-0 and TOTALLY dominated the game......once again

Surferosa cheers . I have now reignited one of my old saves in the BSP with these instructions and are going along nicely and are heading towards league football.

[depps]

i downloaded and installed the oi panels from here and they are working fine but the buttons that are used for minimising the widgets in tv view have disappeared. has any one else had this problem orknow how to fix it? ive tried it on steklo and dark horizon skins

[Surferosa]

Never had that problem mate- it was actually built using steklo (which I use) so I have no idea how thats happened (the widgets have a completely different set of panels). Have you installed anything else which might have caused it?

[Hedgren]

Can someone be nice and expain this to me?

"A key point to highlight here is this; "On a smaller to medium sized pitch when playing against a formation that roughly mirrors your own (i.e. 4-4-2 versus a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4) Player Strata/Channel Opposition Instructions are irrelevant. However, if the two formations don’t match, then OI becomes an important tool to combat players operating in different channels and/or strata from those in your team.""

Does it mean that if I play against a team on a small, medium sized pitch with a similar formation I shouldn't adjust the OI panels at all?

[Surferosa]

Well- there are two things about that statement.

Firstly (imo) it doesn't include weaker foot or tackling- its referring to the tight marking and closing down settings. The thinking being that if your sides are matched man for man, then the closing down and marking settings have already been defined in your individual formation- therefore the OI settings don't add anything.

However, its my opinion that you have to be careful with this. A 442 (as it lines up in the opposition formation screen) can play completely off-strata in the ME. So you can play against a 442 (for example) thats playing more like 4-1-3-2 with the wing-backs pushing forward. You'll only spot this in the ME- but a deep lying MCd may not get closed down (if thats why you want to do) unless you set him to be closed down in the ME. The players that will close him down would still be triggerred by their indiviudal closing down settings- but someone will try and close down irrespective of the indivual player setting.

So in answer to your question- no it doesn't mean that. What it means is there are times when using OI is

much more effective than in other circumstances.

[Hedgren]

Alright, thanks for quick reply

[depps]

Never had that problem mate- it was actually built using steklo (which I use) so I have no idea how thats happened (the widgets have a completely different set of panels). Have you installed anything else which might have caused it?

no its the only thing ive installed skin wise recently. i reverted back to the official skin and the same thing has happened with that as well even though i didnt install the oi panels into that? i guess ill just have to download new widgets somewhere

[depps]

ive downloaded the transparent widgets and that has sorted the problem but ive also just noticed that my game status screen is blank as well. i dont suppose anybody could upload a working panel for game status and tell me where to install it please?

[Surferosa]

Personally- if it were me- Id save all of my user settings somewhere else and reinstall FM. Then install the steklo skin, then install the panels. My only guess is that you have managed to install things into the main FM directory (in C:/programs/ or wherever) rather than the user folder (ie the documents & settings folder). While your UI setting was set to 'load from cache' it would of made no impact until you turned this off- whereby it had tried reloading the UI- and found the changed files hence scuppering what you are seeing. Nothing should ever be installed into the root installation directory (ie if its in the 'skins' folder of a particular skin, it would only impact that skin not the default as well).

If you dont want to go down this route- you could use the Resource Archiver to get the panels / widgets you think you need: but you shouldn't need to use this really.

The OI panels definitely aren't the cause of the problem either way- they have nothing to do with the panels you are having errors with