Franchise Hockey Manager Beta v0.9.9 Discussion Thread

[Alessandro]

I am not seeing much from them in terms of making the UI work more intuitively and that worries me as a potential player. Of course, why would they care about what I think? They know I have paid my 30 bucks for the game already...and now are looking to get others to pay their 30. (BEING A BIT FACETIOUS HERE GUYS SO DO NOT JUMP)

It's not the SI Games - they are good guys and they actually listen to their audience. Much more than the SI guys (it helps that the company is their own company, while Riz and others didn't own the SI Games/SEGA so they were more limited)

[Alessandro]

And backhandedly here...but this game was in Private Beta prior to the pre release. Not sure what was actually done there, but there are alot of things that you think they may have solved back in the private beta. No one reported those crashes back then? No one reported the clunkiness of the UI? No one reported no draft after the first season?

We did, of course. But there are many things to consider. Sometimes you fix a thing that makes another thing crash. Or also sometimes things aren't that easy to fix... And another thing, the guys lately were busy with iOOTP and this slowed things down in the latest two-three weeks.

Regarding the UI, believe me, all we testers moan every day about it and we keep on suggesting new things (particularly to make things "clickable"), because it is very bad in my opinion (and Archi agrees - I know it). The fact is that the programmers seem to like it a lot because it is the same as OOTP and they aren't too willing to change it. Hopefully they will change their mind and/or improve OOTP's UI too (I never played OOTP so I don't know how is its UI).

It seems to me that the private beta was not getting much help in there. Unless it was amazingly weak on private beta release. Because this sure seems to have a low starting level in the public beta.

Am I wrong? TOtally out to lunch? If I am I am fine and good with that. And I would apologize for it.

No, you're not wrong. The private beta release was very weak, but you know why? Because it was the very first version of a game created from scratch. The first few betas before these ones were out were 100 times worse.

I should not have preordered.I have not touched it since the first day of the 2nd part of the beta release, when I downloaded it over the first release.

Think in a positive way: you got a $10 discount. Nowadays it might even be not too bad

[archibalduk]

I am not seeing much from them in terms of making the UI work more intuitively and that worries me as a potential player. Of course, why would they care about what I think? They know I have paid my 30 bucks for the game already...and now are looking to get others to pay their 30. (BEING A BIT FACETIOUS HERE GUYS SO DO NOT JUMP)

It's not the SI Games - they are good guys and they actually listen to their audience. Much more than the SI guys (it helps that the company is their own company, while Riz and others didn't own the SI Games/SEGA so they were more limited)

Heh Batdad was being facetious - not completely serious! I think we all appreciate how much the devs do listen and how honest they are (eg mentioning the hardcoded issue). I think the general feeling amongst myself, Batdad and perhaps a couple of others is that purchasing v1 is as much offering financial support to the devs as it is actually purchasing the game.

The decisive factor for me (and it seems to be the same for Batdad) is what happens between now and September. Will the UI be much improved? Will there be a decent AI? Will tactics be improved? What missing game rules will be added? Will Sebastian be able to devote all of his time to FHM or will he once again be diverted to iOOTP?

Progress has been slow to date (no doubt because the team is a man short). How much will progress speed up once Sebastian is back? Of course it is feasible that all of the rough edges and glaring omissions will be at least partially resolved by September. I really hope that's the case. It's really hard to say right now. My big concern (and I apologise for the negativity) is that 6 months does not feel like much time - but I'm not the expert coder and so I've no real idea what can/cannot be achieved in that amount of time.

I really really hope this game succeeds.

Hi,

Not sure this belongs here but I just bought the FHM Beta and cant sim past the first game. It keeps crashing. I am running Window 7.

Thanks

Are you coaching a team or are unemployed? You'll probably need to report this via the OOTP Bugs Forum. They'll need plenty of details. There will be a crash.txt log file saved in your My Documents/OOTP/FHM folder - that may have some info about the crash (the folder structure I mentioned is off the top of my head - I'm not able to check the exact location at the moment).

[blueshirtnParis]

Are you coaching a team or are unemployed? You'll probably need to report this via the OOTP Bugs Forum. They'll need plenty of details. There will be a crash.txt log file saved in your My Documents/OOTP/FHM folder - that may have some info about the crash (the folder structure I mentioned is off the top of my head - I'm not able to check the exact location at the moment).

I was coaching, can get past first day of the game. I did post over there and it seems like a lot of people are having crashes, maybe it was the newer beta version?

I understand it is in beta but still a bit frustrating that I spent like 2 hours setting up roster and lines, etc.. and then I can not play it. I don't see any work arounds or support getting back to people to fix their issues over there. Just logging and fixing game, which I guess is what beta is all about.

[Ben013]

I'm having crash issues too I first got with the Belfast Giants to 2 of December and it just shows the refreshing logo and windows then just shuts it down argh, tried playing a new game but only got as far in it as the 8th of October argh.
There aren't any patches I can download or anything?

[archibalduk]

I'm having crash issues too I first got with the Belfast Giants to 2 of December and it just shows the refreshing logo and windows then just shuts it down argh, tried playing a new game but only got as far in it as the 8th of October argh.
There aren't any patches I can download or anything?

No, only beta updates which are released every so often. The latest version being 0.9.9 (aka version 0.9 build 9).

[Ben013]

I only downloaded it last week anyother tips lol I realky wish I could continue to play

[archibalduk]

I only downloaded it last week anyother tips lol I realky wish I could continue to play

There's not much that can be done other than reporting it to OOTP. Unfortunately that's the nature of a beta.

If you go to My Documents\Out of the Park Developments\Franchise Hockey Manager 2014\data\ you should find a file named crash_report.txt. Does it have an entry for when it crashed?

[Ben013]

Hmm will see if I can check that just saw how some people gave been able to complete seasons do you think it can depend on your pc too

[archibalduk]

Hmm will see if I can check that just saw how some people gave been able to complete seasons do you think it can depend on your pc too

No it won't depend on the PC. It will be some sort of event in game that won't necessarily always happen. For example, maybe a team suffered from an injury crisis and didn't have any healthy goalies - I'm not saying this will cause an error in game, but it's these sorts of random things that can result in some saved games crashing.

[Ben013]

eSellerate - exit with code eWeb_InstallEngineFromResource returned 0x20010000 (SDK_LATEST_ENGINE_ALREADY_INSTALLED)
Successfully run ESELLERATE_eSellerInstall
eSellerate - exit with code eWeb_ValidateActivation returned 0x20050001 (VALIDATEACTIVATION_MACHINE_MATCH)

Thats the error in the folder if that helps you guys

Thanks Ben

[MWE]

eSellerate - exit with code eWeb_InstallEngineFromResource returned 0x20010000 (SDK_LATEST_ENGINE_ALREADY_INSTALLED)
Successfully run ESELLERATE_eSellerInstall
eSellerate - exit with code eWeb_ValidateActivation returned 0x20050001 (VALIDATEACTIVATION_MACHINE_MATCH)

Thats the error in the folder if that helps you guys

Thanks Ben

Does this happen on a day of one of your matches or just a random date?

[archibalduk]

Unfortunately that doesn't help. Those entries just record the activation of the eSellerate DRM.

I think the best thing to do is to report it on the Official OOTP Forums. The devs may want a copy of your saved game in order to track down the bug.

[m0fownz0r]

Heh Batdad was being facetious - not completely serious! I think we all appreciate how much the devs do listen and how honest they are (eg mentioning the hardcoded issue). I think the general feeling amongst myself, Batdad and perhaps a couple of others is that purchasing v1 is as much offering financial support to the devs as it is actually purchasing the game.
The decisive factor for me (and it seems to be the same for Batdad) is what happens between now and September. Will the UI be much improved? Will there be a decent AI? Will tactics be improved? What missing game rules will be added? Will Sebastian be able to devote all of his time to FHM or will he once again be diverted to iOOTP?

While I'm just as hopefull as the next guy come September this will be THE hockey sim, I think the above mentioned may be too much to improve and implement till then. What's even more, after what Alessandro said I'm not even sure they will be making any significant changes to the UI and it needs them, real bad.

It makes be both glad and sad that we have EHM to stick to but then again almost a decade old game is leaps and bounds better than what we have as of now in FHM. Instead of taking the best out of EHM and build on top of it they really wanna stay close to the OOTP model. I understand that its different team, different idea, different way to do things but that should not lead to thing being done a certain way just because.

That came out a bit too negative I guess, so to finish my rant I'm gonna say, that I too reaaaaallllyyyyyyyyy want this game to succeed.

[Ben013]

Whereabouts do I go to for the official OOTP forums to get this bug issue looked into further?

Thanks Ben

[archibalduk]

Whereabouts do I go to for the official OOTP forums to get this bug issue looked into further?

Thanks Ben

Bug Reports Forum: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/f ... g-reports/

In fact, this thread looks like it discusses exactly your issue: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/f ... ost3468565

[newsguyone]

It's important that a GM have ability to find information.

I don't think it's asking too much to ask OOTP guys to give us the ability to EASILY find the information in this game with intuitive filtering and sortability.

It's a strange game coming from the OOTP guys...

because FHM is Baseball Mogul to EHM's OOTP.
It's very lightweight.
Unfortunately, for a lightweight sim, it's clunky.

I paid the money. And I'm offering suggestions and thoughts in hopes they can create a great game.

[philou21]

I don't think it's asking too much to ask OOTP guys to give us the ability to EASILY find the information in this game with intuitive filtering and sortability.

It's a strange game coming from the OOTP guys...

Again, this isn't a game yet. BETA version, tons of improvement too come. They need to start from scratches before adding everything that everyone find cool. They need to do the basic before doing the little things that will make the sim good. Be P-A-T-I-E-N-T.

[CJ]

What I REALLY would like FHM to have is that the mugshots would show up where you make your lines. And that isn't possible at the moment as they have ALL the possible lines on one page (which is confusing). I'd like all 4 lines or powerplay only, shorthanded lines only showing on one page. I'd like to have for example "the regular 4 lines" showing with the player pictures (and name of course), and and then there's room for something more like points, handedness, positions, morale/mood etc. And this wasn't in EHM either, so this is a new idea, and if I may say so myself... it's a good idea. Who's with me?

[archibalduk]

Here's an interesting post from Jeff about crashes/stability:

Just a general update on the crashes being reported here and in other threads:

We're at the point where the game is nearly crash-free when there's no human intervention - if you start a game unemployed and just keep simulating games, it'll be quite a while before you see a crash. However, that's not particularly useful if you actually want to play the game, which is pretty much the whole point, right?

The vast majority of current crash problems are caused by bugs in the way user-generated transactions are being handled - you make a trade, sign a free agent, or do something else with a player and it breaks something. Problem is, the crash doesn't happen right away, it occurs when you get to a game or event that tries to execute and gets broken data. So the trick is tracking the crash back to the original problem.

Therefore, Sebastian is going to do what he did to get the AI-based transactions cleaned up: set up some logging functions to track what's happening with the user-made transactions. That should make it a little easier to find out what's going wrong. However, it probably won't be fixed as quickly as the early AI-transaction based crashes were. There's only one human player in the game vs. hundreds of AI's, so it may take a while to test out every possible transaction in every circumstance imaginable. Once the log-functions make it into a game update (no firm date for the next one yet), we may need to start collecting saves from crashed games from you guys to help the process along.

So, there won't be a quick-fix for most of the crashes, unfortunately. But we've got the ball rolling on the long, methodical process of rooting them all out.

[archibalduk]

What I REALLY would like FHM to have is that the mugshots would show up where you make your lines. And that isn't possible at the moment as they have ALL the possible lines on one page (which is confusing). I'd like all 4 lines or powerplay only, shorthanded lines only showing on one page. I'd like to have for example "the regular 4 lines" showing with the player pictures (and name of course), and and then there's room for something more like points, handedness, positions, morale/mood etc. And this wasn't in EHM either, so this is a new idea, and if I may say so myself... it's a good idea. Who's with me?

Yeah, I agree with you there. I'd love to see a more polished tactics screen. I would be surprised if there weren't refinements to this screen before release.

Player pics would be a neat touch (it's not all that ambitious either, really) - or at least a jersey icon with the players' numbers on them. Just something to make it a bit quicker and easier to look at the line ups.

[Primis]

What I REALLY would like FHM to have is that the mugshots would show up where you make your lines. And that isn't possible at the moment as they have ALL the possible lines on one page (which is confusing). I'd like all 4 lines or powerplay only, shorthanded lines only showing on one page. I'd like to have for example "the regular 4 lines" showing with the player pictures (and name of course), and and then there's room for something more like points, handedness, positions, morale/mood etc. And this wasn't in EHM either, so this is a new idea, and if I may say so myself... it's a good idea. Who's with me?

Yeah, I agree with you there. I'd love to see a more polished tactics screen. I would be surprised if there weren't refinements to this screen before release.

Player pics would be a neat touch (it's not all that ambitious either, really) - or at least a jersey icon with the players' numbers on them. Just something to make it a bit quicker and easier to look at the line ups.

I thought this was a big deal a while back. Then I realized I play freeware EHM all the time, and the freeware's way of setting lines involves clicking text, lists, and tabs. And I'm fine with that and even with a bit clunkier interface like the freeware's setting lines is not hard or time-consuming. Personally, I'd maybe prefer an EVEN STRENGTH tab and a SPECIAL TEAMS tab to sort them out/break them up a bit instead of being all on one screen. I think that one little thing might make a big difference to the presentation of setting lines. You don't want to break it up too much more and add a bunch of clicks, but it does look a bit cluttered currently IMHO.

[Aahlstroem]

I haven't played the beta since the first release. It's mainly because of the lack of hockey tactics. I can live with other flaws, but it's just plain boring right now. Does anyone know if they're going to add more tactical options until the release of the full game? They didn't answer here.

[batdad]

ARgh. I made a post but it was eaten as went through at same time as Aahstroem.

Alessandro--archi is right, I am being somewhat facetious.

That being said...the team at FHM may...and I Stress may..be listening to us. I am not sure how much when they keep going back to the UI being the same as the UI for OOTP and how they want to keep it that way. IT makes me wonder if they are listening.

Several people (I believe you archi and I can be included) plus others are asking for changes to the UI to make it more sortable, less clicks, more intuitive for us to use. And what has happened? Honestly...have they said anything that indicates that they are going to change this to make it more user friendly? And by that I mean make it so we like it? really...I am not sure.

Maybe, it is something that over a period of time I get used to and do not see as an issue after some time. However...you and archi are still talking about it, and it not being right, and you have been involved for much longer than I have.

OTher people thougths---Really what do you think about the UI? Are you happy with it? Do you get used to it, or does it need to change?

[B. Stinson]

OTher people thougths---Really what do you think about the UI? Are you happy with it? Do you get used to it, or does it need to change?

I'm probably pretty biased coming from OOTP Baseball, but I haven't had any problems with the interface. The only issues I've had are all things that I'm sure are a result of this interface still being mostly a foundation; a carry-over from OOTP Baseball.

But, much like a house, it doesn't end with that ugly concrete slab in the dirt. There's a nice house and green lawn on the way, but first they need something to build it all on.

Of course, that's just where I've been assuming we are. For all I know, maybe they think the interface is done, and don't plan on doing much more with it... in which case, yeah, we're in trouble