Converting an EHM 2004 database to EHM 1 format

Somebody recently asked me whether it is possible to import an EHM 2004 database into EHM 1. The answer is “yes” but some tweaking and work will likely be required.

Background

There are two obstacles/steps when trying to import an EHM 2004 database:

1. You need to convert the EHM 2004 DB into EHM 2007 format. The game can’t do this but my Editor can. You simply open the EHM 2004 DB in the Editor and then click on File -> Save As -> Save as EHM 2007 DB.
2. The import function in the game expects to see various of the database tables in a particular order and with certain entries present (i.e. in the same order/data as the original EHM 2007 DB). For example, it expects certain leagues to have certain league IDs in the database – e.g. the NHL must be the first item in the leagues table. Similarly, the number of nations must also be the correct number too. This is a challenge for a few reasons: (A) the database grew significantly in size between EHM 2004 and EHM 2005 and again between EHM 2005 and EHM 2007. IIRC the EHM 2004 DB only has a few thousand players/staff whereas the EHM 2007 DB has around 30,000 players/staff. As a consequence, a lot of the tables are in a very different order compared with the EHM 2007 DB; (B) There were actually fewer nations in the EHM 2004 DB compared with EHM 2007 because EHM 2004 pre-dates Serbia and Montenegro splitting into separate nations (in 2006); (C) Various additional data was added – such as extra injuries and colours which are not present in EHM 2004.

I have been working on creating a conversion function for EHM 2004 in order to re-order the tables and to populate missing nation/injury/colour/etc data so that it matches the EHM 2007 format. The EHM 2005 conversion works perfectly but the EHM 2004 conversion still needs a bit of work (it can be hard to identify some of the differences). I test the conversion process by trying to get the DB to load in EHM 2007 as I think this is a stricter test then using EHM 1.

How to import

With the above in mind, the steps to converting and importing an EHM 2004 database into EHM 1 are as follows:

1. Load the EHM 2004 DB in the Editor;
2. Click on Tools -> Converter -> EHM 2004 to EHM 2007;
3. Click on File -> Save As -> Save as EHM 2007 DB and save your database in a new sub-folder of your EHM 1 database folder; and
4. Follow the instructions here: Importing EHM 2007 Databases into EHM:EA – EHM The Blue Line Wiki

The process of converting and importing the database is entirely experimental at this stage. Whilst converting the database to EHM 2007 format is easy with the EHM Editor, the database may require some work in order to make it possible for an error-free import into EHM 1 format. It is something I try to improve and develop when I have time but, in the meantime, it is certainly possible to start playing around with the EHM 2004 database in the Editor (e.g. you could export the player data, ratings, etc and transfer them to another EHM 1 database).

Feel free to raise any questions in our Data Editing Forum.