Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VI

[WhoahNow]

I'm excited to jump back in on EHM. Started up a Dallas save and traded Benn for Barkov. We'll see how this goes down

 

[Aahlstroem]

I want to like FHM but the lack of customization really bothers me and I feel the coaching engine while pretty in-depth makes a lot of bonehead moves if you don't manually set your rosters. It also forces players into pretty unrealistic roles. I do question weather EHM is really still under active development, I believe Riz posts here from time to time, hopefully he can provide some updates on 1.5.

It is still under active development, but as always Riz has to do it in his spare time. If you follow him on twitter you'll get small updates on what his doing every now and then.

 

[vcanuck]

Hey guys, i need help with the EHM saved game editor. So i traded Vanek to Columbus for Motte using the editor and clicked save, but when i opened up my game to check, Vanek is still on the Canucks and Motte with the Jackets, their names are also in green? i dont know what that means. Am i doing something wrong?

 

[xECK29x]

Hey guys, i need help with the EHM saved game editor. So i traded Vanek to Columbus for Motte using the editor and clicked save, but when i opened up my game to check, Vanek is still on the Canucks and Motte with the Jackets, their names are also in green? i dont know what that means. Am i doing something wrong?

Make sure Contracted and Playing For are the same team, sounds you may have done one without the other.

 

[BKarchitect]

You can't trade or transfer players in a saved game like you can in the database. It screws things up, as you have found out. The only way to edit what team a player is on once you have started a game is to control both clubs as the GM and make the trade yourself in the game. If it involves players on teams in leagues that you did not set to full detail, you are out of luck.

Saved game editing is mainly useful for editing ratings, colors, etc.

 

[BKarchitect]

I've been quite while trying to fix a bug in the NHL36 and NHL32 databases but now that it is solved:

Should be a new version of NHL36 (and NHL32 - Seattle) out this weekend. Just as a primer...

- Of course complete updated transactions...NHL, Minors, CHL, NCAA, NCAA developmental leagues and major Euro leagues including future contract extensions

- For Euro transfers that are already occurring for the 2018-19 season, I am moving the players to their 2018-19 club but loaning them back for 17-18 to the team they really played for. This should mimic real life pretty well and will let me transition the database to an official 2018-19 season database with relative ease by removing the loans.

- Players that have been released in Europe (again, the major leagues) but have not signed with a new team will remain with their 2017-18 club with contract ending in April '18.

- Retired players like Ehrhoff, Huet, etc have been retired however.

- YUUUGE update to the NCAA and feeder leagues. Besides actual NHL transfers (sorry, Daniel Brickley now signs with LA in May '18 - can't sign him for an expansion team) - I have added EVERY SINGLE 2018-19 NCAA commit as of today (30.3.18) to every Division 1 NCAA school. There are now over 800 future commits for 18-19 (and well beyond) in the extra config file...and players are rated and for the most part scouted a bit so it's not just a bunch of guys input with "0" for CA/PA. This has also hugely increased the player pool in feeder leagues like the USHL, NAHL, NCDC, BCHL, AJHL, OJHL, even prep hockey in Minnesota and New England etc, etc. So those leagues should feel more "real" now and the amount of prospects funneling into the NCAA should now keep the NCAA schools pretty full for at least a 3-4 year period (before the game, naturally, and frustratingly) begins to ignore the NCAA and NCAA feeder leagues with regens. My goal is to get every single commit (beyond 18-19) put into the game and committed to school which will take the list to nearly 1200 future committed NCAA players.

- Also the crop of '02 USNTDP commits have been added to the USNTDP along with a bunch more '02 Americans and quite a few more Canadians to start to fill out the OHL, QMJHL and WHL bantam drafts (the WHL is actually for '03s). Again, these are not "0" CA/PA guys just randomly added - for the most part these are top young players who, if you search hard enough, you can find some early scouting reports on and even mock CHL bantam drafts. This is just a start though, it's hardly comprehensive but it is very hard to find scouting reports and even DOB and vitals for kids who are 13, 14, 15 years-old.

 

[Matt UK]

Yeah I am pretty sure multiple cores doesnt matter as EHM is not a multi-core optimized, so yeah something with a higher clock speed is better than one with more cores but lower clock speed for sure. If it did one day support multi-threading...oh boy that would be amazing for sim speeds.

Don't know a great deal about computer specs etc but this must be why Football Manager, a bigger game with larger database can run quicker than EHM.

I'd love to be able to load up all the main European leagues but it's just too slow processing.

I'm seriously considering making the switch to FHM, support and progress in the game just seems to have dried up (I know it's only Riz doing it in his free time) but the game isn't progressing and is becoming outdated.

 

[xECK29x]

Download: Dropbox - xECK29x-Rosters-v2.3.8.1.zip

-----

Quick Fix: I must have missed putting the year amount for Colgiano's contract extension to fix this open extra_config and look for this line: "CONTRACT_EXTENSION" "Andrew" "Cogliano" "Anaheim Ducks" 3250000 and add " 3" to the end of it

"CONTRACT_EXTENSION" "Andrew" "Cogliano" "Anaheim Ducks" 3250000 3

-----

Ok everyone, thank you first and foremost for your patience, although the crashing SUCKED it helped identify some interesting things about National Teams in the game. This release has been tested using automated quick sims with the NHL, AHL and ECHL selected and I have had minimal crashing (sometimes in mid-Feburary or late December). Please ensure you have ROLLING SAVES enabled in your game, sometimes you are able to sim through crash events by choosing an older game (upwards of a month back from the event) and just keep trying to sim past it.

Here is 2.3.8, it's a fixed release with the following:

- Fixed crashing in mid-July 2018 caused by staff assignments to National Teams
- Updated transactions for multiple leagues - a lot of ELCs from college UFAs/prospects turning pro - This means a few teams are over 50 contracts to start, the AI will cut some low-quality AHL players
- Fixed some rookie status (McDavid/Mantha/Schwartz etc.), i hope, this is actually an EHM bug but I was sure to go back in the DB and ensure the season accrual counts were proper, if you see others please report them!
- Added Colorado Thunderbirds Bantam (Tier 1 Elite Bantam Major)
- Added Omaha Lancers AAA Bantam and created HPHL Bantam Major (will be adding more teams)
- A bunch of other little fixes/updates here and there

- Updated Calgary Flames (incl. Stockton/Adirondack) and Philadelphia Flyers (incl. Lehigh Valley/Reading)

To-Do:

-- To do in NA:

-- Finish remaining NHL teams (w/ AHL/ECHL affiliates) that need history updates and refreshes (only a few remaining)
--- Create MassSelect league (Retire Empire Junior B)
--- Fix USNDP
--- Fix OMAHA
--- Add Upper Midwest HS Elite League Hockey (UMHSEHL)
--- Add MidWEST Prep league (might not be do-able)
--- Update AYHL (U16/U18/bantam)
--- Add California High School Hockey
--- Create teams for Tier 1 and HPHL Bantam tiers
--- Add missing Tier 1 and HPHL Teams
--- Prep for 2018 start date

-- To-Do for Europe:

--- Start updating leagues (will post a poll on TBL)

 

[francis246]

Download: Dropbox - xECK29x-Rosters-v2.3.8.zip

-----

Quick Fix: I must have missed putting the year amount for Colgiano's contract extension to fix this open extra_config and look for this line: "CONTRACT_EXTENSION" "Andrew" "Cogliano" "Anaheim Ducks" 3250000 and add " 3" to the end of it

"CONTRACT_EXTENSION" "Andrew" "Cogliano" "Anaheim Ducks" 3250000 3

-----

Ok everyone, thank you first and foremost for your patience, although the crashing SUCKED it helped identify some interesting things about National Teams in the game. This release has been tested using automated quick sims with the NHL, AHL and ECHL selected and I have had minimal crashing (sometimes in mid-Feburary or late December). Please ensure you have ROLLING SAVES enabled in your game, sometimes you are able to sim through crash events by choosing an older game (upwards of a month back from the event) and just keep trying to sim past it.

Here is 2.3.8, it's a fixed release with the following:

- Fixed crashing in mid-July 2018 caused by staff assignments to National Teams
- Updated transactions for multiple leagues - a lot of ELCs from college UFAs/prospects turning pro - This means a few teams are over 50 contracts to start, the AI will cut some low-quality AHL players
- Fixed some rookie status (McDavid/Mantha/Schwartz etc.), i hope, this is actually an EHM bug but I was sure to go back in the DB and ensure the season accrual counts were proper, if you see others please report them!
- Added Colorado Thunderbirds Bantam (Tier 1 Elite Bantam Major)
- Added Omaha Lancers AAA Bantam and created HPHL Bantam Major (will be adding more teams)
- A bunch of other little fixes/updates here and there

- Updated Calgary Flames (incl. Stockton/Adirondack) and Philadelphia Flyers (incl. Lehigh Valley/Reading)

To-Do:

-- To do in NA:

-- Finish remaining NHL teams (w/ AHL/ECHL affiliates) that need history updates and refreshes (only a few remaining)
--- Create MassSelect league (Retire Empire Junior B)
--- Fix USNDP
--- Fix OMAHA
--- Add Upper Midwest HS Elite League Hockey (UMHSEHL)
--- Add MidWEST Prep league (might not be do-able)
--- Update AYHL (U16/U18/bantam)
--- Add California High School Hockey
--- Create teams for Tier 1 and HPHL Bantam tiers
--- Add missing Tier 1 and HPHL Teams
--- Prep for 2018 start date

-- To-Do for Europe:

--- Start updating leagues (will post a poll on TBL)

amazing! I look forward to doing the new superstar with this roster

 

[xECK29x]

Hey guys I found some moderate issues with that last release (Nathan McKinnon loosing all his ratings being one). I made a quick fix here: Dropbox - xECK29x-Rosters-v2.3.8.1.zip

Thanks to @Moses Doughty for pointing out that issue!

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Don't know a great deal about computer specs etc but this must be why Football Manager, a bigger game with larger database can run quicker than EHM.

I'd love to be able to load up all the main European leagues but it's just too slow processing.

I'm seriously considering making the switch to FHM, support and progress in the game just seems to have dried up (I know it's only Riz doing it in his free time) but the game isn't progressing and is becoming outdated.

Kind of hard to progress with the game when there is only one man doing the whole game.

Football Manager has an entire team and staff to develop and keep this game ‘fresh’, and even Motorsport Manager as well has a team of developers to keep the game going. I don’t understand why or what deserves the lack of ‘respect’ towards the game. I’m grateful what Riz does, and always will, just sucks to see that this game has such potential, just wish he had some help!

 

[Moses Doughty]

Hey guys I found some moderate issues with that last release (Nathan McKinnon loosing all his ratings being one). I made a quick fix here: Dropbox - xECK29x-Rosters-v2.3.8.1.zip

Thanks to @Moses Doughty for pointing out that issue!

I feel flattered

 

[Darkauron]

Kind of hard to progress with the game when there is only one man doing the whole game.

Football Manager has an entire team and staff to develop and keep this game ‘fresh’, and even Motorsport Manager as well has a team of developers to keep the game going. I don’t understand why or what deserves the lack of ‘respect’ towards the game. I’m grateful what Riz does, and always will, just sucks to see that this game has such potential, just wish he had some help!

Yeah exactly. And even as pretty much a one man team, it is so much better than FHM and any other hockey manager on the market by far. Along with a better community.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

I don’t understand why or what deserves the lack of ‘respect’ towards the game.

Sheer, cold numbers.

 

[Matt UK]

Kind of hard to progress with the game when there is only one man doing the whole game.

Football Manager has an entire team and staff to develop and keep this game ‘fresh’, and even Motorsport Manager as well has a team of developers to keep the game going. I don’t understand why or what deserves the lack of ‘respect’ towards the game. I’m grateful what Riz does, and always will, just sucks to see that this game has such potential, just wish he had some help!

Sorry, I don't think I am showing a lack of respect to the game, I've bought it and played it for many years. It's just my opinion that I find the development of the game frustrating - and yes, I completely appreciate how much of a challenge it must be for one person to carry the game - and it's also my opinion that some of the screens and usability features are a little dated. I don't think there's anything disrespectful or out of order about that.

FWIW, I actually bought FHM4 this weekend, but just can't get into it the same so am back starting a new game on EHM.

 

[filip85]

Sheer, cold numbers.

When you sold around 150.000 copies you should expect at least more regular updates if not whole new game. Checking steam spy I noticed that game with much less sold copies experienced new releases.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Honestly, I still love and play the game, probably more than any other. But there are still some big issues still present that badly hurt the long-term playability (and replayability):
1) Goalie regens suck...even if they have great blocker/glove, either their Reflexes or Rebound Control will suck, and as someone who did some testing said, their low skating hurts their abilities (not sure how). By late 2020s, the best goalies are around .900 SV%
2) It seems like the further you go, the longer young players take to develop. I've got a guy with 190 PA drafted in 2024 I think, got great coaches, and after 4 years he's still only a CA 130 (started around 110). You have to look 3-4 years back to see any of the top 10 draft picks even in the NHL (and very few with any success).

Whenever those bugs get worked out, I'll probably play again. I've really wanted to pick up an NHL team and try to make a squad out of players outside the big 6 (USA, CAN, SWE, FIN, RUS, CZE)

 

[archibalduk]

When you sold around 150.000 copies you should expect at least more regular updates if not whole new game. Checking steam spy I noticed that game with much less sold copies experienced new releases.

I don't think there is any requirement under Steam that a game must undergo regular updates or a whole new game if it meets certain figures (or at all). The reality is that SI Games apparently do not consider it commercially viable to make a full comeback (regardless of what any of us here may think or wish). Hence it is a hobby project run by one man in his spare time. Infrequent updates is still way better than where we were between 2007-2015.

The games you found on Steam Spy may well have been with more than one developer working in his spare time between other commitments. Plus it really depends what game you're looking at - you cannot compare spending 2 hours' dev time on Candy Crush Saga with 2 hours' dev time on a sports sim.

I could understand people being frustrated if the game were still in early access or we'd paid £40 for a new release. But neither of these are true.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

When you sold around 150.000 copies you should expect at least more regular updates if not whole new game. Checking steam spy I noticed that game with much less sold copies experienced new releases.

Msm has much more sells

 

[Moses Doughty]

Honestly, I still love and play the game, probably more than any other. But there are still some big issues still present that badly hurt the long-term playability (and replayability):

2) It seems like the further you go, the longer young players take to develop. I've got a guy with 190 PA drafted in 2024 I think, got great coaches, and after 4 years he's still only a CA 130 (started around 110). You have to look 3-4 years back to see any of the top 10 draft picks even in the NHL (and very few with any success).

You do realize people are not guaranteed to reach their PA right? They may have a high PA but if everyone reached their PAs in EHM every team would have a McDavid quality player. And IDK what roster you use but usually the top 5 play within the next 2 years

 

[Darkauron]

You do realize people are not guaranteed to reach their PA right? They may have a high PA but if everyone reached their PAs in EHM every team would have a McDavid quality player. And IDK what roster you use but usually the top 5 play within the next 2 years

Yeah not everyone reaches their potential..it is just like real life. They could have a ton of skills and could be on track to be that kinda of person in game, but not everyone develops. It is realistic and I really love the system.

Also I have had a ton of games after the first few years generating absolutely STUDS from drafts. Ive had a veniza caliber goailes in his first year in the nhl and Norris trophy competing dmen as well.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

When you sold around 150.000 copies you should expect at least more regular updates if not whole new game. Checking steam spy I noticed that game with much less sold copies experienced new releases.

Again, Its not ‘easy’ to have one guy do all the work, some of these games have more than one developer that isn’t tied up to another project full-time.

I don't think there is any requirement under Steam that a game must undergo regular updates or a whole new game if it meets certain figures (or at all). The reality is that SI Games apparently do not consider it commercially viable to make a full comeback (regardless of what any of us here may think or wish). Hence it is a hobby project run by one man in his spare time. Infrequent updates is still way better than where we were between 2007-2015.

The games you found on Steam Spy may well have been with more than one developer working in his spare time between other commitments. Plus it really depends what game you're looking at - you cannot compare spending 2 hours' dev time on Candy Crush Saga with 2 hours' dev time on a sports sim.

I could understand people being frustrated if the game were still in early access or we'd paid £40 for a new release. But neither of these are true.

Great point, I’m just glad the game has been revamped and updated, instead of the old 2006/2007 look.

Honestly, I still love and play the game, probably more than any other. But there are still some big issues still present that badly hurt the long-term playability (and replayability):
1) Goalie regens suck...even if they have great blocker/glove, either their Reflexes or Rebound Control will suck, and as someone who did some testing said, their low skating hurts their abilities (not sure how). By late 2020s, the best goalies are around .900 SV%
2) It seems like the further you go, the longer young players take to develop. I've got a guy with 190 PA drafted in 2024 I think, got great coaches, and after 4 years he's still only a CA 130 (started around 110). You have to look 3-4 years back to see any of the top 10 draft picks even in the NHL (and very few with any success).

Whenever those bugs get worked out, I'll probably play again. I've really wanted to pick up an NHL team and try to make a squad out of players outside the big 6 (USA, CAN, SWE, FIN, RUS, CZE)

I haven’t had this goalie issue everyone keeps talking about. Maybe it’s because I added players during the starting configuration. I had a star Swedish goalie come out of the 3rd round in 2020, while Henrik Lundqvist is still kicking away for the Rangers.

My only gripe right now is having Russian prospects come over. I (think) I found an Ilya Kovalchuk regen who was drafted 2nd overall by Detroit in 2022. He was not given a contract, and he’s stayed in Russia ever since. Why doesn’t the game allow me to give over 975,000 for three years? I tried every bonus possible and it still doesn’t work. He’s currently with SKA making well over 2 million. Why am I not able to give him a higher salary??

 

[WreckingCrew]

You do realize people are not guaranteed to reach their PA right? They may have a high PA but if everyone reached their PAs in EHM every team would have a McDavid quality player. And IDK what roster you use but usually the top 5 play within the next 2 years

Using TBL 9.6 (I've been running this save off and on for a while now)...and I'm well aware that not everybody reaches their potential, I've been playing this game since 2007 (and it obviously happens plenty in real life). What strikes me as odd is that 4 years later, he's still probably the best prospect from that class, and other than a few guys playing in the NHL who shouldn't be, nobody is anything beyond a decent AHLer. There hasn't been a player in the past 5-6 drafts (around 2030 now) who has stepped right into the NHL after being drafted. Maybe I just need to go ahead and start a new game with TBL 10.1 and see if it works any better?

My only gripe right now is having Russian prospects come over. I (think) I found an Ilya Kovalchuk regen who was drafted 2nd overall by Detroit in 2022. He was not given a contract, and he’s stayed in Russia ever since. Why doesn’t the game allow me to give over 975,000 for three years? I tried every bonus possible and it still doesn’t work. He’s currently with SKA making well over 2 million. Why am I not able to give him a higher salary??

I've had this happen in my game several times as well. Basically, you offer them a contract, they reject (want more money), you maintain their rights until they're like 28 or something, but they can only come to the NHL on an ELC (first)...so you can't offer them more than that (and understandably they don't want to take less money)

 

[Moses Doughty]

Using TBL 9.6 (I've been running this save off and on for a while now)...and I'm well aware that not everybody reaches their potential, I've been playing this game since 2007 (and it obviously happens plenty in real life). What strikes me as odd is that 4 years later, he's still probably the best prospect from that class, and other than a few guys playing in the NHL who shouldn't be, nobody is anything beyond a decent AHLer. There hasn't been a player in the past 5-6 drafts (around 2030 now) who has stepped right into the NHL after being drafted. Maybe I just need to go ahead and start a new game with TBL 10.1 and see if it works any better?

It could be a roster thing, haven’t used 10.1 yet but any of the rosters I use now haven’t had an issue like that. But it also could be an issue where the older guys were staying too good for too long, I kind of remember someone did test on a roster, maybe on 9.6, to see why younger guys weren’t coming in

And agreed with what you said about the Russian prospects, if you let them get a second contract they never want to come over for less money because of the ELC max

 

[francis246]

Using TBL 9.6 (I've been running this save off and on for a while now)...and I'm well aware that not everybody reaches their potential, I've been playing this game since 2007 (and it obviously happens plenty in real life). What strikes me as odd is that 4 years later, he's still probably the best prospect from that class, and other than a few guys playing in the NHL who shouldn't be, nobody is anything beyond a decent AHLer. There hasn't been a player in the past 5-6 drafts (around 2030 now) who has stepped right into the NHL after being drafted. Maybe I just need to go ahead and start a new game with TBL 10.1 and see if it works any better?


I've had this happen in my game several times as well. Basically, you offer them a contract, they reject (want more money), you maintain their rights until they're like 28 or something, but they can only come to the NHL on an ELC (first)...so you can't offer them more than that (and understandably they don't want to take less money)

You can release their rights and try your luck with them as UFA's