Eastside Hockey Manager - Part IX Maybe 1.5 Edition?

[archibalduk]

Currently playable (but rough) in my 00DB:
AHL/IHL/ECHL/UHL, All three CHL leagues, (USHL built but not tested), RSL, SM-Liiga, SEL. Working on DEL and whatever the right name for the British leagues were. Swiss league is builtish.

Anything else that might get some usage? Constantly tinkering with the NHL ratings and future prospects.

I imagine Elite Prospects has you covered, but give me a shout if you need any details on the league structures, etc. IIRC I have the UK Ice Hockey annual book for either that season or a year or so before which should have some details.

 

[archibalduk]

@BKarchitect - Here's an early draft of the Generator: Release 1.0.0-beta.1 · archibalduk/EHM_Jersey_Generator (github.com)

If you follow the link above, you'll see a link under the "Assets" section for "EHM.Jersey.Generator.v1.0.0-beta.1.zip". Click on that link and it will download.

It's very rudimentary at the moment. All it does is let you select a name, number and colour scheme. You can click on the Preview button to preview the image in the Generator and/or click on the Save As button to export the image as a .png file.

The jersey style isn't yet editable but I'll add that to the next release. I'll also add some options to adjust the text and number positions up and down. I haven't yet finessed the text and number positions, so they're not perfectly centred vertically. They are however centred horizontally.

 

[BKarchitect]

@BKarchitect - Here's an early draft of the Generator: Release 1.0.0-beta.1 · archibalduk/EHM_Jersey_Generator (github.com)

If you follow the link above, you'll see a link under the "Assets" section for "EHM.Jersey.Generator.v1.0.0-beta.1.zip". Click on that link and it will download.

It's very rudimentary at the moment. All it does is let you select a name, number and colour scheme. You can click on the Preview button to preview the image in the Generator and/or click on the Save As button to export the image as a .png file.

The jersey style isn't yet editable but I'll add that to the next release. I'll also add some options to adjust the text and number positions up and down. I haven't yet finessed the text and number positions, so they're not perfectly centred vertically. They are however centred horizontally.

Works like a charm - a few things:

1) Wondering what we do if the name is really long. I don't think the name font wants to be any smaller by default though. This may be too complicated but is there any way to tell it to shrink the font size when the name falls past a given point or a certain numbers of characters has been passed?

2) This font does not seem to do well with special characters. I think this font looks good as you can see on LWL with a kind of "jersey" feel but do we need to pick a more robust font or is there a way to tell it to replace special characters with a simplified letter?

 

[37 others]

Getting the font to render nicely has been a bit of a hassle but I'm there now. It's not the font per se, but rather the manner in which the font is being rendered. It looks too bold, even with the lowest font weight. Anyhow, the solution is to draw the text at a larger size and then shrink it down.

I just wanted to check - what image dimensions are the jersey images you have used for your game? It looks something like 165 x 170. I think the game allows up to 200 x 200 and I'm wondering whether it's worth using the full space or if there's a specific reason to go slightly smaller like you have. I'm thinking of using the maximum space possible as it will allow a little more jersey detail.

I do 157x200 for facepics but if the jersey image is a square you might as well use the entire space.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

@37 others are you able to do a tutorial on how to get your facepack to work? I’m a bit tech illiterate lol .

the Facepack or Jersey Generator would elevate the game even more. It would make international hockey Look really sleek

 

[archibalduk]

1) Wondering what we do if the name is really long. I don't think the name font wants to be any smaller by default though. This may be too complicated but is there any way to tell it to shrink the font size when the name falls past a given point or a certain numbers of characters has been passed?

I have been wondering this too. It's easy enough to detect how long the text is but it's what to do when a long name is encountered. As you say, we would probably struggle to make the font smaller. Maybe we can just split the name text across two lines but that's likely going to look a bit weird if the split is mid-word. I think this needs a bit more thought.

2) This font does not seem to do well with special characters. I think this font looks good as you can see on LWL with a kind of "jersey" feel but do we need to pick a more robust font or is there a way to tell it to replace special characters with a simplified letter?

That's a good point. It seems that the font simply doesn't support anything beyond A-Z, 0-9 and some common punctuation-type characters. I had a very brief search for sports and hockey fonts at dafont.com and it seems many do not support accented characters (at least, based on the font previews shown on dafont.com). However, these two do: Sports World Font | dafont.com & Octin Sports Free Font | dafont.com

I think the solution is to allow a choice of fonts and, where the chosen font does not support accented characters, all accents are stripped out to leave an unaccented character.

As an aside, I also quite like the old school EA NHL font here: Ice Hockey Font | dafont.com

I do 157x200 for facepics but if the jersey image is a square you might as well use the entire space.

Thanks! I ended up using the full 200px height but the jersey is actually 190px high with a 10px transparent gap at the top. It seems to make it look consistent with the face images. I think the jersey images are 184px wide so they're not all that different from the face images.

 

[37 others]

@37 others are you able to do a tutorial on how to get your facepack to work? I’m a bit tech illiterate lol .

the Facepack or Jersey Generator would elevate the game even more. It would make international hockey Look really sleek

Well the facepack is available on the Steam Workshop (although its broken up into parts for manageable file sizes), so it should work without any tinkering. Are you subscribed to the pack(s)?

 

[bashbros32]

@xECK29x I have run into a very interesting bug using your most recent Seattle database.

I'm in the year 2025/2026 and my AHL team just went 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs and got eliminated...

 

[xECK29x]

@xECK29x I have run into a very interesting bug using your most recent Seattle database.

I'm in the year 2025/2026 and my AHL team just went 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs and got eliminated...

Can you send me the save, looks like a game bug for sure, database wouldn't control the outcome of games like that, really weird!

 

[archibalduk]

I've tried a few more fonts but I haven't been able to get accents working consistently (see example below where only the "AE" character is working). It might be that the Generator is cropping the top and bottom of the text. I'll try to do some more digging tomorrow.

P.s. ignore the text misalignment and the erroneous "Text Positioning" title above the font selection drop-down.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

The GUH exists in addition to those leagues


As Archi noted on TBL's main page:

The database features a three tiered Global United Hockey league system with a total of 90 teams across 90 different nations and players from over 130 different nations. The NHL, AHL and ECHL and have all additionally been expanded to 40 teams each.

Here is a brief run-down of each GUH tier:
Global United Hockey Master League: 24 teams, Gold, Silver, Bronze medals to the top 3 teams in a 16 team playoff, 8 team relegation playout, with the last place demoted to Diamond League.
Global United Hockey Diamond League: 36 Teams, Gold (gets promoted to Master League), Silver, Bronze medals to top 3 teams in a 32 playoff format. 4 team relegation playout, with last place demoted to Platinum League.
Global United Hockey Platinum League: 30 Teams, Gold (gets promoted to Diamond League), Silver, Bronze medals to top 3 teams in 16 team playoff format.

Ideawithoutamind goes on to explain that he has added over 26,000 players spanning over 131 countries. The GUH teams lie somewhere between the NHL and the KHL, so many of the NHL holdouts and stalled prospects head to the GUH.

In addition to the GUH, many of these players make their appearances in an extended World Championship and World Junior Championship tournament which allow more international teams to compete and with an aggressive promotion/relegation system

In addition to the playable leagues, each GUH team has one minor league affiliate and two levels of junior affiliates

This DB is so much fun!! Highly recommend

 

[Treb]

This DB is so much fun!! Highly recommend

It's interesting to be sure. A bit weirded out by the amount of quality players though.

 

[archibalduk]

A bit more progress with the Jersey Generator:

- Additional fonts (in .ttf format) can be added to the Generator by placing them in the "extra_fonts" sub-folder;
- I've added a two-tone effect option so that you can get a similar shine/two-tone jersey style as the LWL jerseys; and
- The text can be resized and moved around as different fonts have different default sizes and spacing.

I think it's just a case of adding the option to select different jersey designs or .svg files and then it should be ready to test. I can then work on the batch import and generation aspect.

 

[Beef Cake]

Archi you're the EHM glue.

Amazing work.

 

[GloryDaze4877]

@xECK29x I realize that the ratings updates are an entirely thankless task, and everyone has a beef about some player. That said, is there some reason why a guy like Pavel Zacha is only rated as a 124?

Sixth overall pick, been a regular since age 19, scored between 24-32 points every year, plays on the PP and PK, and has averaged over 16 min TOI per game the last 2+ years. This year he's the Devils leading scorer with 5g/7a in 15 games. I am not a NJ fan, but I look at this player rating and am wondering why he's rated like a borderline NHL player?

Thanks for your time.

 

[xECK29x]

@xECK29x I realize that the ratings updates are an entirely thankless task, and everyone has a beef about some player. That said, is there some reason why a guy like Pavel Zacha is only rated as a 124?

Sixth overall pick, been a regular since age 19, scored between 24-32 points every year, plays on the PP and PK, and has averaged over 16 min TOI per game the last 2+ years. This year he's the Devils leading scorer with 5g/7a in 15 games. I am not a NJ fan, but I look at this player rating and am wondering why he's rated like a borderline NHL player?

Thanks for your time.

He's one that I've already bumped, but he was from all accounts trending towards busting vs his draft position. 124 has him as a bottom sixer, not a borderline NHLer and he had upside to be a middle 6 player.

He has been bumped to a solid 3rd liner with potential to be a top 6 player.

 

[BKarchitect]

Ahh the never ending process of rating players to satisfy people. It’s funny because Zacha is a guy who is on a nice little heater with points but I don’t see a top 6 player there ever, at all...points or not.

Just goes to show you can never really satisfy everybody. Lol.

 

[dellzor]

S% of 17.9 this season when his career is 10% (means he should have 1-2 fewer goals) has a PDO of 102.7 which is bound to regress. He's at most a middle top 9 player who can maybe fill top 6 roles due to injuries and isn't a top 6 forward on contending teams. Also his xGF this season (even with his hot streak) is 6.76 which is 356th amongst skaters (if you add in min TOI of 150 minutes) it's 257th amongst skaters and he has an xGF% of 47.73 (below 50 is bad). So in conclusion, he's on a hot streak, his underlying numbers don't support his current numbers and the Devils get outscored when he's on the ice.

Edit: Forgot some things.

 

[WhalerTurnedBruin55]

@WreckingCrew Thanks! - I'm trying to introduce some other tweaks and modifications to the NHLX series to keep it fresh and as a different experience. I think your comment about opt-outs are more relevant to the Pivot and TBL rosters - NHLX is a different animal and so I'm not really paying attention to much to any temporary changes IRL. I do think @xECK29x said he was ignoring them as it just isn't worth updating for this shortened, weird season.

- With the introduction of a "Canadian" division in real-life and some talk of keeping that around (which - I still doubt but you never know)...I'm thinking that will be the setup in NHLX. It works perfect because in NHLX I am relocating Arizona to Quebec City to bring back the Nordiques. So that evens out all the divisions at 8.

- NHLX will feature the new NHL2 league as the main feeder league to the NHL. 16 teams in some of the biggest non-NHL markets and top AHL markets that will each be fed by two NHL clubs. It's an NHL-dependent league so it's only players with NHL contracts. They will be the primary farm clubs and the age limit is lowered to 18 so top notch draft picks who maybe are too good for juniors but not yet NHL-ready do end up playing here. You can think of it almost as an expanded "taxi squad" for each team except it's an actual competitive league. I've tried managing it some and it's kinda fun - you are at the mercy of the parent NHL clubs to some degree but with 2 NHL clubs supplying each NHL2 team and no bad, riff-raff AHL contract players in sight, the level of competition is high and it is fully-fledged with an All-Star game, playoffs and awards.

- AHL and ECHL are merged and then divided into two minor leagues - one based in the Eastern US, one based in the West. This will cut down travel expenses for these clubs. The AHL-East and AHL-West will remain the top independent leagues in North America outside the NHL and each NHL franchise will still have an AHL-based secondary farm club to store their lesser prospects and depth players who can't cut it at the NHL2 level yet.

- The Coyotes are in the game still - but demoted to the NHL2. I'm bringing back their fun kachina-style 90's logos and colors though.

- Charlotte are one the NHL2 clubs...while I have re-attached the Hurricanes as one of their feeder clubs, I can definitely switch their identity back to their more independent ECHL days.

- Will probably also tweak a few NHL club "looks" based on some of their retro or retro-reverse gear. I'm definitely switching the Wild logos and colors to the version used in this season's Retro Reverse look - with the old North Stars colors. Might be a few others as well.

I released the Global United Hockey last week on the Blue Line, but your databases have have been great and a good inspiration to mine. Definitely looking forward to your updates, it looks very exciting as well! If you need any game testers, let me know!

 

[WhalerTurnedBruin55]

FYI - TBLer ideawithoutamind has created a "Global United Hockey DB" that is avaialble over at TBL now.

There are details in the front page post Global United Hockey DB Released – The Blue Line and here's the thread for the database Global United Hockey & North American Expansion 40 - EHM The Blue Line

What is described is really, really impressive

That's me! I somehow just found this thread, thanks for the shout outs!

 

[dellzor]

Out of curiosity, what facepack is everyone using? :O Just want to see the best options

 

[Beef Cake]

Out of curiosity, what facepack is everyone using? :O Just want to see the best options

Aahlstroems action packs and NPF's generated face packs, + I create my own as I go.

 

[xECK29x]

Aahlstroems action packs and NPF's generated face packs, + I create my own as I go.

Same here, I do have some of those odds and ends euro packs also.

 

[member 96824]

Ahh the never ending process of rating players to satisfy people. It’s funny because Zacha is a guy who is on a nice little heater with points but I don’t see a top 6 player there ever, at all...points or not.

Just goes to show you can never really satisfy everybody. Lol.

IMO Zacha got overrated in the pack. 116 tops!

 

[GloryDaze4877]

He's one that I've already bumped, but he was from all accounts trending towards busting vs his draft position. 124 has him as a bottom sixer, not a borderline NHLer and he had upside to be a middle 6 player.

He has been bumped to a solid 3rd liner with potential to be a top 6 player.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer. This isn’t about busting your ass over ratings. I was just hoping you could shed some light on how you come up with the ratings. I thought maybe you had some sort of formula or template you used and was wondering why players with similar stat lines were rated very differently. Thanks