Franchise Hockey Manager 4 - Part 2

[KnightAttack]

Hello,
I wonder if we can make a simulated league to play in groups like FHM2?

Are you talking Multiplayer? Because that is not in FHM4.

@KnightAttack - on OOTP forums I reported some bugs regarding not getting an achievement in Montreal and Toronto historical challenges, and I got no reply ?! Can you help me here ? It is almost that these two bugs are preventing me from completing all historical challenges.

It's not that we're not replying, it's more we're not exactly sure why it's happening. To be clear, we're hard at work on our latest version, and we're still trying to figure out what happened with the Achievements. Some of them are just not triggering right, and we don't know why. It's at a point where we're looking at triggers/lines of code one by one to see if we can figure it out right now. It's a slow process. I wish I could give you better news, but that's where it's at right now.

 

[FerrisRox]

A couple issues I have:
-Around 2022 a lot of top prospects become UFAs having never signed their ELCs. A lot of 3 star players +
-Trading is mostly pretty good, but it still can be too easy to get top prospects or players, and maybe too tough to trade for someone who is on the trade block (but obviously I could just not abuse the system lol)

The issue I have, and the reason I don't play it anymore is this: If you don't handle the coaching yourself, the game is very difficult to take seriously.

I cannot tell you how many times the "computer" coach will play guys out of position and assemble lines that make no sense. I've gone out and acquired a first line scoring winger because my team has trouble putting the puck in the net only to have my coach slot him in on the fourth line. Really weak down the middle? Okay, go out and acquire a top six center, and then have the coaching staff slot him in on the wing instead. One and a half-star grinder? Coaching staff puts him and leaves your three star player as a healthy scratch.

Fed up, I fire the coaching staff and hire the best coach I can find. New coach comes in and does... the exact same thing.

A year or so ago, I brought this up on the official boards for the game and I was told they were aware of it and it was going to be addressed in an upcoming patch. It wasn't, though they claimed it was. It just ruins the game to have such nonsensical decisions made.

For the Montreal Canadiens, I made a trade to acquire Nazem Kadri to give them a viable option at center. He never played above the third line with three different coaches. One of Jonathan Drouin or Alex Galchenyuk was also alternating as the fourth line wingers for reasons unknown. The coach repeatedly scratched a 3-star defenseman and played a Laval call up who was a one star defenseman until I finally bought out the contract of the minor leaguer (who ran up a -18 in a short amount of time) only to have the coach then call up some other AHLer and slot him (on the first pairing)

That stuff was so frustrating, I just stopped playing. Not to mention, you can't really do a "career" as a GM because it only works for about five seasons and then the free agent pool is flooded with first round draft picks that mysteriously don't sign with their teams so only a fool can't build a dynasty out of that. Stranger yet, it seems I'm the only one interested in signing these 22 year old guys that project to be three or four star players. They mysteriously sit on the free agent pile for ages.

 

[FerrisRox]

I'm in 2022 and Yamamoto, Vilardi, Valimaki and Jokiharju are all UFA's and 23 or less years old. 12 Players under 23 with 3-Star potential or higher are UFA's.

Not just UFAs, UFA's that other teams seem uninterested in. You always have the pick of the litter and just meeting their ask means you get whoever you want.

 

[KnightAttack]

The issue I have, and the reason I don't play it anymore is this: If you don't handle the coaching yourself, the game is very difficult to take seriously.

I cannot tell you how many times the "computer" coach will play guys out of position and assemble lines that make no sense. I've gone out and acquired a first line scoring winger because my team has trouble putting the puck in the net only to have my coach slot him in on the fourth line. Really weak down the middle? Okay, go out and acquire a top six center, and then have the coaching staff slot him in on the wing instead. One and a half-star grinder? Coaching staff puts him and leaves your three star player as a healthy scratch.

Fed up, I fire the coaching staff and hire the best coach I can find. New coach comes in and does... the exact same thing.

A year or so ago, I brought this up on the official boards for the game and I was told they were aware of it and it was going to be addressed in an upcoming patch. It wasn't, though they claimed it was. It just ruins the game to have such nonsensical decisions made.

For the Montreal Canadiens, I made a trade to acquire Nazem Kadri to give them a viable option at center. He never played above the third line with three different coaches. One of Jonathan Drouin or Alex Galchenyuk was also alternating as the fourth line wingers for reasons unknown. The coach repeatedly scratched a 3-star defenseman and played a Laval call up who was a one star defenseman until I finally bought out the contract of the minor leaguer (who ran up a -18 in a short amount of time) only to have the coach then call up some other AHLer and slot him (on the first pairing)

That stuff was so frustrating, I just stopped playing. Not to mention, you can't really do a "career" as a GM because it only works for about five seasons and then the free agent pool is flooded with first round draft picks that mysteriously don't sign with their teams so only a fool can't build a dynasty out of that. Stranger yet, it seems I'm the only one interested in signing these 22 year old guys that project to be three or four star players. They mysteriously sit on the free agent pile for ages.

The computer coaches is always going to make his line adjustments as he sees fit. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean it's wrong. We've worked out most of the more questionable moves, but if a player isn't fitting a role and another one is, it doesn't make it a bad move. Chemistry between players can actually affect how well they preform, not to mention sometimes people get a little too hung up on the star ratings. It's important, but we're using the full 5 star scale now, so a 1.5 star guy isn't necessarily bad.

However, I will point out I do remember talking to you about some of the issues you were having. We did address it some and are continuing to work to improve it. But we can only fix what we see. We run thousands of tests and hadn't seen any of these issues of the players piling up into Free Agency until just recently, and it's not in every game. The game I stream (which is on one of the oldest builds we have), it has yet to be an issue, so finding out what's causing is something we're still looking into.

While we are yet to talk about our latest version, I will say that part of the focus early in the building of was looking at how to improve tactics. However development is fluid and constantly changing, and I can't really say more on that.

 

[FerrisRox]

The computer coaches is always going to make his line adjustments as he sees fit. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean it's wrong. We've worked out most of the more questionable moves, but if a player isn't fitting a role and another one is, it doesn't make it a bad move. Chemistry between players can actually affect how well they preform, not to mention sometimes people get a little too hung up on the star ratings. It's important, but we're using the full 5 star scale now, so a 1.5 star guy isn't necessarily bad.

However, I will point out I do remember talking to you about some of the issues you were having. We did address it some and are continuing to work to improve it. But we can only fix what we see. We run thousands of tests and hadn't seen any of these issues of the players piling up into Free Agency until just recently, and it's not in every game. The game I stream (which is on one of the oldest builds we have), it has yet to be an issue, so finding out what's causing is something we're still looking into.

While we are yet to talk about our latest version, I will say that part of the focus early in the building of was looking at how to improve tactics. However development is fluid and constantly changing, and I can't really say more on that.

First of all, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

But, respectfully, you can't be serious with your first point. An 82-game season where Jonathan Drouin puts up 13 points because the coach repeatedly uses him on the fourth line is not an issue of "just because I don't agree doesn't mean it's wrong." And it's not a quirk of a particular coach. I cleaned out coaching staffs and had the new staffs do similar things. I had a season where Alex Galchenyuk posted 3 goals in a full season. Do you honestly think that reflects the player, the league or what a coach would do? I also, as I said, I acquired Nazem Kadri for a team that lacked any depth at center only to have him never leave the third line. It simply doesn't make any sense. I started seasons with completely different organizations and ran into similar issues with gifted offensive players slotted into the bottom six and playing minimal minutes. I stoped acquiring fighters altogether because despite wanting to have a brawler on my roster they were routinely given top six minutes for reasons I can't begin to understand.

Finally, I don't understand how you can say you haven't run into this issue with high end young talent piling up in free agency. It's been happening for a long time and I've seen it discussed on your message boards and in this very thread.

I truly appreciate your response and your efforts to improve this game, and I've purchased every incarnation you've made, but these are serious flaws that are game breaking for me and I have no interest in taking over the coaching and tactics in order to have a reasonable reflection of what a roster should be.

 

[KnightAttack]

First of all, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

But, respectfully, you can't be serious with your first point. And 82-game season where Jonathan Drouin puts up 13 points because the coach repeatedly uses him on the fourth line is not an issue of "just because I don't agree doesn't mean it's wrong." And it's not a quirk of a particular coach. I cleaned out coaching staffs and had the new staffs do similar things. I had a season where Alex Galchenyuk posted 3 goals in a full season. Do you honestly think that reflects the player, the league or what a coach would do? I also, as I said, I acquired Nazem Kadri for a team that lacked any depth at center only to have him never leave the third line. It simply doesn't make any sense. I started seasons with completely different organizations and ran into similar issues with gifted offensive players slotted into the bottom six and playing minimal minutes. I stopped acquiring fighters altogether because despite wanting to have a brawler on my roster they were routinely given top six minutes for reasons I can't begin to understand.

One of the hardest parts to program is the AI, and for some reason it acts completely different with a CPU team vs your own team. I'm not making excuses, but some of this was addressed in earlier patches, however not all saved games could be fixed. I should also make a joke about Montreal Coaching here as well, but I'll leave that for now.

Finally, I don't understand how you can say you haven't run into this issue with high end young talent piling up in free agency. It's been happening for a long time and I've seen it discussed on your message boards and in this very thread.

Because the majority of issues we've seen is people incorrectly looking at information. Free Agent Centre by default shows you every available Free Agent. The issue is most people look at it and say "Oh man, look at all these guys being Free Agents" which they are...except 99/100 all those young guys are Restricted Free Agents. You have to filter out RFAs or look on their profiles to see if they are a UFA or RFA. I'm not saying there isn't cases that get through. We've seen the odd one (and sometimes how the AI is Scouting and how you're scouting directly links interest), but when real issues do occur, we need to see the saves because it's often very hard to replicate the issue. If we can't replicate it, we can't fix it.

(Fun Beta Testing Fact here: During the testing of FHM4, I ran about 100 simulations going about 6 years into the future. During 1 of the Simulations, the Season Schedule broke, and suddenly the 2018/2019 Season was going take over 100 years to play. It didn't happen in any other testers game, and only happened in one of mine. I got a good laugh and half contemplated trying to sim the 100 years to see who would finally win the Cup, but decided eventually to move on).

I truly appreciate your response and your efforts to improve this game, and I've purchased every incarnation you've made, but these are serious flaws that are game breaking for me and I have no interest in taking over the coaching and tactics in order to have a reasonable reflection of what a roster should be.

You're free to choose how you wish to play, however there are going to be quirks when you let the AI do more, especially with the Rosters. It doesn't default best player on the top line every time. However, I would be remiss to point out that you could still play the way you want by becoming the Coach, having your AI do everything you want (settings are under the Manager tab), but lineups.

 

[FerrisRox]

Because the majority of issues we've seen is people incorrectly looking at information. Free Agent Centre by default shows you every available Free Agent. The issue is most people look at it and say "Oh man, look at all these guys being Free Agents" which they are...except 99/100 all those young guys are Restricted Free Agents.

These are unqualified players that are unrestricted free agents. I routinely fill out my lines with these high end young players and when some of the develop, I extend them on longer term deals but often they price themselves out after a good season with me, I let them go and simply re-stock my roster with the next batch of high end 21 year olds sitting on the pile. Once I get into the early 2020's, I don't pay much attention to scouting and I don't give a second thought to trading away first rounders because I can stock my club with top ten and top five draft picks that have either never been signed by their club or don't get qualifying offers and become unrestricted free agents.

 

[filip85]

Are you talking Multiplayer? Because that is not in FHM4.



It's not that we're not replying, it's more we're not exactly sure why it's happening. To be clear, we're hard at work on our latest version, and we're still trying to figure out what happened with the Achievements. Some of them are just not triggering right, and we don't know why. It's at a point where we're looking at triggers/lines of code one by one to see if we can figure it out right now. It's a slow process. I wish I could give you better news, but that's where it's at right now.

So there is a hope ? I would be thankfull because I have only few HC's to finish and several other achievements to complete it all

 

[Konnan511]

I wish I could "declare interest" in my prospects playing in the KHL to "let them know" I want to sign them to their ELC. I have amazing prospects taken out of Finland, Sweden, and Russia that I can't sign because they keep re-signing in that league.

 

[pucku33]

You're free to choose how you wish to play, however there are going to be quirks when you let the AI do more, especially with the Rosters. It doesn't default best player on the top line every time. However, I would be remiss to point out that you could still play the way you want by becoming the Coach, having your AI do everything you want (settings are under the Manager tab), but lineups.

I think his issue, and an issue that I have with it as well, is that there is an unfair balance if we are taking over for the AI and making more appropriate lines, as the other AI teams will still have messed up lines and will give us an unfair advantage when playing. I've noticed the game is extremely easy when playing and that's because of the bad AI decisions. Completely took me out of the game as I felt like a god GM against children GMs. I can't speak for others, but competition is why I play games. I like to try to outsmart the opposition and winning generally feels rewarding and deserved. However, with this game, winning is too easy and feels like the ice is too far tilted in my favor to actually enjoy it.

 

[Paul4587]

Any idea when FHM5 will be released? Or when new features will be announced?

 

[KnightAttack]

Any idea when FHM5 will be released? Or when new features will be announced?

We're really close to making an announcement, so watch our Twitter/FB pages.

 

[filip85]

Will FHM 5 have same historical challenges as FHM 4 or diffirent ones ?

 

[KnightAttack]

Will FHM 5 have same historical challenges as FHM 4 or diffirent ones ?

I've personally written a few new ones, but it doesn't look like they will make it into 5, at least not at the start (I mean if 5 exists ).

 

[Static]

I have put over 200 hours into FHM4 and I really enjoy it. However, I cannot stand the goaltending logic in this game. I have John Gibson on my team and he is a 4.5 star goalie who can barely keep his save percentage above .900 over two seasons.

My tactical ratings are consistently higher than my opponent and their inferior goalies consistently outplay mine. It isn't a small sample size or any sort of streak, it's incredibly consistent and it's gotten really, really old.

An extreme case: I am playing a game right now and outshooting the Canucks 53-5 and only winning 2-1. Thatcher Demko is playing in net for Vancouver as a 2.5 star player and routinely outplays Gibson.

I appreciate your guys' hard work in this game and I will continue to enjoy it, but this detail really detracts from what it could be from a realism standpoint as well as a frustration standpoint.

 

[filip85]

Wednesday, September 26th, 10pm Eastern - OOTP Developments Forums

 

[Paul4587]

In addition to the post above me they’ve released a little bit of into in advance of 10pm ET including a release date of 5 October.

https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/newsletters/nl0235/

 

[KnightAttack]

In addition to the post above me they’ve released a little bit of into in advance of 10pm ET including a release date of 5 October.

https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/newsletters/nl0235/

Yeah, a teaser trailer (full trailer still to come) and our first live stream about the game is now up on our YouTube page.

 

[Green Snow Storm]

Yeah, a teaser trailer (full trailer still to come) and our first live stream about the game is now up on our YouTube page.

Love the interface changes, looks more user friendly and way more visually pleasing! Can’t wait to play!

 

[Matt UK]

Loving the fact that the player roles are streamlined, it really put me off FHM 4, tactics also looking more user friendly.

Will be interested to see what happens with those tactical ratings which appear on the in-game screen, feel they are too vague and perhaps unnecessary.

 

[Perceptor]

Hi guys

I just downloaded the beta for FHM 5. Going to give it a real shot but does anyone know how to make facegens appear? I downloaded some packs but they’re not showing up? Thanks guys

 

[Korpse]

Downloaded FHM 5 today. Noticed the Ottawa Senators are missing picks from the Karlsson trade, also noticed Josh Norris is not in the game. Is this something that will be fixed relatively soon?

Also being able to start a game on July 1 is a good idea though it kind of defeats the purpose if rosters are the same as opening night.

Would like to add I am a big fan of the new interface, still getting used to the setup but it is much easier to navigate.

 

[umwoz]

Very disappointed to see elite goalies still getting horrid stats consistently. Vasilevskiy(5 Star) at a .899, Hellebuyck at a .875, Rask .905.

This was my main gripe with FHM4 and it seems exactly the same.

 

[Green Snow Storm]

Very disappointed to see elite goalies still getting horrid stats consistently. Vasilevskiy(5 Star) at a .899, Hellebuyck at a .875, Rask .905.

This was my main gripe with FHM4 and it seems exactly the same.

What makes it worse is all 3 of those are on excellent teams.

 

[KnightAttack]

Hi guys

I just downloaded the beta for FHM 5. Going to give it a real shot but does anyone know how to make facegens appear? I downloaded some packs but they’re not showing up? Thanks guys

Start the game > Settings > Facegen > Enable Facegen. Click it. Make sure they're in your save folder for player pics.

Downloaded FHM 5 today. Noticed the Ottawa Senators are missing picks from the Karlsson trade, also noticed Josh Norris is not in the game. Is this something that will be fixed relatively soon?

Also being able to start a game on July 1 is a good idea though it kind of defeats the purpose if rosters are the same as opening night.

Would like to add I am a big fan of the new interface, still getting used to the setup but it is much easier to navigate.

Whoops, will get the Norris fixed. As for the picks, it's hard for us to do conditional picks because that's what they are. It's maybe best for you to set it yourself in Commissioner Mode.

The July 1st is more for starting with expansion teams or redoing rules. It was a fairly late add and we can't undo the database changes. May be something we consider another year.

Very disappointed to see elite goalies still getting horrid stats consistently. Vasilevskiy(5 Star) at a .899, Hellebuyck at a .875, Rask .905.

This was my main gripe with FHM4 and it seems exactly the same.

In an earlier build, things were going well. In the latest, we've found there's been an issue we've been able to identify and it should be in the official release that should fix the issue.