FHM11 Update 11.4.49 Now Available

[JeffR]

The final content update for FHM11, version 11.4.49, has just been released.

To apply the update:

-If you are playing the FastSpring version, just download the setup file and install it over your current installation. There is no need to uninstall or unlicense your current copy! However, you should quit the game before installing it, of course.
-If you are playing the Steam version, the game will auto-update if you have that option active. If you don't see the update in your Steam update queue, you may need to exit and restart your Steam client.

Download link for PC (FastSpring):
Main server: PC Installer Fastspring

Download link for Mac (FastSpring):
Main Server: Mac Installer Fastspring

FHM11's final content update is here! Rosters have been updated as of the NHL trading deadline (as well as some later signings), we've made some major changes to the way penalties work in 2D mode so leagues and years have their own individual settings, and the International Hockey League completes our set of playable minor leagues in historical mode. We've also added a new set of historical challenges, and spent a lot of time fixing vaious issues with the game. While this will be the last major content addition to the game, it's possible that we may do further hotfixes if the need becomes apparent. But otherwise, we'll now be moving on to the development of FHM12.

Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game. Some fixes, however, are data-dependent and may require starting a new game before you see them.

Additions:

-league and era-specific penalties have been added to 2D mode:

• -every league now has its own set of penalty data instead of one universal one being used everywhere, and the historical league penalties now change on a year-to-year basis (note that the league-specific rules don't work for tournaments for now - we'll be changing that next year, but to get this system working in FHM11 we had to use some temporary workarounds to get around the need to make major structural changes to the database - but those won't work for the tournaments, which will still use the default penalty system)
• -the most noticeable differences will be fights resulting in immediate ejections in all leagues where that rule exists, the addition of a number of new penalties that didn't exist in the default penalty set, and some penalty-expiry rules changing in the historical leagues over time (e.g. prior to 56-57 and the "Canadiens" rule, NHL power plays won't end on a goal)
• -there's probably a lot of detail that can and will be added to the individual league data in the future, particularly if I can find league-specific penalty frequency data, but for now the basics should be there
• -these are penalty changes only, not rule changes, so some things weren't possible to implement yet, e.g. no pre-"Oilers rule" where coincidental minors meant 4-on-4 play before 1985, no restrictions on passing direction as in the early NHL seasons (although there are existing player logic features in those years that affect passing tendencies in some directions and zones), no oddball penalty shot rules from the 1940s, etc.
• -classic engine penalties still work normally (would've been too complex to change right now), but that'll be changing in the future

-the International Hockey League is now playable in historical mode:

• -it covers the 1984-85 to 2000-2001 seasons, the period in which IHL teams were primary NHL affiliates; while the IHL began play in 1945, for the vast majority of its existence it was at best a second-tier minor league, and there's no easy way to have a league's quality of play and economic situation change radically over time, so the early part of the IHL's history isn't included and the league appears as a "new league" in 1984
• -teams that entered the league from the CHL or joined the AHL when the IHL folded will move to/from those leagues
• -everyone who played at least 1 IHL game from 1984 on and wasn't in the database yet has been added; staff have also been added, but the records we had to work with were somewhat limited, so they aren't complete

-added 12 new historical challenges, all for the four new playable minor leagues added this year, with achievements (both in-game and in Steam)
-rosters updated to post-trading deadline status; for most leagues they're up-to-date as of the NHL trading deadline; the NHL player moves are covered up to March 21, including contract extensions
-historical minor league teams now have their proper colours and arenas; there's still some room for improvement here for colour changes that occurred without the team moving and arena name changes over the years, but the generic arenas and black/white colours are all gone; also added some logos for the newer historical leagues so they don't get the generic ones

Other changes and fixes:

-fixed crash with edited historical leagues when new minor leagues become active
-added check to prevent scheduler failure in historical minor leagues when historical editing is turned on
-fixed issue limiting the amount of trading on deadline day, you should see many more trades on that day now
-multiplayer trade shopping attempts will no longer occasionally result in some teams offering the same player twice
-the AI will now distribute its yearly financial points more evenly between categories, instead of neglecting Game Promotions
-chance of a championship team replacing its GM in the offseason drastically reduced
-acquiring a first-round draft pick now has an equivalent fan happiness bonus to the penalty for trading one away
-the group stage will no longer fail to display properly for some international tournaments
-at the start of a new standard game, Utah's unsigned players screen will no longer show some of their (i.e. Arizona's) draft picks having no signing deadline
-adjusted the way player contracts are set up at the start of a game so fewer younger players begin as free agents when they should be NHL-contracted
-the medals in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics should now be awarded in the correct order (had been including the opening round results)
-using the "AI set lineups" feature on a farm team will no longer result in in a lineup screen that includes players on the parent team
-restricted the number of assistant coaches that AI teams can hire
-players in sponsored junior leagues in historical should no longer occasionally get stuck in the league and not depart when their age limit is reached
-changed tooltip on the intervene button to clarify its use
-long team names are no longer cut off in the championship popup
-fixed potential July 1 crash in historical games
-fog of war will now hide player ratings properly (this still needs an overhaul, but it'll have that basic functionality now)
-world database updated to reduce the number of high-potential US players created and increase the number of Canadians and Russians
-players moved off the roster of a human-run farm team by an AI parent will now have their dressed status cleared properly
-adjusted AI tactical tendencies choices to use the higher tempo and shooting options more often
-fixed issue causing the data, trading, and editing screens to hide some draft picks if the user changes the number of draft rounds
-fixed a few issues that were leading to excessive ticket price increases (and corresponding attendance declines)
-fixed issue that was causing 2D game engine crashes during games with low roster sizes, particularly when the rover rule is active
-custom multiplayer games will now clear INT status properly for all players who participated in international tournaments
-custom tournaments that include a defending champion will no longer cause a crash if no one won the tournament in the previous season
-fixed issue with new Abuse of Official penalty that was resulting in 0 PIM being credited to the penalized player
-the Acquire Chemistry owner goal will now only occur if at least two players on the target player's chemistry list are available to be acquired, instead of only one being needed
-increased the frequency of penalties and altercations in 2D mode
-the "Going Up" achievement should now be awarded properly when promoted to the top German league
-if the user reloads a custom game with international tournaments on after returning to the start screen, that will no longer cause the next version of some tournaments to be skipped
-redshirt status will now get cleared properly when a college player is signed by a non-college team
-players contracted to a parent teams will now be untradeable by minor league team in historical mode, as they are in standard games
-fixed some potential instances where play may become frozen in place in 2D mode
-morale penalty for being sent to a minor league team will now clear properly when player is returned to major league roster because the parent has changed farm teams
-fixed problem preventing players from being ejected from the game in 2D mode
-fixed naming error with Cleveland Barons (NHL) jersey files
-added some generic league logos for historical minor leagues and WHA
-player bios of pre-2024 NCAA best goalie award winners will no longer show the award multiple times
-the two prospect owner goals (give playing time/do not rush) will no longer trigger for players not on the team's active roster
-added check to prevent trading/offering of picks from previous draft
-all conflicts and cliques will no longer temporarily disappear when one is cleared
-redshirt status will now clear properly when player signs with a non-college team
-players under contract to another team (i.e. the parent club) will no longer be tradeable in historical minor leagues (as they already are in the standard game)
-fixed data error causing Seattle and Vegas to appear with the wrong team names in historical mode
-other small text and typo fixes

[boscoJJ]

The bug where Pre 1988 NHL can't participate in Custom INTs still haven't been fixed

[Swedishgamefreak]

Nice! However, it looks like you did not change the way players are still free agents at start of regular season with the same salary demand that he demanded at the start of july. That should be lowered over time and make sure that the players maybe want a lower term and aav just to make sure to stay in the league longer.

Hopefully that will be fixed for FHM12 then. :/

[Iceman90]

Thanks for all the hard work that went into this. I had to check that the downloads worked and this wasn't an April Fool's joke.

I am disappointed that we still don't have current NHL waiver rules implemented correctly. Hopefully this gets fixed in FHM12.

[Colorado]

Appreciate the fact that you are still updating the current release, but I think I'm done with FHM for the foreseeable.

As a long term supporter of the FHM, it's just not improving enough in the directions I personally think it needs to (i.e quality of life improvements, interface layout and design, news flow immersion, 2D, tactical clarity, scouting depth/repetition).

There's clearly a small but committed dev team behind the scenes but too many new features feel undercooked and underwhelming.

I might come back to it in a few years but for now, thanks and good luck.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by Iceman90

I am disappointed that we still don't have current NHL waiver rules implemented correctly. Hopefully this gets fixed in FHM12.

We already changed it in FHM 12, so you can look forward to it.

[Afroduck]

Went back to trying to keep the St. Louis Eagles alive but did a test run first. The previous problem seems to be fixed as I was able to get into the 1940-41 season but in July 1943 when I delete the Brooklyn Americans it creates a problem as neither the Springfield Indians or Philadelphia Rockets are able to be deleted. It pops up that there are invalid teams in the AHL it could just be Springfield though as it was connected to Brooklyn.


There really does need to be a way of just keeping one franchise alive and letting the rest of the leagues play out like they did in real life because having the Teams stop playing when they did historically unchecked is obviously going to make a mess of the AHL and other Leagues that we can't edit

[Iceman90]

I assume we need to start a new game to get the IHL to be its own league and not part of "Minor Leagues"?

[KZB]

Hi Jeff,

I installed the updated version of the game and when I select historical mode, the game crashes after the Manager Setup screen.

Please help.
Thanks.

[tomkmb]

Originally Posted by KZB

Hi Jeff,

I installed the updated version of the game and when I select historical mode, the game crashes after the Manager Setup screen.

Please help.
Thanks.

Probably better off posting that here - https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...lay.php?f=4039

[tomkmb]

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

We already changed it in FHM 12, so you can look forward to it.

Not the original commenter but that's awesome!

[GMO123]

Thanks for the update.
Lots of hard work involved.

Hopefully next year we will be able to see the number or game stars, or star points, in the Career stats, season by season, instead of the information being lost each new year.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Iceman90

I assume we need to start a new game to get the IHL to be its own league and not part of "Minor Leagues"?

Right, there's no way to activate it in an existing game.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Afroduck

Went back to trying to keep the St. Louis Eagles alive but did a test run first. The previous problem seems to be fixed as I was able to get into the 1940-41 season but in July 1943 when I delete the Brooklyn Americans it creates a problem as neither the Springfield Indians or Philadelphia Rockets are able to be deleted. It pops up that there are invalid teams in the AHL it could just be Springfield though as it was connected to Brooklyn.


There really does need to be a way of just keeping one franchise alive and letting the rest of the leagues play out like they did in real life because having the Teams stop playing when they did historically unchecked is obviously going to make a mess of the AHL and other Leagues that we can't edit

Can you upload that save? I'm not sure what that error could be, the changes we made should prevent anything schedule-related, and I'm not sure what an "invalid team" would indicate.

[TurboJ]

Awesome work with the update. So many nagging issues fixed. Looking forward to FHM 12 too.

[Afroduck]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Can you upload that save? I'm not sure what that error could be, the changes we made should prevent anything schedule-related, and I'm not sure what an "invalid team" would indicate.

File is titled Eagles
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hag...usp=drive_link

Advance day and you will see the message pop up

[toque]

Hi guys, thanks as always for your hard work. I fired up a brand new save after installing this update with the Winnipeg Jets (the team I support and am therefore quite knowledgeable about) and I noticed a number of errors with players on Entry-Level Contracts: players have either too many or too few years remaining on their contracts. Especially given it affects when young prospects need new contracts, this is pretty important imo. I hadn't advanced this save one day.

This led me to check other franchises and basically every team is riddled with contract errors for their young players. I think something on your ELC tracker or whatever has been broken. Some players that should have 2 or 3 years, and some players that should have less years have the full 3. I didn't go through every team but I wen through Winnipeg and then the 1st 6 teams alphabetically and every single team I've checked has multiple errors when you check their contracts on PuckPedia.

Here's what I've found. For each player, the contract length they have in game is listed and then the actually years they have are in brackets. For example, Brad Lambert should have 3 full years left starting in 24/25 but only has 1 year remaining in game and requires a new contract after the 24/25 season. That is shown as Brad Lambert 1(3).

- ANA: Tyson Hinds 1(2), Noah Warren 2(3), Tristan Luneau 2(3), Nathan Gauthier 1(3), Sam Colangelo 2(1)

- BOS: Jackson Edward 2(3), Ryan Mast 1(2), Max Wanner 1(2), Fabian Lysell 1(2), Brett Harrison 1(2)

- BUF: Vsevolod Komarov 2(3), Noah Östlund 2(3), Oliver Nadeau 1(2), Juri Kulich 2(3), Isak Rosén 1(2), Zach Benson 3(2)

- CGY: Artyom Grushnikov 1(2), Samuel Honzek 2(3), Lucas Siona 1(2)

- CAR: Aleksi Heimosalmi 1(2), Scott Morrow 3(2), Jackson Blake 3(2), Logan Stankoven 1(2)

- CHI: Dmitri Kuzmin 1(2), Nolan Allen 1(2), Samuel Savoie 2(3), Paul Ludwiski 2(3), Landon Slaggert 1(3), CONNOR BEDARD (!!) 3(2)

- WPG: Brad Lambert 1(3), Danny Zhilkin 1(2), Chaz Lucius 1(2), Dominic DiVincentiis 2(3), Elias Salomonsson 2(3)

Given this is the last content update this might be too late for FHM 11 but for FHM 12 it would really help the immersion/realism if these were correct.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by toque

Hi guys, thanks as always for your hard work. I fired up a brand new save after installing this update with the Winnipeg Jets (the team I support and am therefore quite knowledgeable about) and I noticed a number of errors with players on Entry-Level Contracts: players have either too many or too few years remaining on their contracts. Especially given it affects when young prospects need new contracts, this is pretty important imo. I hadn't advanced this save one day.

This led me to check other franchises and basically every team is riddled with contract errors for their young players. I think something on your ELC tracker or whatever has been broken. Some players that should have 2 or 3 years, and some players that should have less years have the full 3. I didn't go through every team but I wen through Winnipeg and then the 1st 6 teams alphabetically and every single team I've checked has multiple errors when you check their contracts on PuckPedia.

Here's what I've found. For each player, the contract length they have in game is listed and then the actually years they have are in brackets. For example, Brad Lambert should have 3 full years left starting in 24/25 but only has 1 year remaining in game and requires a new contract after the 24/25 season. That is shown as Brad Lambert 1(3).

- ANA: Tyson Hinds 1(2), Noah Warren 2(3), Tristan Luneau 2(3), Nathan Gauthier 1(3), Sam Colangelo 2(1)

- BOS: Jackson Edward 2(3), Ryan Mast 1(2), Max Wanner 1(2), Fabian Lysell 1(2), Brett Harrison 1(2)

- BUF: Vsevolod Komarov 2(3), Noah Östlund 2(3), Oliver Nadeau 1(2), Juri Kulich 2(3), Isak Rosén 1(2), Zach Benson 3(2)

- CGY: Artyom Grushnikov 1(2), Samuel Honzek 2(3), Lucas Siona 1(2)

- CAR: Aleksi Heimosalmi 1(2), Scott Morrow 3(2), Jackson Blake 3(2), Logan Stankoven 1(2)

- CHI: Dmitri Kuzmin 1(2), Nolan Allen 1(2), Samuel Savoie 2(3), Paul Ludwiski 2(3), Landon Slaggert 1(3), CONNOR BEDARD (!!) 3(2)

- WPG: Brad Lambert 1(3), Danny Zhilkin 1(2), Chaz Lucius 1(2), Dominic DiVincentiis 2(3), Elias Salomonsson 2(3)

Given this is the last content update this might be too late for FHM 11 but for FHM 12 it would really help the immersion/realism if these were correct.

Likely something went wrong when we switched the database to the new year last July, it sounds like some guys who should have a lost a contract year didn't. I'll take a careful look through all of the ELC's and see what's affected and get it fixed.