Phoenix Academy
81
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360
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about 15 years

As an avid player of the Football Manager games, I just wanted to find out if anyone else on here plays them? If so, has anyone tried to edit the A-League at all? I'm desperate to make it a 14-team competition with a second Kiwi side to create a "New Zealand Derby". :)

Marquee
2.7K
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7.2K
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almost 17 years

Tried once or twice in the past few years but never made it past pre-season. The game's just too complicated. Might as well get my badges and get paid to do that :)

Same goes for lots of other strategy games like civilization (from #4 onward)...


That's why I still play Sensible World of Soccer and Civ1

Phoenix Academy
81
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360
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about 15 years

Ah, SWOS! Now that game was ahead of its time. Remember I used to play as the Kiwi leagues (usually Central United) in the early versions back in the early-mid 90's. Good times.

Keen to edit the FM20 database to expand the A-League and include an Auckland or a Christchurch team as well but it's a nightmare! :)

Marquee
2.7K
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7.2K
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almost 17 years

PaulSG wrote:

Ah, SWOS! Now that game was ahead of its time. Remember I used to play as the Kiwi leagues (usually Central United) in the early versions back in the early-mid 90's. Good times.

Keen to edit the FM20 database to expand the A-League and include an Auckland or a Christchurch team as well but it's a nightmare! :)

You can download SWOS very easily and run it as a standalone or run it via DosBox...

So much fun.

Currently coaching Switzerland and we just won the European Cup. Started in San Marino, then Far Oer Islands, some Baltic League, J2, J-League before getting my big break.

The version I have is also updated to 2017 or so which is nice...

Phoenix Academy
81
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360
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about 15 years

Cool! Thanks for the head's up! I'll give that a try. Been well over a decade since I last played. Brilliant that these games have stood the test of time..

Marquee
3.7K
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5.4K
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over 11 years

Just started playing it again. To be fair I hand over a lot of my roles to the Assistant Manager.

Playing as the NIX - we have no money and no crowds... but at least there is no talk of dropping us from the competition!!

Phoenix Academy
81
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360
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about 15 years

Nice! I think I might start a season as the Nix too. The editor for the A-League is complicated at best so I might have to put the thoughts of a Kiwi Derby on the backburner for now. I do enjoy playing as the ISPS Handa Prem too though.

Budgie lover
620
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2.2K
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over 16 years

I haven't bought FM20 mainly because the initial match engine was borked (e.g. one on ones, long balls over the top, etc).

May consider FM20 but my Glory hunter save on FM19 is only in year 4 and want to see how I get on. I'm currently with Borussia Dortmund. Have secured the Bundesliga and Pokal but keep getting knocked out of Europe too easily. Looking for a move this year but only just start of season and no jobs have opened up.

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

I'm in the game this year so safe to say I picked it up!

LG
Legend
5.5K
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23K
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over 16 years

is there an android version?

Budgie lover
620
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2.2K
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over 16 years
LG
Legend
5.5K
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23K
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over 16 years
Marquee
3.7K
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5.4K
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over 11 years

Just won the league with the NIX in my fourth season and have moved on to Bolton in the Championship to save them from relegation.

Hard been the NIX - we make 400k a year in sponsorship where as Sydney makes 11million... I was always buying and selling to stay afloat.

The Dell Boy of managers!

Marquee
3.1K
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6.7K
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over 16 years

I used the editor to put the nix in league 2 in FM18. so much fun. sooo many hours lost...as well as games. We peaked by getting into the championship, but currently are back in L2 and its not looking good. 

I bloody love this game, but I find it drains my time soo much, and I also miss the playing part that fifa has. If there was a hybrid between the two, I'd be on that in a second. 

Budgie lover
620
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2.2K
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over 16 years

Also, FM20 is free for the next 2 days and everyone expecting it will go on special after that. 

Budgie lover
620
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2.2K
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over 16 years

kwlap wrote:

I used the editor to put the nix in league 2 in FM18. so much fun. sooo many hours lost...as well as games. We peaked by getting into the championship, but currently are back in L2 and its not looking good. 

I bloody love this game, but I find it drains my time soo much, and I also miss the playing part that fifa has. If there was a hybrid between the two, I'd be on that in a second. 

You mean like Player Manager?

Marquee
3.1K
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6.7K
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over 16 years

liberty_nz wrote:

kwlap wrote:

I used the editor to put the nix in league 2 in FM18. so much fun. sooo many hours lost...as well as games. We peaked by getting into the championship, but currently are back in L2 and its not looking good. 

I bloody love this game, but I find it drains my time soo much, and I also miss the playing part that fifa has. If there was a hybrid between the two, I'd be on that in a second. 

You mean like Player Manager?

yea man, that is it. I actually remember playing this waaay back when. I had completely forgotten about it. What a gem. 

Marquee
1.7K
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7.5K
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almost 17 years

I tried with the free trial, but haven't played since CM 2!  Was quickly overwhelmed and bailed before I even got to matchday.  Couldn't cope with the detail!

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

downloading FM20 as I tyoe, gonna be a great 4 weeks

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

So NBA star Larry Nance Jr. just told his Twitter followers that Chris Wood is the most annoying player to come up against in FM20. Quarantine making people post the strangest things

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

in love with the save I'm doing - ASD Castel di Sangro in the 6th tier of Italian football (will need a league pack if you want to try it out).

Subject of one of my favourite football books of all time (The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss), Castel di Sangro is a town of around 6000 people in the middle of nowhere, Abruzzo - a mountainous province mostly made up of national parks and huge peaks, with a distinct lack of human life. Through some sort of miracle they made it all the way to Serie B in 1996, where they spent two seasons, with a largely homegrown squad - considered one of football's biggest ever miracles. They're also partly credited with sparking the careers of Vincenzo Iaquinta and Carlo Cudicini.

Fallen from grace since then, but I'm trying to pick them back up using almost solely the youth academy. Currently sitting top of the Promozione Molise in my first season. Also trying to bring in a few Kiwis while I'm at it - have 20y/o ex-Canterbury fullback Sebastien Schacht coming over next season from the US! 

Fantastic little town I implore you to check out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.S.D._Castel_di_Sangro_Calcio

Fantastic article on them, written yesterday, from the Daily Mail of all places?: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8155425/How-Gabriele-Gravina-led-Miracle-Castel-di-Sangro-battling-Italys-coronavirus-crisis.html

Budgie lover
620
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2.2K
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over 16 years

Not usually a frequenter of the Daily Mail but that was fantastic story:

Ponnick would be the first Premier League player to move to Serie B, making it a big occasion.

But Ponnick was awful, seemingly did not know how to play football and ended up fighting with another member of the Castel squad. He also stole the referee's red card and tried to send off the match officials.

When the match was over, it was revealed that the opposition had been actors. Ponnick was not a player – but a member of their troupe. Gravina had put it all together to generate publicity.

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

Nix should have used that excuse with Sery tbh

Trialist
22
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50
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about 5 years

Would anyone be interested in a NZ Club based National League database to play if I made one?

Trialist
22
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50
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about 5 years

I'm thinking about a 18 team National League, Chatham Cup with a Air NZ Tournament style pre-season cup. Below that Southern, Central and Northern Leagues. 

Trying to work out the promotion/relegation between the regional leagues and the National League, which can be a bit complicated in the editor, and how the Oceania Champions League will work as it feeds into the World Club Cup and mucking about with that can crash the game...

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

Is this still happening?

Phoenix Academy
81
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360
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about 15 years

Sorry for the tardy response to this. I'd definitely be interested!

Trialist
22
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50
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about 5 years

Sorry yes. Working on the file at the moment. Have actually had to do some work this past couple of weeks!

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

Take your time, thanks for making this.

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

Awesome stuff mate!

What teams are you thinking of using? NRFL is completely up to date in FM20 - would say Onehunga, NSU, Manukau, Melville, and Springs are the teams looking in the best shape

Trialist
22
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50
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about 5 years

mrsmiis wrote:

Awesome stuff mate!

What teams are you thinking of using? NRFL is completely up to date in FM20 - would say Onehunga, NSU, Manukau, Melville, and Springs are the teams looking in the best shape

Depends on how realistic you want it. At the moment above is what I have, mainly based on historically important and historically best club sides in NZ that still exist in one way or another.

A few notes: Christchurch City is Cashmere Tech, which is the name of the original Woolston/Tech combination in 2000 and 2001. It’s personal preference because I’m ex-Woolston and I hate the name Cashmere Tech lol. I’ve got Mt Wellington as I don’t think you can have a club league without them in NZ and Unimount Bohemian Celtic is one of the worst names for a club I’ve ever heard. I’ve added a Manawatu United (previous name of Manawatu AFC, now Red Sox Manawatu).

I was going to even up the squads through putting players into teams that didn’t have many, plus adding in overseas based All Whites into the league for a bit of fun.

I’m open to changing this for whatever people want.

The big issue here is regional promotion and relegation. It’s farked on the editor and I’m not sure I have the skills to get it right so if for example North Shore got relegated that they didn’t end up in Soccer South! Normally you can create groups for relegation outcomes based on local region categories, but NZ doesn’t have local regions in the game. And you can’t add them in in the editor!

What I could do is a regular season of Northern, Central and Southern Leagues with top 4 in Northern, Top 2 in Central and Top 2 in Southern qualifying for a final round, like SuperClub in the Mid 90s? Means you could take someone like Papatoetoe to the championship. Otherwise you will be stuck with just the 20 teams. Or I could add a second division?

Once this is all done I’ve got to run it through to see what happens with the Champions League. Oceania is the only continent that you can’t play in the regular game so I’m not sure what happens with that. I may have to generate that too. It’s really important as the background generation feeds into the World Club Cup and if that doesn’t work the game crashes in December.

It’s possible we may be out of lockdown before I work this out haha. I do fantasy databases nearly most years but I’ve never had to think through to this kind of detail on the World Club Cup etc.

Edit: After Tauranga City there is Waitakere City, Wellington United and Western Suburbs. Didn’t realise it got cut off.

Trialist
22
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50
·
about 5 years

Other question is do people want regionalised early rounds of the Chatham Cup or do they want an all in national draw?

WeeNix
200
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530
·
almost 5 years

Personally I'd prefer all national.

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

On the topic of making things. I was going to make a face pack for the phoenix players using photo's similar to the dynamic images on FIFA special cards and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in it once It's done?

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

I'd be totally keen on that.

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

Cool, I might be able to get it done this evening but I do need to prioritize my schoolwork so it might end up being tomorrow.

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

Even though our squad is small so it shouldn't take long I want to include as many of the reserves as I can find high enough quality pictures of in the face pack

WeeNix
200
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530
·
almost 5 years

Hello everyone.

I've finished the face pack and it includes all first team players and staff plus some of the more high profile reserve team/academy players.

Here is a drop box link: Phoenix Face Pack

Below I'll type out a tutorial just in case anyone doesn't know how to install a face pack that might not make total sense so if it doesn't, let me know and I'll link a good tutorial on youtube. Also, the face pack will work on Apple Mac but I don't have a clue how to install it so you'll have to find a tutorial :)

When you download the file from dropbox it'll come as a .zip file move it to your desktop right click it and select extract all to unzip the file. Once you have an unzipped version, go ahead and delete the zipped one as you don't need it.

Next you'll need to put the face pack into the game file which isn't as scary as it sounds.

Go into file explorer and select:

Documents

Sports Interactive 

Football Manager 2020

graphics (if this doesn't exist just create it inside the FM2020 file, make sure it's called graphics in all lower case otherwise the code I wrote won't be able to find the photos)

faces (again if it's not there create it with that exact name (case sensitive)

Once your in face put the unzipped face pack into the 'faces' folder.

Now we're done digging around files and you need to open football manger and go into the setting (preferences)

Go into advanced, in the drop-down box, select interface and scroll down to skins

Make sure 'use caching to decrease page load times' is turned off (you won't notice a difference) and make sure 'reload skin when confirming preferences is on'

Now select confirm and we should be done. If this didn't work, go back into preferences and select 'reload skin' if it still hasn't worked let me know and I'll try and figure out what's gone wrong.

Starting XI
3K
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3K
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almost 7 years

Legend!! Thanks so much mate

Legend
8K
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14K
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over 16 years

will be doing this today!

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