The third post-release update for FHM6, version 6.4.59, has just been released.
Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves.
As mentioned in the last update, we're a little ahead of the game right now on the content we were planning to add via updates. The big addition in this update, user-configurable Expansion Drafts, was originally planned for the pre-Christmas update, but it was finished early, so here it is. We'll probably still refine it a bit in that update, tentatively planned the week before Christmas, but getting it done ahead of schedule should let us fit a few more new things into that one. The "autoplay screen" standings option that many people requested also made it in to this update, as did some revisions to the training screen.
On the downside, there's unfortunately still nothing new to report regarding the issue with drag-and-drop and photo import features that we had to disable on the Fastspring version, and the intermittent issue that's occasionally corrupting the facegen images so only the lower quarter of them are visible. We're continuing to try to find solutions for these and hope we'll have something for you soon.
Current Rosters:
The current rosters (as of November 25) are now available as a starting option: "Current 2019-20", which is now the default for new standard games (but you can still choose the opening night option instead.) We'll be continuing to update the rosters through the NHL trading deadline, so most, if not all, of the updates from this point forward will have a new database with the current rosters. Note that if you have jersey, logo, etc. mods currently set up in the OpeningDay.quick folder, you'll need to move them over to the same spot in the Current.quick folder for them to work in games started with that database.
Expansion Draft Configuration:
New in this update is a major addition to the expansion draft process: the ability to configure the details of expansion drafts via a new tab in the league edit screen, so you can have control over exactly how these drafts are run, instead of being stuck with just the default rules.
The configurable fields for the expansion draft setup are:
Name of Draft (default is "(Leaguename) Expansion (Season Start Year)")
Number of Rounds (allowed range 1-99, this is the total number of rounds the draft ruins)
Draft Date: (allows user to select the month/day the draft is held on, default is July 2 - year is always the season start year and can't be changed)
Maximum Goalies Protected Per Team (allowed range 1-5, default 1, the number of draft-eligible goalies each established team can protect)
Maximum Defencemen Protected Per Team (allowed range 0-20, default 3, the number of draft-eligible defencemen each established team can protect)
Maximum Forwards Protected Per Team (allowed range 0-30, default 7, the number of draft-eligible forwards each established team can protect)
Maximum Skaters Protected Per Team (allowed range 0-50, default 0; this can only be set to a number >= 1 if both the defencemen and forwards are set to 0, and if it is, the protected lists don't split skaters into F/D, there's just one group for all non-goalies and this number is the number of draft-eligible skaters each established team can protect)
Maximum Number of Players Lost Per Team (allowed range 1-50, teams cannot lose more than this number of players in the draft - be careful about using lower numbers, as it's easy to inadvertently set the number so low that there won't be enough players available to complete the draft, particularly if there are multiple expansion teams)
Goalie Draft Rounds (allowed range 1-5, default 3, the number of rounds in which the expansion teams must pick goalies)
Defenceman Draft Rounds (allowed range 0-20, default 9, the number of rounds in which the expansion teams must pick defencemen)
Forward Draft Rounds (allowed range 0-30, default 14, the number of rounds in which the expansion teams must pick forwards)
Skater Draft Rounds (allowed range 0-50, default 0; this can only be set to a number >= 1 if both the defencemen and forwards are set to 0, and if it is, will be the number of rounds in which the expansion teams must pick skaters)
Age-Based Exemption: (checkbox, off by default, if on, players whose age for the upcoming year (i.e. season start year - birth year) is > Maximum Exemption Age, set below, have to be protected, others are exempt)
Maximum Exemption Age: (allowed range 12-99, default 99, only editable if Age-Based Exemption is on)
Experienced-Based Exemption: (checkbox, on by default, if on only players with >1 GP in this league in the number of seasons listed below have to be protected, others are exempt; if Age-Based Exemption is checked, this option is changed to off)
Maximum Years for Experience Exemption: (allowed range 1-99, default 2, only editable if Age-Based Exemption is off)
NMC's Must Be Protected: (checkbox, defaulted to on, if this is on, players with No Movement Clauses in their contracted must be included on their team's protected list)
The "Draft?" option for expansion teams has moved to this tab.
Individual teams now have checkboxes to exclude them from the draft, so you can e.g. leave Vegas out of a Seattle expansion.
Once the draft is created, a "Reselect Order" button that randomly re-orders the draft (not via a lottery-type mechanism, it's just random selection) is available.
Gameplay Changes:
-adjusted attendance down for lower-level teams that play in large arenas
-adjusted baseline NHL salary values down slightly to help prevent long-term cap issues
-the individual body part injury proneness ratings for newly-generated players will now vary less from the overall rating
-the primary nationality change for the first couple of in-game seasons has been suspended (will get re-activated in those years once we get international player histories added)
-teams can no longer make an offer sheet to an RFA if they don't have the required compensation picks available
-adjusted the nonplayable team transaction system to be a little more reliable about getting junior players with the college preference onto college team rosters
-delay between games of the Swiss National League finals and Swiss Relegation (NLA-NLB) series has been shortened to prevent them from overlapping with international play
-the fake players generated to fill lower-level rosters at the start of the game will no longer produce good-quality players for the first NHL draft, displacing real prospects from getting drafted in the first NHL draft
-historical games started in 2014 or later will no longer begin with many/most of the guys who should be free agents contracted to Minor League teams
-failed clearing attempts will now identify the correct name of the player preventing the clear (had been re-using the puck carrier's name, e.g. "Smith trying to clear... But it's kept in by Smith.")
-adjusted AI expansion draft selections to give a lower priority to players who don't have a contract in the league the draft is taking place in
-lowered goalie fitness reduction for partial games
-adjusted AI training priorities to optimize use of coaching bonuses on players that can benefit the most from them
-made small adjustment to 3-star system to use overall game rating as a final tiebreaker if a star spot can't be filled by the regular criteria
-game now recognizes new "hit_postX.wav" and "whistleX.wav" modded sound files, in addition to the "shotX.wav" ones enabled previously
User Interface Changes:
-the "autoplay" standings/leaders screen is now available as a tab on the standings screen
-training screen has been redesigned a bit, instead of repeating "Assign Player" over and over after the checkboxes, we've changed that so the player's current score in that area is shown (i.e. the one shown on the player popups, those are the same as the training categories) and have added his ability and potential star ratings too make it a little easier to see who still has room to develop
-clicking on a boxscore link in the team schedule for a game that's been played in a non-NHL league no longer takes you to an NHL boxscore instead of the correct one
-WHL/OHL/QMJHL drafts will no longer have a nonfunctional (with only "Stop Picking" available) dropdown menu when the draft is entered by clicking the Continue button (as opposed to opening it from the league menu)
-fixed issue that could cause the user's team history to repeat the previous season's results 4 times instead of once
-corrected the reversed red/orange colours in the GR/OGR/DGR colour-coding in boxscores
-added the "Add to Shortlist" options from the right-click menu on a player's name to the Action Menu dropdown on the player's screen
-fixed some text cutoffs at 1440x900 resolution
-various minor text/typo fixes
Bug Fixes:
-fixed serious error in calculation of ratings in Exhibition mode that was leaving some teams with numerous players rated 1 at every position
-arena changes in historical mode no longer revert after one game
-fixed potential July 1 crash in historical games
-fixed potential crash in multiplayer save/export
-players eligible for the OHL/WHL/QMJHL/QMJHL American drafts who aren't selected should now properly get their league rights switched to Free instead of being stuck on None
-if the user is playing as GM/Head Coach and promotes an assistant coach to the head coach job via the right-click Change Job option, the Manager Options for Setting Training and Setting Lineup & Tactics will no longer be stuck on the user (instead of "Assistant") and unchangeable
-fixed crash when clicking Tactics button on the in-game screen of na international game
-fixed display error that was showing some Takeaways as Giveaways in the scrolling highlights text on the left side of the in-game screen
-some players affected by the "Unfit" status will no longer get huge weight increases to 400+ pounds
-fixed error in the 3-star system that was assessing some goalie performances on losing teams incorrectly
