The second update for FHM8, version 8.3.58, has just been released.
This update primarily focuses on fixing the worst of the remaining bugs after the first update, but we also added a small number of new things, notably the ability to see player names in 2D mode. That feature is still a little rough (the names, for example, are difficult to read when the arena display is zoomed out), but we'll continue working on it. We think we've found the cause of the crashing some people experienced while watching 2D games in highlights mode, and have made several refinements to 2D player behaviour; those will continue in future updates.
The issues with incorrect names that were occurring when importing players and continuing historical leagues started in FHM7 should be resolved now. We've made some fixes and adjusted team finances a bit to deal with the problem of too many quality free agents going unsigned several years into the game; the situation is noticeably better now, but we'll be making some more adjustments to that, particularly to the tendency of teams not to be able to re-sign their impending key UFA's, which is happening a little too often now.
Next update, which will likely be about three weeks to a month from now, will continue making whatever fixes are needed (in particular, we'll have time now to address some things that will need more than a week to fix and test), but will also be the first real "content" update that adds new features to FHM8. The first Current start option for standard games, with post-opening night rosters, will be a part of this update. After that, we're hoping to get another content update out before Christmas, and a couple more in the new year, the last one with the trade deadline rosters.
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.
2D Changes:
-added option (on Start Screen-Settings-Interface) to show player names as well as numbers, or just names, in 2D mode
-fixed issue with 2D highlights modes that was leading to a crash in some situations
-made several changes to reduce the puckhandler's tendency to hold on to the puck for a long period of time in the offensive zone
-adjusted AI to make the offensive team much less likely to hesitate in the neutral zone if no one is offside
-adjusted player movement during rebounds to decrease the frequency of players freezing in place during rebounds, as well as reduce the tendency of everyone to chase the puck during rebounds, even when not near the play
-slightly reduced frequency of in-game feedback between periods (the head coach must now pass a ratings check to receive each of the possible types of feedback)
-slightly increased tendency of players to shoot from closer ranges (when in a position to do so)
-the on-ice decision option to attempt to start an altercation is now available if any player on the puckhandler's team is a goon/enforcer/agitator, not just the puckhandler himself
-pressing 'h' while the on-ice decision popup is visible now temporarily hides it until it's pressed again
-added slight delay at the end of a play where a penalty is called (so the transition to the faceoff isn't so abrupt)
-reduced length of goal celebrations
Other Changes:
-all historical players are now named properly when using Import Player in Standard or Custom games (this requires a new historical database loading process prior to the import that may take a minute or so)
-imported FHM7 games will no longer have all the new players added on July 1 mis-named (note that this fix will not affect games that were already imported; they'll need to be re-imported)
-reduced tendency of the AI to place waiver claims on players who are only marginal improvements over their existing players
-fixed potential crash with user-created tournaments
-the Chance Liga is no longer taking a huge amount of time off between the end of the regular season and the playoffs, which was pushing the end of the playoffs past June 30 in some years
-editing anything in a custom game team's data no longer removes all the parent-farm relationships for that team
-fixed error in annual transfer budget calculations that was leading to negative costs for the most expensive options, which would gradually increase team funds to massive amounts
-fixed potential crash in custom games that suffered from the issue where team edits were removing affiliations
-fixed issue where using the up/down arrow keys to cycle through teams while viewing the roster screen or using player right-click options was changing the sort order on the screen
-the International Job Offers "Reject All" checkbox (Manager-Options screen) is no longer unclickable in GM-only mode
-increased team starting funds and added an extra boost to them for July 1 starts
-for custom games, the default starting "Percentage of Talent from Stats" value is now 0 (instead of 40): since there's no stat history for players in custom games, using that system at the start of the game results in the players being underrated. Among other things, that means the starting salary values get set too low, and teams in custom games with an NHL league are far below the cap floor and can't reach it
-fixed issue with AI teams' internal future cap space assessments that was preventing them from using their future cap space properly; this was creating a noticeable problem with them being unable to re-sign/sign top players
-fixed issue with schedule generator for custom tournaments that could result in too many games being scheduled, resulting in teams getting two games on the same day
-adjusted AI waiver claim logic for goalies to prevent situations where they claim backup goalies twice on waivers in a season, forcing them to send their starter to the minors
-the fan happiness increase due to signing a popular player now uses international, rather than local, popularity
-the Colorado Eagles (Avalanche farm team) are no longer missing from the AHL in new custom games with the NHL+AHL+CHL leagues
-name of the Seattle farm team that appears in 22-23 is now the Coachella Valley Firebirds
-jersey sales will no longer include players who are on the team for a preseason tryout
-fixed labeling error with the columns in the Champions League standings screen
-fixed issue that could cause the Continue button to stop working temporarily (although the autoplay options remained functional)
-Arizona has its correct 21-22 jerseys now
-if a player has only one language listed in the player edit screen and you remove it, the Add button no longer disappears as well
-the Financial Patience rating has been added to the staff edit screen
-when players join a human-run team from another team via waivers/trade/draft, they will no longer occasionally arrive with pre-set training settings
-clicking a game score in the yesterday/today/tomorrow box at the top-right of the screen now shows the game's boxscore again (had been displaying an empty screen)
-retirement rumour news stories no longer show the wrong player picture in the bottom-right corner
-added an additional check to encourage teams to sing significant unsigned RFA's belonging to them after the season starts
-AI teams will now get a somewhat better return when trading players to clear cap space
-added/fixed a number of logos for historical nonplayable teams/leagues and fixed some missing international tournament ones
-fixed league creation issue in custom that could leave the number of goalie roster spots at 0
-if a team does not own its own arena, it can now still pay for arena upgrades, but at a significantly increased cost
-the "Money" box for transfer offers from the user's team in the trade offer UI is no longer limited in some leagues to $648000
-the trade difficulty option in File Setup/Options is now available in challenge mode
-the trade UI no longer mis-reports transfer offer request amounts in some leagues, leading to offers being rejected despite them matching what the team said its asking for
-when viewing the NHL schedule in a standard game, mousing over the team names no longer shows international team popups instead
-decreased the amount of the budget penalties on low/very low settings
-when viewing the roster screen, selecting any of the dropdowns on the Info menu (except those with a special sort order, i.e. Stats: Offense and Stats: Summary) no longer changes the sort order to the reverse of the normal roster order default (RW-C-LW-RD-LD-G instead of G-LD-RD-LW-C-RW.)
-the NHL all-star game should now return (after the 21-22 Olympic year) properly in 2022-23
-added new historical editing checkbox option: Arena Changes, having it on will mean changes to arenas will occur when they did historically, unclicking it stops arena data from updating at the beginning of each season
-added tooltips to the player screen's Season Stats page
-on the right-click menu for players, the "Player Menu" title has been changed to show the name of the player instead
-on the Team-Unsigned screen, removed the Pick number from the Pick column (had been showing 0 for most players at the start of a game)
-Import Hist Team no longer includes nonplayable teams from the historical db on the list
-Add Hist Team now includes the WHA/PCHA teams
-changed the default maximum age value on the search screen from 99 to 50
-when starting a new historical game, the "Congratulations on Joining..." PM no longer gives the wrong name for the team owner
-re-worded the text of the "draft finished" news item so it's appropriate for all draft types
-reduced font size on the the hockey cards for longer names
-players in historical mode will no longer refuse to play in a league that has a lower reputation than the NHL (the "I don't want play in (league)" message) - this was intended for minor league-level leagues, not major ones like the WHA/PCHA
-added an "Average" row to the the 3 tabs on the League Finances screen showing league-average ticket prices, budgets, available cap space
-when adding a league to a custom game, the bottom option on the Add League popup is no longer cut off
-fixed issue that could set player generation for a new junior/farm league in a custom game to the wrong nationality
-fixed rounding error in annual finances calculations that could cause two options to have the same cost
-fixed issue that was occasionally causing excessive owner contributions to monthly finances