The second full update (and first content update) for FHM10, version 10.3.39, has just been released.
This is the first update for FHM10 that adds new content: among other things, we've added a new playable league (Latvia), a number of new editing options for tournaments in custom mode, finally revisited the (very) old code that handles player nationality selection in standard games and got it to do some new things, and also reworked the language selection mechanics for generated players. I would've liked to have added a little more, but we ran into a bunch of technical issues (not directly related to the game) that cost us some time. So, it's likely that the later updates will work much like last year's did, being a lot heavier on new features. We have a pretty ambitious list of things we'd like to add to the game in the New Year. If there are any game-breaking issues discovered with this update, we'll release a hotfix ASAP; other wise the next one is likely to be in early February, followed by another one after the NHL trading deadline.
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; this normally happens when the problem is inherent to data created at the start of the save.
New Features:
- Optibet Hokeja Liga is now playable in standard games; 9-team league with teams in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia
- Custom Tournaments have a number of new options:
- existing tournaments can be edited via a new Edit option on the league menu
- all of the selected tournament's data can now be edited (any existing history will be retained even if the format is changed)
- tournaments can be deactivated (any history and player stats will still be retained)
- changed the forced 2-team qualification from each group to an option for 1 or 2 teams (i.e., if 1 is selected, half as many teams make the playoff round so it starts one round farther along than normal)
- added 4 "Playoff Only" options to the "Number of Groups" list: "Playoff Only, 16 teams", "Playoff Only, 8 teams", "Playoff Only, 4 teams", "Playoff Only, 2 teams"; if one of these is chosen, there is no round-robin stage, and the tournament begins in the round appropriate to the number of teams (16=Ro16, 8=QF, 4=SF, 2=F) (using random seedings)
- added best-of-3 as an option for Number of Games in playoff round
- Did a long-overdue overhaul of the way nationalities are generated for new players in standard games:
- the process will now create much larger numbers of the more common real-life nationality combinations (e.g. Canada/US, Australia/NZ, Kazakhstan/Russia, etc.) instead of generating far too many second-nationality players for high-population but low-hockey prominence nations like Brazil
- it's now possible for the game to generate players from territories that normally can't get them like Åland, Puerto Rico, and St. Pierre et Miquelon (they're occasionally created as substitutes for players from the parent nation)
- added a number of automatic nationality grants, e.g. Åland players also get Finnish nationality, Hong Kong players Chinese, Puero Rican American, etc.
- Reworked language assignment for generated players to add more variation and take into account factors like second nationalities, ethnicities used to create player's name, and commonly-spoken local second languages in the player's birthplace - more Quebec players will start with English-language abilities, Swedish-ethnicity Finnish-born players will be able to speak Finnish as well as Swedish, etc.
- Added Mednarodna hokejska liga (Slovenia) to the list of real leagues that can 4e imported in custom mode
- Added a new Exit Autoplay option to Manager Options, "When you get an injury update", that prevents news on existing injuries from interrupting autoplay (this is off by default)
Other Changes:
-database is updated as of December 16, including a large number of ratings adjustments and various small data corrections
-added safety check to prevent AI teams from lowering their ticket prices excessively
-the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup medal round now works properly again
-the All-Star Game in historical now updates properly instead of remaining stuck in the first format used
-fixed multiplayer issue that could exclude a needed file from the league file creation process, leading to crashes for league members
-NHA's league reputation has been increased to the NHL-level 1.00, which should prevent the issues some people experienced with players being unwilling to re-sign before 1917
-fixed issue with games imported from FHM9 that could leave them with a few missing files, potentially causing a crash
-the league ID field in the csv export files player_goalie_career_stats_po.csv and player_skater_career_stats_po.csv is now set to the regular league id number rather than being 99999
-the first waiver draft in a new historical game no longer has the draft order reversed
-finally found and fixed the long-standing bug that was allowing AI teams to re-hire coaches/GM's they had just fired
-when a new league is added to a custom game, the league rights for all players that already exist in the game are now set to "Free" for all existing players whose age is > the league minimum age (previously, it was defaulting to "None", which made them unsignable)
-clique enlargement can no longer result in a player being added to a clique who was already part of it
-fixed issue allowing a new clique to include two players who have a conflict with each other
-fixed issue allowing US college players to enter Transfer Portal repeatedly
-adjusted tournament scouting report to focus reports on higher-potential players
-the first time the user attempts to go to the Short List via the team menu, it will now display the short list immediately, rather than requiring two clicks
-in a 1967 start with a re-draft, the AI no longer stops picking goalies midway through the second round of goalie picks
-league reputation is now visible (as a 0.00-1.00 rating) to the user on the import league screen
-made a number of changes to Stat-Adjusted Talent to improve its evaluation of low-scoring defencemen and enforcers (will be primarily visible in defensive defencemen having slightly higher star ratings)
-on the player home screen, if he changes one of the widgets to the "Shortlist" view, the Shortlist button at the bottom of it does nothing instead of opening the Shortlist screen (other widgets, e.g. the schedule one, do open the link screen correctly)
-prospects tournaments will now be disabled properly if they're turned off on July 1
-the lower part of the World-Internatational Tournaments list is no longer hidden at some resolutions
-added "Max Foreign (Foreign Team)" setting to the league edit screen, Roster Rules section so it can be changed from the default 99 if needed (the way this rule is handled in-game changed in the last update, so if you're seeing teams in custom multinational leagues missing their foreign player limit, you'll need to adjust this number to match the regular foreign player limit)
-on the training screen, clarified the tooltip for Level to "This level of competition is limiting the player's development - either he is not good enough for his current league and is a bit overwhelmed, or he is too good for it and needs better competition to progress at the best rate."
-fixed issue which could allow AI to send players to junior teams in violation of league age limits
-on the Team-Lines-4-on-4/3-on-3 screen,the icetime numbers for the 3-on-3 units are now properly aligned with each other
-FOL column is no longer partly cut off in the boxscores' Player Summary section
-adjusted the even-up penalty calling code in 2D mode to make penalties more/less likely if one team has had several more power plays in the current game
-various minor text and UI fixes