Contract Killing the Game (The Long Version)

[rhydymwyn]

I mentioned this among a raft of things I noticed in FHM9 (thought I don't recall receiving a substantive response, but it has been a while), missed FHM10, and thought it would be fixed by now. Either it hasn't, or I somehow broke it again. So here goes...


I'm in the QMJHL as GM/HC, in a multiplayer game. When I offer a contract using the Submit Offer button, the player never responds and it doesn't get added to the outstanding offers pile. It is as if the offer never happened. When I instead click spacebar to advance without actually offering the contract, the player signs, albeit for a salary unrelated to the offer and for only one year. The game also stopped asking me to set my monthly budget, instead allowing me to change anytime. (Whereas in a previous saved game in the NCAA, still on commissioner mode, I was prompted every time.)


To explore the issue, I added another GM/HC, not in commissioner mode. A wrinkle I don't remember encountering in FHM9 is that the second manager cannot access the Trades/Transfers page to offer trades. They can't even respond to offers from the commissioner-mode manager. The second manager can offer contracts, but after clicking the Submit Offer button, they, too, disappear as if they never existed. To make matters worse for the second manager, they can't Continue, even if the commissioner doesn't have a match that day. Thus, they can't coach (or even watch the sim for) games, they can't sign players using the 'don't offer the contract but instead click continue' quirk, etc.



To explore the issue even further, I added a non-commissioner mode GM/HC in the NHL. Same thing happened (except they received the reminder for monthly budgets). The Trades/Transfers page cannot be accessed, contract offers can be negotiated and Submitted but they disappear, and they can't Continue.


Then I loaded a different, single-player game with the manager in commissioner mode. I accepted a job in the WHL. Offered a player a contract using Submit Offer. He responded immediately, signing the submitted contract. I wondered: is this because, in commissioner mode in my previous game, I took over a team instead of waiting for an offer? I took over an OHL team, offered a contract, and the player responded immediately, signing the submitted contract.


So I started a completely standard setup new multiplayer game. My "main" GM/HC started unemployed and wasn't offered a job. I created a second non-commissioner GM/HC who started with a QMJHL team. The second manager was stuck with the same contract/Continue issues.



So I started yet another completely standard setup new multiplayer game, but from July 1 in the hopes the commissioner would be offered a job rather than taking over a team. Oddly, I was never offered a club job. (I gave up after editing the profile to be Legendary followed by six months of simulating.) So, on a related note, it would be nice to receive offers even if I'm in commissioner mode for multi-player. (Even better to be able to apply for jobs instead of having them immediately filled if they aren't offered.) Every time I've started a multi-player game (regardless of date), my GM/HCs don't get offered a club job, even if I edit their reputations and abilities. Even the worst unedited single-player GM/HC gets a few offers from day 1.


I think the contract issue came up as a problem for the NHL signing draft picks in FHM9, but I'm exhausted from this and can't bring myself to try it from scratch here at the moment.


I understand that the non-commissioner GM/HC can't Continue past a game or overnight if it is supposed to be up to the commissioner, but it would be nice for all to be able to offer contracts, make other transactions, coach games, etc. as befits their role. I want to be able to play multiplayer so I can explore international and NHL at the same time, or juniors and NHL, or even start a new manager after twenty years in the same ecosystem, etc., not just play as a single manager forever or multiple hamstrung managers.





There are a host of other bug fixes, some of which I mentioned back in FHM9, including distinguishing between winning an NCAA conference tournament vs. the actual NCAA Frozen Four when adding medals to teams (and reputation boosts to GM/HCs), adding all of the--correct--winners' medals for NCAA tournaments to player and GM/HC profiles, correct play-by-play commentary for shoot-outs specifying that the lead applies to the shoot-out rather than the whole game, scouting options to include youth tournaments (which mine did inconsistently)... but the biggest issue is the contracts.


I'll save the 'preferences/suggestions' requests for a different thread, except one since I might still have your attention: please please please adapt the NCAA recruiting to make it possible to only be notified of the chance to contest another team's offer when a shortlisted player or player of a certain rating is affected. Clicking through 900 events is mind-(and arm)-numbing, but I don't want to miss out on my committed players and certain important others.




Two hours after two years isn't too bad of an investment... if it gets fixed. No apologies for the length; I'm trying to be as thorough as possible in the hopes it helps you finally fix this.

[rhydymwyn]

Also, I see that there was a 2023 reply (https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...33#post5184833). However, it didn't address the issue, mostly because I didn't include enough detail for it to be addressed. Hence the above.