FHM11 Update 11.1.27 Now Available

[JeffR]

To apply the update:

-If you are playing the FastSpring version, just download the setup file and install it over your current installation. There is no need to uninstall or unlicense your current copy! However, you should quit the game before installing it, of course.
-If you are playing the Steam version, the game will auto-update if you have that option active. If you don't see the update in your Steam update queue, you may need to exit and restart your Steam client.

Download link for PC (FastSpring):
Main server: PC Installer Fastspring

Download link for Mac (FastSpring):
Main Server: Mac Installer Fastspring

The first non-hotfix update for FHM11 begins to move beyond correcting bugs and making realism adjustments, although those things remain the main focus. Most importantly, it adds the current database start option with updated rosters. The next update will be out before Christmas and will have larger content additions, including implementation of the recent NCAA division to allow the recruitment of former major junior players.

Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, and some saves that previously had crashes, particularly around the time of the Olympics or when inter-league tournaments have been added) should now work after the update. Some issues, however, are data-dependent (e.g. incorrect historical records) and may require a new game before you see them.

Changes:

-added "current" roster start option for new modern games; rosters are as of approximately November 10 for most leagues and November 17 for the NHL (Staff in some leagues still needs updating, will be doing that in the next version)
-fixed potential crash during the Olympics in modern games
-"Finish ahead of rival" owner goal now checks the comparative standings of the two teams correctly
-owner request to acquire players with chemistry with one of team's current players will only be issued if that player has good or better chemistry with someone on another team
-player screen will now show all player chemistry for the player, instead of only chemistry above a particular ("good") level
-staff in major junior leagues will no longer start with extremely high salaries if their reputations are above a particular level
-adjusted salary generation for assistant coaches and scouts in junior and college leagues, they should now be in line with GM/Head Coach salaries
-fixed text color on some headers in the awards section of the league data screen to make it more readable
-AI will now ignore internal restrictions on sending players to the minors if they were acquired recently if their team has so many recent arrivals that its options would be limited to a very small number of players
-the "Commitments" tab on the draft screen during college signing day in the first few years will now also show players with a real-life verbal commitment to the team, instead of only game-generated commitments
-players will now always ask for No-Movement Clauses for very high-value contracts
-the player and staff search screens now default to having the Retired Players and Retired Personnel filters set to Active-only (so you'll need to switch those options to show retired players/staff)
-if the NHL is imported into a custom game with international play, the NHL players will now be available for selection for the World Championships teams
-corrected various errors in league/tournament winner histories
-Champions Hockey League now has the correct teams for 24-25
-the NHL contract bonus system will no longer be used by AHL teams in historical mode
-the Liiga-Mestis promotion/relegation series should now work properly
-the Mestis and Liiga bronze medal games are now back to a 1-game series (were accidentally changed to best-of-7)
-players who clear waivers in the NHL will now be exempt from further waivers for the next 30 days from the date they were waived
-on the team finances screen, the middle column now shows the correct tooltips
-the World Junior Championship in historical now records gold-silver-bronze history correctly for simulated tournaments in its history
-fixed standings column errors in some international tournament histories in historical mode
-fixed potential crash with some inter-league tournament configurations (this will also fix the problem in existing saves)
-AI will no longer force trades for some players the user attempts to send to the minors
-Champions Hockey League games involving the user's team now show up properly in the calendar at the top-right corner
-in a 6-team league, the same team will no longer occasionally appear on both the best and worst draft lists in the post-draft report
-added the teams' regular season records to the playoff preview message
-fixed column width error on the League-Edit-Expansion Drafts screeen
-AI trading should now occur at normal frequencies in custom leagues again
-adjusted Junior Preference generation for newly-created players to reflect recent trends (e.g. more Europeans to US colleges) and the probably impact of the NCAA decision to allow former major junior players (which will be implemented in the next update)
-made a large number of changes to the Job Security calculation, which will now be affected by many more factors; particularly, it will be easier to recover from low security if the team starts winning
-if historical editing is turned on, teams will no longer change their colours on July 1 if "Update Team Names" is unchecked
-the "(other team) can't afford to add this much salary to the payroll" message will no longer appear in the trade interface when the team actually has enough payroll (and budget) room
-the "Signable" filter in player search now properly filters for league age restrictions when playing in a major junior league
-fixed QMJHL and Tipos Extraliga schedule lengths in post-2024-25 seasons
-added "Overage: X/Y" counter at the bottom of the team roster screen in leagues with an overage player limit
-the team popup now properly adds +1 to Team GA for shootout losses
-the "Tallest Team" order in the Demographics Report now sorts correctly
-in historical mode, the player search screen will no longer allow you to right-click and attempt to make a contract offer to a retired player
-players with long-term injuries will no longer agree to mutual contract termination
-the "signable" filter for the search screen will no longer include some players who are under the league's age limit
-when playing as an AHL team in historical, the free agent centre will no longer show players under the league's minimum age
-changed leadership award criteria to weight captains/assistant captains more heavily
-when setting up a custom game, the "Play International Tournaments" option is now on by default and will need to be turned off if international play is not desired
-during setup of a custom junior league, the "Edit league playoffs and rules" popup no longer has some overlapping sections
-added the "Minimum GP" filter to League-Historical-Player Index screen
-the team logos for international teams in historical should now change properly with the season, e.g. no Red Ensign for Canada after 1964 in games started before that year
-the "can't add this my salary to the payroll" response will no longer occasionally appear in the trade interface when trying to make a trade in the WHL/OHL/QMJHL
-AHL affiliations will now be set properly in historical challenges
-fixed potential schedule error in World Junior Championships
-players from outside Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan will now be counted as foreigners in the VHL and Belarusian leagues (instead of considering everyone from the former USSR as a non-foreigner)
-Belarusian league teams will no longer exceed the BXL's allowed foreigner limit
-made several adjustments to lower starting weights for newly-created players and make the weight ranges more specific to the exact age of the generated player
-height creation for generated players now adjusts for exact age of player (rather than just having two generic "junior" and "non-junior" groups)
-previous fix to initial player major role selection should now work properly (e.g. the two-way defenceman role will now be selected when appropriate, instead of only happening a very small percentage of the time)
-Liiga 23-24 player histories should now appear
-if an AHL team sends a player contracted to its NHL parent to its own farm team, the player's contract is now properly counted against the NHL team's contract limit
-adjusted goalie starts to reduce the excessive number of starts for the team's best goalie
-fixed various small text and formatting errors, and various data issues

[Swedishgamefreak]

A little bit disappointed that nothing was fixed when it comes to the whole "top free agents still without a team at the start of a season". Making the players lower the salary over time between July and start of preseason would be a good solution to that instead of them staying as FA or signing to a EU team for way less money. :/

Edit: EHM and EA NHL has this feature and it works pretty good.

[Iceman90]

Originally Posted by Swedishgamefreak

A little bit disappointed that nothing was fixed when it comes to the whole "top free agents still without a team at the start of a season". Making the players lower the salary over time between July and start of preseason would be a good solution to that instead of them staying as FA or signing to a EU team for way less money. :/

Edit: EHM and EA NHL has this feature and it works pretty good.

I agree. I've signed some really good value deals near the end of August in other games. In EHM agents will even approach your coach through the news feed, asking if you're interested in signing their client which I think is a nice touch too.

[Iceman90]

Has this suggestion about showing the number of contracts on the trade screen made it into this update?

[Tom88]

Still no awards for last season. Shame

[toque]

"players who clear waivers in the NHL will now be exempt from further waivers for the next 30 days from the date they were waived"

Awesome! I've been hoping for something like this for a few versions of FHM now.

[PabloSanok]

Originally Posted by Iceman90

I agree. I've signed some really good value deals near the end of August in other games. In EHM agents will even approach your coach through the news feed, asking if you're interested in signing their client which I think is a nice touch too.

We should not compare one game to another.
It's not nice! Ask, but don't compare

[Swedishgamefreak]

Originally Posted by PabloSanok

We should not compare one game to another.
It's not nice! Ask, but don't compare

It's not about comparing games. Getting inspired from other games is never a bad thing though.

[GMO123]

Great changes.
Thanks.

Hopefully adding each season 1st/2nd/3rd stars to player career stats will be added.

[Iceman90]

Originally Posted by toque

"players who clear waivers in the NHL will now be exempt from further waivers for the next 30 days from the date they were waived"

Awesome! I've been hoping for something like this for a few versions of FHM now.

I totally agree. While I wish the 30 days or 10 games rule was fully implemented but this is a great step forward and will really change my call-up strategy.

[Savoie45]

Originally Posted by Swedishgamefreak

A little bit disappointed that nothing was fixed when it comes to the whole "top free agents still without a team at the start of a season". Making the players lower the salary over time between July and start of preseason would be a good solution to that instead of them staying as FA or signing to a EU team for way less money. :/

Edit: EHM and EA NHL has this feature and it works pretty good.

They typically do already. This can be manually edited as well, by lowering a players Greed rating in the hidden attributes in commissioner mode. A mass edit feature would be great for something like that.

[#4BobbyOrr]

Did the various player histories issues for NHL players get corrected (eg Avs player showing up as playing for Columbus, Getzlaf not having 1,000 + points etc) for this update?

[Hawkeye21]

Noticed the 2024 NHL Awards and USHL history prior to 19/20 are missing.

I also have some suggestions for the next update:

• Ability to edit a player's college commitment (like you can for league rights)
• NCAA players can leave school for the CHL or USHL if they aren't getting a lot of playing time
• Making the USHL playable

[Swedishgamefreak]

Originally Posted by Savoie45

They typically do already. This can be manually edited as well, by lowering a players Greed rating in the hidden attributes in commissioner mode. A mass edit feature would be great for something like that.

You are almost correct. They lower the salary demand a little bit but then it goes back up again at start of preseason. For an example:

Right now in my save, Victor Hedman is FA. 3 stars ability and his demand is 8 mil per year. That is totally fine and that is what he is worth. A month later that drops to 6 mil. But then at the start of preseason he wants 8 mil again. Because most of the teams already filled their teams and doesn't have cap room for him, that makes him a FA until there is cap room on a team.

Another example was when Evan Bouchard stayed as a FA until in January because the Oilers couldn't afford him. But when McDavid got injured for a couple of weeks, they had the cap space to sign him (for 8,5 mil still so he didn't lower that salary demand even in January). It got really messy when McDavid came back because there were a bunch of trades including Draisaitl just to get them under the cap. I understand that programming an AI in these sorts of games is not easy but I just think that it could be better than it is now since other games can do it better (and no i'm not comparing games).

[Swedishgamefreak]

Originally Posted by #4BobbyOrr

Did the various player histories issues for NHL players get corrected (eg Avs player showing up as playing for Columbus, Getzlaf not having 1,000 + points etc) for this update?

The Avs thing was fixed in last update. Did you restart your save? Because it was fixed when I restarted mine.

[#4BobbyOrr]

Originally Posted by Swedishgamefreak

The Avs thing was fixed in last update. Did you restart your save? Because it was fixed when I restarted mine.

Yeah I started a brand new save when the update came out. Weird, I’ll start another one and see how it looks.

Edit: they definitely still show up as Columbus with a brand new save.