FHM12 3d improvements

northjersey · 03-19-2026, 10:01 AM

when FHM12 was released the devs seemed to indicate a future update would address the 3d game player. what is the status of that?

lawrence97 · 03-20-2026, 10:24 AM

I didn't hear about that, i have to admit i've gone back to classic mode, 2d just isn't there yet, too many stats are unrealistic, and not sure how much player roles really affect your players game style . So if 2d isn't there yet wondering if they are focusing on 3d instead? Would be nice if we heard from them about what current plans are for the match engine.

Colorado · 03-20-2026, 12:20 PM

They've not mentioned any plans for 3D. They need to address 2D first which needs a lot of work.

northjersey · 04-02-2026, 02:36 PM

sorry I meant 2D, the devs mentioned a promised improvement to the 2d game mid-way after the release of 12. I have never seen an update on that

lawrence97 · 04-02-2026, 06:49 PM

they did on one, they tweaked the centre scoring, which def improved it, but its still in my view unrealistic, i did upload a save which showed the shooting % of c's was way off. Other stats are still a bit unrealistic, you get a lot less penalties, way more shg, giveaways and takeaways are too high, really noticeable if you play 2d your team, classic others. Hoping they can really work on this for 13. Main one for me is the scoring balance, the others not so much but others may view it differently

Sebastian Palkowski · 04-03-2026, 05:38 AM

I think this goes back to a comment from Jeff on Twitch. Unfortunately I don´t now anything about that, the only thing we got from him regarding the 2D Engine was additional in-game sounds (e.g. sounds for hits, shots, ...) but I doubt that qualifies as "major addition to the 2D engine". So maybe Jeff can clear this up at some point.

tomkmb · 04-03-2026, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

I think this goes back to a comment from Jeff on Twitch. Unfortunately I don´t now anything about that, the only thing we got from him regarding the 2D Engine was additional in-game sounds (e.g. sounds for hits, shots, ...) but I doubt that qualifies as "major addition to the 2D engine". So maybe Jeff can clear this up at some point.

Would love to hear from Jeff on this, even just to say that it wasn't a hallucination on the part of the fanbase at this stage.

Swedishgamefreak · 04-04-2026, 01:03 PM

This should really be a major focus for FHM 13. I get that there are a lot of areas that need improvements but when it comes to the 2D engine, we have not seen any big improvements since they added it in FHM 7. Balancing is still way off in many categories, the movement on the players are still very stiff, the goals looks pretty much the same every time. The 2D engine in EHM looks way better and I get that EHM had a bigger budget than FHM but I think it's really weird that we have had no real improvements in 5 years.

Edit: I also get that you can't compare it to the "2D visual" stuff on nhl.com because it's based on movement from real players but I really think they could take a hard look at EHM in that terms.

Swedishgamefreak · 04-04-2026, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by northjersey

sorry I meant 2D, the devs mentioned a promised improvement to the 2d game mid-way after the release of 12. I have never seen an update on that

Yeah I remembered that as well. I have no idea what happened with that.

sarona · 04-04-2026, 01:40 PM

He mentioned "this larger thing that I can't talk about yet" at about the twenty six minute mark of this particular Twitch stream https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2586749...=all&sort=time

I do not even bother using the 2D engine for my historical save. I continue to use classic.

lawrence97 · 04-04-2026, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swedishgamefreak

Yeah I remembered that as well. I have no idea what happened with that.

just looked it up, Jeff in the 12.2 update says "-made additional adjustmets to 2D mode to fix the imbalance of shots coming from centres vs. from wingers"

This def made a difference to the scoring balance, but still too many goals are being scored by c's and way too many of their shots going in. Nothing else about 2d engine that isn't superificial mentioned in susbsequent updates from what i can see.

Sebastian Palkowski · 04-06-2026, 05:00 AM

I fully agree with you on this and believe me, I tried to make this a major focus for the last 3 years at least but not everyone on the team agrees with me here, so unfortunately it is what it is now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swedishgamefreak

This should really be a major focus for FHM 13. I get that there are a lot of areas that need improvements but when it comes to the 2D engine, we have not seen any big improvements since they added it in FHM 7. Balancing is still way off in many categories, the movement on the players are still very stiff, the goals looks pretty much the same every time. The 2D engine in EHM looks way better and I get that EHM had a bigger budget than FHM but I think it's really weird that we have had no real improvements in 5 years.

Edit: I also get that you can't compare it to the "2D visual" stuff on nhl.com because it's based on movement from real players but I really think they could take a hard look at EHM in that terms.

lawrence97 · 04-06-2026, 07:21 AM

I appreciate that, it is very suprising to me that they don't see it, stick outs like a sore thumb at least to me, but at least this way i can just carry on with the classic engine and not waste my time trying to lobby for something that isn't going to change.

Again thanks for the info appreciate it and for your efforts

Colorado · 04-06-2026, 11:32 AM

Completely agree with the consensus here that it needs improvement.

I'd love to watch games 2D but it's just not really fun (or realistic) in it's current state. Just something like the NHL site has to show their 2D goals, that's all - something clean looking that plays like real hockey.

northjersey · 04-06-2026, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

I fully agree with you on this and believe me, I tried to make this a major focus for the last 3 years at least but not everyone on the team agrees with me here, so unfortunately it is what it is now.

Sebastian, since you seem to monitor these boards the most, hopefully you can take back to the dev team, for FHM13, us "fans", ie majority of buyers of this franchise, prefer improvements to the 2D engine, over superfluous things such as owners goals and other minor tweaks that none of us are asking for. Even the casual fan, isn't going to be swayed to buy this game, just because they think the owner goals are priority #1 of a great sim game

GMO123 · 04-06-2026, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by northjersey

Sebastian, since you seem to monitor these boards the most, hopefully you can take back to the dev team, for FHM13, us "fans", ie majority of buyers of this franchise, prefer improvements to the 2D engine, over superfluous things such as owners goals and other minor tweaks that none of us are asking for. Even the casual fan, isn't going to be swayed to buy this game, just because they think the owner goals are priority #1 of a great sim game

Maybe have a poll asking people what priority should be given to areas of improvement of this game.

drummerJ99 · 04-07-2026, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by northjersey

Sebastian, since you seem to monitor these boards the most, hopefully you can take back to the dev team, for FHM13, us "fans", ie majority of buyers of this franchise, prefer improvements to the 2D engine, over superfluous things such as owners goals and other minor tweaks that none of us are asking for. Even the casual fan, isn't going to be swayed to buy this game, just because they think the owner goals are priority #1 of a great sim game

Agree 100%. IMHO 2d is unrealistic and resembles nothing like watching hockey hockey.

brettrankin · 04-17-2026, 04:12 PM

I vote for more time and effort towards the 2d play. That would be sweet. I am enjoying the game so much but it would be better if the 2d was improved.

Sebastian Palkowski · 04-18-2026, 04:12 AM

I can only repeat what I said earlier: I would prefer (major) work on the Match Engine as well but not everyone on the team agrees with this, so unfortunately we have to see what happens with this topic.

Colorado · 04-18-2026, 04:12 PM

As a long-term supporter of the game, it's disappointing and concerning that people working on the game believe the 2D engine is acceptable and functions as well as it should. I hope they read this thread. We all appreciate it's a small (and likely low budget) dev team, but the game has not advanced enough over a long period, and it just seems the focus is on obscure or half-baked changes, whilst bigger issues are continually overlooked across multiple releases.

The result will be people will eventually lose faith/patience with the game and stop playing it.

04-02-2026, 06:49 PM	#5
lawrence97 Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: England Posts: 432	they did on one, they tweaked the centre scoring, which def improved it, but its still in my view unrealistic, i did upload a save which showed the shooting % of c's was way off. Other stats are still a bit unrealistic, you get a lot less penalties, way more shg, giveaways and takeaways are too high, really noticeable if you play 2d your team, classic others. Hoping they can really work on this for 13. Main one for me is the scoring balance, the others not so much but others may view it differently Last edited by lawrence97; 04-03-2026 at 06:24 AM.

04-03-2026, 05:38 AM	#6
Sebastian Palkowski Developer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5,529	I think this goes back to a comment from Jeff on Twitch. Unfortunately I don´t now anything about that, the only thing we got from him regarding the 2D Engine was additional in-game sounds (e.g. sounds for hits, shots, ...) but I doubt that qualifies as "major addition to the 2D engine". So maybe Jeff can clear this up at some point. __________________ Buy Franchise Hockey Manager

04-04-2026, 01:03 PM	#8
Swedishgamefreak Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 220	This should really be a major focus for FHM 13. I get that there are a lot of areas that need improvements but when it comes to the 2D engine, we have not seen any big improvements since they added it in FHM 7. Balancing is still way off in many categories, the movement on the players are still very stiff, the goals looks pretty much the same every time. The 2D engine in EHM looks way better and I get that EHM had a bigger budget than FHM but I think it's really weird that we have had no real improvements in 5 years. Edit: I also get that you can't compare it to the "2D visual" stuff on nhl.com because it's based on movement from real players but I really think they could take a hard look at EHM in that terms. Last edited by Swedishgamefreak; 04-04-2026 at 01:06 PM.

04-18-2026, 04:12 AM	#19
Sebastian Palkowski Developer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5,529	I can only repeat what I said earlier: I would prefer (major) work on the Match Engine as well but not everyone on the team agrees with this, so unfortunately we have to see what happens with this topic. __________________ Buy Franchise Hockey Manager

03-19-2026, 10:01 AM	#1
northjersey Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 241	FHM12 3d improvements when FHM12 was released the devs seemed to indicate a future update would address the 3d game player. what is the status of that?

03-20-2026, 10:24 AM	#2
lawrence97 Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: England Posts: 432	I didn't hear about that, i have to admit i've gone back to classic mode, 2d just isn't there yet, too many stats are unrealistic, and not sure how much player roles really affect your players game style . So if 2d isn't there yet wondering if they are focusing on 3d instead? Would be nice if we heard from them about what current plans are for the match engine.

03-20-2026, 12:20 PM	#3
Colorado Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 440	They've not mentioned any plans for 3D. They need to address 2D first which needs a lot of work.

04-02-2026, 02:36 PM	#4
northjersey Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 241	sorry I meant 2D, the devs mentioned a promised improvement to the 2d game mid-way after the release of 12. I have never seen an update on that

04-04-2026, 01:40 PM	#10
sarona Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2024 Posts: 16	He mentioned "this larger thing that I can't talk about yet" at about the twenty six minute mark of this particular Twitch stream https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2586749...=all&sort=time I do not even bother using the 2D engine for my historical save. I continue to use classic.

04-06-2026, 07:21 AM	#13
lawrence97 Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: England Posts: 432	I appreciate that, it is very suprising to me that they don't see it, stick outs like a sore thumb at least to me, but at least this way i can just carry on with the classic engine and not waste my time trying to lobby for something that isn't going to change. Again thanks for the info appreciate it and for your efforts

04-06-2026, 11:32 AM	#14
Colorado Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 440	Completely agree with the consensus here that it needs improvement. I'd love to watch games 2D but it's just not really fun (or realistic) in it's current state. Just something like the NHL site has to show their 2D goals, that's all - something clean looking that plays like real hockey.

04-17-2026, 04:12 PM	#18
brettrankin Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 75	I vote for more time and effort towards the 2d play. That would be sweet. I am enjoying the game so much but it would be better if the 2d was improved.

04-18-2026, 04:12 PM	#20
Colorado Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 440	As a long-term supporter of the game, it's disappointing and concerning that people working on the game believe the 2D engine is acceptable and functions as well as it should. I hope they read this thread. We all appreciate it's a small (and likely low budget) dev team, but the game has not advanced enough over a long period, and it just seems the focus is on obscure or half-baked changes, whilst bigger issues are continually overlooked across multiple releases. The result will be people will eventually lose faith/patience with the game and stop playing it.