1974db Testing Results/Feedback

[nino33]

I've created this topic as a place for testers/users to provide feedback regarding the 1974 database.


The 1974 db is most definitely a work in progress, but recently it has IMO for the first time become “playable” – until laely I had so many players the wrong age, and so many modern players still in-game (2400 removed!) and no NHL team had any Staff at all……..….the database was really unplayable…untestable. I believe it is now playable/testable

So there is nothing specific I’m asking anyone to look for at this point. Just “play it” how you want and let me know how it goes. The 1974 db is currently NOT made for those looking to play outside the NHL/AHL/ECHL and Major Junior…..and really, currently it’s really made for someone to play with an NHL team (but go ahead and try Major Junior if you want! It’s just that over the next month I’ll be working a lot on Major Junior…..for example, I’ll be “creating” historical Staff, reviewing Arenas, etc)


Things that I’m still working on (and hope to get done “soon”)
- Review and recreate as neccessary underage players (to ensure they can't be signed before draft eligibility ends) DONE
- An initial review/edit of historical Player Attributes DONE
- Review/edit team colour schemes for NHL/AHL/Major Junior DONE
- Review/edit team colour schemes for CHL/ECHL DONE
- Increase Contract Length & edit Adaptability/Loyalty of "modern" Europeans/Russians DONE
- Add NHL Team Rookie Records DONE
- Add additional historical players to the AHL/CHL (the “non-stars”) DONE
- Review/Edit AHL/CHL/ECHL Arenas DONE
- Review/Edit WHL/OHL/QMJHL Arenas DONE
- Change Invalid Players/Staff to Retired (so they don't reappear in-game) DONE
- Remove all teams made Invalid from "fake placeholder leagues" (so they are truely Defunct and don't attract random players) DONE






Longer Term things I’m working on
- Create historical AHL/CHL Staff In-Progress
- An initial review/edit of historical Staff Attributes
- Add historical players/staff to the ECHL (if possible)
- Add additional historical players to Major Junior (the “non-stars”)
- Review/Edit Major Junior Staff
- Edit Major Junior Team Records
- Add additional historical “Free Agent” Staff
- Height/Weight review of all historical players under 21 (using edited Strength Calculator results)
- Use Staff Updater tool to input NHL palyer salary amounts (currently all are set as "0" and the game determines amounts)
- Unfake/correct European/Russian (Elite League) team names
- Create European/Russian “Minor Hockey” Leagues (like I have for NA)
- Add dozens more historical Swedes, Finns, Czechs/Slovaks and Russians first.......then add hundreds more later
- Move historical “Minor Hockey” players to in-game Leagues where possible
- Edit/rename NA “Minor Hockey” Leagues/Teams (currently unrealistic names, no team attributes, etc)
- Take another/closer look at names to remove the "weird names" that remain (i.e. all capitals, RD, etc)
- Determine applicable College Transfers, input into Extra_Config
- Add Arena changes and Affiliation changes using Extra_Config_File
- If possible figure out "waiver issue" (why are young players waiver eligible when they shouldn't be/older players that shouldn't be are exempt)
- Input goalie SV% in Player History

- Further review/editing of historical Player Attributes
- Further review/editing of historical Staff Attributes
- Add Minor Pro and Major Junior Player History (stats) to historical players (currently only NHL/WHA History has been inputted)
- Add Player History (stats) to Staff (might populate HOF - currently HOF at start-up is empty)
- Add Player History (stats) to AHL/CHL Players; add non-NHL Player History to players contracted to an NHL team











EDITS are in Blue
March 24/25 - Moved a number of tasks from the "hope to get done soon" list to the "Longer Term things" list

[nino33]

I've sent the database to all the testers, but I forgot to include a list of the "extra young" Europeans/Russians that you can (you don't have to!) adjust the age/PA of at start-up so they'll be "in-game" and stay in their home country the appropriate amount of time...i.e. so they'll show up after many years of play!

There's not a lot currently in the database, here's a list of
- the player
- player age (so reduce Birth Year from 1986/age 20 to what it needs to be)
- the PA (with the current PA they have they won't break 100)
- and finally, the team they're playing for

Unfortunately I still have some players that have "variable" PAs (like I said, it's a work in progress!)....for now, IF adjusting Birth Year/PA you'll have to use your own judgement


Sweden
Bengt-Ake Gustafsson 16 153 Farjestads BK J20
Pelle Lindbergh 15 173 AIK J20
Hakan Loob 14 150 Farjestads BK J20
Kent Nilsson 17 169 Djurgardens IF J20
Stefan Persson 19 143 Brynas IF J20
Thomas Gradin 18 -9 MODO Hockey J20
Mats Naslund 14 -8 MODO Hockey J20
Thomas Steen 14 -8 Leksands IF J20
Thomas Eriksson 14 -7 Djurgardens IF J20
Mats Hallin 16 -7 Sodertalje SK J20
Kjell Samuelsson 15 -7 Leksands IF J20
Harold Luckner 17 -6 Farjestads BK J20


Finland
Markus Mattsson 17 144 Tampere I Jr
Jari Kurri 14 180 Helsinki J Jrs
Kari Makkonen 18 -13 Pori Jrs
Reijo Ruotsalainen 14 -8 Oulu Jrs
Risto Siltanen 15 -8 Tampere I Jr


Russia
Sergei Babinov 19 170 Moscow C Jrs
Nikolai Drozdetsky 17 170 Moscow C Jrs
Viacheslav Fetisov 16 175 Moscow C Jrs
Igor Kapustin 16 170 Moscow D Jrs
Alexei Kasatonov 14 170 Moscow C Jrs
Vladimir Krutov 14 175 Moscow C Jrs
Igor Larionov 13 175 Moscow C Jrs
Sergei Makarov 16 175 Moscow C Jrs
Sergey Mylnikov 15 165 Moscow D Jrs
Mikhail Varnakov 17 170 Moscow D Jrs
Vladimir Zubkov 16 170 Moscow C Jrs
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov 19 -8 Moscow D Jrs
Erik Gimayev 17 -8 Moscow C Jrs
Alexander Gusev 19 -8 Moscow C Jrs
Alexander Kozhevnikov 15 -8 Moscow C Jrs
Vladimir Myshkin 19 -8 Moscow D Jrs
Vasily Pervukhin 18 -8 Moscow D Jrs
Sergei Shepelev 18 -8 Moscow D Jrs
Alexander Skvortsov 19 -8 Moscow C
Sergey Starikov 15 -8 Moscow C Jrs
Victor Tyumenev 17 -8 Moscow D Jrs
Dmitri Saprykin 14 -7 Moscow C Jrs
Alexander Tyzhnych 16 -7 Moscow C Jrs

[canucksfan33]

I used the Canucks, and some Russians (Tretiak, Mikhailov, Yakushev, Kharlamov, Petrov, and Lebedev) all signed with me. Mike Bossy was also a free agent and signed with me.

[nino33]

I used the Canucks, and some Russians (Tretiak, Mikhailov, Yakushev, Kharlamov, Petrov, and Lebedev) all signed with me. Mike Bossy was also a free agent and signed with me.

Weird. I checked in the Editor, and the players you're mentioning don't have "Rights" assigned (Bossy to Laval, the Russians to Moscow C/D)...maybe assigning rights will make a difference, or maybe an 11 year contract in Russia (without an NHL Release Clause) is meaningless!
EDIT - I checked the Russians and their Adaptability is a 1 but Ambition is often "0" - perhaps a lower ambition will make them refuse to sign? After reading your post I did a test with the Canucks too and Mikhailov wouldn't sign with me, but Tretiak did

I guess worse case scenario if I have to I'll just remove the 100 or so historical Europeans/Russians, and let the game populate Europe/Russia with newgens/regens...

Please let me know if you see the AI signing Russians/underagers....


2ND EDIT - I messed around a bit with Rights and Attributes and Contract Length.....and it doesn't seem to help! It seems the russian contracts are meaningless!

[XenHL]

I haven't yet tried to play, just loaded a new game to check a few things out, like the progress on the picture pack - so far, so good!

Also, there's a couple of logo issues I'll need to fix before the first release: forgot to make a "huge" logo for the Totems, and the Seals' "huge" logo is too big.

A couple of questions I thought of at my first look-through:

1. You've got yellow as the main colour for the home/dark kit for the Seals? Shouldn't that be main green for the dark kit and main yellow for the light/away kit?

2. There's a couple NHL teams I noticed are black and white (Aeros, Totems). Will you be adjusting these (blue/white, green/white) prior to the full release? (Similarly for a couple of junior teams I found with black on black). A similar note, there's a few other NHL teams I think are slightly off in colour scheme (Jets with orange instead of red, Roadrunners with teal instead of light blue), though that's not a huge issue.

3. Will you be adding long-retired players (say as retired or very low-rep staff), like George Hainsworth and Maurice Richard, so that their records will show up?

A thought on the Russians and the Europeans: if it's not possible to make them NOT sign with NHL teams, my suggestion would probably be to keep the historical players in the database and let them sign with the NHL teams if the AI wants. I'd rather see a recognisable name like Boris Mikhailov signing with an NHL team, than some newgen Ivan Ivanov...

EDIT: Oops, I *did* make a huge logo for the Totems, just missed the space in the name.

[nino33]

I'd rather see a recognisable name like Boris Mikhailov signing with an NHL team, than some newgen Ivan Ivanov...

Except at start-up there is no "non-historical" European/Russian with a CA above 100 (and none with a potential PA above 100!)....so it'll be years before the Russians would show up.....if the signing issue can't be fixed, and AI teams sign them too, I'm quite sure the small number of historical Europeans/Russians will NOT be a part of my database [I dream of the 1974 db for EHM05, with the potential to control all 30 NHL teams...maybe if no NHL team approaches them they stay in Europe/Russia?]

Will you be adding long-retired players (say as retired or very low-rep staff), like George Hainsworth and Maurice Richard, so that their records will show up?

Check out the NHL Staff (especially Assistant GMs and Coaches) and you'll find many long-retired players! Hainsworth died in 1950 so I didn't include him, but IIRC Richard is an Assistant Coach for the Quebec Nordiques

You've got yellow as the main colour for the home/dark kit for the Seals? Shouldn't that be main green for the dark kit and main yellow for the light/away kit?

There's a couple NHL teams I noticed are black and white (Aeros, Totems). Will you be adjusting these (blue/white, green/white) prior to the full release? (Similarly for a couple of junior teams I found with black on black). A similar note, there's a few other NHL teams I think are slightly off in colour scheme (Jets with orange instead of red, Roadrunners with teal instead of light blue), though that's not a huge issue.

I haven't reviewed this (team colour schemes) at all yet.....I suspect it'll be more noticeable in Major junior.....I do hope to fix this before a full release



Regards

[Moses Doughty]

Same as Nucks. Bossy, Petrov, Kharlamov, Tretiak all signing. Have no clue why about 10 or so semi well known to big name guys are FAs when they should be drafted.

However, keep the Russians in it. Its impossible to truly make it so they don't come over(from what Ive seen)

[nino33]

However, keep the Russians in it. Its impossible to truly make it so they don't come over(from what Ive seen)

When I Retire them (and I will) I can be 100% sure they will not come over. Anyone really wanting them can go into the Editor and put them back in I suppose, but for me the handful of Russians in the "1974 NHL" would ruin it for me (it's simply not what I want); I would rather have "unkown" Russians develop...

[Moses Doughty]

I guess, maybe make most of them a lower PA instead so its less likely they sign in NHL but they can stay in DB

[nino33]

I guess, maybe make most of them a lower PA instead so its less likely they sign in NHL but they can stay in DB

I agree; if no solution can be found (Manimal?) I'll try a lower PA to see if that works

[XenHL]

Will you be adding long-retired players (say as retired or very low-rep staff), like George Hainsworth and Maurice Richard, so that their records will show up?

Check out the NHL Staff (especially Assistant GMs and Coaches) and you'll find many long-retired players! Hainsworth died in 1950 so I didn't include him, but IIRC Richard is an Assistant Coach for the Quebec Nordiques

I asked because I looked at the NHL all-time records, and none of the "old" records were there - Hainsworth's 22 shutouts in a season, Richard's 544 career goals, etc. All the records are/were held by active players.

Reason I suggested leaving the historical Russians in: if you don't, and let the game gen new ones, won't you end up with some great young new-gen Russian ending up in the NHL in say 1978? If not then no issue, but if so, I dunno, but in such a case I'd probably prefer seeing a real name. A sudden thought: what if, for the Russians, you add only junior and younger age players to the DB? Okay, then probably the Russians'll start showing up in the 1980s, but you'd have at least the 70s clear of Russians, but real players later on? Just a thought...

[nino33]

RE Salary Cap/Team Budgets/Contracts
FYI I'm afraid I'm really not sure of "the scoop" in this area....I'm not even sure if the Salary Cap is in use...I do know I didn't like the way the computer randomized salary amounts, but editing player salaries is another big task and I just haven't got to it yet

[nino33]

I asked because I looked at the NHL all-time records, and none of the "old" records were there - Hainsworth's 22 shutouts in a season, Richard's 544 career goals, etc. All the records are/were held by active players.

I didn't input Hainsworth's 22 shoutouts as Esposito's 15 is considered the "modern" record (and i prefered it) - I think the other records will show up when I add Staff History (Maurice Richard's history has not been entered yet because so far I've only entered NHL/WHA history for players...I haven't yet entered Staff history)

The other thing about missing Staff History is the Hockey Hall of Fame....the HHOF is empty at start-up! I'm hoping/thinking when I enter Staff History that might cause some of them to be part of the HHOF at start-up

[XenHL]

Records: ah, okay, gotcha. (Though as a Habs fan, I do like that there's a record held by a Hab that will never, ever be broken ).

Am in the SG editor fixing the Europeans' PA, discovered a player: "Lindberg, TOMMY".

[nino33]

Reason I suggested leaving the historical Russians in: if you don't, and let the game gen new ones, won't you end up with some great young new-gen Russian ending up in the NHL in say 1978? If not then no issue, but if so, I dunno, but in such a case I'd probably prefer seeing a real name.

The game "creates" players (new gens) at start-up, and every year after that, so we're going to have "unknowns" after just a couple/few years whether we like it or not, my testing showed this............My understanding is Europeans/Russians will come in as 16 year olds, North Americans as 14 year olds.....so I think we will have a handful of Russians after only a couple/few years, but I don't think it'll be many.

The unkown is does the game itself strive for a certain level/balance of talent? Or if I'm not careful will the lack of quality European/Russian hockey players always be an issue?.....I wish I knew why the contracts in the Russian Elite League are meaningless!.....Can the Swedes be signed as easily? Finns?

[XenHL]

Re the contracts: looking in the SG editor, Tretiak has a CA of 175, a PA of 188, Yakushev 175/185, Kharlamov 170/190, a world rep of 4000... Perhaps this is factoring in? Maybe, you'll have to make these guys 35 years old too (maybe with low CA/PA?), to be fixed in the SG editor after starting a new game (if one is so inclined)?

(Another find: "Yakubov, ALEKSANDR")

[XenHL]

Found a couple things re the PA's of Europeans you listed above that need changing: Sergey Mylnikov's is already 165, Sergei Shepelev's is already 110, Alexander Skvortsov's is already 144.

Found a few more all-caps names: Kurka, MARTIN; Gimayev, IVAN; Brandebo, JAN; DEFENCE, Jordan.

Spotting one of the female names in the db, it reminded me: I really wish there was a distinction made in the db for female names. In my current game with the 1979 db I found a 6' 5" Slovak right winger named Jozefina Filip... that's a BIG girl! And she was drafted, which was quite jarring from an immersion point of view. Goalie wouldn't bother me (yay Manon!), but... well, anyways, I doubt this is something any of us can do anything about.

[Moses Doughty]

If the World rep was low would that make it less likely to come over?

[XenHL]

Started a game to test play, took the Seattle Totems.

The Totems have two scouts named Larry Cahan.

Guys like Thomas Gradin, Vladimir Dzurilla and Jiri Bubla can sign.

Guys who are old enough to have been drafted in the 2006 draft seem to all be signable - I didn't look at all, though.

The Russians seem to be fine - the contract has no NHL release clause, and while Tretiak was willing to sign, the contract screen noted he can transfer only after the current contract expires. Sooo... what we might end up seeing, is a team signing a Russian to a contract - and getting him only in 2017!

[Moses Doughty]

No XenHL, it says that but they immediately come over. I signed him, Petrov, Kharlamov to LA. Not to mention Bossy. Will be an interesting game to play after the first few years when the too young to be signed FAs are all signed or somehow drafted

[XenHL]

Oh, hrm. I looked, but didn't actually offer any of the Russians a contract, nor have any of the AI teams done so yet. Well... that'll make things interesting, then.

You'd mentioned Bossy - I signed Pete Peeters, Barry Beck, Doug Wilson...

Couple things I noticed:

1. Doug Wickenheiser is showing up for the 2007 draft;

2. Montreal Red-White-Blue has two players named Bob Sullivan.

And AI teams are being puzzling, signing fairly useless-looking modern players (like the Habs signed Brett Skinner).

Also seems nearly everyone is a rookie in the first season...

[archibalduk]

Also seems nearly everyone is a rookie in the first season...

Is that because their Player Info section needs updating in the database?

[Manimal]

I've just had a quick glance in the editor but Bossy, Peeters and Doug Wilson all have stats in the Player Info-tab that makes the game see them as veterans. Clear out the Professional Stats and you might see a difference.

I have a busy week ahead but I'll try to test the db soon

I also love the last line in the Extra Config File

I DONT KNOW

[archibalduk]

I'll try and get that Player Info Updater finished within the next week so we can try and fix that issue regarding the vets and rookies.

[archibalduk]

i_dont_know is a remnant from a previous EHM's extra_config (IIRC it was EHM 2004) which enabled unlicensed leagues to be unfaked. You can probably remove that from your EHM 07 DB!