Players suddenly leaving their team / End of season exodus

[Jacob.B92]

Yeah OK, I just simulated 1 season and the CPU don't re-sign any players with outgoing contracts. Some of the players in Free Agency right now is Quick, Howard, Horton, Roy, Ekman-Larsson. This just makes the game unplayable

Is there someway to fix this?

[archibalduk]

Is there someway to fix this?

AFAIK, it's a problem that affects many leagues in EHM. Although I didn't realise it was an issue for the NHL. Do the teams have enough salary cap and/or budget available to re-sign the players you mentioned?

I have tried experimenting with maxing the Loyalty attribute but with little success. Lowering player Reputation might fix it (and this is something I'd like to look at very soon - hopefully in time for v5.1, but I won't promise anything yet) - although players' reputation will likely rise naturally in game if we set it too low. There's a little more discussion about this problem here: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 47#p146547

[Jacob.B92]

Yeah, ALL players with outgoing contract joins the Free Agency, none of them sign a new contract, I don't even think they get a contact proposal. I'm sorry but the game is unplayable

[Alessandro]

I think the game isn't used to use so many dollars. I would say that you never tried playing in Europe, salaries in the game in Russia are like 1/5th of what they are because setting them realistically is pointless so I set them at reasonable levels. Probably we should set all the salaries to zero in the DB and have a look at what kind of salaries the game gives, then proportionally cut the salaries for all players in the DB accordingly...

[nino33]

Probably we should set all the salaries to zero in the DB and have a look at what kind of salaries the game gives, then proportionally cut the salaries for all players in the DB accordingly...

Initially I did this with the 1974 database (many months ago), and IIRC the top end salary in the NHL was about 4.5 - 5.0 million a year.
I found with the Russian League that regardless of what editing I did I couldn't get similar salary ranges (1.5 - 2.0 million seemed the norm IIRC); I tried to have players like Tretiak/Kharlamov have salaries so high they'd stay in Russia but it never worked

Is there someway to fix this?

Because it's relatively "quick and easy" you could try setting the players Loyalty to 20 (of the players you listed Roy has a 13 Loyalty and the rest are all 12); maybe Loyalty works better in the NHL than in Leagues outside the NHL...maybe in some cases lower Ambition a bit too (Quick's is 18)

[Jacob.B92]

But I don't understand how the problem started.. Why the CPU doesn't want to sign their players? Did this problem exist in previous DB:s aswell?

I simmed a couple of weeks and the CPU start to sign all these FA:s. Only one went back to his team and it was Quick. He signed a 3-year contract with a caphit of $5.63 mill. And when a great player like Ekman-Larsson signs a contract with Canucks it has a caphit of $1,3 mill. Thats almost like a rookie contract. And there are more similar examples, I just picked the first one i noticed.

Too bad, I spent a whole day putting in some player faces that where missing and when I play the game it doesn't work.

And if I put all players Loyalty to 20, how will that change this problem? It's the club that doesn't want to sign, not the players that reject contract offers.

Guess I'll have to wait for Franchise Hockey Manager 2013

[nino33]

And if I put all players Loyalty to 20, how will that change this problem? It's the club that doesn't want to sign, not the players that reject contract offers.

It was a suggestion based on your saying you simulated a season, and you didn't think they even got a contract proposal...I thought maybe they did get an offer, and if they did, Loyalty might help (I also wondered if multiple opening seasons were simmed would it happen everytime)

[Jacob.B92]

And if I put all players Loyalty to 20, how will that change this problem? It's the club that doesn't want to sign, not the players that reject contract offers.

It was a suggestion based on your saying you simulated a season, and you didn't think they even got a contract proposal...I thought maybe they did get an offer, and if they did, Loyalty might help (I also wondered if multiple opening seasons were simmed would it happen everytime)

Sorry maybe a should have mentioned.. I played one season first, and then the game crashed because I forgot to use CSD-patch at one point.. So I started a new game and the same thing happend then.. I saw all contracts expire and none of the teams even gave a contract offer. Sorry for not telling the whole story before

[Jacob.B92]

Seriously, is there nobody looking into the NHL resigning-problem? There must be a way to fix it.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

[hockeynoob]

Seriously, is there nobody looking into the NHL resigning-problem? There must be a way to fix it.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

not all UFA are unsigned
check getzlaf and perry

however, quick and howard were unsigned in my game along with some others..forgot name
but if they were all signed what good would UFA be?

[Jacob.B92]

Seriously, is there nobody looking into the NHL resigning-problem? There must be a way to fix it.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

not all UFA are unsigned
check getzlaf and perry

however, quick and howard were unsigned in my game along with some others..forgot name
but if they were all signed what good would UFA be?

If you think that's ok..

Here are som screens of the FA:s

First season, page 1:

First season, page 2:

Second season, page 1:

[archibalduk]

Seriously, is there nobody looking into the NHL resigning-problem? There must be a way to fix it.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

You need to appreciate that those of us who work on the DB do so in our own spare time and entirely without any form of remuneration. For this reason, we cannot fix things within a matter of two days. It is something we will look into and attempt to fix for the next release.

In the meantime, we have made a couple of suggestions on how you could try fixing the problem. Alessandro's is probably the most promising solution (i.e. reset the wages for all NHL players to zero so that the game generates wages that it is programmed to cope with). This can be done in a matter of minutes using the EHM Updater (export the a staff contract list, filter the NHL contracted players, copy and paste the names and DOBs into the contract_update.csv file (you can download the csv templater here) and set each players' wages column in the csv file to '0' - there are more details in the readme.pdf file which accompanies the EHM Updater). Give that a go and let us know whether it resolves your issue.

[CeeBee]

Wow, that's quite a list. Seems like a lot of those guys should have had longer contracts? I'm not past the playoffs yet so I don't know what my UFA list will look like. Just one more note on Quick and some others like Howard and who signed new deals. Manimal, you say Quick has a contract extension in the game? I can't seem to see it in my game so I'm wondering a bit about how it's done and if it will actually show up at the end of June as the above list has Quick as a UFA. I usually don't sign many if any UFA's but the AI will have a hayday it seems.

[Jacob.B92]

Seriously, is there nobody looking into the NHL resigning-problem? There must be a way to fix it.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

You need to appreciate that those of us who work on the DB do so in our own spare time and entirely without any form of remuneration. For this reason, we cannot fix things within a matter of two days. It is something we will look into and attempt to fix for the next release.

In the meantime, we have made a couple of suggestions on how you could try fixing the problem. Alessandro's is probably the most promising solution (i.e. reset the wages for all NHL players to zero so that the game generates wages that it is programmed to cope with). This can be done in a matter of minutes using the EHM Updater (export the a staff contract list, filter the NHL contracted players, copy and paste the names and DOBs into the contract_update.csv file (you can download the csv templater here) and set each players' wages column in the csv file to '0' - there are more details in the readme.pdf file which accompanies the EHM Updater). Give that a go and let us know whether it resolves your issue.

I really do appreciate the work you guys put in, but it felt like nobody "cared" about this problem, nobody even said "Yeah we will take a look at that", that's why I kept on asking. And nobody told me how to fix it either, might sound easy to you when you say "reset the wages", but as a noob it's not that easy to understand.

Anyways, thanks for the links, I will try it and see if it works. I'll keep you posted on how it works. THANK YOU!!

[Manimal]

Wow, that's quite a list. Seems like a lot of those guys should have had longer contracts? I'm not past the playoffs yet so I don't know what my UFA list will look like. Just one more note on Quick and some others like Howard and who signed new deals. Manimal, you say Quick has a contract extension in the game? I can't seem to see it in my game so I'm wondering a bit about how it's done and if it will actually show up at the end of June as the above list has Quick as a UFA. I usually don't sign many if any UFA's but the AI will have a hayday it seems.

No, not in game. In real life.
Maybe it can be edited as a future transfer? I will have a look at that

[Jacob.B92]

Yeaaaah... Could someone make a quick guide on how to use the EHM updater and csv.file to set player salaries to 0? It was much harder than I thought..

The Readme didn't help at all.

[archibalduk]

I really do appreciate the work you guys put in, but it felt like nobody "cared" about this problem, nobody even said "Yeah we will take a look at that", that's why I kept on asking. And nobody told me how to fix it either, might sound easy to you when you say "reset the wages", but as a noob it's not that easy to understand.

That's a fair point - we did assume a certain level of knowledge. However we are always happy to explain things in further detail. I had hoped that Alessandro's post saying that we'd look into it and the number of responses from myself and others showed that we do in fact care about this issue. We're all pretty anal when it comes to getting things accurate and functional!

Yeaaaah... Could someone make a quick guide on how to use the EHM updater and csv.file to set player salaries to 0? It was much harder than I thought..

I can't really explain it any further without taking a lot of screenshots (I'm afraid I don't have time at the moment). There's not much more I can say than what I said before: export a staff contract list, filter the NHL contracted players, copy and paste the names and DOBs into the contract_update.csv file (you can download the csv templater here) and set each players' wages column in the csv file to '0'

I thought it'd be quicker just to upload the csv file instead: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=B ... KBHFeZOfvI

Download the file, place this and the EHM Updater exe file in the same folder as your database files. Load the EHM Updater (use the "Run as Admin" setting if you're using Windows 7) and select option #1 and press enter. Then it will apply the changes. Note that I haven't tested the csv file myself, but there's no reason why it won't work. It covers every player contracted to an NHL team regardless of whether or not they're on NHL or affiliate rosters, etc.

Let me know whether this fixes your problem (and if anybody else tries this, please do let me know).

[Jacob.B92]

Yeah, well the problem really is how to sort them by league in excel..

I guess I was supposed to export stafflist with EHM Updater and then get an excel-file called "exported_staff_list". And from that one I was supposed to sort the players by league and then copy all NHL-players to the "contract_update"? But it's all a mess and I don't know how to sort them..

[archibalduk]

Yeah, well the problem really is how to sort them by league in excel..

I guess I was supposed to export stafflist with EHM Updater and then get an excel-file called "exported_staff_list". And from that one I was supposed to sort the players by league and then copy all NHL-players to the "contract_update"? But it's all a mess and I don't know how to sort them..

Hmm seems the Updater has exported the csv in a different format to what your system is configured for. I won't go into it because it's complex and in any event if you just use the csv I shared, you'll be fine.

[Jacob.B92]

Thanks for your help archibalduk, I used your CSV file and then started a new save. Sadly it didn't work, players still doesn't get re-signed.

[CeeBee]

Did a bit of digging around and most contracts seem right. I found 3 that need extensions. Jonathan Quick 10yr @5.8/yr, Chris Neil 3 more years(15/16) 1.9/yr and Mike Fisher 2 years(14/15) @4.2/yr. Jimmy Howards extension is only rumours afaik. In my game I'm in the first year middle of the playoffs and so far the following players of note have re-signed. Weiss, Theodore, Jagr, Latandresse, Boyes, Streit, Perry, Getzlaf and Montoya. Tim Thomas retired with medical issues and Daniel Alfredson retired mid season too. Some players like Connolly, Lupul and Koivu of note were traded at the deadline and have not signed.Many of the un-signed guys are the typical "real" NHL UFA's. 4th liners, AHL'ers and such. Can't say I see too much wrong with things in my game anyway. I really appreciate the work Manimal, Allesandro, Archi et al put into this DB, Game and website so even though I have not had much free time to help out that should change in a few years when I retire

[archibalduk]

Thanks for your help archibalduk, I used your CSV file and then started a new save. Sadly it didn't work, players still doesn't get re-signed.

Did you get this problem with last season's rosters? E.g. the v4.2b Rosters. If not, try these and see whether you get the same problem.

[Jacob.B92]

Thanks for your help archibalduk, I used your CSV file and then started a new save. Sadly it didn't work, players still doesn't get re-signed.

Did you get this problem with last season's rosters? E.g. the v4.2b Rosters. If not, try these and see whether you get the same problem.

Last roster I played was 4.0. I just simmed to the end of the season on one of those saves. And among the players that were released I have Ondrej Pavelec, Tuuka Rask and Corey Schneider. Other then that nothing to special.. A lot of players listed as Very Good however.. Probably a lot of them would be re-signed irl.

Don't know what to do..

[hockeynoob]

there is probably something correlating all the players who aren't signed (consistent among saves/everyone's games)
for example, if some UFA are signed but others aren't...
maybe it has to do with the teams/cap?
and if you do future transfer...........then say X player gets traded to a team, that team can't sign him cause he'll go to another team in the offseason..
we've always had this problem though.. (current extensions aren't in db)

[Jacob.B92]

there is probably something correlating all the players who aren't signed (consistent among saves/everyone's games)
for example, if some UFA are signed but others aren't...
maybe it has to do with the teams/cap?
and if you do future transfer...........then say X player gets traded to a team, that team can't sign him cause he'll go to another team in the offseason..
we've always had this problem though.. (current extensions aren't in db)

No, I've tried to play without salarycap, same thing happen.

Edit: Or maybe if you raise the budget in all teams it will work?