Tournament Mode

[Danielg342]

Bought the game (EHM 1), got the Editor...gone deep into editing, and generally having some fun.

Haven't gotten the NHL mods for now since I'm really just trying things out at the moment.

Anyway...

I have a bit of an issue trying to create a simple, custom tournament.

The intent is to create an end-of-season world club championship tournament featuring the winners of the 13 major professional leagues in the game (including the National League). I copied and pasted the Canadian Major Junior Cup as a base (since the CMJC draws from the winners of the OHL, QMJHL and WHL, which is what I want this tournament to do), edited settings and I even set the draw date to the next year following the first year.

However, the game tells me it can't create a schedule, and, for the life of me I can't figure out why I can't get it to work. I've fiddled with every setting I can think of, but no matter what I try, I can't get the tournament to work.

It is my understanding that the Editor doesn't seem to have the ability to set a league's winner to qualify for another tournament, unless I missed that function somewhere.

Anyway, these are screenshots for what I've done. If anyone can tell me where I went wrong, let me know. If this tournament isn't at all possible, let me know too.

https://imgur.com/gallery/7ETUHak

Thanks.

[Danielg342]

Never mind. I managed to get it to work. I forgot to schedule dates. Now it works fine.

[Danielg342]

Check that. I need to re-open the thread.

I have a new problem. The regular season portion of the tournament works just fine. However, once I get to the playoff stage, the game either crashes or the game does not schedule any games, leaving the tournament in limbo.

I'm trying everything to figure it out but no dice. Any help?

[Danielg342]

Never mind. I fixed it. It works now.

Sorry for the trouble. If the mods want to delete this thread, go ahead I no longer need it.

[archibalduk]

Glad you got it working.

Reading your posts is bit like the trial and error process I go through when adding playable leagues!

[Danielg342]

Thank you. It's been a bit frustrating, but worth it.

Anyway...now I actually do have a question. I can't seem to get the playoff seedings to work properly- that is, make them based on the regular season finish. I have eight playoff teams, so I'd like them to pair up #1v#8, #2v#7, #3v#6, #4v#5 and have the subsequent pairings determined by seed. I thought using the setting "reorder on regular season points" would do it but it didn't. I have #1v#8, but I also have #2v#4, #3v#4, and #6v#7.

What do I need to do?

(EDIT- While I have you, if I create a custom league, is there any way I can stop the NHL teams from poaching my players? I'd like to have the NHL teams respect those contracts)

[archibalduk]

Thank you. It's been a bit frustrating, but worth it.

Anyway...now I actually do have a question. I can't seem to get the playoff seedings to work properly- that is, make them based on the regular season finish. I have eight playoff teams, so I'd like them to pair up #1v#8, #2v#7, #3v#6, #4v#5 and have the subsequent pairings determined by seed. I thought using the setting "reorder on regular season points" would do it but it didn't. I have #1v#8, but I also have #2v#4, #3v#4, and #6v#7.

What do I need to do?

Click on the Stages tab when viewing your tournament's rules and structures, select your playoff stage (if you have more than one playoff stage, select the first one) and then:

- On the Rules sub-tab, make sure "From Prev Stages Seeded" is true; and
- On the Schedule Dates sub-tab, click on the Round Rules setting for the first round of the playoffs and make sure Seeded Draw is true.

If I remember correctly, the above should do it. You might want to try with and without Reorder on Regular Season Points as I'm not totally sure how this works with a tournament like this.

(EDIT- While I have you, if I create a custom league, is there any way I can stop the NHL teams from poaching my players? I'd like to have the NHL teams respect those contracts)

Increase the tournament's and clubs' reputations (via the Clubs and Club Competitions screens) in order to encourage players to stay on their original teams. I don't think it is possible to protect a league/tournament contracts from NHL offers.

[Danielg342]

Click on the Stages tab when viewing your tournament's rules and structures, select your playoff stage (if you have more than one playoff stage, select the first one) and then:

- On the Rules sub-tab, make sure "From Prev Stages Seeded" is true; and
- On the Schedule Dates sub-tab, click on the Round Rules setting for the first round of the playoffs and make sure Seeded Draw is true.

If I remember correctly, the above should do it. You might want to try with and without Reorder on Regular Season Points as I'm not totally sure how this works with a tournament like this.

Will try this. I'll get back to you.

Increase the tournament's and clubs' reputations (via the Clubs and Club Competitions screens) in order to encourage players to stay on their original teams. I don't think it is possible to protect a league/tournament contracts from NHL offers.

Any way to at least force the NHL teams to pay a transfer fee for players outside of their league? I can't seem to find that option.

[Danielg342]

A very interesting thing is happening.

So I have my tournament- the World Club Cup- set to run in two stages, July 5 to July 31 and August 7 to August 11. The draw for stage one occurs on July 2, and the draw for stage two is scheduled for August 1. The game schedules the first stage from July 4 to July 30 and the second from August 6 to August 10. One day off, no big deal.

It also schedules the playoffs properly, with the teams seeded correctly throughout. Victory, right? Well, according to my in-game E-Mails, the quarterfinal draw took place on July 26, before all the regular season games have been played.

So I don't know if I figured it out or if I'm just getting lucky.

As for the transfer thing, I was able to stop the NHL teams from pilfering teams in what I intend to be a "rival" major league (the Intercontinental League (ICL)), but I can't seem to force NHL teams to be required to pay a transfer fee before being able to sign players, whereas teams in the ICL need to pay a transfer fee. So I still need to know if there's a way to force NHL teams to pay transfer fees.

For what it's worth, I set the NHL to not have their Entry Draft and removed all of their affiliations. Not sure if this will break the game or not, but I figured I'd mention that while I can.

[archibalduk]

So I have my tournament- the World Club Cup- set to run in two stages, July 5 to July 31 and August 7 to August 11. The draw for stage one occurs on July 2, and the draw for stage two is scheduled for August 1. The game schedules the first stage from July 4 to July 30 and the second from August 6 to August 10. One day off, no big deal.

There's a Draw Day setting in addition to the Draw Date setting. You can leave the Draw Day as -1 / [None] and it'll draw specifically on the Draw Date. If you use Draw Day then it'll move the Draw Date nearest Draw Day. E.g. if you set the Draw Day to Tuesday and Draw Date to 20-Jan, the actual date will be the nearest Tuesday to 20-Jan, which is why the date will vary slightly in-game.

It also schedules the playoffs properly, with the teams seeded correctly throughout. Victory, right? Well, according to my in-game E-Mails, the quarterfinal draw took place on July 26, before all the regular season games have been played.

It sounds like a stage is triggering too soon or a Draw Date is off slightly. It could also be a mismatch in one of the total games played settings. I'd have to see the database to check though.

[Danielg342]

archibalduk, really appreciate your patience.

It sounds like a stage is triggering too soon or a Draw Date is off slightly. It could also be a mismatch in one of the total games played settings. I'd have to see the database to check though.

I fixed that. It was a matter of ensuring I set in "Comp Rules" the correct amount of max games to be played. It seems like the program was drawing playoff seeds when it's told the maximum amount of games have been played, not when all the games were played.

There's a Draw Day setting in addition to the Draw Date setting. You can leave the Draw Day as -1 / [None] and it'll draw specifically on the Draw Date. If you use Draw Day then it'll move the Draw Date nearest Draw Day. E.g. if you set the Draw Day to Tuesday and Draw Date to 20-Jan, the actual date will be the nearest Tuesday to 20-Jan, which is why the date will vary slightly in-game.

Do I have to set the Draw Date to be one day before the intended game or can I do that on the day of? Is there also a maximum amount of games a league can play in one day?

Also, do the TV settings matter at all? What about the "Priority" setting?

Now a few other things I can't figure out:

-I have a league where, in the "League Dates" screen, lists a date for the "Start of the Regular Season" to occur after some games scheduled as regular season games. Is that going to screw up regular season tabulations, especially for playoff seeding?

If this is purely a cosmetic issue, then I may not bother fixing it.

-This same league also lists a date for the Start of Free Agency to occur on May 1, right when the Final begins. I can't seem to find a way to move that date.

My transfer rules for that league is set to the same rules it sets for the National League, so "Free Agents can sign until last window" is checked and the second window is set to begin on June 7. So I don't know why the league is starting free agency on May 1.

[archibalduk]

Do I have to set the Draw Date to be one day before the intended game or can I do that on the day of? Is there also a maximum amount of games a league can play in one day?

Yes the draw date must be no later than the day before the first game of the round in question. The draw date can be as early as the same date on which final game of the prior round takes place. For example, if the final game of the regular season takes place on 10 April and the first game of the first round of the playoffs takes place on 15 April then the draw date for the first round can be any date from 10 April to 14 April. Similarly, if the final game of the first round takes place on 25 April and the second round starts on 4 May, the draw date for the second round can be any date from 25 April to 3 May. It's actually better to have an earlier date because otherwise in-game you're left not knowing your next opponent or schedule until quite late on. But equally you need to ensure that the prior round/stage will definitely be complete on or before your chosen draw date, otherwise you'll get a crash on that date.

Also, do the TV settings matter at all? What about the "Priority" setting?

TV settings can be left as is but are there in case you want to set how games are televised. The Priority setting is used in the event of a scheduling clash - e.g. if a team has two games on the same date where they are in more than one competition, the game with the lower Priority will be rescheduled.

-I have a league where, in the "League Dates" screen, lists a date for the "Start of the Regular Season" to occur after some games scheduled as regular season games. Is that going to screw up regular season tabulations, especially for playoff seeding?

If this is purely a cosmetic issue, then I may not bother fixing it.

Usually this is indicative of some sort of erroneous setting somewhere. I always check the League Dates screen when I create a new game to ensure that (1) the dates properly match up and (2) the game doesn't crash (it often crashes on the League Dates or Overview screens if something is wrong). Three things which you could check:

1. The draw date on the Comp Rules tab (it should generally be 1 July)
2. The first schedule date for every stage - i.e. does it make sense?
3. How congested are the schedules in-game? Is the game setting early games because the schedule is too congested?

-This same league also lists a date for the Start of Free Agency to occur on May 1, right when the Final begins. I can't seem to find a way to move that date.

My transfer rules for that league is set to the same rules it sets for the National League, so "Free Agents can sign until last window" is checked and the second window is set to begin on June 7. So I don't know why the league is starting free agency on May 1.

I believe it should be possible to change this via the Transfer Rules screen. I suggest looking at the rules for another league and comparing them. I'm afraid I haven't spent all that much time editing transfer rules for quiet some time, so I can't really suggest anything else.

[Danielg342]

TV settings can be left as is but are there in case you want to set how games are televised.

Will this affect how much revenue my team will generate? Or my team's or my league's reputation?

How congested are the schedules in-game? Is the game setting early games because the schedule is too congested?

How many games can be scheduled on one day?

I believe it should be possible to change this via the Transfer Rules screen. I suggest looking at the rules for another league and comparing them. I'm afraid I haven't spent all that much time editing transfer rules for quiet some time, so I can't really suggest anything else.

I tried looking in the Transfer Rules and I couldn't find that setting. It's not a flag, it can't be set via the transfer window dates and I can't seem to create that as an "Extra Rule". I also could not find the comparable setting in "Rules and Structure". The closest I could find was a flag that said "free agents can sign until last window" but this seems to have no effect.

So I don't know what to do here.

[archibalduk]

TV settings can be left as is but are there in case you want to set how games are televised.

Will this affect how much revenue my team will generate? Or my team's or my league's reputation?

I don't know if it will affect revenue. You would have to test this. It shouldn't affect team/league rep.

How congested are the schedules in-game? Is the game setting early games because the schedule is too congested?

How many games can be scheduled on one day?

One game per team. I'm not aware of any other limit.

[Danielg342]

I fixed the original issue in this post. Still haven't figured out how to change the Free Agency start date. I have a new issue so I'm making a new topic on that.

I appreciate the help.