The third major update for Franchise Hockey Manager 5, version 5.4.42, has just been released. Please post any problems/bugs you run into in the [URL="http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=3949"]Bug Reports Forum[/URL] (but also have a look at the [URL="http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showpost.php?p=4371136"]reporting guidelines[/URL] first when reporting bugs, please.) Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves. Changes from version 5.3.39: -team roster menu no longer re-sorts in reverse after the back button is used to return to it -added CSV exports (option is at the bottom of the World Menu csv files will be in \import_export\csv folder within saved games) - includes player ratings and season/career stats, basic team and league data; also fixed old isuues with formatting of the player_master.csv file -user-set training will now be exported and saved properly in online leagues -the "Online League" checkbox has been returend to the historical setup, allowing multiplayer historical games -speed increase of around 20% over the course of a season (more for older AMD processors - this increase was a byproduct of a fix for those) -player popups should now be working on the draft screens -player popups for retired players no longer show random active players -reduced growth in scoring in first few seasons in modern NHL games by having some players transition to more defensive outlooks and adjusting player roles so the defensive ones are a little more attractive to the AI (Background: the large rise in NHL scoring in the early years of a modern game was primarily caused by a huge excess of offensive-oriented/high offensive potential players over defensive ones. This isn't really a fault in the research, as the best younger prospects, particularly forwards, will tend to be used offensively, or, at worst in a two-way role on their junior/developmental teams. However, in the real NHL, players who aren't going to be among the offensive elite often have to adapt to playing a more two-way or defensive style if they want to win a job at that level (e.g. Carbonneau, Lehtinen, Madden, etc.) That wasn't happening in the game. To fix that, we've added the possibility of players deciding, on their own, to change their playing style if that's what they need to do to survive. This works as follows: [LIST] [*]players will be checked a ocuple of times per year to see if they shift from an offensive to a two-way or a two-way to a defensive role [*]only one player per team will make each type of change (i.e. 1 offensive to two-way, 1 two-way to defensive) per check, but a number of requirements must be met - being pre-prime age, having the right type of template, not having a huge excess of offensive over defensive skills, having too many better offensive players ahead of them on the depth chart that they're unlikely to displace, etc.; the coach's defensive preferences also have an effect, more defensive coaches will tend to have more players make this shift [*]if a change is triggered, the template will move to its more-defensive equivalent - i.e., playmaking nonphysical winger becomes two-way nonphysical winger, two-way physical defenceman becomes defensive physical defenceman, etc. [*]some offensive potential will also be removed and added to defensive potential [*]for now, this will only happen at the NHL level and only in modern games - fictional and historical games have other mechanics to deal with this situation, and the NHL is by far the league with the biggest problem with an excess of offensive players; once we're satisfied this is working well, it may be applied to some others, but likely only to the leagues at the top of the development chain, i.e. KHL and possibly the best single-nation leagues. We'll also be looking at adding a way for the user to directly influence these changes, rather than having them all being driven by the player AI.) [/LIST] -on the Team-Scouting screen, changing the dropdown menu from Assignments to Info, Scouting, or Training no longer lists all the team's staff, instead of just the scouts like the default view does -while viewing the league standings screen, clicking standings again (in either the dropdown or horizontal bar) no longer results in a blank screen -fixed issue causing players on nonplayable teams to get stuck on VAC status, potentially causing crashes if it happened to a league that sends teams to a tournament like the Champions League -removed AI Setup Organization option from national teams that appeared if commissioner mode was turned on -on Tactics-Unit, changes to the Even-Strength 3 on 3 Unit #2's Tactical Settings no longer change the values for Unit #1 -the second part of the season summary screen, where the user distributes his new points among his ratings, should now show how many points the user has available to use -additional randomization added to player evaluation of identical contract offers from multiple teams -the Compare With screen will no longer show attributes for players that haven't been scouted (i.e. E-level) -penalty frequency increased, mainly via an adjustment that will make refs tend to even-up penalty calls more aggressively -expansion teams should now hire additional staff when they need them -expansion teams should now get a trainer when they're created -home-ice-advantage should now work properly in the later rounds of the 1980's historical playoffs -if a player chosen in the expansion draft has already signed an extension with his previous team (i.e., he had 1 year left as of July 1, and was offered and accepted an extension in the brief period between the start of the new season and the draft), he'll no longer be moved back to his old team the following July 1 when the extension takes effect -fixed issues with League Edit screen that could lead to one team appearing twice in a division or otherwise breaking the league structure -fixed seeding of #3 and #4 team in 4-team playoffs in custom leagues -fixed reset of screen selection options when returning to the the league-history-awards screen -if the salary cap is increased via editing league rules on July 1, the team budgets will be increased by the same dollar amount -adjusted nonplayable transactions to route virtually all junior-age players in playable countries from generic teams to the junior system of playable teams by the time they're 16-18 -numerous player, team, and staff data changes and fixes -minor text and UI fixes