Eastside Hockey Manager - Part X Patch 1.5 Edition! (Open Beta)

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Hi Thank you.

Work is still ongoing although not as much as I'd hoped. Lack of time and also motivation has been a factor, I came across a few issues that ive fixed but there are a few issues with the game that I dont like that and cant control but which diminish my motivation to finish it.

Any issues in particular?

 

[petteri33]

Hi Thank you.

Work is still ongoing although not as much as I'd hoped. Lack of time and also motivation has been a factor, I came across a few issues that ive fixed but there are a few issues with the game that I dont like that and cant control but which diminish my motivation to finish it.

Thank for your answer. It's for sure a looooong work. Do you plan/wish to share it "in state" even if it's not finish ?

 

[NathanB]

Any issues in particular?

Just general unrealism in the game, which after putting a lot of time into making the database as realistic as possible, feels quite wasted.

For example I have the whole of Norway done, all teams and players rated well.
But in my tests Narvik get relegated from the top division, not a problem very realistic, however the next season towards the end they are also now in the relegation playoff zone of the 2nd division, yet at no point is the GM's job listed as even slightly insecure, a team with by far the highest rep and budget in the league whose original season goals was to basically gain promotion.

The Norwegian 1.divisjon is a relatively high scoring league, its not uncommon that the top scorers in the league have between 1.5-2 ppg. But in the game pretty much no player, or at most 1-3, have over 1 ppg. In my test Lorenskog even signed a guy from the SHL with a 100 CA who put up 20 points the season prior in the SHL yet somehow in the 1.Divisjon he got 12 in 30 odd games. Obviously player performance can change but at this level that guy even if playing half assed would put up those 12 points in the 5 games against the bottom team let alone the rest of the schedule, the bottom team who had a highest CA of around 35 in that test.

There are some leagues/countries where the average ratings for players is shot, Great Britain is one of these, you can have a player put up 1ppg yet still have an av rating of 6 or less for example, because they have alot of turnovers. But it seems like in some countries and leagues turnovers are either way more or they count more negatively to an av rating compared to elsewhere. This obviously then effects morale and a host of other issues

The game, like FHM as well, is very NHL centric, probably understandably. But it makes playing in euro leagues not great

 

[H3ckt1k]

Just general unrealism in the game, which after putting a lot of time into making the database as realistic as possible, feels quite wasted.

For example I have the whole of Norway done, all teams and players rated well.
But in my tests Narvik get relegated from the top division, not a problem very realistic, however the next season towards the end they are also now in the relegation playoff zone of the 2nd division, yet at no point is the GM's job listed as even slightly insecure, a team with by far the highest rep and budget in the league whose original season goals was to basically gain promotion.

The Norwegian 1.divisjon is a relatively high scoring league, its not uncommon that the top scorers in the league have between 1.5-2 ppg. But in the game pretty much no player, or at most 1-3, have over 1 ppg. In my test Lorenskog even signed a guy from the SHL with a 100 CA who put up 20 points the season prior in the SHL yet somehow in the 1.Divisjon he got 12 in 30 odd games. Obviously player performance can change but at this level that guy even if playing half assed would put up those 12 points in the 5 games against the bottom team let alone the rest of the schedule, the bottom team who had a highest CA of around 35 in that test.

There are some leagues/countries where the average ratings for players is shot, Great Britain is one of these, you can have a player put up 1ppg yet still have an av rating of 6 or less for example, because they have alot of turnovers. But it seems like in some countries and leagues turnovers are either way more or they count more negatively to an av rating compared to elsewhere. This obviously then effects morale and a host of other issues

The game, like FHM as well, is very NHL centric, probably understandably. But it makes playing in euro leagues not great

If it makes you feel any better, even though its an NHL centric game the nhl portion is very unrealistic as well

 

[xECK29x]

If it makes you feel any better, even though its an NHL centric game the nhl portion is very unrealistic as well

Only so much you can control with the database, the goal is to get realistic enough where its enjoyable to play.

The game, like FHM as well, is very NHL centric, probably understandably. But it makes playing in euro leagues not great

This is certainly true, also though EHM has known issues with promotion/relegation as you exactly outlined, to the point where this is a very strong chance I either remove that functionality entirely from the DB for Euro leagues, and only keep it for international competitions, or I drastically reduce the scope of playable leagues to the top level only. The game also isn't deep enough, I strongly feel the reputation (of players, clubs and leagues), CA/PA and attribute points all need to be doubled to make the difference between a EIHL team and an NHL team feel substantial.

I'm burnt out, as I am at the end of any season, so I have to take some time and think long and hard about continuing the projects, I am getting less help and slightly less enjoyment out of doing it.

 

[BKarchitect]

Only so much you can control with the database, the goal is to get realistic enough where its enjoyable to play.


This is certainly true, also though EHM has known issues with promotion/relegation as you exactly outlined, to the point where this is a very strong chance I either remove that functionality entirely from the DB for Euro leagues, and only keep it for international competitions, or I drastically reduce the scope of playable leagues to the top level only. The game also isn't deep enough, I strongly feel the reputation (of players, clubs and leagues), CA/PA and attribute points all need to be doubled to make the difference between a EIHL team and an NHL team feel substantial.

I'm burnt out, as I am at the end of any season, so I have to take some time and think long and hard about continuing the projects, I am getting less help and slightly less enjoyment out of doing it.

Hah, I’m just in the process of streamlining NHLX - with only the NHL/AHL/CHL playable. Still all the international club teams enhanced/added players for playability of international events but a greatly reduced player pool and focus on playability of only the aforementioned leagues. Should really speed up sim times as well, massive cuts and filtering out of fringe players. Wish I could delete clubs and comps!

It’s gonna make my life as an editor a whole lot easier once I’ve got everything cleansed down. Simply not going to move forward with enhanced playable leagues outside those main three. NHL-centric (36 team of course) with good playability and representation of a lot of international countries. That’s really all I care about at this point. I totally feel you on the updating and the micro-editing which doesn’t even really pay off starting to feel simply like work.

 

[H3ckt1k]

Only so much you can control with the database, the goal is to get realistic enough where its enjoyable to play.


This is certainly true, also though EHM has known issues with promotion/relegation as you exactly outlined, to the point where this is a very strong chance I either remove that functionality entirely from the DB for Euro leagues, and only keep it for international competitions, or I drastically reduce the scope of playable leagues to the top level only. The game also isn't deep enough, I strongly feel the reputation (of players, clubs and leagues), CA/PA and attribute points all need to be doubled to make the difference between a EIHL team and an NHL team feel substantial.

I'm burnt out, as I am at the end of any season, so I have to take some time and think long and hard about continuing the projects, I am getting less help and slightly less enjoyment out of doing it.

Oh don't get me wrong I have 0 problem with the databases and appreciate all the work you all do! I have so much fun with this game even with its quirks and "problems". More just a joke after being slightly frustrated with the game today

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I'm burnt out, as I am at the end of any season, so I have to take some time and think long and hard about continuing the projects, I am getting less help and slightly less enjoyment out of doing it.

That's unfortunate. It almost sounds like (before you) when TBL had just their DB out. The project was idle for so long because there was less and less help.

Hah, I’m just in the process of streamlining NHLX - with only the NHL/AHL/CHL playable. Still all the international club teams enhanced/added players for playability of international events but a greatly reduced player pool and focus on playability of only the aforementioned leagues. Should really speed up sim times as well, massive cuts and filtering out of fringe players. Wish I could delete clubs and comps!

It sucks because the game is really 'limited' on what you can do. Having almost 50+ leagues playable seems like such a hassle at maintaining and housekeeping through.

 

[abo9]

people will look at me as being an asshole, but I’ve seen many times on here that point production to too high.

go change your tactics to barrage shooting and very offensive, it should definitely help. Your coaching staff need to have high tactical attributes

Late reply, but I think it depends on the database and rosters.

I'm using the NHLX (36 teams) database and here's the point outputs for the AR winners:

I screenshotted the most recent winners and starts of the save to give an idea how the winners evolved over time.

If anything, it's quite close from the uptake in scoring we've seen in recent irl years, but is way high from when the game was designed

Similarly, defensemen are quite high-ish too

 

[Michael Farkas]

Spent two hours trying to get an online game started with a buddy of mine today...it's always been a beast to try to get one going, but we've done it before. Tried with version 1.4.1 and beta 1.5 (or whatever), tried with a couple different databases (including the default one) and it seems likely that we got a connection, but then his client crashes immediately. I can even see my "quit and go back to start" or whatever buttons going away as he's connecting and just before I can see his name appear on the network game screen, he crashes.

I had it all the way down to hosting him on my router's VPN, he's effectively connecting to the internet via my router (he lives in another state) - I can see it. But for whatever reason, he crashes just when it's about to click over.

Doing it the other way seemed unsuccessful because he doesn't have access to his own router settings, so setting up VPNs, port forwarding, all that, isn't really accessible to him. But that shouldn't be an issue if I'm able to host him on my network. Anyone ever comes across this?

 

[xECK29x]

Spent two hours trying to get an online game started with a buddy of mine today...it's always been a beast to try to get one going, but we've done it before. Tried with version 1.4.1 and beta 1.5 (or whatever), tried with a couple different databases (including the default one) and it seems likely that we got a connection, but then his client crashes immediately. I can even see my "quit and go back to start" or whatever buttons going away as he's connecting and just before I can see his name appear on the network game screen, he crashes.

I had it all the way down to hosting him on my router's VPN, he's effectively connecting to the internet via my router (he lives in another state) - I can see it. But for whatever reason, he crashes just when it's about to click over.

Doing it the other way seemed unsuccessful because he doesn't have access to his own router settings, so setting up VPNs, port forwarding, all that, isn't really accessible to him. But that shouldn't be an issue if I'm able to host him on my network. Anyone ever comes across this?

The host is going to need to either a) have access to port forwarding and know how to configure that or b) put a host on the "DMZ" of the router/firewall, this is not recommended at all unless you know what you are doing as it directly exposes the host to the internet.

I do offer hosting services for a fee for a few leagues and I'm happy to help there if interested. If networking is not the issue then. There is a bit of finessing you need to do to get the game started:

1) On the host set up your game and league selection (always keep this to a minimum, even less then you would for offline play), and create the GM for the host only, DO NOT CLICK FInish on this screen yet!

2) Have at least one other GM log in and create their GM and have them click Finish so they are in the waiting state. Then click continue on host.
3) Immediately stop the sim and save.
4) Continue adding GMs and immediately saving, clients connecting in for the first few times may crash, this is normal, you may have to recycle the server game once or twice but eventually it will stabilize.
5) Save often you will crash a lot the first few sims for *reasons*.

Eventually you will get rolling, its frustrating but we all have to deal with it. If anyone else has tips/tricks here I'm missing please post them!

 

[AlexanderTheGood]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, if there is a new EHM in development or if I'm beating a dead horse with an old idea. But here's a suggestion for improving the complexity of EHM: adding agents and agency groups. Here is my proposal...

Dear Eastside Hockey Manager Team,
I am writing to suggest an exciting new feature for your game that I believe would enhance the user experience and increase the game's popularity. As you know, hockey is a complex sport that requires a great deal of strategy and tactical decision-making, and one of the most important elements of the game is the role of agents and sports agency groups.
Therefore, my proposal is to add sports agency groups as non-player characters (NPCs) to Eastside Hockey Manager. Sports agency groups play a crucial role in the hockey world, negotiating contracts, managing player careers, and making deals with teams. By adding sports agency groups to the game, you could introduce a whole new layer of strategy and complexity, as players must navigate the often treacherous waters of contract negotiations and agent relations.
Here are some specific ways that sports agency groups could be incorporated into the game:

1. Agency Relationships: In the game, players could have relationships with sports agency groups and individual agents that could be influenced by their behavior, on and off the ice. A good relationship with a sports agency group could lead to better contract terms, while a poor relationship could lead to less favorable deals.
2. Negotiations: Players could be tasked with negotiating their contracts with sports agency groups and individual agents. Negotiations could be influenced by factors such as team performance, player stats, and sports agency group relationships.
3. Free Agency: During free agency periods, players could receive offers from multiple sports agency groups, each with their own set of terms and conditions. Players would need to carefully evaluate these offers and choose the one that best meets their needs.
4. Sports Agency Group Reputation: Sports agency groups and individual agents could have reputations that influence their ability to sign players. Players may be more inclined to sign with individual agents who have a reputation for securing favorable deals, regardless of which sports agency group they work for. For example, Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry are both individual agents who work for CAA Sports LLC, but players may be more likely to sign with Pat Brisson due to his reputation for representing top NHL players and negotiating high-value contracts.
5. Contract Rescinding: If a team rescinds an accepted contract offer, it could negatively impact their reputation with the sports agency group representing the player. This could make it harder to sign players represented by that group in the future.
6. Contract Rapprochement: Incorporating a feature where you can build goodwill with sports agencies groups by signing clients who are currently out of favor, in a funk, or are otherwise unappealing to other teams. Signing such an unfavorable client can lead to future discounts or concessions when dealing with the same sports agency group or specific agent in the future.
7. Recruitment Monitoring: Keeping an eye on which sports agency groups are recruiting younger prospects could be a useful tool for getting an early read on the most promising up-and-coming players.
8. Legacy Agents: Players who retire can go on to become agents, just as retired players can go on to become coaches, scouts, and managers currently.
9. Play as Agent: Players could take on the role of an agent as an alternative play mode to manager mode.

Adding sports agency groups as NPCs would be a significant undertaking, but I believe it would be a worthwhile investment that would increase the game's complexity and appeal. Thank you for considering my proposal, and I look forward to seeing what you do next with Eastside Hockey Manager.
Sincerely,
AlexanderTheGood

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

@AlexanderTheGood

the idea/concept of agents and even agency groups poaching/recruiting/player signing with one is something that has been in football manager for quite some time. I was introduced to the concept all the way back in Football Manager 2015. You can even have a poor relationship with certain agents who will not either work with you, or demand a super high ‘agent fee’ to close the deal with said player.

I sure don’t speak for everyone, but unfortunately EHM is in a state of limbo at this point. I support Riz in this project but I wish SI would dedicate more hands into the project. It’s nice that everyone makes databases for the game - but that can only ‘push’ the game so far before others start hoping for a new version or new features. I wish Riz could come out and do an AMA or something on here. I would even help pay for development on Patreon or something if it came down to it.

 

[xECK29x]

I would even help pay for development on Patreon or something if it came down to it.

Most would, and the community is still very active. I don’t know why SI games leadership continues to bury their head in the sand.

 

[Michael Farkas]

The host is going to need to either a) have access to port forwarding and know how to configure that or b) put a host on the "DMZ" of the router/firewall, this is not recommended at all unless you know what you are doing as it directly exposes the host to the internet.

I do offer hosting services for a fee for a few leagues and I'm happy to help there if interested. If networking is not the issue then. There is a bit of finessing you need to do to get the game started:

1) On the host set up your game and league selection (always keep this to a minimum, even less then you would for offline play), and create the GM for the host only, DO NOT CLICK FInish on this screen yet! View attachment 679362
2) Have at least one other GM log in and create their GM and have them click Finish so they are in the waiting state. Then click continue on host.
3) Immediately stop the sim and save.
4) Continue adding GMs and immediately saving, clients connecting in for the first few times may crash, this is normal, you may have to recycle the server game once or twice but eventually it will stabilize.
5) Save often you will crash a lot the first few sims for *reasons*.

Eventually you will get rolling, its frustrating but we all have to deal with it. If anyone else has tips/tricks here I'm missing please post them!

First, you're a saint. Thank you for championing this game for so long.

Second, I was the host, I have access to all the port forwarding, and I did it successfully. Even in the public IP/port forwarding situation, it seemed like my buddy's client/app crashed when attempting to connect. In your screenshot, I'm sitting on that screen, and as someone tries to connect, the two different "quit..." buttons disappear when someone is about to connect. That happened. Then his game suddenly quit.

So, then I went so far as to PPTP and VPN him in to my personal network. My router showed that he was connected to my network. So, I thought at that point I could even use the local IP that the game puts up. No dice there (unless he waived his own gateway and used mine). But in every possible scenario, I feel very confident that we were connecting successfully, if winpopup or something still existed, I'm confident I'd be able to message him...but his game crashed just as he's about to appear on that screen. I can't get him to appear on that screen for even second, so I can't even get to your steps (though I do appreciate them). I wonder if it's as silly as he just needs to re-install his game.

It's crazy, I don't use Steam for anything other than this game, but he does...it's wild that you can't just connect and play like seemingly every other game on Steam...EHM has always been a beast to get connected on I feel like...

 

[xECK29x]

First, you're a saint. Thank you for championing this game for so long.

Second, I was the host, I have access to all the port forwarding, and I did it successfully. Even in the public IP/port forwarding situation, it seemed like my buddy's client/app crashed when attempting to connect. In your screenshot, I'm sitting on that screen, and as someone tries to connect, the two different "quit..." buttons disappear when someone is about to connect. That happened. Then his game suddenly quit.

So, then I went so far as to PPTP and VPN him in to my personal network. My router showed that he was connected to my network. So, I thought at that point I could even use the local IP that the game puts up. No dice there (unless he waived his own gateway and used mine). But in every possible scenario, I feel very confident that we were connecting successfully, if winpopup or something still existed, I'm confident I'd be able to message him...but his game crashed just as he's about to appear on that screen. I can't get him to appear on that screen for even second, so I can't even get to your steps (though I do appreciate them). I wonder if it's as silly as he just needs to re-install his game.

It's crazy, I don't use Steam for anything other than this game, but he does...it's wild that you can't just connect and play like seemingly every other game on Steam...EHM has always been a beast to get connected on I feel like...

PM me, I'd like to see your network configuration and I can try connecting. I am also an IT professional so I want to get a sense of what you are doing with VPN and why.

 

[xECK29x]

Hello EHM community!

I have put together a survey which will help determine the future of both database projects. I am trying to get this feedback from as much of the active player-base as possible.

Please take the time to fill out this survey if you can, this will really help me decide future changes.

2023 Pivot/TBL Database Feedback

 

[xECK29x]

Final Pivot/TBL uploaded for the year. Thank you for everyone who submitted survey results, I have closed collection and will summarize the results sometime next week.

General Updates:
- Final release for 2022-23
- Notable latest transactions (includes releases and retirements in European leagues as well as transfers starting in 2023-24)
- Updated future retirements for notable European players

NHL Updates:
- Refreshed Prospect Generator sheet
- Raised Natural Fitness for all NHL signed players by 1, new base number is 16
- Lowered injury proneness for all players by 2 besides those on LTIR/truly injury prone
- Updated notable 2024 draft picks: Scott Wheeler's early 2024 NHL Draft ranking: Celebrini, Eiserman top the list

Canadian Updates:
- Fixed a few leagues not being set to Junior

Czech Updates:
- Refreshed Tipsport rosters
- Added Liga 9. trid (new U15 league) and updated/added lots of junior affiliations, colors and arenas

Finnish Updates:
- Refreshed Liiga rosters

German Updates:
- Refreshed DEL rosters

NHL Updates:
- Latest transactions, including those starting in 2023-24 -- remember to remove these if starting with a Fantasy Draft setup!!

Russian Updates:
- Refreshed KHL rosters

Swedish Updates:
- Refreshed SHL rosters

Swiss Updates:
- Fixed NL and SL league structures -- thanks Named!!

United States Updates:
- Latest AHL transactions starting in 2023-24
- Updated date of ECHL trade deadline

 

[BKarchitect]

Have a 2023-24 test database for NHLX running, calling it "NHLX Turbo". Heavily streamlined database with complete focus on the NHL (in this case my 36 team expanded league). Setup is conceived to allow for realistic prospect development and history but playable only from an NHL (and top level international) perspective.

This won't be a database for everybody but already loving how fast it is. Even with 60 years of prepopulated global prospects and fake staff it comes in at less than half the size of the prior database and sims so dang fast.

PS - @xECK29x I have an XLSX of NHL player history from this year if you haven't made one yet. There might be minor differences in some of our naming conventions but feel free to PM me if you want it. Or anybody else for that matter.

 

[xECK29x]

Have a 2023-24 test database for NHLX running, calling it "NHLX Turbo". Heavily streamlined database with complete focus on the NHL (in this case my 36 team expanded league). Setup is conceived to allow for realistic prospect development and history but playable only from an NHL (and top level international) perspective.

This won't be a database for everybody but already loving how fast it is. Even with 60 years of prepopulated global prospects and fake staff it comes in at less than half the size of the prior database and sims so dang fast.

PS - @xECK29x I have an XLSX of NHL player history from this year if you haven't made one yet. There might be minor differences in some of our naming conventions but feel free to PM me if you want it. Or anybody else for that matter.

Yes please doing goalie stats by hand stinks!

 

[BKarchitect]

Yes please doing goalie stats by hand stinks!

Haha for sure!

2022-23 NHL History Import

Goalies are towards the bottom.

 

[H3ckt1k]

Have a 2023-24 test database for NHLX running, calling it "NHLX Turbo". Heavily streamlined database with complete focus on the NHL (in this case my 36 team expanded league). Setup is conceived to allow for realistic prospect development and history but playable only from an NHL (and top level international) perspective.

This won't be a database for everybody but already loving how fast it is. Even with 60 years of prepopulated global prospects and fake staff it comes in at less than half the size of the prior database and sims so dang fast.

PS - @xECK29x I have an XLSX of NHL player history from this year if you haven't made one yet. There might be minor differences in some of our naming conventions but feel free to PM me if you want it. Or anybody else for that matter.

Any chance you need people to test out that new database? I'm off for 4 days and would love to give it a try

 

[BKarchitect]

Sure I’ll post a public link for download this weekend.

Just got all my re-rates for NHL systems done, 22-23 stats in so prospect pools and rankings will be updated, NHL UFAs are now free agents so happier hunting if you start with an expansion team, prospect contracts with ELC slides done and two rounds of the 23 draft mocked in so you’ll have all the top prospects attached to teams and a more realistic 24 draft especially for the expansion teams.

Also with all the hubbub about Atlanta looking seriously at getting a club, I’ve officially made the four new teams Houston, Atlanta, Quebec and Portland.

Who won the lottery in this world and will have Bedard as a new toy for the 2023 season??? You’ll just have to find out (and of course feel free to swap things around in the editor although I won’t be taking “custom requests” if your fave team didn’t land a favorable draft spot )

 

[H3ckt1k]

Best birthday present ever. Thank you Bk!

 

[BKarchitect]

Oh man. Bedard results are gonna piss people off lol. Hey, it's only until the real draft happens