alt.games.champ-man FAQ
Tom Adair
If you have anything to add to this FAQ, comments, or suggestions
should be sent to me at: t...@fsim.freeserve.co.uk (Tom Adair)
[New Stuff]
2.1 CM9798: Modified links to patch and uwad
2.2.3 CM3 Known Bugs: Information about the v3.03d update
2.2.11 CM3 Features: Full Squad - Delay Transfer for a week?
4 CM sites: More sites added
Contents.
.1. The Newsgroup
.1.1. The FAQ
.1.2. Posting Guidelines
.2. The Games
.2.1. CM9798
.2.2. CM3
.2.2.1 Contracts
.2.2.2 History Editing
.2.2.3 Known Bugs
.2.2.4 Matches - Friendlies
.2.2.5 Management and International
.2.2.6 Problem Solving
.2.2.7 Questions
.2.2.8 Tactics
.2.2.9 Transfers
.2.2.10 Training Questions
.2.2.11 Features
.2.2.12 Pictures
.2.3. News
.3. Questions
.3.1. Questions not to ask
.3.2. Topics covered
.4. CM sites
.5. This FAQ
1. The Newsgroup
1.1. The FAQ.
Welcome to alt.games.champ-man. This FAQ will be posted once every
week, or when I can be bothered. Netiquette and common sense suggest
that you 'lurk' (read without contributing) for a month before making
your first post, so you have no excuse not to have seen this file
before you do so. If you ignore the FAQ, and make an idiot of yourself
outright, you waive your right not to be shouted at. So pay attention.
Where either Techcities or Sports Interactive are mentioned, the
web-sites will be found in section 4.
This FAQ can also be found at:
http://www.orangeroom.demon.co.uk/info/faq.html
1.2. Posting Guidelines.
Read a FAQ on netiquette before posting. You should have read one
before subscribing to the group. There is no excuse for ignorance in
the middle of an information superhighway. If you need to test your
ability to post, do it on alt.test, not on alt.games.champ-man.
If in doubt, Quote. If people can't tell what you are replying to,
they will become agitated and prone to flame you. Don't quote an
entire post, just to respond with one line. Quote only the relevant
part of the post. That is, the part of the post that you wish to
comment on. If you do not know how to quote, read the manual or
on-line help that came with your particular Internet software package.
a.g.cm is NOT a binary Newsgroup. Do *not* post binary files. No
pictures, sound files, or (God forbid) video clips. Post binary files
to news:alt.binaries.games.champ-man, or put them on a web page and
advertise them in the Newsgroup (once will be sufficient). If you
don't have a web site, you can get a free site from Geocities, see
http://www.geocities.com for details, and any number of other similar
services.
Q. What about tactic files, they're only a few KB?
A. Most news servers block binary posts, regardless of the size, so a
lot of people will not be able to download the original post as they
did not know it was there... so despite the small size, post it to
the binaries group, where it will show up on every ones news server...
Try not to post the same message more than once. It is very annoying
and you are likely to be flamed, it is also know in the group as a
McShane, and you will be called a gimp. Try not to post the whole of
the message you are replying to. It is not a good idea to ask people
to put the CM3 demo on a "warez" site or ask for the URL where it can
be reached. If you do get into an argument with someone on this
Newsgroup, don't start getting a 3rd party involved in spamming
people. The regulars on this Newsgroup will help each other out and
there is a LOT of regulars !!
Don't post in ALL CAPITALS. That indicates shouting.
a.g.cm is NOT an advertising forum. While using a.g.cm to trade goods
such as games, software, CDs, items directly related to the game
Championship Manager is tolerated and, by many, actively encouraged.
Posting "for sale" ads for other items, whether football related or
not, is generally considered to be "spamming" and annoys people.
Unless they're both topical and highly amusing, trolls are frowned
upon. Don't ask stupid questions, or make bogus statements, merely for
the response. See a psychologist, or enrol in your country's armed
forces.
Try to avoid starting or getting into "My X is better than your X"
type arguments, where "X" can be your country, computer, other teams
you happen to support, or indeed anything else. Such debates are
purely subjective and achieve nothing other than filling the Newsgroup
with irrelevant opinionated rubbish. While you have every right to
your opinion, and you might be convinced you're absolutely correct,
we're not interested in hearing it. Also included in this are
subjective opinions on real life players (i.e. X is crap, Y rules) and
abuse aimed at people depending on which club they support.
You should not post, unless your post directly concerns Championship
Manager or Football. Slight deviations will be acceptable.
Do not make specific posts advertising your site, just include the
site address in your sig lines or forward the site info to me and I
will include it in section 4 of this FAQ.
Use common sense. It goes a long way. You know what's stupid, and
what isn't.
2. The games.
The English versions:
CM1 (92/93 season);
CM93 (93/94 season);
CM93 End of Season (93/94 season);
CM94 (94/95 season);
CM2 v1.37 (95/96 season);
CM2 v1.56 (95/96 season);
CM2 v2.00 (96/97 season);
CM2 v2.81 (97/98 season);
CM2 v2.93 (as above, but patched - date Jan/Feb '98);
CM3 v3.02 (98/99 season);
CM3 v3.03d (as above, but latest patched version - date 4 June '99);
-There have also been various foreign versions.
2.1. CM9798
A lot of questions have been asked on which is the best formations or
tactics to use in order to be successful. This should help.
Some of you may be finding the CM 97/98 very difficult. The following
hints and tips are from Marc Vaughan who has taken Brighton to the top
of the Premiership within 10 seasons.
There are quite a few differences in the game engine between the old
CM2 and 97/98, mainly some of the bugs (sorry features) which made
user defined tactics too successful have been removed. This makes the
game much more challenging. I'll give you a brief guide to success
(well I got Brighton into the Premiership using these tactics so they
can't be too bad).
Problems Scoring ?
If you are not getting many chances, buy a player with high creativity
or several forwards with high heading, and a decent corner taker. If
you are getting chances but not converting them, buy players with high
shooting and heading ability. Also specifying a player with high set
piece and shooting abilities to take direct free kicks will help.
Leaking Goals ?
Every shot goes in - this tends to indicate a bad goalkeeper. Judging
goalkeeper form is very hard and it may take a while to find a
goalkeeper who will perform well. Permanently under pressure - this
tends to indicate that you have a weak midfield as opposed to a poor
defence and that they aren't holding the ball up and giving the
defence some relief. Try either packing the midfield with more players
or switching to long ball tactic, if you are not already using it.
Poor defence - if you have few good defensive players, then try
playing 532 with midfielders in the wingback positions and your best
defender in a sweeper position in the centre, usually he will mop up
any strikers who get past your weaker defenders.
Favourite Tactics ?
The tactics which I prefer are 442 long ball if out-classed by the
opposition or 532 long ball if not. However my team specialises in set
piece headers and crossing (hence the long ball and wingers) your team
may not. The best idea with tactics is to pick one of the standard
tactics and modify it very slightly to fit your team.
Buying Players ?
Take in mind when having purchased a new player that he may take time
to settling into your squad. I usually play them in their first few
matches as subs and if after 4-5 games they haven't started getting
ratings of 7+ then I start thinking of moving them on. When purchasing
players if you have the money look around at the Under 21
international teams for promising youngsters. I nearly always buy at
least 4 youngsters at the end of the season, put them on short
contracts and see how they perform. If at the end of the season they
have an average rating of 7.00 or over, put them on a long term
contract (as long as possible try 5-7 years) otherwise simply release
them.
When searching for a player, always ensure that you have a sensible
filter set. Below I have listed my base filter:
Heading 10+
Inj Proneness 15-
Passing 10+
Stamina 10+
Strength 10+
If you are looking for a forward/striker, include the following:
Creativity 10+
Shooting 15+
Heading 15+
If you are looking for a midfielder, include the following:
Tackling 10+
Positioning 10+
General Hints ?
Make sure that you have an experienced (usually 24+) player with a
high influence as your captain, if you haven't then your younger
players may not perform as well as they might. Choosing correct Free
Kick, Corner and Penalty takers is very important.
Be very careful when free transferring players as the board will take
offence if you attempt to free transfer a player of any worth (usually
50k+ for a third division side to 200k+ for a premier side).
Note that if the board makes more money available to you at the end of
a season, they will expect that to be used to strengthen your squad
and so will expect a good league position in the next year.
Be very careful when purchasing Foreign Players as they are required
to play in 75% of games to retain their work permits. If they lose
their work permits then you will be stuck with a player in your squad
who cannot play for you but is taking up a squad space.
Of course, if you are following these recommendations, you'll end up
with a team similar to my Brighton squad which may not be exactly what
you're after...
There are also various little hidden features and bugs not mentioned
in the manual.
-Right Mouse Button:
Clicking on Done using the right mouse button when in the main menu
will advance the calendar on a daily basis as opposed to using the
left mouse button which will generally advance the calendar to your
next fixture. This will be helpful when you want to avoid missing
transfer deadlines or when wanting to buy new players etc.
-Space Bar:
Pressing the space bar during a match sequence will speed up the
match.
-Overall-Home-Away Record:
On any league table by clicking on the Overall Record at the top of
the table you will be able to see the Home Record - click again you'll
see the Away Record.
-Description of player match stats:
In the player stats screen for any match - by hovering the mouse over
the titles for each column of stats you will have a box appear which
contains a description of what these stats mean.
-Team Progress Graph:
By clicking the mouse on the position number of any team in any league
or group table you will see that teams progress within the table in
the form of a graph.
-View Match Option:
You may view any match by clicking on the -v- for versus on a fixture
list. This will turn the -v- to view. Clicking a second time will
revert back to -v- again.
-'Escape' key:
Pressing the escape key will return you to the main menu at the next
possible opportunity. Please note that to get the computer's attention
repeatedly pressing or holding down the key may be necessary.
-Match Stats of Played Games:
Clicking on the score (from any type of results screen) of any played
game within one season will allow you to see all the stats for that
match.
-Manager History:
By clicking on the managers' name in the general info screen of the
Squad screen will enable you to see the entire history of that
manager.
-Transfer Deadlines:
In the player search screen, when the players names are in grey this
means the transfer deadline of the country in which that player is
playing
has passed. So this means any player in grey writing cannot be bought.
-Screen Shots:
Pressing Shift+the number with "&" will take a picture of the current
screen, and save it as "Mark.pcx." Good for showing yourself off on
alt.binaries.champ-man !!
-The "Twelve Man" bug:
Sometimes it may seem that the computer controlled team have made a
substitution without taking anyone off the pitch, resulting in them
looking like they have twelve players. This is purely visual, and has
absolutely no effect on the game or the result.
-The "*" button:
Pressing this will exit the game from any screen. Please note you may
need to press a few times or hold it down to get the computers
attention.
Patch for v2.93 is available from
http://www.techcities.co.uk/download/9798patch.zip
If this link does not work on several occasions (server isn't very
reliable) then contact me. (If you get a 404 error then I've made a
typo).
The "Update With A Difference (or UWAD) Version 1" is up !! Get it
from:
http://www.orangeroom.demon.co.uk/uwad/uwad100.zip
Thankyou: Fil, Joe Cole and everyone else who helped.
2.2. CM3.
2.2.1 - Contracts
If the player says he doesn't want to negotiate a new contract at that
time, then he will refuse any contracts you may offer him, no matter
how good they are, to get them to sign a new contract you need to
either play them more often, change their squad status to something
more relevant for what they are doing, or improve their morale by
playing them in more games, but sometimes none of these work and the
player will eventually leave under the bosman ruling.
If the player says that they feel that the club cannot meet their
demands, then offer them a low minimum fee release clause, so they'll
be able to move to a club that will pay loadsamoney whenever a club
becomes interested and you can't stop them... so a low minimum release
clause will make them more likely to sign a new contract...
If the player wants more wages than you can offer, then (if you are
buying them) you can increase the signing on fee, or (if you are
renegotiating their contract) you can offer them improved bonuses.
If you wish to release a player on a free transfer then you must pay
that player compensation worth half of his remaining contract, i.e. if
they are on £1000 per week and have exactly 200 weeks left until their
contract expires then you have to pay the player £100 000... but this
is approximate and you don't pay the player an exact figure, just to
the nearest large amount the same as a transfer fee moves up in jumps,
not £100 a time... so a player on £20 500 could require £1 500 000 to
free transfer one week, but the next week that will not be £1 479 500,
instead it will either still be £1.5M or go down to £1.4M...
The Offer Contract Screen
Basic Wage - just that, how much you are paying him weekly, monthly or
annually (depending on your game settings). The player will accept a
little less than what he wants, as they usually name a higher price
knowing the manager will bring it down; however if you are bidding
against other clubs for the player, it is best to leave the wages as
they are.
Signing on fee - only when buying a player, how much you give them in
a lump sum when they join your club.
Contract Length - again fairly straight forward. The player will
usually accept a 1 year extension of what they want...
Job Description - only for over 30's, you can make a player a
player/coach or demote a player/coach to a player... strangely you
can't make a player/assistant manager, despite there being several in
the game from the start e.g. Alex Watson, Torquay...
Bonuses:
Clean Sheet Bonus - Goalkeepers only, a negotiable lump sum is paid to
them for each senior match they keep a clean sheet in (excluding
internationals?).
Assist Bonus - a negotiable lump sum is paid to the player every time
they set up a goal in a senior match, but not available for
goalkeepers for Route 1 style managers...
Goal Bonus - a negotiable lump sum paid to the player every time they
score a senior goal for the club, also not available for goalkeepers,
a la Peter Schmeichels £1M per goal...
Clauses:
Minimum Fee Release Clause - If a club makes a bid equaling the amount
in this clause then the player can leave if he wants to without the
club having a say in whether he stays or goes...
Manager Job Release Clause - for player aged 30+, if a club without a
manager wants that player to be their player manager then the player
can leave for no fee without his current club stopping him.
Non-Promotion Release Clause - If agreed then if the club fails to
gain promotion in any season whilst the player has this clause in
their contract then any club may bid the release value stated in the
contract and the club is unable to prevent the player leaving if he
wants to.
Relegation Release Clause - If agreed then if the club gets relegated
in any season whilst the player has this clause in their contract then
any club may bid the release value stated in the contract and the club
is unable to prevent the player leaving if he wants to.
2.2.2 - History Editing
To do this you need to have the history installed, this is not
installed with the minimum installation, but might(?) be installed
with the typical installation.
In the "History" directory within the CM3 directory, create a new file
called "Dunfermline Athletic.his" with the following text (the file
name and entries within it must match the items full name within the
game):
(Do not add the <---start---> or <---end---> parts)
eg.
<---start--->
{CATEGORY: CLUB}
{Title: Dunfermline Athletic}
{Section: Dunfermline Athletic}
{pic: default.hsr}
Dunfermline Athletic, known as the Pars, are shite etc etc etc
etc
<---end--->
This creates a basic history entry for Dunfermline Athletic with the
default picture. This will appear in the Find/Written History pages
within CM3 and a new History drop down item will appear in the main
drop down for Dunfermline Athletic which will show the same info.
Various other options can be added to this:
1) Additional or replacement pictures can be added within the text,
using additional {pic: xxxxxx.hsr} tags.
eg.
<---start--->
{CATEGORY: CLUB}
{Title: Dunfermline Athletic}
{Section: Dunfermline Athletic}
{pic: default.hsr}
Dunfermline Athletic, known as the Pars, are shite etc etc etc etc
{pic: pars.hsr}
They once scored two goals in one match etc etc etc
<---end--->
The pictures will appear on the display as the text it precedes is
roughly half-way within the viewing window (except the first picture
always appears for the top of the text).
To create a new history picture, use the Picture Editor in the CM3
directory (piced.exe) to convert an already-created 257x335 .bmp file
into a .hsr file. The .hsr file should be save to the "History"
subdirectory (the same location as your .his files).
2) If you specify more than one {Section: xxx} tag, a drop down
appears with each xxx tag and you can choose which part of the history
you want to view.
eg.
<---start--->
{CATEGORY: CLUB}
{Title: Dunfermline Athletic}
{Section: Dunfermline Athletic (part 1)}
{pic: default.hsr}
In the beginning, God created Dunfermline Athletic etc etc etc
{Section: Dunfermline Athletic (part 2)}
But then he realised they were shite so disowned them etc etc etc
<---end--->
Within the history, you can now select each piece of the history
individually.
An added bonus, because of the way the history works, .his files can
actually be changed while CM3 is running, and purely by canceling out
of the history then re-viewing it, your changes can be examined.
Unfortunately, since the picture editor and CM3 cannot run at the same
tine, changes to .hsr files cannot be made and viewed immediately.
Too see how things work, look at some of the existing .his files
within the "History" subdirectory. "Liverpool.his" is a good example
as it has multiple sections and multiple pictures.
Finally, a word of warning, if you have too little text for the
history of the item, CM3 can crash when the history is selected from
the main title drop down (but, seemingly, not from Find/Written
History). However, with the avid support teams have throughout the
land, I'm sure this won't be a problem...
2.2.3 - Known Bugs
NEW! If you are still experiencing crashing with v3.03c, there is a
new update out, only recommended for people who experiences crashes to
download, from ftp://www.sportsinteractive.co.uk/pub/cm303d_u.exe
(6.6MB), or the full download if you're upgrading from v3.02, or v3.03
(not b\c) from ftp://www.sportsinteractive.co.uk/pub/cm303d.exe
(2.7MB) It is only recommended that you upgrade to v3.03d if you are
experiencing these crashes.
Fixes in v3.03d: -
Fixed a crash which could occur when updating staff contracts
Fixed a crash which could occur when clicking on "Team Instructions"
on the tactics screen
Fixed a crash in the Norwegian First Division which could prevent the
game continuing
Fixed a crash in the Argentine Second Division which could prevent the
game continuing
Some (all?) of these bugs have been fixed in the patch to v3.03c,
this patch can be found in the essentials section of
http://www.cm3.com or direct link:
ftp://gamesdomain.co.uk/pub/cm3/download/cm303c_u.exe for the upgrade
version (only if you already have v3.03 or v3.03b), (about 2.7MB)
ftp://gamesdomain.co.uk/pub/cm3/download/cm303c.exe if you have v3.02
(off the cd, un patched - or with copy protection patch). (about
6.6MB)
Do not get v3.03 as it was very slow on many machines, also v3.03b is
now out of date...
The bugs fixed in v3.03c:
1-The Portuguese cup dates have been modified.
2-Fixed crashes on certain dates.
The official list of bugs known to be fixed and changes by v3.03b:
1-The copy-protection system has been replaced with a more reliable
one.
2-The game is now much more stable through the fixing of various bugs.
3-There is now support for the French, Italian, and Portuguese
languages.
4-The database has been updated and refined.
5-The transfer system has been improved.
6-Highest gate receipts record now uses current currency.
7-Players away on loan are ignored for highest average rating club
record.
8-Disabled viewing of other clubs reserve screens.
9-Fixed crash in Next Match screen.
10-Fixed fixture rules for players on Next Match screen.
11-Last match field on Next Match screen now works with all
competitions.
12-Disabled cancelling friendlies when selecting a team for a
friendly.
13-Removed check for 20 players when selecting further squads for
Europe.
14-Computer controlled teams now approach players quicker who are
leaving on Bosman.
15-Moving players between senior and reserve squads now removes them
from the tactics.
16-Non-promotion and relegation clauses now work properly.
17-Fixed bug with loan players from Spanish A/B teams.
18-Club wage bill is updated for loan players.
19-Human controlled club's automatic player values are now done the
same as computer teams.
20-Players on trial now do not enquire about their future.
21-Fixed club button on contract expiry news message.
22-Players who request transfers are now not loan listed as well.
23-Fixed colour clashes in match screens.
24-Player discipline and injury history now cleared up properly on
retirement.
25-Fixed wages for certain nations.
26-Cost of building stadiums is more realistic.
27-Fixed potential crash when managing Brighton at end of first
season.
28-When club is bankrupt, players values cannot be set manually.
29-Players who are not training now do not get injured.
30-Fixed bug with players catching illnesses on nation trips abroad.
31-Fixed start of season date for Norway.
32-Fixed error when clicking on another club in a Reserves fixtures
screen.
33-Players are no longer called up to national squads doing finals
competitions.
34-Fixed some text buttons on several news messages about
international callups
35-Players in an international B squad are no longer on international
duty when there is a single A team match.
36-Added the stadium's city name to news items describing cup draws or
fixture results.
37-Fixed club financial recovery news message.
38-Fixed a bug where user is sometimes stuck on a news screen - only
background picture changes.
39-Fixed error message when inviting other human teams to friendly
competitions.
40-Certain players career histories now sorted correctly at start of
game.
41-Virtual staff now do not have a current form string.
42-Loan contracts can now not exceed main contracts.
43-Players on trial now do not agree terms so easily.
44-Fixed team award date range in a staff's achievements.
45-Transfer value now isn't displayed for non playing staff.
46-Fixed missing Action menu for certain staff bug.
47-Included safeguard for ensuring that players do not lose their
position.
48-Terminating coaches contracts when on the Coaches window in
training now updates properly.
49-McManaman's transfer to Real Madrid is now is classified as a
Bosman transfer.
50-Fixed bug with starting future transfers - wages were too high.
51-Computer teams now re-evaluate transfers when part-exchanged
players are removed from the transfer.
52-Fixed news message when board cancels transfer.
53-Fixed bug where some transfers are forgotten.
54-Ineligible players in unused substitute spaces for matches are not
checked.
55-Fixed work permit bug when staff under offer get their permits
cancelled.
56-Athletic Bilbao now do not ask for non-Basque players in part
exchange.
57-Some starting future transfers were being cancelled as the transfer
date did not fit in with the transfer windows.
58-Athletic Bilbao can sign non-Basque non playing staff.
59-Fixed a few text buttons on transfer news messages.
60-Computer controlled teams now make better decisions on transfer
offers.
61-Fixed bug where a user could cancel a clause transfer after having
to accept it.
62-Staff reputations affected more by winning awards.
63-Fixed World Player of the Year award.
64-Virtual staff no longer included in team of the week awards.
65-Moved back the Scottish awards date.
66-Prize money news is now not given if money is small compared to
club size.
67-Friendly matches now get played at the right time of day.
68-Fixed bug where cancelling a tour deleted all matches for a club in
that period.
69-Changed some international friendly dates.
70-Stronger nations now play friendly matches home and away.
71-Champions League teams on equal points are now sorted using goals
as well as points against each other.
72-Fixed European qualification places for some nations.
73-Reserve matches now don't get scheduled for playoff groups.
74-Changed the English Inter-toto application day.
75-Fixed bug with selection routine for English Inter-toto team.
76-All major European nation league winners now qualify for the group
stage of the Champions Cup even when the past winner is from the same
nation.
77-French league cup winner now qualifies for the UEFA cup.
78-English Autoglass cup now has 3 subs rule and has had its
competition history routine fixed.
79-FA Cup semi final now has extra time.
80-French cup prize money fixed and has correct rules for deciding
which team plays at home in each round.
81-French league cup prize money fixed.
82-Rescheduled German cup games around internationals.
83-Small change to Italian Serie C cup schedule.
84-Fixed Italian Cup schedule and rules.
85-Norwegian schedules fixed for World Cup/Euro Champ years.
86-Portuguese Cup semi final ties now at home team's stadium.
87-Changed a couple of Scottish league cup dates.
88-Fixed CONMEBOL cup match rules.
89-Changed European cups later round dates.
90-Fixed Champions Cup news message for Preliminary round.
91-Fixed bug where finals competitions group stages sometimes had 4
games for teams.
92-National team manager confidence improved.
93-Better managerial decisions by club boards.
94-Changed some dates in the Belgian league schedules.
95-5 subs for Danish leagues.
96-English Conference sorted by goal difference then goals for.
97-Changed French league prize money.
98-Fixed French First Division schedule.
99-Italian Serie C2 B and C teams now promoted properly.
100-Spanish B teams can now be relegated from the 2nd Division.
101-English cup tied players now ineligible for whole competition and
not just one round.
102-Included Scottish transfer deadline dates.
103-Trialists in Sweden can now play in competitive matches.
104-Improved notation of Spanish Peseta
105-Now says "Escudo" instead of "Conto" for Portugal
106-Modified database code so that data updates can be produced
without having to change the executable.
107-Added support for French, Italian, and Portuguese languages.
108-Replaced the copy-protection system with one which works with all
CD and DVD drives.
109-Improve some memory management associated with loading the
database.
110-Fixed a potential (but unreported) bug on the file selection
screen.
111-Added some more safety checks for available memory and disk space.
112-Improved the "Merge In" function on the hall of fame screen.
113-Made manager stats and job information screens available only for
leagues selected in foreground.
114-Adjusted the internal values required for each non-player
reputations description.
115-Fixed a bug where all scouts return from their assignments if one
of them is released.
116-Fixed a bug where a scout recommended a player who is on loan in
another country.
117-Made it impossible to import a player or staff search into one
saved game from another.
118-Made player career histories always displayed in the correct
order.
119-Improved the staff search so that it looks at an unemployed
staff's previous job when doing a job search.
120-Fixed an obscure bug associated with rejoining a game that was
saved with the only manager on holiday.
121-Refined the credits section of the game.
122-Adjusted the starting reputations for human managers.
123-Added verification functionality for player_setup.cfg and euro.cfg
configuration files.
124-Updated and refined/improved the database.
125-Various other refinements and bug fixes to all parts of the game.
2.2.4 - Matches
If you arrange a friendly against another club, then a different team
wants to play a friendly against you around the same date, News will
say you are unavailable to accept the new request.
However, if you'd rather play the second club, you can cancel the
original friendly (via fixtures), and can then go back to News and
accept the new request.
You can cancel individual matches within a tour.
2.2.5 - Management and International
You can manage any international team, as long as there are more than
100 players in the loaded database of that nationality, if there are
500 or more players of that nationality then you can assume U21
management as well.
If you are an international manager and you are asked to vote for the
FIFA World Player of the Year award, then the slightly 'obscure' way
to vote is:
1. At the screen asking you to vote click on the name of the award
2. On this screen there is a "shortlist" button - click on this.
3. You will see a list of shortlisted players nominated for the award.
4. Choose the player you feel should get the award by clicking on his
name.
5 in the top right hand corner of the player profile screen you will
see a button saying "Vote for Player". Click on this and then confirm.
(Thanks to Mark Woodger for the solution)
Q. What about the player's player, and the writer's player, do
managers vote for those?
A. Player's Player of the year is chosen by vote of Professional
footballers who are members of the PFA... (presumably all in England
are...) Football Writer's Player of the year is chosen by a jury of
sports journalists... So, no you only get a vote in a player's award
if it's the FIFA World Player, and you're managing an international
team...
Q. How can I get a work permit for a player I want to sign, and what
are the rules for getting a work permit?
A. To get a work permit in the first place the player needs to be what
the DoE considers frequently appearing in his international side, to
get it renewed the player needs to have played over 75% of the games
he was available for, excluding ones where he was injured or
suspended.
Q. What can I do if my player loses his work permit?
A. You cannot play the player, but you are still playing him wages, so
he is an expenditure for the club, either sell him (if you can) to any
club that will take him, outside of the UK, or you can free transfer
him and pay half of his remaining contract up, or you can wait until
his contract expires and free transfer him then without any
compensation.
Q. What's this about dual nationality?
A. Dual Nationality is where a player is eligible to play at
international level for either of two countries, once he has played
for one nation at full squad level (even in a friendly) he is
ineligible for the other nation. Dual nationality can also prevent
the need for work permits, if a player has Argentinean nationality and
also Italian nationality (i.e. Internazional's 2 Argentineans) then
they do not require a work permit to play in the UK, neither do they
count as a foreigner in domestic competition. A player can gain dual
nationality by playing (or being contracted to) for a club in one
country for 4-5 years, in CM3 they can only have two nationalities.
It may seem like once the player has been played for one nation that
they 'lose' their other nationality, that does not happen, the player
has the nation they played for as their main nationality (even if it
was their second nationality previously) and the other nationality as
their second nationality, viewable under the transfer screen.
2.2.6 - Problem Solving
Always keep at least the same size as your saved game free on your cm3
drive, as temporary files are created during the game, and if you run
out of space and try to save it may cause your saved game to become
corrupted, as a general rule keep a minimum of 150% of your saved game
size and at least 50MB minimum free... A lack of disk space is also
the cause of some "file_list..cpp" errors, if one of these errors
comes up do not save the game as it almost guarantees corruption of
the saved game... (Solution from Graham Thurlwell).
If you cannot create a new game, because it hangs part way through,
then try disabling Ultra DMA 33 if you have it, this has worked for
some people. This also appears to work for if your system bombs out
when loading an existing save. It's a nasty crash - screen goes weird,
monitor turns itself off and entire machine freezes. Only way out
is to hit reset, and the BIOS sometimes fails to spot IDE drives on
restart. (Addition from Graham Thurlwell)
When starting a new game you get an error message (containing 'cpp'
and a number) and you cannot start a game then you can still play CM3
by running a quickstart file, which can be installed through the
custom install.
If you are in Europe and you are asked to submit a squad for the
quarter finals of the competition in which you can add two more
players and replace two players, but because you have sold a lot of
the players previously registered you cannot submit the squad and
cannot continue, then take a holiday and the assistant manager will
solve the problem for you.
During install people experience a problem where although they have
enough space on the drive/partition where they are installing to they
get a message saying that they have run out of disk space, this is
caused by the installer copying files to your windows\temp directory
and there not being enough space on the drive where windows is
installed... to get around this either free up space on the drive
where windows is installed or allocate more space to it if it is a
partition or install the game in chunks, e.g. game + sounds, then game
+ history, then game + basic pics, then game + other pics etc....
Some people are experiencing problems on the 1st of May in their first
season where the game crashes or on other dates, this is caused by the
user trying to buy a non-player near the transfer deadline, for now
withdraw the bid and try again later or take a short holiday, making
sure that your asst. man won't have time to sell any of your
players... this is also believed to be the problem for identical
problems on other dates... (fixed in v3.03b)
When you click on continue, nothing happens except the background
changes and you can't get past that point (usually showing a news
item), to get past it take a holiday and resume as soon as possible,
the problem should have gone away.
Some owners of CM3 have experienced an Illegal Operation Error when
trying to run CM3.exe after installation; a solution to this which
works in some cases is to run the cm3.exe file on the cd. Also see the
Windows NT patch.
The game refuses to run/install/gives an illegal operation error and I
have a CD-R/CD-RW/DVD drive. This is possibly caused by the copy
protection. N.B. This may also happen on normal CD drives. Eidos
have come forward with a solution of disabling your joystick port,
this seems to be solving the problem. Also try the Windows NT patch.
If you have an error window pop up then note what it says (the number
after cpp) and what you did to cause it and whether it crashes the
game or not. Then head to http://www.cm3.com/error.html where there
is an error report form.
Some people have been experiencing problems whilst running
crash-guard, anti-virus and similar programs, if you have a memory
resident program and are experiencing Illegal Operations, then try
disabling/closing any of these programs you may have.
If you are running Windows NT or are experiencing illegal operation
errors when loading or running CM3 then you need a patch to run CM3
due to the faulty copy protection placed on the cd by Eidos, not SI,
this copy protection fix can be found at
http://203.89.231.51/download/cm3_cppa.zip, and details of the
patch are at http://www.eidos.co.uk/cm3/. This patch also should
solve problems experienced by people with DVD drives etc. and other
illegal operation errors.
If you are experiencing problems with starting CM3, then you may wish
to try the CM3 no-cd crack (unsupported and possibly illegal) which is
found at http://hinux.hin.no/~lfc/CM/CM3NOCD.zip, but it will not work
in conjunction with any other patch and cannot be updated using the
enhancement pack SI are working on...
A no-cd patch for v3.03( /b/c, and possibly d) can be found at
http://www.mindcomp.com
2.2.7 - Questions
Q. Where is player X in <country>?
A. make sure you have that league running in the background as
otherwise half or more of the players from that country won't be
loaded.
Q. When i play up to a certain date, the game always quits without
leaving an error message or anything. Why?
A. If that date is 1st May 99, and you are running v3.02 (top left at
main screen) then you need the update to v3.03c, both updates can be
downloaded from http://www.cm3.com/essential.html
Q. I've got a copy protection fix, does this mean i can use the game
without the CD? If so, how do I use it ??
A. You still need the cd, it just solves problems some people have
with the original copy protection that was used in v3.02 so it uses a
different method of copy protection, this is supplied with the patch
to v3.03c... Oh, and in v3.03c you don't need the CD to quit the
game..
Q. How do I take a screen grab in CM3?
A. Press Print Screen and the screen is transferred to the clipboard,
where it can be pasted in a paint program and saved...
Q. How do you terminate a loan?
A. If the player is loaned in, you can't, if you've loaned the player
out, the option is under the action button.
Q. Why can't I manage a team in the Conference (or any other low
division apparently in CM3)?
A. You need to select the normal database size when you start a new
game (not quickstart), as the minimum database size excludes some of
the lowest division(s) in some leagues.
Q. Why does the installer program run every time I put the cd in?
A. This is a poor slip up on whoever was responsible for the
installer's side, to stop it, either hold down <shift> whilst the cd
is being read, or disable "auto insert notification" in the cd-rom
properties in control panel, or using an unsupported MSoft product,
Tweak UI (Win 98 ver on cd - somewhere - Win 95 for d/load on MS site
- search for powertoys) you can disable auto run data cd's, but not
music cd's if you so wish...
Q. How does my team get promoted from semi-professional to
professional? All my players have full time contracts. Does it
matter?
A. It depends on what division you are in, if you are in a low
division you may have to be promoted for the status to change, it
affects the players who want to join you as less are likely to join a
semi-pro club than a similar pro club...
Q. My board refuses to pay more than £X per year even though my team
is "rich". Is this because my team is semi-pro?
A. If you have used CM XRT to add money then the board need a while to
realise the money is there, otherwise you may be paying the rest of
the players quite a lot and the board are reluctant to let you
increase the wage bill as you may be making a weekly loss...
Q. Why can't I load the US league/Where is the MLS?
A. The US league was not included because of the unusual transfer
system within the MLS, with all the players being contracted to the
league and each club having a wage limit, and transfer fees going to
the league, not the club when a player left the league...
Q. What does running leagues in the background mean and how is it
different from selecting the league?
A. Running leagues in the background means that the full league runs
(i.e. awards, league tables etc.) however a cut-down match engine is
used for the results which means that it doesn't take up as much
processor time. NB. You cannot manage teams in a background league.
(answer quoted from Marc Vaughan, SI)
Q. Why is Japan in the Copa America?
A. To make up the number of teams so they can have 3 groups of 4
teams, two countries are invited to the tournament, in the first
season it is Japan and Mexico... (People only spot Japan, not Mexico,
strange?)...
Q. Why doesn't the background sound change/vary?
A. To hear differences in the background sound during a match you
have to have the commentary speed set at Slow or Very Slow.
Q. How does the Bosman ruling work?
A. To sign a player under the Bosman ruling, you have to wait
until the player's contract has 6 or less months left before it
expires and then under the 'Action' menu there is an extra option
called 'Approach to sign' This bypasses the club and you offer the
player a contract, if he accepts then he will join your club on the
day after his contract expires for no fee.
Q. Where are the star players?
A. There are no stars next to the best players' names, this may be
to make it harder to tell who a club's star players are, this feature
was also missing from the demo.
Q. Why can't I sign player x because my squad is full, but I can sign
other players?
A. Check whether player x is asking to be a player/non-player, if
he is then you have your full allocation of that type of staff in your
squad already (max 7 scouts, 6 coaches inc. asst. manager, max 3
physios).
Q. How can I stop my player from playing in the reserves and becoming
unfit, despite promoting him to the senior squad?
A. Go to you reserve squad screen and single click on the reserve
squad position assigned to that player, the player will then disappear
from the reserve squad and the player will only be available for the
senior squad until you demote him. (fixed in v3.03b)
Q. Why is the percentage of matches calculated going up irregularly?
A. The game is hiding irrelevant results from you, and so you only see
the results (e.g. in friendlies) which concern clubs from your county,
except in european competitions.
Q. Why is CM3 taking up XMB/GB?
A. The quick start files (similar to the demo) are very large in size
and in total take up 1.2GB if they are all installed.
Q. What are the specifications/minimum install size for CM3?
A. CM3 will run on a P133 with 16MB RAM running Win95/98 and Direct X
6 (WinNT unknown, but not likely due to SP4 only supporting Direct X
3, not 6 as required by CM3), with a 4X CD-ROM drive, 2MB graphics
card, supporting (this is a must) 800x600 resolution at 16 bit colour.
The minimum install size for CM3 is about 30MB excluding save game
files for the game with no sounds, one (?) background picture, no
history, and no quick start files; without the quick start files the
install size is a max of 500MB, the quick start files being a total of
1.2GB in size...
Q. Why is my reserve team coach not being sacked, despite my reserve
team doing really badly?
A. You decide whether the assistant manager is sacked or not, via the
Action - Terminate Contract button.
Q. What is an assistant manager for?
A. He controls the reserve team if you don't control them, he also
counts as a coach in training and has a motivational/disciplinary
effect on players...
Q. When I play a European match, I am able to select players in the
reserves who I haven't registered, is this a bug?
A. No it isn't a bug, you don't need to register players who are under
21 years old (including 21 years??) in European competitions.
2.2.8 Tactics
Pressing - Your players (except defenders) close down upon the
opposition and make more tackles, which when the tackles are won
results in more possession and chances for your team, the down side is
that your players concede more free kicks and get booked more often,
defenders are set by default to no pressing so they don't give away
penalties...
Counter Attack - If your opposition are attacking and they lose
posession then your side get men forwards to support an immediate
attack whilst the opposition players are still coming back from the
attack and if there are more attacking players than defensive players
then a player who is unmarked/open takes a shot on goal/takes on the
keeper. This can result in high score lines if both sides use the
tactic and the more attacking formation are usually caught out if
there is a counter-counter attack...
Offside Trap - Your defenders move forwards to try and get opposition
players caught offside, but when beaten the defense is very weak as
the defenders have to get back and a one-on-one situation usually
develops with your keeper and an opposition forward...
Men Behind Ball - Your players all put themselves between the ball and
the goal while they're not in possession as a replacement for the
"Ultra-Defensive" tactic from CM2, they are also cautious when
attacking and may remain in their own half whilst the 1-3 striker(s)
attack on their own without midfield support, this results in fewer
goals conceded, but also fewer goals scored...
Super Tactics:
There are a number of spoiler 'super tactics' currently in
circulation, if you wish to ruin the fun of your game then follow the
link to http://www.orangeroom.demon.co.uk/info/spoiler_tactics.htm
2.2.9 Transfers
Club negotiation - Buying and Selling
How much to offer:
If the player is transfer listed then the club will accept less than
the asking price for the player as the club wishes the player to leave
the club.
If the player is considered by the club to be a valuable part of the
squad then they are obviously reluctant to let him go and need a
bigger bid to change their minds, how much bigger depends on how
valuable he is to the club.
1 - Monthly Installments
Over how long your monthly payments to his current club will span,
e.g. 6 months to 24 months or if it is not selected the cash will go
in one lump sum to the selling club when the player moves...
When buying and you have poor finances but a steady profit then select
this option, if you have good finances then there is no need.
When selling try not to have this option selected so you get all of
the money at once and can use it as soon as possible... but with this
option selected clubs may be more willing to offer more in total for
your player...
2 - Percentage of next sale
If you sell the player later then the club you are buying him off
receive a percentage of the money you receive for that player, e.g.
you buy a player for £5M, you later sell him for £10M and he had a 10%
next sale clause then £1M of the money you receive from selling him
goes to the club you bought him off and you receive a total of £9M and
the club you bought him off receive a total of £6M; what is more
likely to happen is a player is sold first for £500k, then for several
million and the original club gets more from the second transfer than
the first...
When buying try not to have this option selected, but if the other
club insists on it then reduce it as much as you can...
When selling this is only really useful on younger players as they are
more likely to move again in their careers, but watch out as they may
move under the bosman ruling leaving you with less than you might have
had...
3 - Fee after 10 League Apps.
If/when he makes his 10th league appearance for you then you pay his
previous club some money, this can also be set to 20, 30, 40 or 50
apps and is used as a way of breaking up the payments and a reward for
the club selling him if the player establishes himself in his new
club's team...
When buying this is a way of breaking up your payments for the player
and can be used to gain an upper hand if there is a bidding war...
When selling this option is only reasonable if the club is offering
enough in a lump sum initially when the player moves as the player may
never make the 10 games...
4 - Fee after 10 International Apps.
Same as for 3 except its for appearances for his country...
I don't know if this applies if a player makes 9 apps for his new club
and moves on to another club where he makes that 10th appearance..
anyone know?
5 - Make transfer bid public
If no then you have a greater chance of getting the player for less
and without competition from other clubs, the selling club will always
make it public so they attract the interest of other clubs who may bid
more for the player...
When buying select this as no (it should be already) so other clubs
don't notice your bid and start a bidding war for the player where you
end up paying more or the player goes to another club...
When selling select this as yes (it should be already) so other clubs
are alerted to the sale and you will get more for the player...
Player Negotiation
1 - Indispensable to club
This should only be offered to players who you know will become a
permanent fixture in your team and won't be dropped unless they're
unavailable. These players should be better than anyone in your
squad.
2 - Important first team player
Offered to players who will participate in most games and are fairly
good compared to your current squad.
3 - Used in squad rotation system
These players will play in about half of your games and will accept
occasionally being relegated to your reserves, but not for too long.
These players will be of average ability compared to your current
first team squad.
4 - Backup for first team
These players will mainly feature in the reserves but expect to be
played at least a few times every year. These are generally utility
players and of average ability.
5 - Hot prospect for the future
These players will be happy to sit in the reserves for a few years,
but after they are 20-23+ they expect to be played in the first team.
If they are played in the first team for any length of time they will
want a new squad status and contract.
6 - Decent young player
Not quite as good as players offered 5, but also happy to play in the
reserves for some time. If they are played in the first team for any
length of time they will want a new squad status and contract, these
players will wait a bit more than hot prospects before asking for
more.
If the player says they are not interested in negotiating terms as
whatever you've offered them then go back and change their status
until they are willing to negotiate. If they say they don't want to
discuss terms the player doesn't want to go to your club and no
amount of persuading will change his mind.
If you tell the player that he will, for example, be an important
first team player and then play him in the reserves then he will
become unhappy that you have lied to him and demand to leave, his
morale will also go down and this will have a slight effect on the
rest of the team depending on how 'big' a player he is/was...
2.2.10 Training Questions
Q. How can I improve my players' morale?
A. There are several reasons a player may have a low or very low
morale, they may be unhappy with their current contract and want a pay
rise, or they may have an incorrect squad status, or they may feel
that they should be played more often, or they are being over trained
and need a break from training.
Q. I have trained my star defender to play on the left side, why does
he lose the position a few weeks after he is taken out of training for
the left side?
A. You have to keep training him for a certain amount of time after he
attains use of the new position, otherwise he'll eventually revert to
his original position. (Marc Vaughan)
Q. I've noticed that some of my players' stats have changed, but they
haven't changed colour in training, why?
A. The change has not been influenced by training, some stats change
gradually with age, others drop suddenly for some reason or another.
Q. In training, what do the red and yellow attributes mean?
A. Red means that the skill has gone down, yellow means that it has
gone up and cyan (blue) means that it has not changed.
Q. In training, when you select the coaches for each skill area, which
is on and which is off?
A. Yellow is on and green is off.
2.2.11 Features
If you find you have reached the limit of 50 players in your squad
when you are faced with a prompt asking you to confirm a transfer, you
can free transfer a player out and then go back to the prompt without
having to delay the transfer for a week. Don't know what happens if
the board veto the free transfer though...
If you delete or rename the game.mbr and match.mbr files in the
cm3\data folder then you get cool transparent menu bars and you can
see more of the background picture.
(Thanks to Stephen Sykes <s...@foolishsykes.freeserve.co.uk>)
You can 'multi-task' whilst the game is progressing to the next game,
by clicking and holding down on the left mouse button, whenever the
mouse cursor is a hand while the game is processing matches.
If you are sacked and do not wish to lose you manager points and
reputation, whilst remaining manager of the club, just retire the
existing manger, and create a new manager with the same name and
nationality, who will have the same reputation as the previous
manager, and you can take over the club you were sacked from.
(Thanks to Oscar López Sierra <fa...@arrakis.es>)
2.2.12 Pictures
Editing pics.cfg:
Open the file with notepad
Under the section '[CLUBS]' are all the pictures that can appear when
the club name is clicked on, to add a picture to this section either
add it on to an existing entry (if there is one) such as:
Manchester City: 26739.rgn, 27754.rgn, city.rgn
Where city.rgn is the file you want to add (note that the other file
names are made up)
To add a picture for a club not listed here you need to type the long
name of the club, which is displayed at the squad screen, e.g. Atletic
Club de Bilbao (sp?) and then the file name like this:
Torquay United: torquay.rgn
Whenever adding pictures, separate them by a comma, and the team name
from the pictures by a colon and a space, always include the full file
name.
You can do similar things under the '[NATIONS]' section e.g.
Azerbaijan: azerbaij.rgn
England: eng_01.rgn, eng_04.rgn, england_66.rgn
(should you find a pic of the world cup winning side)
Also for the '[COMPS]' competitions, note the { } to surround pics to
be displayed only when the comp is won.
Under the '[STADIUMS]' you need to put the full name of the stadium,
excluding the city and the filename, e.g.:
Plainmoor: torquay.rgn
So whenever it is used as a neutral venue that picture shows up.
For players '[STAFF]' it is slightly more tricky, you need the first
name, the last name, then the date of birth in dd/mm/yyyy form:
Michael Owen 14/12/1979: eng_07.rgn, eng_08.rgn, owen.rgn
John Smith 1/1/63: john.rgn
The second example should be able to be used for you if you always use
'John Smith' as your name, and whenever you click on yourself to view
your history etc. the pic should appear, I haven't tried it myself so
I don't know if it will work, but it should do.
2.3. News
CM3 Has been released !! But there have been problems. If you have any
problems get in contact with techs...@eidosnet.co.uk or post your
query to this newsgroup if they can't help you, but we can't guarantee
an answer.
There is a demo of CM3 available to download from any of the links on
www.champman.net
The first monthly update for CM3 is out, go to www.cm3.com in the
essentials section for the file. V3.03c for direct download at
http://www.champman.net/cm303c.exe get this version, not V3.03...
3. Questions.
3.1. Questions not to ask.
Q. Will we need the CD to play CM3 ?
A. Only to install (obviously) and to start the game. After that, no.
Q. When is CM3 going to be released ?
A. It has been released on the 26th March.
Q. When is CM4 going to be released ?
A. Work has not yet started on CM4.
3.2. Topics covered.
Q. How do I backup my CM9798 saved games ?
A. For 16meg games, save *.s16 files and gamess16.idx. For 8meg games,
save *.s8 files and gamess8.idx.
Q. Will SI ever make any other sports sims ?
A. We have often thought about this and always come to the same
solution. We just don't have the knowledge or passion needed about any
other sport - we think this is one of the reasons why CM games are
pretty good because of this enthusiasm for footie. Anyway, we wouldn't
rule it out and are making CM3 in such a way that other sports could
be used (with CM2 this would have been impossible).
Q. My game crashed after the first season - Why ?
A. It is very difficult to say what the problem could be - it may be
that the saved game has become corrupted or there is a system
conflict. I would recommend you send an enquiry with an MSD report
(check the CM97/98 manual) to Eidos Tech Support team as we do not
have the technical knowledge in this area to be of help:
techs...@eidosnet.co.uk Or if you have been editing the databases
this can cause conflicts with the code, which may not come to light
until after one or two seasons. Once the game has crashed there is
generally no solution. You will have to start a new game and
you need to re-install the game first.
Manual Installation:
Try a manual installation. First delete the game completely.
1. create a CM9798 directory on your hard drive
2. copy all the files from the following folders on the CD to your
CM9798directory of your hard drive:
Common\
English\
min\
3. Go to the prompt and your CM9798 directory and type:
cm2e8 (for the 8MB version)
cm2e16 (for the 16MB game)
cm2ed (for the database editor)
Do not edit the databases straight away as editing them can cause
crashes. See if the game runs OK first. If the game still crashes
please tell us of any error messages when the DOS screen appears.
Also relevant:
1. During installation, if the error message "error - installation
failed, check settings and try again then you need to do a manual
installation.
2. If you type "CM2", and the message "out of memory occurs, type
"CM2E8" to run the game instead.
3. There is an occasional problem with the checking of available hard
disk space, if you get an error saying you don't have enough space,
but you know that you have, do a manual installation
Q. Can you tell me what happened to CM-All-stars?
A. Sorry to have to tell you that CM All-stars has been scrapped and
will not be released. This is actually probably a good thing as we
were not involved in its development whatsoever - it was being done by
in-house by Eidos.
Q. How do I get into programming games ?
A. You need to be able to program in C or if possible C++ as these
languages are the best nowadays for game development. If you don't
know C then I would suggest taking a course in C, or getting some
books and teaching yourself - although the games industry is
increasingly relying on qualified rather than Self-taught programmers
as it becomes a bigger, more professional industry than in the early
days of Spectrums and C64s.
In addition to some good qualifications, work on some demos or a
sample game. Publishers these days want people who are well-qualified
but who also have a creative side.
Q. Can I play CM on a Mac ?
A. There is no Mac version of CM2 - unfortunately it is not our
decision - this is up to the publishers and they have repeatedly said
to us that it is not worth making one. Personally we would love to see
one. We will be making CM3 in a way which will make a Mac conversion
easy to do but again it is unlikely that one will be released.
If you would like information regarding the use of CM2 on a Mac with
an emulator, Alex Kamilewicz can provide it from:
manc...@sable.ox.ac.uk
Q. I'm using the editor which came with the game, anything special I
need to know?
A. Changing certain things in the database can cause the game to crash
- such things as entering an incorrectly spelled nationality can cause
the game to crash - also deleting certain teams, which link to the
in-game code, can cause problems.
Check what you entered (i.e nationalities). Check if there is an error
message when the game crashes out - this may give the name of the
player with the problem. If all else fails you will have to copy the
original databases from the CD again.
Q. Do the scores in the top right of the screen affect calculation
time?
A. It is not the displaying that takes the time it is that these games
are being processed (i.e. actually played) - this is necessary to the
game. The trade off for more players, leagues and teams has been speed
- we added the displaying of the scores to make the waiting a little
more interesting.
Q. C'mon SI - give us some cheats.
A. Sorry - there are no intentional cheats in any of our games - you
can get hints and tips at our web site and many of the unofficial web
sites for CM2.
Q. Where can I buy CM 97/98 or CM3 across the web?
A. You could buy the game from the following on-line mail order
Company:
Special Reserve (UK Based Company) - Order on-line:
http://special.reserve.co.uk/
Tel: 01279 600204 - Lines open between 9:30am and 8.00pm (Monday -
Saturday) and 10.00am to 5.00pm on Sundays
FAX - 01279 726842 (24 hours a day)
-If you wish to place an order using cheque or postal order:
Send it to: Special Reserve, PO Box 847, Harlow, CM21 9PH
(Please Note: This is not an advert for this company but we have heard
through various sources off the Internet that they have a good
customer service and are competitive on price.)
Q. What exactly is the Bosman ruling ?
A. The Bosman ruling is nowadays resulting in quite a few things that
no one even dreamed of a couple of years ago. But for cm2, there are
two things worth taking in consideration. First, any player from
within the European Union and three participants of EFTA (European
Free Trade Association) in the EEA (the European Economic Area accord)
between EU and EFTA are not to be counted as foreigners when playing
in any of these countries. These countries are, as said, EU + Norway,
Liechtenstein and Iceland. Secondly, after a player's contract with a
club has ended, the club cannot charge anything if he leaves in favour
for another club. After contract has ended, the player is a free
agent, and may do whatever he want to.
Q. Can I change the background pictures in the game ?
A. Yes, you can. Load one of the picture in a graphic viewer of some
sort. Notice the number of colours and the exact size. Make you own
picture or use/convert another in PCX with maximum 63 colours and the
exact same size. Save your picture, and rename it so it overwrites one
of the existing background pictures. Now you have changed the
background picture. Or alternatively, check out Techcities Picture
Archive
Q. CM2 uses 16 bits. How many bits will CM3 use, and why doesn't my
Lexmark work in CM9798 ?
A. This is taken from a post from Matt Harbour:
CM3 will be a Windows95+ program. Windows 95+ programs use 32-bit
instructions nothing to do with the number of colours. Previous
version of CM, including CM9798 all use 16-bit systems, this is what
DOS uses. 32-Bit uses less memory and also runs faster which means an
increase in speed in CM. That is why to play a DOS program Windows
must open up a DOS prompt which you must close after you have finished
it. Also, 16-Bit programs are less stable than 32-Bit and are more
likely to crash, that is why if your screen saver comes on while
playing CM often a message says that Program Terminated when you try
to get into it again. 16-Bit programs use DOS printers, so that is why
a Lexmark printer will not work properly.
Q. Updates ? They're everywhere !! But how do I use them ?
A. When you download it, open the Zip file. When it asks where to
Extract it to, choose your Championship Manager Directory. When it
asks if you want to over-write anything, select yes. Start a new game,
and voila !! Most updates need the patch, this can be obtained from
Techcities (See 4). Run Patchzip.exe, and that will be done,
information on this can be found at Sports Interactive.
Q. What does "X" mean in the editor which came with CM9798 ? (Replace
"X" with a field-name.)
A. If you read Edithelp.doc or Edithelp.txt, you will find out how to
use everything in the database editor. If you are referring to
"Gender," then we think this could be how different countries produce
"The" in sentences.
Q. Will there be an editor for CM3 ?
A. No. SI bundled one in with CM9798 as it was the last game using the
original CM2 coding. The editor was for people who wanted to keep
CM9798 up to date as there would be no update discs being sold.
Q. I have a P133 with 16meg of RAM. What should I upgrade to get CM3
to go faster ?
A. Try more RAM first. Once you get to about 128meg, upgrade your CPU,
otherwise, too much RAM and a small processor will cause bottlenecks.
(Rushing through the RAM before stopping at a low speed processor in
comparison.) To run one league, you will need a minimum of 16meg of
RAM and a 133mhz CPU. To run all leagues perfectly, you should need a
400mhz CPU and 128meg of RAM. Time I bought a new PC !!
4. Champman sites.
Techcities UK - http://www.techcities.co.uk/
Sports Interactive - http://www.champman.net/
CM3-com - http://www.cm3.com/
Michael's CM Players ICQ List - http://surf.to/michaelscmlist
Unofficial CM sites:
N.B. These sites are listed as recommended by us, the users, but may
have moved, or shut down, since inclusion. Any complaints should be
directed to the site administrators as this list is purely for
information.
CM Scandinavia:-
http://come.to/cmsca
Harbour CM3:-
http://www.wit317.freeserve.co.uk
New Championship Manager Online Game:-
http://www.fl.net.au/~storo/framesindex.htm
CM Empire - All the latest news and downloads for CM3:-
http://come.to/CMEmpire
Dazsoft's Football Games Arena & CM3 update: -
http://www.dazsoft.freeserve.co.uk
Lower Division's Guide - J.Evans: -
http://users.breathemail.net/jevans/homepage.html
CM3 Records: -
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1502
CM3pix : THE site for CM3 backgrounds & The CM3 Team Picker v2.12:-
http://zap.to/CM3pix
CM3 Downloads:-
http://www.mykytyn10.freeserve.co.uk
CM3 Site:-
http://callisto.worldonline.nl/~cb004146
CM heaven:-
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/8467
If you wish to have your site listed in this section, and avoid being
flamed, drop me a mail.
5. This FAQ.
This FAQ was founded by Tommy Wright. The main "helper", Tom Adair,
has been kind enough to give information on CM3 and has taken over as
editor of the FAQ
Tommy Wright, the founder of this FAQ, can be reached at:
tailgu...@cwcom.net
ICQ: 25071829
Tom Adair, the editor of this FAQ can be contacted respectively at:
t...@fsim.freeserve.co.uk
ICQ: 12626300
Thanks to Martin Orr for converting the FAQ into HTML. Thanks Also to
Alex Kamilewicz for some helpful advice on Macs.
-Credits also to the enormous Champman following all over the world !!
Credits for CM3 information:
History Editing and Friendly arranging - Ali McLeod
<da...@dial.pipex.com>
UDMA 33 Problem - Graham Thurlwell <graham.t...@sunderland.ac.uk>
Transparent Menubars - Stephen Sykes
<s...@foolishsykes.freeserve.co.uk>
Resuming career after sacking bug/cheat/feature - Oscar López Sierra
<fa...@arrakis.es>
Some General Info - Sports Interactive comments posted to newsgroup
--
t...@fsim.freeserve.co.uk
ICQ# 12626300
alt.games.champ-man FAQ updated 5/6:
http://www.orangeroom.demon.co.uk/info/faq.html
Sven Sorrell
news:375a4d4f...@news.freeuk.com...
> 2.2.1 - Contracts
>
> If the player says he doesn't want to negotiate a new contract at that
> time, then he will refuse any contracts you may offer him, no matter
> how good they are,
Not true....I've often had players who have said "X has no interestin in
negotiating a new contract at this time", I've offered it anyway because I
still needed them as backup, and, more often than not, they signed anyway.
Sven
Bugman
currently earn and I think that some players have accepted my contract
offers even when they say they have no interest.
Sven Sorrell <sven.s...@NOSPAMmagd.ox.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:7jcrcb$92d$1...@news.ox.ac.uk...
> Tom Adair <t...@fsim.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:375a4d4f...@news.freeuk.com...
> > 2.2.1 - Contracts
> >
> > If the player says he doesn't want to negotiate a new contract at that
> > time, then he will refuse any contracts you may offer him, no matter
> > how good they are,
>
>
Tom Adair
<bug...@fuckyou.co.uk> let a monkey loose on their keyboard, which
produced the following, which can be found in
<7jdgsv$q5l$1...@nclient1-gui.server.virgin.net>:
>Non-Players are easy to sign, you just offer them more than they are
>currently earn and I think that some players have accepted my contract
>offers even when they say they have no interest.
>
>Sven Sorrell <sven.s...@NOSPAMmagd.ox.ac.uk> wrote in message
>news:7jcrcb$92d$1...@news.ox.ac.uk...
>> Tom Adair <t...@fsim.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:375a4d4f...@news.freeuk.com...
>> > 2.2.1 - Contracts
>> >
>> > If the player says he doesn't want to negotiate a new contract at that
>> > time, then he will refuse any contracts you may offer him, no matter
>> > how good they are,
>>
>>
>> Not true....I've often had players who have said "X has no interestin in
>> negotiating a new contract at this time", I've offered it anyway because I
>> still needed them as backup, and, more often than not, they signed anyway.
>>
>> Sven
That bit is only relevant to existing staff/players, note the bit
"negotiate a new contract"... you are right about if you offer them
enough, they will come...