The purpose of this guide is to explain certain aspects of the game, we will not go into detail but will explain as much as we can. The guide is broken down like a manual would.
Game Preferences
General
Most of the settings are self explanatory but we have highlighted a few.
| Processing fixtures |
| - There are four options,fastest, faster, slow and slowest. The point of this setting is how much processing power you want to provide for processing fixtures of other teams. The faster you select the more processing time and therefore you won't be able to do anything while the fixtures are being processed. |
| Auto Save interval |
| - This is important and I would recommend a regular save due to the chance of the game crashing, ive been there too many times. |
| Compress save game ticker |
| - Compressing the save game will reduce the size of the file but will increase the chance of the file being corupted. |
| Threading |
| - If you processor supports threading there is no logical reason for not enabling this option, it will increase processing times. Look up threading on wikipedia. |
| Move games for TV |
| - If you're playing a network game make sure this is unticked because then all games will be played on the same day. |
Display & Sound settings
Some of the settings under display and sound are very important especially if you download graphics for the game.
| Use skin cache |
| - If you have downloaded a skin you must have this option unticked. What it is basically saying is use whats in the cache so your new skin wont be used. |
| Always reload skin on confirm |
| - This option needs to be ticked if you're using a custom skin as it simply means reload the skin once done. |
| Show player & staff pictures |
| - If you want a slower but better looking game select this option. The option name explains what it does. |
| Show backround pictures |
| - Again the name says it all but a lot of people forget this when download custom backround images. |
| Enable 3D cameras |
| - The new 3D engine brings options. Do you want the 3D pitch? |
| 3D graphic detail |
| - Make a wise choice on this depending on your computer in general. I think most lower end graphic cards should be able to handle the graphics but it will put pressure elsewhere such as processor. |
| Show sky |
| - Again if your computer can handle most things it wont have problems with this. Its simply a detail setting. |
| Sound cache |
| - The sound cache is used to help speed things up so if you are someone that likes the sounds then use smart. |
Network settings
These settings are only relevant if you're starting a network game.
| Server Name |
| - Pretty straight foward. |
| Run as a server tickbox |
| - If you want to host a network game make sure this is ticked. |
| Force continue |
| - One issue I always had with network games was one person would always take a year to sort their team out. I don't want to wait an hour for someone to check last 10 game stats before picking a team so you have some options to play with. After 50% of users have continued - half of players have said come on! Timelimit, default is 1 minute. |
Some very important things to consider when setting up a network game is making sure you can host it. For instance if you're being a router you might have to enable port fowarding. The key ports for Football Manager 2009 are.
10093
10094
These are both UDP and TCP ports. Visit PortForward.com for instructions of how to open these ports up.
Extra files
Extra files are FM files that you could have downloaded enabling you to see German player names for instance, they're extra files similar to main game files. You can create your own files if you like, say you want a transfer to happen in the future you can put it into a FM file and let others loads it into their game.
Shortcuts
This is pretty straight foward, you can add your own shortcuts for the game here or edit default ones.
New Game
Criteria
When you start a new game you need to consider a few things:
How fast is your PC.
How long would you be willing to wait per simulation of a day.
How much detail to you want.
What are you favourite country leagues.
Etc Etc
The first thought if very important, how good really is your PC. I have yet to find a PC that can run all leagues, it just isn't really possible. I would recommend clicking recommended setup and either taking out 1-2 leagues if you have a pretty slow PC and adding a few if you have a fast PC. Either way it won't make THAT much different.
Database size
The other major factor is database size, personally I select my favourite leagues then just make it small or medium if im running few leagues. I can then use the other setting 'Load all players from' to load players from other leagues I know of. This way you can have players from other leagues without having all the competitions.
Mode
When selecting leagues you can have the option of playable league or just to view. I used to select a lot of leagues just for view but found this to be a complete waste of processing usage so personally I would recommend just select the leagues you want to play or possiblity play.
Add key staff
This option will basically computer generate you all the key members of staff if you do not have any. Example you pick a lower league team that does not have a physio, the game will auto generate a fake person to take this role at the start of the game.
In game detail
Detail level
Game detail is a detail that some players who have played FM for a while now still dont know of. If you go to Options - Detail level you can play around with some great details.
Previously I had written about this detail level and had completely left out how changing it can drastically affect the game. For instance if you can all levels to none then the game engine is pretty much ignored and results are based off of reputation etc instead of stats and other enviromentals.
If you are unsure of what to change here set it ot default, if you have a great PC then change it to Max, or if very good PC make it continental. What you will see is more realistic results and obviously more detail.
For instance for World cups etc I put the detail up to max and then change back after. Play around and see the results yourself.
The Manager
Boardroom options
| Chariman Status |
| - This detail will show you if your chairman is considering leaving. If you have a bad tight chairman then you can only hope he starts to hate the club and wants to sell. |
| Scouting |
| - This message will tell you how far you can send scouts. For the big teams you can do anything but smaller ones you will find yourself restricted and this is one area they will be cheap on. |
| Board status request |
| - If you're thinking of asking for something check this out first, if they already say no stadium expansion then no it will definitely be. Also if you're contract is running out check this because it will tell you if you will get another one or when they want to talk about it. |
Board requests
You can ask the board for certain things within a season, if you find your pitch look like one thats from a non league team ask for it to be relayed, but if you're short of money or have a tight ass board it wont happen. If you need more funds to buy that player you're after you have the chance to issue an ultimatum but if they don't have the money or they don't like you, you will be gone so be careful making any requests, the board never forgets.
Jobs
The job centre is a great way of finding new staff, if you click place an advert you can advertise your position in the Football world. This way you can find out who really is interested in coming to your team where as if you search yourself sometimes if you select only interested you may find someone who isn't really.
When placing an advert give it a week or so before expecting a response and then when you get one its just a list of who would be interested.
Under job security you can find out if that manager at your favourite club is under threat, this will give you the chance to declare your interest if they're having a hard time. You can also find out if you're job is under threat!
Player contracts
When signing players to new contracts you need to consider a fair few things.
Age - So how long to make the contract. Unless world class (or goalkeepers) players stats will degrade in their late 20's to early 30's.
Budget - How much do you have left in the wage budget.
Other players - How many players in that position do you have, do you really need them?
Signing on fee - This can be high sometimes, if you can try and get this to £0.
Appearence fee's - These can be something thats missed, but they can really end up costing you a lot.
When signing a player to a contract common sense is required, unless you're Real Madrid and you just offer whatever they want!
It is possible to redo contracts getting their wages down, this is a good idea for smaller teams to try and trim the budget freeing money to spend elsewhere.
