[FM21]African Extended - Bringing the World of FM to Africa 2021. RELEASED

[lucasnake]

1 hora atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

I'm not sure what you mean. You want a version for the 21.0 version of the game?

Yeah, some people like to play with the default db so that there is no updated transfers.

Edited February 27, 2021 by lucasnake
removed link

[sporadicsmiles]

57 minutes ago, lucasnake said:

You can see that he leaves a link for 21.1 and 21.3 file so that people who use either db can download the file for the one they use. Some people like to play with the default db so that there is no updated transfers.

For the leagues I will have a look if it will just work directly tomorrow. If it does, that is trivial for me to do. If not, I will see if it is easy to modify. Either way I can let you know tomorrow. 

For the player file, that will only be compatible with the 21.3 database, there is nothing I can do about that unfortunately. It is entirely unfeasible to maintain files for each update if I did not plan it in advance (which I did not here, sorry).

[lucasnake]

2 minutos atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

For the leagues I will have a look if it will just work directly tomorrow. If it does, that is trivial for me to do. If not, I will see if it is easy to modify. Either way I can let you know tomorrow. 

For the player file, that will only be compatible with the 21.3 database, there is nothing I can do about that unfortunately. It is entirely unfeasible to maintain files for each update if I did not plan it in advance (which I did not here, sorry).

You just have to reupload the previous files, you don't need to change anything. The previous files worked with the default db.

[sporadicsmiles]

Just now, lucasnake said:

You just have to reupload the previous files, you don't need to change anything. The previous files worked with the default db.

Which previous files? From FM20? That are still in the old thread.

[lucasnake]

1 minuto atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

Which previous files? From FM20? That are still in the old thread.

Oh wait, the file you uploaded yesterday was the first version of the mod? If so then i apologize, i thought the mod was already released before that, and then you replaced it with a new version.

If that's the case, it would be great if you did one for the default db, but i will not pressure you into doing it as it would take more work.

Just as a note, the error when you try to play with the default db is that it wasn't tested in the editor. I tested it on the editor then i tried the mod on the default db, it actually seems to work fine, except for the DR Kongo league, which is duplicated, with one high reputation fake league, while the real league of your mod has a low reputation. If you could fix this i think it would be perfect. You don't have to change the players file, as you said, because they already work fine with the default db.

[sporadicsmiles]

1 minute ago, lucasnake said:

Oh wait, the file you uploaded yesterday was the first version of the mod? If so then i apologize, i thought the mod was already released before that, and then you replaced it with a new version.

If that's the case, it would be great if you did one for the default db, but i will not pressure you into doing it as it would take more work.

Just as a note, the error when you try to play with the default db is that it wasn't tested in the editor. I tested it on the editor then i tried the mod on the default db, it actually seems to work fine, except for the DR Kongo league, which is duplicated, with one high reputation fake league, while the real league of your mod has a low reputation. If you could fix this i think it would be perfect. You don't have to change the players file, as you said, because they already work fine with the default db.

No worries, that explains our collective confusion! This is the only version I have uploaded. That is why I said I will just try to verify it with the default DB and I imagine there should not be any issues. I will get chance to do it tomorrow.

[lucasnake]

2 minutos atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

No worries, that explains our collective confusion! This is the only version I have uploaded. That is why I said I will just try to verify it with the default DB and I imagine there should not be any issues. I will get chance to do it tomorrow.

Thank you. Appreciate the great work you did on the mod.

[Weedman582]

Are the algerian and tunisian second divisions not included for lack of information about the squads?

[Andreh68]

Before downloading, want to join the thank you bandwagon. Your work is highly appreciated.

So happy Cameroon made de cut!

[sporadicsmiles]

12 hours ago, Weedman582 said:

Are the algerian and tunisian second divisions not included for lack of information about the squads?

Not included because I had not had time to look into them and to deal with the changes in structure they had. I think Algeria has 32 teams in the second division after restructure. Its a huge amount of work to process so many teams. I will looking into how I can get those leagues back in there, but I did not want to delay the release by a few weeks just to sort them out, if you get me.  Hopefully I will get chance to stick them back in at some point, because I think I am going to go for some depth before expanding to more nations. 

[sporadicsmiles]

15 hours ago, lucasnake said:

Thank you. Appreciate the great work you did on the mod.

I had a look at this this morning, and everything works fine with 21.1.1 except for Cameroon. And annoying the problem with Cameroon is that an entire team that is needed is missing from the database in 21.1.1. So I will have to recreate them. This is not a huge deal, and I will do it next time I get the chance. 

On a related note, when I researching this I found that I seem to have all the Cameroon league structure entirely wrong anyway? I was going off what was on rsssf when I created the league, but this is definitely not the same as what is on soccerway (which I never actually checked as well, as normally there are no conflicts). And the official website also indicates I am wrong. So much for my careful research, hey! 

I will look into sorting this out, because it is not just a small inaccuracy, there is an entirely missing team (21 in the league rather than 20) and a different structure (pools with playoffs rather than a straight league). Not sure I want to live with that level of inaccuracy! 

So once I have this fixed, I will also try to make sure I can produce a 21.1.1 version for anyone who would like it too. 

[sporadicsmiles]

Updated to fix the Cameroon Elite One so it is more life like, and to add a league file compatible with 21.1.1. See opening post. Do not use the 21.1.1 file with 21.3, it will definitely not work for Cameroon. Cameroon's league is still not showing when you select, but it works fine when you load the game. I have no clue why it is doing this. 

[lucasnake]

Thanks for the update. It all looks perfect, except for that problem in the DR Congo that i mentioned, as you can see in the screenshot, the playable league of Congo sits at the 24th in the African leagues ranking. 

But if you click on the African leagues ranking, you will se that there is an unselectable league of DR Congo at 6th place, which i think it was supposed to be your real league there. 

All the other leagues are fine, just the Congo one that seens duplicated. You can see it in the nation overview too, the highest reputation league in Congo is unselectable, while your league is down there with 1 star.

EDIT: I have just checked, and this problem is present in both the 21.1 and 21.3 versions. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by lucasnake

[lucasnake]

Checked again, and actually the Cameroon league despite working faces the same problem, there is another league called "Cameroonian First Division" which is the same as your real league, but unplayable. 

 

I'm wondering if this was intended, as in, you had to create those leagues from scratch instead on working on the one that already was on the database because of some limitation? Because all the other leagues except those two seems to be based around the leagues that was already present in the database, i can see this because they all have an logo assigned from the logopack i was using, except the Cameroon and DR Congo ones.

Those things don't make the mod unplayable, it only affects immersion a bit, because if you go to the teams page and see their trophy history, it will show that they won the unselectable league rather than your league, and then in the save when they win your league there would be 2 separate trophies in their history, which should be the same.

[sporadicsmiles]

20 minutes ago, lucasnake said:

All the other leagues are fine, just the Congo one that seens duplicated. You can see it in the nation overview too, the highest reputation league in Congo is unselectable, while your league is down there with 1 star.

 

Ah yes, I had forgotten about that. I think I have the teams in the official SI league now though (which is ranked lowly apparently), and the other one is the one I added in FM20 because there was no league in the database. I switched everything over, and I was sure I had deleted the unused league. Apparently I did not do that. Still, I am pretty sure the league being used is the official one, so the rating is correct. I can take a look at it when I next get the chance, possibly some time tomorrow. It is a trivial fix, I just need to check which is the correct league (I think I used it, but I will double check) and delete the one that is not needed, and verify. 

[lucasnake]

9 minutos atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

Ah yes, I had forgotten about that. I think I have the teams in the official SI league now though (which is ranked lowly apparently), and the other one is the one I added in FM20 because there was no league in the database. I switched everything over, and I was sure I had deleted the unused league. Apparently I did not do that. Still, I am pretty sure the league being used is the official one, so the rating is correct. I can take a look at it when I next get the chance, possibly some time tomorrow. It is a trivial fix, I just need to check which is the correct league (I think I used it, but I will double check) and delete the one that is not needed, and verify. 

I see, but actually, it looks like the league used is not the original one, the original should be the "DR Congolese Premier Division", listed on the screenshot. You can see this because if you look at Mazembe's trophies in the game it says that they won the DR Congolese Premier Division 18 times.  

If you are interested in fixing that, i think that recreating the league on the original one would be difficult, so you could just delete the original one and copy the reputation and champion history.

Edited February 28, 2021 by lucasnake

[lucasnake]

I could help you with adding the champions history if you want, i already lost too much time doing stuff like this in the editor in the past . If you want just pm me the updated files with the other leagues deleted then i add the history and send it to you.

[sporadicsmiles]

42 minutes ago, lucasnake said:

I see, but actually, it looks like the league used is not the original one, the original should be the "DR Congolese Premier Division", listed on the screenshot. You can see this because if you look at Mazembe's trophies in the game it says that they won the DR Congolese Premier Division 18 times.  

If you are interested in fixing that, i think that recreating the league on the original one would be difficult, so you could just delete the original one and copy the reputation and champion history.

I'll check it the next time I get the chance. I remember having to change this, and it is likely I have just messed up and picked the wrong one. 

[sporadicsmiles]

Alright, I managed to fix DR Congo. This is now only using the correct league, and the other one has vanished. Cameroon is just being all around weird. I switched back to the official version, and for some reason the new version is still in the DB despite being deleted. I have no idea why, it must be being referenced somewhere but I cannot see where. Still, everything is still working, and hopefully I can eventually chase the Cameroon thing down. 

New versions uploaded. 

[lucasnake]

2 horas atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

Alright, I managed to fix DR Congo. This is now only using the correct league, and the other one has vanished. Cameroon is just being all around weird. I switched back to the official version, and for some reason the new version is still in the DB despite being deleted. I have no idea why, it must be being referenced somewhere but I cannot see where. Still, everything is still working, and hopefully I can eventually chase the Cameroon thing down. 

New versions uploaded. 

Yeah, i faced similiar problems before, of trying to delete some leagues and they would still appear in the game. Well, maybe there's nothing you can do about it, it is fine.

But by the way, i think you didn't upload the files correctly? Only showing the players file here for me.

Edited February 28, 2021 by lucasnake

[sporadicsmiles]

49 minutes ago, lucasnake said:

Yeah, i faced similiar problems before, of trying to delete some leagues and they would still appear in the game. Well, maybe there's nothing you can do about it, it is fine.

But by the way, i think you didn't upload the files correctly? Only showing the players file here for me.

Attached without linking. It is a Sunday, my brain is 100% not engaged fully today is it?

[gpassosbh]

So, as I understood,  this is not compatible with version 21.3, right?

[sporadicsmiles]

1 hour ago, gpassosbh said:

So, as I understood,  this is not compatible with version 21.3, right?

I knew this would add confusion! 

The player file is compatible with all databases but will work best with 21.3, since it has been fully updated to this and I do not plan to have two versions of this file on the go.

The file named "Africa Extended Leagues v1p4.fmf" is compatible with 21.3.

The file named "Africa Extended Leagues for 21p1p1.fmf" is compatible with 21.1.1

I hope that clears it up!

[Andreh68]

It would be nice if someone from Cameroon could help in some way. The legaue there looks like a bit shaky, with rules and league sizes being modified often, specially with Covid, after recently swithcing from an anual to a mid year calendar

[lucasnake]

1 hora atrás, sporadicsmiles disse:

Attached without linking. It is a Sunday, my brain is 100% not engaged fully today is it?

Haha, no problem.

1 hora atrás, gpassosbh disse:

So, as I understood,  this is not compatible with version 21.3, right?

If when you start the game you select the 21.3 database => Use the Africa Extended Leagues v1p4.fmf file.

If when you start the game you select the default database => Use the Africa Extended Leagues for 21p1p1.fmf file.

[der dude]

First of all thank you for this phenomenal piece of work!!! Sporadicsmiles, you are a superstar!!!

One question. Is Tanzania also included in this file?

[sporadicsmiles]

1 hour ago, der dude said:

First of all thank you for this phenomenal piece of work!!! Sporadicsmiles, you are a superstar!!!

One question. Is Tanzania also included in this file?

You are welcome.

Currently no, Tanzania is not included. Although someone earlier in the thread suggested they would share an edit they planned on doing. So if that happens, I would be more than happy to include it!

[resde34]

Thanks for the putting all this work in! Super excited to dig my teeth into a proper African save, definitely more interesting than just playing in SA once in a while!

[Kanwulf]

Hi @sporadicsmilesI have one team left and then I have completely updated all Algerian teams with correct squads and managers. It has correct contract ends dates, height, weight, City of Birth and Histories... if you like, I can send it to you and you can merge it with your file for future releases?

[sporadicsmiles]

3 hours ago, Kanwulf said:

Hi @sporadicsmilesI have one team left and then I have completely updated all Algerian teams with correct squads and managers. It has correct contract ends dates, height, weight, City of Birth and Histories... if you like, I can send it to you and you can merge it with your file for future releases?

That would be lovely! My current plans involve putting the second divisions of Algeria and Tunisia in any case!

[dbrown6]

This is fantastic, I would liek to say thank you on a wonderful job. I would like to ask, is it possible to files for the separate countires instead of having in one file? if that is not too much to ask for. If it is, i do apologise. 

Thank you once again 

[sporadicsmiles]

1 hour ago, dbrown6 said:

This is fantastic, I would liek to say thank you on a wonderful job. I would like to ask, is it possible to files for the separate countires instead of having in one file? if that is not too much to ask for. If it is, i do apologise. 

 

It would be a huge pain to separate the leagues out, unfortunately. The file works fine if you do not want to load all the nations. 

[dbrown6]

1 hour ago, sporadicsmiles said:

It would be a huge pain to separate the leagues out, unfortunately. The file works fine if you do not want to load all the nations. 

Ah okay, cheers

[sporadicsmiles]

15 hours ago, dbrown6 said:

Ah okay, cheers

Sorry! What was the reason you wanted to separate them? 

[dbrown6]

On 27/02/2021 at 18:01, sporadicsmiles said:

No, that does seem to happen, and I have no idea why. But the league will still be selected and loaded despite this. 

I wanted to ask, since in my overhaul editor data scheme i have already got the nations of tunisia, morrocco, nigeria as a separtate fmf file. I just didnt have one for Egypt, sudan etc. But if the file can be swapped in and out then it is okay. 

[sporadicsmiles]

6 hours ago, dbrown6 said:

I wanted to ask, since in my overhaul editor data scheme i have already got the nations of tunisia, morrocco, nigeria as a separtate fmf file. I just didnt have one for Egypt, sudan etc. But if the file can be swapped in and out then it is okay. 

I ask because if it is just a couple of nations you wanted removing for your own personal use, that is a lot easier for me to do than split it up entirely. I can do that by just deleting the nations you do not want from the file and sending it to you so you can use. That is not a lot of work at all! I will try to get it done tomorrow evening and I will PM you.

[karanhsingh]

I think there is a bug in Tunisia - the league rule says that there should be at least 5 HGN players in the match squad (i.e. trained at a club in Tunisia).

However the way the game is played out is that the 5 seems to be a maximum rather than a minimum number. Therefore if I have more than 5 HGN players in the match-day squad, the game does not move ahead.

[sporadicsmiles]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I think there is a bug in Tunisia - the league rule says that there should be at least 5 HGN players in the match squad (i.e. trained at a club in Tunisia).

However the way the game is played out is that the 5 seems to be a maximum rather than a minimum number. Therefore if I have more than 5 HGN players in the match-day squad, the game does not move ahead.

Yes, you are correct, my bad. I will update the first post with a fix immediately.

[karanhsingh]

12 minutes ago, sporadicsmiles said:

Yes, you are correct, my bad. I will update the first post with a fix immediately.

Do you know if there is any way to fix this mid save, maybe with an editor?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

@sporadicsmiles I have inboxed you to ask your opinion on something African football related. Feel free to reply when you get time please.

[sporadicsmiles]

Well, the 21.4 patch is here. I have not checked if there is any influence on the files yet, that will have to wait for the coming weekend for the player file. I will try to take a look at the league file this evening and if I need to update and reupload I will do so. If anything it will likely just need verifying. 

The player will will work with 21.4, but until I have a look I cannot guarantee that there are no player duplicates.

Just so everyone knows I am aware and will take a look when I get the chance. For now, using the 21.3 database when starting a game will ensure all files work correctly if you anyway cannot wait. 

[sporadicsmiles]

League file updated for 21.4. Left a download link for the 21.3 version too. 

Player file not yet updated, but I will get there.

[sporadicsmiles]

Triple posting, I will be accused of bumping soon! 

I wanted to get everyone's opinion on something. I will be working on sorting the player file out this weekend, but having looked at it, it will not be a huge job. I think most will be integration of a file @Kanwulf sent (due credit will be given for this, it was a wonderful addition kindly given). And this will be an ongoing thing. I am working my way through Tunisia Ligue 2 currently (slowly, admittedly, I still spend a lot less time with the editor than I used to) hoping to get that league added back in. 

This then brings me to leagues. I have always considered that I would update league and players concurrently, so we get a new set of players along with their league. However, when I started this project a lot of the DB in Africa was very messy, so it was the only real way to go about things. I remember retiring a huge number of 38+ year olds when I started, for example. However it is delightful to see how much progress has been made on the database in Africa (credit entirely to the researchers who have made it happen, those I know and those I do not). 

This opens a new possibility. To add leagues without an in depth look at the player files. There are some nations where research is already at a level far beyond what I could do, and very few of the bigger nations seem to be severely lacking in content. So the possibility would be to try to expand the leagues I provide in my file to encompass, for example, the top 15 - 25 African nations. This would provide much more depth, and I think would benefit the experience in general. I do always feel even with the leagues I have activated doing a save in Africa can feel a little claustrophobic. I think this could add some real vibrancy. Of course I would be aiming for as much realism as possible (although this year is a total mess for working out what proper league structures are and what they will be in the future). My goal would be to make an Africa only save not only feasible but enjoyable and replayable. 

So what does everything think? Where do we want to take this mod next? I make this mod for fun, but it is you guys who reap most of the benefits, so I'm more than happy to see what the consensus is here.

[Number seven]

In depth leagues will be fanatstic, as you said the DB improves a lot, so I hope you go down the route of making the leagues as relaistic and as deep as possible.

[Andreh68]

Go for it. As you pointed you feel the player database in some places are richer that you could do, no point in doing double work there.

[Kanwulf]

22 hours ago, sporadicsmiles said:

Triple posting, I will be accused of bumping soon! 

I wanted to get everyone's opinion on something. I will be working on sorting the player file out this weekend, but having looked at it, it will not be a huge job. I think most will be integration of a file @Kanwulf sent (due credit will be given for this, it was a wonderful addition kindly given). And this will be an ongoing thing. I am working my way through Tunisia Ligue 2 currently (slowly, admittedly, I still spend a lot less time with the editor than I used to) hoping to get that league added back in. 

This then brings me to leagues. I have always considered that I would update league and players concurrently, so we get a new set of players along with their league. However, when I started this project a lot of the DB in Africa was very messy, so it was the only real way to go about things. I remember retiring a huge number of 38+ year olds when I started, for example. However it is delightful to see how much progress has been made on the database in Africa (credit entirely to the researchers who have made it happen, those I know and those I do not). 

This opens a new possibility. To add leagues without an in depth look at the player files. There are some nations where research is already at a level far beyond what I could do, and very few of the bigger nations seem to be severely lacking in content. So the possibility would be to try to expand the leagues I provide in my file to encompass, for example, the top 15 - 25 African nations. This would provide much more depth, and I think would benefit the experience in general. I do always feel even with the leagues I have activated doing a save in Africa can feel a little claustrophobic. I think this could add some real vibrancy. Of course I would be aiming for as much realism as possible (although this year is a total mess for working out what proper league structures are and what they will be in the future). My goal would be to make an Africa only save not only feasible but enjoyable and replayable. 

So what does everything think? Where do we want to take this mod next? I make this mod for fun, but it is you guys who reap most of the benefits, so I'm more than happy to see what the consensus is here.

I say you should go for more nations like you propose 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Kanwulf

[sporadicsmiles]

Sneak peak at my evening's work. Watching chess is really a very good background for editing, keeps me focused and engaged somehow. 

Covers most of the top 15 nations by CAFs rankings (except Cape Verde, who have a strange league system I did not want to try to untangle this evening. They have some local leagues that feeds into a top league, but where the top league teams depend on the winners of the local leagues. Mighty confusing until I read about it properly). 

This is not a final list, because there will be a hell of a lot of things to sort out before this is anywhere close to release, and plenty of player research will still have to go into this (unless I do it in stages with well researched leagues coming first). I have noticed some countries here, like Mali and Guinea, will need some work (thankfully I speak French so I can do research more easily), but info is scarce. Other countries, like Uganda, are a little lacking in the DB but there is a lot of coverage of the league online so I can get info. And some leagues, such as Ivory Coast, definitely do not have the correct format yet, because I do not know yet how their format is working (it is two groups, and I do not know yet what the championship decider will be).

I think I also have a country from every region in there now as well. Somehow this just feels like it will be a lot nicer to play a predominantly African save. Not only do you get more options for a career, but more nations means a better player pool from the game (hopefully). I

If people have suggestions for leagues (preferably ones they know have a good level of detail already in the database), let me know! 

[Kleyo]

Great, of course if you want you could use my files from this link:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/nevjh1p5dww2cvm/Africa+Leagues.rar/file

I made this countries:
Algeria
Angola
DR of Congo
Egypt
Ethiopia
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Cameroon
Kenia
Madagascar
Mali
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
Tunisia
Zambia
Zimbabwe

I don't speak French or Arabic but google translator work quite good, so in my opinion my file is quite good, but of course could be better. I also try to have countries from all regions, so I have Ethiopia or Madagascar which aren't high level but I think quite interesting.

Also in my opinion besides fixtures, registration or disciplinary rules also quite important are matches hours (some leagues play at 13 when some at 19) and days (some countries don't have weekend in Saturday and Sunday), money awards, awards for players and maybe even weather (even if this don't impact to ME, but for me is important see real climate).

[sporadicsmiles]

7 hours ago, Kleyo said:

Also in my opinion besides fixtures, registration or disciplinary rules also quite important are matches hours (some leagues play at 13 when some at 19) and days (some countries don't have weekend in Saturday and Sunday), money awards, awards for players and maybe even weather (even if this don't impact to ME, but for me is important see real climate).

I totally agree with you here. Trying to get fixtures to be played at the right time (of day and correct days and correct spread over a weekend) is a current focus I have in general.

I will definitely take a look at the files, thanks for the offer! 

[Cheez3y]

On 18/03/2021 at 21:15, sporadicsmiles said:

Sneak peak at my evening's work. Watching chess is really a very good background for editing, keeps me focused and engaged somehow. 

Covers most of the top 15 nations by CAFs rankings (except Cape Verde, who have a strange league system I did not want to try to untangle this evening. They have some local leagues that feeds into a top league, but where the top league teams depend on the winners of the local leagues. Mighty confusing until I read about it properly). 

This is not a final list, because there will be a hell of a lot of things to sort out before this is anywhere close to release, and plenty of player research will still have to go into this (unless I do it in stages with well researched leagues coming first). I have noticed some countries here, like Mali and Guinea, will need some work (thankfully I speak French so I can do research more easily), but info is scarce. Other countries, like Uganda, are a little lacking in the DB but there is a lot of coverage of the league online so I can get info. And some leagues, such as Ivory Coast, definitely do not have the correct format yet, because I do not know yet how their format is working (it is two groups, and I do not know yet what the championship decider will be).

I think I also have a country from every region in there now as well. Somehow this just feels like it will be a lot nicer to play a predominantly African save. Not only do you get more options for a career, but more nations means a better player pool from the game (hopefully). I

If people have suggestions for leagues (preferably ones they know have a good level of detail already in the database), let me know! 

When do you think you got Tunesia finished?