[FM24.3] USA to D4 (USL2) w/ Open Cup format for 2024

[themodelcitizen]

Oh yeah, I can see they added a roster for Carolina. Not much point with the USL-C salary bug right now mind you, could really use some help sorting that. As for Chattanooga, did they update the roster or are those just the lads they had in NISA? Ideally they'd play in NISA first season, then a whole bunch of future transfers would go through and they'd switch to MLSNP, just not sure if we can facilitate that cleanly

[Tigerman500]

Just now, themodelcitizen said:

Oh yeah, I can see they added a roster for Carolina. Not much point with the USL-C salary bug right now mind you, could really use some help sorting that. As for Chattanooga, did they update the roster or are those just the lads they had in NISA? Ideally they'd play in NISA first season, then a whole bunch of future transfers would go through and they'd switch to MLSNP, just not sure if we can facilitate that cleanly

to be honest i just want a team i can replace in MLS Next Pro that doesn't any affiliates

[grim7591]

On 26/06/2024 at 15:45, themodelcitizen said:

Oh yeah, I can see they added a roster for Carolina. Not much point with the USL-C salary bug right now mind you, could really use some help sorting that.

What's the best way to help? I really want a playable US database so I'm invested. I fixed a bug with the pre game editor with the Swedish database in FM23 and I use SQL at work. I don't know if either of those things would make me useful or helpful but I'm here. Do you have any leads? 

[themodelcitizen]

I'm off to Florida for Copa (go Canada!!) but will have a sit-down next week/end and see what works, if anything. I think using another comp ID might help, but I have a feeling it's something with finances (although in one test I gave them insane budgets and tv money and the board still thought they were broke whenever you went into contract negotiations with a player)

Edited June 28 by themodelcitizen

[Fmfan00]

When i went to go download your database i got this

 

[Bigpole]

On 29/06/2024 at 14:25, Fmfan00 said:

When i went to go download your database i got this

 

My first thought is wrong database version selected at the start of the game (or two files loaded with changes to usa)

[themodelcitizen]

Yeah, if no one else is encountering that issue (and looks like you have loads of other DBs enabled) this one's not on me

[grim7591]

On 28/06/2024 at 15:01, themodelcitizen said:

I'm off to Florida for Copa (go Canada!!) but will have a sit-down next week/end and see what works, if anything. I think using another comp ID might help, but I have a feeling it's something with finances (although in one test I gave them insane budgets and tv money and the board still thought they were broke whenever you went into contract negotiations with a player)

Isn't the comp ID just a unique identifier? Do you think it's picking up some financial rules under the hood from an existing comp ID? 

[themodelcitizen]

On 08/07/2024 at 14:33, grim7591 said:

Isn't the comp ID just a unique identifier? Do you think it's picking up some financial rules under the hood from an existing comp ID? 

I was wondering if there was some hard-coding with USL to keep them from offering MLS-level contracts in the background so they don't compete for players. But just a guess. Would be really indebted to anyone else who can help troubleshoot and trial+error fixes, I've hit my head against the wall a lot on this 

[EnigMattic1]

On 29/07/2024 at 17:11, themodelcitizen said:

I was wondering if there was some hard-coding with USL to keep them from offering MLS-level contracts in the background so they don't compete for players. But just a guess. Would be really indebted to anyone else who can help troubleshoot and trial+error fixes, I've hit my head against the wall a lot on this 

I'm assuming salary caps wouldn't work?

[themodelcitizen]

Like adding a minimum wage? I don't think so, don't have it in front of me but I think they'd just offer that amount as the max too

[Cheez3y]

I noticed a minor bug. It triggers me, but its only visual.

 

Titles will not display in the honours sections. 

Only the Conference Titles, MLS Cup and Supporters Shield are displaying and counting up.

 

Those 3 competitions are the problem.

Spoiler

 

[themodelcitizen]

Isn't that happening in the default game too? Should be a minor fix mind you, maybe we can add a stage finished action or something (or clean up the rankings)

[Fmfan00]

On 06/08/2024 at 22:31, themodelcitizen said:

Isn't that happening in the default game too? Should be a minor fix mind you, maybe we can add a stage finished action or something (or clean up the rankings)

QUestion... I want to take the MLS academy's and put them into a league like your have MLS Next Pro. If i copy the MLS Next Pro settings you have in the advanced rules and replace them with the academy teams would that work?

Edited August 29 by Fmfan00

[Tigerman500]

can you create the USA divisions into 2024? so i could play as Chattanooga FC or Carolina Core FC in MLS Next Pro.

[themodelcitizen]

Gonna try and fix the bug/update leagues this month if I can get a hold of the USL-C issue

[Tigerman500]

Is there a way to have academy players play in MLS Next Pro matches for their teams?

[themodelcitizen]

Not as far as I know, I've tried enabling a bunch of the settings like that look like they should encourage teams to loan players more, including in the affiliation itself, but you know how terrible AI is at squad management.

Same with how the MLS coaches won't constantly loan guys from their '2" team in and out of the first team depending on roster needs, like MLS clubs do in real life

[themodelcitizen]

Think I got the salary bug issue. Will do a fresh release this weekend

[themodelcitizen]

Fixed. New version up now, @Charles1970 @CluHaywood. Sorry for the delay, the April update seemed to have messed with the salary cap in USL-C in weird ways, so I've dropped it now (it was an agreement with the players' union in real life, but the AI will be unlikely to go above that number anyway). @RampageScience suggested it as an issue earlier but I completely missed it, odd that USL-1 was handling it fine, although I've dropped it there too just in case.

Will work on Carolina/Chattanooga in MLSNP this weekend @Tigerman500, did they add any other new rosters in the April update that I haven't accounted for yet? Will also try to add missing stuff like competition records

[Tigerman500]

4 hours ago, themodelcitizen said:

Fixed. New version up now, @Charles1970 @CluHaywood. Sorry for the delay, the April update seemed to have messed with the salary cap in USL-C in weird ways, so I've dropped it now (it was an agreement with the players' union in real life, but the AI will be unlikely to go above that number anyway). @RampageScience suggested it as an issue earlier but I completely missed it, odd that USL-1 was handling it fine, although I've dropped it there too just in case.

Will work on Carolina/Chattanooga in MLSNP this weekend @Tigerman500, did they add any other new rosters in the April update that I haven't accounted for yet? Will also try to add missing stuff like competition records

no idea but thanks for adding Carolina/Chattanooga.

[themodelcitizen]

Might keep Chattanooga in NISA for now, it doesn't look like SI added the NISA expansion teams so this can keep it at a clean 9 teams in the 2023 format. Carolina definitely need a home though, even if it's gonna take me all afternoon to try and remember how I even set up the MLSNP fixtures and squeeze them in

[themodelcitizen]

Should I try and get the Open Cup to exclude a bunch of MLS teams like in real life? I kept them in last time I was working on this for a few reasons

• It looked really hard,
• I still don't like the idea of them sitting out,
• The default MLS was built to accommodate it in the fixture calendar so there's room for it

Any thoughts? I guess it could open up more room to rest players and maybe have MLS stop playing on international breaks

EDIT: think I got it working in 2024 (second season) the same way as IRL with MLS and MLS Next Pro teams. One less trophy to play for if you're regularly qualifying for the Champions Cup and thereby excluded from the Open Cup, but realism is the goal here

Edited September 14 by themodelcitizen

[Javier]

Perfect, I was waiting for the salary bug to be fixed before downloading this. Thanks a lot! Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to make it work?

[themodelcitizen]

On 14/09/2024 at 06:57, Javier said:

Perfect, I was waiting for the salary bug to be fixed before downloading this. Thanks a lot! Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to make it work?

Just had to drop the USL-C salary cap entirely, which used to work... not sure if it's interacting with the minimum full-time player limit in some weird way since the update and I can experiment with that (edit: no, salary cap doesn't work anyway), but it's working now without the hard cap. Also added Carolina Core to the MLSNP and made the Open Cup format in the second season (and onward) accurate for 2024. Added a bunch of competition records too, might start adding some club records for even more immersion, but it's definitely ready to play

Also played with scheduling in leagues like MLSNP, NISA, USL2 etc so that you (mostly) play teams in your region more than others, but with some variation year-on-year

Edited Monday at 21:40 by themodelcitizen

[PaMi 7]

Sorry if my question is yet done but I am not able to find it and the answer to it.

With this DB will also San Diego MLS team in the 2025 season? Same for the other team that start to play in the 2025.

 

Thanks in advance for your ansers and sorry for my not perfect english.

[themodelcitizen]

No, too hard to add teams to MLS with drafts, affiliations etc without breaking it all

[PaMi 7]

13 ore fa, themodelcitizen ha scritto:

No, too hard to add teams to MLS with drafts, affiliations etc without breaking it all

Ok, thanks a lot for your answer TMC

[themodelcitizen]

Interestingly someone on another site said their Board accepted their request to create a 'II' team with Omaha (USL1) but then they had no staff, players or fixtures and they couldn't hire anyone for them.

Sounds like that option is intended for more normal league setups and hits a wall with the convoluted US system. If we had a usual reserve league set up like most countries, maybe they would have popped up in that. At one point I had MLS NEXT Pro set up as a reserve division but it wouldn't work as well now with independent clubs like Carolina Core in there.

We might be able to block teams from having that option available, but in the mean time let me know if anyone's seen anything like that. Maybe we could set up a U23/boys division based on something like one of the IRL academy leagues and you could add a B team there

[Tigerman500]

how is the work doing?

[themodelcitizen]

1 hour ago, Tigerman500 said:

how is the work doing?

She's good to go. Go ahead and play. Just made some tweaks to the Open Cup to replicate the 2024 format (starting in 2024)

[Tigerman500]

On 13/09/2024 at 12:18, themodelcitizen said:

Might keep Chattanooga in NISA for now, it doesn't look like SI added the NISA expansion teams so this can keep it at a clean 9 teams in the 2023 format. Carolina definitely need a home though, even if it's gonna take me all afternoon to try and remember how I even set up the MLSNP fixtures and squeeze them in

New teams: Georgia Lions FC, Arizona Monsoon FC, Capo FC and Irvine Zeta FC. Teams that left: Albion San Diego, Chattanooga FC, City Union and Gold Star FC.

Capo FC is in the game. They are in USL2 Southwest Division. The other teams are not in the game.

Edited Tuesday at 14:45 by Tigerman500

[themodelcitizen]

Right, but who's gonna create 100+ players, staff, facilities, kits etc for them. Might as well keep the original NISA teams in there as they have all this stuff already, unless you want half a league of greyed out players. And keeping Chatta in NISA means it's still an even 9 teams and we can keep the 2023 format. They did switch to 4- and 5-team conferences this year, but they only work with the new 2024 team lineup (in 2023 there are only 2 western teams so having those conferences doesn't make sense).

MLS NEXT Pro is pretty clean now with 14 teams in each conference and 7 each making it to the playoffs so it works. You can coach Carolina Core if your goal is to collect as many trophies as possible on your way up the coaching pyramid (SI did give them a roster and information in the update, same with Spokane who I put in USL1)

[EnigMattic1]

21 hours ago, themodelcitizen said:

Right, but who's gonna create 100+ players, staff, facilities, kits etc for them. Might as well keep the original NISA teams in there as they have all this stuff already, unless you want half a league of greyed out players. And keeping Chatta in NISA means it's still an even 9 teams and we can keep the 2023 format. They did switch to 4- and 5-team conferences this year, but they only work with the new 2024 team lineup (in 2023 there are only 2 western teams so having those conferences doesn't make sense).

MLS NEXT Pro is pretty clean now with 14 teams in each conference and 7 each making it to the playoffs so it works. You can coach Carolina Core if your goal is to collect as many trophies as possible on your way up the coaching pyramid (SI did give them a roster and information in the update, same with Spokane who I put in USL1)

Is that sort of information (players and staff) actually available? I know I find it hard to find data on staff and players for Canadian teams that I create. 

[Tigerman500]

On 17/09/2024 at 12:51, themodelcitizen said:

Right, but who's gonna create 100+ players, staff, facilities, kits etc for them. Might as well keep the original NISA teams in there as they have all this stuff already, unless you want half a league of greyed out players. And keeping Chatta in NISA means it's still an even 9 teams and we can keep the 2023 format. They did switch to 4- and 5-team conferences this year, but they only work with the new 2024 team lineup (in 2023 there are only 2 western teams so having those conferences doesn't make sense).

MLS NEXT Pro is pretty clean now with 14 teams in each conference and 7 each making it to the playoffs so it works. You can coach Carolina Core if your goal is to collect as many trophies as possible on your way up the coaching pyramid (SI did give them a roster and information in the update, same with Spokane who I put in USL1)

I meant you could replace Chattanooga FC with Capo FC.... Since Capo FC is already in the game. And then add whoever you can find in FM24 Editor who's in on the team.

[themodelcitizen]

Capo don't have any players either, they just get the auto-generated USL2 class every year if anything. I mean, anyone can go in and spend countless hours on new players, logos, data etc for their own amusement but it's kind of obvious by now that's way beyond the scope of this DB. I'm not sure I even created any players or staff yet, this way it works with other people's custom facepacks for other created leagues too.

The team lineups are a bit of a hybrid between 2023 and 2024 because of the incomplete work from the US head researcher with each update and that might be what's bugging you, but that's inevitable, these lower leagues change every year so you have to draw a line somewhere. Best we can do is replicate the rules and format around their updates as much as possible

Edited Wednesday at 22:46 by themodelcitizen