Buying an older football manager , potential issues

[Ddux]

Im looking for an older version of football manager. Anything from 2012 to 2019

I’m worried about the game working as believe you need steam to play and is unsupported. Plus an unused version. Will everything work ok?

will windows 11 still play older versions?

I’m planning on buying a gaming pc just to play this game so need to know before I spend any money.

any help thanks in advance.

 

[XaW]

Older versions can be bought, but you need to buy a physical copy from somewhere and enter the product code from the physical copy into Steam. If you do that, it should work. The reason you can't buy the game on steam is for licensing reasons, not because the game isn't supported.

As if they work on Win11, I'm not sure, I have all games since FM09 on Steam and I use Win11, so if you know the version of the game you are about to buy, I can install it and see if it runs. Let me know.

[dannyo666]

5 hours ago, XaW said:

Older versions can be bought, but you need to buy a physical copy from somewhere and enter the product code from the physical copy into Steam. If you do that, it should work. The reason you can't buy the game on steam is for licensing reasons, not because the game isn't supported.

As if they work on Win11, I'm not sure, I have all games since FM09 on Steam and I use Win11, so if you know the version of the game you are about to buy, I can install it and see if it runs. Let me know.

Do all your FM steam games run pre 2020?Especially 17/18 down?......massive crash dumps constantly with my 15 and 17 longterm saves now that i moved to Win11-Game only crashes as i enter new screens after a click...No probs before that on Win10,i have tried everything

[dannyo666]

16 hours ago, Ddux said:

Im looking for an older version of football manager. Anything from 2012 to 2019

I’m worried about the game working as believe you need steam to play and is unsupported. Plus an unused version. Will everything work ok?

will windows 11 still play older versions?

I’m planning on buying a gaming pc just to play this game so need to know before I spend any money.

any help thanks in advance.

 

If you're buying a rig just for FM id stay away fom Win11 mate-Just google this and you will see

[Ddux]

7 hours ago, XaW said:

Older versions can be bought, but you need to buy a physical copy from somewhere and enter the product code from the physical copy into Steam. If you do that, it should work. The reason you can't buy the game on steam is for licensing reasons, not because the game isn't supported.

As if they work on Win11, I'm not sure, I have all games since FM09 on Steam and I use Win11, so if you know the version of the game you are about to buy, I can install it and see if it runs. Let me know.

So do i need to buy it off steam and get an older physical copy for the product code ? Or buy a brand new physical copy and register with steam ? Thanks.

[Ddux]

2 hours ago, dannyo666 said:

If you're buying a rig just for FM id stay away fom Win11 mate-Just google this and you will see

Thanks.

[Damedius]

2 hours ago, Ddux said:

So do i need to buy it off steam and get an older physical copy for the product code ? Or buy a brand new physical copy and register with steam ? Thanks.

You can only buy 24 and 25 on Steam right now. So your only options for older copies are either a physical copy or a steam key reseller. I did a quick search for keys and some of them are pricey depending on which version you want.

[XaW]

5 hours ago, dannyo666 said:

Do all your FM steam games run pre 2020?Especially 17/18 down?......massive crash dumps constantly with my 15 and 17 longterm saves now that i moved to Win11-Game only crashes as i enter new screens after a click...No probs before that on Win10,i have tried everything

I don't know, I haven't tried many of the old ones in a while. That's why I asked which ones OP are going to buy and I can test it.

3 hours ago, Ddux said:

So do i need to buy it off steam and get an older physical copy for the product code ? Or buy a brand new physical copy and register with steam ? Thanks.

No, you can't buy it from Steam, but you can buy a physical copy in certain stores, and use that key to register to Steam.

[Ddux]

Sorry I’m not a techy if i buy a gaming pc without a disc drive can I still register it with steam?

Any version really from 2012 to 2019 that i can get. Theres 2013 iv found but not bought it yet.

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, Ddux said:

Sorry I’m not a techy if i buy a gaming pc without a disc drive can I still register it with steam?

Any version really from 2012 to 2019 that i can get. Theres 2013 iv found but not bought it yet.

Yes, when you have the product code, just to here in Steam:

Then just enter the product code there and it will be in your Steam library as normal.

[Kickballz]

9 hours ago, Ddux said:

Sorry I’m not a techy if i buy a gaming pc without a disc drive can I still register it with steam?

Any version really from 2012 to 2019 that i can get. Theres 2013 iv found but not bought it yet.

Why would you want to bother registering it with Steam? If it not bought from steam then don't register it with steam. It it a completely pointless thing to do.

EDIT: Maybe I didn't understand but if you are buying a code for an older game that activates on steam then you have no choice. If it is not a steam game then don't bother to link it to steam.

Edited Sunday at 04:19 by Kickballz

[Arijit]

On 29/11/2024 at 15:12, Ddux said:

will windows 11 still play older versions?

 

Short answer, yes. It is likely to play most of the older titles. Talking from my first hand experience.

Recently, I have bought a second laptop for me, and it was a Windows 11 Lenovo Ideapad (16GB, AMD Ryzen 5 8-series CPU). It came with Windows 11. I do not use any Microsoft product in my life, so I eventually removed Windows, and installed Fedora 41 in it. But, before I removed Windows, I tried few FM titles from my Steam library. 

I was able to install and play few games in FM 2009 ( 1 season), FM 11 & FM13 (about 6 months), FM15 & FM17 (about couple of months). Everything worked, no glitches and crash. I have other older titles but didn't try all of them. Based on my experience, I'd say anything available in Steam should work. 

Edited Sunday at 05:03 by Arijit

[Arijit]

41 minutes ago, Kickballz said:

Why would you want to bother registering it with Steam?

Steam will act as a backup ownership. It's a good idea to register the product key with Steam account, even if a disc is bought and used.

Discs can break, scratched out, become unreadable. Then he will need another disc to continue playing the version or move on to any other version. In this situation, Steam will come handy. 

[Kickballz]

16 hours ago, dannyo666 said:

If you're buying a rig just for FM id stay away fom Win11 mate-Just google this and you will see

Not very smart actually considering that win10 support is ending in less than a year.

If someone googles 'windows 11 problems' then it gives a skewed result. Personally I haven't noticed any difference between win10 and win11 when it comes to fm. It runs exactly the same.

[Kickballz]

1 minute ago, Arijit said:

Steam will act as a backup ownership. It's a good idea to register the product key with Steam account, even if a disc is bought and used.

Discs can break, scratched out, become unreadable. Then he will need another disc to continue playing the version or move on to any other version. In this situation, Steam will come handy. 

It doesn't. All that it does is allows you to launch the game through the steam client.

Think about what you are saying. Do you really think that linking a game to the steam client gives you ownership for free?

[Arijit]

2 minutes ago, Kickballz said:

Think about what you are saying.

I don't think you've understood the point that I wanted to make. Since English is not my first language, it's probably my fault I couldn't explain correctly. Sorry for that. But I know why I am suggesting the OP to link the code to Steam, even if he buys older FM on a disc. I don't want to argue, have a nice day!

[Kickballz]

1 minute ago, Arijit said:

I don't think you've understood the point that I wanted to make. Since English is not my first language, it's probably my fault I couldn't explain correctly. Sorry for that. But I know why I am suggesting the OP to link the code to Steam, even if he buys older FM on a disc. I don't want to argue, have a nice day!

I am not arguing. I honestly have no interest in arguing.

I only want to correct a common misconception about steam linkage. If you link a non-steam game to your steam account it only allows you to launch the game through the client. It does not allow you to download the game from their servers.

I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression.

[Ddux]

On 30/11/2024 at 07:01, XaW said:

Older versions can be bought, but you need to buy a physical copy from somewhere and enter the product code from the physical copy into Steam. If you do that, it should work. The reason you can't buy the game on steam is for licensing reasons, not because the game isn't supported.

As if they work on Win11, I'm not sure, I have all games since FM09 on Steam and I use Win11, so if you know the version of the game you are about to buy, I can install it and see if it runs. Let me know.

Im gonna buy 2013. Could you check it works for me mate?Thanks.

[dannyo666]

10 hours ago, Kickballz said:

Not very smart actually considering that win10 support is ending in less than a year.

If someone googles 'windows 11 problems' then it gives a skewed result. Personally I haven't noticed any difference between win10 and win11 when it comes to fm. It runs exactly the same.

Which FMs are running so smooth for you?By googling i meant "playing old steam games on windows 11" not just 'windows 11 problems' and to build a rig for just FM like OP wants?-Id want all versions running flawlessly

 

In a very strange turn of events i was reading posts for weeks/months on this very issue....I enabled/turned on "directplay"......I than deleted FM 15(by deleting i mean with revo uninstaller-when you delete using windows it does not delete some registry keys etc and had tried this 10-15 times),with revo uninstaller everything is 100% gone-You must use revo uninstaller or another uninstaller that does the same thing......when i re installed the game is crashing 90% less now......Maybe not at all as i see what today holds....I have no idea why this worked but it did....I'm sure somebody here knows why...Installing FM 15 was one of the first things i installed on my machine and I'm always up to date with graphic's driver and windows updates....maybe the issue was resolved in a windows update but i had already FM15 installed.......A lot of people are having success also with DirectX9.0c-I did not do this as of yet

 

Forgot to add run the game from the actual .exe file as administrator

Edited Sunday at 15:07 by dannyo666

[Kickballz]

19 minutes ago, dannyo666 said:

Which FMs are running so smooth for you?By googling i meant "playing old steam games on windows 11" not just 'windows 11 problems' and to build a rig for just FM like OP wants?-Id want all versions running flawlessly

 

In a very strange turn of events i was reading posts for weeks/months on this very issue....I enabled/turned on "directplay"......I than deleted FM 15(by deleting i mean with revo uninstaller-when you delete using windows it does not delete some registry keys etc and had tried this 10-15 times),with revo uninstaller everything is 100% gone-You must use revo uninstaller or another uninstaller that does the same thing......when i re installed the game is crashing 90% less now......Maybe not at all as i see what today holds....I have no idea why this worked but it did....I'm sure somebody here knows why...Installing FM 15 was one of the first things i installed on my machine and I'm always up to date with graphic's driver and windows updates....maybe the issue was resolved in a windows update but i had already FM15 installed.......A lot of people are having success also with DirectX9.0c-I did not do this as of yet

 

Forgot to add run the game from the actual .exe file as administrator

I get where you are coming from but windows 10 to 11 is really one of the least disruptive upgrades in my experience. It is practically the same.

I do play older games and pretty much every fix for windows7/10 still works on windows 11 for me. We will all have to upgrade eventually. If you have an issue try somewhere like Github - if the game is popular and broken then someone tends to fix it. Yes, things can get broken but fixing it with a few tweaks is almost always possible, and a far more sensible solution than sticking to an outdated OS.

[XaW]

3 hours ago, Ddux said:

Im gonna buy 2013. Could you check it works for me mate?Thanks.

Had a try now, and I can't get it to run for whatever reason. I try to play it from Steam it says "Starting" and then nothing happens. No clue if it's something on my end or if it just no longer works, sorry!

[Kickballz]

10 minutes ago, XaW said:

Had a try now, and I can't get it to run for whatever reason. I try to play it from Steam it says "Starting" and then nothing happens. No clue if it's something on my end or if it just no longer works, sorry!

Try editing the ini to whatever your monitor's screen resolution is and see if it starts. It is normally something like that.

[Ddux]

Iv already bought the 2013 one but its not come yet. I might able to get a refund if I don’t open it.

not sure what to do?

[turnip]

13 hours ago, Kickballz said:

Try editing the ini to whatever your monitor's screen resolution is and see if it starts. It is normally something like that.

This worked for me just now.

Within Steam, right-click on Football Manager 2013, then choose Properties, and under "Launch Options", type -w 1920  to run the game in 1920x1080 resolution. If you have a small, more square monitor, try -w 1280.

[kevhamster]

On 01/12/2024 at 04:10, Kickballz said:

Why would you want to bother registering it with Steam? If it not bought from steam then don't register it with steam. It it a completely pointless thing to do.

EDIT: Maybe I didn't understand but if you are buying a code for an older game that activates on steam then you have no choice. If it is not a steam game then don't bother to link it to steam.

You've had to register FM with Steam since at least FM11, even if you bought a physical version with a disc.