Hello all,
I am writing this post in order to provide more context and more information to all of you who wish to try our mod. As you all know by now, unfortunately we had to go through a rebranding process. This process was explained via our Reddit post and also our first blog post in our new website that can be read here.
In this new blog post our aim is to give more in-depth information to all of you who want to understand what they can expect when downloading our must updated file. Therefore let’s do a deep dive with a brief accompanying note. The following patches were published under our previous name which we can’t use legally anymore since we lost the access to it. Therefore we will use our new name to refer to the past patches.
Our first inicial patch was FM Match Lab version 1.1 where our focus was to solve some defensive issues that we identified as really important to solve. The patch notes are as follows:
- Fixed an issue where defensive lines would break up in an unnatural manner;
- Reducing the unrealistically high number of corners;
- Adjusting the passiveness of defensive players during the defensive phase of play;
- Fixed CB ratings being too low.
In this stage of our project we were still discovering the full effects of the file we were changing – the match engine file. And because of that our first patches were focused on correcting some of our earlier decisions. That was possible because we were growing our discord community and with that we had a lot of feedback that helped us to guide the project towards our ultimate goal: a different FM, a more realistic FM, a more challenging and enjoyable FM.
After the release of the first patch, version 1.1., we started working on the second official patch because we noticed there were some issued we need to solve. For the FM Match Lab version 1.2 we focused on the following areas and respective patch notes:
- Revisited player speeds variables for better visuals in running animations;
- Tweaking of a couple of the kick speeds variables for better calibration in match speed and even more realistic ball movement;
- Changed GK delays for a more dynamic experience.
As you can see we wanted to make sure we have a balanced game and that meant changing those player speeds to make sure we were able to make meta attributes such as pace and acceleration less effective. And we managed to do that after the release of this second patch.
After this work we decided to shift our attention to other areas of the game and that meant changing how the AI acts in several parameters. That also meant that we were close to finish our work with the ME file but not yet. Therefore for the FM Match Lab version 1.3, we modified the AI and the ME file and the patch notes are:
- Changed a couple of parameters of ball speed;
- Changed the deceleration parameters to match the physics formula;
- For the AI file:
- AI managers now select their starting XI more intelligently, prioritising players’ ability and condition over less relevant factors such as reputation, among others;
- Improved squad rotation leads to better performances and more effective player management;
- Young talents receive more game time aiding their development and making the AI teams stronger in the long run;
- AI now behaves more like a human manager increasing the overall challenge and competitiveness.
The changes we made to the AI were basically an overhaul of the file which also lead to some indirect effects that include the AI being more tactical proactive during matches.
After this our focus shifted to other areas of the game and that’s how the current most updated version – version 1.4 – was born.
We hope that you enjoyed this reading and we hope this gives more understanding of what we were able to change. All of the above you will find in the most updated version. This means that the version 1.4 includes all the changes made in the previous versions. The only small changes made in the version 1.4, currently available to download, are explained in the download area.
See you all in the next blog post.
Cheers,
The FM Match Lab team
Just fantastic work you’re doing guys – thank you so much and keep it up! My FM experience is so much better now and it’s all thanks to you guys.
I do have one small question about each update (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc) – where can I find these previous updates to download them again please? I am using 1.4 (and am very happy with it) but I just want to experiment with something using all the previous versions but I can’t seem to find where they are.
Sorry if I’m being a bit dumb and they’re “right under my nose”! Cheers!
Hello and thank you for your comment.
We have plans to offer previous versions on the website and that will come soon. If you do not want to wait, join our Discord and you can ask in the general channel (named fm talk) for previous versions.
Cheers
Thank you so much for your reply Pedro! I’ll happily wait for them to be available on the website – my experiment isn’t urgent!
Thanks for making FM great again but tbh i’m a bit confused here. Does your match lab mod fix issues like stupid defenders, meta attributes, meta gegen tactics etc? Or does it only fix player ratings? Also is it possible to win with deffensive tactics after this mod?
Hello and thank you for your comment.
I do not know what you mean by stupid defenders but yes our mod improves how defensive plays are displayed in the screen when playing a match.
No mod can solve the issue of meta attributes and meta tactics. We did our best to diminish as best as we could meta tactics and meta attributes. But what is meta is defined by SI, not us and only SI can change it.
In terms of meta tactics those will be much harder to make them work. Gegenpressing is one example: fatigue will be higher and we highly recommend using Daveincid’s mod to make meta tactics even harder to pull off. Meta attributes are still meta but less effective. For that you need to install the training file and wait for a lot of seasons until the full effects start to show. Those effects are explained on the blog post about the training file and our YouTube video about that same file.
And yes it is possible to win with defensive tactics. We have a lot of examples on our Discord.
Thank you for using our mod and supporting our work.
Cheers
Hi there!
I saw 2 things:
In the trainingcalanders after a match there is no Match Review and no Recovery. But thats probably because I started with Wuppertaler SV (4th division Germany) and at the start of the save they don’t have a physiotherapist and data-analist. So I will hire them first to see if the Match Review and Recovery shows up!
You guys changed the simatch. I’m half way a practise match in pre-season, and my oponent (AI) has a player seriously injured. Also with the orange button in front off the name. Is it also possible to make it more realistic that the AI Managers substitude a injured player more quicker or is that not possible?
Sorry for my bad English 🙂