Football Manager 2019 (inc. bsmaff's graphics)

Officially announced - no news other than the cover yet, but...

Excited nonetheless... (Lots of talk about new studio capabilities...)

Eurogamer: Manager Man has retired [updated]


banbenbin said:
What do you guys mean new studio capabilities?
Click to expand...
In the article at the top of the thread (and in a few posts on Twitter), Miles hints at it.

It's a big year of change for us as a studio - we've taken the opportunity with moving to our fantastic new office in the Olympic Park to make many changes, such as bringing in our first COO, putting a better structure in place, changing some of our practises as part of what we call SI 3.0 - and a release in Germany for the first time too.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I think there are going to be some big changes to the match engine and possibly the 3D. They didn't seem to do much last year in these areas and I feel that's because they were working on the changes that I mentioned.
 
The most instantly obvious difference between Football Manager 2019 and every FM that’s come before it is the refreshed user interface. Experienced managers will notice the difference on almost every screen – it has a cleaner and fresher look, and we’ve tried to make things easier to find than ever before.

The changes are particularly pronounced in two of the most significantly overhauled modules; tactics and training. Both areas see a host of small, but meaningful changes (many of which were inspired by user feedback from our forums) which are designed to work for all users, no matter how experienced.

These visual changes don’t just apply to the PC/Mac game either, as this new look – designed to integrate seamlessly with the new Football Manager logo and brand colours – means that FM will have a familiar feel across the Mobile and Touch versions too.

The end result is a new look that’s instantly familiar to FM die-hards, but also completely fresh. Most important of all, though, this is not just change for the sake of it; FM19 is not just the best-looking version of the game ever made, the combination of the updated user interface and new manager induction system will make this easiest in the series to pick up and play.

There are a few extra design and interface features that will be discussed on our social media channels but, for now, enough words. Here’s what FM19 looks like…













 
Your footballing philosophy defines who you are as a manager and in Football Manager 2019 the tactics system has been revamped. We’ve added so many things to this area in the last few years and player roles in particular have become more important to both FM and the real world, but we felt that with all these additions and other things we wanted to add, we hadn’t successfully presented them to you, the managers, in a cohesive manner so you could get the best out the power at your fingertips and cope with the new additions we wanted to make for this year.

The first thing you’ll notice when using the tactics creator in FM19 is the addition of tactical styles which reflect some of the most famous tactical systems in football such as ‘Gegenpress’, ‘Tiki-taka’, ‘Catenaccio’ and many more. When you first click on the tactics screen, you’re presented with the full list of available styles with descriptions, as well as the option to create your own style or to ask your assistant to select a style for you. Once a style is selected, you’re shown an overview of the team instructions associated with that style and the formations that it works best with; you can then select a formation and complete the tactics set-up. You’ll notice that player roles have been pre-selected to suit the tactical style that you’ve chosen to use although, of course, you’re still able to tweak these – as well as the formation if you want to try to mesh a style with your own formation.





You can now also set specific team instructions for three different phases of play - when you have possession, when you are transitioning between attack and defence and when you don’t have possession. This means there are also lots of new instructions that are now part of the tactics module to make this all possible.

So, let’s look at a few of these new options now.

When your side have lost possession, you can ask them to be more aggressive in their approach and ‘counter-press’ the opposition to try and recover the ball quickly. Alternatively, you can prioritise maintaining your team’s defensive shape by using the ‘regroup’ option which aims to prevent your side being hit quickly on the counter. You can mirror these instructions when your side have won possession too, opting to either counter to take advantage quickly of the gaps left in your opponent’s defence or choose the ‘hold shape’ option to take a more patient approach that could suit a possession-orientated tactical style.



There are also a number of goalkeeper distribution options contained within the ‘in transition’ menu. You now have complete control of how quickly your goalkeeper distributes the ball, what area of the pitch or player that they target and the method that they employ to distribute the ball.

The ‘in possession’ options focus on your attacking intent, including: attacking width, approach play and what you do with the ball in the final third. There’s a new instruction included in here called ‘play for set pieces’ which can be useful if your team is especially effective from dead-ball situations.



The ‘out of possession’ options focus on the defensive aspect of the game including your defensive shape as well as marking and tackling options. New additions include the ability to set your line of engagement and defensive line by dragging the relevant arrows on the tactics pitch. There are also similar sliders to set your pressing intensity and defensive width.



In addition, there are a few new player roles that have been added this year such as the Pressing Forward, which is a role that is designed to put pressure on your opponent’s defensive line by having your striker press them and restrict their time on the ball. Defensively, there are now No-Nonsense Full-Backs and No-Nonsense Centre-Back who focus predominantly on basic defensive duties and very rarely move forward into attacking areas.







We’ve also tweaked the mentality terms to make it clearer what each mentality does. There are still seven different mentalities to choose from but it’s goodbye to Contain, Counter (as you can set that in the transition instructions now), Control and Overload and hello to Very Defensive, Cautious, Positive and Very Attacking. These are all clearly explained in-game, so you can easily learn which mentality should be used in each situation.

The way that your tactical style, team and player instructions and player roles work together is crucial to success in FM19. It’s important to consider how all of your tactical options fit together and, in particular, whether your instructions, mentality and player roles are representative of the tactical style you’ve elected to play.



Last year we introduced the pre-match briefing and we have built upon this for FM19. Firstly, you’ll notice that the briefing has been redesigned make it easier to navigate through and clearer on how you can talk to your team, with more options available. Your assistant manager will also provide recommended topics for discussion.

The new tactical implementations in FM19 marks a real step forward in the way that you are able to instruct your players and put your footballing vision into practice. With the integration of Tactical Styles alongside new instructions, new player roles and a revamped pre-match briefing you have more tools at your disposal to create your footballing philosophy.
 
VAR AND MATCHDAY IMPROVEMENTS:-

Matchday is what every manager spends their week preparing for. It’s what happens on matchday that ultimately determines a manager’s success and in Football Manager 2019 a number of new additions make the match experience the most immersive in series’ history.

FM19 sees the introduction of two pieces of video technology that have been used in the real world in recent seasons. The first of these is Video Assistant Referees or VAR, which will be included in competitions that make use of the technology in reality. There are two types of VAR – one where the referee uses a TV screen by the side of the pitch to assess the original decision and one where the referee communicates with the Video Assistant Referees via an earpiece. Again, the type of VAR you see when playing is dependent on how it is used in the real-life competition.

We have also added goal-line technology. Like VAR, this features in competitions that use the technology in real-life. Goal-line technology is shown in the form of a replay from a top-down perspective that indicates whether the ball did or did not cross the line, along with commentary confirming this.



Both VAR and goal-line technology will create a stir off the pitch as well. In post-match press conferences, you’ll be asked about instances where either technology was used during the match. Controversial incidents will be referenced in match reports and across social media. Expect these technologies to create as much debate in your save game as they have in done in the real world of football.

Away from new technology, a number of other enhancements have been made to the match. A great deal of work has gone into ensuring that the new tactical styles are faithfully represented during a match. This has included some tweaks of the player roles and their associated duties to ensure that the AI performs each and every role and duty combination as faithfully as possible and some new player roles too. AI managers will also be more intelligent with their role and duty selections on matchdays.

More than 500 animations have been replaced or improved. These include ball control animations, crosses, headers, passes, shots, tackles, some celebrations and even crowd movements.

Another visual change you’ll notice, especially if you choose to manage in one of the smaller leagues, are the improvements we’ve made to stadiums that have a capacity of up to 5,000. You’ll see more variety of these type of stadiums, including more variety in the materials that the stadiums are made from which gives more personality to the clubs at that level. Additionally, we’ve included disabled fans in all types of stadiums.



Finally, team talks contain more information in FM19 than in previous years. Dynamics has now been integrated into team talks with each player’s position in your squad’s hierarchy now displayed on the team talk screen. You’ll now be informed of any effect that your team talk has on your team leaders. As keeping your team leaders on side is important to maintaining a happy dressing room, it’s worth considering what effect your words will have on them and how that, in turn, may filter through the rest of the squad.

If you prefer to let your assistant do the talking then you’ll find that they can now address individual players as well as the whole team. Your assistant will also recommend more contextual team talk options when advising you on what on to say to your players. And, speaking of more contextual options, at the end of a season you’ll be presented with more team talk options relating to your team’s situation.

That’s a taste of what you can expect to see during matches in FM19. The use of video technology is sure to create many memorable moments and talking points across the course of a season, while improved match engine AI, enhanced animations and stadia and more intelligent team talk options help to create a new level of detail of immersion.
 
Official Bundesliga Licence:-

After a wait of more than a decade, the fully licensed Bundesliga finally makes its debut in Football Manager 2019. This means that in FM19 both the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will be kitted out with club badges, kits and player faces as well as the respective trophies for each league, creating an even more immersive user experience.



Alongside newly licensed kits and badges we’re bringing the full Bundesliga experience into Football Manager on the pitch too - this will be a perfect place to experience VAR and goal-line technology.



The Bundesliga is an ideal fit for the Football Manager ethos as it’s a league bursting with young talent from across the globe, giving you the chance to turn these wonderkids into global superstars over the course of your career. If you’ve never managed in Germany before, then now is the perfect time to do so.



Finally, as well as the addition of the Bundesliga license, FM19 will feature a full German language translation from day one. This will include more than 2m words and phrases translated into German and expands on our existing portfolio of in-game languages, which now stands at 19. In addition to this there are even more brilliant translations put together by Football Manager’s huge global community that are available to download on Steam Workshop.



FM19 marks the first year of our four-year licensing contract with the Bundesliga and we hope to build on our already successful partnership over the coming years and, of course, we hope that you’ll enjoy managing in the fully licensed Bundesliga in this year’s game.

 
Football Manager 2019 Feature Blogs: Training Overhaul:-

In Football Manager 2019 training undergoes its biggest overhaul in the history of the series.

Over the years we’ve been lucky to enjoy extensive access to training sessions at a host of clubs. More recently, we’ve expanded the studio’s knowledge through a series of internal ‘FootTalks’, where people working within football, including managers (both club and international), directors of football and others have imparted their knowledge to help us improve the game.

This knowledge sharing – adding to the fact that we already have a group of qualified coaches working at the studio – has helped us to create a revamped training module that is a realistic representation of how real clubs develop younger players and prepare established players for both a full season and individual fixtures.



Training is now split into three sessions per day that allow you to customise your programme to suit your team’s needs across the season. When you click on a session you are presented with a pop-out window that lists the 10 different training areas that you can choose to focus on. Within those 10 areas you have a variety of training sessions to choose from that emphasise different areas of your team’s development from attacking play right down to team bonding and community outreach sessions.

Previously, you were only able to choose from sessions that trained your team in one general aspect of football – attacking or defending, for example. Those options are still available to you under the General option, but with the increased depth available to training in FM19 you’re able to fine-tune your approach to get the best out of your squad.

For example, instead of giving your players a general defensive session you may want to choose a session such as Aerial Defence which can be a good area to focus on if your upcoming opponent likes to launch long balls into the box. When you select a session you’re also given an overview of the impact of each session on your squad in terms of their attributes, sharpness, injury risk and overall condition.



The different sessions across the weeks and months of the season make up your training schedule. You can adjust the preset schedules or even create your own bespoke programme from scratch via the Schedules tab. You’ll see that there are several preset schedules for pre-season as well as in-season training and there are even schedules that allow you to work on your tactical style of play with your players.

The variety of preset schedules lets you cater for your team’s needs across the season such as when you need to prepare for a big match or when you have a period of fixture congestion. Even travelling to and from away matches is factored into your team’s routine. You can combine these week-long schedules to fit around your team’s fixtures for the weeks ahead or work on something more long-term, such as ingraining your footballing philosophy into the minds of your players.

Pre-season is now a distinct part of your training calendar. With the increased detail and depth to training in FM19 there are more opportunities to maximise your pre-season training to give you the best chance of success in the upcoming season. A properly organised pre-season can not only get your players into shape for the start of the season but can also help to keep them fitter for longer.



Another change for FM19 is the way that tutoring works under the new Mentoring system. You can now form mentoring groups of at least three players where senior players will work closely with younger players. Mentoring affects the younger players’ personality and player traits so it’s worth pairing those younger players with senior players that have the type of personality you want to grow throughout the squad.



Your squad now trains in units that are determined by playing position. Clicking on the Units tab not only shows you your team’s current units, but also allows you to drag and drop players between units. You can ask any of your players to train in a new position and role from this screen and bring reserve or youth team players into first-team training by using the dropdown menu in the top-right corner of the screen.

Each training session has a different impact on each unit. For example, selecting a Chance Creation session sees your Offensive Unit attempt to create chances against your Defensive Unit, who in turn are trying to prevent them from doing so. The effect of the session on each unit’s attributes, condition, injury risk and sharpness will also be different.



Players can’t train all the time though or they won’t have any energy left for playing matches – so you’ll also need to use the rest tab. Here you can automatically set training intensity and rest periods based on player condition. You can do this for the whole team using the dropdown menus for each condition level at the top of the screen or set it for individuals on the main panel in the centre of the screen. Included on this screen are recommendations from your physio as to which players should be training at certain intensities and your upcoming fixtures so you can account for when you might want your squad rest and when you might want them up their training intensity.



The Training Overview screen offers lots of insightful information. For example, you can now see the Training Performance panel that highlights which players have performed well in recent training sessions as well as those that have been underwhelming, alongside their respective training ratings – which make their debut to the series and prove a very useful tool for changing players individual training where you can train them towards positions or roles and set the intensity of this accordingly per player.

You’ll be regularly updated on your team’s training, receiving information about your squad’s performance in training via the inbox. You’ll also receive information about the other squads at the club too if you’re set to look after those.

Of course, if you prefer to take a hands-off approach to training then you still have the option to delegate some or all of the training elements to a member of your backroom team via the Responsibilities screen. They’ll keep you in touch with what’s going on around your first team so that you can still make changes occasionally should you want to.

Training is an area of the game which a number of FM fans have been asking us to look at for some time. We wanted to make sure that when we did deliver a revamp it would be in-depth, engaging and fun. We’re confident that the new training module in FM19 delivers all three.
 
My God. The tactical system looks far easier to understand, even though it's a bit deeper (with the gain/lose possession instructions added), and that training......

........that training though. Wow.

I wasn't particularly excited for it this year, I've barely touched 2018, but sign me up for 2019.
 
id have no time to play it.
Family commitments plus I do like to feel a bit of fresh air every now and then!
 
P34SEMM said:
id have no time to play it.
Family commitments plus I do like to feel a bit of fresh air every now and then!
Click to expand...
Not me, pal. My fresh air comes from the virtual training field. I can smell it now...

(Also, FM Touch gets rid of all the deep stuff, if you haven't got as much time!)
 
I was in two minds, wondering whether to jump in when I barely had time to play 2018. Then I remembered I paid for SortItOutSI membership last year, so I could get something like £10 off the retail price (and get the beta immediately).

So I jumped...

Really enjoying it so far. Little has changed day-to-day but I like the new tactics, the match engine seems a little better (weird graphical bugs for me outside of the stadium though, white squares on the ground with entirely-green trees coming out of them).

Downloaded the cut-out faces and the latest TCM logos (not a fan of the metallic ones, even though there's a lot more in their packs and they tend to be more up-to-date).

Looking forward to your packs as always @bsmaff, if you have the time to compile them this year!
 
I will update the graphics when they become available, and upload all the available files on launch day.

TBH I also prefer the TCM logos but the Metallic ones have the most graphics in them and are updated all the time.
 
Have any of you found the new training to be useful? Also, specific thoughts on the new tactics are welcome!

Currently on a long term save on fm 18, and not sure whether to abandon for a new one on 19 or wait til price drop later.
 
banbenbin said:
Have any of you found the new training to be useful? Also, specific thoughts on the new tactics are welcome!

Currently on a long term save on fm 18, and not sure whether to abandon for a new one on 19 or wait til price drop later.
Click to expand...

Not got a chance to really play the game yet, as the Full Game has only just been released.
I will start playing it when I'm a celebrity starts as my Mrs watches that and I can sit there playing Football Manager the whole time it is on + by the time Celebrity is on there have been a couple of patches so most of the bad early bugs have been fixed.
 
Football Manager 2019 has now been officially released.

I have updated all the graphics to the latest versions:-
http://tvirusgaming.com/

If you have any questions then just ask.
I will also upload the graphics backs to my One Drive at some point today.

If you have not purchased yet the cheapest place to buy is still Voidu @£23.25 using code BLUEWINTER

@Chris Davies
If you could please edit your opening post and state that the latest graphics packs are available from:-
http://tvirusgaming.com/
 
bsmaff said:
Football Manager 2019 has now been officially released.

I have updated all the graphics to the latest versions:-
http://tvirusgaming.com/

If you have any questions then just ask.
I will also upload the graphics backs to my One Drive at some point today.

If you have not purchased yet the cheapest place to buy is still Voidu @£23.25 using code BLUEWINTER

@Chris Davies
If you could please edit your opening post and state that the latest graphics packs are available from:-
http://tvirusgaming.com/
Click to expand...
I've made yours the opening post - makes sense. Thanks as always for what you do!
 
New update 09/11/2018:-

FM Real Names and Germany Team Fix v1.1
Lots of new kits have been released this week, so these have been updated

http://tvirusgaming.com/index.html

Other notes:-
Does anyone download the Backgrounds normal one?
As noticed the images are all pretty low quality and awful.

Google Stadium Backgrounds:-
Noticed these images now contain lots of images of staff, which IMO isn't great.
In future releases - Do people want me to delete the staff and player pics and leave just the Stadiums?
As personally the Stadiums do look pretty good.
 
bsmaff said:
Google Stadium Backgrounds:-
Noticed these images now contain lots of images of staff, which IMO isn't great.
In future releases - Do people want me to delete the staff and player pics and leave just the Stadiums?
As personally the Stadiums do look pretty good.
Click to expand...
I 100% agree with this, the face megapack has a photo of (pretty much) everyone, you don't need a massive close-up in the background as well. I would love it if it was just the stadiums.

How are you finding the game? I joined Tranmere immediately (usually I start in the Conference but it proved too tantalising this year given the strength of the squad), told the players I thought we'd be a top-half team and they were thoroughly pissed off with me from the get-go...

That being said, won the first four in a row by concentrating on the strengths (hitting long balls to wingers), and now it's all falling apart - we've not won in the last three games.

There are some things - and I had the same problem last year - that I just cannot get the players to stop doing. Every defender, and my two CMs, just smash the ball forward to the opposition over and over again. I don't want to tell the whole team to keep passing short and retain possession - but even when I do, they still bloody do it.

Really enjoying it so far, though. Training is way too complicated, but otherwise, really good.
 
I have not got round to actually playing the game yet.

I have been too busy last week or so just playing Red Dead in my spare time, I will start my customary Man Utd game to learn the mechanics and get used to different formations and what works and what doesn't.
I find if you jump in at the deep end of League Two football, then I normally always start the season so badly that by Christmas I am either on the verge of the sack or having to play massive catch up once I start finding a formation and system that works.

I normally start my Football Manager adventure when I'm A Celebrity starts as I just sit there with the laptop whilst my Mrs watches that - That should start this weekend or hopefully next, that should give me enough time to finish the story on Red Dead.
 
Will be updated the website tomorrow with new graphics.

I have managed to play the 1st season now since I'm a celebrity started, and finished top of the league and winning by 9 points.

Started the season incredibly poor and lost my first 4 league games, so lucky to claw it all back and only lose a further 2 games all season.

Once again it is all about getting the loan players in for the 1st few seasons to get me to the Championship, before I start looking at actually buying players to improve my squad and having players I can call my own.

It appears the AI adapts better to using the same tactics this year in the matches and found my tactic which stormed me up the league was becoming ineffective by February, so this was nice to see.

Now on to League One and time to storm that, although just started and P2 W1 L1, so not the greatest start.
 
Updated the kits as there as been quite a few updates to these since beginning of December and now include the Dutch and Belgium leagues, so kits are pretty much done now for the season.

Also uploaded the latest Data Update - 06 Dec 2018 01:10:49
TBH, don't know what this changes, as the only time I normally use Data Updates are if I start a new game in January.

The files are not on the website yet but can be downloaded from One Drive here:-
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtsC_3_xeYYCge5lVYb_TcHdJrSs1w
Password - evoweb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom