Uncle Ron's England Levels 7 and 8

Hi all, following on from the release of my FM2010 English expansion pack activating Levels 7 and 8, i.e. Steps 3 and 4 in the National League System, to make the Northern Premier, Southern League and Isthmian League playable, I have released a version for FM2011.

Build 11.1.25 for FM2011 Data Update 11.1.0 is now available to download.


Please check my thread on the official SI forums for the latest builds

File Includes

Level 7 activated and league rules set for Northern Premier League Premier Division, Southern Premier League & Isthmian Premier League
Level 8 activated and league rules set for Northern Premier League First Division North, Northern Premier League First Division South, Southern League First Division Central, Southern League First Division South/West, Isthmian League First Division North & Isthmian League First Division South
Level 9 set as inactive to allow promotion / relegation between Level 8 and Regional Divisions
Added Northern League Cup, Northern League President's Cup, Northern League Chairman's Cup, Southern League Cup & Isthmian League Cup
Rebuilt FA Trophy to include all qualifying rounds - n.b. As 265 teams enter the competition an extra qualifying round is required to make 5 in total. 1st Round proper starts on the correct date.
Added 6 awards per Level 7 and 8 League Division, i.e; Player of the Month, Manager of the Month, Team of the Week, Top Goalscorer, Player of the Season & Manager of the Season
Added missing City 'inhabitants range' and 'attraction' data
Added missing Club 'nicknames', 'city' and 'year founded' data
Added 8 Media Sources for non-league football
All the league and cup dates are based on a realistic schedule to avoid fixture clashes.

A reasonable estimate of prize money is included for all competitions. Accurate prize money is included for the FA Trophy.

Unlike other files, my file has been created from scratch with all new data added to the brand new SI FM2011 data update 11.1.0 to ensure no conflicts occur.

The file has been tested until 2020 and no crashes have occurred.

The Ilkeston Blue Square North Issue

In real life, following the withdrawal of Ilkeston from the Blue Square North in September 2010 the league will operate with only 21 teams with 2 relegation places, to be expanded back up to its full compliment of 22 teams and 3 relegation places for the 2011/2012 season.

SI have coded the game to run BSN with 21 teams in 2010/2011 and promote an extra team for 2011/2012 as per real life, however this causes big problems for the league editor as it only allows 5 teams to be promoted from Level 7 for the first season and thereafter. Consequently, the game fails to generate any fixtures for the leagues after June 2012 because of the imbalance created following the relegation of 6 teams only to be replaced by 5.

To overcome this I have had to disable the SI coded Blue Square North / South Leagues and replace this with my own version.

After much thought I have decided the best way forward was not to reinstate Ilkeston into a 22 team BSN. Instead the BSN operates as a 21 team division in perpetuity and offers 3 relegation places from the start of the game. This is the best way of ensuring 6 teams can progress betweens Levels 6 and 7.

The only issue this creates is with the BSN/BSS play-offs. These are played over a 2 leg semi-final and then a single leg final. Due to the constraints of the editor both the semi and final are played over 2 legs.

I will continue my investigation of this problem to ascertain whether there is another way to resolve this issue to minimise the impact on Level 6.

Rulebook

The editor is limited in what match and competition rules can be inputted.

As an example, clubs in Levels 7 and 8 are only permitted to give a player a contract, known as League Forms, for one playing season only.

Therefore, I have reviewed the Isthmian, Southern and Northern League Handbooks and Rules and I have devised a simple rule book for gamers to follow (if they wish) to help make playing these leagues more realistic. The Rulebook PDF is combined within the file download.

Download

Build 11.1.25 for FM2011 Data Update 11.1 ONLY - Download Here ***By downloading this file you agree to not re-release it or host it in its original form, or in any edited form, without first seeking and obtaining my express prior permission - this includes redistribution of this file in 'Megapacks'***

Activation

1. Extract the dbc file to the Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2011\editor data folder in your My Documents (PC) / Documents (MAC) folder. If there is no 'editor data' folder then please create one and copy the dbc file into it.
Load FM2011
2. Select ‘Preferences’ and go to the ‘Display/Sound’ tab. UNTICK use skin cache. TICK ‘Always Reload Skin on Confirm’
3. When completed, leave preferences and ‘Start A New Game’
4. In the dialog window that pops up, TICK the change box.
5. Select the LATEST file in the list, if not already. Deselect ALL OLD VERSIONS!
6. Start a new game as normal, selecting FM2011 update 11.1.0 and select the lowest level that you want to have active.
7. Select 'Add Key Staff'.
8. Select 'Custom Database' and add 'Load All Players from Nation > England'

These files are not saved game compatible and require a new game to be started.

If you have any issues, make sure you've read the Editor Forum FAQ thread at http://community.sigames.com/showthr...r-Features-FAQ.

FAQ

* Why is this team in the Northern Premier League, shouldn't they be in the Isthmian League?

One of the qwerks of the English non league steps is how much change there is every season. This all depends on which teams are selected for promotion from Level 9 that may not easily fit into the regional geography of Levels 7 and 8. For Football Manager this is a problem as whilst rules have been set for each league and the vast majority of teams, unfortunately you can't programme common sense into the data editor. On the rare occasion you may find a team sorted into the wrong division, be rest assured that when the first opportunity arises to place them back into their correct division the game will sort them correctly.

* Why do I need to add All Key Staff?

I recommend you tick 'Add key staff'. That way all the staff you need, i.e. a physio and assistant manager will be generated for the clubs where there is not one set in the database.

* Why does the FA Cup start in the 2nd Qualifying Round and why is my club not participating?

If you are not shown in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round draw this is because the game already assumes you have been eliminated from one of the previous rounds. For now I have decided to not rebuild the FA Cup due to potential long term playability issues with altering the SI version - comprising loss of the match schedule and TV income code. I will be further investigation the FA Cup issue and may decide to release two versions of this build, one with and one without the FA Cup rebuilt.

* Are you planning on providing a data update for these teams so they have the correct players and staff etc?

This is not a data update, no players have been added or their stats amended and I have no intention of adding this information.

Thanks

Thanks to Nobby_McDonald for his help with testing the Beta file!

And Finally...Please Note:

By downloading this file you agree to not re-release it or host it in its original form, or in any edited form, without first seeking and obtaining my express prior permission - this includes redistribution of this file in 'Megapacks'. Please PM me if you wish to discuss link the download to your site.