- How many football championships are simulated in Squad Manager 2004 and which are they?
The game contains the following leagues: - Italy (A, B, C1, and C2) - Spain (First and Second Division) - England (First, Second, and Third Division) - Germany (First and Second Division) - France (First and Second Division) - Holland (First Division) - Belgium (First Division) - Turkey (First Division) - Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Also present are the shortlists of the teams in the first divisions in Argentina and Brazil.
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- What is the Superlega mode of play?
If you choose to play in Superlega mode it is possible to create a true and proper dream team. You can choose the players that you prefer, without any limit among those present on the data base of the game, and start a championship with 18 teams. Also the short-lists of the opposing teams will be made up of a mixture of the best champions.
In the Superlega mode up to 8 users can play at the same time.
With the special Editor it will moreover be possible to insert new imaginary footballers into the game. You can therefore create a player with your name and with the characteristics that you prefer.
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- What is the Players' Editor for?
The Players' Editor lets you create and insert into the game footballers created completely by the imagination of the user. This feature is only available in the Superlega mode.
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- Can a number of friends play at the same time?
Yes, in Superlega mode up to 8 users can play at the same time.
It is possible to play friendly individual games with 2 players by choosing one of the teams entered in the game directly.
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- How many ways of displaying the match are possible?
It is possible to follow the progress of the game by choosing one of the two different simulators.
The first recognises the environment of the stadium, highlighting the main events of the match accompanied by the audio of the commentary.
The second that constitutes one of the most important new features of the game in terms of the previous version, is a simulator that shows the statistics of the match updated in real time (balls played, number of successful passes, physical shape, etc.) again always accompanied by the commentary.
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- If you have previously started and saved a game, how do you start it again?
To restart a game already started and saved beforehand, press the LOAD GAME key to display the appropriate page. Within the loading page select the game that you want to restart and then select the LOAD GAME key. The name of the game saved will contain information on the state of the game (Progress date of the game, name of the club, number of seasons campaigned, date of the last save and mode of game: SUPERLEGA or MANAGER).
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- How do you save the game that you are playing?
The LOAD/SAVE icon is found on the console of the Navigator. This page allows you to load a previously saved game or to save the current game. To save the current game, click the LOAD/SAVE icon and then select the slot you want to save it in. N.B.: if you save a game in the same slot as a previously saved game the latter is cancelled.
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- What is the NAVIGATOR?
The SQUAD MANAGER 2005 Navigator is the main menu of the game and can be reached from any page simply by right clicking on it. The left hand keys on the console represent argument groups. Every group is subdivided into specific sections that are displayed in the centre of the console. When you select one of the main items, the list of the contents of the section will appear in the centre of the console. Selecting one of these items will give direct access to the page for the related game. Again from Navigator it is possible to decide to go forward in time. Press the key PROCEED to advance the simulation. The PROCEED key will change in the GAME icon if your team's next match is imminent. If the line-up of your team includes an injured or suspended player, you will not be allowed to press the GAME key, and in this case you will have to change your line-up.
Important: from the Navigator you can return to the last page displayed simply by right clicking or by means of the BACK button on the Navigator itself.
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- What are the SKILLS and how can they be modified?
The management of the Skills, which you access from the menu of the play options, enables the manager to indicate in terms of every individual parameter of a player the weight to be allocated to assess the player himself. The skills are three values (Defence, Mid-field, and Attack) derived from the parameters of the players on the base of the percentage weighting for every individual parameter. Changing the percentages to be considered changes the manner in which the skills are calculated, but leaves the values of the player unaltered. Every player in the game has eleven characteristics, plus three values (skills) that express the generic ability to play in the role of attacker, defender, or mid-fielder. The skills are calculated on the basis of the characteristic point-scores of the player. Different skills attribute significant differences in the characteristics. For example a good attacker must be fast and must have a good shot, so in the calculation of the skills of an attacker, speed and accuracy of shot will be prevalent over other characteristics. The skills page enables the calculation criteria of the skills themselves to be personalised, by assigning different percentages for the weight of each characteristic. The sum of the weighting percentages of the characteristics may not exceed 100 for each skill. Therefore in order to increase the weighting of one characteristic, that of another will have to be reduced. For example, you might consider that a good defender requires abilities as follows: "Marking (30%)" "Heading (15%)" "Stamina" (10%)" "Ability (30%)". By setting these values the game will calculate the skills for all the players by applying the use of these percentages.
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- How do you modify any game options?
From the Navigator you can access the options page in which you can: Decide whether or not to listen to the Sound effects during the play. Eliminate the Background Music or change it. Select the detailed level of the game. Decide whether or not to display the Videos. Decide whether or not to listen to the commentary during play. Change the type of display of the roles (icons or keys) and of the simulator of the game.
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- How do you manage the ticket sales?
The fans are very important to your club: they can help the team improve the results of your games with their support and provide a good source of revenue. In Squad Manager 2005 you can set the price of the tickets and look at the effect on the attendance in the games played at home. You can set the price of the ticket according to the game (championship or national/international cup) or the layout of the places in your stadium. As well as the ticket you can set the price of the annual subscription. Make sure that you set the right ticket price for your fans. A price that is too low will lose revenue for your club, while a price that is too high will keep a number of your fans away from the stadium. Remember too that the international cup matches or against trophy-winning teams attract the public more. Try to turn this factor to your advantage.
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- Maintenance and security.
The good maintenance of the stadium and an effective security organisation are fundamental to avoid fines from the Federation. Attention must therefore be paid to the ground: its condition will be apparent in the matches. A ground in bad condition, as well as affecting the outcome of the games, will cause you to run the risk of a fine from the Federation and will look terrible on the monitor!
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- How to establish the most profitable formation.
The formation is one of the more delicate stages of the play. The right choice of players and their deployment can make the difference between winning and losing. The first eleven players in your short-list are the holders, while the reserves are indicated with an arrow in the first column on the left. Goal-keeper = P, Defender = D, Mid-fielder = C, Forward = A, Reserve = R.
These generic icons will help you to choose the formation with which to take the field and to put the players in the positions suited to their roles. You will notice that if a member of your team is put in a role in which he is not at ease a symbol will appear on the player's shirt icon: a yellow triangle indicates that the role on the field is not particularly suited to the player; a red triangle indicates that the role on the field is completely unsuited to the player.
You can go on the field with players who are covering roles where they are not completely at ease, but this will influence their performance. The positions of the players on the field are displayed in two stylised sub-fields, one for the Defensive Formation and one for the Offensive. The default formation is 4-4-2. The position of the players on the field can be personalised just by holding down the left hand button on the mouse, dragging every "piece" on the sub-fields into the required position, and then releasing the button on the mouse and the job is done!
When you take the piece to drag it, a shaded box shows you the area that you can put the player in. At the same time you can decide to adopt a different tactical format (3-4-3, 3-5-2, etc.). At the bottom of the management page of your short-list, some small stars will help you understand the approximate value of the team that you are about to line-up and the performance, again in general terms, of each player in the role given to him.
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- How to set up the training of the players in the short-list.
Training is a fundamental factor in obtaining the best possible performance of your players. On the other hand you will have to be careful in using the training function because the players will get tired if subjected to too much exercise.
The training has been completely revised for SQUAD MANAGER 2005.
Thanks to the new set-ups available, it is now possible to adjust the work-loads of the team and the individual players, also making use of the priceless assistance of the staff provided, who you will be able to consult when making your choices. If you take on a coach, you can also set up the training in automatic mode. In this way, you can get him to choose the work-loads most suited to your players directly.
Within the main training page it is possible to decide on the training schedule for your team starting from the current week and for the next three weeks.
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- How to go about buying new players.
To make sure that your team is the best, it is vital that it is made up of the best players. In your capacity as manager, one of your main duties will be to look for these players and above all to discover emerging talent. Once you have identified an interesting player for whom you would like to make an offer, we recommend you to check his contractual situation first. If you are completely convinced, you can try to buy him. In the section of negotiations you will be able to make an offer both for the player and for the team that he plays for.
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- How to sell a player.
To sell a player who is part of your team, go into the files of the player by double clicking on his name and selecting the CONTRACT icon (you can do it on any page of the game). To put a player on the transfer list, use the arrow icon on the right of the page to change the STATUS of the player. By putting him on the transfer list, other clubs will be able to get in touch with you by means of the NEWS section to try to buy him. When a club gets in contact with one of your players, you will receive a message in the News section of the game. You will be able to respond to the messages from the clubs and to decide whether or not to accept the offer. You will only have one chance of responding to the message. If you leave the NEWS section without responding you will have to wait for another message from the club.
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- How to renew the existing contract of a player.
As manager you will have to pay close attention to the existing contracts of your players. It is always possible for a player to be unhappy about his contract, or for the contract to expire and the player to be put on a free transfer. To renew a contract go into any page of the files of your players and press the CONTRACT icon. You will see a general picture of the existing contract with the player and you will be able to decide if and how to propose any renewal.
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- My monitor is normally set to a resolution other than that of the game (800 x 600) and sometimes it crashes when I start up.
We advise you to update the drivers of your video card, and if that does not work you could resolve the problem by setting the resolution of the card within the operating system to 800 x 600 before starting the game (especially for XP users).
Procedure: press the right key of the mouse on the windows desktop (not on an icon) > select "Properties" from the menu > choose the "Settings" card at the top right > change the resolution of the screen by moving the appropriate slider.
Remember to restore the resolution that you prefer when you stop playing with Squad Manager 2005.
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- It is not possible for me to install Indeo, the Windows XP Operating System is installed on my PC.
Windows XP is already provided with Indeo, so it is not necessary to install this package. You don't need to worry about it.
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- Before a game, the "Formation" button is still displayed. What do I have to do to carry on?
If the word "Formation" still appears it means that one of the players "capped" for the next game is injured or suspended or the second goalkeeper is missing.
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- I have installed the game correctly but when I launch the game the following words appear:
directdraw: nodirectdrawHW and the programme does not carry on; what do I need to do?
In every probability the problem lies in the installation or a malfunction of directX. We advise you to reinstall DirectX 8.0 (or higher) and re-launch the game.
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- During the installation of MDAC 2.7 this message appears "the installation of MDAC 2.7 requires IE 4.01 SP2 to be installed on your system, you do not have this version or higher installed on your system. The installation will now terminate" and I am not able to terminate the installation of Squad Manager 2005. What do I need to do?
In order to complete the installation of MDAC 2.7, one of the software packages needed to launch the game, it is necessary to update Internet Explorer. Once you have carried out this operation try to install Squad Manager again.
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- When the installation has finished, the game does not start. What can I do?
It is necessary to check that the Microsoft Netmeeting application is running. We recommend that you deactivate it before starting Squad Manager.
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- During the execution of the game the message "The virtual memory of the system is exhausted" appears.
This is a message from the Operating System which informs the user that the virtual memory of Windows is about to terminate. This situation results from an incorrect configuration of the computer that we suggest that you check out.
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