Zlatan, please can you inform us when the no-CD version is available?
Sports Interactive have released the final patch for Football Manager 2005. It comes in two forms. One with a data update which includes latest transfers and one without the data update.
To download please head over to the Official Patches area of the site under the Utilities section. Or alternatively, if you are too lazy.... click here
Please note, this patch is save game compatible and contains all the fixes in 5.0.2. You do not need to start a new game, however for the best results it is suggested.
> Transfers
- Fixed problem with manager being re-signed by old club after having already resigned just a short while before.
- Contracts in Chile now end in December instead of January.
- Assistant managers no longer renew contracts at the start of the game if human is on holiday and the assistant manager renew contracts option is not ticked.
- Player's who are transfer listed are a lot less likely to join arch rival clubs.
- Stopped player's being interested in joining disliked clubs.
- Ensured players are not interested in joining lower reputation clubs, when they are unhappy and want to move to a bigger club.
- Ensured human manager contracts are extended when they expire.
- Tweaked wage budget updates to prevent them from being dragged down when a manager cuts the level himself (so long as the club is considered financially stable by the board).
- Adjusted ideal/min/max squad size values for clubs in Czech Republic.
- Stopped "is hesitant to move whilst his current club continues to help him improve his game" reason appearing for a player's own club when rejecting a contract.
- Reduced loans between rival clubs.
- Reduced chance of players making two moves in very short space of time.
- Stopped news item saying player would leave on Bosman at end of current season when contract in fact expires end of the next season.
- Stopped non_bosman countries from using Bosman 2 ruling.
- Stopped the ability to offer player a new contract immediately after free transferring him.
- Stopped own players from requesting a new contract and then when trying to offer them a contract they refuse.
- Ensured you can't make changes to transfer clauses (buy back price, etc) and then immediately accept when computer team bids.
- Fixed a problem where the non-EU limit for Italian teams was not being updated properly after the transfer of a non EU player.
- Fixed a bug where renewing a coach's contract would forget which training schedules he was set to.
- Ensured remaining transfer budget is not rounded up on transfer offer screen.
- Fixed a problem with decision dates for Work permits in Iceland.
- Fixed problem with last club for human manager not being set properly when he resigns.
- Fixed problem where non human clubs are reluctant to approach players for pre-contract.
- Fixed problem where AI teams may spend money on a player coming out of contract after that player was offered to them for small fee.
- Fixed several issues to do with player/non_players retiring and the inability to offer them playing contracts during this phase.
- Fixed payments received from large monthly payments wipe out selling team's transfer budget.
- Stopped Athletico Bilbao from short listing non Basque players.
- Ensured that managers have previous club set after sacking/resignation.
- Stopped reserve players declaring their disinterest in joining their own team (contract offer screen).
- Fixed borderline contract decisions from players (interest wise), previously rejected, now accept.
- Ensured that rejected team in transfer between human club's receives news of rejection.
- Stopped clubs coming in for players just after player signed for someone else except in extreme circumstances.
- Tweaks to increase transfer movement and loan movement all round.
- Tweaked down contract demands for some players
> Interface
- Fixed a bug where some playoff matches would not allow the human manager to go to the match screen.
- Pressing Esc on the password dialog when taking control of a human player now works properly.
- Selected year is remembered in list of transfers when returning from a player profile.
- Made sure the Scouted Players section is disabled for unemployed scouts, when the human non player is unemployed.
- A clubs own reserve teams are no longer among the possible teams for a friendly tour.
- The status icon for Light Injury now has a higher priority than Foreign and Transfer Listed by Request on the squad screen.
- Using the Compare With action button now selects the correct player.
- More than one line of Favoured Personnel will now display correctly on the team information screen.
- Fixed a crash when user quickly changes sections in a network game.
- If a match screen is in the screen history, clicking on "Go To Match" now goes back to that screen instead of opening up a new match screen with all of its settings set to defaults.
- Fixed the Cup Tree view.
- Fixed problem when switching between first team squad and reserve team squad when selecting European squad.
- The overall value of a proposed transfer is now visible when a player is selected to be exchanged.
- Disabling EDT and DDT files in the preferences screen now works.
- Fixed a rare bug that meant the "Pick For Friendly" action button sometimes didn't work or wasn't displayed.
- Change and Withdraw Transfer buttons are now displayed on a players profile after going back from changing an offer.
- Human managers in the Hall of Fame outside the top 10/20 can now be selected.
- Clicking twice on the magnifying glass no longer clears the search list.
- A players contract details are no longer displayed as "-" on the shortlist.
- National team logos are now displayed on the match screen.
- If a human club is the only club interested in a player, the "WNT" icon will not be displayed for that player.
- Made sure the game doesn't go back to the default skin after changing language.
- When changing language, clicking cancel, selecting not to discard changes and then clicking confirm, the language wouldn't actually change.
- When a player picks up 2 yellow cards in a match, his disciplinary record will now just get the red card added and not the 2 yellows.
- Back/Forward mouse buttons button implemented (Windows ME/2000/XP only; Win98 need simulating software).
- Left/Right keys navigate back/forward in the screen history (Alt modifier key not required anymore).
- Now possible to change the contract offer to a player on free transfer.
- Fixed a crash on the team Coach Report screen.
- Using Overview in split screen would cut off fixture name.
- Returning to the fixture screen by clicking back, would make the fixture screen display the current year’s fixtures, and not the year that was selected before leaving the fixtures screen.
- Team Coach Report no longer uses players who are co-owned and not at the club currently.
- If a news message needed a scrollbar to display the entire message (international reports by assistant manager), the scroll position would be forgotten when returning to the news screen.
- When making an offer the fee would change back to the original fee when adding a player for exchange.
- Tactics: Player and team instruction "Closing Down" use more correct description: Rarely, Mixed, Often (instead of Own Area, Own Half, All Over).
- Tactics: swapping two players in the pitch while one was the selected row would cause both to be assigned the instructions of the selected player
- Tactics: swapping two players in the player list during a match while one was the selected row, would copy the instructions of the selected player to both players.
- Fixed a problem where the game would substitute a different player than the one selected.
- When a scout's search is saved, no error message now appears when he gets reassigned.
- The continue game timer now works properly at the end of a match.
- When offering a non-playing contract to a foreigner, no rules mentioning the foreign player limit are displayed.
- The language filter in the player search screen now uses the correct threshold value.
- Staff reputations shown in their profiles now have the correct value when there is no human manager active in the game.
- When changing the transfer date from "End Of Contract" to "Immediate" on the Approach To Sign screen, the compensation comment is now updated accordingly.
- The training assignments panel would sometimes not display the latest training data for players.
- Competition injury table now only shows teams who are still in the competition.
- When accepting a job for a team with a different team system, team screen filters might not work at all.
- Person search filters and sorts should now work faster for large save games.
> Regeneration, Retirements & Player development
- Fixed a couple of problems with the amount of youth regens getting allocated out at end of each season.
- Fixed rising mental attributes in regens as game goes on.
- Fixed stupidly low technique and first touch in regens and some young players at game start.
- Improved attribute balance vs overall ability for regens and developing players.
- Ensured club's in non-selected division within a selected nation don't hog all the regen players.
- Made a few more good pros play on for longer before retiring.
- Too many Italian players were getting Salva as their common name.
- Fixed bug where news about regened youth players didn't appear.
- Improved distribution of regen youth players in selected leagues.
- Set sensible second nation where applicable for youth regens.
> Awards
- Fixed a bug where some goals of the month were not able to be viewed.
- Fixed player winning two European player awards Defender/Midfielder/Striker of the year.
- Oceania player of the year now picks players based outside Oceania.
- Australian season awards are based on performances in the Championship cup and the Premier league.
- Fixed manager leaving club in one division close to end of the season and getting manager award in his new division.
- Third placed team in Malaysian Prem A/B history was not been shown.
> Miscellaneous
- Made sure to remove people from national teams who didn't actually have a job set for that team.
- Less time is taken for players to learn new positions in training.
- Stopped the showing of match odds for fixtures more than a month in the future.
- Stopped match odds being displayed for past fixtures.
- Fixed supporters stating there disappointment at your dismissal of the club's promotion/title chances when asked by the media.
- Stopped unknown ability players at top clubs being rated too highly at start of game.
- Fixed top players being rejected as useless by scouts.
- Improved level of player found by scouts in own nation
- Fixed some top players beating the unrealistic targets filter for minor teams.
- Israeli teams can no longer register more than 5 foreign players.
- Fixed Agent sending video to human national manager of player.
- Fixed Agent sending video to human who manages player’s main club when player is on loan.
- Fixed issue with unbeaten run post match milestone, was stating it was consecutive losses, now fixed.
> Competitions
- Romanian Second Division now uses goal difference to sort teams.
- Royal League now uses 7 subs instead of 5.
- Italian C1 and C2 promotion playoff semi finals now have correct teams playing at home in the first leg.
- Argentine teams now arrange friendlies between their opening and closing stages of the season.
- African Champions League semi finals now keep 1st placed group teams apart.
- Opava now starts the 2004 Czech First Division with -6 points.
- Royal League now has televised matches.
- Friendlies can now be arranged 2 days before or after competitive matches.
- Players playing for B teams in reserve matches now get their league stats updated instead of their non-competitive stats.
- Danish winter transfer window dates fixed.
- Bulgarian Cup semi finals now use 2 legs.
- Sparta Prague play home league matches at 8pm.
- World Cup group draw improved. Previous winner now plays in first match.
- New format for Oceania Club Championship.
- Teams now get additional coefficient points for qualifying for Champions League group stage and later rounds of both major European cups.
- EU and Romanian players no longer treated as foreigners in Bulgaria in first season.
- Spanish Cup final now takes place earlier in World Cup/Euro Championship years.
- Mexican Champions playoff matches now use the winners from the Opening and Closing cup stages instead of the top team from the league stage.
- Chile now uses squad numbers.
- Boca Juniors and River Plate do not play league matches at home on the same day.
- Added Transitional International rule to the MLS. A max of 3 foreign under 25 players are allowed for each team.
- Players called up to play in the final of the Oceania Cup now are marked as being on international duty.
- Oceania Nations Cup now uses a different schedule from 2006 onwards.
- Mexican leagues now use the correct groups in 2004.
- Serbia and Montenegro teams no longer get TV money at the start of the season.
- National cup runners up only qualify now for the UEFA Cup if the winner qualifies for the Champions League. Previously, if the winner had qualified through the league for the UEFA Cup, the runner up took the cup place.
- If a team has less than 12 players in their European squad when picking their squad for the later stages, the game now drops the minimum player count below 15.
- Italian Serie C Super Cup matches are now played at the team's home stadiums instead of a neutral venue.
- Changed Ukraine season end date from 7th June to 20th June.
- Russian Cup winners now always qualify for the EURO Cup.
- Removed foreign rule for Australia.
- 1st leg of the Italian Serie C Super cup no longer plays extra time.
- Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament now takes place in January 2007 due to the clash with the Oceania Nations Cup in 2008.
- The hall of fame would rank some other international competitions the same as the World Cup when working out the points given to the manager.
- Winners of the Argentine Premier Opening and Closing stages now always qualify for the Copa Libertadores.
- More teams from the Regional leagues are entered for the German Cup.
- Welsh computer teams now arrange friendly matches.
- Spanish Second Division now uses 7 subs instead of 5.
- Bohemians Prague deducted 3 points in 2004 Czech Second Division.
- Fixed a problem where user would sometimes not be able to play a match in the All-Ireland cup.
- Any deducted points a team has are now used to lower their board's expectations for the season.
- European bans no longer restrict players from playing in the Royal League.
- AFC Cup now uses correct teams from 2004 competition.
- Royal League now uses top 4 teams from Norwegian and Swedish leagues which have just finished instead of sometimes using the previous year's top 4.
- Players can now miss matches due to being cup-tied.
- Brazilian foreign player limit changed to 3 instead of 2.
- Manager achievements and league wins count is now updated after winning a league competition through a cup stage match. (E.g. MLS and Brazilian state leagues).
- SPL television matches now played on Sundays at 2pm.
- Polish First and Second Divisions now grow to 16 and 20 teams respectively for 2005.
- Increased TV income for Spanish clubs.
> Stadiums
- Ensured that clubs expand their stadiums to minimum league requirements upon promotion to English Premiership and similar leagues.
- Fixed obscure stadium expansion problem where expansions didn't restore reduced capacity if game saved before completion.
> Player Personalities
- Made players performances while settling into teams a little more consistent for adaptable players.
> News Items
- Fixed <%club#1-short> appearing in Argentina sports ministry cash injection news item.
- Fixed the following message, after a defeat in Champions League, but the news is about a "league game". After seeing [%team#2] lose their previous league game, [%team#1-short] manager [%person#1] has told [%person#2] that he intends to put another dent in his title hopes by picking up the win when their sides meet at [%stadium#3] on [%date#1-day].
- Fixed - The club I'm managing is a Hong Kong club (in Asia) but the Assistant said I need to strengthen the squad to qualify for "Europe".
- Fixed - Playing in Norwegian Second division with Fyllingen. Beat Baerum 4 - 2. After the game I get a news message saying Baerum manager is pleased by the morale lifting victory over Fyllingen.
- Fixed non_player retirement announcement news item from displaying national team in heading and club team in body of news item.
- Changed four manager comments that state a manager was dismayed at the other manager’s comments about his team not fulfilling their ambition.
- Fixed scout reports stating a player is a product of the youth setup at the club when he wasn't.
- Stopped board expectation from appearing in manager appointed news late on in season.
- Fixed the responses for unsettled at rumour of being replaced news item.
- Ensured new club record for best average rating displays correct average rating.
- Added position to playing in weak position unhappiness, as well as triggered news item for it.
> International Teams
- When all players are retained from an inactive nation, there is now more chance of its national team using the additional players.
- European based African players were not being called up to U23, U21 and U19 squads.
- Fixed club manager having to set international instructions twice for one match.
- Fixed managers getting to the final of a major comp and FA being disappointed.
- Fixed manager resigning and news item using time he has been at the club instead of the nation.
- Fixed players being counted as dropped when they are suspended.
> Hall Of Fame
- Fixed a bug where records from previous save games would sometimes be deleted.
> Windows Specific
- FM doesn't take 100% CPU when not processing, including while being the active application.
- Game uses the temporary folder as given by Windows, instead of creating one inside the game installation folder. This fixes user rights restriction problems.
> Finances
- Tweaked allowed player wages in Poland and other smaller leagues to ensure that boards consider at least some players to be key players.
> MLS
- After MLS squads are limited to 24 players, the game now doesn't allow 2 extra players to be added later.
- Separated the MLS Conference semi finals into East and West stages. Teams in a higher league position now play the second leg at home.
- Upped the MLS maximum wage to $6000 instead of $4000.
- Major League Soccer teams always use their second kits when playing away.
- When players move between MLS teams, they now keep their old contract instead of negotiating a new one.
- Re-Tuned exchange deals specific to MLS.
- Value of draft picks more closely linked to standard of draft players.
- Reduced the amount of draft picks offered in deals by computer managers.
- Ensured regen happens before each draft (especially first season).
- Increased age of regens in America due to college system.
- Increased starting ability of regens in America due to college system.
- Re-tuned computer manager decisions when selecting draft players.
- Added assistant manager star rating to draft screen.
- Ensured draft allocation and exchange deals shown properly on world transfers screen.
- Fixed MLS draft warning news item which displays wrong date for draft combine
> Data Editor
- Fixed a loading problem when using the English (US) language.
- Fixed a problem with the "Confirm" and "Cancel" buttons disappearing on the Preferences screen.
- Fixed a problem with updating the Composure and Concentration attributes.
- Made sure the editor doesn't import DDT files.
- Fixed the updating of Weather Start Day