FM Engineers – Thiago (The beautiful game patches)

[Rellom]

The beautiful game patch is mods that changes, adds and removes strings or numbers from the variations of how we see physics in 3D and 2D graphics – In short – It changes how the game looks, feels, and is illustrated to us. These changes are done from Inside the file called physical_constraints.


Different versions


Billgates v6.0 (Official)
Verge 6.9 (Official)
Billgates v7.3 (Beta)
Thiago v2.0 (Official)
Hongik v3.0 (Beta)


What do Thiago 2.0 do compared to Billgates 7.3 and what about Hongik 3.0?


That is an often asked question. And there is no clear answer. Statistically speaking, the numbers are too similar to say “This does more crosses, this creates more of that, and less in this.” In that sense are they simply, way too similar.

We all see and feel differently, and everyone trying the different versions, knows there's a difference, but explaining it, is a whole other thing. Placebo is also in play, when we talk about what someone felt was different compared to another version. Some few even still claim that it's all a hoax. tsk tsk

So all we can say about choosing a version, is to try them for a few games yourself, and see how it makes you feel. That is the best indicator for you, your tactics, your team, the league, for the players, and for the overall experience for a long term save. No one can tell you how you feel.



What have we changed?​

• We have changed numbers and values in the strings.
• We have added new strings, that adds new delay, speed, acceleration and deceleration with possibilities in delays, theoreticals, min, max, and potentials having a different outcome on players' physical behavior.

What are we not changing?​

• We are not changing AI behavior. This is controlled by attributes, tactics, roles, instructions, and possibly more things that we are not in control of. But we are not saying that those things are not indirectly influenced by physics.
• It does not change animations. Animations got their own speed values and time signatures. This however is possible to change, but we sincerely doubt we are going to do it with a small team. +200k lines of coding. Just alone “Pass Ball - Standing” make up for 368 strings and variation of passing the ball while standing. Anyone still saying SI did not spend a lot of time on the ME? You are wrong.

How does it impact what you see?​

• Depending on what physics we change, will it affect what you see on the pitch.
• Our key words are Balancing, subtlety, realism, flow and fluidity, when we are trying to find the correct changes in physics to implant. These words are subjective, and how we see the beautiful game, adding to that, each developer also sees these things possibly differently.

Will it change the match engine?​

• Yes. Is the short answer.
• The numbers we have changed, will not impact your results in any noticeable way. Only extreme numbers in the strings would heavily influence the statistics and results.
• Old fixtures are already done and dusted, and are therefore not influenced.
• This means, depending on what numbers and strings we change, the outcome of games compared to the normal json is altered.
• @Sports interactive – “Making changes to the match engine is an incredibly complex balancing act to try and find the most enjoyable but yet also completely realistic representation of real life football.”
• We agree with SI, that it is hard to find the correct balance between enjoyable football to watch and realisme in the outcome of results. We believe that enjoyable football to watch is a tiny bit more important than perfectly balanced tables, and specific teams having the same goals scored each season.
• We have claimed the opposite, “no statistic changes,” this was due to corrupt data input. We are sorry for this misunderstanding. We could definitely 100% change the Match engine and the results if we wished to do it.
• We, the players, are the deciders of what realisme is to the majority. Not a small staff at SI. And we say that realistic gameplay is subjective. Therefore multiple ME versions.

Plans for the future?​

• That depends entirely on Sports Interactive. We have no inside information about FM21, or if this will be patched in a way, where people no longer can apply it.
• IF they allow us to continue this work, would we of course start working on FM21’s json file, when released. Same goes for keeping FM20’s json files up to date, with new stuff we learn and can apply to it.

How to apply the mod:


Close football manager 2020, download the mod, unzip the file, (backup original file) and replace it with the new (physical_constraints) file, in:

Steam: Local disk:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Football Manager 2020/data/simatch/physics

Epic games: :/Program Files/Epic Games/Football Manager 2020/data/simatch/physics

Mac steam: Library/application support/Steam/steamapps/common/Football Manager 2020/data/simatch/physics

Mac epic games: Users/Shared/Epic Games/FootballManager2020/data/simatch/physics

If you change to a newer/older json file, the game might crash in the load up. This is due to adding or deleting strings. The game has a hard time with such changes. It takes 1-2 tries before the game recognizes the changes. The maximum we have seen is 5 crashes in row when trying to load FM20.exe. When it works, will it do so, until you change the json file to another version again with new or deleted strings. This behavior also seems to be different from machine to machine, and platform to platform. Many never experience this.


Showcases:


We do not wish to showcase this ourselves (modding team), at least not directly. We let the community not involved with the modding, do it for us. And we believe the community is the best to deliver a fair assessment of this mod. Anyone that wishes to showcase this, can do so.

We hope some content creators, and others with commentary gifts will make videos. Bad or good, or in between, all reviews are welcomed. We consider it good feedback in any case.


Feedback & Donations:


This is a completely free mod of course. No strings attached. But we would love feedback from anyone interested in making this mod better. We started this project with only one intent, to have more enjoyable content to watch in our favorite game. But we have come to the realisation that we are interested in creating, and not only editing. Whatever that means, and toward what purpose, is too early to tell. So with that in mind, are donations welcomed, and open to whomever that wish to donate to the FM Engineers:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=34HHKS5N9CQW4



FM Engineers discord server: https://discord.gg/uQC3CUd


– Credits –

Thiago
Billgates
FM forums across the globe​

 

[Rellom]

Updated to Thiago 2.0

Small but important update. These are Thiago's own words on the changes:

The difference between 1.0 and 2.0 is that I increased a lil bit of top base speed. I felt low league too much slow compared with high leagues, so I had to balance so low league got more speed but the high league doesn't seemed too fast, so I think I got them balanced now.

 

[Liam]

Very interesting. I think you should add a demo though! ?

 

[Rellom]

Very interesting. I think you should add a demo though! ?

Physical changes, is very hard to showcase on video unfortunately. People often think we change AI or animations, but for now, is it only physics. This do change the games, and how it is shown to us, but not what pre determined decisions the players take.
20 attributes points, is still 20 attributes points, and all players are influenced by physics, so one type of player is never in advantage or disadvantage compared to before.

An example is to have settings of the string, (min deceleration) in the json file, set to extremly higher, which would mean that players will run the ball out of play more often, if it is set to extreme values, in a way that he can't stop him self. This influence the stats, but not what the player do.

So, it is actually hard to showcase directly, without people trying it and seeing it. (Almost feeling it, would be a better phrasing.)

This is a showcase of a few clips, a helper on our Discord made.

Showcase Thiago 1.0