The File Menu is primarily used for administrative functions:
The Save Current Game menu option immediately saves all progress in your game. By default, FHM9 saves games when loading and quitting the game, and a weekly autosave (the frequency of which can be changed via the Setup/Options screen, from off to daily.) In the interest of keeping your saved games safe, it is advisable to save your game at regular intervals.
The Save Game As... menu option also saves your game, but lets you choose what name you save it as, giving you a way to save multiple versions of the same game. Be aware, though, that FHM9 saves are large and can rapidly consume drive space if you use this option a lot.
The Save as Quickstart menu option saves your game as a quickstart file. If you'd like to start a Standard Game, but not with the default world provided by our most current database, Quickstart games are pre-built hockey universes. These games come complete with rules, teams, and players. The New Game setup routine is based on a quickstart consisting of the modern hockey universe, but the Quickstart Game option can be used to create an alternate quickstart. Note that games cannot be saved as quickstarts once you've advanced the game past the opening day. Quickstarts can be loaded using the Load Quickstart option on the Start Screen.
Start Screen takes you back to the start screen, where you can choose to load a different game or start a new one. Hitting Continue Game after using Start Screen will return you to your current game.
Setup/Options allows you to adjust a number of different things:
| Option |
Description |
| Auto-Save Options |
This controls the frequency with which your game automatically saves. We do not recommend turning it off entirely, but you may want to change from the default monthly save according to your own risk tolerance and/or patience with the game frequently being interrupted by the saving process. |
| Other Options |
Fog of War will limit the amount of ratings information you can see for players until they've been scouted: no precise attribute scores will ever be visible, so the only sources of information about the player's skills will be the scouting report (blank until the player is scouted) and whatever can be gleaned from statistics.
Show Home Screen after advancing day-to-day will force the game to return to the home screen every time you advance the date.
Always sim day-by-day prevents the game from advancing more than one day at a time when you choose to continue.
Cannot be Fired turns off the game's ability to fire you as GM of your team.
The Global Financial Coefficient multiplies all dollar amounts in the game by the specified value, and can be used in combination with the Currency Symbol to convert the game's currency values from USD to another currency.
Percentage of Talent from Stats and its three weighting settings determine how much of a player's talent and potential are derived from his recent stats, and how much each of the last three seasons contribute to that adjustment.
Play-by-Play Logs, if turned on, will record complete play-by-play logs for every game of the specified teams/league; these will be located in a subfolder of the save game (.lg) folder. Note that turning this option on can use a lot of disk space.
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| Simulation Options |
These settings allow you to specify which game engine you want to use for Simulating and Viewing games: either the Classic engine, or the new 2D engine that was added in FHM7. By default, your own team's games will be simulated in the 2D engine and those of other teams in your classic engine, but you can also choose three other options: everything in Classic, everything in 2D (note: this will slow the game down noticeably), or all games in your own league in 2D and other playable leagues in Classic. |
| Injury Frequency Adjustment |
This setting allows you to adjust the frequency of injuries downward, or shut them off entirely. |
| Trading Difficulty |
This setting allows you make it harder for you to make trades with the AI; the more difficult the setting, the more demanding the AI will be when negotiating trades. |
| Hidden Trade Factors |
This setting allows you to determine what weighting the AI places on a player's hidden off-ice/personality ratings when consider their value in a trade. |
| Shopping Recent Acquisitions |
This setting allows you decide whether or not players who've just been acquired by a human-run team can immediately be shopped using the Shop Player options.. |
| Temporary NMC's on waivers |
This setting can deactivate the mandatory one-season no-movement clause that's normally applied to any player acquired via waivers. |
| Development Options |
These settings allow you some control over the rate at which players develop. You can increase or decrease the age at which their skill (player peak age) and physical development (physical peak age) usually peaks. There will still be a large amount of variation in individual players, this is simply an overall average. The aging speed can also be increased or decreased; bear in mind that this not only speeds up or slows initial player development, it has the same effect on their late-career declines. You can also shut off development entirely, although that will have very odd ramifications as players never get better or worse. Bear in mind that the "Recalculate" option in historical play will override all of these settings. Additionally, player retirement will still occur normally - if the ages are increased significantly, for example, players may be a little slower to retire since their abilities haven't declines as much, but they will still tend to retire at somewhat realistic ages. |
| Hall of Fame |
These settings allow you to determine how players are selected to the game's Hall of Fame (or if you even want one), and when and how players are inducted into the Hall. The Committee method (the default) operates in a manner similar to the real Hall of Fame, with a multi-round voting process you can take part in, while Automatic always inducts players who meet the specified criteria.
Bear in mind the the only statistics considered in Automatic mode will be those in the game's highest-level league, i.e. the NHL in standard gameplay; the Committee option will give some consideration to stats from other high-level leagues. The "Min. Fulfilled Criteria" line determines how many of the statistical achievements listed below must be met for a player to qualify. Finally, the Rescale button will adjust the default Hall of Fame criteria (based on 82-game seasons) to be more appropriate for leagues with a shorter schedule length. |
| Facegen Settings |
This tab, located above the rest of the options, allows you to set various Facegen facial hair options, if, for example, you're playing in a fictional evil universe where everyone wears a goatee. |
Exit FHM shuts down FHM9, saving your current game in the process.
