| Find in this manual | ||
| Replace with | ||
This is the "basic mode" of the game: the New Standard Game button allows you to create an FHM game using current real-world teams and players.
When you select this option, you will immediately be asked to enter a name for your saved game. Each save needs a new name - if you have an existing game of this name in your saves folder, you will receive an error message and be told to choose a different one. You may also choose to specify that this will be an online/multiplayer game.
Using the "Start as Real GM" option will allow you to take the role of a real-life GM in one of the game's active leagues, getting their biographical details and ratings rather than creating your own.
You may also have the option of choosing the Opening Night or Current databases. Initially, only the Opening Night version will be available, but a later update will add the Current version, in which the rosters will be periodically updated (as part of the regular game updates and hotfixes) by us through the NHL trading deadline.
After a brief setup period, you will then get a list of available leagues to make playable in the game. These are all the possible current leagues that can be played. The number of active leagues you choose will affect the speed of your game to a degree. Most systems should be able to handle all leagues without much difficulty, and this will provide the most realistic game. The top-level league and its primary farm league must always be set to playable.
Activating some leagues may require other leagues to be active as well - for example, the Canadian junior leagues must all be activated togather, and lower-level leagues in some countries require higher-level leagues in the same country to be active.
If you do not set a league to playable, it will still be included in the game, but you will never be able to control a team in it, the teams will only use a much simpler version of the artificial intelligence that controls their roster decisions (the rosters it chooses may not be very realistic in terms of their composition), and they will not actually play games (player statistics will still be simulated via a separate method, as in all nonplayable leagues.)
After the game loads the necessary data, you will then be taken to the Set Up Your Manager screen, where you can set up your manager identity, team, play mode, and other options.
