Jon Betts's CM 01/02 Starter Kit

Welcome to the Jon Betts's CM 01/02 Starter Kit!

This has been minorly updated by Nick+Co to have the following:

1. Remove the reliance on the SharpZipLib library
2. Added CM0102 style fonts to the buttons
3. Slightly adjusted some colours
4. Added all the resources you need to build it to GitHub (Images, Data Updates, etc)

The purpose of this little tool is to get you up and running as quickly as possible with CM 01/02. No need for worrying about downloading files, installing anything, applying separate patches or changing compatibility settings - this tool does everything required to get you setup on an original or updated version of CM! Please note that this tool works with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10 and now (should) work on all Mac OSX versions from High Sierra all the way up to Big Sur. Whilst I have done my best to test on each operating system, there will undoubtedly be scenarios and configurations I haven't managed to cater for. Also if you do use an older operating system (i.e. XP or Vista) performance may be choppy as it's hard to cater for a 20 year old operating system! I've attempted to make the tool look and feel like the game interface so it's a bit more familiar.

For the Windows version, you will need to make sure you have the Microsoft .NET 4.0 runtime or higher on your computer before running the tool. This should come pre-installed on Windows 7, 8 and 10, but XP and Vista may require you to manually install it. I've included the installation file with this tool (dotNetFx40setup.exe). Just run that to install it, and you should be good to go (you will need an Internet connection for this though). If you don't install .NET 4.0 or higher, it will come up with an error message saying that the application "failed to initialise properly".

To get started, all you have to do is extract the downloaded zip file anywhere you like. Click in to the folder that just got created and then double click on CM0102StarterKit.exe to start the tool up. Give it anywhere up to 30 seconds the first time you run it, as it needs to unpack the Game folder which contains everything needed for the tool to work. If you have an existing installation of CM 01/02 installed in the default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\Championship Manager 01-02) then it will automatically copy all of your existing save games across for use with the tool. Please be aware that to play them through this tool, your existing installation needs to have been running with the official 3.9.68 patch installed. Please also be aware that applying extra patches against an existing save game may result in errors or odd behaviour. The best thing to do is just run games with the options you had selected when you first ran it.

If you have any issues upon first usage of the tool, please head to the support thread on the forum to see if the FAQs can help you: https://champman0102.net/viewtopic.php?p=14458#p14458

Mac version notes

Please be aware that the Mac version is a port of the original Windows application. Because of that, certain things won't work in exactly the same way as the Windows version. Here are the important things you need to know:

• I'm pretty sure the tool won't run on the new M1 Macbooks, as it uses Wineskin under the bonnet, and I don't believe a version of Wineskin has yet been released that is fully compatible with that new CPU. An alternative if you have one of the M1s is to download Crossover, and run the Windows version through that. You will have to pay for Crossover after a couple of weeks, or you might be able to keep re-downloading the trial version.

• If the app doesn't open for you after you've unzipped it and clicked on it, and it says "CM0102StarterKit is damaged and can't be opened", it's because Apple requires all apps to be "code signed" for authenticity, and you have to pay an annual fee to be a part of their programme that allows that. To get around this, you need to open up Terminal and run the following: cd ~/Downloads/CM0102\ Starter\ Kit\ Mac\ Version/ (or wherever you downloaded the app to) followed by xattr -drs com.apple.quarantine CM0102StarterKit.app. This should now make the app usable!

• In High Sierra (and potentially other versions), when you play the game in windowed mode, there is a black border around the game, and you cannot see the rest of your windows and applications. Unfortunately there isn't a way around this, unless you upgrade to Big Sur as the behaviour isn't present on there.

• Switching from full screen to windowed mode in-game causes the game to minimise, and then when you click on it, it is now displayed strangely. All you have to do then is exit the game, and then re-open it via the Starter Kit and it should be fine.

• Please DO NOT use the option in Nick's Patcher to change the resolution to 1280x800 if you are using windowed mode - the game will not display properly! It is fine to use in full screen though.

• There is a very minor bug when using the trackpad in Mac - if you're scrolling with it, it scrolls all the way to the bottom of the page, and won't stop until you click somewhere. In short, if you are going to use your trackpad, you'll be better off clicking and dragging the scrollbars as you would on Windows. Even better, use an external mouse, and you won't get this issue.

• If you want to browse the game folder, you will need to right click on the app, then click "Show Package Contents". Then you need to navigate to drive_c -> Program Files -> Starter Kit v*.*.* -> Game. This is where you can find your saved games, or copy content across like tactic folders, menu bars, etc.

• If, after reading all of the above, you cannot get the tool running on your Mac, then the last resort would be to upgrade to the latest version of OSX (which at the time of writing is BigSur 11.3.1). It's always better to stay up-to-date with these things, and may alleviate certain issues.

The basics

It's all very straightforward, but I will give a quick explanation about everything just in case. The main thing you might notice if you've seen the tool before is that it no longer requires any installation at all! Everything is contained within the folder that you create when you unzip the tool after downloading it. So you can easily play CM between different computers without having to install it! Here's a few screenshots and then an explanation of everything the tool does.

Main Menu

• Data Updates - This is one of the main features of the tool - you can seamlessly switch between different data updates here. All you have to do is click on whichever one you want to use, and wait for a confirmation of it successfully loading. Then you can start a new game and hey presto it's using the data update you wanted! Massive thank you to everyone involved in all of the data updates - some of them are years and years of hard work from one person, others are 6 months of hard work from a handful of people. All of them heroes!

• Install VAR Commentary - Adds VAR related commentary to the game (only for the English language). Once installed, it can easily be uninstalled by pressing the same button again. Shoutout to samsami for creating this!

• Nick's Patcher - Allows you to change a few things in the game using Nick's Patcher, which has been integrated into the tool. The default settings are pre-selected when you navigate to the menu. It is a decent selection of settings for people that want to play vanilla CM with some nice changes that improve the overall experience. Big thanks to Nick for his permission to use the Patcher as part of this tool. It's an incredible piece of kit that we're all very lucky to have available to us! Shoutout to Tapani and Saturn who came before him and were the original geniuses behind the first patchers.

• Official Editor - Allows you to use the official editor without having to hunt down the file and change the admin permissions or compatibility settings on it, etc. Just ensure when you load up the data that it is pointing to the Data folder within the Starter Kit, and not another version of CM 01/02 that you have on your computer!

• Play Game - Allows you to play the game without faffing around with compatibility settings and admin options, and pick between just using standard CM or applying Nick's Patcher to it and running that. Do whatever makes you happy!

• Back Up Save Games - Backs up all your save games to the following folder: 'C:\CM0102'.

• CM Scout - Launches CM Scout. It's a nice little tool that means you don't have to rely on your rubbish in-game scouts to find players. Most people think it ruins the game a bit though, so use with caution!

• Generated Player Finder - Launches GPF2. If you run this tool against your save game as early as possible, it will keep a track on which players certain regens were in their previous life! That's pretty much all it does...

• Android - Gives a list of instructions for getting CM 01/02 running on your Android device. I did try to automate some things but it proved harder than anticipated. However, the Starter Kit generates all the files you need, and you then manually copy them onto your device.

Data Updates

You have the choice of 9 different databases on the latest version of this tool. These data updates are what keep the game fresh and enjoyable for a lot of people, so I'm chuffed to be able to include them all here. A massive thank you again to everyone who spent so much time putting these databases together for others enjoyment.

I have also added the ability to save and load your own custom databases. Previously if you made any edits to any of the databases (using the Official Editor), these changes would get overwritten the next time you loaded a different database. You can now save a database with whatever name you like, and then reload it again at any point in the future if you want to use it again. All you need to do is load the desired default database, make some changes via the editor, and then press "Save Custom Database" and give it a name. The tool will then store that database somewhere for you to re-use (and will obviously keep it as the currently loaded database as well).

Nick's Patcher Menu

Most of the options here are pretty straightforward, but for those that aren't, I'll give a brief explanation.

• Regen Fixes - Fixes a few minor things related to regens - only clubs with 45 or less players in the squad will now have regens generated (to keep AI squads free for other transfers), and it also fixes the issue of older regens (25+) being generated within smaller nations.

• Load All Players - This will ensure all players from your chosen database are loaded into the game regardless as to how many leagues you select. Very useful if you normally select lots of leagues just to increase the number of available players, as having more leagues makes the game much slower. Loading all players doesn't seem to slow down performance, but it does make save game files around 25% larger. Loading all leagues also means a much higher chance of a game-breaking bug occurring at any point, so it's a nice, different option to have. Obviously if you select the "minimum database" in the game options, then all players won't load, but there will be more than there were when you previously selected it!

• Tapani Regen Code - Fixes an issue where regens get an ever increasing 'Positioning' attribute, which eventually leads to very low scoring games years down the line (basically every defender becomes Maldini!). I believe it also makes changes so that regens are created to be more balanced (supposedly by default regens can generate with low physical attributes, etc - I think this patch attempts to fix that).

• Uncap 20's - Allows you to see the intrinsic values of certain player attributes. A prime example is of course Maxim Tsigalko where his Finishing attribute is actually much higher than 20 under the bonnet, due to his low current ability and high attributes (but also the fact that he only has high attributes that are important for strikers). You can read more on the forum if you search for 'intrinsic attributes', and further reading on 'CA15' would also be beneficial to help you understand how it all works. Main thing is though, higher the better!

• Use Miscellaneous Patches - I have put together a collection of patches provided by Nick (including contributions from Saturn, Tapani, John Locke, xeno, et al) that I feel enhance the game quite a bit. You can either have all of them or have none of them - there's no room to list them all individually on the Starter Kit interface! I'll try to briefly describe each of them here:

  • AllowInstantSquadStatusBiddingReset - This allows you to instantly change the squad status offered to a player you are trying to sign.

  • AllowJanuaryTransfersInChampionsLeague - This allows players you sign in January to be included in your Champions League squad.

  • AllowLoansToPlayInEurope - This allows players on loan to be able to play in European games.

  • AllowNonEULoans - This allows you to loan players from any country. Please note, this doesn't make much difference if you have already selected the "No Work Permits" option on the main patcher menu!

  • AllowYoungAndOld - The original game had lower and higher limits on manager/non-player ages. These days managers start younger and finish later, so this patch removes that limit.

  • BackgroundHires - Teams in leagues loaded in the background will hire managers where they previously didn't.

  • BosmanCountries - Bosman signings are now allowed in Croatia and Poland, and have been removed from Israel and Ukraine.

  • BTeamsIncreaseTo50Players - Teams that have B teams only have 48 players taken from the database by default. This fixes that to the normal 50 players you would get with a reserve team.

  • DontRejectOffers - The board/chairman will no longer interfere in your transfers.

  • EnableSeasonTicketMoneyOnFirstYear - The original game didn't give you season ticket money in the first season. This patch ensures you get season ticket revenue every year, including the first.

  • GiveMoreOptionsInOfferDropDown - When offering to buy players this gives more options in the dropdown so you can quickly get to the value you want to offer. It now includes: 0, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1m, 2.5m, 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m, 50m and 75m.

  • HalveSigningOnFees - On the original game, AI clubs were spending a significant amount of revenue just on signing-on fees, especially for contract renewals. This halves the amount players ask for in signing-on fees, putting less of a burden on the AI clubs (and your own).

  • HumanManagerAttributes - You can now see your own attributes on your Manager Profile page. These were always there in the background, but now you can see how they develop.

  • JobsAbroadBoost - This makes some minor changes so that you should now find it easier to get a job in a different country to the one you started in.

  • LoadContinentalComps - This loads all continental club competitions regardless as to what leagues you have selected.

  • LoansBoost - This increases the likelihood of more loan deals being made in the game.

  • LoansUpdateIncreaseLoans - This increases the number of loans that teams in England, Scotland, Ireland and France can make at any one time from 2 to 9.

  • NicksFitnessPatch - This removes the pre-defined period of the year whereby player fitness is greatly decreased.

  • NoTransferFundCountryBias - This ensures the percentage of bank balance available for transfer funds for teams in each nation is equal.

  • ObsceneGestureSuspensions - Suspensions given for players making obscene gestures will now take effect immediately instead of after 14 days. The description given for the ban now shows 'Misconduct' rather than 'Use of an illegal substance'.

  • PauseOnMinorInjury - This will always ensure the game pauses during a match for an injury, no matter the severity of an injury, including minor knocks or strains.

  • RegensMegaBoost - Regens with high potential abilities should come back with better attributes than before.

  • RegisterForEuropeAgeIncrease - This raises the age for which players need to be registered for European competitions from 19 to 21.

  • ReserveSidesEnabled - This enables reserve teams for German, Portuguese and Spanish clubs without a B team.

  • RetirePatch - This ensures that players will not retire until they are at least 34.

  • ScoutRoleOffer - Assistant Managers and Coaches can now be offered roles as Scouts.

  • StopYoungstersRejectingOffers - Players younger than 18 will sometimes reject all offers no matter how famous your club is. This will disable that.

  • TransferButtonSensitivity - This should fix the contract and transfer buttons being too sensitive and not allowing you to select the values you want to.

  • Under21CapsNonBinding - Players can be called up by a national team even if they have under-21 caps for another nation.

  • UnlockYourCreativity - This fixes a major bug in the game, where the Reflexes attribute is used for the Creativity of players with a Current Ability above 124 and intrinsic Creativity above 10.

  • UnlockYourPotential - This sets your own Potential Ability to 200, which I believe means you are more likely to get better job offers, the higher this attribute increases. Still haven't confirmed this myself.

If you really do want to pick and choose which of these you use, after applying the Misc Patches, you can go into the Patches folder and remove some of the files there, and they then won't be loaded by the game.

• Apply Protection Patches - Only use this if you are coming across error messages in your game that you cannot continue or 'holiday' past. It protects against specific crashes where the Argentinian league being loaded causes a crash, or a null pointer crash that usually occurs when all leagues are selected (which is never recommended!). There is also a fix for a "virtual_staff 195" error - if you get that error message, exit the game, apply these patches, and then when you reload the game, you should be able to continue past the error message. Like I said before, only apply these fixes if you desperately need to and cannot continue with your game otherwise.

Please note: When certain databases are loaded, some of the options in Nick's Patcher will be disabled ("greyed out"). This is because they have already been pre-applied to that database's executable file. Therefore, they were disabled to avoid 'double patching'.

More details about Nick's Patcher, including what each of the standard options do, can be found on the website forum here: https://champman0102.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1943 and https://champman0102.net/viewtopic.php?f=72&p=5218.

Play Game Menu

This is simply where you decide whether you want to play standard CM, or you want to apply the options selected on Nick's Patcher. Please note, that the Starter Kit now detects what database you have loaded, and only allows you to select the correct options for playing, to save on any confusion.

Android Menu

If you have used the Starter Kit before, you will notice that this page is new. I wrote it in order to try to help people get up and running on their Android phone or tablet. I wanted to automate some of the process but there were a lot of restrictions on what I could do, so I had to resort to mainly just adding a list of instructions. Saying that, the tool will generate the exact files you need to copy across to your device in order to get it working. Just make sure you tick whether you want to add Nick's Patcher settings or not, and whether or not you are using Android 11 (there is a patch it adds if so). Make sure you follow the instructions as carefully as possible, but do bear in mind that Exagear Strategies (the software that gets installed on your Android device) doesn't always work on every phone - I have a Huawei P30 Pro and it doesn't work on there even though I'm on Android 10, because of the custom version of Android that they use. So don't be too disheartened if it turns out you cannot get it running!

If you already have Exagear running OK on your phone then you can skip the second part of step 4 (copying the OBB file across), and also step 5. But if anything goes wrong, it might be worth starting from scratch.

Please note: You cannot use the "load all players" and "change resolution to 1280x800" patches on Android as the former makes the game too slow to use, and the latter means that it doesn't display properly. If you have selected these options in Nick's Patcher, it will just ignore them when generating the files for Android.

Important note

When you are using the Starter Kit, please do not restart the game from the in-game main menu. The game will restart outside of the Starter Kit, and require you to insert the CD, etc, whereas you don't need to do this when you play the game via this tool. You will need to 'Exit Game' and then launch the game again via the Starter Kit when required.

Troubleshooting

The Starter Kit was made to limit the number of issues you get when setting CM 01/02 up. However, different setups and operating systems may result in unforeseen issues. Please have a look at the support thread for the tool (specifically the FAQ post) if you need help: https://champman0102.net/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2449