A new update for Franchise Hockey Manager 4, version 4.3.49, has just been released.

There were a few stability issues we were able to resolve this week, none quite so urgent to merit an immediate maintenance update, but still serious enough that we'd rather not wait a couple of weeks or more to get the fixes to you. So, this update is a bit of a middle-ground between a maintenance and full update, mainly focused on clearing up a few things that could cause crashes or other potential game-stopping problems, as well as a few smaller fixes and ease-of-use changes that we were able to fit in safely. Assuming we don't run into any urgent problems with this version, we'll be taking a little more time to work on larger changes and additions and get them through a proper testing cycle - i.e., don't expect another update next Friday.

As always, we'll still be monitoring our forums and Facebook (FranchiseHockeyManager), Twitter (@FranchiseHockey), Reddit (/r/FranchiseHockey), etc. on a daily basis, answering questions and offering help as needed, so if you have any problems or suggestions, please let us know. Thanks for your continued support.

Changes:

-"Sim to Period End" button removed due to stability issues (still possible to get the same sim speed by switching the play by play and clock speeds to very fast with a lower level watch mode, e.g. no highlights or goals)
-in-game settings are now stored and don't need to be reset each game
-sound volume adjustment added to in-game options
-after a sudden death goal the "Finish Game" button now appears instead of requiring the user to hit sim/play again
-fixed potential crash that could be caused when taking over team between the end of the season and the season review on June 30
-fixed issue where the was still a chance of users being involuntarily retired in historical mode
-fixed issue that could prevent Swedish Hockey League from generating a schedule in 2018-19 (fix will apply retroactively to saves from prior to June 30, 2018)
-schedule generator should now be used after all NHL expansions, instead of using pre-set schedule with an early start date at some sizes
-"World Champions" achievement now awarded after winning the Division I World Championship with Canada/USA
-fixed transaction error that could lead to crash
-fixed potential crash due to roster issues with nonplayable teams promoted into playable leagues
-Memorial Cup winner should now be named correctly in post-tournament news and player histories
-game will no longer crash when switching between leagues in a historical game while looking at the league edit screen
-fixed issue with multiple games being scheduled for team on the same day for some European teams (due to CHL)
-newly-generated players should now be given preferred numbers correctly
-the finances page in historical games should now convert all amounts to historical equivalents correctly
-the player ages in the starting rosters of fictional mode junior leagues should now be distributed more evenly, preventing weak 2nd/3rd-year drafts
-European players who want to play major junior should no longer reject contract offers from CHL teams
-the buttons on the news screen should no longer occasionally disappear and be replaced by the old action dropdown
-when renewing a player's contract, if the date is after December 31 the first year shown under "Year by Year Salary" in the Contract Offer section of the negotiation screen will no longer show a season that's a year too late
-the Trainer Skill attribute is now listed on the staff edit screen
-minor text and formatting changes

There are no data changes in this update, other than a few small adjustments to team data that were required to fix a particular crash.