SWOS 96/97 Mod 2.6: Classic seasons — the DDR 1988-89

SWOS 96/97 Mod 2.0 - Classic tourneys and the 1997 Copa Libertadores, exactly as they were played

Version 2.0 is out. It is a big one.

Classic tourneys (a new purple CLASSIC TOURNEYS button in Preset competitions; never in career, season, DIY or friendlies)

• World Cup 1982 with its real formula: 6 groups of 4, second group stage of 4 groups of 3 (odd-sized groups now work), semi-finals A-C and B-D, third-place match, 2 points for a win. Squads from the SWOS 2020 DLC by Insane.
• Mitropa Cup 1934: 16 clubs (Bologna, Juventus, Ambrosiana, Napoli, Rapid, Admira, Ferencvaros, Slavia, Sparta...), real bracket, two legs and play-offs, real squads.
• FA Cup 1871-72, the very first one: 15 clubs, the real first round with Hampstead Heathens' bye, open draws, replays. Squads rebuilt from period newspapers and the "British Football Pioneers" DLC by Francescomanetti82 and Gorzo.
• As back then, no penalties: a drawn replay or play-off is decided by drawing lots ("WIN ON THE TOSS OF A COIN").

Copa Libertadores 1997, 1:1

• 21 clubs: River Plate, the holder, skips the groups and enters at the round of 16 (the engine had no byes: now it does).
• Real group calendar, real round-of-16 / QF / SF bracket with the real home teams, two-leg final.
• No away goals and no extra time: straight to penalties, as in 1997.
• In career mode, last season's winner gets the bye and meets the 3rd of its own country's group.

Also: short cup names in the career calendar (COPA LIB., CAF CL...).

Thanks to Playaveli (Swos2020) for the Libertadores report and the short names idea, and to the SWOS 2020 / SWOS United community for letting us use their historic data. Every source is listed in the release notes: if you are an author and want something changed, just tell us.

Download: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v2.0 (patcher in your browser, CD or GOG version; new files: the executables and TEAM.089-091)
Technical manual: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/ - Italian: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/it.html

SWOS 96/97 Mod 2.5 - Argentina's Apertura and Clausura, Australia, New Zealand and MLS 1997, as they were played

Version 2.5 is out: four leagues rebuilt the way they really worked in 1996-97, in career mode.

Argentina: Apertura, Clausura and the promedio

• The Primera plays the Apertura and the Clausura as two separate tournaments of 19 rounds each; the table is reset in between.
• The Apertura champion stays in the management record: "CLAUSURA (AP: INDEPENDIEN)".
• The Libertadores and CONMEBOL places come from the aggregate table (Apertura + Clausura), as in reality.
• Relegation by promedio, exactly as the AFA did it: average over the last three seasons, real 1994-95 and 1995-96 history, saved with the career.

Australia: NSL 1996-97

• 14 clubs with Perth Glory and Collingwood Warriors, real squads rebuilt from every line-up of the season, 1996-97 coaches.
• The NSL Cup with its real bracket and the two state select XIs.
• NSL Finals: two-leg semi-finals, single-match Grand Final, and the play-off winner is the champion in the record.

New Zealand: NSSL 1996-97

• 10 clubs, 4 points for a win, and penalties after every draw with a bonus point for the winner, as in 1996-97 ("WIN 4-3 ON PENS" in the game list).
• Top-4 play-offs, plus the Northern, Central and Southern regional leagues with 10 real 1996 clubs added.

USA: MLS 1997

• The 10 clubs of 1997 with real names, coaches and squads.
• No draws, as in MLS: penalties, 3 points for a win, 1 for a shoot-out win.

Where the game cannot reproduce the real format we say so in the release notes (for example: the NSL and NSSL finals series with the "double chance", penalties instead of the MLS 35-yard shoot-out). A new career is recommended.

Thanks to the people who kept these leagues' history online: the ozfootball.net archive (Thomas Esamie and the other authors), Jeremy Ruane's The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website, Transfermarkt, Wikipedia and RSSSF. If you are an author and want something changed, just tell us.

Download: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v2.5 (patcher in your browser, CD or GOG version; drop in your executable, TEAM.020, TEAM.044, TEAM.062 and TEAM.073)
Technical manual: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/ - Italian: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/it.html

SWOS 96/97 Mod 2.6: Classic seasons — the DDR 1988-89

Do you want to take charge of a club of the 1988-89 East German Oberliga and try to win the league, the national cup and the European cup your club qualified for? Now you can!

New: CLASSIC SEASONS

• A new purple CLASSIC SEASONS button in Season mode, kept apart from the 1996-97 world. The first one is the DDR 1988-89.
• DDR-Oberliga 1988-89: the 14 real clubs, home and away, 2 points for a win.
• FDGB-Pokal 1988-89: from the 2nd main round (32 clubs), single matches, the real bracket.
• European cups 1988-89: BFC Dynamo plays the European Cup, Carl Zeiss Jena the Cup Winners' Cup, Dynamo Dresden and Lokomotive Leipzig the UEFA Cup — real participants and real brackets.
• Real 1988-89 squads and coaches for all 155 clubs.
• The Oberliga 1988-89 is also among the CLASSIC TOURNEYS. Never in career mode.

Incremental update: the patcher now upgrades a game already modified by any earlier release (1.0–2.5.1, CD or GOG). Saves are never touched. Thanks to the user who suggested it.

Sources: de/en.wikipedia, weltfussball.de; ratings of the DDR players from the SWOS 2020 database "1990_91 - Team Updates" by Peppecapello.

Download: github.com/aminta/swos-9697-mod/releases/tag/v2.6
Technical manual: aminta.github.io/swos-9697-mod/