Mark, can you not adjust the part of the programme that adds the non feature races to a game, because it is these that are very sadly missing. Would it not be possible to have a slider scale so people can adjust how many it generates based upon the spec of their machines? The vast majority of horses you get in your stable are below 'feature' race class, and these are the runners that have nowhere to run. It is weird is it not that at the start of a new season there are less than a handful of maiden races for 3 year old plus horses, and, that the maidens for 2 year olds tail off after a couple of months or so to again be few and far between. I have absolutely no gripe about the pattern races (feature) it is the others that I am talking about.

I haven't tried it, I would have no idea where to begin, and it defeats the point, not everyone wants to download mods, and the game isn't sold saying that you need to to fully utilise it.

How stable is your mod? And I assume a new game would be needed, so bang goes the game I'm currently enjoying to a point when the races dry up.

What does it add qwsa?

Its a lot easier to download and implement to the game than you are probably thinking. At the moment its purely a Uk, Ireland and France game, which means it only has races from these 3 countries, but it has a lot of races from all 3, so that all Irish and French horses have complete form. As to what it adds, there is lots and lots of opportunities for lower grade horses, and reflects as much as possible real life in terms of maidens and novice races, there are lots of maiden races and novice races for 3 year olds at the beginning of the season, and likewise for 2 year olds at the end of the season. Also, if you like to play a realistic game, I think the fields in the big races are as realistic as they have been.

I am working on a worldwide schedule, although its proving difficult just because we can only get 3 meetings each day, but I hope it will be complete in the coming weeks.

What sort of specs do you have on your pc, what pool size can you get? As the schedule works better with larger pool sizes.

Hi Mark,

Regarding the non-feature races in the schedule, I remember reading a post ages ago (I can't find it) saying that in terms of the distance spread of these races, it's calculated based on the number of races over each distance in the feature race schedule? So, purely as an example, if 10% of the feature races were staying races of 1m6f and upwards, the schedule would generate roughly 10% of non-feature races as staying races? Is this still the case? And if so, does it separate 2yo feature races from the calculation? As obviously the inclusion of 2yo races in any calculation would probably result in a higher percentage of sprint races.

Sounds like it might be useful, how reliable is it? does it crash?

I have quite a high spec PC, I run everything on max and get mainly 60 frames a second.

This is fair enough for those of us that use the forums, though I still very strongly disagree that it should be down to people who buy the game to deliver a workable schedule, and if it is, which it currently definitely appears to be the policy, then it should be advertised as such and discounted due to the necessary user input. All the players who don't use the forum are stuck with a woefully inadequate schedule should they wish to develop a large stable size. Ideally I would like to maintain a stable between 150 - 200 but it is just not feasible due to lack of races.

I know I keep banging on about it, and I'm sure it annoys people who think it's trivial, as it annoys me to be told to mod the game to make it playable with a large stable. I honestly think the owner of the game should be providing a workable schedule that is suitable for all stable sizes that are advertised as being possible i.e. up to 512, if not, surely they're duty bound to say the schedule is inadequate and will require user modding?

Perhaps I could just offer a view on all this. I can’t really add anything to what experienced players have already said. But it may be of interest to developers to hear from a relative newbie – the kind of player that needs to be attracted and kept if the Starters Orders series is to flourish going forwards.

I bought the game on Steam six months or so ago. I consider playing strategy games to be pretty much my main hobby. I am retired so have huge amounts of time available to play. I am up to season 14 of a UK jumps and flat game on easy mode with manual training, and have played the game really slowly – partly because I had no knowledge of horse racing when I made the purchase. It’s the only run through I have attempted and it has been incredibly difficult at times. I have spent quite a lot of time on the net working out how the racing industry works.

However, I have to say it is exactly the game I was looking for and I have great respect for all those who have worked to make SO7 possible.

The reason for posting on this thread is that over the last couple of seasons I have found myself really frustrated at the lack of races available. Not so much on the jumps as there are plenty of bumpers to use as you develop your bred horses. But on the flat I have been able to breed a few horses with what look to me pretty decent stats, especially in speed. But if they win early on, you are left with only C1 and C2 races. Which they don’t win. So you just run them in races in which they are outclassed. Eventually a few selling and claiming races appear and you win less than two grand and it costs fifty grand (i.e five grand) to buy the horse back. In my game I am only talking about four or five horses a season like this. But over four seasons this pool grows to fifteen to twenty horses. I love this game. But I would love it even more if I could run these horses in C5 or C6 races for a few seasons. Prestige doesn’t come into it. I know, like most other players, that breeding an absolute monster is possibly a dream I will never achieve. I keep trying and keep expanding the breeding operation. But all those flat horses with nothing much to do with them is starting to take the edge off the fun factor for me and I would rather concentrate on the jumps where it really is possible to develop horses and have some good wins in doing so.

I can’t comment on technical issues that maybe prevent more races and a bigger horse pool. I can’t comment on whether SO7 is better or worse than SO6. I can’t comment on whether adding more C5 and C6 races to the UK flat calendar is in line with real life.
But it would be brilliant to encourage players of less ability (i.e newbie players that get over the initial difficulties and want to push on with their game) by at least giving them a few more available races for their decent but not great horses.

I am sure one day I will be able to come on here and talk about feature races and group races. Maybe even join in league racing one day. Certainly play with that mod being talked about.

But for now I am an ‘experienced newbie’. And for what it’s worth more lower class races on the flat (and a few more on the hurdles and chases) would have massive appeal. And I really believe it would help people at my stage to become even more engaged and absorbed in SO7.

Sorry to go on, but I thought maybe a few others out there might relate to my thoughts. Stay safe in these difficult times.

I think this is an excellent post, very eloquently put across and I couldn't agree more.

The schedule doesn't crash and is stable. I'd advise downloading it and giving it a go, it will solve the issues of having nowhere to run horses as it is packed lower class races and maidens and novices, whilst still having all.the higher class races too. It does only have uk, Irish and french races, but the vast majority of uk horses, even the very best, dont run outside of these countries so I dont think it's too much of a compromise on realism.

I take your points about the default schedule not being vast enough in terms of opportunities for all horses. Hopefully it is something that will continue to be looked at and improved, along with other AI issues and ideas. But for now, I think its worth giving mods a go, if you've never downloaded and played with mods before I think you'll be amazed at how much they can add to the game. Playing the way you guys play, which is how I play too, slowly and progressively, I hope and think this schedule will add a lot!

Thanks neves_rats. And thanks QWSA.

I am very interested in using your mod as it sounds like it will solve the only issue I have with this game. Like neves_rats I am so far into my current run through that I am not in a position to do that just yet, but almost certainly will in the future. Also my pc is on its last legs and has been for over a year (a bit like those horses we keep despite knowing they have pretty much had it - but it is so hard getting rid lol). Perhaps after lockdown I will have a sizeable upgrade and that would be a good time to load your mod. Perhaps I can bother you then to advise me on what I have to do.

haha no problem. I'll be happy to help, its really quite simple to install new mods once you know how to

You can also transfer saved games between computers when you get a new one.

Yes, thanks, hadn't thought of that. I am very strict with saving my game to a memory stick, sometimes more than once a day. I have had laptops fail on me in the past and when they go they just go. Because the one I have now is six years old and done about fifteen years of work, I have carefully made saves regularly.

Looks like I may be in the market for a new pc sooner than I thought lol

The 3D graphics on full settings are quite impressive, they do add immeasurably to the game IMO, I realise some people don't like them and prefer the old 2D graphics, but, I can't see why this would be the case as they are like chalk and cheese, but that's differing opinions for you, hence this thread and others, we'll never all agree.

On my present pc I use the graphics but turned down to absolute minimum. I watch every race in full when I have a runner and it is no fun with the features turned on. Very laggy and always looking like it is about to crash. I need to make sure any new machine I buy has a good enough graphics capability.

@qwsa, do you have a link to your schedule please?