FOF 2007 MP Converter Released!

[CraigSca]

Not sure when this occurred, but this is from the solecismic.com FAQ:


"Will I be able to import Front Office Football 2004 saved games into Front Office Football 2007? There are so many differences in the data files that this is not practical. However, we understand that many established multi-player leagues have a significant history, and we'd like them to be able to enjoy the new product. Commissioners of multi-player leagues that wish to convert to Front Office Football 2007 should contact us at the support address at the bottom of this page. We will convert a multi-player league for them. "

So, who's gonna step up to the plate?!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Not sure when this occurred...

I believe it showed up at Solecismic.com a few minutes after 6.0d was released.

[Ben E Lou]

The old text was....

Will I be able to import Front Office Football 2004 saved games into Front Office Football 2007?

There are so many differences in the data files that this is not practical. However, we understand that many established multi-player leagues have a significant history, and we'd like them to be able to enjoy the new product. This would be a significant problem for them. Within about two weeks after the release, we hope to have a utility ready to handle the conversion of a multi-player league. There will be significant gaps in the player and league history, but the game itself should function properly. Because of security concerns (we wouldn't want the utility to be used to hack the encryption in the data files), we will not be releasing this utility to the public. Instead, we will perform the conversion itself for commissioners of existing leagues and send them the new game files.

[twothree]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

So, who's gonna step up to the plate?!

The USFL will be switching in about a month and a half, I believe. We are just about to enter the playoffs and run 1.5 game sims a week.

Edit: As skydog points out in the next post, we won't be the first league to convert. So no need to worry, you will probably still end up with a top 3 pick in the next draft. Unless it gets messed up in the conversion.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

So, who's gonna step up to the plate?!

IHOF finished the 2012 season shortly after the release and took a break. The next file we receive will be with FOF2K7, but only VPI can tell you exactly when that will be.

[gstelmack]

My office league will go as soon as we can finish our current season, probably 1-2 weeks.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

IHOF finished the 2012 season shortly after the release and took a break. The next file we receive will be with FOF2K7, but only VPI can tell you exactly when that will be.

In memory of Shorty..

"fucking elitists"

[Front Office Midget]

My friends league will probably switch in the next couple weeks... but I don't see any e-mail address on the Solecismic site. Assuming it's still support at solecismic . com?

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Ping Jim:

Is it possible to get a little info on the conversion process so that leagues can make an informed decision in whether to convert. I'm not asking for anything in depth, but I think answers to the following questions would be helpful to that decision making process.

1. Is there a specific time when the conversion has to happen? Is it an end of season. I think this is important to know because some leagues may not want to wait 4-5 months to convert if they can do it, for example, just before the draft.

2. How does it affect ratings? Will they convert the same, including under the hood stuff (like development, boom/bust stuff)?

3. How about injuries and salary cap? Will those transfer over same.

4. How will statistics be affected? I assume we won't see the new stats (like 3rd down or red zone stuff) for season that have already been played. But what about the basic stats we had in FOF2k4? Because FOF2k7 starts in 2006, will the stats built up since 2003 season convert over with the new game, or do we lose those?

5. Also, what about records and player honors? For example, will all records set before 2006 season be lost or will they be preserved?

I think that's about all I need to know before making a decision on whether to convert. It would be good to know this in advance enough so that leagues have a chance to discuss the merits of the conversion process.

[nuggett]

I read the post, but can the coversion be done manually and/or for single player leagues.

[Front Office Midget]

No and no.

[Front Office Midget]

Originally Posted by Ethan Potter

We will convert one multi-player league per commissioner (except in the case where there are web sites, and it's obvious the commissioner is running more than one league) as long as the requests don't get out of hand. Conversions can only take place while the End Season button is displayed at the end of the Front Office Bowl. We will only do this once per league, for security and time reasons.

What we need is a place to download the relevant files (zipped up, all files from the leagues directory with the league prefix, except any files with the file types of .fbx, .flg, .fbo and .flo). We can not accept files through email. We would then need a place to upload the resulting files (which would also be zipped). We would email you the multi-player commissioner password.

Since this is a time-consuming process, we can not guarantee it will be done quickly. Maybe in a day, but it depends on Jim's schedule.

I'm hoping to have my multiplayer league converted late this week or early next week.

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Vinatieri for Prez

Ping Jim:

Is it possible to get a little info on the conversion process so that leagues can make an informed decision in whether to convert. I'm not asking for anything in depth, but I think answers to the following questions would be helpful to that decision making process.

1. Is there a specific time when the conversion has to happen? Is it an end of season. I think this is important to know because some leagues may not want to wait 4-5 months to convert if they can do it, for example, just before the draft.

2. How does it affect ratings? Will they convert the same, including under the hood stuff (like development, boom/bust stuff)?

3. How about injuries and salary cap? Will those transfer over same.

4. How will statistics be affected? I assume we won't see the new stats (like 3rd down or red zone stuff) for season that have already been played. But what about the basic stats we had in FOF2k4? Because FOF2k7 starts in 2006, will the stats built up since 2003 season convert over with the new game, or do we lose those?

5. Also, what about records and player honors? For example, will all records set before 2006 season be lost or will they be preserved?

I think that's about all I need to know before making a decision on whether to convert. It would be good to know this in advance enough so that leagues have a chance to discuss the merits of the conversion process.

1. Only right after the Front Office Bowl

2. Core player ratings will remain unchanged, as will under the hood stuff. I didn't have to use random numbers for anything important in the converter, which is really the fairest way to do it.

3. Yes. Except the veteran minimum rule will apply immediately.

4. Any individual stat built up will convert. Any new stat will be shown as a 0 for past seasons. Team statistics will not convert at all, and will be shown as a 0 for past seasons.

5. Records and awards tracked before the conversion will convert. New record categories will be kept starting in the new season.

[Narcizo]

That sounds really good, a lot better than I expected (pessimist that I am). I don't think people are that bothered about team stats (expect to hear choruses of dissenting voices) but I'm very impressed that all the individual stuff will make it over.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Thanks Jim for the quick response. That's fantastic news. I'm just wishing our league was closer to end of season so we could convert . . . like tomorrow. That's all (actually more than) that I needed to hear from you to know the conversion will have my vote and will be awesome. I am thrilled the old stats and ratings will carry over.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

I don't think people are that bothered about team stats (expect to hear choruses of dissenting voices) but I'm very impressed that all the individual stuff will make it over.

Yeah, I couldn't really care less about the team statistics actually. But I see this as no big deal since they were never permanently tracked season by season in FOF2k4 anyways.

[gottimd]

Hypothetically speaking, if an MP League was to convert, but not all of the GM's have the newest version of FOF, can they still export using the old FOF until they take the time to sift through the couch looking for spare change, and purchase the new version?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Hypothetically speaking, if an MP League was to convert, but not all of the GM's have the newest version of FOF, can they still export using the old FOF until they take the time to sift through the couch looking for spare change, and purchase the new version?

They wouldn't be able to export using FOF2K4, plus they wouldn't be able to see the same game file that everyone is seeing, even if the league commish kept two files going. The conversion happens right before the "End Season" button is hit, so retirements in the two universes would be different. (There's a partial random element at work there.) It sounds like you're basically talking about a commish sending screenshots to the person, and the person telling the commish what to do at each stage. Ugh.

EDIT: Don't forget that new staff members will be generated immediately after the conversion, and a whole new draft class will be generated within a few stages. It would be incredibly annoying to pull this off for even a handful of stages, and pretty much impossible to do so for any extended period of time.

[mrsimperless]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Hypothetically speaking, if an MP League was to convert, but not all of the GM's have the newest version of FOF, can they still export using the old FOF until they take the time to sift through the couch looking for spare change, and purchase the new version?

I would be extremely surprised if that were the case. They probably cannot load the new game files.

Consider yourself a regional salesman and get those losers to upgrade!

Seriously though, it's well worth the purchase.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

They wouldn't be able to export using FOF2K4, plus they wouldn't be able to see the same game file that everyone is seeing, even if the league commish kept two files going. The conversion happens right before the "End Season" button is hit, so retirements in the two universes would be different. (There's a partial random element at work there.) It sounds like you're basically talking about a commish sending screenshots to the person, and the person telling the commish what to do at each stage. Ugh.

EDIT: Don't forget that new staff members will be generated immediately after the conversion, and a whole new draft class will be generated within a few stages. It would be incredibly annoying to pull this off for even a handful of stages, and pretty much impossible to do so for any extended period of time.

Good points, I didn't think of that.

Instead of the Commish sending screenshots, I was hoping to make it more personal and have the commish actual pick up the phone and call me and tell me the names and ratings, etc and then I call him back and tell him what to do with my team.

My question was just a point of information, as I have already purchased the game, but I figured at some point, that question would've been asked.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Core player ratings will remain unchanged, as will under the hood stuff.

This is very reassuring to see.

[PSUColonel]

Just curious: Does anyone know why Jim hasn't decided to design the game so that careers can be transfered from version to version?

[Joe]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Just curious: Does anyone know why Jim hasn't decided to design the game so that careers can be transfered from version to version?

probably because new features added caused the file structures to be incompatabile. i wouldn't guess it was deliberate.

[Ben E Lou]

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...threadid=15452

Originally Posted by Jim Gindin, in the FOF2K4 pre-release Q&A

JimG: Q: Will/should 2k4 careers be compatible with future FOF releases?
JimG: I'm not sure. So far, every time I've made a new version, the number of changes I've made to the core of the game has prevented this from being a viable option (for instance, the Almanac would effectively be reduced to gibberish without a lot of the data pieces that are new to FOF 2004). I'm guessing no.

[Subby]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Just curious: Does anyone know why Jim hasn't decided to design the game so that careers can be transfered from version to version?

He did it to spite you.

[gstelmack]

I've sent off the request for my 5-player office league. I'll report on results when I have them.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Subby

He did it to spite you.

I was just curious, I think we can live without the wise ass sarcasim.

[Subby]

Sorry, it's a coping mechanism.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I think we can live without the wise ass sarcasim.

I'm not sure that sentence is ever true at FOFC.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I was just curious, I think we can live without the wise ass sarcasim.

I hate that darn sarcasim...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I was just curious, I think we can live without the wise ass sarcasim.

Originally Posted by Chubby

I hate that darn sarcasim...

[PSUColonel]

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

So, who's gonna step up to the plate?!

Originally Posted by SkyDog

IHOF finished the 2012 season shortly after the release and took a break. The next file we receive will be with FOF2K7, but only VPI can tell you exactly when that will be.

UPDATE: It appears that the league will receive the official FOF2K7 IHOF file on this coming Monday, December 18th. Woohoo!!!!

[Narcizo]

Has there been any more thoughts about how non-owners will be able to see the game? Will we have to ask an owner to provide their password (seems to be the case).

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

Has there been any more thoughts about how non-owners will be able to see the game? Will we have to ask an owner to provide their password (seems to be the case).

It looks like non-owners will need a password. I've yet to see anyone suggest that there's a way around this.

[Narcizo]

I really wish I'd suggest a "observe league" function when I thought of it about a year ago now.

There's going to be a lot of commishes and general other riff-raff who will want to compare the two game files for IHOF I would imagine.

[Ben E Lou]

There's going to be a lot of commishes and general other riff-raff who will want to compare the two game files for IHOF I would imagine.

Well, we jacked up our omelette prices specifically to keep the riff-raff out.

[QuikSand]

Nice.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

There's going to be a lot of commishes and general other riff-raff who will want to compare the two game files for IHOF I would imagine.

My more "serious" answer to this is to ask why? We've already been told that:

1. core player ratings remain unchanged
2. scout error has increased quite a bit

I don't think we'll learn much of anything from just seeing the new files. The ratings we see for some players will increase, and the ones we see for others will decrease, but it sounds like they have identical skills to what they had pre-conversion.

[mrsimperless]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

I really wish I'd suggest a "observe league" function when I thought of it about a year ago now.

There's going to be a lot of commishes and general other riff-raff who will want to compare the two game files for IHOF I would imagine.

This would be nice in SP for draft dynasties and game testing as well. You could sim through multiple seasons with no interaction from the user.

[Narcizo]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

I don't think we'll learn much of anything from just seeing the new files. The ratings we see for some players will increase, and the ones we see for others will decrease, but it sounds like they have identical skills to what they had pre-conversion.

I meant that people will be interested in following the progress of the league and seeing how the change in game engine effects the dynamics of the league. Particularly the age thing.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Narcizo

I meant that people will be interested in following the progress of the league and seeing how the change in game engine effects the dynamics of the league. Particularly the age thing.

I can see lack of league files being a real issue with less well-documented leagues, but the IHOF's activities are so transparent it's tough to imagine what goals of these require the league files. Sure, if you're mostly interested in how in-game player ratings changed, you'd need the game files. To see who retired, what happened to free agent bidding, and that sort of thing... I don't think any railbird at the IHOF is going to go lacking. Maybe I'm missing things, though.

[Narcizo]

I'd be interested in seeing how vet player's ratings are effected after training camp, what sort of tailoff you can expect to see in their ability. I'd also be generally interested in seeing if any bugs crop up.

I also like snooping around the IHOF game.

[CU Tiger]

Another convert question.

One league I am in, at least 2 teams have stadium construction in progress at new locations. Will these relocation plans translate in the conversion?

I know in SP when preparing to move a team I jack prices through the roof, to take advantage of no ticket increase on the new fans while also raising profit... If you lost these move plans, would you then be stuck with pissed off fans you have been price gouging for a few seasons or would team support also reset?

[gstelmack]

My files are off to Solecismic. More when we get the results back.

[PineTar]

Originally Posted by Subby

He did it to spite you.

[gstelmack]

A couple of notes on the process so far:

1. For the commishes thinking of doing this, you can save some time if you make a zip file up front of your key league files (LEAGUENAME.*, except for the *.flo and *.fbo files, and don't include any of the old box scores or game logs) and make it available for download. Saves at least one round-trip of e-mailing.
2. You also need to have an upload space prepped for the return files. My league is an office league, so all our files are shared on the LAN, and I didn't, so that is introducing another e-mail round trip.

I'll report once I actually receive the files. To speed things up for other commishes, I'd have #1 and #2 in place and included in your request e-mail.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

A couple of notes on the process so far:

1. For the commishes thinking of doing this, you can save some time if you make a zip file up front of your key league files (LEAGUENAME.*, except for the *.flo and *.fbo files, and don't include any of the old box scores or game logs) and make it available for download. Saves at least one round-trip of e-mailing.
2. You also need to have an upload space prepped for the return files. My league is an office league, so all our files are shared on the LAN, and I didn't, so that is introducing another e-mail round trip.

I'll report once I actually receive the files. To speed things up for other commishes, I'd have #1 and #2 in place and included in your request e-mail.

Lots of details are up...

http://www.solecismic.com/community/mp.php

Originally Posted by Solecismic.com

Multi-Player Conversion Instructions

Instructions for commissioners of multi-player leagues wishing to convert from Front Office Football 2004 to Front Office Football 2007:

• Examples are based on a fictional league ID of IDLEAGUE.
• We will convert a league one time only, and it can only be done after the Front Office Bowl, while the End Season button is visible to the commissioner.
• Put the following files in a zipped archive: IDLEAGUE.frc, IDLEAGUE.fga, and all files in the form IDLEAGUE.YYYY, where YYYY is a year, like 2004 or 2005. No other files are needed for the conversion.
• Place this zipped archive in an easily-accessed web space. If you don't have one for your league, a free service like box.net is useful for storing large files.
• Send our support address (support AT solecismic.com) a link to the zipped archive.
• We will then convert the league files. You can either give us access to upload the resulting zip file to your web site, or we will create a link on box.net for you.
• The archive will consist of the following files: IDLEAGUE.frc, IDLEAGUE.fpx, IDLEAGUE.fps, IDLEAGUE.fpn, IDLEAGUE.fpd, IDLEAGUE.fmk, IDLEAGUE.fju, IDLEAGUE.ffn and the new IDLEAGUE.YYYY files for each previous year of the league's existence.
• We will email you the multi-player password for the league.
• Place these files in the leagues directory of your Front Office Football installation.
• Open the league in multi-player mode in Front Office Football 2007. You will be prompted for your password.
• Select the Check Passwords function in your multi-player control window. This is a list of all team passwords in your league. Send a password to each individual active owner (there's a Copy to Clipboard function that will make this task a little easier).
• Send all the league files to each owner, EXCEPT the following: IDLEAGUE.fmm, IDLEAGUE.fmk and IDLEAGUE.fpn.

Instructions to give to active members of your league:

• If they exist, place the league's frfoot.fni and frfoot.fcy files in the universe directory of your Front Office Football 2007 installation.
• Create a new league entry by selecting the Enter New Career function in your multi-player control window. Enter the exact league identifier, and select your team. If cities have been reassigned, they will not show up correctly in this window - select your team by nickname. The initial draft option does not matter here.
• You do not need to send the resulting file to the commissioner.
• Place the files sent by your commissioner in the leagues directory of your Front Office Football 2007 installation.
• Open the league in multi-player mode in Front Office Football 2007. You will be prompted for your team password. You should be good to go at this stage.

Also, fyi, the IHOF 2013 file was released earlier this morning. Lookin' good so far.

[gstelmack]

So far so good. Only issue is that the commish needs to recreate the fni and fcy files, or at least change the header to match the new header, for them to work in 2k7.

[twothree]

Originally Posted by Solecismic.com

Send all the league files to each owner, EXCEPT the following: IDLEAGUE.fmm, IDLEAGUE.fmk and IDLEAGUE.fpn.

For Commissioners,

Another way to make sure you don't send these files to participants is to click 'Export Game Files' on the multiplayer control panel like you normally do. Then just send the files in the export directory like you have always been doing.

However and I may be wrong, I believe you will still have to copy the IDLEAGUE.YYYY files from your leagues directory and include them with the files in the export directory that you send to your participants.