OOTP 15 Announced

[APC]

http://files.ootpdevelopments.com/newsletters/nl0133/index.html

Looks like another good version will be coming our way.

But read the last sentence on the page linked to above. A blurb about the Super Bowl with the word "game" in italics? Hmmmm.......

[DaddyTorgo]

I hope not. Any OOTP developments football game is going to be overly-customizable (like OOTP Baseball), focused on giving people the ability to simulate female, 6v6 African leagues with TDs worth 4pts and FGs worth 7 instead of focusing on the core gameplay mechanics.

Unless FCL has something to tell us in another week or so...

[FLC28]

I am certainty looking forward to the SB week as well! I know you are too DaddyTorgo ;)

[APC]

I hope not. Any OOTP developments football game is going to be overly-customizable (like OOTP Baseball), focused on giving people the ability to simulate female, 6v6 African leagues with TDs worth 4pts and FGs worth 7 instead of focusing on the core gameplay mechanics.

Unless FCL has something to tell us in another week or so...

Fine. I guess I won't invite you to join my league featuring juiced up baseball players from the steroids area squaring off against a conference made up entirely of expansion era Cleveland Browns teams.

[DaddyTorgo]

I am certainty looking forward to the SB week as well! I know you are too DaddyTorgo ;)

:D

Bout the only redeeming feature of SB week this year at this point.

[Young Drachma]

I'm down for an OOTP football game, though after the debacle that was hockey...

[lighthousekeeper]

Definitely interested in 3D view for ootp.

[Toddzilla]

have no fear, Daivd Witner is on the dev team

[EagleFan]

Definitely interested in 3D view for ootp.

Yes, but waiting for the full 3D option. 3D ballflight just doesn't do it for me but hopefully it will lead to more.

[Peregrine]

Some really cool stuff in OOTP15 - I love the additions to what is logged in the player's record, being able to retire numbers etc. I love that immersion stuff.

[RainMaker]

I just want them to work on the AI. All the other features are nice but the AI seems to get ignored every year.

Also agree with DT on a football game. It would be catered to the 6 people on their forum that want it to be too customizable and it will never play right. If they're just making an NFL type sim with some mild customization (expansion, relocation, etc), I'd be on board.

[RainMaker]

Also I'm guessing they won't be on Steam? I'm about to pre-order but wondering if they'll be on there.

[Cork]

I am curious about the new facegen sdk stuff. More realistic players faces is always nice.

[EagleFan]

Also I'm guessing they won't be on Steam? I'm about to pre-order but wondering if they'll be on there.

Didn't the link mention a Steam key?

[Marc Vaughan]

Also I'm guessing they won't be on Steam? I'm about to pre-order but wondering if they'll be on there.

OOTP15 will be on Steam in due course I believe, if you purchase it through pre-order you'll be able to get a Steam key should you want one.

[RainMaker]

OOTP15 will be on Steam in due course I believe, if you purchase it through pre-order you'll be able to get a Steam key should you want one.

Cool, I'll pre-order right now.

[chrisj]

But read the last sentence on the page linked to above. A blurb about the Super Bowl with the word "game" in italics? Hmmmm.......

Some talk about it on the OOTP forums...

Possible football game coming from OOTP Devs? - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/general-discussions/240115-possible-football-game-coming-ootp-devs.html#post3633297)

A couple of references to "BTS" (including posts by someone who is the "Lead Developer of BTS" and is tagged as working for OOTP Developments...

[MizzouRah]

Some talk about it on the OOTP forums...

Possible football game coming from OOTP Devs? - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/general-discussions/240115-possible-football-game-coming-ootp-devs.html#post3633297)

A couple of references to "BTS" (including posts by someone who is the "Lead Developer of BTS" and is tagged as working for OOTP Developments...

Word on the street is Francis Cole was hired by OOTP Developments..

Writing an (American) Football Management Game - by Francis Cole - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=87622)

Designer of the game above.. could be a good fit.

[fortheglory]

Word on the street is Francis Cole was hired by OOTP Developments..

Writing an (American) Football Management Game - by Francis Cole - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=87622)

Designer of the game above.. could be a good fit.

Iss this true? Is there any confirmation of this anywhere?

[RomaGoth]

I'm down for an OOTP football game, though after the debacle that was hockey...

I would love to see an OOTP football game, as long as it isn't soccer. :D

As for the hockey game, yes it has been a debacle but I have faith it will get better. It might not be until next version, but it is worth the wait considering there aren't many options out there for a hockey sim.

[EagleFan]

Is there going to be a next version or did this version kill that?

[MizzouRah]

I just don't see much with OOTP 15 for me to preorder this year.. a first in a long time.

I really don't care about all the other leagues.. the interface doesn't look better to me and 3D ball flight.. I need to see it.

To me, it's getting to point where is has way to many options/settings.

I'll get it at some point, but I'm going to hold off for now.

[EagleFan]

I just don't see much with OOTP 15 for me to preorder this year.. a first in a long time.

I really don't care about all the other leagues.. the interface doesn't look better to me and 3D ball flight.. I need to see it.

To me, it's getting to point where is has way to many options/settings.

I'll get it at some point, but I'm going to hold off for now.

+1

[JPhillips]

The Reds have a player in Single A named Jamodrick.

That name better make it in the game.

[lungs]

Downloading this now.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I am most excited about the custom historical leagues that can easily be set up now.

Currently, I am setting up a league with all the world series champions in it. 4 divisions. 25 teams each division. There is a lot of clicking involved so far in setting it up lol

[Izulde]

Yeah I bought OOTP 14 to be in an MP league and then forgot all about it. But when I tried single player a few days ago, setting up the league and getting everything organized was so much of a hassle I just ultimately dropped it. Too many screens and too many clicks for my tastes.

[Young Drachma]

And we're off...I've gotten a lot of play out of FBCB but outside of my online leagues, I haven't gotten much beyond beta out of these games anymore. It's still really impressive and maybe I should dive in. But like others say, the setup can be so much when you're really immersive that I tend to stay away.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I will say that I am enjoying the heck out of my fictional league that I started in OOTP 13 and was easily able to import into OOTP 15. If you want to do something relatively standard, league setup isn't a hassle at all.


Also, I really have gotten into stats only and turning off the ratings. Adds a bit of a challenge to the game and makes it feel almost like a fictional fantasy baseball league.

[MizzouRah]

More impressions from you knuckleheads.. this is the first time I haven't pre-purchased and as of now, I really don' t have much desire.

[Young Drachma]

I've imported all of my old/ongoing leagues to the newer version. It sure does look pretty if nothing else, even if I don't care about the 3D stadiums or whatever. Will always take an update, because for the money it's the best baseball sim on the planet even with the warts.

[lungs]

I loaded a World Template I had made in 14 and it loaded fine. Was making adjustments to the template (and almost finished!) when the game froze.

So I decided to load up the real rosters and all the foreign leagues and run a season....

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

To me the new manager's screen is worth the price of admission. It is highly customizable and gives you access to your lineup, email, league news, league leaders, minor leagues etc all on one page. Reduces clicks a great deal and you can see the daily happenings in your league all on one page. Very cool.

[Peregrine]

Love the new manager's screen as well as some of the UI upgrades, also love the addition of some more immersion features, like retirable numbers. Going to be another great version of OOTP.

[TroyF]

played it a very small amount. As others have said, the UI, while not massively changed, is still better. The manager screen is terrific. I see some ratings I'll want to tweak a bit, but overall, it looks pretty good to me. We'll see how it goes when I start playing tomorrow.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

The free agency screen also has been slightly redesigned. Pending offers and budgetary considerations are now shown on the bottom which is a nice touch. Also 2nd and 3rd place finishers are now mentioned in the Rookie of the Year, MVP and Cy Young awards. Lots of small touches are adding up for this year's version.

[Peregrine]

Only problems I'm having so far is finding some options that were moved or (I hope not) removed. Like how do I set a player to a different position now? They removed the drop down menu at the bottom of the player profile, and the new options tab doesn't include changing positions.

[cougarfreak]

Only problems I'm having so far is finding some options that were moved or (I hope not) removed. Like how do I set a player to a different position now? They removed the drop down menu at the bottom of the player profile, and the new options tab doesn't include changing positions.

I believe there's a drop down on the top right of the player screen that includes that option now.

[TroyF]

OK, so I took colorado with the 2014 quick start, set my scouts and staff to do everything and played out the year. Here is what happened (actually, before I start I think it's important for non text sim players to understand that the game doesn't see guys the way we see them, while I think some of these moves were ridiculous, I can understand why OOTP did what it did in MOST cases) OK, here goes:

Synopsis of the season:

Started off unexpectedly strong and was in a wild card until late July. Then went to complete hell. Finished 71-91, 34 games back. Division winners:

Blue Jays
Tigers
Rangers
Nationals
Cardinals
Dodgers (105 wins, best team in baseball)

Wild Cards

Indians
Angels
Pirates (95 wins)
Reds

Worst team was the White Sox with 67 wins. The Yankees finished with 69 wins. The Braves 73.

The Cardinals stored through the postseason and beat the Rangers in the World Series

League Leaders:

Batter WAR - Fielder, Cabrera, Harper, Trout, Teixeira, Longoria, Votto, Wright, Cano
PItcher WAR - Strasburg, Verlander, Shelby Miller, Leake, Zimmerman, Felix, Latos, Hernandez

Chris Davis led in HR with 45. Billy Hamilton stole 52 bases to lead the league.

Transactions - OK, here is where it gets interesting

Here are some highlights:

Dodger traded Ryu for Norris on opening day
Pittsburgh traded Pedro Alvarez to the White Sox for Adam Dunn and 3 million
Padres traded Gyorko to the A's for Gentry
Boston trades Napoli for Papelbon
Colorado trades Tulowitzki for Ryan Braun (yeah, I won't be using this league)
Colorado trades two minor leaguers for Dustin Ackly
Colorado trades 4 minor leaguers for Sergio Romo
Colorado trades Matt Beslisle and a prospect for DEREK JETER
San Francisco trades Tim Lincicum and 3 million to the tigers for 4 minor leaguers

At the end of the season Jeter demanded a trade from my organization. Keep in mind at the time of the trade the Yankees were toast and the Rockies were actually doing good. The Rockies headed into the final two months of the season with a 55-54 record. They then went 16-37 the final two months.

[claphamsa]

game has crashed 2X on first season.

in drafting players, I offered their ask, they said no (all of them)

in international FA, offered their ask, NO ONE SIGNED THEM, and they still said no to me.

looks like all the shitty flaws are still there.

[lungs]

My initial impression is that the new league reputation setting is pretty helpful. Independent leagues seem to be working much better than in the past, though I haven't necessarily dug into them too much yet.

The purchasing contract option is a start but I'd like to see it expanded upon in the future. It'll work good for purchasing a player from a smaller independent league but I thought maybe in an elaborate fictional universe that players could be purchased between major leagues. When I tested it out, a guy signed a 5 year/$57 million contract with the second level major league (I have three major leagues with reputations of 10, 9, and 8). A Japanese team purchased him and his contract was reset to a minor league contract. Purchase price is static for the league the player is being purchased from. Like I said, I'm leaving the option on for some of the smaller independent leagues in my setup (reputation 5 and 6). But it's not useful between major leagues unless the contracts carry over.

Haven't messed around with the posting feature yet. Basically got my setup somewhat down:
Level 10 Major League with three minor leagues.
Level 9 Major League with one minor league
Level 8 Major League with no minor league
Asian League (Level 7) with teams in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and one in China.
Latin American League - Level 6 all Latin players in my universe must play two years in the Latin league before being able to sign with one of the US based major leagues (unless released by their Latin team).
EuroLeague - (Level 5) Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Level 5 league
Florida League (Level 6) - Independent
Southwestern Junior League - Level 6, Indpendent league (not a feeder) puts some extra young American players into the universe. Age limit of 25 years old in this league
Midwestern League - Independent league

This setup doesn't run blazing fast on my MacBook Air (less than a year old) but it's not slow either. A basic small major league setup is pretty fast so I don't think speed is much of a problem in 15.

[lungs]

Dola
I tried creating a "Senior" league for players 30 years and older but the AI would only sign 8 guys and I'd have to fill the rosters each year.

[CraigSca]

game has crashed 2X on first season.

in drafting players, I offered their ask, they said no (all of them)

in international FA, offered their ask, NO ONE SIGNED THEM, and they still said no to me.

looks like all the shitty flaws are still there.

Were they listed as "impossible" to sign?

[claphamsa]

Were they listed as "impossible" to sign?

nope, very hard. and if they were impossible to sign then they should have no ask amount.

[CraigSca]

Yeah, I think impossible players are set on going to or staying in college - may be working as designed, but not necessarily the most intuitive way to go about it.

[MizzouRah]

Had some free time yesterday and picked it up.

The interface is fantastic.. didn't take me long to get used to it and everything just seems like it's in a logical place now.

Loaded up the AIO mod and started a ML QS - decided to see if I could rebuild the Cubbies.. Cardinals seem too easy.

Tweaked a few things.. and I'd have to say, I'm impressed so far. Pretty much just playing "out of the box" so to speak.

I can see where the 3d stadium stuff should be great once it's all fleshed out.

[GrantDawg]

Game looks great. I really like some of the interface changes. Unfortunately it is constantly random crashing on me. I have yet to finish a full month of a sim yet. Anyone else dealing with this?

[Sweed]

Game looks great. I really like some of the interface changes. Unfortunately it is constantly random crashing on me. I have yet to finish a full month of a sim yet. Anyone else dealing with this?

No crashes for me. Running windows 7 home premium, 8 gig ram, i7.

[jbergey22]

Game looks great. I really like some of the interface changes. Unfortunately it is constantly random crashing on me. I have yet to finish a full month of a sim yet. Anyone else dealing with this?

I have not. I simmed 29 years to get started.

Have you downloaded the latest patch?

[MizzouRah]

Markus is getting a ton of great reviews too, well done.

[Mota]

You can't just make a game, release it and hope that it'll sell. Markus and company have been on a million podcasts promoting the product, been working with tons of websites and giving review code. They are definitely building momentum with the product.

[GrantDawg]

I have not. I simmed 29 years to get started.

Have you downloaded the latest patch?


Yes, but not the beta patch. I played some more last night luckily without a crash. I'm saving every week now. Saving more almost guarantees that it won't crash, right? :)

[lungs]

I can't seem to run a long term sim without the illegal number of players thing coming up.

[frnk55]

If stranded on a island and could only pick one game it would be OOTP.

[DaddyTorgo]

How's player development?

By which I mean - career progression for established players, and also development of minor leaguers?

OOTP was always fun to sim long-long term careers and see how things evolved, but I always felt player development wasn't the strongest feature, which tended to make that a little less fun.

[bhlloy]

Probably my biggest question as well. As fun as OOTP is, there have always been massively glaring player creation/development quirks that make it almost impossible to get deep into a career. Last two versions were very heavy on five tool superstar outfielders and pretty light on pitching for example

[jbergey22]

I can't seem to run a long term sim without the illegal number of players thing coming up.

In league settings there is an option to fill in with fictional players. When starting a fresh league you may have to do this a couple of different times before the free agent pool becomes large enough.

[jbergey22]

Probably my biggest question as well. As fun as OOTP is, there have always been massively glaring player creation/development quirks that make it almost impossible to get deep into a career. Last two versions were very heavy on five tool superstar outfielders and pretty light on pitching for example

You can set this up however you'd like. Ask some questions on the OOTP forums if you need as a lot of them guys are very sharp at knowing every detail of this game.

[DaddyTorgo]

You can set this up however you'd like. Ask some questions on the OOTP forums if you need as a lot of them guys are very sharp at knowing every detail of this game.

That's not necessarily what I want to hear...


How are the out-of-the-box settings?

Is there an available setting that someone has come up with that's better/more true-to-life that's easy to setup and doesn't require constant tweaking/monitoring?

[Mota]

In league settings there is an option to fill in with fictional players. When starting a fresh league you may have to do this a couple of different times before the free agent pool becomes large enough.

In OOTP14 I'd run into that problem after several years, constantly the Short Season A teams would only have 6 guys on their roster and I'd have to fill with fictional players. Don't know where they would all go but it would keep happening.

[CraigSca]

I play purely fictional, but with 2014 settings. Out-of-the-box runs just fine for me. I don't necessarily see lots of 5 star outfielders and a dearth of pitching. Of course, I'm not going to run into issues of having short season A teams with 6 players on their roster either, since I'm not playing with real rosters.

For me, the game is light years better than it was when FOFC used to collectively mock the game.

[DaddyTorgo]

That's good to hear Craig.

[jbergey22]

That's not necessarily what I want to hear...


How are the out-of-the-box settings?

Is there an available setting that someone has come up with that's better/more true-to-life that's easy to setup and doesn't require constant tweaking/monitoring?


From what I have read the out of box settings are just fine. I think this would be tough to get right IMO. If Markus matches things like injuries with reality people complain the injuries are too high, if he doesnt have them exactly right people will complain its not realistic. There are a few things I like to adjust with each version such as lowering the computer trades and making it more difficult to get prospects. I also tinker with the computer evaluation to weight last season more heavily than the current season. I hate when I can re-sign my own guy who is struggling in April for a bargain rate. That part isnt realistic if I weight the current season too high.

I know some people dont like messing around with these things but depending how how realistic you want it to be sometimes you do have to mess around a bit.

[lungs]

Indy leagues are almost impossible for me to use. Now they are keeping too many players on the reserve roster. I keep raising the limit but they keep signing players and go over the limit.

I don't want to use no limit reserve rosters. No big deal at this point but hopefully it's fixed in a patch and I can add the Indy leagues back later.

Otherwise I'm liking the game a lot when I'm actually playing and not fiddling around with setups and simming a history for my universe.

[MizzouRah]

Hello Matt Garza.. TWO no hitters so far this season.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/attachments/ootp-15-general-discussions/339873d1399392611-matt-garza-matt-garza.jpg

[DaddyTorgo]

Was that back-to-back starts, or was there one in between?

[MizzouRah]

Was that back-to-back starts, or was there one in between?

One in between where he only went 2.2 innings giving up 6 runs.

[RainMaker]

Anyone know how to get a Steam Key if you were one of the pre-orders?

Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out.

[Scoobz0202]

Just ordered this and meant to apply the $20.84 that I have in Steam Dollars towards it and apparently forgot to do that and paid full price. Damn me.

[stevew]

You can set this up however you'd like. Ask some questions on the OOTP forums if you need as a lot of them guys are very sharp at knowing every detail of this game.

Those people are animals

[Scoobz0202]

Couple first year player draft questions:

1.) What's the reason that a lot of pitchers in the draft pool show up as MR yet when you look at their stats they have definite potential for SP with 3+ pitches.

2.) Maybe because I am playing on an ultrabook, but does it build the player list for you everytime you go back to the draft pool? Really makes it a pain/annoying when its my pick and I click through players scouting them out and everytime I go back to the pool I have to wait for it to build the player list. It only takes 2-3 seconds, but when trying to look at 5-10 players that can be obnoxious. I don't recall previous versions being like that but then again it's been a couple years since i played a lot and then it was on a desktop

[MrBug708]

OOTP 15 is one of the options for the next Community Choice vote on Steam.

[DaddyTorgo]

OOTP 15 is one of the options for the next Community Choice vote on Steam.

It was one of the ones for the last community choice and failed, no?

[MrBug708]

Ah, I wasnt keeping tabs on it after I voted

[Peregrine]

Anyone know why the OOTP website is down for a few days? Hacked, did it move, etc.

[EagleFan]

Looks like the site is up, just the forum down. Though I didn't navigate through all the links but what I saw seemed okay.

[CraigSca]

I saw on twitter that their provider is having problems and that they have backups and an open ticket against it.

[Peregrine]

All-star sale for half off on OOTP 15 announced and even better - new update! I highlighted the one I'm most excited about.

Here are the improvements / fixes:
• Improved 3D ball flight engine, using realistic physics-based calculations
• Improved 3D ballpark importer / editor
• Improved memory management resulting in increased stability and speed, especially with large games
• Free agent compensation / arbitration is now more realistic. OOTP correctly assigns FA comp status to all free agent-eligible players who stayed on the team the entire year, and compensation draft picks are only given when the user/AI offered arbitration to this player.
• Draft picks with signability of "impossible" no longer state their demand. You have just one shot to convince the player with a great offer.
• Added the option to hide player nicknames (in the player personality section of the game setup)
• Improved the league events editor. When in commish mode, users can edit the dates of existing events and also create events using the internal event types. That way experienced users may fix problems with events caused by league scheduling errors.
• Improved in-game AI for several situations
• Improved in-game play-by-play commentary
• Moved the "Force Start / Position" section in the player strategy screen from the depth chart strategy to the pitching strategy for pitchers and renamed it "Force Role."
• Re-ordered the items in the team menu to match the order of tabs on the team screen
• Fixed issues with touchpads on Macs
• Fixed several bugs and rare crashes

There are a couple of know issues on some Mac OSX systems (poor 3D ballflight framerate and oversaturated facegen pictures) which we are still investigating and will fix in a future update.

Alright, I'll leave for an extended vacation next week, and once I return, work on OOTP 16 will already begin. We've got big things planned for it

[DaddyTorgo]

So what's half off? 17.99 or something still?

[Young Drachma]

yeah, it's been stable for me from the start. I think I had one crash during beta, but nothing like the old releases where you'd deal with that. I'd patch up for sure, start a fresh league and see what happens.

[Young Drachma]

All-star sale for half off on OOTP 15 announced and even better - new update! I highlighted the one I'm most excited about.

Here are the improvements / fixes:
• Improved 3D ball flight engine, using realistic physics-based calculations
• Improved 3D ballpark importer / editor
• Improved memory management resulting in increased stability and speed, especially with large games
• Free agent compensation / arbitration is now more realistic. OOTP correctly assigns FA comp status to all free agent-eligible players who stayed on the team the entire year, and compensation draft picks are only given when the user/AI offered arbitration to this player.
• Draft picks with signability of "impossible" no longer state their demand. You have just one shot to convince the player with a great offer.
• Added the option to hide player nicknames (in the player personality section of the game setup)
• Improved the league events editor. When in commish mode, users can edit the dates of existing events and also create events using the internal event types. That way experienced users may fix problems with events caused by league scheduling errors.
• Improved in-game AI for several situations
• Improved in-game play-by-play commentary
• Moved the "Force Start / Position" section in the player strategy screen from the depth chart strategy to the pitching strategy for pitchers and renamed it "Force Role."
• Re-ordered the items in the team menu to match the order of tabs on the team screen
• Fixed issues with touchpads on Macs
• Fixed several bugs and rare crashes

There are a couple of know issues on some Mac OSX systems (poor 3D ballflight framerate and oversaturated facegen pictures) which we are still investigating and will fix in a future update.

Alright, I'll leave for an extended vacation next week, and once I return, work on OOTP 16 will already begin. We've got big things planned for it

You're welcome for the ability to remove nicknames. I personally initiated that rant in the beta forum a few weeks back and after some small debate, Markus came in and said he'd create a toggle to stop them. Which was awesome.

[rjolley]

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with the nicknames?

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Sorry, I think the wolf gets credit for having nicknames removed :D :D :D

[Peregrine]

Nothing's wrong with the nicknames, I'm not a zealot against them like the Wolf, I just wanted an option in some leagues to turn them off. Usually I keep them on and just remove a lot of the dumber ones in commissioner mode.

[korme]

I have random crashes all the time. Been trying to play game-to-game, and it's frustrating playing a weeks worth of games to have it crash

[Young Drachma]

I have random crashes all the time. Been trying to play game-to-game, and it's frustrating playing a weeks worth of games to have it crash

File a ticket with ootp, they're pretty responsive and without knowing what it is..hard to identify. But seriously, go on their forums and you should file a ticket so they can fix it if it's a bug.

[Young Drachma]

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with the nicknames?

I hate them. I like giving guys nicknames organically, but they ruin the game for me. And as aforementioned, I used to get rid of the terrible ones in my online leagues. You can delete them manually, but if you forget or start the league and then want them gone, it's too late.

[DanGarion]

Nothing's wrong with the nicknames, I'm not a zealot against them like the Wolf, I just wanted an option in some leagues to turn them off. Usually I keep them on and just remove a lot of the dumber ones in commissioner mode.

Can't you just blank out the Nickname database and be done with it?

[DanGarion]

Finally a reason to buy it.

[Peregrine]

Can't you just blank out the Nickname database and be done with it?

No reason to now - I guess I like the middle road - I want them in some occasions and not in others - now I have that option.

[vex]

So what's half off? 17.99 or something still?

Still $7.99 too much. Thanks, Steam Users.

[JPhillips]

So what's half off? 17.99 or something still?

19.99

[Young Drachma]

Can't you just blank out the Nickname database and be done with it?

Doesn't always work and you have to do it when you first load the game. Also if you're not careful and don't get rid of the trailing space line, then all of your guys have fucked up middle names with a _ space or something.

Plus, asking newbies to get into the game files and change that is asking a lot. Plus it's a real pain in the ass and a simple thing for him to fix. Once he realized there were people who hated it.

Glad Markus gave us the option.

[bhlloy]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)

[EagleFan]

Nicknames "ruin" the game? Seriously?

[vex]

Nicknames "ruin" the game? Seriously?

About as much as not having the proper color of gloves in Madden.

[vex]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)


For me it's because it is released every year with little changes. FM drastically advances their game every year.

[DaddyTorgo]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)

For me it's because of my lack of interest in the sport anymore.

[DanGarion]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)

I think it's the fact that the game comes out every year and never really quite feels done is part of the problem. Not to mention the fact that when you do a multiplayer league you really see a lot of the warts.

[Izulde]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)

I wouldn't even necessarily consider it the best baseball sim on the market at this stage. For all its own flaws, there's something still appealing about Baseball Mogul's simplicity and easy/quick style of play.

I think the comments about FM continually evolving while OOTP makes minimal changes, with a lot of the legacy issues apparently still hanging around, do ring true. As much as I curse out FM for its own complexity, it's progressed so much throughout the years that it's still something that compels me to play it, even if crazy manic bursts before getting mad and quitting for a while again.

In the text sim universe, I personally would put OOTP about 6th, behind FM and FBCB no matter what metrics I was using, and behind DDSPB, DDSCB, and FBPB for me individually.

[Peregrine]

For me OOTP is still the top baseball sim and I enjoy the changes they make every year. Sure it would be great if they could make frequent big changes like FM, but FM has like 70 people working for it and OOTP has a handful, as well as no big publisher support for their game.

[MizzouRah]

I wouldn't even necessarily consider it the best baseball sim on the market at this stage. For all its own flaws, there's something still appealing about Baseball Mogul's simplicity and easy/quick style of play.


I am so with you.. I've played so much BM this year and although I have OOTP, I'm just tired of it.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I do agree that on some level Marcus has turned into EA and each update has become more and more incremental. However, I still have a blast with the game.

I know most people think OOTP is too complicated or detailed oriented, but I made my league smaller and it keeps things more manageable but still fun

I play 8 teams in each league. No wild card. One minor league level. Stats only with salary cap.

With these restrictions, it keeps the game challenging, but simple. I only do a 5 round draft since the minors are so small. And since the league is smaller, free agency is challenging, but also fun and reasonably quick.

[JPhillips]

For playability I still think OOTP6 was the high point. I still wish the mobile version was a slightly souped up version 6.

[SlyBelle1]

I am so with you.. I've played so much BM this year and although I have OOTP, I'm just tired of it.

Can you give some info how Baseball Mogul is nowadays? What has made you feel it was the better options and feeling your tired of OOTP? I've always wanted to consider BM, but always seems there aren't many changes to it and people seem to complain a lot in their forums (unless I have misread).

[MizzouRah]

Can you give some info how Baseball Mogul is nowadays? What has made you feel it was the better options and feeling your tired of OOTP? I've always wanted to consider BM, but always seems there aren't many changes to it and people seem to complain a lot in their forums (unless I have misread).

BM is VERY "lite" compared to OOTP.. and I mean "lite", yet it's just fun to load it up and get through a season in short period of time. Stats are believable and overall, it does a decent job of providing a challenge.

I have v14 - haven't made the jump to 15 yet as I'm just too into my current play through. Playing a normal MLB real player 2013 start, I haven't seen much in the way of bugs. The addition I really like in v14 is stat based ratings, they have a base, but change with relation to the player's stats, so you see fluctuation throughout the season.

There is no waiver wire, arbitration or anything like that. Just a straightforward baseball sim.

I'm just burnt out with OOTP, as deep as it is, something wonky with the game AI just has me feeling like I'm spending too much time with settings and what not to truly enjoy the game right now.

I guess I find myself more engrossed in my BM world than I do with OOTP.

[mckerney]

I can't believe there is a world where a board of text sim users thinks $20 is too much to pay for the second best sim on the market. But maybe it's just me :)

It's a yearly release, there are going to be plenty of people wondering if it's worth upgrading to if they own last years version, even at $20.

[SlyBelle1]

BM is VERY "lite" compared to OOTP.. and I mean "lite", yet it's just fun to load it up and get through a season in short period of time. Stats are believable and overall, it does a decent job of providing a challenge.

I have v14 - haven't made the jump to 15 yet as I'm just too into my current play through. Playing a normal MLB real player 2013 start, I haven't seen much in the way of bugs. The addition I really like in v14 is stat based ratings, they have a base, but change with relation to the player's stats, so you see fluctuation throughout the season.

There is no waiver wire, arbitration or anything like that. Just a straightforward baseball sim.

I'm just burnt out with OOTP, as deep as it is, something wonky with the game AI just has me feeling like I'm spending too much time with settings and what not to truly enjoy the game right now.

I guess I find myself more engrossed in my BM world than I do with OOTP.


Thank you, might have to see if there is a demo to try it out.....it would be interesting to see if something more simplistic is better for how I play, very well may be.

[SackAttack]

It's a yearly release, there are going to be plenty of people wondering if it's worth upgrading to if they own last years version, even at $20.

I think the biggest issue for me is that there are neat new features year in and year out, but the things with which I have issues go unaddressed. I've been playing 15 the last couple of weeks, and there are things which have been bugging me since at least OOTP X still present.

Yeah, there's a shitload of really cool stuff in it that I'm excited about, but some of the unaddressed stuff that keeps smacking me in the face is really tedious.

Organizational management, for instance: I can have the AI set up the organization, but there's no guarantee it will do things the way I want it to. Might release players or demote guys or change positions or whatever and then I have to go fix shit. Okay, so that means that things like injuries? I can either check minor league injuries every so often so sims don't get interrupted, or I can tell the game to notify me if a minor league injury happens and then my sims stop every. fucking. day.

I wish there were a way to set ghost players and tell the AI "if someone breaks, put them on the appropriate DL." If there is, I haven't found it. So either I wind up with minor league teams bleeding red names, or getting my sims stopped nearly daily. And that's been going on for years.

[MizzouRah]

Thank you, might have to see if there is a demo to try it out.....it would be interesting to see if something more simplistic is better for how I play, very well may be.

http://sportsmogul.com/bb2015update/BaseballMogul2015DEMOSetup.exe

There are a couple of really good photo packs in the mods section as well as logos. I always change the difficulty to mogul as well as the ratings to stats based.

[SlyBelle1]

http://sportsmogul.com/bb2015update/BaseballMogul2015DEMOSetup.exe

There are a couple of really good photo packs in the mods section as well as logos. I always change the difficulty to mogul as well as the ratings to stats based.

Thanks...I ended up playing today and I have to admit I might be considering this for next year's baseball season. It seems to have a just enough information to make it real without having too much detail.

Just curious from your experience.....is the AI good at roster management, trade offers, etc. Are the stats usually believable? Any major flaws you see in the game?

[MizzouRah]

Thanks...I ended up playing today and I have to admit I might be considering this for next year's baseball season. It seems to have a just enough information to make it real without having too much detail.

Just curious from your experience.....is the AI good at roster management, trade offers, etc. Are the stats usually believable? Any major flaws you see in the game?

I only look at the major stat categories and haven't really noticed any oddities. In fact, I find myself shocked at times on just how satisfied I am with BM 14. I'm in season 3 though, so I'll continue to look and will be interested to see how the drafts pan out.

I have 3 really good players on contract years, so I'm not sure how I'll sign all 3, which I don't think I will be able to. Trade AI seems decent so far to me, at least I haven't been able to rip it off and they won't take high paid older players who are no good anymore - I'm looking at you Matt Holliday :)

I'm sure there are issues.. just read the forums.. but I haven't seen any show stoppers yet in 3 seasons. The normal players are at the top of the leader boards, teams seem to finish where they would in RL, etc..

Most of the issues are historical play.. so if you want to play historical, probably best to stay with OOTP.

[markprior22]

So, current day MLB seems ok? Is there an option to generate fictional players?

[MizzouRah]

So, current day MLB seems ok? Is there an option to generate fictional players?

Yes, at least so far. I'll have to check, but I believe you can generate fictional players.. in fact, I'm just about positive about it.

[MizzouRah]

Thanks...I ended up playing today and I have to admit I might be considering this for next year's baseball season. It seems to have a just enough information to make it real without having too much detail.

Just curious from your experience.....is the AI good at roster management, trade offers, etc. Are the stats usually believable? Any major flaws you see in the game?

I've been playing too fast to keep up with a dynasty thread I started a while ago.. but it should give you a general idea on the game. (v14) Clay has fixed several reported issues in v15 and I just haven't gotten around to purchasing because v14 has been good for me so far. I was wrong too, there is arbitration, but it's not like ootp as far as depth goes.

BM 2014 - St. Louis Cardinals - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=88417)

[SlyBelle1]

I've been playing too fast to keep up with a dynasty thread I started a while ago.. but it should give you a general idea on the game. (v14) Clay has fixed several reported issues in v15 and I just haven't gotten around to purchasing because v14 has been good for me so far. I was wrong too, there is arbitration, but it's not like ootp as far as depth goes.

BM 2014 - St. Louis Cardinals - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=88417)

Thank you for all the details, really appreciate it....not sure if you knew, but people that own version 14 can upgrade for only $14.99 since I think it was a peace offering from the last year issues. Go to this thread and you just have to send an email to get a coupon.

Coupon for 2015 (http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php?210456-Coupon-for-2015)

[MizzouRah]

Thank you for all the details, really appreciate it....not sure if you knew, but people that own version 14 can upgrade for only $14.99 since I think it was a peace offering from the last year issues. Go to this thread and you just have to send an email to get a coupon.

Coupon for 2015 (http://forum.sportsmogul.com/showthread.php?210456-Coupon-for-2015)

Funny you mention that.. I've had that coupon for awhile now and this morning I was thinking after this season is over that I'm currently in, I was going to purchase and import my .mog file. :)

[korme]

The OOTP guys probably don't appreciate you guys threadjacking like this.

[Suicane75]

Yeah, bunch of Marlons in this thread moving into Barksdale territory.

[MizzouRah]

Sorry to threadjack sirs.. please forgive me.

but.. this is why I like Baseball Mogul..

Shane Robinson.. after his 2013 season with me, I say.. take care, you had a ok season, but I'm not paying you want you want. Tampa Bay signs him for 3 years at 2.35 million.. He's on the DL most of 2014, but this year he's tearing it up, having his best season of his career. He makes the AS game this year too. It's so easy to find these little things in this game.


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson_zpsa3c08d51.jpg (http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson_zpsa3c08d51.jpg)

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson2_zps6906d549.jpg

[Shepp]

So how does that make Mogul preferable to OOTP?

[EagleFan]

So how does that make Mogul preferable to OOTP?

It doesn't.

[EagleFan]

Sorry to threadjack sirs.. please forgive me.

but.. this is why I like Baseball Mogul..

Shane Robinson.. after his 2013 season with me, I say.. take care, you had a ok season, but I'm not paying you want you want. Tampa Bay signs him for 3 years at 2.35 million.. He's on the DL most of 2014, but this year he's tearing it up, having his best season of his career. He makes the AS game this year too. It's so easy to find these little things in this game.


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson_zpsa3c08d51.jpg (http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson_zpsa3c08d51.jpg)

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t27/MizzouRah0971/robinson2_zps6906d549.jpg

Someone take away your new thread button?

[MizzouRah]

My fault.. back to OOTP discussion.

I'm thinking about going historical after this latest patch, I'm just wondering should I use random debut or stick with normal settings?

I've never done a historical league with OOTP, but I know a lot of people do.

[cougarfreak]

I like both. Random debut is really cool and different. I have a hard time doing historical w/o real transactions on because of the advantage I gave over the AI.

[Peregrine]

Mizzou I've had a lot of fun with playing a historical league - you can do it a lot of ways. What I've done a couple of times is start in 1901 (or whenever) and keep the historical players but not assign them to their historical teams - so you get the players you know but a totally different history - some guys may never develop as they did in RL, others may be far better. It's been a lot of fun.

[MizzouRah]

Mizzou I've had a lot of fun with playing a historical league - you can do it a lot of ways. What I've done a couple of times is start in 1901 (or whenever) and keep the historical players but not assign them to their historical teams - so you get the players you know but a totally different history - some guys may never develop as they did in RL, others may be far better. It's been a lot of fun.

So I can start in 2014 with a random debut league and have an inaugural draft and then from there on out, each draft will have random players from different eras?

Any settings I need to mess with?

Thanks!

[DanGarion]

The OOTP guys probably don't appreciate you guys threadjacking like this.

They could always provide a better product so people wouldn't suggest BM.

[DaddyTorgo]

So I can start in 2014 with a random debut league and have an inaugural draft and then from there on out, each draft will have random players from different eras?

Any settings I need to mess with?

Thanks!

IIRC it's more that the players will enter the league at the appropriate year, but not be "tied" to their historical teams. So you could have a Stan Musial on the Yankees, or Ted Williams on the Cubs for example

[Peregrine]

So I can start in 2014 with a random debut league and have an inaugural draft and then from there on out, each draft will have random players from different eras?

Any settings I need to mess with?

Thanks!

Yes that will work great - I've done it before. Only setting you really need to worry about is selecting which years you want your random players to be from. I like to exclude pre-1901 players because otherwise the pitchers from that era tend to dominate. Keep in mind your initial players will be at various ages, so you might get bad luck and get a 36 year old Babe Ruth but that's how it goes.

The way I mentioned in my last post was not using random debut at all but just not selecting the option that assigns historical players to their historical teams - it keeps players in their appropriate era unlike random debut, but both work fine.

[MizzouRah]

IIRC it's more that the players will enter the league at the appropriate year, but not be "tied" to their historical teams. So you could have a Stan Musial on the Yankees, or Ted Williams on the Cubs for example

Yes, that's what I want.

[MizzouRah]

Yes that will work great - I've done it before. Only setting you really need to worry about is selecting which years you want your random players to be from. I like to exclude pre-1901 players because otherwise the pitchers from that era tend to dominate. Keep in mind your initial players will be at various ages, so you might get bad luck and get a 36 year old Babe Ruth but that's how it goes.

The way I mentioned in my last post was not using random debut at all but just not selecting the option that assigns historical players to their historical teams - it keeps players in their appropriate era unlike random debut, but both work fine.

Oh ok... that's fine. Thanks for the tips!

[korme]

My fault.. back to OOTP discussion.

I'm thinking about going historical after this latest patch, I'm just wondering should I use random debut or stick with normal settings?

I've never done a historical league with OOTP, but I know a lot of people do.

Download the historical uniform/logo mod. Makes everything fluid and you don't have to change a thing when it comes to jerseys and such as years pass.

[MizzouRah]

Download the historical uniform/logo mod. Makes everything fluid and you don't have to change a thing when it comes to jerseys and such as years pass.

Thanks for this! I would only use this if I start in say, 1901, correct? If I choose a normal MLB type league, but with random debut then I would still use the present MLB all in one, correct?

[korme]

It contains both, so you would be good to go in a present day setting as well, IIRC

[MizzouRah]

It contains both, so you would be good to go in a present day setting as well, IIRC

Excellent, thank you.

[EagleFan]

They could always provide a better product so people wouldn't suggest BM.

It's a better product than BM so that is an amusing statement...

[Mota]

It is different than BM.

I also consider it to be deeper and more realistic, but some people may prefer the more simple version of BM.

It's just like Football Manager, every year the game gets more and more realistic, but I think they lose some of the more casual fans. I'm looking for a Baseball Mogul version of a soccer game for my play type. For baseball I'm perfectly happy playing OOTP since it is my sport and I like all the details they can add.

[PilotMan]

OOTP 15 has 114 positive reviews on Steam, 0 negative. http://www.wolverinestudios.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[DanGarion]

Posting for fun.


Dangerous Experiment: A Roster of 25 Adam Dunns (crossposted from r/OOTP) : baseball (http://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/2dg9mz/dangerous_experiment_a_roster_of_25_adam_dunns/)

[PilotMan]

Bumping this:

OOTP in on sale at Gamersgate for $5 for another 2 days.

Out of the Park Baseball 15 - Buy and download on GamersGate (http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-OOTP15/out-of-the-park-baseball-15)

[DaddyTorgo]

At $5 I couldn't not pick it up.

[vex]

I was just hoping for a $10 sale...sold!