OOTP 9: Release date & two new features revealed!

[Markus Heinsohn]

Hey guys,

for those who are interested in OOTP 9:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/newsletters/nl0042/

Enjoy!
Markus

[MizzouRah]

REALLY love both of these features Markus..

[Ksyrup]

Cruel not to at least mention the release date in this thread.

Just thought I'd point that out.



























June 18th

[Ksyrup]

Man, that couldn't be more perfect for me. I'm going on vacation on the 21st.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Cruel not to at least mention the release date in this thread.

Just thought I'd point that out.

Well, that was by design. Thanks for spoiling it

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Man, that couldn't be more perfect for me. I'm going on vacation on the 21st.

So do I! Finally!

[Ben E Lou]

Hello again from OOTP Developments! We have some big news, so please read on! OOTP 9 Release Date Announced We are pleased to announce that OOTP 9 will be released on June 18th! As in years past, OOTP 9 will run on both PC and Mac platforms, and will sell at a list price of US $39.99 for customers outside of Europe, and €39.99 in Europe. Pre-Order Period Still Open Remember, the pre-order period lasts through 11:59 pm on June 17th, GMT-5 (Eastern), so use this opportunity to save $15 by pre-ordering OOTP 9 right now for a price of US $24.99 or €24.99! If you need a reason to pre-order, read on! More info about OOTP 9 and links to the web stores Previous OOTP 9 newsletter Two New Features Revealed We have kept these gems under the hat thus far, but now it's time to publicly announce the addition of two great news features: Simple ball animations! OOTP uses Retrosheet ball locations to calculate where the ball is hit once put in play. OOTP 9 will allow you to set these exact locations in the ballpark editor so it matches the ballpark image used. Now, when playing a game in broadcast mode, you see where the ball is heading using a simple but effective ball animation! This works at all play-by-play speeds, and even if you selected the short play-by-play mode. When using instant play-by-play, the final destination of the ball is indicated properly. Now you can finally see where that 450-foot home run ended up in the stands! Save & watch game replays! OOTP 9 introduces a feature that is great for solo players and even better for online league participants. The game now allows you to store complete game replays either automatically (using similar setting like box scores, i.e. just human teams, human leagues etc.) or manually. These replay files include the complete play-by-play, ball locations for the animation and sound effects. The replays are shown in a screen similar to the broadcast game screen, so you can re-live all those exciting moments. Storing replays manually works as well, and allows you to share your greatest games with the community. Replay files even include the final box scores, so after watching a game that you got from a friend you can see the final numbers easily. For online leagues the replays are included in the online league files, and we have added a setting to the schedule screen to hide final scores, so you could update your league file, then jump into the schedule screen and watch the simulated games without knowing the result! That's extra excitement added for people who love playing in online leagues. Full OOTP 9 Feature List Below is the complete list of major new features for OOTP 9. In addition to these, there are a number of smaller improvements as well, and it would be a little too tedious to list them all! General features Built-in 2008 Opening Day rosters Revised, more realistic scouting system with less micromanaging, more realistic impact on your team, and written scouting reports on each player you scout Past scouting reports are stored, so you can see how your players developed over time. Reports are not erased when you lose your scouting director. Suspensions as a result of bench-clearing brawls, along with optional drug-related suspensions In-game add-on installer that will allow you to download and automatically install custom add-ons from the community Improved personnel contracts using a system similar to player contracts Added a streaks section to the league stats screen The league standings screen now shows the leagues leaders as well if desired Added stats to player list filters More news stories Improved simulation speed Customization features A revised playoff system, with many more customizable options Added the option to assign nations to teams in the league setup Player creation utilizes different team nationalities in a league Increased the secondary roster size max limit to 70 Increased the expanded roster size max limit to 70 Added a 'cannot be fired' option to the manager options Added personality ratings to customizeable player lists Added "turn into coach" feature for retired players In-game features In-game sound and further improvements to the realism of the play-by-play engine Simple ball animation Store & watch game replays Recoded pitcher endurance system, resulting in much more realistic results when using relievers as starters and vice-versa Increased font size of PbP in higher resolutions Financial system features Improved front office system with additional financial detail Two new revenue sharing options Greatly improved contract AI Historical features Built-in support for Lahman historical database, including neutralized stats for better results Built-in ballpark database, utilized automatically when rpogressing through history Ability to import pre-1901 seasons Added the following league totals modifiers: SP Endurance, RP Endurance, WP, PB, Balks, Double Plays, Sac Flies, Sac Bunts, SB Attempts, SB Success % Improved the automatic adjustment of the following league totals modifiers: Hits, 2B, 3B Greatly improved the defensive ratings & position calculations Improved calculation of pitcher endurance when importing historical leagues Added the option to automatically retire players according to history Added an option for historical leagues to base actual player ratings on neutralized stats Added a historical option called "Base roles/positions on...", which can be either real life stats or AI evaluation. Real life is the default when using recalc, which results in even more realistic stats as players will be used like in real life. Added a recalc option called "Double weight of current year", which will do just that when recalc is enabled. Improved historical season importing speed Features for online leagues Rankable draft lists Replays included in online league file Option to hide scores in the schedule screen for increased tension while watching replays Players now react within a maximum of 5 days when receiving and offer Other features Improved artificial intelligence across the board Improved player development that eliminates those aggravating sudden talent "jumps" or "bumps," resulting in a vast array of realistic career arcs. Improved several HTML reports Top prospect lists are now either egnerated once a year or dynamically. Players get their ranking added to the player history. Ballpark images can be loaded from any folder with select file dialog now A customizable backup function that makes it easier than ever to ensure you are getting solid backups of the leagues that are important to you Universal binary for Mac users, resulting in huge performance improvement on that platform New skin options, giving you three to choose from. Additionally, leagues can now have their own fictional logos, and logo sizes have been increased to take more advantage of our skilled modder community! Added "Disliked" as a player popularity value. This will happen for example when a player gets suspended for using drugs. Whew! That's a lot of stuff! Of course, we've also spent time clearing up some nagging issues from previous versions, and we're confident this will be the best OOTP yet! Keep an eye on your e-mail, as we'll be sending out some more detailed explanations of select features over the few days remaining before June 18th! Thanks, The OOTP Developments Team Pre-order Out of the Park Baseball 9 now and save 15.00! OOTP 9 PC/Windows Web Store OOTP 9 Mac Web Store Copyright © 2008 by Out of the Park Developments. All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy and Copyright Information

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[cuervo72]

Customization features

• A revised playoff system, with many more customizable options
• Added the option to assign nations to teams in the league setup
• Player creation utilizes different team nationalities in a league
• Increased the secondary roster size max limit to 70
• Increased the expanded roster size max limit to 70
• Added a 'cannot be fired' option to the manager options
• Added personality ratings to customizeable player lists
• Added "turn into coach" feature for retired players

You know what would be useful for online leagues from a customization standpoint - editable DL lengths. 15-day is realistic, but is STINKS for leagues that sim a week at a time (basically to put a guy on the DL, you put him there for 21 days; 14 days would be ideal).

[Subby]

Well hopefully loyalty and work ethic and intelligence have been added to those fancy new HTML player pages.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

You know what would be useful for online leagues from a customization standpoint - editable DL lengths. 15-day is realistic, but is STINKS for leagues that sim a week at a time (basically to put a guy on the DL, you put him there for 21 days; 14 days would be ideal).

In a couple of the leagues I have been in, we alternated between 7 and 8 day sims to avoid this issue.

[CleBrownsfan]

I've been playing the hell out of OOTP8 for the past 3 months (Solo league playing every game). I just don't see enough here to update an already fine game. Looks like this feature is more for historical or online - which is fine just not the way I play the game.

[Young Drachma]

I'm ready for the new version.

[Chubby]

kinda stoked for this

[BYU 14]

Really like the ball animation, simple, but will improve ingame immersion for me a ton.

[Grammaticus]

I guess I gotta buy it.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I've been playing the hell out of OOTP8 for the past 3 months (Solo league playing every game). I just don't see enough here to update an already fine game. Looks like this feature is more for historical or online - which is fine just not the way I play the game.

The game is improved greatly in every area. The AI & player development improvements alone are worth the $25 upgrade price in my opinion... and on top of that you get 60+ other new features

[21C]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

You know what would be useful for online leagues from a customization standpoint - editable DL lengths. 15-day is realistic, but is STINKS for leagues that sim a week at a time (basically to put a guy on the DL, you put him there for 21 days; 14 days would be ideal).

Surprised that Markus didn't respond with this but it looks like he just added this feature.

[DaddyTorgo]

ball animation seems like a simple thing to get hung-up on, but i agree that it will greatly improve my in-game immersion.

[jbergey22]

Well I am getting more and more convinced I might have to get this even though I was upset about the OOTP8 roster issues.

Has the Intentional walk issue been fixed Markus? The ones where your team will be losing 4-2 in the 9th, get a leadoff double and the next guy is intentional walked. It has helped me make a lot of 9th inning comebacks but just doesnt seem too realistic.

The only other real game play issues I really had were that it seemed easier to steal 3rd than 2nd and the AI lineups change too drastically vs R and L pitchers.

This game is getting very close to perfect....

[cuervo72]

lol...well done Markus.


(I'm assuming this is something that can be done post-league creation)

[andy m]

check THESE animated balls!

[Cork]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I've been playing the hell out of OOTP8 for the past 3 months (Solo league playing every game). I just don't see enough here to update an already fine game. Looks like this feature is more for historical or online - which is fine just not the way I play the game.

As a solo player who plays out his games, the vastly improved PbP is worth the upgrade price. It is way better than last years PbP.

-Cork

[MizzouRah]

To save $15.00, it's a no-brainer for me... even if the last version I really go into was 6.5.

[Ksyrup]

Hey Markus, I think I sold at least one copy on another board where I posted the newsletter and explained the game to some hardcore baseball fans into fantasy and SOM. Can I get a commission?

[Ksyrup]

Wait...hardcore, fantasy, S[&]M...that last post reads a little strangely.

[Mantle2600]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Wait...hardcore, fantasy, S[&]M...that last post reads a little strangely.

It does, I had to do a double take

[CleBrownsfan]

Okay - I did the pre-order... Can we import during a season or is it best to import when season is complete? I have about 30 games left in the 2008 season (play out each game). I should be able to finish before release

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Okay - I did the pre-order... Can we import during a season or is it best to import when season is complete? I have about 30 games left in the 2008 season (play out each game). I should be able to finish before release

Yeah, you can import whenever you want but it is suggested to do it between seasons. I'm like you, play 'em all out and have 26 games left in my current season so I should be done with regular season by release and if lucky the playoffs too. If not it won't take me long to finish so being patient won't be a problem

[astrosfan64]

I already preordered. Whether or not, I get into a ton isn't an issue. There are certain games I buy every year regardless if I play them alot or not.

They are Football Manager, EHM before it was gone, FOF and OOTP Baseball.

I will buy NCAA & Madden every other year, but I at leasr rent a copy every year.

Some years, its worth it more then others. But for the text sim market its a no brainer for me. I'll spend the money, because I don't want it to go away.

[Anthony]

i didn't realize preorder period lasted until the day before the game comes out. i'm totally gonna buy this game and get it for $25.

[Anthony]

ohhhhh baby. preordered right now at 11:56 pm, with 3 minutes to spare.

fuck you Markus - you ain't getting that extra $15!!! LOL

[Grammaticus]

I picked up the pre-order too. Looks too promising to pass up while saving the $15.

[Lonnie]

Markus is in Germany, so isn't it already June 18th there? I just tried to download, but it's not ready yet.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

ohhhhh baby. preordered right now at 11:56 pm, with 3 minutes to spare.

fuck you Markus - you ain't getting that extra $15!!! LOL

You wanna know how close I came? I saw your post and rushed off to pre-order. I should have realized this would be on GMT. And, yes, I made it.

[CraigSca]

He wrote that the download should be available at 2pm est Wednesday.

[Lonnie]

Yeah I saw that in the other post after I posted here. Is that 2pm GMT?

[SirFozzie]

In honor of Markus releasing yet another top-notch iteration of the OOTP series, we need to do something special to honor it..

Hmm.. I know, we can put the topic into german..

Which would you rather see?

Here we go Boyz, the Out Of the Park Baseball 9 Impressions Thread

or..

(forgive me for the babelfishing)

Hier gehen wir die Jungen, aus dem Eindrucks-Gewinde des Park-Baseball- heraus9

[Schmidty]

Damn. I have to buy the game for our revival of the new JBL. I didn't know there was a pre-order (or totally forgot). This sucks.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Damn. I have to buy the game for our revival of the new JBL. I didn't know there was a pre-order (or totally forgot). This sucks.

new JBL? (perks)

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

ohhhhh baby. preordered right now at 11:56 pm, with 3 minutes to spare.

fuck you Markus - you ain't getting that extra $15!!! LOL

I just now preordered for $24.99. Gotta love preordering something four hours before it's released...

[GoldenEagle]

Can you still preorder it?

[JeeberD]

As of 9am you could. I would assume it's still possible...

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

As of 9am you could. I would assume it's still possible...

Yup, the preorder still works.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In honor of Markus releasing yet another top-notch iteration of the OOTP series, we need to do something special to honor it..

Hmm.. I know, we can put the topic into german..

Which would you rather see?

Here we go Boyz, the Out Of the Park Baseball 9 Impressions Thread

or..

(forgive me for the babelfishing)

Hier gehen wir die Jungen, aus dem Eindrucks-Gewinde des Park-Baseball- heraus9

Let's stick to English. The German will be an ugly precedent.