Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!!! (OOTP 2007 release thoughts!!!)

[Ksyrup]

I'm definitely seeing a big difference in career totals between playing with injuries set to normal versus low. It makes sense, obviously, but the "normal" setting it is keeping historical totals to points lower than I would like - no one close to 4000 hits, only a couple of post -1920s pitchers (I started this sim in 1919) get to 300 wins, only two 600 HR guys by 1968.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by yabanci

can anybody give a simple explanation for how to get the jerseys, caps, logos, etc. into the game.

I see Icy has something called a template, but it seems you can only use his stuff if you start a 2007 league with fictional players and the settings he likes, which I'm not interested in doing. I also see this "padresfan user mod site" has what appear to be cap, logo, jersey images, but they don't give you a readme or other instructions for what to do with them. that's the most bizarre site. They have all this stuff on there but they don't tell you what to do with it.

Once my stuff is installed, it will be auto used by any new game that uses the real teams names, no matter if fictional or real players, as long as you have a team in a new game named Florida Marlins, it will have the real logo, jersey and cap, the same for every team from MLB and minors.

[Ksyrup]

For you guys who are doing historical sims, are you simming straight through the 70s, and if so, does the game automatically add free agency, arbitration, etc., where it is supposed to? I have been going on the assumption it does not and stopping the sim to add it, but I was just wondering. The game auto-changes some rules, like adds DH where appropriate, but not financial rules (I guess). It does, however, change the financial settings, so I'm wondering if that's the extent of it. Just wanted to confirm my understanding.

Basically, when I sim, I sim through the end of 1968 solely for the purpose of changing the names of the playoffs (the defaults are Round 1, Round 2, etc., and if you have World Series set for Round 1 and don't change it in 1968, you get World Series for the League Championship Series and Round 2 for the World Series), then again in 1975 to add FA/arbitration, then again in 1992 to change the playoffs names to include the divisional playoff round, then again to add revenue sharing in 2002.

[Ksyrup]

Dola.

After reading a site on the economics of baseball, it looks like arbitration pre-dated free agency by 2 years. So I'm going to add arbitration in 1973.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I had the same problem. Aside from my not understanding what the purpose of the Almanac was, the other issue is that even if you understand what you're doing with the Almanac, for some reason the default settings on the Almanac options (the edit profile button) leave history unchecked, so you won't get history unless you change those settings before generating the Almanac.

can you walk me through how to do that?

[Young Drachma]

I finally have a universe that I'm happy with and picked up a team. It's funny, I saw all of these features in the team area that I hadn't seen like the updated financial menu and stuff like that.

I don't think I'm gonna write a dynasty on this. I started, but I have a lot more fun playing solo when I can just make whatever moves I want, without having to justifying them to readers who are like "OMG?!" lol...maybe later.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by twothree

historical league or fictional league?
number of teams in league?
number of rounds the draft is set to run?

This would be found under the game menu selecting the fourth option game setup. Then select the last tab, league setup. The select the rules tab and look at what amateur draft rules you have set.

I don't know if someone can help me with this. I am using historical rosters. Started in 2002 and my 2003 draft only had 8 people in it?

I am using the standard teams, 10 round draft and the draht is set to run June 15thth.

Anyone know why?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

For you guys who are doing historical sims, are you simming straight through the 70s, and if so, does the game automatically add free agency, arbitration, etc., where it is supposed to? I have been going on the assumption it does not and stopping the sim to add it, but I was just wondering. The game auto-changes some rules, like adds DH where appropriate, but not financial rules (I guess). It does, however, change the financial settings, so I'm wondering if that's the extent of it. Just wanted to confirm my understanding.

Basically, when I sim, I sim through the end of 1968 solely for the purpose of changing the names of the playoffs (the defaults are Round 1, Round 2, etc., and if you have World Series set for Round 1 and don't change it in 1968, you get World Series for the League Championship Series and Round 2 for the World Series), then again in 1975 to add FA/arbitration, then again in 1992 to change the playoffs names to include the divisional playoff round, then again to add revenue sharing in 2002.

From what I've seen, it does not change those rules automatically. It does seem to do everything else (financials, era hitting modifiers, pitching modifiers, etc.) that I want automatically, so I don't mind having to make those few changes manually.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

can you walk me through how to do that?

I don't think you want someone who can't properly generate a damn Almanac walking you through it ( ), but you need to go to the game options section, click the Almanac Options tab, and the first option is generate almanac yearly. To the right of that is an "edit profile" button. Click that and you will see everything has been clicked except the far right column, which is history. Click those and save.

Now, what I don't understand is if that actually works, since I've not been able to get it to work. I also don't understand the purpose of the two choices below that, since every time I hit "load profile" nothing happens. But once you've made that change, either check the "annual almanac" button to have the almanac created on 12/31, or just go to the game/almanac/generate almanac now option and it will be created. It takes a while, though.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

From what I've seen, it does not change those rules automatically. It does seem to do everything else (financials, era hitting modifiers, pitching modifiers, etc.) that I want automatically, so I don't mind having to make those few changes manually.

Yeah, it's a bit hard to remember what the game changes and what it doesn't. It adds DH and all-star games, but not arbitration. Seems kinda "arbitrary" to me.

[Lathum]

cool, thx Ksyrup.

Now if I simmed 30 years but didn't generate an almanac until AFTER I did the sim will the almanac I generated contain the info I needed?

[Ksyrup]

What info do you need? Look at vtbub's thread - twothree and I have been going back and forth over what's included. He's got a far better understanding than me, since I've never seen a fully-functioning almanac. I believe the only thing the almanac will give you that the history will not is access to box scores and game logs, as well as news/injury reports if you have those set to save. Basically, what you won't get with a "one-time almanac" is the year to year details like that. You will get the specific league standings, team stats, leaderboards, etc., but no opportunity to look at one team's box scores, or even the WS box scores.

EDIT: and when I say "history" versus almanac, I'm referring to the history that will generally be compiled without a year-to-year almanac. You'll get the same stats with a one-time almanac that you see if you click the history button in your current universe. The year-to-year almanac is necessary to view each year as it existed at that point in time, complete with box scores for each game.

[Ksyrup]

Man, in my current sim I've got a boatload of guys hitting .400 during the 20s and 30s. Al Simmons has done it 3 times, and Babe Ruth had a season that will likely never be matched - .423, 72 HR, and 169 RBI.

Although, Ted Williams hit .405 in his rookie year, so I guess anything's possible...

[twothree]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Man, in my current sim I've got a boatload of guys hitting .400 during the 20s and 30s. Al Simmons has done it 3 times, and Babe Ruth had a season that will likely never be matched - .423, 72 HR, and 169 RBI.

Although, Ted Williams hit .405 in his rookie year, so I guess anything's possible...

In my history sim, I had seven players who hit over .400 in a season...

1 Rogers Hornsby .444 year 1921
2 Ty Cobb .423 year 1912
3 Ty Cobb .414 year 1911
4 Rogers Hornsby .407 year 1924
5 Joe Jackson .405 year 1911
6 Doc Casey .402 year 1901
6 Eddie Collins .402 year 1926

[DaddyTorgo]

i'm in like 1907 and havn't seen it yet. guys are in the .340's and thereabouts. But I have speaker+shoeless joe+hal chase+ty cobb so I ought to see it happen on my team sometime soon

[Lathum]

Is there anyway to start as Colorado pre expansion and do the xpansion draft?

[Ksyrup]

Yes. I believe you sim up to the end of 1992 and take over Colorado once it is created as you would any team.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Yes. I believe you sim up to the end of 1992 and take over Colorado once it is created as you would any team.

I thied that ( I think) and I couldn't find the option to take them over.

[Ksyrup]

I haven't touched the in-game stuff yet, so I can't help you. From the older versions, I thought you just go to the team's front office and install yourself as the GM.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I thied that ( I think) and I couldn't find the option to take them over.

Make sure you are the commish.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I thied that ( I think) and I couldn't find the option to take them over.

I added a new manager and selected him to start as the GM of one of the expansion teams on the day before the expansion draft and it all worked ok.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I haven't touched the in-game stuff yet, so I can't help you. From the older versions, I thought you just go to the team's front office and install yourself as the GM.

No, you have to go to "Available Jobs" from the Manager menu and then apply for the job. Then you'll get the position.

[Eaglesfan27]

Or you can just "create a Human GM" and automatically make him the GM of Colorado if you are in Commish Mode.

[Lathum]

I got it. The problem for me was when I looked at the drop down menu for teams the 2 expansion teams were listed towards the bottom instead of with the other teams in the majors

[Ksyrup]

So I decided to stop my current sim and try a Gambo recalc sim from 1901. I stopped it in 1933 because the numbers just seem "off." For several years, the HR leader board has looked sparse, and 1933 finally did it for me - only 3 guys with 20+ HRs, and 2 of them hit 20 exactly; Gehrig hit 38. And that's both leagues combined. Very strange, as I've generally had pretty good luck with just letting the game change the modifiers year after year.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So I decided to stop my current sim and try a Gambo recalc sim from 1901. I stopped it in 1933 because the numbers just seem "off." For several years, the HR leader board has looked sparse, and 1933 finally did it for me - only 3 guys with 20+ HRs, and 2 of them hit 20 exactly; Gehrig hit 38. And that's both leagues combined. Very strange, as I've generally had pretty good luck with just letting the game change the modifiers year after year.

The amount of variability you see from recalc to recalc run really is amazing and it depends upon which ballpark a guy ends up in, at least in part.. Ruth had amazing homer outputs for me throughout the 20's as he LOVED Fenway park.

[Ksyrup]

I wasn't just looking at one guy, the numbers seem down across the board. For example, in the 1910s, there were several years where the league leaders in RBI barely cracked the 80s. The game just didn't seem to be flowing smoothly. Since this is supposed to be the most realistic way to sim, I wasn't happy accepting those kinds of swings from the norm.

I think what I'm going to try next is the redsox45's historical template - it uses Lahman, but with a 3 year recalc.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I wasn't just looking at one guy, the numbers seem down across the board. For example, in the 1910s, there were several years where the league leaders in RBI barely cracked the 80s. The game just didn't seem to be flowing smoothly. Since this is supposed to be the most realistic way to sim, I wasn't happy accepting those kinds of swings from the norm.

I think what I'm going to try next is the redsox45's historical template - it uses Lahman, but with a 3 year recalc.

My bad on just pointing out one guy. I've actually done two previous aborted recalcs before Vtbub's thread convinced me to give it another go. I've seen some recalc sims where the numbers also seemed off for one reason or another (too few homers, too few steals, too many .400 hitters, etc.) However, my most recent sim, the numbers just seem "right" with good believability for me (with the exception of one year where Ruth hit 73 homers with the short schedule.)

Shrug. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing how redsox45's historical template works out for you.

[Ksyrup]

The two sims I've run most recently have been to one extreme or the other. I hope I have your luck eventually. In the other sim, as I mentioned above, guys were hitting .400 every other year. Ted Williams started his career with 3 straight .400 seasons. It was bizarre.

[LionsFan10]

Okay I've got an honest question about this Gambo database. It seems like the database I'd rather use for historical accuracy and what not, but from reading his instructions I have to open the .csv with notepad, go back and delete every year prior to the year I planned on starting at. So if I wanted to start in 1990, I'd have to go back and delete from 1876-1990, using notepad that would take FOREVER am I missing something here? I hope that's no longer required.

I probably don't know there's an easier way to delete everything prior ... hopefully I'm wrong about this.

[Ksyrup]

Yes, it is, but it only takes 5 minutes if you use the shift function to copy everything from 1871 to 1989 to delete, then do the same from the Lahman database to paste.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by LionsFan10

Okay I've got an honest question about this Gambo database. It seems like the database I'd rather use for historical accuracy and what not, but from reading his instructions I have to open the .csv with notepad, go back and delete every year prior to the year I planned on starting at. So if I wanted to start in 1990, I'd have to go back and delete from 1876-1990, using notepad that would take FOREVER am I missing something here? I hope that's no longer required.

I probably don't know there's an easier way to delete everything prior ... hopefully I'm wrong about this.

No, you wouldn't have to do that any longer with the new version of the game. You could start in 1990 and have ratings decided from several options (entire career, years left, peak years left, etc.) Also, you can click the import historical stats to have all of the previous "real life" stats. However, I've noticed a few slightly off totals at least when I ran the preview version, but 99.9% of players seemed to have their correct real life stats.

[Ksyrup]

With our experiences with the recalc and general sims giving such varied results, does that suggest a problem with the automatic reconfigured modifiers? If I have a couple of "down" seasons offensively, shouldn't the game be auto-correcting that in the subsequent years? I guess I'm starting to wonder what that auto function does.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

No, you wouldn't have to do that any longer with the new version of the game. You could start in 1990 and have ratings decided from several options (entire career, years left, peak years left, etc.) Also, you can click the import historical stats to have all of the previous "real life" stats. However, I've noticed a few slightly off totals at least when I ran the preview version, but 99.9% of players seemed to have their correct real life stats.

OK, now you've got me confused. Before I create the league, I cut and paste as he suggests, then do the import. I don't mess with it any after that. Are you saying I don't even need to do that prior to creating the league? I don't understand the point of the instructions, then.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

OK, now you've got me confused. Before I create the league, I cut and paste as he suggests, then do the import. I don't mess with it any after that. Are you saying I don't even need to do that prior to creating the league? I don't understand the point of the instructions, then.

You have to note the dates of the readme files.. much of that was created for OOTP 2006 and doesn't seem to apply any longer. I've never done and cutting or pasting and I've had leagues start out just fine in 1977 and one in 2005 without doing any of that.

[Ksyrup]

Well damn.

I'm thinking maybe I should just start a fictional league in 2007 and be done with it.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well damn.

I'm thinking maybe I should just start a fictional league in 2007 and be done with it.

Duh.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...d.php?t=142738

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, apparently that's too complicated for me; I'm talking about just letting the computer set up a league for me!

Actually, I just loaded redsox45's historical template and am simming through the early 1900's right now. Looks good so far.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well damn.

I'm thinking maybe I should just start a fictional league in 2007 and be done with it.

The only way to play, IMO.

But, it's pretty cool that the game is flexible enough to let you guys play around with your cutsie little historical databases too.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by KWhit

The only way to play, IMO.

But, it's pretty cool that the game is flexible enough to let you guys play around with your cutsie little historical databases too.

At some point in the future I'll do that. But even when I play fictional leagues, I like to sim 50-100 years of history, so I would likely start a sim at some point in history, sim up to the current day, and take over a team at that point. It will be fun to be able to expand such a league whenever I want.

Right now, though, I'm stuck on the historical stuff.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well damn.

I'm thinking maybe I should just start a fictional league in 2007 and be done with it.

I haven't even tried to play yet, but I think I'm going to do this. I just haven't decided if I'm going to go with an MLB format or if I'm going to start with a completely fictional universe.

I've got to say that I am really impressed with the league format options. If I don't do an MLB-style universe, I'll probably do something with a small "major league" (maybe 8 or 12 teams) based in one area of the country, and then the league would slowly expand to other parts of the country over time. Somehow, I'd try to work an international league or two in there, also. I'm having so much fun dreaming these up, I almost feel like I'm mentally designing uniforms for Maximum Football.

[Ksyrup]

That sounds cool. This brings me back to some of the leagues I used to create with the older versions of OOTP - I remember having a 16 team league based in Florida, with teams in a bunch of smaller cities, and I based it on some of the real-life minor league teams that existed from the 30s to the 60s. The chance to do something like that again, AND be able to expand the league and add new leagues, is beyond awesome.

Where's my beer tent?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I haven't even tried to play yet, but I think I'm going to do this. I just haven't decided if I'm going to go with an MLB format or if I'm going to start with a completely fictional universe.

I've got to say that I am really impressed with the league format options. If I don't do an MLB-style universe, I'll probably do something with a small "major league" (maybe 8 or 12 teams) based in one area of the country, and then the league would slowly expand to other parts of the country over time. Somehow, I'd try to work an international league or two in there, also. I'm having so much fun dreaming these up, I almost feel like I'm mentally designing uniforms for Maximum Football.

The possibilities do make it really, really fun. It was dizzying the options you have your disposal and that's what made it hard for me to get started. I couldn't even figure out at first WHERE to begin. It's a blast.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well damn.

I'm thinking maybe I should just start a fictional league in 2007 and be done with it.

I think that's absolutely the way to start in this game.

I think it's funny that some people are playing their first league in OOTP7 as 30-team league, with 3 or 4 tiers of minor leagues, 2 feeder leagues, every conceivable financial option on, and then complaining that the game is too complicated.

This game has been a lot of fun so far for me with just a small fictional league with a few customized tweaks here and there. I know the players in my league already, and as history goes on, I'll add leagues/options.

[Ksyrup]

Here's an idea I have been toying with as I've messed with the historical sims, and I suppose there's a way to do it given the options in this game. Any thoughts on how to set this up, since I've never really messed with the league creation options before, are appreciated.

I'm thinking about setting up an historical fictional league that would, in essence, complete against the MLB. Along with the Florida minor league teams I researched a few years back, I also did some research on the Federal League that ran in 1914-15 (IIRC), and I'd be interested in creating something along those lines. What would be cool is to have this fictional league as the "main" league of my game, but also have the MLB running at the same time, and to have the "sign FA from other leagues" and vice versa activated so that there might be some crossover between my fictional players and the RL MLB players. I assume that's possible with the way we can set up leagues with OOTP, right? I think that would be a cool premise for a league, and it would be interesting to see if a team in my league could sign away a Hank Aaron or someone like that. Kinda like the USFL in the 80s.

[spleen1015]

That is totally possible.

[molson]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

That is totally possible.

I think it's a good idea. There's an option to allow trading between "major" leagues, which could add an interesting element as well.

I wonder if the best chance to be competive would be to use the Pacific Coast League (which was IRL a near-major league before the Giants and Dodgers moved west). You could do a west coast feeder league, and you'd have advantages in retaining and attracting west coast players (I think there's something in the manual to that effect).

[Ksyrup]

So the leagues would really be interactive like that? I was kinda thinking they'd have separate talent bases that might touch each other in free agency, but are you saying I might be able to attract MLB minor leaguers to my league? How would that work if I set up the MLB leagues to import from Lahman so that the RL players get into the game? This is where my lack of knowledge of how the league structuring would work hurts me.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So the leagues would really be interactive like that? I was kinda thinking they'd have separate talent bases that might touch each other in free agency, but are you saying I might be able to attract MLB minor leaguers to my league? How would that work if I set up the MLB leagues to import from Lahman so that the RL players get into the game? This is where my lack of knowledge of how the league structuring would work hurts me.

Based on how you do salaries and the such, the other league can attract major leaguers. I've noticed -- more in the past version than this one, where I haven't been able to monitor it as much -- that players will switch leagues if they can be the man in the other or if free agency in the lower league is timed similar to the major one, you can usually get some overlap between the two.

Also allowing trading between them can make that happen too. And with those deals, I simply legitimize it as if there was a cash deal swapping players between the two -- which is mostly what would have happened in real life.

I actually did the whole PCL as a major league thing in my historical sim over the weekend. I wasn't as painstaking with it and so, it didn't work as well as it should've but..there was still a ton of overlap between the two for the years between the 1950s until the early 80s when the PCL finally shut it doors. I created the Continental League too, so there was four major leagues and MLB only had two west coast teams that it poached from the PCL.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

For you guys who are doing historical sims, are you simming straight through the 70s, and if so, does the game automatically add free agency, arbitration, etc., where it is supposed to? I have been going on the assumption it does not and stopping the sim to add it, but I was just wondering. The game auto-changes some rules, like adds DH where appropriate, but not financial rules (I guess). It does, however, change the financial settings, so I'm wondering if that's the extent of it. Just wanted to confirm my understanding.

Basically, when I sim, I sim through the end of 1968 solely for the purpose of changing the names of the playoffs (the defaults are Round 1, Round 2, etc., and if you have World Series set for Round 1 and don't change it in 1968, you get World Series for the League Championship Series and Round 2 for the World Series), then again in 1975 to add FA/arbitration, then again in 1992 to change the playoffs names to include the divisional playoff round, then again to add revenue sharing in 2002.

yeah, this is a pain in the ass. How many players on MLB secondary roster? 40? I thought that was after August 31? I always thought that the majors was 25 man roster during the season until august 31? Also, does anyone know when Rule 5, and waiver wire was implemented in MLB?