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

[highfiveoh]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

No. Several of us brought this up and Markus indicated it would be looked at for 2008. IMO, this has been a glaring issue going several versions back, so it's a tad disappointing it hasn't been addressed yet, but not a huge issue. But it basically makes looking at a player's history (at least someone wih a huge history) virtually meaningless. It would be nice if, at a minimum, awards were bolded or something.

http://ootpdevelopments.com/board/sh...ad.php?t=21435 LOL

[Ksyrup]

Exactly.

[Ksyrup]

I'm completely confused/perplexed by the Almanac, since I just started a new league and decided that maybe I needed to have the game generate yearly reports in order to view the league history in 75 years, but now the sims are taking 30+ minutes per year, instead of 3. Something's not right. Maybe I'll try posting my question over at the OOTP forums later.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Maybe I'll try posting my question over at the OOTP forums later.

You'll get a much quicker answer.

[spleen1015]

Ksyrup, after you generated the Almanac, did you look for it on your HD?

I just created it for a league with 10 years of history and I have everything I want to see.

I found everything in the /news/almanac_XXXX directory. XXXX is the year the almanac was generated. I made sure that I had all of the options selected in the Almanac options screen before I selected 'Generate almanac now'.

[henry296]

I've got the demo and downloaded Icy's logo pack. I started a historical sim in 1988 with Gambo's database. However for some teams Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Cubs and Angels the logos don't show up. I'm sure it is a file name issue, but is their a standard naming convention that will make those logos work for those historical teams.

[Buccaneer]

I found this statement in the OOTP2007 forum

it has to be a setting somewhere

I think this is probably OOTP2007's slogan right now.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by henry296

I've got the demo and downloaded Icy's logo pack. I started a historical sim in 1988 with Gambo's database. However for some teams Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Cubs and Angels the logos don't show up. I'm sure it is a file name issue, but is their a standard naming convention that will make those logos work for those historical teams.

I'm pretty sure it's because it's looking for New York (A) Yankees, not New York Yankees. New York (N) Mets and not New York Mets, etcetera.

[Neuqua]

Wow, just downloaded and boy this looks intimidating. I skipped last year's version as well and I haven't even gotten out of the Create-a-League screen. I wanted to create a localized 24 team fictional league but I may just wait to see if someone releases a simple template in the future.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

where do you find this option to change it??

I have no idea

Maybe it was part of the historical setup? Maybe it is because I'm using the Gambo database and guys go through the minors? In any case, I'm a bit bummed out that Schmidt ended up with SD, but I have recalc off and he isn't doing that great (however, he has bounced back in the last few years with 30 plus homer years.


Pittburgh put together a nasty team in 1958 and won 12 straight WS. They had one of the best pitching staffs I've ever seen and won 110 games or more 7 of those 12 years.

[highfiveoh]

Just curious.. what all FOFC members have been working with the beta team (or even before beta)?

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Wow, just downloaded and boy this looks intimidating. I skipped last year's version as well and I haven't even gotten out of the Create-a-League screen. I wanted to create a localized 24 team fictional league but I may just wait to see if someone releases a simple template in the future.

Agreed...I think after about an hour I decided it was just too much for me. There's just a fine line between great game and too much and I think it's over the line. FOF runs that line perfectly.

[Buccaneer]

Another truism from the OOTP2007 forum

The more depth you have...the more time it will take to use that depth.

I think this is where the trade-off comes in: how much do you sacrifice ease of playability for depth? On the same line, how much ease do you sacrifice in order allow for the tremendous amount of customizability?

I'll come back in a week and read about actual gameplay experiences. It's not so much what the results are (for historical modes) but in the way a season can be played (or the "playability flow") with all of the different screens. With all the depth to the game, I'll be curious to see if the game forces you to slow down and pay more attention. OOTP5, admittedly, is far simpler (relatively speaking) and you can ignore most things in order to easily play through a season/off-season and get hooked into a "just one more season" mode.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by rowech

Agreed...I think after about an hour I decided it was just too much for me. There's just a fine line between great game and too much and I think it's over the line. FOF runs that line perfectly.

It is just like any other game. Once you learn how to use it, you're golden.

FOF hasn't changed in 6 years.

[Scholes]

Originally Posted by molson

Wow, it's incredibly strange that I can run about 8 leagues at different levels simultaneously, while at the time time it would take me about 10 minutes to add up one guys various awards. This is a perfect example of the obsession of additional "features" at the apparent expense of game play.

That being said, I'm having fun with the game so far. It looks like the biggest issues are going to be interface-related.

Are you talking about something like this??

[rowech]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

It is just like any other game. Once you learn how to use it, you're golden.

FOF hasn't changed in 6 years.

Might be true...only played OOTP 5 demo prior to this one and it is definitely a big step up...maybe too much...not sure.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Scholes

Are you talking about something like this??

Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for - is that actually in the game or did you add it yourself in the "Edit History" tab?

[Galaril]

I will highly recommend to everyone who has got the game and especially those who are having problems to read the manual. I actually printed it out on Thurseday at Kinko's and had it spiral bound. i have read about 300 pages of it and it has really helped ALOT. Oh, and I hadn't played last years 2006 OOTP and all played alittle with the FM 2005 game that was a not too distant cousin of this interface. So if you really want to understand this game I say read the manual and watch thevideo tutorials it will help.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Ksyrup, after you generated the Almanac, did you look for it on your HD?

I just created it for a league with 10 years of history and I have everything I want to see.

I found everything in the /news/almanac_XXXX directory. XXXX is the year the almanac was generated. I made sure that I had all of the options selected in the Almanac options screen before I selected 'Generate almanac now'.

I have an almanac, but it is nothing more than just the current year's information. The history subfolder is completely empty. What i don't understand is what you mean by "all the options selected in the Almanac options screen." I only see 7 options, 6 of which don't seem to have anything to do with what I want (I don't even understand what they are, aside from some sort of data dump options), and the other option is for generating the almanac yearly, which I don't want to do (and understand I don't need to do) because it is unnecessary. So what am I missing?

[cougarfreak]

The in game AI seems much improved as well. In my first played out game, tied up in the eighth, computer pinch runs for a slow runner with one out with a very fast player, and promptly steals second and third on the next two pitches.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I will highly recommend to everyone who has got the game and especially those who are having problems to read the manual. I actually printed it out on Thurseday at Kinko's and had it spiral bound. i have read about 300 pages of it and it has really helped ALOT. Oh, and I hadn't played last years 2006 OOTP and all played alittle with the FM 2005 game that was a not too distant cousin of this interface. So if you really want to understand this game I say read the manual and watch thevideo tutorials it will help.

How much did that cost you?

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I have an almanac, but it is nothing more than just the current year's information. The history subfolder is completely empty. What i don't understand is what you mean by "all the options selected in the Almanac options screen." I only see 7 options, 6 of which don't seem to have anything to do with what I want (I don't even understand what they are, aside from some sort of data dump options), and the other option is for generating the almanac yearly, which I don't want to do (and understand I don't need to do) because it is unnecessary. So what am I missing?

There is an 'Edit Profile' button on the top line on the left. Click that and make sure you have the 'History' option selected for the league you want history for.

[Ksyrup]

So I click the "edit profile" option for "archive HTML reports annually," but I don't actually check that option? That seems counter-intuitive - if I'm not using that option, why would the profile for it matter? And what do the "load profile" buttons below that do? I would think I want the "complete almanac" profile, but when I click the button, nothing happens.

[Ksyrup]

Here's something very nit-picky - I remember playing the game a few versions back, that the league affiliation would be shown (Al or NL). Now, it just shows ML. Is there some way to get the specific league affiliation showing like it used to? I have the AL and NL abbreviations in the game, but they aren't being used. Obviously a small thing, but just wondering if players can be designated by AL/NL instead of ML.

Also, I seem to recall in doing historical replays in previous versions that we couldn't mess with the team abbreviations because it would screw up importing. Is that still the case, or can I change WS1 and NY1 to a better abbreviation?

[Fouts]

Originally Posted by molson

Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for - is that actually in the game or did you add it yourself in the "Edit History" tab?

Every player has a history tab. When you bring up their profile (by clicking on them), the history tab is over to the right. I think the complaints have been about the html version of the players history, which is quite convoluted.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Fouts

Every player has a history tab. When you bring up their profile (by clicking on them), the history tab is over to the right. I think the complaints have been about the html version of the players history, which is quite convoluted.

I have a history tab, but no "total accomplishment" heading. I'm starting a slower sim now, I don't have a full year of history yet, so maybe it appears at some point.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So I click the "edit profile" option for "archive HTML reports annually," but I don't actually check that option? That seems counter-intuitive - if I'm not using that option, why would the profile for it matter? And what do the "load profile" buttons below that do? I would think I want the "complete almanac" profile, but when I click the button, nothing happens.

I see what you are saying now.

When I created mine, I just looked through all of the options and set them to what I thought would get me what I was looking for.

I dunno. Sorry.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by rowech

How much did that cost you?

Well, it would have been 30 dollars but the company I work for has a good deal with kinko's for printing pdf's no questions asked

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I see what you are saying now.

When I created mine, I just looked through all of the options and set them to what I thought would get me what I was looking for.

I dunno. Sorry.

If that's what you did and it worked, then I'll try it. You aren't generating an almanac for every season, are you?

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

If that's what you did and it worked, then I'll try it. You aren't generating an almanac for every season, are you?

No, I just tried it in 1911.

[Ksyrup]

From what that guy over at OOTP said, the way you did it will give you the general history in your almanac that you would otherwise see from the game, but not the year-by-year detail I was looking for. He clarified what I didn't understand. I'm interested in having that detail, but not until I start a league and intend on sticking with it for a long time. I'm not generating all of those reports for a test league!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by rowech

Agreed...I think after about an hour I decided it was just too much for me. There's just a fine line between great game and too much and I think it's over the line. FOF runs that line perfectly.

I think this version is so much better than 2006 so far, but I agree for the most part. I still think version 6.51 was the best ever and there is so much going on in this game now, it's almost too tedious for me so far.

FOF and TCB are so easy for me to load up and burn through many games, ootp now has me wondering which setting I might have forgotten or maybe I'm missing something I shouldn't be missing.

I'm going to have to spend a TON of time with this game before it grabs me... or at least I hope at some point it does.

Edit: That's not to say it's bad, Markus has definitly listened to many of it's critisizers from last year.. but daym is there a lot to digest just to play some baseball.

I should be jonesing to play some baseball, but instead I'm itching to fire up some FOF. (shruggs shoulders)

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

ootp now has me wondering which setting I might have forgotten or maybe I'm missing something I shouldn't be missing.

This is where I am right now, and all I've done with this game is tried to simulate some history. I haven't really gotten into the meat of the game at all yet. There is a serious learning curve for this game, whih is bound to frustrate people who would rather the game be fun right out of the box, as I remember Baseball Mogul being, for instance.

[Young Drachma]

I was having a good time with this until I tried to merge two leagues (by deleting the two and combining them) and then the game decided to get all weird on me and hasn't worked the same since. Bleh. It's still more playable out of the box than last year's..but there is SO much stuff.

I just want to get down to business, get some history and then immerse myself into a team for a little bit. Seems like it's probably almost better not to make it too complicated in the early going.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Seems like it's probably almost better not to make it too complicated in the early going.

I think that's the best way to start with this game. I'm managing a team in a small fictional league, with just an AAA minor league level, and one feeder league. Financials, Scouting, and Coaching all off, and a scouting range of only 1-5 so I'm using a lot of the stats. Scaled down, the game zips right along, and I figure I'll add more of the complex features as I go.

[Senator]

Patience with this has worked wonders for me. At first, I had a case of the "oh man, too much going on" attitude, but I just didn't rush it. I started to go through the links and slowly see what each did. I really enjoy this game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Well, that was disappointing. Finally playing my games now, and in my 7th spring training game my pitcher was relief pitcher was injured in the 7th at the end of the inning. I got a message I had to remove him from the game. Then, the game crashed to desktop. I don't know if I saved after playing out 5 spring training games (trying to get to know my team some.)

Guess, I'll remember to save after every game for now on.

[Fouts]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Well, that was disappointing. Finally playing my games now, and in my 7th spring training game my pitcher was relief pitcher was injured in the 7th at the end of the inning. I got a message I had to remove him from the game. Then, the game crashed to desktop. I don't know if I saved after playing out 5 spring training games (trying to get to know my team some.)

Guess, I'll remember to save after every game for now on.

Strange. I have played 50+ games already and never crashed. Then again, I'm not using an outside database.

[Balldog]

Using the trial...

I tried to do a historical league starting in 1994, I started the import at 8:30pm last night. This morning, at 8:45am I go to my computer all excited to start playing and it is still on 3% of importing players. WTF.

[Ksyrup]

Sim times are weird. My laptop, which is a year older than my desktop and far less of a computer, is light years faster than my desktop. I started a sim around midnight last night in 1920, and right now, it's in 1938. No other applications are open, but I guess there are other things going on in the background? On my laptop, the day-to-day sim pecentages fly by; on my desktop, they inch along. Very strange.

[Capital]

A little surprised this game didn't come with MLB rosters, since the latest FOF and DDS:PB both had pro rosters. Let me quest, I bet it's player's union related.

I'm just one of those that will start in 2007 rosters and create history from that point. It's hard to get into a complicated game like this (at least in the beginning) with fictional players. I may try a fictional league down the road, but only after I get the feel of the game with actual players.

[KWhit]

I'm really enjoying this so far. There is a LOT going on, but I think you can take it in stages. You don't NEED 3/4 of the screens that are available unless you want to take advantage of them. This is really a very similar game to 6.5 except with a lot of stuff added to it. If you use the icons at the bottom of the screen to navigate to your lineup, pitching, front office screens, etc. you can have a pretty similar experience to 6.5 and expand the stuff you do as time goes on.

The options are great, IMO. I hate having to manage a 40 man roster, so I just turn that off. Same with waivers. Turn em off.

There is a bit of a learning curve yes, but you don't have to use everything in order to get going. Find the key 5-7 screens (all of which can be navigated to from the manager's home page, and start. After you play a bit, you'll learn more and the interface becomes much much easier and it is quite powerful. Being able to customize the way my batting and pitching views look and then set them up as bookmarks is very cool. But I didn't need to do that to enjoy the game, so I didn't dive into that stuff until I had already understood the basics.

Give it time.

[Senator]

One thing that would add tons to the immersive quality and give a semblance that your game choices matter would be in the one pitch mode.

In Microleague Baseball, which I played more than any other game, perhaps, they had a one pitch mode. But, instead of pushing a button that said, pitch, you were given a menu - 1 fastball 2 curve 3 changeup 4 slider ect. and on the offensive side 1 hit 2 hit and run 3 hit away 4 hit for the fences.

This added much more for me, and moved it from just being a spectator viewing to actual interaction in how the game developed.

Just a thought.

[DaddyTorgo]

I must be doing something wrong.

My first year I can scout the draft right. But my second year (and every year after) I go to assign a scout to it on the "draft pool" screen and I get "scout x is already scouting the draft" and yet when the draft comes, all the guys have 1-star for potential and current. With all 3 scouts that I was trying to send.

[Lathum]

OK, I downloaded the demo and am trying to start a historic league in 1975. I try to DL the database and I keep getting an error message

" The loading of your historical league failed. Please be sure you selected the correct path to the historical databaseor you have entered a year between 1901-2006"

I entered 1975. Any help?

I will probably have more questions also.

[Young Drachma]

I saved often. I had the frame of mind for some reason to save the big league I was working on that wouldn't move forward as a template. When it stopped working right, I reloaded a new league using that template and it had all of my history from the previous league and it works now and let me add a few leagues.

So...I'm not nearly as annoyed anymore. That's a good thing that there is a workaround. I think that the whole add/delete leagues thing probably still needs a bit of work still. Because it caused me some problems with that old league when I deleted is when the problems began.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Lathum

OK, I downloaded the demo and am trying to start a historic league in 1975. I try to DL the database and I keep getting an error message

" The loading of your historical league failed. Please be sure you selected the correct path to the historical databaseor you have entered a year between 1901-2006"

I entered 1975. Any help?

I will probably have more questions also.

Have you downloaded a database? Once you do, you need to set the path to where you put it in a field that says something similar to database path.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Have you downloaded a database? Once you do, you need to set the path to where you put it in a field that says something similar to database path.

how do I do that?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Lathum

how do I do that?

You can download Lehman from the main site for that database (just google it.) Gambo I found on OOTP's boards by finding the user Gambo and then clicking on the link in his sig. Ankit and probably one or two others are also over there. By the way, for those that are interested, I believe Gambit has a link to opening day rosters as well in his sig.

The field where it asks you to name the database directory is just a few lines below the field where it asks for the year you want to start in, if I'm remembering correctly.

[Lathum]

Thanks Doc, but that makes no sense to me.