FOF7 Historical Files Update

[nilodor]

Yes I know there is another thread, but I didn't create it so I have no control over it and I think this may interest a few folks.

I've sent the updated historic files to Ben for uploading.

For those of you who don't know what's included here's a recap:

• Roster and Draft files compatible with FOF7 from 1960 to 2013
• Players have correct personal attributes (height, weight, birthplace, college, draft year, round, pick (sorta))

Ratings are done as follows:

• For each player their overall rating 0-9 is given
• This is adjusted for age, with different aging systems depending on position
• For example if a player is rated as a 9, but is in their 15th year their rating in that file will be discounted
• Ratings for the draft files are generated based on this overall rating
• Players with specific traits (Speed, high interception rate, returning, pass rush) have modifiers which show up in the player file and draft file for specific ratings

The main exclusion from the files are hall of fame points and that players first appear in the files when they are drafted or play their first game, whichever comes first.

For example a player is drafted in 1983, but plays in the USFL and doesn't play in the NFL until 1985, that player will appear in the 83 draft file, as well as the 83 roster file. However, if that player wasn't drafted their first appearance will be in the 85 files.

Anyways, post any weird bugs or issues you have. I have included the csv files if you don't agree with ratings or want to make some mods or such.

Enjoy!

How to use the files

To start a historical career:

• Download the Files (See post #3)
• Unzip them into any folder (I think the zip files are split into roster files and draft files)
• In FOF 7 - Click start New Game
• Select yes to the option begin game using alternate player file
• A window will open - Navigate to the folders you just unzipped and select the year you want to start in (eg: 1985 is the 85-86 season)

To import draft files:

• After ending the season look for a button that says import draft file
• Again it will open a window to select the draft file you want to use - Navigate to the draft folder and select the appropriate year (eg: 1986 for the 86-87 season)

[jzicc]

U the MAN!

[Ben E Lou]

Uploaded to Index of /fof7downloads

Do you want me to remove the old ones?

[nilodor]

Thanks for uploading the files. Yes you should remove the old ones, thanks.

[vatech24]

I've been waiting for this forever!!!

Thank you so much for the time and effort that you have put into this. I know I'm not alone when I say thank you.

[antdroid]

Wow! Thanks for all the hard work! I can't wait to try these out later!

[Dave Hansen]

Txs to Nilodor!

Can I begin with this roster file, say in 1960, and then do a career SP league through 2013?

Or are these files to used only as a paricular single season experience?

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Dave Hansen

Txs to Nilodor!

Can I begin with this roster file, say in 1960, and then do a career SP league through 2013?

Or are these files to used only as a paricular single season experience?

You totally can start in 1960 and run right through the present day. The only issue will be there is no expansion in the game so when you start the talent pool will be very thin and concentrated on the teams that were active at the time. The draft will also have less talent overall. I still have a lot of fun starting back then though and I hope you do to.

If anyone is curious to do this; select that you want to use an alternate player file when you start up a new game, then select the 1960 file and you should be good to go. In the offseason after the staff draft you get the opportunity to import a draft, if you just finished 1960, you will import the 1961 draft file.

[Andreh]

Ive started at 90 to try to give the bills an opportunity to win one of those 4 games! Thank you for that much of work!!

[APC]

Thank you, sir!

[nilodor]

Welcome. I'm trying to ride Joey Harrington to the superbowl. Let's just say that through 3 seasons it will be a miracle if we don't lose 10 games.

[Apathetic Lurker]

Ok, I must be doing something wrong as the game just happily makes me start in the present day no matter where I stick these files..... Anybody want to tell me where they put theirs ?

[RGVicedo]

You can unzip them into any directory you want, when you start the game select "begin game with alternate player file" then browse to the location where you unzipped the files and choose what year you want

Hope this helps

[MizzouRah]

Yes, thank you!

[SirBlurton]

Wanted to chime in with my appreciation too - these files were very much anticipated! Thanks very much for the hard work and for sharing them!

[Apathetic Lurker]

Originally Posted by RGVicedo

You can unzip them into any directory you want, when you start the game select "begin game with alternate player file" then browse to the location where you unzipped the files and choose what year you want

Hope this helps

Nope..wont work.... still does it automatically and sends me to 2013

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Apathetic Lurker

Nope..wont work.... still does it automatically and sends me to 2013

From Spain, one question please! - Front Office Football Central

Check out post 4 in this thread. I think in the download link I gave some decent instructions on how to get the files to load properly.

Also thanks for all of the positive feedback for the files. It sure took a long time but I'm really happy that people are enjoying them.

[yabanci]

can't thank you enough for these.

[djsatu]

Any chance you have an updated 2014 draft file Nilodor?

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by djsatu

Any chance you have an updated 2014 draft file Nilodor?

Nope, not really planning on it either until next year.

[beatle]

Thanks for the hard work. I love the historical files and have been using them for years!

[searmh]

will these files work with fof2007?

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by searmh

will these files work with fof2007?

No. Although I included all the csv files so it would be pretty simple to convert them to a format that would work. The main difference is for the roster files, I think there is an extra column or something, and the salary columns are a bit different. I think the draft files are the same, but I don't remember for sure. I did post about the differences somewhere else, but I don't have time to look.

[WebEwbank]

Much improved, man. I won five (5) Superbowls in a row right out of the gate with the 74 Steelers.

[freddylamar]

Having some trouble trying to use these files. Getting a "The player database is corrupted or is the wrong version." I'm using the newest version of FOF. Any help would be appreciated.

[freddylamar]

bump

[yabanci]

I recently started a new FOF7 historical league without any problem. Are you 100% sure you have the most recent files? You probably do, but no harm in downloading them again just in case and giving it another shot. Good luck.

Historical Roster files for FOF7

Historical Draft files for FOF7

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by freddylamar

Having some trouble trying to use these files. Getting a "The player database is corrupted or is the wrong version." I'm using the newest version of FOF. Any help would be appreciated.

Are you using FOF7 and not FOF2K7? I included the csv files, you'd have to do some minor modification on your own to make it work.

[freddylamar]

I guess I was downloading an old file or something. Re-downloaded the files yabanci was nice enough to post and now everything is working great. Thank you! Having a blast starting with the Panthers in 1994 and building my own team in 1995. Very fun.

[nilodor]

Glad you are enjoying them. I'm slowly working on an update for 2014.

[Rawhide]

The historical draft files for FOF7 are not working for me. I have the most recent version of the game, but it says "the draft file you've chosen is not compatible with this version of Front Office Football". What am I doing wrong?

[yabanci]

Originally Posted by Rawhide

The historical draft files for FOF7 are not working for me. I have the most recent version of the game, but it says "the draft file you've chosen is not compatible with this version of Front Office Football". What am I doing wrong?

It's possible you have an old set of draft files. Re-download from this link and try again.

Historical Draft files for FOF7

[Rawhide]

Originally Posted by yabanci

It's possible you have an old set of draft files. Re-download from this link and try again.

Historical Draft files for FOF7

Sorry, those were the same files I was trying to load before. Still didn't work.

Will try to get the very latest version of FOF7 down and see if that makes a difference.

Edit - It did! Seems 7.1 is the way to go from here on in. Thanks for your help.

[da0ud]

Hi,

Where should I install those files if I want to play with them ?

Thanks

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by da0ud

Hi,

Where should I install those files if I want to play with them ?

Thanks

Wherever you want. Unzip the files into a directory. When you start a new career select the option to begin with an alternate player file.

Navigate to the folder that you unzipped the player files to.

Select the year you want to start in.

When the new season rolls around, keep an eye out for the import draft class button (I think it's just after the coach hiring phase).

Navigate to the folder you unzipped the draft files to.

Select the year corresponding to the current season (eg: Import the 2001 draft for the 01-02 season).

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Wherever you want. Unzip the files into a directory. When you start a new career select the option to begin with an alternate player file.

Navigate to the folder that you unzipped the player files to.

Select the year you want to start in.

When the new season rolls around, keep an eye out for the import draft class button (I think it's just after the coach hiring phase).

Navigate to the folder you unzipped the draft files to.

Select the year corresponding to the current season (eg: Import the 2001 draft for the 01-02 season).

Might be a good idea to put that information in the first post for any newbies that show up, especially after the game goes on Steam.

[da0ud]

Thank you very much !

And yes Ben : I have seen a lot of amazing utilities, etc. on this forum but, like the game, it is not very noob friendly

[JMocks]

Hi guys. First game in the franchise for me. I'm liking what I've seen so far. My only gripe is not having the stats from previous years. So once I start a save, its like the league never existed until I start it in 2014. Do I have to use these historical files to recreate the league history? Or am I missing something here? Thanks!

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by JMocks

Hi guys. First game in the franchise for me. I'm liking what I've seen so far. My only gripe is not having the stats from previous years. So once I start a save, its like the league never existed until I start it in 2014. Do I have to use these historical files to recreate the league history? Or am I missing something here? Thanks!

There is no way to get the actual NFL stats in the game. The historical files are if you want to loosely recreate history. You could "quick sim" a history using the historical files. Although it would play out entirely differently from the real NFL.

[JMocks]

Originally Posted by nilodor

There is no way to get the actual NFL stats in the game. The historical files are if you want to loosely recreate history. You could "quick sim" a history using the historical files. Although it would play out entirely differently from the real NFL.

Yeah I came to that conclusion. Thanks anyways nilodor!

[tieio]

I downloaded the dbupdaterv2.0.4.zip file, how does one use it? I tried placing it in the universe folder but that doesn't seem to work. I just want to be able to play with real team names.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by tieio

I downloaded the dbupdaterv2.0.4.zip file, how does one use it? I tried placing it in the universe folder but that doesn't seem to work. I just want to be able to play with real team names.

Easiest to just edit that in the game options, you can change the nicknames to anything you want.

[NoxMortem]

Is there already a 2014 update somewhere?

Edit: Oh god, altough I have no clue about football I simply love the historical data set. It allows me to start in 1960 and play up to now where I have at least heard some player names in the last years. This is so cool. The values are fictional for me anyway as I have not really any idea about the people but seeing names in the drafts later on where I can recognize them is really really cool. Thank you for your updates!

I also love how the game recognizes the year from the player file and so I am not starting 2014 with the players from 1960 but am playing the 1961-62 season now (ok... with the teams from 2014 but hey, we can't have all).

It would be really funny if the game supported changing the participating teams as well to play an alternate history setup.

[Chrome]

Originally Posted by NoxMortem

Is there already a 2014 update somewhere?

Edit: Oh god, altough I have no clue about football I simply love the historical data set. It allows me to start in 1960 and play up to now where I have at least heard some player names in the last years. This is so cool. The values are fictional for me anyway as I have not really any idea about the people but seeing names in the drafts later on where I can recognize them is really really cool. Thank you for your updates!

I also love how the game recognizes the year from the player file and so I am not starting 2014 with the players from 1960 but am playing the 1961-62 season now (ok... with the teams from 2014 but hey, we can't have all).

It would be really funny if the game supported changing the participating teams as well to play an alternate history setup.

At least you didn't do what I did, I imported the 1970 file as the draft class, and they all retired after one year cause their birthdays don't change. bunch of 60 yr olds didn't want to play lol

Also, you can change team names whenever you want. Game Options menu (the little gear icon) lets you set City/Nicknames. You just have to keep the same number of teams and division setup I think.

[nilodor]

Glad you guys are enjoying the files. I would guess the 2014 roster and draft files would be available in the summer. It just depends. It's about 20-30 hours of work and I'm only in the letter B. If there are less interesting articles to read on my lunch hour then it will be done sooner.

[sachmo71]

awesome work, nildor. you rock.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Glad you guys are enjoying the files. I would guess the 2014 roster and draft files would be available in the summer. It just depends. It's about 20-30 hours of work and I'm only in the letter B. If there are less interesting articles to read on my lunch hour then it will be done sooner.

have you thought about dividing up work? maybe you can get some help. i would be interested in working a letter or two for sure!

[BaltColts]

Can someone please repost the latest historical files for FOF 7? Thanks so much.

[NoxMortem]

Yes please someone reuploade them

[GuySmiley316]

Try here:

Index of /fof7downloads