FOF MP Draft Utility

[Ben E Lou]

I've attached what the "team" table looks like currently if you want to take a look and see if it's something unexpected there.

[WheelsVT]

Thanks Ben. Looking at it now. I'll use it for further testing. Posted 1.8.6b for now which moves the pick_time setting just ahead of the on-the-clock email address calculations that seem to be erroring this out.

[Ben E Lou]

Thanks! Grabbing 1.86b now.

[WheelsVT]

Ok, after much headache we've identified the bugs causing Ben's issues in the GML. Much thanks goes to Ben and the GML for their patience as we tried to figure this one out. They were introduced in 1.8.1 when I split admin email settings off of the regular email settings and moved a lot of the DB queries ahead of sending email.

1) Draft Admins changing draft options cause email settings to turn completely off.

2) If no mock draft was run then email is never sent and teams do not go on-the-clock properly. pick_time and pick_start are not populated. And an admin has to start/stop the draft after every pick to set them

I've created a patch that addresses these issues, and posted it on the main page. 1.8.7.. yep, we killed those bugs. RNFL, DFL, if you're listening, you're already running this update.

[PackerFanatic]

Thanks, Wheels!

I hope to get a new version installed on our server and run some tests to see what was causing our issues soon. I will let you know if I need any troubleshooting help (probably after our current draft is done)

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by WheelsVT

1.8.7.. yep, we killed those bugs.

[3ric]

A suggestion - when entering names for the priority list through the "quick add" text field, could the browser just reload the priority list instead of loading the selections page?

[Ben E Lou]

Updated to 1.8.7 in the CCFL this year and when I imported draftorder.txt, CLE did not have any picks due to having traded them all away. Now they're unable to register. I just added "CLE" to the "team" table. Do I need to do anything else?

[WheelsVT]

That's one way to do it.
The designed way is to use the "Add Team" section at the bottom of the Users tab. Once that's done they should be able to register.

[WheelsVT]

Originally Posted by 3ric

A suggestion - when entering names for the priority list through the "quick add" text field, could the browser just reload the priority list instead of loading the selections page?

Yes.

Now that we've reached a stable release I'll start to move forward on some tweaks and improvements as I have time. Reworking the Quick Add feature is one of them.

[Southpaw330]

I'm getting this error when I click the selections tab:

http://primetime-football-league.com...selections.php

[WheelsVT]

Originally Posted by Southpaw330

I'm getting this error when I click the selections tab:

http://primetime-football-league.com...selections.php

The key here is: Unknown column 'team_owner' in 'field list'

I'm guessing this was an update of a previous installation, and you haven't run the SQL commands needed to update the database tables. They can be found in fof_draft/includes/mysql/

I should have done a better numbering scheme since it looks like my updates are prior to 1_28, but run the commands from upgrade_1_3.sql through upgrade_1_8_1.sql and you should be set.

[Southpaw330]

Originally Posted by WheelsVT

The key here is: Unknown column 'team_owner' in 'field list'

I'm guessing this was an update of a previous installation, and you haven't run the SQL commands needed to update the database tables. They can be found in fof_draft/includes/mysql/

I should have done a better numbering scheme since it looks like my updates are prior to 1_28, but run the commands from upgrade_1_3.sql through upgrade_1_8_1.sql and you should be set.

I'm sorry. How do I run these commands?

[Dutch]

You need to run the SQL commands against your database (wherever that's located). Just run them one after another (starting with 1_3 and ending with 1_8_1 according to the instructions provided above).

[sjshaw]

Feature request:

Be able to select multiple draft picks for sending to another team. For example, having checkboxes in the team-filtered view of the Selections tab.

Also, notification of transferred picks having "arrived."

[PackerFanatic]

Having an issue with the start/end times. No matter what timezone I select, it seems to be altering the start/end times I have selected by adding 3 hours. Basically, I want the clock to start at Noon CST, but it is giving the next person up 7 hours on the clock (when it should be only 4). I was finally able to figure out a start/end time combo that didn't give me the "start time is after end time" error and that got around the problem, but I should be able to enter any time with any timezone without it not seeming to take the timezone changes.

[PackerFanatic]

Originally Posted by PackerFanatic

Having an issue with the start/end times. No matter what timezone I select, it seems to be altering the start/end times I have selected by adding 3 hours. Basically, I want the clock to start at Noon CST, but it is giving the next person up 7 hours on the clock (when it should be only 4). I was finally able to figure out a start/end time combo that didn't give me the "start time is after end time" error and that got around the problem, but I should be able to enter any time with any timezone without it not seeming to take the timezone changes.

I guess it didn't get around the problem like I thought. Still seems to be starting and stopping the clock at fairly random times.

[WheelsVT]

The closest thing I've seen to this is when the host webserver does not account for daylight savings time and is an hour off from what you'd expect. So that may explain the 3 hours off from what you want - a webserver time setting. I don't have an answer yet for random stop/starts though.

[WheelsVT]

Long delay, and perhaps pointless with the upcoming FOF 7 release, but I've updated the draft utility to 1.9 now.

It includes a "Force Pick" option in addition to the "Skip Pick" so that admins can force a team on the clock to be selected from their list, scout, or BPA without having to look at the lists, guess what the scout would do, or let the time expire.

Also, changed the default auto-pick to to OFF after seeing most leagues have preferred it that way.

[WheelsVT]

Also, after regrettably taking forever to get started after being asked, I now have a working version that will accommodate the Action PC Football game in beta. It doesn't have all of the player fields and stats, but it allows the basic drafting of rookies or free agents to take place using the same interface setup.

[Ben E Lou]

In case you don't get a chance to do this soon, I just exported from the release version of the game the info that I think you'll want to use in Conscriptor for the draft (and maybe staff draft, if that's possible). It's attached.

[WheelsVT]

Excellent! I just sent you a PM asking for exactly this. I've finished the APCFB mod to the conscriptor tonight and should be ready to turn around and update this thing for FOF7 soon.

[WheelsVT]

Ben has me off to a good start and I'm looking at the staff draft, but will first tackle the player draft since it's the most important.

Extractor hangs when I try to run it to grab bar values and the player_record.csv doesn't record those hidden values we could extract like personality, leadership, intelligence for rookies pre-draft. Any ideas? Right now we'd be limited to combine scores and I know people want at least the bar values too.

[WheelsVT]

Perhaps the best option, and most unlikely, would be if the game were patched so that the rookies.csv file would contain the estimated (blue) bar ranges for each rookie.

[aston217]

Seems like a pretty glaring omission, Jim...

I agree with Wheels' post above. It would be really nice to not require a utility such as extractor in order to set up the drafting...or a tool such as draft analyzer.

[WheelsVT]

I like the draft analyzer part just because it's a different way to look at the data, but yes, it would be a big benefit to at least allow all the visible data/ratings to be exported when you click the export button.

Anyone else find that their player_ratings.csv file is just filled with 0's?

[aston217]

No, that's just for when players don't have ratings in certain categories. For example the first rows in the player_ratings csv's are the passing ones, which tend to be only nonzero for QBs.

And yeah, there's no way you can expect people to go through a 800 or even 80-man draft class clicking the buttons in game! That's cruel! :P

[corbes]

So I guess the issue, right, is that there is no single source of information for the estimated blue bar values for each player? Each team gets their own information on that, based on the scouting talents of the coaching staff. Just as a conceptual starting point, I'm not sure I would mind if conscriptor had only the combine numbers, and we had to look at our own data for the estimated bar ranges.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by corbes

So I guess the issue, right, is that there is no single source of information for the estimated blue bar values for each player? Each team gets their own information on that, based on the scouting talents of the coaching staff.

I suspect that this is the case. And to take that further, some testing indicates that one team will view young players *significantly* differently than another team. It appears that studs will always look like studs, but 25ish points variances in overall futurerating are possible. I might see him as a 60 future. You might see him as a 35 future. And as far as we know, even greater variances likely exist in the perception of specific future potential bars.

My vote would be to get rid of the blue bars in Conscriptor and just use the combines.

As far as the intelligence, etc. for rookies, keep in mind that that's info that was intended to be hidden. We only started showing it in MP when we realized that Interrogator could grab it and some people could gain an advantage by using Interrogator. Now that there's no Interrogator for FOF7 and Greg has stated that he has no intention of updating his stuff, I'd be all for going back to not having that info unless you interview. A little more mystery in drafting would be a good thing.

[aston217]

Unless people are intended to click through 800-man classes to check out their bars, I think the bar data should be put out there, if not for conscriptor, then for a personal use Draft Analyzer utility.

[aston217]

If the bars are indeed meant to be kept private, I think you can have a setup where each user imports their own 'as they see them' bars into conscriptor. It just doesn't make sense for this (assumed meaningful) data to exist in game, but then not in any utilities that are simply meant to display the same data to the user to allow them to make a decision.

[Ben E Lou]

That would work and keep the burden off the commish. I just don't want to have to run Extractor to get Conscriptor up and running.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola:

To be clear, with the amount of effort that may be required to keep league databases updated, I'd want Conscriptor to be as easy as is possible on commishes. Allow me to hit the "Export Data" button in the game, upload stuff from that, and be done.

[aston217]

Yeah, exactly. Is extractor working with the new game? Hearing conflicting things, and seems like it might. If it does that's not the hugest deal. But if you can hear this Jim, it'd be really, really great to have this stuff just included in 'export data.'

Ben, what do you mean by 'amount of effort'? Just asking because I'm looking at the export data stuff and it seems more straightforward than in the past, but I haven't thought everything through. Is there going to be more to it than hitting 'export data' and bam, hitting 'load into DB' in the theoretical frontend utility, and bam, done?

[Ben E Lou]

Who is going to write that "theoretical frontend utility?"

[Ben E Lou]

Without something to stuff the new format into the old DBUpdater-seeded databases, tons of code will have to be rewritten to accommodate the new format and the csvs uploaded manually.

[aston217]

Haha, the magic faeries in the sky? :P

Nah, I'm not questioning the work involved, just asking about what the process is expected to be. I noticed you said "in keeping league databases updated" and thought that was referring to the yearly maintenance work you'd need to do with FOF7, which the export data was supposed to cut down on...but in re-reading, I think you just mean in transitioning from current setups to FOF7. Right?

[Ben E Lou]

I fully intend to take a swing at a front-end utility. I just have no idea whether I can actually pull it off.

When I say "keeping," it's more than yearly maintenance. I update my database every single day for the auto-posts, league schedule, etc.

GAMEDAY COMPLETED 2037 Week 1

That thread and two others are all posted automatically after the database is updated.

So the answer is that it's both things combined: the transition of databases for FOF7 needs to be done in a way that they can be updated daily with the results of that day's sim, whether they are transactions, gamedays, training camp, whatever.

[WheelsVT]

(operationsports is filtered at work so I'm catching up now)

Those are great points about bar values being team specific. I agree more mystery is good, and combine with the ability to add in your scout's view of bars just for yourself would be nice but there's no way to get that data yet.

Ben's right - the initial way will be to write front-ends to transform the export data into old dbupdater form. Eventually, I imagine we'd re-write the code, but to keep it smooth that's the way most leagues would go.

I have the initial steps of Conscriptor 2.0 done. No Extractor, no interrogator, no draft preview or draft order files. It currently take just 3 files from the export folder to load it up, will auto-sense between staff and player drafts, and I'm looking into how to make the mock draft continue to work which may require a couple more files from the export folder. I could expand it once it's working to allow you to just enter a URL to the export folder that your commissioner would post online and click "Go" more or less.

One attribute not in the rookie file other than bars that should be listed and would be helpful is birthday so you know if you're getting a 6th year senior or a draft repeat.

[corbes]

Yeah, birthday is helpful for the affinity hounds too

[WheelsVT]

Originally Posted by corbes

Yeah, birthday is helpful for the affinity hounds too

Great point. There are a bunch of affinity things I could improve on in the Conscriptor if we still have their birthdays.

[WheelsVT]

UPDATE: I have successfully exported from FOF7, run the Conscriptor from the export files, and imported the draft results.

Still working on the mock draft (since ratings aren't exporting for me) and completely new staff draft option.

[Ben E Lou]

Extractor is working fine for me, fwiw. Cuervo reported the same.

[WheelsVT]

Thanks. Perhaps it's a Win7 thing. I haven't tried it on a different system yet.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm using it on Win7 (Home Premium 64-bit, SP1).

[PackerFanatic]

It'll be a god-send to not have to run Extractor.

[Ben E Lou]

It runs much faster, fwiw, presumably because the game isn't trying to calculate statistical standing on the fly any longer.

[Antmeister]

Okay I meant to ask this when I saw this in the help file, but is the Staff Draft in the game already?

Set Staff Draft Profile Screen
The Set Staff Draft Profile Screen is used by participants in a multi-player league to express their preferences for hiring during the upcoming staff draft. This information is added to the stage file prior to the staff draft, and is used when the commissioner simulates a staff draft.

The staff draft lasts five rounds. In the first round, owners select a head coach. In the second round, owners select an offensive coordinator. In the third round, owners select a defensive coordinator. In the fourth round, owners select an assistant coach. In the fifth and final round, owners select a strength coordinator.

Set hiring thresholds (0-100) for each staff position in the boxes at the top of the screen. A value of 0 indicates a new hire will not be made unless absolutely necessary. A value of 100 indicates that the AI will look as hard as it can to find a suitable replacement, and, if the contract of a staff member has expired, will not give him any preferential treatment. A value of 50 indicates the AI will try and keep a staff member unless performance has been very poor.

Set weights for each staff attribute in the drop-down boxes near the bottom of the screen. The AI will use these weights, combined with what's appropriate for each staff position, when making selections.

When you submit your draft preferences, this information is added to your current stage file. Remember to export the stage file before exiting the game.

[Antmeister]

Oh and this would help with the later rounds of the Amateur Draft:

Multi-Player Draft Screen
The Multi-Player Draft screen allows participants to enter their draft profile immediately prior to the yearly amateur draft.

This screen appears for participants when they select the Begin Amateur Draft button after the main free agency period.

The commissioner then runs the amateur draft, which uses the submitted profiles to make selections.

There are three pieces of information for each position group. The first number indicates the weight your scouts place on the first player you select at that position. The second number indicates the weight your scouts place on players in that position once you've already selected a player at that position.

The third number is the maximum number of players you're willing to select at that position group during the draft.

If your league has a live or email draft, where the commissioner is entering all the picks from your choices, you don't need to fill out this screen. However, these choices still will have an effect in later rounds even if the commissioner, for example, just runs the first round of the draft live.

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Oh and this would help with the later rounds of the Amateur Draft:

Most (all?) leagues conduct their draft outside the game allowing GM's to make all picks "live" (at least per the definition in the help file). As such, this is not necessary and has no impact on the draft because it is conducted outside the confines of the game (i.e. through conscriptor or a forum).