OOTP XI Utilities - Playoff Editor
 

I'm working on a series of utilities to enhance what is available in OOTP XI, and this is the initial alpha release of the first part of that.

The playoffs can't really be customised that greatly within the game, so I am working towards getting round that problem, and to allow series after round 1 to be altered in terms of who plays who, and then to allow byes to be introduced to the system.

Caveats

This program only runs on Windows systems, and requires the .NET Framework 3.5 to be on your computer. It also only works with v11.2.28 (the latest version) of OOTP XI (though it will be updated after any patches)

You cannot be running OOTP X at the point you make changes as the program accesses and uses the .dat files that OOTP X produces.

The program does make a backup of any files it changes, so if something goes wrong there is a copy of the previous files in your game directory.

Information about 1.0.0.0

This is a very basic editor at the moment. The only things you can change with the playoffs are the date and time and who's playing at home of any unplayed games in the current round, as well as changing the name of the current round. A later release (either over the weekend or next week) will allow the teams in each series to be swapped (so if you want a WC to be able to play a divisional rival you can do that), and then I'll work on being able to add byes to the game and selecting the playoff eligible teams.

Everything that this version can do (at the moment) can also be done from within the game, so if you're happy editing schedules in there, that's fine.

There is limited error handling in the application at the moment, so it may just crash randomly (I believe I have the structures correct for any type of league, but don't hold me to that)

Downloading

For OOTP XI : OOTP XI Utilities

The screen will open after running and you'll probably see the Saved Game Directory box saying that no directory is selected. Click on the button to the right and navigate to your OOTP Baseball [X|XI]\saved_games directory and select OK. If you have done this correctly, the drop down box next to it should have a list of your saved games. Choose the game you want to edit and click Load Game.

A series of green boxes should then appear across the screen as it loads up the files (if your game isn't 10.2.16 it may just crash at this point). Once this has done, the Playoffs button should be enabled.

Click on the playoffs button and a drop down list of all the leagues in your universe will appear. Choose a league and if the league is in the playoffs or off-season the Continue button will be enabled (leagues in the off-season will just let you view the playoff results)

Once you click Continue, the left hand side of that section will list the teams who have qualified for the Playoffs along with their record and divisional position, and the right side will list the current state of the Playoffs.

Clicking the Edit next to a Round Header will allow you to alter the name of that round.

Clicking the Edit next to a Series Header doesn't do anything yet.

Clicking the Edit next to a Game that hasn't been played yet allows you to edit the date and time of the game as well as swap the home and away teams round. Click Save to update the screen.

When you have finished making your changes, click the Save in the bottom right and the program will update your .dat files accordingly.

Known Bugs

• Games aren't shown in date order if you change a game to a later date
• There's no limit to how far in the future a game can be scheduled
• There's no checking that games are overlapping

Screenshots
some screenshots

listing of games already played (screen now displays game time as well)
Picasa Web Albums - Tony

changing the date of a single game (ability to change game start time has been added)
Picasa Web Albums - Tony

the Texas/Kansas series changed to 3 away, 4 home
Picasa Web Albums - Tony

the schedule in OOTP X to show the changes
Picasa Web Albums - Tony

*drool*

You mention that byes are on the wishlist, but before that you say only after round 1 will you be able to choose who plays whom. Does the latter also apply to the former in that 1st round byes won't be possible? It's difficult to wrap my head around the idea of byes after the 1st round which tells me you are planning on making it possible.

My bad wording. Byes will be in round 1. I meant that if you have 8 teams (or more) in a seeded first round you won't get a seeded second round with OOTP X as it is, and I'll put in the option to choose who plays who in the second round (if the first round is 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 and 8, 7, 3 and 4 get through the game will invariably pair 8 against 7 and 3 against 4 rather than 3 against 8 - that will be editable)

Awesome! :) Many others (professor ape comes to mind first) will be thrilled if you get that to happen. *crosses fingers* :)

Markus, please give Tony M a job! This appeal increases 10-fold if he adds byes.

:drool:

Holy crap, this sounds awesome! Playoff byes???

Wait, though... we still wouldn't be able to setup a league with an uneven number of playoff teams, right? No way to alter that, I'm guessing?

Like if I wanted 3 divisions, but no wildcard, and I want to give the best team a bye... this utility probably can't handle that?

Even if not, this still looks fantastic. And I'm quite impressed with the WinForms design, as well. My programs are so plain compared to this!

And I might need a tutorial on accessing the .dat files via .net.....

Nope, that's a function of the game.

My aim is to put on the qualifier list an ability to right click and 'Remove from Playoffs' - so the WildCard team thinks they've qualified but they actually then get removed from the first round :laugh:

Don't start from scratch - it's the most laborious thing ever (I started on OOTP 2006 and thankfully working out changes between versions isn't too bad except when Markus does a Markus and randomly removes/adds a byte here and there!!!)

Update to 1.0.0.2

Series that haven't started can now have their teams changed and the relevant fixtures changed.

So if the second round is

A v B
C v D

and you edit AvB to be A v D, it will also change C v D to be C v B

Known Bugs added in 1.0.0.2

• Teams knocked out of playoffs still remain in drop-down list

Known Bugs fixed in 1.0.0.2

• None

This now allows seeded competitions to be sorted out correctly from Round 2 onwards.

This is the playoffs as generated by OOTP after the first round of a league where the top 8 teams from each subleague qualify

The game is then putting #4 v #8 and # 7 v #3 in the first sub league and #4 v #1 and #7 v #3 in the second sub league

Of course what you want is #4 v #7 and #3 v #8 in the first, and #1 v #7 and #3 v #4 in the second. That can be easily done in the editor and you end up with the following.

And to show that it doesn't cause a crash later on in the playoffs, here is the final tournament results

Is this necessarily a bug. If someone wanted to do a college style double elimination playoff, wouldn't you want that feature to exist?

In a sense yes, because the game doesn't cope with double elimination very well. Because one part of the database records playoff rounds and another records games without regard to round if the same teams play each other again the game counts the results from the previous series between them.

Needs some tidying up in terms of not letting too many series be set-up, but this will set the droolers drooling.

All set-up using the editor (not released yet, I hopefully will get it out this evening [British Time])

Version 1.0.0.3

Has been released - link in first post

What's been added

Ability to add/remove series from rounds (in other words BYES!)

Bugs to be squished in 1.0.0.3

• No check on the number of series per round at the moment

Quick run-through on how to create a MLB playoff with only division winners

Start a game in OOTP X and choose Major American League. Don't change any of the playoff options as it will all be done through the editor.

Sim the game through to "2009 Playoffs Begin" and note down the division winners and their records (using head to head as a tiebreaker if necessary)

Exit OOTP X and start my utility. Choose the relevant league and Load and then click Playoffs and choose Major American League and click Continue.

You should then see four series listed. Click on the Delete next to the first one (should be an AL matchup), and then click on Delete on the second one down (should be an NL matchup). Choose Edit on the AL Series and choose the 2nd and 3rd ranked AL Divison champs, and click Save. Do the same for the NL Series. You can go through the single games and set them up as you see fit.

Click Save at the bottom of the screen, and close down the Utilities and open up OOTP X and load your game.

If you go to the Standings screen you should only see two Series in the first round. Sim through day-by-day until these series are over. You should then see just one series listed in Round 2. Quit OOTP X and load up the utilities and load up through the Playoffs -> Major American League.

You should see just one series listed in Round 2. Click Edit and change the NL team to the AL #1 team and click Save. This series may have the home advantage wrong but you can edit each game.

Click on Copy next to the AL Series and then choose the NL Round 1 winner and the NL #1 team and click Save. You will then need to check the game makeup for those games.

Click on Save at the bottom and load up OOTP X and your league and you should be able to play through the rest of the playoffs.

Notes

Because this is an external editor to OOTP X you will need to make sure you are out of OOTP X when you make any changes using this editor. Also, once a series has started the overall series make-up can't be changed, so you need to sim through the playoffs day-by-day to make sure you can alter it at the relevant point.

Can you make it possible to have playoffs between seperate leagues?

It 'can' be done, but it's a pig because of the way that Markus has designed the database - each playoff series has to be linked to a specific league so you could have an IL team play a PCL team but it would have to be in one league's history only. It messes up with history as well because of this. I have asked many times for things like this to not be linked to specific leagues but as of yet it has gone unanswered, so it won't be something I'll be adding to this editor at the moment. Sorry.

:thumbup: Very impressive! I will be trying this out soon hopefully.

What I don't get, though, is that you're able to manipulate the DB like this and make this happen, why is it so difficult for Markus to get this in the game?

Not to belittle your work in the slightest, but you seem able to do this without an exorbitant amount of work, and you're having to do it the 'long way' so to speak. Can't Markus just give this to us in-game since he can do the same thing, presumably the 'short way'?

That's the http://tv4u.com/64_thousand_dollar_q...r_Question.jpg

Hopefully the fact that he can see that it can be done means that he doesn't have that excuse any more.

Nice work! I'm the fellow what posted in Tech Support about the game not assigning home field advantage correctly in the playoffs, so this utility is just what the doctor ordered. Haven't had a chance to try it in action yet, though I've installed it.

Question: To use this to implement byes and set up a situation where, for example, 2 plays 3 with the winner to face 1, we'd have to set OOTP up so that 4 also made the playoffs. Then we'd use the utility to erase 4 and get the structure we want. Is that basically correct? If so, do you anticipate any ramifications to that 4th place team, which in OOTP terms thought they'd made the playoffs? For example, would thinking they've made it in affect the fan popularity and/or salary structure for the club, or the chances of the manager being fired? Would the 4th place team change it's style of managing late in the season, thinking that they'd made the playoffs and not knowing they really had to finish 3rd? Any guesses as to these questions? Whatever, it's great to see that byes CAN be a part of the custom playoff structure. Great job!