OOTP OU... isn't that that old online utility from a few years back...? Yep, and it's back with a release of a brand new version (version 4, if you kept track).
First, a little background. The 1990's style of bland HTML, basic javascript, and full page refreshes of the current utility have finally worn me out and pulled me out of retirement. There's a lot of potential left in an online utility that has not been reached yet. It's been nagging me for a while now, and now I'm going to do something about it.
So, I'm overhauling OU, one utility/screen at a time. It's still csv based, and the general look and feel and usage of it is identical as before. But I am gutting the core of it to support a more modern interface. This includes support for flash, Ajax, partial page refreshes, and a much more, well, slick look.
As I said, I am doing one utility at a time. Since the changes can be rather large, I am going to release updates as I make progress, instead of all at the end (which may be a few months away). I have plans for every utility, some small, some big, and some brand new utilities as well.
The first release consists of two utilities:
1. A revamped development utility. Two major changes in specific:
The team reports is now a split screen, with the standard development from before listed on the left, and individual player development details on the right. This includes his info, ratings, potential and recent development, and a chart of the player's entire development over his career. No more clicking on individual players to bring up new screens to see who the heck this person is and if he's a decent prospect or just some scrub. Here's a screenshot:
Or, if you'd like to see the page in action, check out one of the leagues I'm in:
http://www.actionpackedbaseballleagu...ge=development
Select a team and click on a player's name on the left to see the details of the player on the right. There are of course more minor improvements as well, but not worth listing them all.
The second change to the development utility is that the League Talent Report (which sucked, honestly) has been replaced with a Prospect Report. Here, you can see all of the development of the top prospects around the league in one page. See it in action here:
Prospect Report
(I'll save some room and not post a screenshot). It only lists the players with the top potential from around the league. This page is quickly becoming my favorite.
The second utility, and probably the big one in this release, is a new Gamecast/Replay utility. After every sim, the results each manager's games are blocked out and replaced with a Gamecast link:
If they want to waste an hour+ time at work (and who doesn't) they can then replay each of their games one at a time in the new Gamecast viewer:
This is similar to the carya viewer (and I must give some thanks to the person who wrote that, as it helped immeasurably to build my own), with the difference that each manager can watch their games on their own time. After watching the game (or clicking "Show Results"), the game will be displayed normally in the Last Sim screen. And of course, the game can be re-watched at any time.
Feel free to check it out:
http://www.actionpackedbaseballleagu....pl?page=lsRes
Pick a team's results, or look at the top games of the week, and click the Replay link on any game. It works off of the game log, so make sure the HTML and game logs are updated to the server first.
The gamecast supports two modes: pitch-by-pitch or by each play. You can toggle the delay between each update, and jump around to any inning. See the bottom bar's options.
In an upcoming release, I will extend the Gamecast to support a Live Sim mode, were every manager sees the same action at the same time (how Carya works).
Install files can be found in my sig. I'm calling this a "beta" release at least until I implement more of the features I planned, and I want to see how the technology works for the general public first. I'll update the Readme shortly (it's still v3).
For those who already have OU, upgrade using the Patch file. You will then need to:
1. Go to the Admin screen. Accessing this screen will automatically handle installing the new files. Fill in the new Other Ratings/Overall Ratings fields
2. Add executable permissions (755) to the new ouReplay.pl file (found in the same directory as ootpou.pl, likely the cgi-bin directory)
3. Add players_value.csv to the csv files you upload to the server
For those who do not have OU installed, follow the Readme instructions for installing, and then do the three steps above.
Let me know how it goes for you all. And like I said, this is just the beginning of a revamped OU.