OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Expansion and Expansion Draft (Scott Vibert/statfreak)

Scott Vibert · 03-15-2003, 05:22 PM

OOTP5 Expansion using the CSV Export/Import option. (statfreak)

I began with a fictional 10 team league with only 1 division. I wanted to expand to twelve teams and break the league into two divisions. This is the method I used to expand. Please note, I play with coaches/scouts OFF and am NOT in Manager Mode. I believe the sign Coaches/Scouts period is before the sign Free Agents period, either way, having Coaches/Scouts on will not effect the steps below.

After the current season is over, proceed to the next season. OOTP will ask if you want to import real rookies or not. After making your choice, the game will either import or generate the rookies. You will then be at the league standings screen and the preseason will be underway. OOTP wants to start the free agent signing period.

At this point, go to the Basic League Setup screen. Click the Edit League Structure button in the lower left corner. Since I was using a 1 division league, I chose to add a second division. If you will not be adding a division, go to step 2.

Step 1. Click the ‘Add Division’ button. This will create a second (or third/fourth) division. Then click the ‘Add Team’ button for as many teams your new division will have. In my example, I will be having a total of 6 teams in each division. Since I currently have only 10 teams and plan on placing one expansion team in each division, I created 5 New Teams in the new division. Use the ‘Exchange’ button to move teams from their current division to the newly created division by exchanging them with the New Teams. After the appropriate teams are in the new division, delete all the New Teams in the division(s). You should now be left with all (and only) your original teams in the proper divisions. In my example, I now have 2 divisions with 5 teams in each.

Step 2. Time to expand your league. While in the Edit League Structure screen, click the ‘Add Team’ button in the appropriate division. This will place a team, named New Team within that division. From the ‘Teams’ drop down menu, choose the New Team. You will be taken to the roster screen for this newly created team. Using the drop down menus, go to Team Setup. Enter the new team name and an appropriate 3 character abbreviation for this team. I added a new team in the Northern Division, and renamed it Buffalo with BUF for the abbreviation. After you have changed the team name and given the team an abbreviation, repeat this process for the next expansion team. Keep in mind that it is always best to have an even number of teams within each league (to prevent OOTP from crashing when trying to generate a new schedule). I added Birmingham (BIR) to the Southern Division.

Step 3. After all your expansion teams have been created and named, go to the Advance League Setup screen. Click on the button in the upper middle part of the screen that says, ‘EXPORT Rosters to CSV File’. A popup window will appear asking ‘Are you sure?’. Click Yes. A window will appear saying Exported to file and will give you the path where the roster.csv file was saved (in my example, C:\Program Files\OOTP5\ExpandTest.lg\roster.csv). Now, I printed out each team’s Rating Report at this point. I then selected 4 players from each team to put on the expansion draft list. From this list, I drafted/assigned players (noted on the printed reports) to each of the expansion teams (Buffalo and Birmingham).

Step 4. I closed OOTP at this point. I then opened the roster.csv file in Microsoft Excel (this file can also be opened using any spreadsheet or word processing software capable of reading .csv files). Using the lists I made earlier, I moved (cut and pasted) each player from their current team to directly below their new team name. The roster.csv file will look similar to this (depending on what application you use to open it):

Nr,Player
# Chicago ,
201,Raphael Martinez
11,Joseph Vazquez
187,Thurman Chaney
324,William Mahone
312,Jonathan Jerez
54,Roger Vila
# Buffalo ,
# Phoenix ,
269,Alberto Belmonte
182,Bud Lafon
67,Leonardo Gomez
280,Joshua Tremaine
# Players that are free agents8,Seve Cuevas
9,John Veilleux
10,Matthew Godin

Please note, Buffalo is an expansion team and currently has no players on it’s roster. Simply cut and paste the appropriate players to their new team.

Nr,Player
# Chicago ,
201,Raphael Martinez
11,Joseph Vazquez
324,William Mahone
312,Jonathan Jerez
54,Roger Vila
# Buffalo ,
187,Thurman Chaney
67,Leonardo Gomez
# Phoenix ,
269,Alberto Belmonte
182,Bud Lafon
280,Joshua Tremaine
# Players that are free agents8,Seve Cuevas
9,John Veilleux
10,Matthew Godin

After all changes are made, save this file as roster.csv in the same directory it was opened from (C:\Program Files\OOTP5\ExpandTest.lg\roster.csv). Important note, make sure there are no blank lines in the updated file and that all players that were exported are still in the file, either listed under a team, or in the free agents list. Also, make sure no changes have been made to the team names. The players will even have the proper team abbreviation.

Step 5. Open OOTP, go to the Advance League Setup screen. Choose ‘Import Rosters from CSV File’. OOTP will open a popup box asking, ‘Are you sure?’. Click Yes. OOTP will import the rosters and assign each player moved to a different team to single A.

Step 6. Make sure you have given your expansion teams enough money to sign free agents and begin the Free Agent signing period.

Important notes:

1) While in the Team Setup screen, note each team’s new number. This can easily be found by looking at the Logo-File directory, which will end with logo##.bmp. The team number is the same as the ##. Make sure to change your logos to the new number (not all teams will have a different number, but some will).

2) Make sure you ‘Proceed to next season’ before adding any new teams or changing your league structure. Changing this information before proceeding to next season may cause problems with your league history.

3) Create a new schedule, this can be done immediately after creating the expansion teams. If you do not create a new schedule, your expansion teams will not play any games.

03-15-2003, 05:22 PM	#2
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,182	OOTP5 Expansion using the CSV Export/Import option. (statfreak) I began with a fictional 10 team league with only 1 division. I wanted to expand to twelve teams and break the league into two divisions. This is the method I used to expand. Please note, I play with coaches/scouts OFF and am NOT in Manager Mode. I believe the sign Coaches/Scouts period is before the sign Free Agents period, either way, having Coaches/Scouts on will not effect the steps below. After the current season is over, proceed to the next season. OOTP will ask if you want to import real rookies or not. After making your choice, the game will either import or generate the rookies. You will then be at the league standings screen and the preseason will be underway. OOTP wants to start the free agent signing period. At this point, go to the Basic League Setup screen. Click the Edit League Structure button in the lower left corner. Since I was using a 1 division league, I chose to add a second division. If you will not be adding a division, go to step 2. Step 1. Click the ‘Add Division’ button. This will create a second (or third/fourth) division. Then click the ‘Add Team’ button for as many teams your new division will have. In my example, I will be having a total of 6 teams in each division. Since I currently have only 10 teams and plan on placing one expansion team in each division, I created 5 New Teams in the new division. Use the ‘Exchange’ button to move teams from their current division to the newly created division by exchanging them with the New Teams. After the appropriate teams are in the new division, delete all the New Teams in the division(s). You should now be left with all (and only) your original teams in the proper divisions. In my example, I now have 2 divisions with 5 teams in each. Step 2. Time to expand your league. While in the Edit League Structure screen, click the ‘Add Team’ button in the appropriate division. This will place a team, named New Team within that division. From the ‘Teams’ drop down menu, choose the New Team. You will be taken to the roster screen for this newly created team. Using the drop down menus, go to Team Setup. Enter the new team name and an appropriate 3 character abbreviation for this team. I added a new team in the Northern Division, and renamed it Buffalo with BUF for the abbreviation. After you have changed the team name and given the team an abbreviation, repeat this process for the next expansion team. Keep in mind that it is always best to have an even number of teams within each league (to prevent OOTP from crashing when trying to generate a new schedule). I added Birmingham (BIR) to the Southern Division. Step 3. After all your expansion teams have been created and named, go to the Advance League Setup screen. Click on the button in the upper middle part of the screen that says, ‘EXPORT Rosters to CSV File’. A popup window will appear asking ‘Are you sure?’. Click Yes. A window will appear saying Exported to file and will give you the path where the roster.csv file was saved (in my example, C:\Program Files\OOTP5\ExpandTest.lg\roster.csv). Now, I printed out each team’s Rating Report at this point. I then selected 4 players from each team to put on the expansion draft list. From this list, I drafted/assigned players (noted on the printed reports) to each of the expansion teams (Buffalo and Birmingham). Step 4. I closed OOTP at this point. I then opened the roster.csv file in Microsoft Excel (this file can also be opened using any spreadsheet or word processing software capable of reading .csv files). Using the lists I made earlier, I moved (cut and pasted) each player from their current team to directly below their new team name. The roster.csv file will look similar to this (depending on what application you use to open it): Nr,Player # Chicago , 201,Raphael Martinez 11,Joseph Vazquez 187,Thurman Chaney 324,William Mahone 312,Jonathan Jerez 54,Roger Vila # Buffalo , # Phoenix , 269,Alberto Belmonte 182,Bud Lafon 67,Leonardo Gomez 280,Joshua Tremaine # Players that are free agents8,Seve Cuevas 9,John Veilleux 10,Matthew Godin Please note, Buffalo is an expansion team and currently has no players on it’s roster. Simply cut and paste the appropriate players to their new team. Nr,Player # Chicago , 201,Raphael Martinez 11,Joseph Vazquez 324,William Mahone 312,Jonathan Jerez 54,Roger Vila # Buffalo , 187,Thurman Chaney 67,Leonardo Gomez # Phoenix , 269,Alberto Belmonte 182,Bud Lafon 280,Joshua Tremaine # Players that are free agents8,Seve Cuevas 9,John Veilleux 10,Matthew Godin After all changes are made, save this file as roster.csv in the same directory it was opened from (C:\Program Files\OOTP5\ExpandTest.lg\roster.csv). Important note, make sure there are no blank lines in the updated file and that all players that were exported are still in the file, either listed under a team, or in the free agents list. Also, make sure no changes have been made to the team names. The players will even have the proper team abbreviation. Step 5. Open OOTP, go to the Advance League Setup screen. Choose ‘Import Rosters from CSV File’. OOTP will open a popup box asking, ‘Are you sure?’. Click Yes. OOTP will import the rosters and assign each player moved to a different team to single A. Step 6. Make sure you have given your expansion teams enough money to sign free agents and begin the Free Agent signing period. Important notes: 1) While in the Team Setup screen, note each team’s new number. This can easily be found by looking at the Logo-File directory, which will end with logo##.bmp. The team number is the same as the ##. Make sure to change your logos to the new number (not all teams will have a different number, but some will). 2) Make sure you ‘Proceed to next season’ before adding any new teams or changing your league structure. Changing this information before proceeding to next season may cause problems with your league history. 3) Create a new schedule, this can be done immediately after creating the expansion teams. If you do not create a new schedule, your expansion teams will not play any games.