Names.txt?

[Kemp]

I know that when you load a game, the nations and cities information is loaded with it. That is, even editing those files won't change the game will use the LOADED info.

But does anyone know if you can edit the names.txt file? That is, if I make edits will the game use the newest version of that file every for future amateur drafts?

The reason I ask is, these special characters are a real pain. They don't even show correctly on the report generated from the game!

[1998 Yankees]

This bothers me too. I have been having my commissioner alter ego go into player edit mode to remove the accented letters in names so that I don't have to see them garbled on the broadcast scoreboard, for my own teams and the ones I play against. And you're right, the in-game reports sometimes are garbled, as are the ones exported to IE, depending on the particular accent used. Seems strange that the developers did not pick up on this by now, or maybe they have and it will be in the next patch.

Unfortunately, according to the Customization Guide, "The name files come into play only once: at the creation of a game. At that time, all of the names in the names files are converted into a .dat file that is stored in the saved game directory. The names.dat file is then used by the game to dole out names during 2 scenarios in the game: when new players are created, and when new coaches are created."

So once you start your game your names are locked in, apparently, unless there is some way to edit names.dat, perhaps by exporting and importing in CSV format? I don't know.

FWIW, you can use a word processor like Note Tab Pro to find and replace special characters, replacing "é" with "e" for example, in the names.txt file (and don't forget first_names.txt). That will only help with new games, however.

[Church OOTP]

I think you can change this by doing the following:

Game A has a names.dat that you do not like or want to modify.

Edit the names file and then start a new league (Game B) with the modified/updated names file. It will create a new names.dat file.

Copy the names.dat from Game B to Game A and you should see the new changes take effect with players created after you changed the dat. It will not change the names of existing players.

I believe someone did this to make changes with the injuries files before.

Hope that helps.

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Church OOTP

I think you can change this by doing the following:

Game A has a names.dat that you do not like or want to modify.

Edit the names file and then start a new league (Game B) with the modified/updated names file. It will create a new names.dat file.

Copy the names.dat from Game B to Game A and you should see the new changes take effect with players created after you changed the dat. It will not change the names of existing players.

I believe someone did this to make changes with the injuries files before.

Hope that helps.

Holy smokes! That does sound plausible. I'm going to try that tonight (note to self: back up first). Thanks.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

Holy smokes! That does sound plausible. I'm going to try that tonight (note to self: back up first). Thanks.

Ha, ha, I thought the same thing. But instead of "holy smokes" it was "gadzooks!".

I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[Kemp]

It didn't work. I replaced the names.txt with one from a new game I created (after adding my edited names.txt file in the appropriate folder) and I still had players created with special characters.

Unbelievable. I really, REALLY hope that future versions will allow you to edit the names, nations and cities files after template creation.

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Kemp

It didn't work.

Kemp,

How hard did you scrub the files? I mean, it took me a few hours to find and replace all the special characters included in both name files.

That's not to say that you did not put in the same effort, of course! But maybe you are still seeing characters that you did not know existed and therefore could not find and replace. Some of them looked pretty exotic and it would not have occurred to me to look for them - I wore out the Page Down key and my eyes in the process.

I'm still going to try Church's suggestion with what I think are clean names.txt and first_names.txt files, which I wanted to include here in the public interest. Unfortunately, even zipped the names.txt file is still 295KB, too large to upload. I was able, though to upload the file that I used to track the edits: Characters_Replaced.txt. You might want to take a look at that.

As I said, I am going to try my revised files out tonight, but since I play out every game of my season, it could take me some time to notice if and when they work for new player creation in conjunction with Church's procedure. If anyone else tries this in the meantime, would you please post your results here? Thanks.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

Kemp,

How hard did you scrub the files? I mean, it took me a few hours to find and replace all the special characters included in both name files.

That's not to say that you did not put in the same effort, of course! But maybe you are still seeing characters that you did not know existed and therefore could not find and replace. Some of them looked pretty exotic and it would not have occurred to me to look for them - I wore out the Page Down key and my eyes in the process.

I'm still going to try Church's suggestion with what I think are clean names.txt and first_names.txt files, which I wanted to include here in the public interest. Unfortunately, even zipped the names.txt file is still 295KB, too large to upload. I was able, though to upload the file that I used to track the edits: Characters_Replaced.txt. You might want to take a look at that.

As I said, I am going to try my revised files out tonight, but since I play out every game of my season, it could take me some time to notice if and when they work for new player creation in conjunction with Church's procedure. If anyone else tries this in the meantime, would you please post your results here? Thanks.

I only use 3 name sets, 39 (Historic US), 12 (Swedish) and 1 (Hispanic) so it was much easier for me to scrub. I did global search and replaces on most of the special characters and I'm pretty sure I got them all.

Regardless, when I tested Church's suggestion, I got a player in my test leagues' amateur draft with a special character and I went back and specifically checked that name. It was "clean" in my new names.txt file which leads me to believe that the work around didn't work.

But feel free to give it a shot! If you think you are seeing something different, please let me know.

[Zeyes]

Originally Posted by Kemp

Regardless, when I tested Church's suggestion, I got a player in my test leagues' amateur draft with a special character and I went back and specifically checked that name. It was "clean" in my new names.txt file which leads me to believe that the work around didn't work.

Perhaps that particular draft pool had already been created when you made the change?

[1998 Yankees]

I don't have the game in front of me, because I'm at work. (I've been fighting the temptation to install the old 6.5 here, though. I give myself two more weeks of employment if that happens.)

So, I'm trying to remember. If you have the scrubbed base name files in the data folder, and the new names.dat file, that was generated after replacing the base files, in the saved game folder (nothing is stored in skins, right?), where could the game be storing names with accents? Perhaps in one of the other .dat files, the current game has already generated future draft pools as Zeyes suggests?

Not meaning to make work for you, but did you try scrubbed files and a brand new game yet? That's what I am going to do. I'll try to let you know tomorrow how that worked out for me. If successful, at least we will have confirmed the obvious - that you can have a "clean names" game even if your current one is a bit garbled here and there.

As I said above, it will take a while for me to see if my current game shows any difference with Church's method, because I micro-manage at a snail's pace. However, if and when I do see favorable results, I will fish this thread out of the netherworld to which it has sunk by that time, and post!

[Kemp]

I have to admit that I'm not super with computers. HOWEVER, I did notice something odd.

Here's what happened:
1) I created my initial league and then decided to scrub the names.txt file. The changes weren't picked up.
2) I created a new league which I thought would pick up my new names.txt file.
3) I copied that names.dat file into the initial leagues data directory.
4) I loaded the initial league and simmed to the next amateur draft and got a player with a special character in his name. I checked that name in my names.txt file and it was one that I had scrubbed.

Now the ODD thing is - when I looked at the files in windows explorer, the "Date Modified" was the time that I loaded and started up the initial league in step #4 above. That includes the names.dat file. I'm wondering if there's something that overwrites those files every time the game is started???

Again forgive my ignorance here, just wading through this!

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Kemp

I have to admit that I'm not super with computers.

I'm not exactly a candidate for the Geek Squad myself. However, I can follow what you are saying, and I just printed it out. Let me see if I notice the same thing that you did, and I will post tomorrow. It certainly is a clue to something. If anyone who is in the know is reading this, kindly jump in with clarification!

[Zeyes]

Originally Posted by Kemp

1) I created my initial league and then decided to scrub the names.txt file. The changes weren't picked up.
2) I created a new league which I thought would pick up my new names.txt file.
3) I copied that names.dat file into the initial leagues data directory.
4) I loaded the initial league and simmed to the next amateur draft and got a player with a special character in his name. I checked that name in my names.txt file and it was one that I had scrubbed.

I just tried the same thing, and everything worked fine, no special characters anywhere. In fact, even the names of the existing players in the league were adjusted. (Looks like players.dat only includes references to names.dat, not names themselves.)

[1998 Yankees]

Kemp,

I've got to go with Zeyes on this. It worked for me as well; the same players showed up in Player Search without the accented letters after I restarted that game with a scrubbed names.dat file from another game.

HOWEVER . . .

The only way I could get that scrubbed names.dat file was by starting a new league "out of the box." If I started a game from my saved template, I got the special characters, even with clean names.txt and first_names.txt in the database folder.

So, I think you need to have your scrubbed names files in place when you save a new template, or create a new game "out of the box" in order to accomplish the objective. This does nothing to help you with your current game, I realize.

By the way, the files modified dates probably don't mean anything. I notice that the game saves over every .dat file in the saved games folder every time you come out of the game.

[1998 Yankees]

Kemp, I think I have an answer for you that will work for your current game. Why don't you try this:

First, back up your saved game folder. The procedure worked for me, but I don't want to be responsible for the utter destruction of your baseball universe!

With the scrubbed names.txt and first_names.txt files in the database folder, build a NEW template from scratch, with the SAME number of leagues and teams as your current game so that the number of player names generated will theoretically be the same (I am not sure whether this point is important, but it stands to reason). This should not take too much effort because you don't have to worry about any other edits, settings or options - this template is needed only to get a scrubbed names.dat file.

Start a new game with this new template. End OOTP, because it's not good to make file changes while the game is running. In Windows Explorer, go to the new saved game folder and copy the names.dat file from there over the same named file in your current saved game folder.

Now when you start OOTP and load your current game, if everything went well you should see the same names on your rosters and in Player Search but without the special characters. Please test and examine your game thoroughly before you consider it fixed to your liking. I am still new at OOTP2006 and there may be some aspect that I have not thought to look at yet.

I don't know why, but it definitely seems that the template is the key. The template file itself is pretty large; who knows what is imbedded in it that overrides every thing else? It is apparent, though, that you need a new, similar template created and saved with the scrubbed name files already in place to create a temporary game that will generate a names.dat file that will do the job for your current game.

I will post again if I notice any problems in my game with this procedure in place. And thanks, Church, for the tip, and Zeyes for the encouragement.

[Kemp]

Well thanks for the advice but after I tried it the first time (and it seemingly didn't work) I went ahead and created a new template with my new names.txt file.

I have no idea why I ran into problems and I'm sorry if I provided bad info, but I'm 100% positive that I got a new player in the amateur draft with a special character in a name that I had scrubbed. Likewise, I had taken the names.dat file from a BRAND NEW league (not one I created using a template).

Again, sorry!

[1998 Yankees]

You know, I did not actually sim any of my tests up to an amateur draft. I was assuming that if current players were "scrubbed" that future ones would be as well. My bad, perhaps. Let me look at it again tonight, and I will post my results.

[Zeyes]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

The only way I could get that scrubbed names.dat file was by starting a new league "out of the box." If I started a game from my saved template, I got the special characters, even with clean names.txt and first_names.txt in the database folder.

Yes, world template files also include a copy of the names.txt etc. files as they were when the template was created, so you need to use a freshly created game.

It's not a problem for this workaround though...your "scrubbed" game doesn't need to have the same league structure as the league you're trying to fix since no league-specific information is saved in names.dat. So you can just set up a default league in a couple of minutes for this even if your actual universe is much more complicated.

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Zeyes

Yes, world template files also include a copy of the names.txt etc. files as they were when the template was created, so you need to use a freshly created game.

Kemp,

Zeyes confirms what I said above about templates. Look below for more proof. "OOTB" means "out of the box."

Using the default Venezuelan League only, and with scrubbed names.txt and first_names.txt files in the database folder, the initial player pool in a newly created game has names with nary an accent. See OOTB_Year1_Player_Pool.jpg.

Now look at OOTB_First_Player_Draft.jpg. No special characters at all. Just to be safe, I simmed to the next draft and got a brand new batch of folks shown in OOTB_Second_Player_Draft.jpg; no special characters that time either.

Just to test what Zeyes and I are saying, I went one step further. Now, this was done AFTER the tests above. I used an existing template, eliminating all leagues except VWL, and generated a new game, with scrubbed name files in place - Player_Pool_OLD_Template_Used.jpg - and accented names abound!

Then I made a new template with just the VWL, saved it, and created yet another game. See Player_Pool_NEW_Template_Used.jpg. Accents are no more!

I don't know how else to advise you except to carefully retrace your steps. My current saved game, the baseball universe that I was playing, created with my original template that generated accented names, now has the same player names but with no special characters. I did that by following Church's suggestion.

I'm glad for myself, but I am a bit frustrated that you, who originally asked the question, still have the problem. If there is something else that I might test for you, post it here and let me know. Good luck.