Dorian Greys

voxpoptart · 09-16-2002, 08:21 PM

I'm only in the second year of my fictional league and can't tell how severe a problem this will be, but: players are failing to age properly. Even for the first year, anyone born from April 1st to December 31st was consistently showing as one year too young (so, if their birthday was June 10th, 676, and now it's June 10th, 701, their age was shown advancing from 23 to 24). But now it's worse: many players haven't aged at all, and are shown as TWO years younger than they should be. What's that about? How's it fixable?

voxpoptart · 09-17-2002, 06:23 AM

Although i've partly figured out the answer to my own question, the answer i've worked out is completely unacceptable. Here's what i have so far:

By setting the league's first year as 701, i seem to have confused a game that is, apparently, completely incapable of handling any years that don't start with 19--. The players born prior to April 1st in a year don't have this problem, for whatever reason, but anyone born from April 1st on has to have their birthdate entered manually if i want them to age: and get this! If he was born in (say) 669, i have to enter the year of his birth as negative 1231! This will give me a correct age. So right now the status is, all i have to do is manually enter the birthdates of every player in the majors, the minors, and the free agent pools of a 28-team bileague setup, and i can have a league in which players actually age -- if, of course, the game even remembers the manual "fix" by the next season.

This is, of course, ridiculous.

Is there a patch to solve this, and to convince the machine to calculate everyone's ages correctly? If so, please point me to it. If not, please provide one. Thanks.

Killebrew · 09-17-2002, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by voxpoptart
Although i've partly figured out the answer to my own question, the answer i've worked out is completely unacceptable. Here's what i have so far:

By setting the league's first year as 701, i seem to have confused a game that is, apparently, completely incapable of handling any years that don't start with 19--. The players born prior to April 1st in a year don't have this problem, for whatever reason, but anyone born from April 1st on has to have their birthdate entered manually if i want them to age: and get this! If he was born in (say) 669, i have to enter the year of his birth as negative 1231! This will give me a correct age. So right now the status is, all i have to do is manually enter the birthdates of every player in the majors, the minors, and the free agent pools of a 28-team bileague setup, and i can have a league in which players actually age -- if, of course, the game even remembers the manual "fix" by the next season.

This is, of course, ridiculous.

Is there a patch to solve this, and to convince the machine to calculate everyone's ages correctly? If so, please point me to it. If not, please provide one. Thanks.

The games aging process works for era's in which baseball existed, why not try a league with a different start year.

Steve Kuffrey · 09-17-2002, 07:22 AM

I would agree that it sounds like you need to have a league starting in a different year. The game has limitations, as all do, and it appears that this is one of them.

voxpoptart · 09-17-2002, 07:58 AM

I would agree that it sounds like you need to have a league starting in a different year. The game has limitations, as all do, and it appears that this is one of them.

I understand "limitations", and in every other question i've had about the game i've been happy to be friendly, suggestion-offering, aware that y'all have made a terrific game and oversights are natural and i'm just making my suggestions to help. This is different.

First of all, THIS LEAGUE EXISTS. I play out every one of my teams' games; i have invested months of free time in it; i did nothing wrong in not wanting to be playing in "1901" or whatever. It is outrageous to shrug and ask me to start over when a patch should be easy to program. If i can change the year without changing anything else, and if all the player birthdays will follow along, tell me how, and i'll do it. Simple. Otherwise, uh-uh.

Secondly -- and this explains my emotional tone, which i'm sorry about but can't quite take back yet -- THIS WASN'T AN OVERSIGHT. I do not think the computer decided, all on its own, that all the games should be set in the 1900's or 2000's. To me it seems that you guys, Markus and Steve and whoever, have to at some point have decided that subtraction ("if the year's 701, and he's 25, he musta been born in 676") was too simple an algorithm. And you know what? It wasn't.

If a patch doesn't exist for this, please make one or have one made. I'm playing the seasons i paid for; i created teams (my 26 opponents, not just the 2 teams i play myself) that i've learned to care about. It's huge credit to Markus and y'all that you've created a game that can warrant such involvement; the only other computer game i've ever spent such serious time on was "Civilization". But it's involvement i paid for and earned. I await your aid.

Steve Kuffrey · 09-17-2002, 08:05 AM

I wasn't necessarily suggesting that you start over or trash the league. Just mentioned that "currently" this is a limitation of the game. I do not know how easy it would be to correct this or if it will be corrected. In addition this is the only time I have heard the issue mentioned. I do however appreciate it being brought to our attention.

voxpoptart · 09-18-2002, 01:54 AM

Well, my own specific case may be resolved: actually it took less than six hours to change the age of every single major-leaguer, AAA, AA, and A player on 28 teams to a January/February/March birthdate -- it's amazing how quickly you get into a rhythm where birthdates starting with the year -12xx becomes natural. If it was thoroughly boring, it was at least a good excuse to listen to albums by the Rheostatics, Mia Sheard, Christine Fellows, Emm Gryner, and Moxy Fruvous instead of doing homework. If this solution doesn't actually solve these players' aging next year (and obviously i'll have to stage mini-epic age-update sweeps for every Amateur Draft), i'll let y'all know; otherwise, news is good.

As for repairs in the next OOTP5: really, nothing hard has to be done with the aging codes. Only one easy step is needed: when asking the gamer to select a league start year, SPECIFY for them which years will work, and have the machine refuse dates from outside the range. It is needed, to prevent future panics like mine, but it's that simple; if i'd known that 2001 was a better start date, i'd've picked it.

Over and out.

Killebrew · 09-18-2002, 02:22 AM

I worked with Christine Fellows for awhile at the Spectrum Cabaret in Winnipeg, and my best buddy in TO is pals with that Rheostatics guy who wrote the hockey trip book (Hockey in China etc.).

voxpoptart · 12-20-2002, 06:14 AM

For anyone who happens across the thread, i just want to report that the fix -- changing everyone's birthday to pre-April ones -- does work, and players now age normally. Updating the birthdays of every season's rookies only takes an hour or two.

And in case Killebrew ever wanders across this post, i just wanna say "Hey! That sounds really neat. What work did you do for Christine Fellows?".

Killebrew · 12-20-2002, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by voxpoptart
And in case Killebrew ever wanders across this post, i just wanna say "Hey! That sounds really neat. What work did you do for Christine Fellows?".

We worked together in a nightclub, I was a tech and she served drinks. Same bar Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies bartended in

.

Psicosis · 12-21-2002, 06:18 AM

Great jeorb there, Killebrew...

09-16-2002, 08:21 PM	#1
voxpoptart Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 387	Dorian Greys I'm only in the second year of my fictional league and can't tell how severe a problem this will be, but: players are failing to age properly. Even for the first year, anyone born from April 1st to December 31st was consistently showing as one year too young (so, if their birthday was June 10th, 676, and now it's June 10th, 701, their age was shown advancing from 23 to 24). But now it's worse: many players haven't aged at all, and are shown as TWO years younger than they should be. What's that about? How's it fixable?

09-17-2002, 07:22 AM	#4
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	I would agree that it sounds like you need to have a league starting in a different year. The game has limitations, as all do, and it appears that this is one of them. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

09-17-2002, 08:05 AM	#6
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	I wasn't necessarily suggesting that you start over or trash the league. Just mentioned that "currently" this is a limitation of the game. I do not know how easy it would be to correct this or if it will be corrected. In addition this is the only time I have heard the issue mentioned. I do however appreciate it being brought to our attention. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

09-18-2002, 01:54 AM	#7
voxpoptart Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 387	the solution so far Well, my own specific case may be resolved: actually it took less than six hours to change the age of every single major-leaguer, AAA, AA, and A player on 28 teams to a January/February/March birthdate -- it's amazing how quickly you get into a rhythm where birthdates starting with the year -12xx becomes natural. If it was thoroughly boring, it was at least a good excuse to listen to albums by the Rheostatics, Mia Sheard, Christine Fellows, Emm Gryner, and Moxy Fruvous instead of doing homework. If this solution doesn't actually solve these players' aging next year (and obviously i'll have to stage mini-epic age-update sweeps for every Amateur Draft), i'll let y'all know; otherwise, news is good. As for repairs in the next OOTP5: really, nothing hard has to be done with the aging codes. Only one easy step is needed: when asking the gamer to select a league start year, SPECIFY for them which years will work, and have the machine refuse dates from outside the range. It is needed, to prevent future panics like mine, but it's that simple; if i'd known that 2001 was a better start date, i'd've picked it. Over and out.

09-17-2002, 06:23 AM	#2
voxpoptart Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 387	Although i've partly figured out the answer to my own question, the answer i've worked out is completely unacceptable. Here's what i have so far: By setting the league's first year as 701, i seem to have confused a game that is, apparently, completely incapable of handling any years that don't start with 19--. The players born prior to April 1st in a year don't have this problem, for whatever reason, but anyone born from April 1st on has to have their birthdate entered manually if i want them to age: and get this! If he was born in (say) 669, i have to enter the year of his birth as negative 1231! This will give me a correct age. So right now the status is, all i have to do is manually enter the birthdates of every player in the majors, the minors, and the free agent pools of a 28-team bileague setup, and i can have a league in which players actually age -- if, of course, the game even remembers the manual "fix" by the next season. This is, of course, ridiculous. Is there a patch to solve this, and to convince the machine to calculate everyone's ages correctly? If so, please point me to it. If not, please provide one. Thanks.

09-17-2002, 07:58 AM	#5
voxpoptart Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 387	I would agree that it sounds like you need to have a league starting in a different year. The game has limitations, as all do, and it appears that this is one of them. I understand "limitations", and in every other question i've had about the game i've been happy to be friendly, suggestion-offering, aware that y'all have made a terrific game and oversights are natural and i'm just making my suggestions to help. This is different. First of all, THIS LEAGUE EXISTS. I play out every one of my teams' games; i have invested months of free time in it; i did nothing wrong in not wanting to be playing in "1901" or whatever. It is outrageous to shrug and ask me to start over when a patch should be easy to program. If i can change the year without changing anything else, and if all the player birthdays will follow along, tell me how, and i'll do it. Simple. Otherwise, uh-uh. Secondly -- and this explains my emotional tone, which i'm sorry about but can't quite take back yet -- THIS WASN'T AN OVERSIGHT. I do not think the computer decided, all on its own, that all the games should be set in the 1900's or 2000's. To me it seems that you guys, Markus and Steve and whoever, have to at some point have decided that subtraction ("if the year's 701, and he's 25, he musta been born in 676") was too simple an algorithm. And you know what? It wasn't. If a patch doesn't exist for this, please make one or have one made. I'm playing the seasons i paid for; i created teams (my 26 opponents, not just the 2 teams i play myself) that i've learned to care about. It's huge credit to Markus and y'all that you've created a game that can warrant such involvement; the only other computer game i've ever spent such serious time on was "Civilization". But it's involvement i paid for and earned. I await your aid.

09-18-2002, 02:22 AM	#8
Killebrew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 3,326	I worked with Christine Fellows for awhile at the Spectrum Cabaret in Winnipeg, and my best buddy in TO is pals with that Rheostatics guy who wrote the hockey trip book (Hockey in China etc.).

12-20-2002, 06:14 AM	#9
voxpoptart Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 387	For anyone who happens across the thread, i just want to report that the fix -- changing everyone's birthday to pre-April ones -- does work, and players now age normally. Updating the birthdays of every season's rookies only takes an hour or two. And in case Killebrew ever wanders across this post, i just wanna say "Hey! That sounds really neat. What work did you do for Christine Fellows?".

12-21-2002, 06:18 AM	#11
Psicosis Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 228	Great jeorb there, Killebrew...