(Returning Player) Creating a league from scratch

[BadLuckBrett]

Hey all,


Don't think I've played OOTP since 10 or 11 the latest, excited yet overwhelmed with some of the changes.

Right to the point, I have an idea I'd like to try with maybe a 16 custom team league with players through the ages all starting with their rookie year. (Boston starts with a rookie Ted Williams, Yaz, Pedro and Mo Vaughn for example, etc)

I would like to watch the league/careers progress and add real players to the yearly draft, but I'd also like to keep the minor league system as tidy as possible. I assume I'll need the AAA system, should I also keep Double or Single A?

I fine with the edit being time consuming, I fully expect to be working on this for a week or more. I just want to make sure it's doable, impossible or if it's much more common and easier now.

Just finished the download and am going to poke around to see what I do and don't remember.

Any pointers or tips are greatly appreciated.

And honestly, one of my most important questions : Do I or don't I click the "normalization" button when importing players? Especially for a project like this?


Thanks in advance


Edit: After a (very) quick look, seems like I need to create a fictional league first, delete the players, import the players I'd like and finally assign them to teams?

[Charlie Hough]

I can't answer all of your questions, but I will hopefully address some of them.

Yes, you will probably have to start with a league, delete all personnel and all history, then import players and schedule a draft or simply assign all players to teams when you import them.

I believe you can do exactly what you are looking to do, and there are a couple of ways to do it.

1. Import historical players from the database using the option in the game to manually import players individually into the draft pool, free agency, or rosters. I believe you can enter their rookie year when they are prompted to enter the year for the import, and hopefully that will work. You can read more about this process in the old OOTP 16 manual. Read the section of this page on Importing Historical Players, which I think is still accurate: https://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com...oner_functions

2. The better way to this is probably to do a CSV batch file import. This is where you prepare a CSV file with all the players you want to bring into the game. That will probably be easier, and you can repeat that process each off-season when you want to import future players. Hopefully someone here can explain exactly how to do that because it's been may years since I experimented with this.


As for minor leagues, you might be able to get away with having only two levels instead of three. But having one affiliate for each team at the AAA, AA and A level might be manageable. You can use ghost fictional players to fill out minor league rosters and simply block them from ever reaching the majors. Another option is to not use minors and just use reserve lists for simplicity.

[BadLuckBrett]

Thank you! Much appreciated

I have my plan of attack as far as the setting up the league goes.


I guess the biggest question/advice I have left is should I check the normalization box when importing the players?

[Charlie Hough]

I don't normally use normalization. But you can probably find some threads on these forums where normalization and its effects are discussed. Or you can post a question about this in the historical games forum. There are a number of people there who are experts on the topic.

[BadLuckBrett]

Thank you, much appreciated