Screenshots: 6.5 vs. 2007 and Explanations

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by Base Stealer

My way of thinking....

The great thing about this game is the level of access we have to the developer. We have the ability to ask of things that we believe can improve the game. Others may disagree, Markus may disagree, but the fact that we can even suggest it and have some expectation that the developer will read it is amazing.

For each of us, we suggest items that we believe will make us more likely to purchase or enjoy the game. If Markus chooses to go down another path, then as a customer, I get to decide whether or not the game is something I would enjoy and purchase.

I never have, and never will bash Markus or the company he owns. They run a top notch organization. They are not perfect, they do things that make me scratch my head sometimes (like start preorders for a game without a feature list or release date), but their level of customer service and there willingness to listen to differing opinions makes this company great.

[HolyCow98]

I'm totally on your bandwagon. That stuff would be great to bring back/add in/fix. I think no matter what your style, or to be more accurate, I think no matter what style I was playing, I'd want that info. Some of it I do look for now and have to dig for it.

You bring up a lot of good stuff.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by BruceM

2006 had lots of bugs, but I always looked at it as a growing pain in the series.

A pain in the series? Whatever. Personally I found it to be quite a pain in a different place entirely.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

I have made many suggestions, I am a needy guy . Here are some I can think of off the top of my head:

- Stop sims when players reach certain milestones (500 homeruns, 3000 hits, 300 wins) This was available in OOTP4/5/6. Would like to see it expanded to include all time records.

- On that note, add news messages when players break career records. If a player breaks the all time homerun record, there should be a news story.

- Bring back the leaderboard/standings screen that is only currently available in the sim screen. This was the main screen in OOTP 4/5/6

- Bring back the records books, its very difficult to see who is the pitcher with the most strikeouts in one game. From OOTP 4/5/6

- Add an active leaderboard, cato or wallman like. Include all the major stats, plus stuff like hitting streaks.

- Player history page should only count awards won in the major leagues, not in the minors. Currently it counts both. So if it says a player has won 8 player of the week awards, this counts minors and majors, it really should only count majors.

- Add a leaderboard for most awards won. There is currently no easy way to know who has won the most mvp awards.

- Fix financials. Different screens give you different information about how much money you have to spend. The financial coefficient is pointless as far as I can tell. It is possible to add inflation using the "import adjusted financial settings" checkbox, but this does not work real well if you have two major leagues with different salary structures.

- Fix the commish mode. I do not want to be fired from my team, but I like to play with a salary cap. This was easy to do it v4/5/6, but in 2007 if you turn commish mode on to avoid the chance you will be fired, you are no longer held to the salary cap. A simple "I cannot be fired" checkbox would fix this.

- Fix the minor league system SION (BNN) page. Allow players to be moved in this screen using drag and drop, or put arrows in the transaction screen to reflect what the recommendations are. Also, it is currently not possible to bookmark the SION minor league system page. Doing so will bookmark your SION team home page instead.

Yes, these are all things that should be implemented.

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

I dont like clicking on a player and not knowing if I am going to get his ingame player card or the Sion player card.

This is probably my single biggest gripe with the game. It seems so small, but it bothers me a lot because of how often it comes up. I have almost no use for the SION Player Card screen. It's nice to be able to call up from within the ingame card, but I hate that it comes up automatically in some places. I wish I could set it to always bring up the regular card. Instead I'm always right-clicking and selecting that way, which is annoying when you do it a lot, and it's not always available (most notably, it's not an option in box scores of games that have just been played out).

[fantom1979]

bumping back to the first page.... a lot of good stuff in here

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

A pain in the series? Whatever. Personally I found it to be quite a pain in a different place entirely.

Would he stop with this crap. It's OVER ALREADY!!!

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by ctorg

This is probably my single biggest gripe with the game. It seems so small, but it bothers me a lot because of how often it comes up. I have almost no use for the SION Player Card screen. It's nice to be able to call up from within the ingame card, but I hate that it comes up automatically in some places. I wish I could set it to always bring up the regular card. Instead I'm always right-clicking and selecting that way, which is annoying when you do it a lot, and it's not always available (most notably, it's not an option in box scores of games that have just been played out).

It's actually easy. Anytime you are in the SION network pages, you'll get those player cards as well. EG...in the league news screen (not email news) you'll get the SION card.

[Bonedwarf]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

A pain in the series? Whatever. Personally I found it to be quite a pain in a different place entirely.

HAHA! Like it Yeah, I pre-ordered that one and played it for probably about 20 minutes. So that worked out around $80 or so an hour.

[silvam14]

Originally Posted by Bonedwarf

HAHA! Like it Yeah, I pre-ordered that one and played it for probably about 20 minutes. So that worked out around $80 or so an hour.

Hehe, kind of how much I felt I paid for my first and only NIN album. Listened to a couple of songs once and never again, paid about $16 for the cd. Yeah, that's about right.

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

I have made many suggestions, I am a needy guy . Here are some I can think of off the top of my head:

- Stop sims when players reach certain milestones (500 homeruns, 3000 hits, 300 wins) This was available in OOTP4/5/6. Would like to see it expanded to include all time records.

- On that note, add news messages when players break career records. If a player breaks the all time homerun record, there should be a news story.

- Bring back the records books, its very difficult to see who is the pitcher with the most strikeouts in one game. From OOTP 4/5/6

- Add an active leaderboard, cato or wallman like. Include all the major stats.

- Player history page should only count awards won in the major leagues, not in the minors. Currently it counts both. So if it says a player has won 8 player of the week awards, this counts minors and majors, it really should only count majors.

- Add a leaderboard for most awards won. There is currently no easy way to know who has won the most mvp awards.

- Fix financials. Different screens give you different information about how much money you have to spend. The financial coefficient is pointless as far as I can tell. It is possible to add inflation using the "import adjusted financial settings" checkbox, but this does not work real well if you have two major leagues with different salary structures.

- Fix the commish mode. I do not want to be fired from my team, but I like to play with a salary cap. This was easy to do it v4/5/6, but in 2007 if you turn commish mode on to avoid the chance you will be fired, you are no longer held to the salary cap. A simple "I cannot be fired" checkbox would fix this.

- Fix the minor league system SION (BNN) page. Allow players to be moved in this screen using drag and drop, or put arrows in the transaction screen to reflect what the recommendations are. Also, it is currently not possible to bookmark the SION minor league system page. Doing so will bookmark your SION team home page instead.

Deleted the ones I have seen in screen shots so far. Markus has stated that he is about done with coding new features, so this stuff is either in or not at this point. I hope at least a few of these things made it.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

Deleted the ones I have seen in screen shots so far. Markus has stated that he is about done with coding new features, so this stuff is either in or not at this point. I hope at least a few of these things made it.

- Active leaderboard is already there, simply use the career stats split in the 'show all players' screen (transaction screen).
- Financials are fixed.
- A "cannot be fired" option was added as well
- You can simply move players from the team minor league report by right-clicking on them, an action menu will open where you can demote/promote players.

The rest has to wait for OOTP 10 I'm afraid.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Active leaderboard is already there, simply use the career stats split in the 'show all players' screen (transaction screen).
- Financials are fixed.
- A "cannot be fired" option was added as well
- You can simply move players from the team minor league report by right-clicking on them, an action menu will open where you can demote/promote players.

The rest has to wait for OOTP 10 I'm afraid.

That's great news on a "cannot be fired" option!

[PSUColonel]

I'm beginning to think we should rename OOTP to "Options"...a game meant to do all things for all people.

[Sudy Nym]

There are certainly things I miss about OOTP 6.5, but more than anything this thread makes me realize how far the game has come since then, and how much more customizable the UI is now. My goodness, looking back at 6.5 feels like seeing a screenshot from a game I played on my 386.

The current UI certainly can be refined, however. The excess number of clicks required to perform common operations does tend to grate on the nerves. But I could never go back to a previous version of the game.

The transactions screen was a major sticking point for me in 2006. But with the option to scale resolution in 2007, it's been solved.

[BigLeBoSox]

I've been scanning through this posts over the last few weeks and as a result was anxious to get my hands on the demo of OOPT8, import my 6.13 league (yeah--I've been way behind on my OOTP game play) and see the added advantages. I've been a fan since OOTP 5, and played it religously for many years, and was content at 6.13, never felt the need to go to 6.5.

Unfortunely, 2 1/2 weeks was too short a time for me to do the demo on OOTP8. I only had time to get the league imported, set up, then navigate around. Here's my very very early and basic feedback on OOPT8.

I managed to upload my league and some history using Larry Anderson's utilties, but was very disappointed the league full almanac didn't completely get created. While I understand why, I'm discouraged I lose some league history with the import. While it's not overly important, it's not a bad thing to have. I am glad, however, that the utility allowed me to carry over player history (if that is what the utility actually did for me). Just a pain to have to go through this as it took up a couple days of my trial time.

I thought it was cool to have a Single A team, and a Rookie A team, plus an international pool. I also thought it was cool to have specialized coaches for each farm team level, outside of the managers like you were only able to have in V6.x. However, I found this to be a bit much, and I had yet to run a day in the season. If there's a way to do, I'd be happy with the keeping things basic on the farm level, with just a manager.

Thought the idea of a head scout, with scouts below him, was cool, however when I saw I have to assign tasks, plus I have to scout my own players and wait a couple of days to get a report, I find that to be a bit much as well. I like the simple version of getting a report when I want it, not wait for it. This is a damn game, not real life!

I loved the wrinkle of giving the players more personality, like a mood, what their expectations are for a role on the team. Plus, I like the option of labeling a player like "untouchable", as opposed to just "on the block" like in 6.x.

Sadly, that's really only as far as I got due to time limitations. Navigating was bothersome, and I got lost at times. I found there to be just too many screens to go through, and it was a contributing factor as to why I ran out of time with the demo. I think the demo would be better served to just be run a limited number of times (like the 100 times that comes with it, but less), or just one full season, rather than the overriding time limit of 17 days. Just didn't have the time to test drive it.

I'll go back through these screen shots, read the feedback, and see if there's hope I can simplify OOTP9 (if I buy it) to my liking, based on what I experienced. I'm sure it won't be that much different than 8. I'm a fan of simple, and I think far too many sports sim games go over the top with added features. Worse comes to worst, I buy 6.5 for the $10 it costs, and see if that satisfies me. I'm thinking though that since I got a taste of the more advanced and customizable version of the game, I may be wasting $10 that could go towards the next version.

Any tips to simplify these latest versions would be appreciated, plus maybe even a trick to extend the demo so I have more opportunity to get comfortable. That may be all it will take. Is it possible to back up the league I just imported, then re-download the demo and import the OOTP 8 version of my league?

Thanks guys!

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by BigLeBoSox

I've been scanning through this posts over the last few weeks and as a result was anxious to get my hands on the demo of OOPT8, import my 6.13 league (yeah--I've been way behind on my OOTP game play) and see the added advantages. I've been a fan since OOTP 5, and played it religously for many years, and was content at 6.13, never felt the need to go to 6.5.

Unfortunely, 2 1/2 weeks was too short a time for me to do the demo on OOTP8. I only had time to get the league imported, set up, then navigate around. Here's my very very early and basic feedback on OOPT8.

I managed to upload my league and some history using Larry Anderson's utilties, but was very disappointed the league full almanac didn't completely get created. While I understand why, I'm discouraged I lose some league history with the import. While it's not overly important, it's not a bad thing to have. I am glad, however, that the utility allowed me to carry over player history (if that is what the utility actually did for me). Just a pain to have to go through this as it took up a couple days of my trial time.

I thought it was cool to have a Single A team, and a Rookie A team, plus an international pool. I also thought it was cool to have specialized coaches for each farm team level, outside of the managers like you were only able to have in V6.x. However, I found this to be a bit much, and I had yet to run a day in the season. If there's a way to do, I'd be happy with the keeping things basic on the farm level, with just a manager.

Thought the idea of a head scout, with scouts below him, was cool, however when I saw I have to assign tasks, plus I have to scout my own players and wait a couple of days to get a report, I find that to be a bit much as well. I like the simple version of getting a report when I want it, not wait for it. This is a damn game, not real life!

I loved the wrinkle of giving the players more personality, like a mood, what their expectations are for a role on the team. Plus, I like the option of labeling a player like "untouchable", as opposed to just "on the block" like in 6.x.

Sadly, that's really only as far as I got due to time limitations. Navigating was bothersome, and I got lost at times. I found there to be just too many screens to go through, and it was a contributing factor as to why I ran out of time with the demo. I think the demo would be better served to just be run a limited number of times (like the 100 times that comes with it, but less), or just one full season, rather than the overriding time limit of 17 days. Just didn't have the time to test drive it.

I'll go back through these screen shots, read the feedback, and see if there's hope I can simplify OOTP9 (if I buy it) to my liking, based on what I experienced. I'm sure it won't be that much different than 8. I'm a fan of simple, and I think far too many sports sim games go over the top with added features. Worse comes to worst, I buy 6.5 for the $10 it costs, and see if that satisfies me. I'm thinking though that since I got a taste of the more advanced and customizable version of the game, I may be wasting $10 that could go towards the next version.

Any tips to simplify these latest versions would be appreciated, plus maybe even a trick to extend the demo so I have more opportunity to get comfortable. That may be all it will take. Is it possible to back up the league I just imported, then re-download the demo and import the OOTP 8 version of my league?

Thanks guys!

With regard to scouts and assignments it takes me about 5 minutes to set mine up for the whole season and I don't touch them again other than when the draft is announced. It looks bad when you fist get the game but in the end isn't that hard.

Having said that you will probably be more interested in waiting for v9. Scouting in v9 will not have the scouting staff but will instead only have a scouting director who you set a budget for. Here is what has been announced so far..
OOTP Developments Newsletter


With the scouting being simplified for v9 I don't think you'll find the game to be tedious. It's more the time it takes you to get used to the interface and that isn't as hard to do as you might think. Spend a little time with the game and you will become very familiar with it. Don't let it frustrate you, hey, it's a big game with lot's of options but it does give you many ways to get to what you want. Between bookmarks, tabs, menus, and right click menus it becomes easier IMHO to navigate than 6.5. If you stick with it you will find it is well worth the effort.

The only thing I lost, and keep in mind I imported my 6.5 into v2006 (not nearly as complete a game as v8) was some history, which is mostly league history not player. I also still have my 6.5 almanacs on my HD so if I feel the need to look back I still can. V2007 offers so much more though that I rarely look back. And FWIW I play out every inning of every game and had 10 seasons completed using v4-v6.5 so there is a lot to look back if I wanted to.

Keep in mind, though v8 isn't perfect, it is way ahead of 6.5 and before on player development, performance, aging, etc. etc. et. $24.95 as a preorder price for v9 compared to $9.95 for the 6.5 expansion to me isn't even a close comparison. Dollar for dollar v9 is the way to go.