Disable pitch-by-pitch in OOTP8? Plus another question

[adaher]

I first was introduced to OOTP through my purchase of Season Ticket Baseball 2003. I stuck with that until the CD cracked yesterday, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to buy the latest version online.

The first thing I noticed is that when playing a game it defaults to showing every single pitch, whereas the older game defaulted to just showing the results of the play. I couldn't find an option to change it. Is there a way to do that?

Secondly, I used to play a lot of one-year replays of historical leagues and found it very easy to just disable all the extra stuff like coaches, financials, and trades to just let it be stats based. I'm finding that a little more difficult in OOTP8. I'm reading stories of players being unhappy and I'm not sure what to do with my manager character, who I can't find a way to disable so I can just watch the league play it's games.

So how do I get a historical league to be strictly stats-based, and how do I disable that manager thingie that wants me to get hired and stuff?

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by adaher

I first was introduced to OOTP through my purchase of Season Ticket Baseball 2003. I stuck with that until the CD cracked yesterday, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to buy the latest version online.

The first thing I noticed is that when playing a game it defaults to showing every single pitch, whereas the older game defaulted to just showing the results of the play. I couldn't find an option to change it. Is there a way to do that?

Secondly, I used to play a lot of one-year replays of historical leagues and found it very easy to just disable all the extra stuff like coaches, financials, and trades to just let it be stats based. I'm finding that a little more difficult in OOTP8. I'm reading stories of players being unhappy and I'm not sure what to do with my manager character, who I can't find a way to disable so I can just watch the league play it's games.

So how do I get a historical league to be strictly stats-based, and how do I disable that manager thingie that wants me to get hired and stuff?

Regarding what's known in the game as One-Pitch Mode, that's in the lower right corner (first screen print) but only if you are managing a team in the game. That, I gather, is not what you want. So, I will call your attention to the Quick Play bar at the bottom which works whether you are in charge of a team or not; the first button resolves the At Bat immediately. By the way, don't unclick the Pause After Each Play box that you see near the top right of the screen if you are not managing (second screen print), because that will make the game proceed pitch-by-pitch and is very tricky to stop (needs repeated clicking to register).

I'm not big on historical leagues, but I am pretty sure that no OOTP 2007/8 game can be created without some manager identity. However, that does not mean you need to use it. Rename it to something generic like "Baseball Commissioner" and don't accept any GM position offered. Go to manager options and, while selecting Play in Commissioner Mode (which comes in handy), deselect everything in Exit Auto-Play and Subscribe to No News. Don't bother with Team Controls and Vacation Settings because you don't control any team.

There's a lot to learn about OOTP 2007/8, even for somebody playing an earlier version. So, I will not attempt to explain what little I know about setting up an historical league; I will tell you that it can be done so that it comes out pretty accurately and I understand OOTP 9 will be even better in that regard (I have attached PDF copies of the two newsletters recently sent about OOTP 9, you will want to read the second one especially*).

I will advise on what you specifically talked about, though. You want to go to Game, Game Setup, Player & Picture Options, and uncheck Show & Use Player Morale System. You probably also want to turn off the Player Personality Ratings and turn on Disable Player Development.

Sorry, that's about all I know of historical play. Perhaps another member who knows more will come by and advise you. In the meantime, I would download and read the manual, specifically the sections on creating and maintaining historical leagues.

*Edit - I forgot about the size restrictions for PDF attachments, so I will direct you to this link for the first newsletter. Since they have not linked the second newsletter, I provided that in a text file below.

[Kelric]

I will advise on what you specifically talked about, though. You want to go to Game, Game Setup, Player & Picture Options, and uncheck Show & Use Player Morale System. You probably also want to turn off the Player Personality Ratings and turn on Disable Player Development

Will say though, that still doesn't eliminate player personalities it seems. I'm running a 2008 MLB league with Morale and Personality and whatnot turned off, but as I run an expansion team (the Portland Beavers and San Antonio Scorpions were added to the AL West) we're pretty bad. My starting centerfielder and starting third baseman have both come to me complaining about how we suck and that they want a trade.

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Kelric

Will say though, that still doesn't eliminate player personalities it seems. I'm running a 2008 MLB league with Morale and Personality and whatnot turned off, but as I run an expansion team (the Portland Beavers and San Antonio Scorpions were added to the AL West) we're pretty bad. My starting centerfielder and starting third baseman have both come to me complaining about how we suck and that they want a trade.

Good point. Shutting it off might just be freezing current moods, good, bad, or indifferent.

Just a quick observation from a test league: I sorted the Show All Players page by Player Morale, located the sourpusses on the bottom, then went to shut off Personality and Morale. I went back to the cranky ones and checked their Player Profile edit pages; their mood ratings were still quite negative, so shutting the options off does not wipe the slate clean. I advanced the date a while, turned the options back on, and observed that nothing had changed in terms of morale or ranking of the players by that characteristic.

So, I am hoping that turning the options off does three things:

1. Stops/prevents any negative influences on performance from bad morale or personality, which I would think is the most important thing to an historical game player. I am pretty sure now that this is the purpose of the option settings.
2. Prevents anybody's current mood from getting any worse due to adverse performance, role on team, or transactions.
3. Depending on the source of historical player data used in the game, all players created/imported have an even-tempered nature to begin with.

Numbers 2 and 3, of course, being significant only if one is managing a team in an historical league, which adaher is not; he will not be getting those complaints that you are, Kelric. For him, 1 is the only consideration.

I'm starting to ramble here (more than usual, that is). Am I making sense?