Can we get a way to just turn budgets off?

[endgame]

Originally Posted by knudlen

Charlie Hough: Realistic!
Everyone Else: What country are you from?

Relatively mild humor, but presented without forethought, IMHO. Up until that post, even though there has been some disagreements of philosophy, no one had taken any direct or personal shots. Smart as you are, the post in its entirety, wasn't called for.

[als799]

Originally Posted by endgame

Relatively mild humor, but presented without forethought, IMHO. Up until that post, even though there has been some disagreements of philosophy, no one had taken any direct or personal shots. Smart as you are, the post in its entirety, wasn't called for.

Really? Charlie has made it very clear he thinks he knows better than us, despite his never looking at our file. His tone, and continued blind eyed posting that there's 'nothing to see here' is a personnel attack on everyone who plays this game online or wants it work right.

To state that what we want "breaks reality" in a game that people are playing with hobbits and orcs in some leagues, is short sighted at the least. Hell maybe he's an actual troll from one of those leagues, he's sure acting like it.

Bottom line is this game is not working the way it should. Unless you are Markus, Andrea, a coder from the company, or someone with a helpful idea or insight, you are dragging this post down away from it's true purpose...

To try and get a great game working properly for everyone.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by als799

Really? Charlie has made it very clear he thinks he knows better than us, despite his never looking at our file. His tone, and continued blind eyed posting that there's 'nothing to see here' is a personnel attack on everyone who plays this game online or wants it work right.

To state that what we want "breaks reality" in a game that people are playing with hobbits and orcs in some leagues, is short sighted at the least. Hell maybe he's an actual troll from one of those leagues, he's sure acting like it.

Bottom line is this game is not working the way it should. Unless you are Markus, Andrea, a coder from the company, or someone with a helpful idea or insight, you are dragging this post down away from it's true purpose...

To try and get a great game working properly for everyone.

None of the exchanges took the kind of aim that post did, even though it might not have surprised me, given the personalities involved as I know them. In any event, that being said, the closest I can approximate any requirement you've laid out is trying to be helpful or provide insight, and probably not close enough. The aim has been pretty well spelled out, so I'll leave it and this thread at that.

[OldFatGuy]

Can I get a claification from those here advocating for this on an issue that might help those not understanding your plight a little better?

Is it working something like this: Turn off owner control of budgets and allow full use of revenue.

2008 revenue=$180 million
2009 revenue=$184 million
2010 revenue=$191 million
2011 revenue=$190 million
2012 revenue=still playing...

But when you go to sign extensions or long term free agent contracts the amount budgeted in years 2013, 2014, 2015 is something like $150 million.

I THINK that's kind of what's happening (not sure though) and if that's it, it's hard for me to see how that isn't a problem. It seems to me a budget based on total revenues should have as a MINIMUM the miminum revenue in the last 5 years ($180 million) when the trend is obviously upward and perhaps at least 85-95% of the minimum when the trend is flat.

Instead of turning anything off or editing anything maybe Markus needs to make the future budgets available when the option for Owner Controlled budgets is NOT used to be much less conservative?

[OldFatGuy]

Well DOH. I thought I was adding in edit and instead I hit quote. What a moran.

Added in Edit: You know this may well be just an old fashioned bug. When Markus added the option to turn off Owner Control of budgets, he forgot to change that setting for future budgets. And it's still coming up with future budgets as if that setting hadn't been ticked off. In other words, ticking that setting on and off is only affecting current year budgets instead of all future years budgets as well. Has anyone tested to see if this this the case?

[mikev]

Originally Posted by OldFatGuy

Well DOH. I thought I was adding in edit and instead I hit quote. What a moran.

Added in Edit: You know this may well be just an old fashioned bug. When Markus added the option to turn off Owner Control of budgets, he forgot to change that setting for future budgets. And it's still coming up with future budgets as if that setting hadn't been ticked off. In other words, ticking that setting on and off is only affecting current year budgets instead of all future years budgets as well. Has anyone tested to see if this this the case?

That is basically the crux of it.

For as much whining about how "unrealistic" it would be, it's already an option in the game to turn off budgets -- it just doesn't work correctly.

[Killebrew]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

I will not allow this to fall off the front page.

Is this the thread where OOTP users are requesting that turning off the "Owner Contols Budget" setting actually turns off the "Owner Contols Budget" setting?

If so, then - BUMP.

This has been a PITA to find workarounds for in at least 3 versions of OOTP, and I'd love to see this option get a second look from Markus. I can't imagine it is working as designed.

[blueturf]

Originally Posted by OldFatGuy

Can I get a claification from those here advocating for this on an issue that might help those not understanding your plight a little better?

Is it working something like this: Turn off owner control of budgets and allow full use of revenue.

2008 revenue=$180 million
2009 revenue=$184 million
2010 revenue=$191 million
2011 revenue=$190 million
2012 revenue=still playing...

But when you go to sign extensions or long term free agent contracts the amount budgeted in years 2013, 2014, 2015 is something like $150 million.

I have read through the thread and best I can tell, what is outlined by OFG is essentially the problem others are experiencing. It seems that it is not an issue of budget being turned on/off but rather an issue of the projected balance of future years is understated making it difficult to extend contracts at similar figures or at the rate of inflation. If the game allows you to use all revenue and correctly projects the future available funds, would that solve the issue many players are experiencing?

Is the Projected Budget of the following year what some have suggested be edited? I agree with Charlie Hough that we should cautiously approach any other toggles within the financial system since it is fairly volatile as it is.

I see that the Moneyball league is in 2011 and that the GUBA league date is well into the future. Are others that are experiencing this issue playing with a league date of 2011 or later? Are any with earlier league dates having a problem? It seems that the issue may be relevant to the financials.txt file which doesn't have any data beyond 2011. How does the game account for rising expenses and inflation if there is no data beyond 2011? I remember having similar financial issues with current/future dated leagues in prior versions of OOTP and there was a modded financial.txt file with figures accounting for inflation into the late 2000's that helped solve the problem.

EDIT: I found the modded financials.txt file. It can be found in this post.

[TroubleBoy]

My two cents (since it's a money thread), and I'm fascinated by the conversation that's grown out of it.

I just play the stand-alone game on my Mac and I've tinkered with the preferences and options to try and make the game as realistic as possible. I guess for purposes of this dialogue, my owner of the 1991 Dodgers, Carlos Somebody-or-Other controls the finances.

For the past 3-4 seasons, I've pretty-well finished first or second in attendance playing in the world's most-populous market, all whilst charging the exorbitant ticket prices ($9.00 this year, compared to the nearest $8.37 charged in Montreal (must be the exchange rate). Off course this is off-set by generally having the highest payroll (top-3 most years).

With each passing year, my beloved owner, Carlos Somebody-or-Other has become more and more stingy with the coin and I don't even bother testing the high-end free agent market these days because I know I can't get past year-2 of the projected budget... Last year I added another 4,000 seats to my backyard and still no joy. My owner makes Billy Beame look like Bill Gates.

Perhaps if I learned his last name?

But, when I think about it, maybe Carlos Somebody-or-Other is just another Charles Comiskey or Charlie O. Or, a kinder, gentler version of Marge Schott. And, what's wrong with that? Luck of the ownership draw, I say.

In all seriousness though, I love the financial side of the game. I think, for the most part, that's where a lot of it's really played out - balancing the budget against the cost per hit, per run, shirt sale etc. While I'm sure he'll turn it around, the real life Angels must be feeling a bit nervous over Albert and the impact on their projected budget for the next few years.

Not sure what my observations have to do with 'Can we get a way to just turn budgets off?', but...

[Cooleyvol]

Can we please get some sort of response from someone in the company? Its obvious this isnt working as it should. All we're asking for is a fix.

[ill16ca]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

Can we please get some sort of response from someone in the company? Its obvious this isnt working as it should. All we're asking for is a fix.

I'm with Cooleyvol. This really needs to be fixed.

In my online league, I recently inherited a team in a bad financial situation. Even though owners controlling budgets is supposedly turned off, I'm still handcuffed by lack of budget room. In free agency, I can't offer even minimum contracts to fill out my roster, yet I can offer minor league contracts and call those players up so they make the minimum. That's not realistic.

[Cooleyvol]

........and another bump to the top in the hopes of at least getting the thread recognized by someone in game management.

[mad0die]

Agreed, I'd really like to know if our request to edit future budgets is going to be added or I need to come up with another workaround.

[ill16ca]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

........and another bump to the top in the hopes of at least getting the thread recognized by someone in game management.

Thanks Cooleyvol. I managed to solve my team's financial problem (by trading my best player for $20 million and a top prospect) but I'd still love to have this fixed.

[Cooleyvol]

Bueller?

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

but I don't believe you should have it. I disagree in this case and believe it should be denied...And don't be surprised if the request is denied...

OMG!!! Who the **** is this guy?!? You are a piece of work, Dude. LOL.

[Honorable_Pawn]

I stopped reading after that thread.

I'm sure the rest was all about the same Mr. Nice-Guy with a knife behind his back talking to another Mr. Nice-Guy with a gun behind his.

The whole point is that when playing competitively against human (non-AI for those unintelligent enough to figure it out) opponents one doesn't want to be disadvantaged by an arbitrary and unrealistically calculated number that rarely matches the overall position of the team.

If one is playing a solo league then the budgets help keep players from taking advantage of AI weaknesses. But the OP was specifically talking about ONLINE leagues. I mean really...WTF.

Anyway to the OP: I'm sorry, Sir. Your request has been denied. Please indicate on form 1044AE under paragraph IIa your intentions to file for next years version. Unfortunately, I do not feel that you deserve it so I will do everything that I can to DESTROY you like the bug that you really are.

(insert maniacal laugh)

Some people just need to get

[Honorable_Pawn]

edit: removed insult

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

In summation, what do you care if I want to play the game in this manner? It doesnt have an effect on you/your game play.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding

[Cooleyvol]

Sorry, Charlie Hough, but Markus has included this in the next patch!

Please take the time to thank him as I don't think it was an easy fix.