Non-Steam save to Steam?

[Fardaza]

I've seen several posts about Steam saves working on PC or Mac, but that's not my concern.
I've been playing a league since 2011 in the regular OOTP version from the company webstore. If I purchase the game again on Steam, will my old saved league still work?
Thanks,
Ken

[Westheim]

I can't imagine why it wouldn't work; the two versions probably save into the same folder. By default, Steam saves to the ever-popular file dump that is My Documents under Windows. Copying the file in there, the game should have no problem loading from there.

Maybe wait until someone with actual knowledge confirms this.

[pgjocki]

Well it will work but the process requires you update it through each version between 2011 and 2020.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[RchW]

As long as the build version ie 21.xx.yyy is compatible there should be no problem. Going backwards is not recommended. Forward is usually good.

This is not official, just my experience.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by pgjocki

Well it will work but the process requires you update it through each version between 2011 and 2020.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Hmm maybe I misunderstood the question. I took it to be a save that he imported to say v21 already. I've been wrong before.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by RchW

Hmm maybe I misunderstood the question. I took it to be a save that he imported to say v21 already. I've been wrong before.

That was how I understood it also, though of course we both could be wrong.

But if I am understanding the question correctly, then I think it is just about a long-time save that has crossed over several iterations of the game in non-Steam form being able to be imported over to Steam. And if so, I can say that I am currently playing my primary save (see signature below) with the Steam version of the game after having started it in OOTP 18 and carrying it through to 20, all with non-Steam versions. It was just as easy for me as importing it from one iteration to another.
Now what is less clear to me is if we are talking about importing it from non-Steam version 21 to Steam version 21. But I have to imagine it can be done and wouldn't be difficult.

[Syd Thrift]

If you’re coming in all the way from 11, that’s going to be a rough transition. It’s theoretically possible to install versions 12-20 and upgrade your league through each and every version, but there are a bunch of vital things that have been added over the past 10 years that’ll have a pretty big effect on your league. Off the top of my head, pitch types, personality, and the fielding model have changed in a major way and you may as a result see stars in your 11 league become average in the upgraded to 21 version.

Honestly this might just be a good time to start fresh...

[Fardaza]

Wow! I wasn't expecting this many answers. Thanks All.
It's what BirdWatcher said. I have an old league save that has gone through several upgrades and is currently in 2019 non-Steam format. I was thinking of upgrading to 2021 version. (I know I need to download 2020 as an intermediate step.) I just wanted to know if this save would work if I bought the Steam version.

I would also like to know if the Steam game eliminates some of the looooong save times when backing up the files. My game seems to have suffered severe bloat over the years. It can be very laggy and even make me think it's locked up occasionally, only to keep on chugging along after a bit. Will this go away if I get a clean version on Steam and simply load my saved league?

[pgjocki]

Ok, thanks for clarifying.

A new version isn't going to make your game save quicker. A new SSD might but most likely you just have a large file with lots of useless data taking up space.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Fardaza

Wow! I wasn't expecting this many answers. Thanks All.
It's what BirdWatcher said. I have an old league save that has gone through several upgrades and is currently in 2019 non-Steam format. I was thinking of upgrading to 2021 version. (I know I need to download 2020 as an intermediate step.) I just wanted to know if this save would work if I bought the Steam version.

I would also like to know if the Steam game eliminates some of the looooong save times when backing up the files. My game seems to have suffered severe bloat over the years. It can be very laggy and even make me think it's locked up occasionally, only to keep on chugging along after a bit. Will this go away if I get a clean version on Steam and simply load my saved league?

There is a solution to that using a DOS batch file. I call it boxlogdelete.bat. see the text replicated below. Before you use it do a full back up and store it away from your saved games folder. Note bat files can't be stopped and I can't guarantee they will work for every league file.

I typically run this Jan 1 of the new year in game. It reduces league size considerably. Type the following into a text editor and name it with the extension .bat. Copy it to the your league.lg folder (where the .dat files are), and with OOTP not running, double click to run.

del .\news\txt\leagues\log_*.txt
del .\news\html\box_scores\*.html
del .\news\html\game_logs\*.html
del .\replays\*.rpl
del .\messages\message*.txt
del .\dump_20**_yearly\*.*
del .\news\almanac_20**\*.*

This will delete all the files indicated. There is no going back. After it has run you should delete the messages.dat file before opening the league. The messages.dat file will be rebuilt when the league is opened.

Sorry to be legalistic. Use at your own risk