Mass Importing Historical Players (via draft or FA)

[Mister_G]

I think I ask this every year and never get the answer I want, but I'll try again to see if anything has been made easier...

If I wanted to start a game with fictional leagues and teams in say...1895...is there a way to mass-import players as free agents, but maybe a bit younger so they can develop through the minors?

Also, could I mass-import players through a draft where they show up earlier than their MLB-debut date, but with I guess lower ratings?

Or do I need to import players individually and manually adjust ratings and age?

[mitchkenn]

with a text file, you can import as many players as you want. i haven't used it in OOTP 21, but i played a 40 year game in 19 where i imported every player via text files. you can import them as free agents or into a draft on the historical import page.

[Mister_G]

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

with a text file, you can import as many players as you want. i haven't used it in OOTP 21, but i played a 40 year game in 19 where i imported every player via text files. you can import them as free agents or into a draft on the historical import page.

Thank you, couple questions if you can answer them...
Does OOTP still import players at their MLB debut age?
What file do I need to look at to get the players into a text file, and can I sort them by draft date or debut date?

[mitchkenn]

you can pick whatever year you want the player's info to be imported. Ruth in '27 or 21 or ..., or Mays in '54 or '63 or .... that's one of the options on the import panel.

you'd need to get the .csv file from the stats page to get their player ID and then pick the year. as i recall, you can sort that file by debut year. i don't recall there being a draft year. not at my game computer, so can't look that up to be certain.

on the OOTP 20 boards, there are a few discussions and examples on how to create a text file for import. i've got a write up i made for someone a couple of years ago i could post if you needed/wanted it .... it may be a bit dated terminology wise, but it should still work in 21.

[mitchkenn]

Got to my game computer, and decided to post my "how to" from 19 .... in case you or anyone else is curious how text files work. Hope it helps someone as this seems to be a frequent issue.

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Here's the way i've used a text file to import batches of players: (i'm pasting this from a folder i created about 4 years ago, so some of the game years (as 18 or 19) are outdated, but the system still works the same i believe) ....)

you need to create a text file to import more than one historical player at a time. (you can use notepad to list the players, but i use notepad ++ - it's free). you will need the player ID followed by a coma and then a space and then the year you want him to import. save that file to your computer - i create a folder in "stats" of the Doucments folder where OOTP is storing data. Name the folder whatever ( name mine "players to import 1895" for example), just remember where it's located. you will need to say if the players are for the draft or FA once you get to the import page. Everything is pretty much the same as regular one player import, except you leave the top line blank on the import historical players line, put the year you want the players to start in your game (the year of their best performance or debut year) in the second line, be certain to check your database is the correct one and be certain to check the box to include minor leagues as well. Then you click on the line that says "Click here to select file." for the text file. You will need to save the text file you created with notepad to your computer before you try to import players. Use that location when the program asks you where the text file is located. Below is a very small sample of what you need and what the text file would look like.

allowa001art, 1895
ames--001edw, 1895
ames--001jim, 1895
anders001pet, 1895
andrew001jay, 1895
armstr001tac, 1895
armstr001wil, 1895
arthur002sta, 1895

the players id’s can be found in the .MLB and MiLB .csv files (those are located - in a default install - on your C drive (at least on a PC using windows) "C:\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 19\stats" or BBref. (those are located in the url of the player - for example Hank Aaron " https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aaronha01.shtml" is aaronha01. (The location in 19 is slightly different than that of 18 i found. . Keep in mind, though, some MiLB and Negro Players do not use the same IDs as listed on BBref. The game's .csv files all contain the correct IDs used in the game. i use Libre Office (free program) to open my .csv files. The B column is the player ID. The Z column is the player debut year. in OOTP 19 it may be column AA. it tends to be a bit screwy the farther over you go in the file. But if you sort by debut year you can get a good idea when the debut years change because the names are in alphabetical order.

NEVER use the game's .csv file. i always make a copy of it, rename it and place the copy of the original on my desk-top, just in case i make the unavoidable error. that way the version used by the game is not ruined. i sort the players, not by name, but debut year in my COPY version. That way it is easier to find players for any specific year.

as said, i sort the players (in my copied .csv version) by debut year. Then i copy all the player IDs in column B for that year, and by sorting by year (those players then are listed alphabetically) - so it's fairly easy to simply scroll down until you've got all the players from a given year. i paste those into text file (i use notepad ++ - also a free program), then manually add the comma and space and then year of the player as the example above shows.) i give that file a highly relevant name - such as "1871 players to import" "1872 players to import" "1873 players to import". That way, when i get to point i am ready to import, it's easy to know which file i need to use.

You will need to tell the program where your database of players (that you are importing) is located, every time do this process. If you have used a different one, you'll need to close the game and restart it to be able to select a different one.. By default the databases are located at- C:\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 19\stats - and you most likely want to use :historical_database.odb and/or historical_minor_database.odb - as the default database.
After that, you need to tell the program if you want the players to go to Free Agency, or to the draft.



If you want them to go to a specific team, i've only done one test on this, and it worked, but below is a write up i found in the forums and it specifies how to import players to specific teams .....


from an excellent post by micropterus58 - here is a way to import players to specific teams via text file, by simply adding another few characters to the ones already created by the above write-up:

"To import players create a txt file using Notepad. I suggest you create a file for each team and import one team at a time. Then verify that the team is populated correctly. It's very easy to make a mistake. For the Yankees expand on the following example.

jeterde01, 1999,nyy
mantlmi01, 1957,nyy
gehrilo01, 1927,nyy

The nyy follows the abbreviation used on the league & teams settings page. This is the destination team so you can assign players to any team you wish. Select the year you want. You may have to use multiple databases to import the mix of players."

I suggest you do one team at a time and verify the players imported correctly. Here's a sample for the Red Sox and Pawtucket (AAA).

yastrca01, 1967,bos
evansdw01, 1981,bos
willite01, 1946,bos
riceji01, 1978,paw
doerrbo01, 1944,bos
ortizda01, 2007,bos
hoopeha01, 1920,paw

just be certain you are using the team edit names that are actually in the game. to find those - go the league settings, league & teams, there you'll find a list of all the teams and their abbreviations.

anyway - that's the way i used the files when i was importing all my players for the game i was playing in OOTP 18 & 19. i assume it still works, but i have changed my focus and am mixing a fictional/historical league now, so i don't import players currently. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Mister_G]

Can anyone think of the best way to import players at their earliest age possible? I would like to also include players who never made it to the majors, so you would think I could just use the MiLBMaster, but then I can't use players who never played in the minors. This is especially annoying in the early baseball years like the late-1800s. I don't think Al Spalding shows up in the MiLBMaster.

What's the least tedious way to get my idea to work? I would just like to make an alternate baseball history. Real players, fictional leagues and teams.

Also annoying things like Mel Ott not being on the MiLB list because he never played in the minors.