Three years since I last visited OOTP

[jeffself]

I'm coming from a background using Diamond Mind Baseball. It is now so old looking, I won't play it anymore. Plus, I've been on Macs for 20 years and have no interest in running Windows virtually now. I've looked into alternatives and I've messed with Digital Diamond Baseball. It's ok, but it's really nothing more than web pages wrapped in an interface. It just doesn't work for me. I'd rather stick with DMB.

I've looked at and purchased OOTP multiple times the last 20 years and I've been frustrated every time. I have no interest in franchise games or real-time play. I want to be able to do two things:

1) Replay past seasons
2) Create my own league with historical players or historical teams

So, has OOTP become any easier at all to do either of those two things? I have no interest in general manager stuff like farm system or anything. Or is this still not the game for me. If so, I'll continue to be jealous of the graphics while I load up DMB on a Windows VM on my Mac.

[yount19]

I too love season replays. This game provides everything that I need and more. Once you get used to navigating the interface and add-ons, this game is a must have for any historical baseball fan. I too have played Diamond Mind Baseball but I was not a huge fan of it...

I do not like anything about modern baseball and so I stick with playing seasons prior to the early 2000's when playing tabletop and/or PC baseball games. No one can guaranty that you will love this game but with your taste being similar to mine, I think that there is a good chance that this game could be worth a purchase for you...

Any questions that you will have about the add-ons or game itself will be addressed somewhere in the forums through detailed explanation or short videos. You will just need to search as I did...

Good Luck

[thehef]

Originally Posted by jeffself

I'm coming from a background using Diamond Mind Baseball. It is now so old looking, I won't play it anymore. Plus, I've been on Macs for 20 years and have no interest in running Windows virtually now. I've looked into alternatives and I've messed with Digital Diamond Baseball. It's ok, but it's really nothing more than web pages wrapped in an interface. It just doesn't work for me. I'd rather stick with DMB.

I've looked at and purchased OOTP multiple times the last 20 years and I've been frustrated every time. I have no interest in franchise games or real-time play. I want to be able to do two things:

1) Replay past seasons
2) Create my own league with historical players or historical teams

So, has OOTP become any easier at all to do either of those two things? I have no interest in general manager stuff like farm system or anything. Or is this still not the game for me. If so, I'll continue to be jealous of the graphics while I load up DMB on a Windows VM on my Mac.

I would suggest describing in more detail a) what you are expecting from replaying past seasons, and b) what kind of league you'd like to create with historical players & historical teams. You'll likely get plenty of replies with insight on how to accomplish your goals...

At that point... You say you've purchased previous versions of OOTP. Not sure what the most recent version is, but if it's somewhat recent (and not like version 6 or 12 ), then you could reinstall and test out what you'd like to do - based upon the feedback & instructions you receive here. If you didn't purchase a recent version, then I *think* you can download and install a semi-recent version in order to demo it. It'll be limited on certain features, but it'll give you the gist of it...

[Hooray Saturday]

I think this can definitely be the game for you. Historical play has improved quite a bit in the past few years. When setting up a historical game one of the options is to optimize for a single season replay. This rates players based only on the year you are replaying, and turns development off. You can play with historical lineups and transactions for pinpoint realism, if desired.

It is also pretty easy to set up a league with different historical teams from different seasons. If you wanted to create unique teams with different players from different years, that is also possible, though a bit more time consuming, as you'd have to import each player individually.

Historical uniforms and stadiums are also available as user created add-ons to add to the immersion and realism. They are pretty easy to setup if you know your way around a computer.

I feel like you would be happy with the results generated and get the enjoyment of playing out the games with the awesome 3D.

[TomVeal]

As someone who used to play a lot of DMB, I have a few suggestions for getting similar game play with OOTP:

• For historical seasons, select real transactions. That way, you will have to cope with trades and injuries just as the real-life managers had to.
• Unless you would like the additional experience of micromanaging a minor league system, leave that to the AI, or use reserve rosters instead of minors.
• In ahistorical games (i. e., pitting teams from different years against each other), you can select any year from 1871 through 2022 as the environment. There isn't, however (so far as I know), any counterpart to DBM's "neutral era", so some thought needs to be given to choosing a base year that doesn't lead to strange results for the selected teams. I wouldn't, for instance, recommend a league that included 1871 Boston and 2022 Boston.
• In ahistorical games, it is best, I think, to use reserve rosters and no trading. Letting AI handle your team's trades is a dubious idea, because the AI's trading logic isn't designed to focus on the season currently in progress. It will trade your declining but still useful stars for prospects whom you can't use immediately.
• In either type of game, you should turn off financials, scouting, coaching, personality traits, and other features that are absent from DMB.

[rudel.dietrich]

The thread title says 3 years. If that is accurate, then that would be version 21.

If that version did not give them what they wanted. I don't think any version since will.
This has never been a replay sim, you can do replays. But it is not it's strength.



My suggestion would be to purchase it off Steam, it will let you try it for two hours. During that time you can figure out if it will do what you want it to do.
If not, then their refund process is easy.

[Mifr44]

Originally Posted by jeffself

2) Create my own league with historical players or historical teams

I wonder if any of that can be accomplished using the All Time Greatest quickstart. That's what I am trying to understand before I leap into purchasing OOTP. Did the setup of that quickstart import players at some career best season, using peak career seasons, or career totals? Nothing in the documentation seems to indicate this, but it is also likely I am just not seeing it.

With DMB and Action PC, it's quite clear that a single season has been selected for each player (although with historical collections or with homebrews, those stats have been massaged to those seasons). With OOTP, it isn't clear to me how a player can be assigned to a single season given my interpretation of the Base Potential Ratings on option.

[Statsman1]

I posed this same question a couple of months ago, and the responses indicated that there really is no simple way to do what you want to do.

Should you be familiar with spreadsheets and an incredible amount of data entry, importing and exporting, you can create any league you wish, with any players you want...but the amount of work that goes into it is crushingly off-putting.

Here is a link to that conversation...

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=344365

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

If that version did not give them what they wanted. I don't think any version since will.
This has never been a replay sim, you can do replays. But it is not it's strength.

I am not saying OOTP is a weak product, so when I say this, take it with a grain of salt…but I am not sure what the “hands down strength” of OOTP is anymore either though.

[fredbeene]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I am not saying OOTP is a weak product, so when I say this, take it with a grain of salt…but I am not sure what the “hands down strength” of OOTP is anymore either though.

Marketing and graphics

[pstrickert]

Garlon created a Baseball Greats quickstart. I'm not sure if he's still making it available to those who request it. Worth a try, though.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...4&postcount=15

[RonCey10]

I like to play past season replays myself. I found this video to be quite helpful.

https://youtu.be/whwzXcW-aZI

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I am not saying OOTP is a weak product, so when I say this, take it with a grain of salt…but I am not sure what the “hands down strength” of OOTP is anymore either though.

Customizability, however, you do have to know what you're doing

Originally Posted by fredbeene

Marketing and graphics

Graphics is most definitely not a strength

[Hooray Saturday]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

Customizability, however, you do have to know what you're doing



Graphics is most definitely not a strength

name one non-console baseball game that has better?

[Cod]

Originally Posted by Hooray Saturday

name one non-console baseball game that has better?

Super Mega Baseball

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by Hooray Saturday

name one non-console baseball game that has better?

you must not be following... I was answering a question on what OOTP's strength is.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by Cod

Super Mega Baseball

SMB, while has a lot of customizability, does not have more than OOTP

[Cod]

Originally Posted by jeffself

I've looked at and purchased OOTP multiple times the last 20 years and I've been frustrated every time. I have no interest in franchise games or real-time play. I want to be able to do two things:

1) Replay past seasons
2) Create my own league with historical players or historical teams

For #1, OOTP is usable and will allow you to replay many seasons without paying any extra. This is a big win. However, comparing an OOTP replay to real life can be difficult because the real life numbers at a given time aren't readily available in-game (like ActionPC, etc.). So comparisons can be a little tougher to make...if that's something you care about. Also, I'm not sure OOTP's engine is going to give you the same fidelity as the games that are specifically built for replays, which each ensure every season uses very specific formulas to be as realistic as possible.

For #2, OOTP is great. The customizability of the game is unbelievable and one of the biggest strengths of the series. I still remember playing the earlier years when even the MLB didn't exists in the game and spending hours creating my own custom worlds.

Bottom line, for the price of OOTP, it's a low risk-high reward situation. Even if you don't like the way season replays are handled, the historical aspects of the game alone will be worth the money in your situation.

[Cod]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

SMB, while has a lot of customizability, does not have more than OOTP

I assumed he was asking about graphics, sorry.

[Hooray Saturday]

Originally Posted by Cod

Super Mega Baseball

that is a console game. it's on Switch, X-Box, Playstation, etc.


name a baseball game that is not a console game that has better graphics than OOTP.