Drafting Real Rookies in Alternate History League

hefalumps · 01-02-2025, 01:09 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm just getting around to importing my long-running OOTP league into OOTP25. I play a historical "alternate universe" that started in 1950 and has the "real rookies" import into the draft pool every year. So players who debuted in 2000, for example, will be in the draft pool in 1999 available for me to draft. If there were only 200 players who debuted that year, I would adjust the number of rounds so that I had enough players available - anyone not drafted would become a free agent or go back to school if they were young enough. It's worked great so far for how I want to play.

But when comparing the League Settings of OOTP24 and 25, I noticed that 25 has added a "Generate Players for X Rounds" box. My last draft had enough players for five rounds, and for some reason this setting defaulted to 7. I'm trying to figure out what's going to happen when the draft finally rolls around next season - I don't want it creating any additional players besides the real rookies, just like I've done every year before.

Has anyone tested this setting or know what I should set it to if I don't want ANY players generated? Setting it to ZERO is not an option, so should I just set it to something low like 1, knowing that with real rookies I should have at least enough to fill one round so this player generation will never get triggered?

Hoping someone has an idea how this new setting works. Thanks!

Matt Arnold · 01-03-2025, 09:06 AM

If you select the "Disable automatic creation" button, then that value isn't used. It's meant if you want to make sure the game creates a set amount of players at a mininum. But yeah, setting it to like 1 will effectively disable it

hefalumps · 01-03-2025, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

If you select the "Disable automatic creation" button, then that value isn't used. It's meant if you want to make sure the game creates a set amount of players at a mininum. But yeah, setting it to like 1 will effectively disable it

Thank you sir - I've always left that "Disable automatic creation" button unchecked and never had a problem with it generating players for the draft besides the real rookies, so I was afraid to mess with it. I've set the new setting to 1 and we'll see how it goes when my draft rolls around. I'll take a backup beforehand if anything goes wonky, and if it does, I'll go back and check that box and try again!

actionjackson · 01-03-2025, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hefalumps

Thank you sir - I've always left that "Disable automatic creation" button unchecked and never had a problem with it generating players for the draft besides the real rookies, so I was afraid to mess with it. I've set the new setting to 1 and we'll see how it goes when my draft rolls around. I'll take a backup beforehand if anything goes wonky, and if it does, I'll go back and check that box and try again!

I've always checked that box (Disable automatic creation of free agents and fictional draft class on the Rules page), and never had the game create fictional ghosties on me. Might as well just check the box. Should work well for what you're trying to get the game to not do.

hefalumps · 01-28-2025, 12:20 PM

Well, after importing to OOTP25 and finally getting around to my draft, I have another problem.

In older versions of OOTP drafts, the draft was usually scheduled in November. But depending on how early or late the postseason ended, sometimes the draft would end up happening after free agency had started, and all the FA compensation from previous seasons would get reset. So I moved my draft to September 15th - late enough in the season that players drafted couldn't really impact my current season but guaranteed to have the draft order and free agent compensation from the previous offseason.

In previous versions, if my draft was on September 15th, 2006, the game was smart enough to use the new player debuts from 2007, which is what happened in my last season in OOTP24. But as I approach September 15th, 2007, OOTP 25 has generated a draft pool consisting of 17 players - players who debuted in 2007 (not 2008) and aren't already in the game from the September 15th, 2006 draft.

I'm not really sure how to fix this. I could try to manually import the 2008 draft pool, but then I'm just going to run into the same problem next season.

Anyone have any thoughts? Is there any way for me to completely cancel this draft and reschedule it for next year? Would it be sufficient for me to restore from backup and bump the draft date to say November 1st so it happens after the regular and postseason is over but before the offseason starts?

Hope someone with experience doing drafts in historical alternate universes can help! Thanks!

twins_34 · 01-28-2025, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hefalumps

Well, after importing to OOTP25 and finally getting around to my draft, I have another problem.

In older versions of OOTP drafts, the draft was usually scheduled in November. But depending on how early or late the postseason ended, sometimes the draft would end up happening after free agency had started, and all the FA compensation from previous seasons would get reset. So I moved my draft to September 15th - late enough in the season that players drafted couldn't really impact my current season but guaranteed to have the draft order and free agent compensation from the previous offseason.

In previous versions, if my draft was on September 15th, 2006, the game was smart enough to use the new player debuts from 2007, which is what happened in my last season in OOTP24. But as I approach September 15th, 2007, OOTP 25 has generated a draft pool consisting of 17 players - players who debuted in 2007 (not 2008) and aren't already in the game from the September 15th, 2006 draft.

I'm not really sure how to fix this. I could try to manually import the 2008 draft pool, but then I'm just going to run into the same problem next season.

Anyone have any thoughts? Is there any way for me to completely cancel this draft and reschedule it for next year? Would it be sufficient for me to restore from backup and bump the draft date to say November 1st so it happens after the regular and postseason is over but before the offseason starts?

Hope someone with experience doing drafts in historical alternate universes can help! Thanks!

In 24 and before the draft was on December 15. I suggested for 25 that it was changed to before Free Agency and it is now set for November 15 and so far in every single one of my sims, November 15 has been perfect. It is always before free agency starts but if you even move it to November 1st you are still fine.

twins_34 · 01-28-2025, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hefalumps

In previous versions, if my draft was on September 15th, 2006, the game was smart enough to use the new player debuts from 2007, which is what happened in my last season in OOTP24. But as I approach September 15th, 2007, OOTP 25 has generated a draft pool consisting of 17 players - players who debuted in 2007 (not 2008) and aren't already in the game from the September 15th, 2006 draft.

No this is not true. In all versions, if you changed the date of the draft to happen in the current season, the game already thinks the draft is over because them current players are already in the game. You have to remember, the draft is set in OOTP 24 and versions before, to December 15 and if you started your game in April of 2006, all the players for 2006 are already in your game, and because of that you gets drafts with like 17 players in it. So, you would have to wait all the way until NEXT Sept to have your actual 2007 draft which would then happen in Sept of 2007.

So it is best to keep the draft on the NEW date Nov 15 or if you want, move it to Nov 1. Do that in your current game now and it will fix all your issues.

hefalumps · 01-28-2025, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twins_34

No this is not true. In all versions, if you changed the date of the draft to happen in the current season, the game already thinks the draft is over because them current players are already in the game. You have to remember, the draft is set in OOTP 24 and versions before, to December 15 and if you started your game in April of 2006, all the players for 2006 are already in your game, and because of that you gets drafts with like 17 players in it. So, you would have to wait all the way until NEXT Sept to have your actual 2007 draft which would then happen in Sept of 2007.

So it is best to keep the draft on the NEW date Nov 15 or if you want, move it to Nov 1. Do that in your current game now and it will fix all your issues.

Thanks for your input! But with previous versions of OOTP, even with my draft date in September, the rookies imported into the draft pool were from the NEXT calendar year, not the current one. OOTP25 is the first time I've seen this new behavior where imported rookies are from the current calendar year if you're still in the regular season.

The reason I moved my draft date to September was because I wanted:

1) Draft order based on previous season standings
2) Draft pool would be players who debuted in the NEXT calendar year
3) FA compensation from the previous offseason was still in place.

I ended up going with September 15th with announcement 15 days prior. And that worked fine for me until OOTP25. If it wasn't supposed to work that way, maybe I stumbled on some kind of bug that got "fixed" in OOTP25.

So in OOTP25 I created a test league and simmed a few seasons to see what was going on. The default settings were to announce the draft pool on October 15 (during the postseason) and do the draft on November 15 (during the offseason but before FA filing). In that setup, the rookies imported into the draft pool on 10/15 were correctly from the next calendar year, so that was good! But because the draft happened on 11/15 in the offseason, my draft order from the previous season got reset. That means the team that finished last overall in 2006 never got their #1 overall pick. And all the compensation picks would have to be recalculated because teams who may have had protected picks after last season may not anymore, and vice versa.

So my solution - have the draft pool reveal AND the draft happen during the postseason. When I simmed a season that way, I got what I expected and what I'm used to from using the September date in previous versions.

I play out all my games and I'm on August 31, so it will be awhile before I get to the posteason, but I'll post back if this ends up working out for me in my actual league. If it still doesn't work, then I imagine I fell victim to some kind of bug when importing my league over from 24 that messed up the draft pool year. Fingers crossed.

LansdowneSt · 01-28-2025, 07:42 PM

There are past threads on this. Most people were moving the draft from the default November to earlier and having no players. Twins succinctly captures the issue here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by twins_34

When people move the draft class out of the off season it will think the draft has already been completed and if the draft is moved to June or July, the very first draft will have almost no players with nothing in it. IF you move your draft to June, July to match today, you will have to wait one full season in game before you get an actual draft.

Matt put the draft in November so that the draft is before FA and it will not mess up your FA comps. Next since the game does not do historical international Free Agents and they actually come in as a part of the Amateur draft, Matt wanted to have the draft before June or July so that the IFA were ready to play opening day.

So, in historical drafts it is just best to keep it in November.

I second his recommendation. You can get the previous year's order and no players (or the wrong players or fictional players) or keep it at default November and use the just concluded season's order and the correct draft class. That's my recollection of how those threads all sorted.

twins_34 · 01-28-2025, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hefalumps

Thanks for your input! But with previous versions of OOTP, even with my draft date in September, the rookies imported into the draft pool were from the NEXT calendar year, not the current one. OOTP25 is the first time I've seen this new behavior where imported rookies are from the current calendar year if you're still in the regular season.

The reason I moved my draft date to September was because I wanted:

1) Draft order based on previous season standings
2) Draft pool would be players who debuted in the NEXT calendar year
3) FA compensation from the previous offseason was still in place.

I ended up going with September 15th with announcement 15 days prior. And that worked fine for me until OOTP25. If it wasn't supposed to work that way, maybe I stumbled on some kind of bug that got "fixed" in OOTP25.

So in OOTP25 I created a test league and simmed a few seasons to see what was going on. The default settings were to announce the draft pool on October 15 (during the postseason) and do the draft on November 15 (during the offseason but before FA filing). In that setup, the rookies imported into the draft pool on 10/15 were correctly from the next calendar year, so that was good! But because the draft happened on 11/15 in the offseason, my draft order from the previous season got reset. That means the team that finished last overall in 2006 never got their #1 overall pick. And all the compensation picks would have to be recalculated because teams who may have had protected picks after last season may not anymore, and vice versa.

So my solution - have the draft pool reveal AND the draft happen during the postseason. When I simmed a season that way, I got what I expected and what I'm used to from using the September date in previous versions.

I play out all my games and I'm on August 31, so it will be awhile before I get to the posteason, but I'll post back if this ends up working out for me in my actual league. If it still doesn't work, then I imagine I fell victim to some kind of bug when importing my league over from 24 that messed up the draft pool year. Fingers crossed.

Ok well, in 25, Matt did so some adjusting of the when the draft works because he was trying to get it to work from Nov to March, and the reason is, Historical IFA's come into the game through the draft and not IFA, so... to have the IFA's in the game before opening day, that is why OOTP put the draft in the off-season... however in some online leagues having the draft in December caused issues with comp picks, so me and Matt worked on trying to adjust when the draft would work from so I am unsure if that is what caused the issue you are having, but it could have.

Anywho, from opening day until Oct 31, the draft will not work until the next season.

So, your best option is change the date to Nov 1 or, you will have to wait until 2009 to see your first draft class. I think moving it to Nov 1, 2008 is your best bet. But at least with the draft being before FA, all comp picks work!

hefalumps · 01-28-2025, 09:35 PM

Here's what I'm testing:

Old setup from my OOTP 24 league imported to OOTP 25:
Draft Pool Announce - August 31, 2007 (regular season)
Draft - September 15, 2007 (regular season)
Before OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season - this is the behavior I am used to and have been experiencing for multiple OOTP versions and game seasons
With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compesation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2007 season (limited players since the 2007 debuts were already imported in the 2006 draft)

Default OOTP 25 setup with test league:
Draft Pool Announce - October 15, 2007 (postseason)
Draft - November 15, 2007 (offseason)
With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2007 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season

New setup I'm trying with OOTP 24 league imported to 25:
Draft Pool Announce - October 4, 2007 (postseason)
Draft - October 19, 2007 (postseason)
With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season.

As you can see, the default November date would work fine for me except for that draft order getting reset to the 2007 standings instead of the 2006 standings, so all those teams at the bottom of the 2006 standings missed out on their early draft picks. To work around that, I'm going to leave that announce date some time in October during the postseason - but I'm ALSO going to schedule the draft so that it happens in the postseason as well before the offseason resets the draft order. If it works, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

So I'll post back when I get to October in my imported league to let everyone know what happens.

Thanks for all the help and insight everyone!

hefalumps · 02-01-2025, 11:37 PM

Got to my postseason and hit my new draft reveal date on October 5th, 2007 - it correctly pulled rookies who debuted in 2008.

Draft is scheduled for October 20th, 2007, so as long as I'm still in the postseason, I should still have my draft order from the 2006 season, which is what I wanted.

Hope this thread helps someone else some day...

01-02-2025, 01:09 PM	#1
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,371	Drafting Real Rookies in Alternate History League Hi everyone, I'm just getting around to importing my long-running OOTP league into OOTP25. I play a historical "alternate universe" that started in 1950 and has the "real rookies" import into the draft pool every year. So players who debuted in 2000, for example, will be in the draft pool in 1999 available for me to draft. If there were only 200 players who debuted that year, I would adjust the number of rounds so that I had enough players available - anyone not drafted would become a free agent or go back to school if they were young enough. It's worked great so far for how I want to play. But when comparing the League Settings of OOTP24 and 25, I noticed that 25 has added a "Generate Players for X Rounds" box. My last draft had enough players for five rounds, and for some reason this setting defaulted to 7. I'm trying to figure out what's going to happen when the draft finally rolls around next season - I don't want it creating any additional players besides the real rookies, just like I've done every year before. Has anyone tested this setting or know what I should set it to if I don't want ANY players generated? Setting it to ZERO is not an option, so should I just set it to something low like 1, knowing that with real rookies I should have at least enough to fill one round so this player generation will never get triggered? Hoping someone has an idea how this new setting works. Thanks!

01-03-2025, 09:06 AM	#2
Matt Arnold OOTP Developer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Here and there Posts: 15,629	If you select the "Disable automatic creation" button, then that value isn't used. It's meant if you want to make sure the game creates a set amount of players at a mininum. But yeah, setting it to like 1 will effectively disable it

01-28-2025, 12:20 PM	#5
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,371	Well, after importing to OOTP25 and finally getting around to my draft, I have another problem. In older versions of OOTP drafts, the draft was usually scheduled in November. But depending on how early or late the postseason ended, sometimes the draft would end up happening after free agency had started, and all the FA compensation from previous seasons would get reset. So I moved my draft to September 15th - late enough in the season that players drafted couldn't really impact my current season but guaranteed to have the draft order and free agent compensation from the previous offseason. In previous versions, if my draft was on September 15th, 2006, the game was smart enough to use the new player debuts from 2007, which is what happened in my last season in OOTP24. But as I approach September 15th, 2007, OOTP 25 has generated a draft pool consisting of 17 players - players who debuted in 2007 (not 2008) and aren't already in the game from the September 15th, 2006 draft. I'm not really sure how to fix this. I could try to manually import the 2008 draft pool, but then I'm just going to run into the same problem next season. Anyone have any thoughts? Is there any way for me to completely cancel this draft and reschedule it for next year? Would it be sufficient for me to restore from backup and bump the draft date to say November 1st so it happens after the regular and postseason is over but before the offseason starts? Hope someone with experience doing drafts in historical alternate universes can help! Thanks!

01-28-2025, 09:35 PM	#11
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,371	Here's what I'm testing: Old setup from my OOTP 24 league imported to OOTP 25: Draft Pool Announce - August 31, 2007 (regular season) Draft - September 15, 2007 (regular season) Before OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season - this is the behavior I am used to and have been experiencing for multiple OOTP versions and game seasons With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compesation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2007 season (limited players since the 2007 debuts were already imported in the 2006 draft) Default OOTP 25 setup with test league: Draft Pool Announce - October 15, 2007 (postseason) Draft - November 15, 2007 (offseason) With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2007 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season New setup I'm trying with OOTP 24 league imported to 25: Draft Pool Announce - October 4, 2007 (postseason) Draft - October 19, 2007 (postseason) With OOTP 25 - Draft order from 2006 season, FA compensation from 2006-2007 offseason, draft pool imported from 2008 season. As you can see, the default November date would work fine for me except for that draft order getting reset to the 2007 standings instead of the 2006 standings, so all those teams at the bottom of the 2006 standings missed out on their early draft picks. To work around that, I'm going to leave that announce date some time in October during the postseason - but I'm ALSO going to schedule the draft so that it happens in the postseason as well before the offseason resets the draft order. If it works, that's exactly what I'm looking for. So I'll post back when I get to October in my imported league to let everyone know what happens. Thanks for all the help and insight everyone!

02-01-2025, 11:37 PM	#12
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,371	Got to my postseason and hit my new draft reveal date on October 5th, 2007 - it correctly pulled rookies who debuted in 2008. Draft is scheduled for October 20th, 2007, so as long as I'm still in the postseason, I should still have my draft order from the 2006 season, which is what I wanted. Hope this thread helps someone else some day...