League Creation Question

[Rhodri2112]

Greetings

I've just spent hours trying to manipulate the league creation system give me what I want but I'm failing. It really shouldn't be this hard.

I want to start in 1920 or so. The year is flexible. I'll use the default financial settings for the year. Basically, I want to start then and play forward.

However, I don't want to use a historical league. I tried that first, but I can't create a different structure nor can I figure out how to add Negro League players.

I can create a fictional league, but I hate those with a passion. I care about real players, not fictional ones. Every time I tried to create one of these it forced me to use fictional players.

I've tried both the wizards and the advanced settings. They all seem to put me in the same set of places, none of which do what I want. According to the descriptions, I *should* be able to do it, but so far, I can't.

Thanks in advance.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Rhodri2112

Greetings

I've just spent hours trying to manipulate the league creation system give me what I want but I'm failing. It really shouldn't be this hard.

I want to start in 1920 or so. The year is flexible. I'll use the default financial settings for the year. Basically, I want to start then and play forward.

However, I don't want to use a historical league. I tried that first, but I can't create a different structure nor can I figure out how to add Negro League players.

I can create a fictional league, but I hate those with a passion. I care about real players, not fictional ones. Every time I tried to create one of these it forced me to use fictional players.

I've tried both the wizards and the advanced settings. They all seem to put me in the same set of places, none of which do what I want. According to the descriptions, I *should* be able to do it, but so far, I can't.

Thanks in advance.

So you want to have real historical players, but have them play in a fictional league?
I recently had success using Chat GPT to help me set up my first bespoke league set up, maybe if you are careful to keep the AI on track and adhering to OOTP 26 settings and screens it could help you set up the league you want?

[AZTarHeel]

Originally Posted by Rhodri2112

Greetings

I've just spent hours trying to manipulate the league creation system give me what I want but I'm failing. It really shouldn't be this hard.

I want to start in 1920 or so. The year is flexible. I'll use the default financial settings for the year. Basically, I want to start then and play forward.

However, I don't want to use a historical league. I tried that first, but I can't create a different structure nor can I figure out how to add Negro League players.

I can create a fictional league, but I hate those with a passion. I care about real players, not fictional ones. Every time I tried to create one of these it forced me to use fictional players.

I've tried both the wizards and the advanced settings. They all seem to put me in the same set of places, none of which do what I want. According to the descriptions, I *should* be able to do it, but so far, I can't.

Thanks in advance.

This is a simple way I have done it in the past. I LOVE fictional leagues with historical players so I've played around with it quite a bit (still learning things, though)

1. Start New Game. Click Historical. Pick your year, and go through the set-up process. Make sure you tell the game to use the inaugural draft instead of assigning players to teams. Decide if you want to import complete history up to that year.

2. Let the game create the league, with all the historical teams. At this point, once you get settings the way you want them, you have a few choices:
a) just change the names of the teams to your fictional teams
b) for a fresh break, delete all the historical teams and create new teams
c) to preserve the old league history but establish your league separately, create a whole new league. Add the number of fictional teams you want, etc.

That's the basics. I can't remember but I believe you have the option to add negro leagues or not as you are going through the set-up. Hope that helps some.

[Rhodri2112]

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

This is a simple way I have done it in the past. I LOVE fictional leagues with historical players so I've played around with it quite a bit (still learning things, though)

1. Start New Game. Click Historical. Pick your year, and go through the set-up process. Make sure you tell the game to use the inaugural draft instead of assigning players to teams. Decide if you want to import complete history up to that year.

2. Let the game create the league, with all the historical teams. At this point, once you get settings the way you want them, you have a few choices:
a) just change the names of the teams to your fictional teams
b) for a fresh break, delete all the historical teams and create new teams
c) to preserve the old league history but establish your league separately, create a whole new league. Add the number of fictional teams you want, etc.

That's the basics. I can't remember but I believe you have the option to add negro leagues or not as you are going through the set-up. Hope that helps some.

Thanks! That got me another step to play around.

[luckymann]

AZ's advice should get you what you need. And, yes, you can select either to have the raw NeL players come in but only if you have historical minors on. The alternative is to use the MLEs, which you can deploy in the Wizard process or afterwards in the HISTORICAL tab. Just ensure you have the color bar OFF and they work with a standard MLB game.

Good luck!

G

[David Watts]

Most important thing to remember if you want to turn a historical league into a fictional league is, make sure you uncheck the "automatically expand league" box. This box is located under the historical menu. If you are going to change a historical leagues structure, team locations, team names etc. that box must be unchecked, otherwise, all your changes will revert to historical form the minute you reach your leagues first offseason.

This will sound silly, but I recommend that if you plan on erasing all history, that you import all history when you create your league. This will ensure that all the players that missed the season in which you are starting your league are present in your game as free agents. For example if for some reason you started your league in 1945, if you select import all history, Ted Williams will be a free agent in your league(he missed that season due to the war). I also recommend that you make sure when running your draft that every single available player in your inaugural draft gets drafted. You don't want Johnny Evers to suddenly reappear in your league in 1922 with all his stats going back to 1902 when all the other players in your league only have 2 years worth of stats.

Not sure how to get the Negro League players, nor do I know how to turn a historical league into a fictional league while using historical minors.

My Current random debut league started in 1946. Once the league was created using the historical wizard, I unchecked the "automatically expand box." I then deleted 4 teams and put the remaining 12 teams into one subleague and imported a schedule from the in game schedule file. My teams are all current minor league teams such as the Toledo Mud Hens, Birmingham Barons, St. Paul Saints, Lansing Lugnuts etc. I'm now playing the 1981 season and have expanded my league to 18 teams, one subleague, 2 9 team divisions. I've let the league follow history year by year in terms of statistics and financials, but I have used free agency from the start.

Just remember UNCHECK THE AUTOMATICALLY EXPAND LEAGUE BOX!

[AZTarHeel]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Just remember UNCHECK THE AUTOMATICALLY EXPAND LEAGUE BOX!

Yes, this. Got invested in a league once upon a time only for random teams to appear when I simmed ahead because I forgot to do ths. Argg!

A few other small details:

• If you're experimenting with something different, do some test runs before you create/insert all of your logos, uniforms, etc. It's a bad feeling to spend hours putting all of those into the game, only to have to start over.
• If my league is complicated, I create Quick Starts at several points during the setup process in case I screw something up. I don't have to go all the way back to zero
• Back everything up!

[luckymann]

You get a bit more flexibility when you use the historical game as the base for a fictional world. But you can also simply create a fictional league from scratch and check the use real historical rookies option, which will give you each year's MLB rookie crop and should open up the various other options such as NeL MLE versions and the like. It might even give you the same flexibility I mention the historical option gives you, which refers to recalc v dev only etc. I've not done it that way, so can't say for sure.

Also, ensure disable automatic creation of free agents in the RULES tab is unchecked if you don't want fictional players coming in. Another thing to watch is the Draft, which can be problematic. If you are using the Draft and only want historical players, make sure you set generate players for X rounds very low - like 1 - or else the game will sometimes create fictional players to pad the pool sufficiently.

G

[Rhodri2112]

That helped! Finally saw those settings.


Thanks


Rob

Originally Posted by luckymann

AZ's advice should get you what you need. And, yes, you can select either to have the raw NeL players come in but only if you have historical minors on. The alternative is to use the MLEs, which you can deploy in the Wizard process or afterwards in the HISTORICAL tab. Just ensure you have the color bar OFF and they work with a standard MLB game.

Good luck!

G

[Rhodri2112]

Thanks! That all makes sense to me.


Rob

Originally Posted by David Watts

Most important thing to remember if you want to turn a historical league into a fictional league is, make sure you uncheck the "automatically expand league" box. This box is located under the historical menu. If you are going to change a historical leagues structure, team locations, team names etc. that box must be unchecked, otherwise, all your changes will revert to historical form the minute you reach your leagues first offseason.

This will sound silly, but I recommend that if you plan on erasing all history, that you import all history when you create your league. This will ensure that all the players that missed the season in which you are starting your league are present in your game as free agents. For example if for some reason you started your league in 1945, if you select import all history, Ted Williams will be a free agent in your league(he missed that season due to the war). I also recommend that you make sure when running your draft that every single available player in your inaugural draft gets drafted. You don't want Johnny Evers to suddenly reappear in your league in 1922 with all his stats going back to 1902 when all the other players in your league only have 2 years worth of stats.

Not sure how to get the Negro League players, nor do I know how to turn a historical league into a fictional league while using historical minors.

My Current random debut league started in 1946. Once the league was created using the historical wizard, I unchecked the "automatically expand box." I then deleted 4 teams and put the remaining 12 teams into one subleague and imported a schedule from the in game schedule file. My teams are all current minor league teams such as the Toledo Mud Hens, Birmingham Barons, St. Paul Saints, Lansing Lugnuts etc. I'm now playing the 1981 season and have expanded my league to 18 teams, one subleague, 2 9 team divisions. I've let the league follow history year by year in terms of statistics and financials, but I have used free agency from the start.

Just remember UNCHECK THE AUTOMATICALLY EXPAND LEAGUE BOX!

[Rhodri2112]

Smart, thanks


And done


Rob

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

Yes, this. Got invested in a league once upon a time only for random teams to appear when I simmed ahead because I forgot to do ths. Argg!

A few other small details:

• If you're experimenting with something different, do some test runs before you create/insert all of your logos, uniforms, etc. It's a bad feeling to spend hours putting all of those into the game, only to have to start over.
• If my league is complicated, I create Quick Starts at several points during the setup process in case I screw something up. I don't have to go all the way back to zero
• Back everything up!

[pholmer]

I just replied to a similar question from majorleaguesouls. I just made some screenshots from a game/lg I just created aand I will attach tem here, too. His post is right below yours on the page. A fictional league can be a historical league if you want it to. My game combines the 16 original MLB teams with 16 Negro League teams,as shown below. Check out my reply to him.