davwms' Origin Generator - anyone ever get it to work?

[Burto1945]

Great program, I try to use it every year in my fictional league, but....

Around the 12th year or so, I would export as usual, then try to run the Originator. However, I get the error message "Run-time error '62' Input past end of file". If I try to re-import the data after that, my OOTP game shuts down. Is this just because I've got too many players? I don't know how to go into the individual files set up to revise anything, so maybe if I'm doing something wrong, a step-by-step guide would be helpful. Thanks for any help.

[davwms]

How many players are in your league now? Feel free to send me the exported file, if you want to.. PM me with how big it is first ;-)

[davwms]

Possibly another problem.. did you happen to open the file in excel before running the program? If you do, it may cause problems with the program trying to read it..

[jmm8356]

MD, you can use your name files with the Originator as is? You don't have to remove the numbers or anything?

[davwms]

Originally Posted by jmm8356

MD, you can use your name files with the Originator as is? You don't have to remove the numbers or anything?

The numbers would have to be removed.. I will try to work on this tomorrow sometime and add it in.. If it is alright with MD, of course ;-)

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by davwms

The numbers would have to be removed.. I will try to work on this tomorrow sometime and add it in.. If it is alright with MD, of course ;-)

Permission granted. Just mention my name somewhere in the readme.txt file.

[Burto1945]

Hey davwms--

Thanks for the quick response. My league is only 16 teams, so I don't think the size is a problem. (I don't know how to find out exactly how many players are in the league.)

One slight problem I have noticed. When I 'Export Player General Info to CSV File', it automatically makes a new file "player-general", like it's supposed to, but it makes it as a Microsoft Office Excel Comma Separated Values File. I have switched it so that it opens with Notepad, not Excel, but it still doesn't seem to work (I get the same error message). The file itself is only 183KB, so it shouldn't be a problem if you want to take a look at it.

One last thing, I don't open the file before I run the Originator, I just export, then run the program, and then re-import. If I am doing something wrong, just let me know. (No offense, but a read me file might not be a bad idea. ) Thanks for any help anyone could give me, because I loved your product when it was working for me.

[SandMan]

I like the originator but also like the historical names. I tried to just rename the file and take the digits out but I get a error. Subscript out of range. It must have a limitation to the number of records it can read.... Is there a way to allow the end user to modify the different lists, allow a different list to be used or better yet to allow the program to assign the origin of the player with an option to KEEP the name????

I am already using the historical names list and all my names are coming in as USA name with the only problem being the origin.....and your fine program takes care of this - I only wish that the names would not be changed within the program or to have this as an option

Thanks

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by SandMan

I like the originator but also like the historical names. I tried to just rename the file and take the digits out but I get a error. Subscript out of range. It must have a limitation to the number of records it can read.... Is there a way to allow the end user to modify the different lists, allow a different list to be used or better yet to allow the program to assign the origin of the player with an option to KEEP the name????

I am already using the historical names list and all my names are coming in as USA name with the only problem being the origin.....and your fine program takes care of this - I only wish that the names would not be changed within the program or to have this as an option

Thanks

If you use my historical name file generator you can easily have all American city origins for your players in a few minutes using the Origin Generator. Here's how (forgive the repost, guys)

How to use "davwms' Origin Generator" to generate 100% American cities as places of origin:

1. Create your league

2. Export player_general.csv file from within OOTP6

3. Edit the player_general.csv file using with a speadsheet program to make all of the origins read "USA" (you can use the cut and paste functions to do this quickly in a one-to-many copy operaiton)

4. Save the file as a .csv file and exit the spreadsheet

5. Import the modified player_general.csv back into OOTP6

6. Re-export player_general.csv file from within OOTP6

7. Now run "davwms' Origin Generator"

8. Re-import player_general.csv back into OOTP6

Note: You *have* to do the double export-import because "davwms' Origin Generator" won't read any .csv files but the one that OOTP writes.

If you don't own Excel then for doing .csv file editing you can download the free Open Office version 1.1.2 at openoffice.org and use their Calc program - it works just as well for this.

[SandMan]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

If you use my historical name file generator you can easily have all American city origins for your players in a few minutes using the Origin Generator. Here's how (forgive the repost, guys)

How to use "davwms' Origin Generator" to generate 100% American cities as places of origin:

1. Create your league

2. Export player_general.csv file from within OOTP6

3. Edit the player_general.csv file using with a speadsheet program to make all of the origins read "USA" (you can use the cut and paste functions to do this quickly in a one-to-many copy operaiton)

4. Save the file as a .csv file and exit the spreadsheet

5. Import the modified player_general.csv back into OOTP6

6. Re-export player_general.csv file from within OOTP6

7. Now run "davwms' Origin Generator"

8. Re-import player_general.csv back into OOTP6

Note: You *have* to do the double export-import because "davwms' Origin Generator" won't read any .csv files but the one that OOTP writes.

If you don't own Excel then for doing .csv file editing you can download the free Open Office version 1.1.2 at openoffice.org and use their Calc program - it works just as well for this.

I have been using the historical names for some time and just started using the new originator. The problem is that the new originator changes all the names that were created using the historical list. I tried to edit the list and use it within the originator directory but your file is 93kb and the originators is about 30kb and I get the error for subscript out of range.

Also the new originator has the option to make all the players USA only - but then the program changes the names. I am looking for a solution to use your historical list but also to use the originator. I loaded the historical name files into my create directory and it is being used but now the names are be overwritten by the new originator. Any solutions????

I have also put the historical names into a spread sheet and created a program to give me a list of random names and then put this into the CSV file and imported it back into OOTP after running the originator but then all the heights get messed up. Everyone under 6'0 end up 5"0 and those 6'0 and over come up 6"0. When I change the date format as suggested it is worse. I set all the players to 6"0 and that works but it is strange to have all players 6"0 in the league.

[kingcharlesxii]

Originally Posted by SandMan

I am already using the historical names list and all my names are coming in as USA name with the only problem being the origin.....and your fine program takes care of this - I only wish that the names would not be changed within the program or to have this as an option

Thanks

I would like this as well. My names are great and I just want to change the origins.

One trick for the height problem is to open it in something like Notepad and just search for Canada, Australia etc and replace them with USA. It's almost as fast as Excel and its autoformatting won't mess up the file.

[RayofHope]

Originally Posted by davwms

Since I got the program to work, I decided to go ahead and post it.. You can download it from here: http://pt-sports.com/OOTP/

It is not perfect yet.. and there is a limitation at the moment of 20 origins (Countries) maximum. I can increase this later on..

The cities do have "strength ratings" for frequency but the names do not. I just get sick of seeing too many Jim Smith, Bob Jones, Bill Johnson named players.. You can still modify this by increasing the number of times a name is listed in the name file.

When you run it, you can modify the strengths for each country and as you do this, you will see the frequency percentage for all.. I even included an ALL USA button, that will set it to only US cities and names. You can use that button to set all but the US to 0 frequency, and adjust it to be just another country .. DO NOT SET ALL to 0. This will cause the only known bug in the program and it will crash..

I will add more countries by request. The harder part is finding name files or those countries.. The format of all the files is pretty simple.. If I get requests to explain them I will add it into a future 'release' :-)

I do not know if this will work in any other version than OOTP6...

Remember: Export your PLAYERS_GENERAL.CSV .. OOTP_ORIGINATOR.EXE must be in the same folder. Also, the ORIGINDATA folder must be in the same folder and include all of the necessary data files.

I have not FULLY tested it, I ran it for a ootp created league, imported it back into OOTP6, created the new players for the draft, exported and ran the program again.. I assume that each consecutive season it should work the same.

I'll be using it once I get my fictional solo league tested, working as I want it, and off the ground.

I'll let you know.

[Malleus Dei]

Darn, sounds like a lot of you are having problems. As a fallback, you can always use the OOTPOriginMaker with a spreadsheet and my name files to do the same thing. Just cut and paste American home towns and there you are.

OOTPOriginMaker:

http://www.ootpdownloadcenter.com/do...in%20Maker.ZIP

[SandMan]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

Darn, sounds like a lot of you are having problems. As a fallback, you can always use the OOTPOriginMaker with a spreadsheet and my name files to do the same thing. Just cut and paste American home towns and there you are.

OOTPOriginMaker:

http://www.ootpdownloadcenter.com/do...in%20Maker.ZIP

I have done this, but as previously noted this messes up the hts. you can check it out - all the players are set to either 5"0 or 6"0 if you have the correct usa date and the appear as 0"1, 0"2 or whatever the inches are listed as if you have Euro dates. I generally save a copy of the CSV and then use a replace for the dates when I open the CSV file in notepad....

I am using Excel 2002. I have ran this numerous times with different date formats and get the same issues each time.....

[jmm8356]

MD, two things...

1) From the few tests I've done, I don't think you need to change everyone's origin to "USA" before running the Originator. When set to 100% American, everyone was "American-ized", whether "USA" or foreign. (This would mean people wouldn't have to mess with Excel and/or deal with messed up heights.)

2) The real issue is, regardless of which name data files are used when initially generating players with OOTP (either the defaults or your Historical Names), Originator changes every player's name along with their origin, using the name files in the OriginData folder.

I thought a workaround would be to replace Originator's data files with yours (and removing the numbers), but according to Sandman above, your files are three times the size of Originator's, and Originator can't handle it. (Even if this did work, the names would all be weighted equally, unless they were listed multiple times in the file, which would make the file about ten times larger still!)

Ideally, Originator would have an option to just change origins and not names. This seems feasible, considering it already leaves players' birthdays and other details as is. Is this possible, or more importantly, easily done, davwms?

This would be especially good for existing leagues. It would sure be confusing to have everyone's name change after a few years of history.

[RayofHope]

Originally Posted by RayofHope

I'll be using it once I get my fictional solo league tested, working as I want it, and off the ground.

I'll let you know.

Worked fine for me.

My league is a foreign based league with (thankfully) one of the 20 countries you have available as the base country.

All I did was unzip into the league folder, open the game, export general player info to CSV, close the game, open the league folder, run the exporter, alter the values I wanted reflected, click originate, heard the beep, closed the program, closed the window, opened the league, ran the initial player draft, and everything was great.

Now . . . future drafts . . . where do I find the incoming amateurs that the game generates so I can run the originator on them?

[Malleus Dei]

I've tried to resolve the height import problem and the only thing that I can conclude is that the problem is in how OOTP imports the .csv file.

[davwms]

Originally Posted by Burto1945

Hey davwms--

Thanks for the quick response. My league is only 16 teams, so I don't think the size is a problem. (I don't know how to find out exactly how many players are in the league.)

One slight problem I have noticed. When I 'Export Player General Info to CSV File', it automatically makes a new file "player-general", like it's supposed to, but it makes it as a Microsoft Office Excel Comma Separated Values File. I have switched it so that it opens with Notepad, not Excel, but it still doesn't seem to work (I get the same error message). The file itself is only 183KB, so it shouldn't be a problem if you want to take a look at it.

One last thing, I don't open the file before I run the Originator, I just export, then run the program, and then re-import. If I am doing something wrong, just let me know. (No offense, but a read me file might not be a bad idea. ) Thanks for any help anyone could give me, because I loved your product when it was working for me.

Yeah, it definitily should be a .csv file.. You should be able to right-click and chose open with and select notpad (or wordpad). If you do open with excel first, it changes the format completely and will make it unusable by my program completely.

I planned on creating a README file.. and I did for the first version.. but I wanted to get it out quickly since I wasn't going to have the time to type up instructions... feel free to send me the file.. ptbl@pt-sports.com

[davwms]

I found an issue with the lengths of of the origin cities. I originally thought the maximum # of characters was 20, but am finding that it may actually be 19.. I went thru all of the origin files and shortened any that were over 19. I have uploaded the corrected version and it is available for download at:

http://www.pt-sports.com/ootp/

If you were getting this error, you will have to open your player_general.csv in notepad (or another plain text editor) and make some changes.

To do this, right-click on the file and chose OPEN WITH and select NOTEPAD as the program to open it with. Now brows thru the file and you will see some shorter lines. On these lines, place the cursor to the first position on the left end of this line, click once to put the EDIT CURSOR on this line and hit your BACKSPACE key to move this line to the end of the previous line

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to send me your CSV file! dave@pt-sports.com

[Deitrus]

That link is dead for me.

OK< I have a question. I JUST started my new fictional league. I do not want to start over. However, I was wondering if I can use this AFTER my season is over. I am aiming at 90% American names/origin and the rest from other countries.

My first question, will this overwrite players that are already in my league?

Second question, will this overwrite players in the minors (in my league)?

Third question. Could I have a "step by step" process on how to use this utility and what to do?

Fourth and last question. I noticed that there are two ".exe" file. One that reads OOTP6_ and the other that just has OOTP. Which do I use? (I am playing version OOTP6 as my sim).

Thanks. I hope this in not to much to ask. I just dont want to mess up.