Incentive to upgrade to OOTP 14 from OOTP 13

[Probert24]

Hi guys,

Am looking for some feedback/advice - I currently own and am thoroughly enjoying OOTP 13 - am replaying the '83 Winning Ugly White Sox season - and am about a month into the regular season - lots of fun!

My question - since right now i'm getting pretty much everything I could want from a baseball sim in OOTP 13 - what's the incentive - (aside from getting the current 2013 season (opening day) rosters, which I would like to have) to upgrade to OOTP 14? Is it really all that different/improved over v. 13 that it's worth the extra expenditure?

Also - can I safely import all my saved stuff (season, ballparks, changes/tweaks that I made to the league in setting up my '83 season in v 13) into 14? I've got stuff set up the way I want it right now for my '83 replay - and really don't want to have to go thru the whole set-up process again - and I'd really prefer to NOT blow up the season I've started. Would love to play this out and see how it turns out.

Any and all advice is muchly appreciated!!

Many thanks in advance!

[Bluenoser]

Is it worth the extra expenditure?

Seriously, the only person who can answer that question is you.

Some will say no, some yes. There are a lot of new features in 14, but if they don't interest you, then don't upgrade.

You can check the newsletters and announcements to see what's new, too much to list , and find out if those are things you want.

I upgrade every year, have owned em all. It's always worth it to me, even if there were only minor tweaks I'd still make the purchase.

[Probert24]

Hi blue - many thanks for the response! Can I take it there's no risk in importing an already started season from one version of the game to the next? As I said originally, I have stuff set up with mods, etc., in place - and I don't really want the hassle of having to essentially "re-do" everything, particularly since I'm already a month into the season I'm replaying.

for me the big win to getting the new version is getting current 2013 teams/rosters, etc., so I can do a concurrent 2013 in-season pre-play.

[The Game]

Originally Posted by Probert24

Hi blue - many thanks for the response! Can I take it there's no risk in importing an already started season from one version of the game to the next? As I said originally, I have stuff set up with mods, etc., in place - and I don't really want the hassle of having to essentially "re-do" everything, particularly since I'm already a month into the season I'm replaying.

for me the big win to getting the new version is getting current 2013 teams/rosters, etc., so I can do a concurrent 2013 in-season pre-play.

Great choice for a team. I never even made the playoffs with that team on 11. Try my Sox vs Cubs quickstart. Yopu can import at any point in a season. Markus & Co recommend that you convert right after the playoffs, the 1st few days into the offseason. I have converted many leagues at all points and only had a problem with one league which had nothing to do with when I converted it. (only night stats showed up not day and only last years stats for MLB players in my fictional league convert from 11 to 12, no problems on 13)
When you convert it will bring over everything in your current league just like a quickstart or template will. Facegens, parks, uniforms.
After you convert i recommend moving all files that you use to 14. i switch home/road uniforms when i am at home or on the road so If I am in my home 83's I would have to either load them from a folder on my desktop like i do or from the 14/jerseys folder like i do for modern teams.
Each new version has new bells & whistles that make it worth it.

[Probert24]

Originally Posted by The Game

Great choice for a team. I never even made the playoffs with that team on 11. Try my Sox vs Cubs quickstart. Yopu can import at any point in a season. Markus & Co recommend that you convert right after the playoffs, the 1st few days into the offseason. I have converted many leagues at all points and only had a problem with one league which had nothing to do with when I converted it. (only night stats showed up not day and only last years stats for MLB players in my fictional league convert from 11 to 12, no problems on 13)
When you convert it will bring over everything in your current league just like a quickstart or template will. Facegens, parks, uniforms.
After you convert i recommend moving all files that you use to 14. i switch home/road uniforms when i am at home or on the road so If I am in my home 83's I would have to either load them from a folder on my desktop like i do or from the 14/jerseys folder like i do for modern teams.
Each new version has new bells & whistles that make it worth it.

Hi Game - many thanks for the response! Yeah, that '83 team was something in real life - am hoping they'll catch a little lightning in the bottle in the sim the way they actually did in '83. So far, they're 11-12 and LaMarr Hoyt is only 2-4 - so he needs to step it up. Baines has been hot tho - and has five homers, about 20 RBI and is hitting .333 so far. A good start - but it'd be even better if the wins were coming.

Many thanks for the advice - I'll really give some thought to buying 14 and converting the game over since it seems (from what you're saying) it's pretty easy/simple and everything that I've set up for my '83 season should come over to v 14.

I'll have to dig around to see the enhancements to see what all is really all that new to see if it's worth it.

[CatKnight]

Hi, Probert:

It's generally recommended you switch versions in the early days of the off-season, but I couldn't wait and switched my game over in mid-September. There were no problems, and all my little tweaks transferred just fine.

As Bluenoser said, this has to be a personal choice, but I can tell you that I would not want to go back to OOTP 13 now....and I *loved* OOTP 13.

There's a new playoff screen which summarizes things nicely, there's a team financial screen that lists everyone's budgets, markets and such so it's easier to see if something is starting to go out of whack, and they've somehow managed to make the interface even more clear and easier on the eyes.

A nice addition for a historical league like yours is that, if you have your logos, jerseys and caps formatted correctly (and all those are already out there in the mods section), it should automatically update everything at the beginning of a new year. No more hunting and pecking to make sure you updated everything correctly.

Luck!

[Charlie Hough]

The incentive is continuing to keep this game series alive by supporting it and buying the new version every year. Even if there aren't many new features that are particularly interesting to you, the price of this game is so small compared to other expenditures that I don't think there's any excuse for NOT buying it unless you truly cannot save up $30 or $40 over the course of a year.

For less than the price of a dinner for two at a decent restaurant and a pair of movie tickets, you can buy this game and get many hours and another full year of entertainment. But, most importantly, you're helping the developers keep this thing going. And, if more people do this and continue to improve sales, OOTP Developments can potentially hire more programmers and start doing more great things with the game than they already do.

[CatKnight]

Sorry, nope. I've never bought into the "buy this product because it's the right thing to do," mentality. Probert (and anyone else) has to decide if the changes made this year are worth it to them.

I believe it was for me, but I didn't decide until maybe a week before prerelease when I found out about the auto-updating logos/uniforms/etc. If 13's doing the job for him and nothing in 14 sounds appealing, then no - saying you should buy the next version anyway is.... not sensible to me.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

Sorry, nope. I've never bought into the "buy this product because it's the right thing to do," mentality. Probert (and anyone else) has to decide if the changes made this year are worth it to them.

If 13's doing the job for him and nothing in 14 sounds appealing, then no - saying you should buy the next version anyway is.... not sensible to me.

It might not be sensible to you, but if the development of the game stops and the company goes under or the ownership decides there's not enough profit to sustain it or make it worthwhile anymore, then I'm sure there would be a lot of unhappy and disappointed users. And you might be one of them.

Sticking with a current version only goes so far. Yes, a community can keep an abandoned series going with mods for a while, but almost inevitably the user support dies out completely and then there's nothing left.

[Probert24]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

Hi, Probert:

It's generally recommended you switch versions in the early days of the off-season, but I couldn't wait and switched my game over in mid-September. There were no problems, and all my little tweaks transferred just fine.

As Bluenoser said, this has to be a personal choice, but I can tell you that I would not want to go back to OOTP 13 now....and I *loved* OOTP 13.

There's a new playoff screen which summarizes things nicely, there's a team financial screen that lists everyone's budgets, markets and such so it's easier to see if something is starting to go out of whack, and they've somehow managed to make the interface even more clear and easier on the eyes.

A nice addition for a historical league like yours is that, if you have your logos, jerseys and caps formatted correctly (and all those are already out there in the mods section), it should automatically update everything at the beginning of a new year. No more hunting and pecking to make sure you updated everything correctly.

Luck!

Hi CatKnight,

Thanks so much for the insights! That IS a cool addition as I tend to do historical replays (I generally avoid fictional league play like the plague -- just not my cup of tea!) - and having that auto update feature is a real plus!

I'm leaning toward getting OOTP 14 - new features plus the 2013 opening day rosters is a pretty good sell. If I can confidently port over my '83 season replay and the the mods and tweaks - plus game play to whatever point in the season I pull the trigger on this - all comes over successfully - then it probably will be worth it in the long run.

[Probert24]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

It might not be sensible to you, but if the development of the game stops and the company goes under or the ownership decides there's not enough profit to sustain it or make it worthwhile anymore, then I'm sure there would be a lot of unhappy and disappointed users. And you might be one of them.

Sticking with a current version only goes so far. Yes, a community can keep an abandoned series going with mods for a while, but almost inevitably the user support dies out completely and then there's nothing left.

Hi Charlie - I hear you on this point. i'm not sure I 100% agree that we as gamers should be 'obligated' to purchase a new release of a game just to keep the developer's cash flow strong. If the developer didn't do much but squash bugs, polish up a screen or two and add new rosters - and then called the game an "all-new" version - and sold it at full retail when, in fact, it was little more than an update to the previous version - would it really be worth it to get - regardless of 'affordability' to the buyer? Meaning - where is the value in that - and does it become essentially a waste of money? That's obviously up to each individual customer.

Now, obviously, I think we all agree that the developers of OOTP baseball do NOT do business that way - and that each year's release is an authentic upgrade and re-working/refining of the core aspects of the game. To the point that in many ways OOTP 14 is probably very much a different game in many aspects than was OOTP 13. The list of improvements and additions is pretty impressive. And in truth, I am leaning toward getting it as I feel pretty comfortable that the version 14 is significantly improved/changed from version 13 to be a worthwhile purchase from an end-user standpoint.

But your point IS well taken and very much valid. I've actually seen (as perhaps many of us have) what you described happen - almost exactly as you described - anyone who was doing any kind of serious sports-sim gaming 15 years ago will recall the end of Front Page Sports Football Pro. For several years in a row, they published -- in its day - the absolutely finest simulation of professional football available. And when the bottom fell out - oh my goodness, it got ugly.

I recall skipping buying what became the final version because it was rushed to market with so many bugs, even "The Orkin Man" would not have been able to squash them all! lol. When it flamed out - the carnage was pretty nasty. I remember the forums they had - oh my - the vitriol that was spewed - gamers were BEYOND PO'd, particularly the way things unfolded.

Your scenario, as you described, live and in living color (I'm giving away a bit of age here by saying that - lol)

Somehow, I have confidence that the OOTP folks are well positioned - and heaven knows, they crank out excellent products year after year - and I'm sure this year's version is no less outstanding!

[Charlie Hough]

I never said anyone was obligated to buy the game every year. I'm claiming that keeping developers alive and giving them the sales to keep supporting and selling the product should be an incentive to buy each version.

I was thinking of FPS Football when I wrote my post, so I'm glad this was discussed. It's a perfect example of how gamers can be left with huge disappointment and frustration if a series comes to an end. In that case, the developer made some huge mistakes, so it wasn't necessarily a problem with customer loyalty, but the backlash from customers didn't help. Virtually every great sports sim is only one bad release or one bad sales year from possibly going under.

[AstaSyneri]

Hmm. I am on the fence here myself.

I basically have hardly a clue about baseball (never played, never watched much), but I do immensely enjoy OOTP13.

Because I have never followed the MLB I tend to play fantasy league(s), where everything completely removed from reality (like my European Baseball league or the upcoming EVE universe league that I am working on). One of the things I so thoroughly enjoy about OOTP is the ability to create and tweak so much (logos, uniforms, teams) etc.

Now, with this in mind - what does OOTP14 offer that 13 doesn't? What would be the main argument(s) for me to update?

Yes, I have read the announcements, but I have a hard time to imagine the real effect from a few lines of feature descriptions ;-).

Edit: ***URGGS*** I was just about to order 14, when suddenly the price in EUR jumped up to 39+€ WTH? Even including fairy tale tax ("Märchensteuer") $39.99 shouldn't translate to more than 36.xx €. I hate that.

[Aumakua]

Originally Posted by AstaSyneri

Hmm. I am on the fence here myself.

I basically have hardly a clue about baseball (never played, never watched much), but I do immensely enjoy OOTP13.

Because I have never followed the MLB I tend to play fantasy league(s), where everything completely removed from reality (like my European Baseball league or the upcoming EVE universe league that I am working on). One of the things I so thoroughly enjoy about OOTP is the ability to create and tweak so much (logos, uniforms, teams) etc.

Now, with this in mind - what does OOTP14 offer that 13 doesn't? What would be the main argument(s) for me to update?

Yes, I have read the announcements, but I have a hard time to imagine the real effect from a few lines of feature descriptions ;-).

Edit: ***URGGS*** I was just about to order 14, when suddenly the price in EUR jumped up to 39+€ WTH? Even including fairy tale tax ("Märchensteuer") $39.99 shouldn't translate to more than 36.xx €. I hate that.

I think the jump to OOTP14 is worth it, the new international player system is a nice upgrade and personally I love the ability to have home and away jerseys. I have a lot of custom teams and like doing the "baseball cards" and I can now choose between home and away jerseys to be displayed on the cards, could do that in 13 but would have to change the uniforms each time which was a pain.

[Probert24]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

I never said anyone was obligated to buy the game every year. I'm claiming that keeping developers alive and giving them the sales to keep supporting and selling the product should be an incentive to buy each version.

I was thinking of FPS Football when I wrote my post, so I'm glad this was discussed. It's a perfect example of how gamers can be left with huge disappointment and frustration if a series comes to an end. In that case, the developer made some huge mistakes, so it wasn't necessarily a problem with customer loyalty, but the backlash from customers didn't help. Virtually every great sports sim is only one bad release or one bad sales year from possibly going under.

Hi Charlie - omg the FPS flameout was really ugly, wasn't it? I have been a member of many a sports sim/gaming forum over the years (and I'm not far from turning 51) and I don't EVER recall the amount of venom that was spewed on the PFS forums as the game died a very nasty - downright painful - death! You are spot on in saying that even the soundest of companies with the soundest of products are essentially one bad release or one bigtime negative sales year away from tanking. It's sad to see.