Save System Needs Updating

[curtneedsaride]

I'm new to the PC/Mac version of this management game, coming from the mobile version. I've been disappointed in the mobile version since first getting it years ago because of the save system. On the mobile version, when you save a game, and then continue to play but want to close out before you save the game again in order to go back to the moment when you made your last save, you can not. If you continue playing after saving the game, the game automatically saves OVER your save point. So, if I accidentally hit Bunt instead of Take Pitch, lose the game, and try to reload my save in order to replay that game (or better yet, be able to save/reload specific points mid-game), I cannot because when I reload the save I made before the most recent game I played, it seems to have auto saved OVER my save file to the point AFTER that game.

If you think about it, there's no reason to offer the player the ability to manually save, because the game continues to overwrite it anyway. I've requested an overhaul on the mobile version for years, to no avail. It's like no one who's made those versions have played Football Manager Mobile, and enjoyed the freedom of using manual saves to load specific moments that you want to return to in a season, as well as auto saves (separate from manual saves).

All that to say, I was hoping when I jumped into the full baseball management game, the saves would act like save points/states, where I could always return to that moment in the season as long as I continued to make new saves if I wanted to manually save. HOWEVER, after my first game, I tested it. And sure enough, I tried to load my save file I made BEFORE my first game, and it took me to AFTER that first game, meaning the game auto saved ON TOP of my manual save.

Why wouldn't there be separate files for auto saves done by the game AND my manual saves, where I can control at which point I return to my game?
Is it possible, and I'm just not seeing how to do it correctly?

I noticed there was a way to Back Up save files, but that would basically be me copying a file from the game's folder to a different folder so I can share it. If that's the only way to archive saves, why wouldn't the developers make that process just happen within the game? We could make as many manual saves as we want, archive them easily if we want, and all the while the game itself makes auto saves into a certain number of auto slots, allowing us to use those in case we forget to manually save. I believe Football Manager has it so you can tell the game at what points to make regular auto saves, as well as allowing you the freedom of saving manually. Archiving is as simple as going into the game's folder, finding the save file you want (be it one of the manual saves or one of the auto saves, because they are separate files), and copy/pasting.

Is there any hope to ever get a similar system implemented into any of these baseball management games?

Thanks!

[Painmantle]

make sure you are in commissioner mode
go to the game menu
select game settings
on the top right hand side of the page is the option to set when the game auto saves, you have the options of daily, weekly, monthly or yearly

If your talking about not having an actual game your playing out save after each play, that in my opinion is ludicrous. If the 3rd base coach accidentally gives the hitter the Bunt sign instead of the Take sign, the Ump isn't going to give them a do-over because that isn't what they wanted to do. I recommend paying more attention to what you are doing. The exit and save option for playing out games is so you can leave and come back later, when actually playing a game a card laid is a card played. Basically your only option would be to alt-ctl-del go to task manager and end the game that way.

Frankly I consider that cheating, but hey, it's your game, play it your way

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Painmantle

make sure you are in commissioner mode
go to the game menu
select game settings
on the top right hand side of the page is the option to set when the game auto saves, you have the options of daily, weekly, monthly or yearly

AFAIK you don't have to be in commissioner mode to set that.

[curtneedsaride]

Originally Posted by RchW

AFAIK you don't have to be in commissioner mode to set that.

Thanks for pointing that out! That will help with avoiding it overwriting my manual save.

However, is it possible to open a save, rename that save and save it as a separate game? I'm looking to be able to play half way through a season, and keep that save to return to whenever I want, but also continue playing the season in the new save.

Looking though the file structure, it seems that OOTP generates a lot of files for each game save, where as Football Manager has all of the files in a central location, and the saves are a single file. So, I'm curious as to whether structuring this game in that way would be a possibility someday.

But, thanks again for the tip about auto saves!

[Painmantle]

from the file menu/backups/ back up current game. This will save the league in the backup folder. Then you can go into the backup folder and rename it anything you want to prevent from overwriting it next time you want to back up the league

[curtneedsaride]

Originally Posted by Painmantle

make sure you are in commissioner mode
go to the game menu
select game settings
on the top right hand side of the page is the option to set when the game auto saves, you have the options of daily, weekly, monthly or yearly

If your talking about not having an actual game your playing out save after each play, that in my opinion is ludicrous. If the 3rd base coach accidentally gives the hitter the Bunt sign instead of the Take sign, the Ump isn't going to give them a do-over because that isn't what they wanted to do. I recommend paying more attention to what you are doing. The exit and save option for playing out games is so you can leave and come back later, when actually playing a game a card laid is a card played. Basically your only option would be to alt-ctl-del go to task manager and end the game that way.

Frankly I consider that cheating, but hey, it's your game, play it your way

I would like to play this game in my own way, and that's why I'm questioning the save system. I'm a video producer/editor, and use Command-Z all the time during my work. Thought it would be a fun feature for those who want to use it in a game like this. But it's really not my biggest concern.

My biggest request would be to save a game file and be able to return to that same date/time/game at any point to play it again. BUT, I would want to save that file under a new name as well so I could continue in that same season. Having multiple manual saves, and auto saves as separate files that you can recall when ever you go to load a game.

I've just seen it work brilliantly in another management game, and wonder why ever other management game wouldn't utilize such a useful way of saving.

But thank you for your reply and help!

[Painmantle]

Originally Posted by curtneedsaride

I would like to play this game in my own way, and that's why I'm questioning the save system. I'm a video producer/editor, and use Command-Z all the time during my work. Thought it would be a fun feature for those who want to use it in a game like this. But it's really not my biggest concern.

My biggest request would be to save a game file and be able to return to that same date/time/game at any point to play it again. BUT, I would want to save that file under a new name as well so I could continue in that same season. Having multiple manual saves, and auto saves as separate files that you can recall when ever you go to load a game.

I've just seen it work brilliantly in another management game, and wonder why ever other management game wouldn't utilize such a useful way of saving.

But thank you for your reply and help!

And I explained how to do those things in my most recent post, you need to use the built in backup system and rename the file, than you could have a save for every day of the season if you wanted. The saving system is what is now because of suggestions, once upon a time there were many people having issues with the game NOT auto-saving and then somethin happens and they had to go back and play weeks/months or even multiple seasons over. So the reason the save system isn't they way you describe is because at one point in the past it was, and it was a problem for many people who "forgot to save"

[The Wolf]

Yes, and you can also save a game as a QuickStart. When you want to replay it, reload the QS.

[TGH-Adfabre]

Originally Posted by curtneedsaride

Thanks for pointing that out! That will help with avoiding it overwriting my manual save.

However, is it possible to open a save, rename that save and save it as a separate game? I'm looking to be able to play half way through a season, and keep that save to return to whenever I want, but also continue playing the season in the new save.

Looking though the file structure, it seems that OOTP generates a lot of files for each game save, where as Football Manager has all of the files in a central location, and the saves are a single file. So, I'm curious as to whether structuring this game in that way would be a possibility someday.

But, thanks again for the tip about auto saves!

Yes, there are a couple of ways. Depending on the speed of your computer you will probably see a bit of why the save system is so awkward.
1) Manually back up.
2) Find where OOTP stores saved games.
Default PC install is C:\user"you"\documents\OOTP\OOTP17
Copy your league folder and rename it. When I do this I rename using dates in the file name. You can also zip it up if drive space is an issue.
When you do this note the size of the file it is big.
You do not need all of the files to recreate your league you only need the .dat files.
BUT you will lose images and other things vital to the investment in your league.


When simming an online league the game builds a game file each sim. I save these for the league I commish. I probably have 300 zipped saved game files from the years I have run sims.