NHL Historic Fixed Draft Pick Assignment Files (Use Per Paste & Copy)

[jh95]

2020-04-09-jh95-NHL-Historic-Fixed-Draft-Pick-Assignment-Files-V6.8.78.2



Content:
The plan is that I will provide two modified files "teams.dat" (for draft pick right modifications) and "players.dat" (for player transfer modifications) for a specific start date based on version FHM 6.8.78 (the offical last updated for FHM 6).
These two files can then be copied into a newly started game/challenge for a specific season and this leads to correct draft pick assignment and player transfers related to those draft picks.

Example:
Start FHM 6 and create a new 1988 Los Angeles Kings challenge (here named "1988-LA-Challenge").
When the initial creation in FHM 6 is finished save the game and shutdown FHM 6.
Copy the files "teams.dat" and "players.dat" from the "1988-09-19\_Modified" folder to the saved game named "1988-LA-Challenge" and overwrite existing files.
Restart FHM 6 and load the saved game "1998-LA-Challenge".
Check the correct draft pick assignment by looking in the "Depth Chart" of the "Edmonton Oilers".
There the 1989 and 1991 1st round picks from L.A. should be visible.


Reason:
When you start a historic game or challenge in FHM 6 the movement of draft picks prior to the start date of the game are missing, e.g. starting the Los Angeles Kings challenge in 1988 assign you the 1st round picks traded to Edmonton for Wayne Gretzky.
As challenge mode does not allow you to edit the draft pick rights this leads to a very unrealistic challenge.
I though about a solution and decided to wait until the final version of FHM 6 is out because the manually modified files "players.dat" and "teams.dat" should not be updated by FHM 6 again (or otherwise I would have to do the manual editing all over again).


How the modifications are generated:
The whole modfications of draft pick rights are based on data available for draft picks on "prosportstransactions.com".
I wrote a Java Application that loops through all the drafts and identifies for a specific date which future draft picks have been moved.

Example:
For the year 1990 I check all draft picks of the following drafts (1991, 1992, ...) that were moved before Sep. 17th, 1990 (start date of game in FHM 6 for 1990).
So I get a list of draft pick rights moved for future drafts up to Sep. 17th, 1990.

The list looks like this:
Original Team;New Team;Year;Round;Type;(?);
Maple Leafs;Devils;1991;1;Normal;(OK);
DEVILS: Traded Tom Kurvers to MAPLE LEAFS for 1991 first round pick (#3-Scott Niedermayer) on 1989-10-16 (OK)
Original Team;New Team;Year;Round;Type;(?);
Kings;Oilers;1991;1;Normal;(OK);
OILERS: Traded Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, Marty McSorley to KINGS for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, 1989 first round pick (#18-Jason Miller), 1991 first round pick (#20-Martin Rucinsky), 1993 first round pick (#16-Nick Stajduhar), cash on 1988-08-09 (OK)
Original Team;New Team;Year;Round;Type;(?);
Blues;Capitals;1991;1;Normal;(OK);
CAPITALS: Received 1991 first round pick (#21-Trevor Halverson), 1992 first round pick (#14-Sergei Gonchar), 1993 first round pick (#11-Brendan Witt), 1994 first round pick (#16-Eric Fichaud), 1995 first round pick (#23-Miika Elomo) from BLUES on 1990-07-16 as compensation for free agent Scott Stevens (OK)
.....

After that I create a new historic game for the specific season.
Manually update the draft pick movements and the corresponding player transfers (where needed).
When this is finished, the files "players.dat" and "teams.dat" are copied into the "_Modified" folder for the specific season and can be used in new games starting in that specific year.


Limitations:
1. Can only be used with (officially last hotpatch) version FHM 6.8.78 as the files are based on this version. DO NOT USE WITH OTHER VERSIONS!
2. For best experience do not select "July 1st" as start date, the modifications are based on the September starting dates of the specific years.
3. Limitation to editing of future draft picks as FHM 6 right now only supports editing of draft picks for the next three seasons (this will be hopfully expanded to at least 5 season in coming FHM versions).
That´s why in the challenge mentioned above the 1993 1st round pick owed by L.A. to Edm. cannot be assigned.
4. The player transfers not involving draft picks might still not correspond to the specific start date in September, fixing this might be a future project I will implement.


How To Use:
1. Download the current version of the draft pick modifications and unzip to a specific folder, e.g "C:\TEMP"
The unpacked structure contains folders corresponding to a specific starting year/date in FHM 6.8.78, e.g. "1988-09-19" should be used for historical games or challenges starting in "1988".

2. Historic games:
2.1 Start FHM 6 and create a new historic game starting e.g. in 1980
2.2 Wait until FHM 6 is finished, save the game manually and leave FHM 6
2.3 Copy the files "players.dat" and "teams.dat" from the folder "1980-09-22\_Modified" to the specific saved game folder and replace existing files
2.4 Restart FHM 6 and load your saved game -> The draft pick rights should be updated -> Proceed with the game...

3. Historic challenges:
3.1 Start FHM 6 and create a new historic challenge
3.2 Wait until FHM 6 is finished, identify the current date of the challenge (e.g. 1990-09-17 for Pittsburgh´s challenge), save the game manually and leave FHM 6
3.3 Copy the files "players.dat" and "teams.dat" from the folder corresponding to the identified starting date of the challenge "<IDENTIFIED DATE>\_Modified" (e.g. "1990-09-17\_Modified" for the Pittsburgh challenge starting on 1990-09-17) to your save game folder and replace existing files
3.4 Restart FHM 6 and load your saved game -> The draft pick rights should be updated -> Proceed with the game...


Version History:
V6.8.78.1 - Contains correct draft picks rights for FHM 6 historic games and challenges starting in 1967 up to 1992
V6.8.78.2 - Contains correct draft picks rights for FHM 6 historic games and challenges starting in 1967 up to 2002


Download link to current version V6.8.78.2:
2020-04-09-jh95-NHL-Historic-Fixed-Draft-Pick-Assignment-Files-V6.8.78.2.zip

[jh95]

I will continue to add missing seasons...

Contact me if you find errors or if you have any questions or feature requests!

And please tell me if you like the idea! Thanks!

[jh95]

Added new zip-File for Version V6.8.78.2.

Now contains fixed draft pick assignments for games starting in 1967 up to 2002.

[Swell86]

Thanks a lot for this!