Minor annoyance with auto-expansion

hefalumps · 01-30-2012, 09:49 AM

I play a historical league that started in 1970 and I'm now getting ready to go into the 1999 offseason. I started this league with OOTP 9 and I used to do manual expansion after January 1st because a) I didn't like teams getting renamed/relocated on the first day of the offseason before awards, etc. and b) I used to create my almanac on January 1, and I didn't like the previous year's standings being messed up by team movements.

Well, OOTP 12 forced my hand when the day for importing historical rookies changed from the first day of pre-season to the first day of the offseason. I have my rookies get assigned to their real debut teams instead of going into a draft pool. When the 1998 offseason rolled around, if I didn't enable auto-expansion, all of the Tampa Bay and Arizona debut players would have been dumped into free agency instead of their proper teams.

So I'm using auto-expansion now, and I've modified my almanac procedures and other stuff to get used to it. But I'm left with one minor annoyance. When OOTP parses Tampa Bay's team name from its historical database, it puts the City name as "Tampa Bay Devil" and the nickname as "Rays". I caught this the first year after reading a news story about Tampa Bay Devil trading for a new third baseman! I fixed the problem and fixed the news story, but now that I've entered the 1999 offseason, I went back and sure enough - the city name is Tampa Bay Devil again! I guess I'll have to keep making this change every year until they shorten the name to "Rays"? I'm just bracing myself for what happens when the Angels change names to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the United States of America of the 3rd Planet from the Sun.

Anyone have any ideas for a workaround other than just making a note to check/fix it every year? The game seems to be able to handle parsing other team's city and nicknames just fine. For example, you don't see the "San" "Diego Padres" or the "Chicago White" "Sox". My only theory is that because "Tampa Bay" isn't an actual city name, the game doesn't handle it properly. I dunno.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had any ideas. Thanks.

Chicagofan76 · 01-30-2012, 12:56 PM

Every offseason since 2000 (started in 99) i'd go in and fix their name and the city they are in along with other teams named by state, Minnesota, Colorado, Texas, LA Angels of Anaheim California USA West Coast Northern Hemisphere.
I keep forgetting to ask Markus to fix that.
So 12 imports rookies the 1st day of the offseason not the 1st day of preseason? I hadn't noticed that but I play in my EBL league not MLB, so I don't pay attention to it. One 1 hand I prefer that vs them signing a major FA when they have a future HOF 3B or SS. But it does wreck the almanac.

Matson67 · 01-30-2012, 01:21 PM

I'd like this fixed.. I mean I start in 1977 as the Jays.. I have to relocate the Angels from California Maryland back to anaheim every season.. I was hoping the change to Anaheim would fix that problem..

I imagine it would also mess up Arizona..

hefalumps · 01-30-2012, 04:16 PM

I didn't even think about actual city locations being messed up. I just checked mine and you're right - it thought the Rockies were in a city called Colorado and not Denver. Guess I have to check every team at the beginning of every offseason for that too now.

Thanks for the heads-up

Biggio509 · 01-30-2012, 04:26 PM

An easier solution for the almanac is just to manually generate it each year the day before off season begins. In team history if you say click the NL link in 1980, the team name for the season is preserved even if it changes in day 1 for the off season.

Kobeck · 01-31-2012, 04:30 AM

excellent.

So making a manual Almanac, prior the expansion/contraction, will preserve the actual replay with the cities and nicknames ect, but still allow a draft with the new teams

hefalumps · 02-02-2012, 08:54 PM

Yeah... I do full league folder backups (compress the whole league folder into a zip file) at the end of every postseason just before progressing to the offseason. So I decided that since I'm doing that anyway, I might as well skip doing almanacs. I know it's harder to get at the actual info when it's in a zip file as opposed to being in the almanac, but it also takes up a lot less space!

Anyhow... I guess the root issue still exists of how OOTP parses team city names in the database. Hopefully it's something Markus can improve upon in 13.

01-30-2012, 09:49 AM	#1
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,357	Minor annoyance with auto-expansion I play a historical league that started in 1970 and I'm now getting ready to go into the 1999 offseason. I started this league with OOTP 9 and I used to do manual expansion after January 1st because a) I didn't like teams getting renamed/relocated on the first day of the offseason before awards, etc. and b) I used to create my almanac on January 1, and I didn't like the previous year's standings being messed up by team movements. Well, OOTP 12 forced my hand when the day for importing historical rookies changed from the first day of pre-season to the first day of the offseason. I have my rookies get assigned to their real debut teams instead of going into a draft pool. When the 1998 offseason rolled around, if I didn't enable auto-expansion, all of the Tampa Bay and Arizona debut players would have been dumped into free agency instead of their proper teams. So I'm using auto-expansion now, and I've modified my almanac procedures and other stuff to get used to it. But I'm left with one minor annoyance. When OOTP parses Tampa Bay's team name from its historical database, it puts the City name as "Tampa Bay Devil" and the nickname as "Rays". I caught this the first year after reading a news story about Tampa Bay Devil trading for a new third baseman! I fixed the problem and fixed the news story, but now that I've entered the 1999 offseason, I went back and sure enough - the city name is Tampa Bay Devil again! I guess I'll have to keep making this change every year until they shorten the name to "Rays"? I'm just bracing myself for what happens when the Angels change names to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the United States of America of the 3rd Planet from the Sun. Anyone have any ideas for a workaround other than just making a note to check/fix it every year? The game seems to be able to handle parsing other team's city and nicknames just fine. For example, you don't see the "San" "Diego Padres" or the "Chicago White" "Sox". My only theory is that because "Tampa Bay" isn't an actual city name, the game doesn't handle it properly. I dunno. Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had any ideas. Thanks.

01-30-2012, 04:26 PM	#5
Biggio509 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,027	An easier solution for the almanac is just to manually generate it each year the day before off season begins. In team history if you say click the NL link in 1980, the team name for the season is preserved even if it changes in day 1 for the off season. Attached Images Last edited by Biggio509; 01-30-2012 at 04:27 PM.

01-30-2012, 12:56 PM	#2
Chicagofan76 Banned Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Diamond, IL Posts: 6,339 Infractions: 2/2 (3)	Every offseason since 2000 (started in 99) i'd go in and fix their name and the city they are in along with other teams named by state, Minnesota, Colorado, Texas, LA Angels of Anaheim California USA West Coast Northern Hemisphere. I keep forgetting to ask Markus to fix that. So 12 imports rookies the 1st day of the offseason not the 1st day of preseason? I hadn't noticed that but I play in my EBL league not MLB, so I don't pay attention to it. One 1 hand I prefer that vs them signing a major FA when they have a future HOF 3B or SS. But it does wreck the almanac.

01-30-2012, 01:21 PM	#3
Matson67 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Peterborough ON Posts: 35	I'd like this fixed.. I mean I start in 1977 as the Jays.. I have to relocate the Angels from California Maryland back to anaheim every season.. I was hoping the change to Anaheim would fix that problem.. I imagine it would also mess up Arizona..

01-30-2012, 04:16 PM	#4
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,357	I didn't even think about actual city locations being messed up. I just checked mine and you're right - it thought the Rockies were in a city called Colorado and not Denver. Guess I have to check every team at the beginning of every offseason for that too now. Thanks for the heads-up

01-31-2012, 04:30 AM	#6
Kobeck Major Leagues Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 488	excellent. So making a manual Almanac, prior the expansion/contraction, will preserve the actual replay with the cities and nicknames ect, but still allow a draft with the new teams

02-02-2012, 08:54 PM	#7
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,357	Yeah... I do full league folder backups (compress the whole league folder into a zip file) at the end of every postseason just before progressing to the offseason. So I decided that since I'm doing that anyway, I might as well skip doing almanacs. I know it's harder to get at the actual info when it's in a zip file as opposed to being in the almanac, but it also takes up a lot less space! Anyhow... I guess the root issue still exists of how OOTP parses team city names in the database. Hopefully it's something Markus can improve upon in 13.