Save me not revisited

[semperatus]

I asked about this on version 12, when it wasn't included.
Has a method of stopping the auto save feature been included in 14?
If not why?

[semperatus]

I enjoy replaying sections of a season, making subtle changes in way of tweaking line ups, pitcher match ups...etc. and then replaying a day, a week, or month....

I have purchased many version years of your games going back to before a "soccer" company took over, and including ver 12 and 13.

Your system although really nice doesn't allow me this type of game play due to your auto save "feature" that can't be switched off.

Since a game can be password protected for online leagues.....

About the only reason I can see this feature isn't allowed is minor tweaking doesn't change anything in this game. ie the results are hardwired and won't change.

[olivertheorem]

Originally Posted by semperatus

About the only reason I can see this feature isn't allowed is minor tweaking doesn't change anything in this game. ie the results are hardwired and won't change.

Not to dismiss your concern, because frankly I assumed there was a "no auto-save" option in there and had to open the game to confirm there wasn't in 13, but that's an awful big leap of logic.

My best guess as to why there isn't a "no auto-save" option is that Markus wants to minimize the chance that someone loses a massive amount of playtime due to a game crash or other sudden closing of the game. I will grant, though, that perhaps an option like you want could be added relatively easily.

[Bobble]

I think one of the reasons OOTP has an auto-save is that while you're playing, the game is writing out various text and html files (stats for the latest games and whatnot) that aren't bundled into one giant "saved game" file. All that data isn't held in the computer's memory until you hit the save button, it's written out to the hard drive as it happens probably because there's too much of it to FIT in the computer's memory.

There are a couple of things you can do if you want to preserve a "save point". First, you could just copy/save your saved game folder. Play out how you want and let OOTP do whatever. If you want to go back, just overwrite your current saved game folder with your preserved one. Second, you could just hit ctrl-alt-del and kill OOTP in the task manager before you exit, not allowing it to auto-save. However when you start OOTP back up, it's going to tell you that it found a bunch of files of information that doesn't match the current game date. It will delete that stuff but I'm always a little leery that the cleanup process is not 100% effective. I do occasionally still see extraneous data (things like a guy may be listed as going 5 for 5 in his history when that was supposed to be in the aborted future). Manipulating the saved game folder is more robust.

[semperatus]

I always thought a temp file was used to save running data.
The decision what to do with the temp file is what actual ends the game. Either saved or deleted the choice should be made by the end user, not an auto save "feature".

[Cras]

What do you mean by 'auto-save' anyway? You mean when you quit the game saves your game?

This has always been how OOTP works. If you want to go back and replay things, back up the league and then restore it.

[semperatus]

There are several alternate, albeit unsophisticated, methods around this issue, the bottom line is;

Its a User friendly option that's been omitted.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by semperatus

About the only reason I can see this feature isn't allowed is minor tweaking doesn't change anything in this game. ie the results are hardwired and won't change.

Originally Posted by semperatus

There are several alternate, albeit unsophisticated, methods around this issue, the bottom line is;

Its a User friendly option that's been omitted.

If you know there is a workaround then I would think you'd know the results aren't hardwired right? Seems to me you'd get better results if you didn't start off by saying the game is rigged, but that's just my

I also think having auto save is a user friendly option because I don't think most people want to lose their results. But if you are tweaking and playing a week or month at a time why wouldn't Auto Save 'Once a Year' work?

[Cras]

The game isnt rigged that is for sure. I know, I have done the long work around once a few versions back to give me another shot.

[semperatus]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

If you know there is a workaround then I would think you'd know the results aren't hardwired right? Seems to me you'd get better results if you didn't start off by saying the game is rigged, but that's just my

I also think having auto save is a user friendly option because I don't think most people want to lose their results. But if you are tweaking and playing a week or month at a time why wouldn't Auto Save 'Once a Year' work?

The workarounds are what other users seem to think are viable options, I've never used one, although the methods described sound reasonable.
Hardwired might be harsh, but the proof is in the pudding.

Being able to replay some of the great options we as Users get to change is what makes Computer games so awesome, challenging yourself to do better, I'm no Sparky Anderson, or Tony LaRussa, I make tons of mistakes, and thats the beauty of computers...built in mulligans.

Unleash the mulligans give the game an auto save opt out.

[olivertheorem]

Semperatus, two things.

1) You're still implying that the results are predetermined as much as a month or more out from any given point in the game, with no evidence (not even anecdotal). Just drop this, please.

2) You've been advised how to get your mulligans. Not building it into the game as currently constituted hardly implies laziness on the part of Markus.

[TGH-Adfabre]

I do not think I am making this up, for some reason I think I read it a few years ago.
The auto save issue is because the database does not have a memory "buffer" where everything is stored before it is saved to the hard drive. So certain parts of the action are written directly to the game file as the action unfolds.
I am not a programmer or a DBA so I do not fully understand this but on the surface it sounds like a reasonable situation.

[hefalumps]

I'm not 100% confident on this, but I believe the only files that OOTP writes to when you "save" the game are the .dat files in the save game folder. But regardless of that, OOTP will still write certain changes to the hard drive (for example, box scores, game logs, news stories). Those items get written even if you don't save. If you kill OOTP using Task Manager, those box scores and game logs will still be on your disk, but the saved game's database won't point to them - so they will (theoretically) get overwritten when you replay the game again. But if something quirky happened, you could end up with phantom box scores for a game from an alternate universe popping up in your league!

Maybe you could lobby to Markus to have him put an option in the OOTP Setup (wherever the auto-save options are) to prompt the user if they want to save on exit. But I have a feeling NOT saving your game on exit after OOTP just wrote all these box scores and other items could leave your league in an unstable state - that's probably why he doesn't support it.

Markus, if you're reading this - I'd love to hear your thoughts - get a little insight on the inner workings of OOTP and its data files!

[semperatus]

Thanks TGH and hela, good info. Bobble touched on The Game menu save option, but the default is overwriting the previous save, so the simple mulligan is again defeated by game file management. Being there is no option to change this default either gives much credence to ya'lls thoughts. guys...thanks.