New convert from DMB

tdmsu · 08-09-2013, 09:59 AM

Hi everyone,

First, I'd like to say how great this forum is... such a vibrant and welcoming community. I have been reading and trying to make up my mind about ootp for a few years now, and I've decided to make the jump from DMB.

A little background, then a few questions:
My friend and I have been running computer baseball leagues for over 20 years now, and we've used many programs, from MicroLeague to Tony Larussa, to DMB, and now we want to switch to OOTP.

After reading on these forums for a long time, it seems our league is a bit different from most others, and I'm not sure how to describe it. We only use retired players with stats averaged over their entire careers, but not normalized or adjusted for their eras. The players do not age or retire, and their stats stay the same. I know this is not the usual way, but it is how we've always done it, and for the sake of continuity... the teams are fictional, but based in real cities in the western hemisphere, and the players are not tied to the city in which they really played.

We decided to buy OOTP recently, and I've been putting in the players - the historical database has been invaluable - thanks to everyone involved in that project, and the jerseys - wow! I imported the players into our fictional league and used their rookie years to mitigate the OOTP aging system, then I went through and fixed some unusual stats, such as Addie Joss having a "1" for every pitch! After running a few test seasons to evaluate the settings and stats, I have a few questions:

1. It seems that OOTP changes the stats to fit eras... is there a way to turn that off, or failing that, what is the most neutral era? 1a. If we found a "neutral" era, would we have to keep resetting the game to it?

2. I turned off player development, but they are still aging and retiring (Paul O'Neill retires every year!) and their stats wane... is there a way to turn that off?

3. Is there a way to use injuries, but with much less frequency and severity? Even when turned down to the lowest setting, it is still possible for Ty Cobb to have a career ender... no good for our league.

4. Sometimes when I enter a pitcher, OOTP substitutes its own HRA for the historical one I input (especially with dead ball pitchers). I realize that this is normalizing, but is there a way to turn that off?

5. Does OOTP penalize if a player gets more AB or IP than they averaged?

6. A couple times, a player started the season exhausted, and never recovered enough to play, but did not show up as injured. This happened to Jim Rice - he got 1 AB in a season after which he hit 38 HR. Any idea what happened?

7. What kind of stamina would you give to a modern closer? Let's say, Troy Percival? OOTP gave him 14, but then he was unable to be the closer for the whole season, and ended the year with an undefined role.

Thanks for reading, for your patience, and again for this great community!

Paul

We have come such a long way...

Peregrine · 08-09-2013, 12:36 PM

Welcome to OOTP! I have played some DMB years ago, and I'm sure others here have to. I will try to answer some of your questions if I can.

1) The game adjusting the era of the game is under your control, in the League Setup - Strategy section. You can choose whatever year you like to control the "feel" of the league. If you want something completely neutral you can adjust the player creation modifiers to make them that way. Also uncheck the option to "Automatically adjust league total modifiers for accuracy" if you want to do this, as well as "Automatically import historical player-creation modifiers."

2) Not sure if you can turn this off, but under player and picture options you can adjust the batter aging speed and pitcher aging speed - I assume you could put a very high value on both if you wanted your players to basically not age. You could also use commissioner mode to unretire players, though this would be a ton of work for a whole league.

3) Don't use storylines, and possibly use commissioner mode to undo random career ending injuries - not sure any other option here. You can also turn off injuries entirely if you choose.

5) Pretty sure it does not - I've had plenty of players play whole seasons when they were historically gone (like in WW2.) Make sure you turn off "Retire players according to history" and "Players miss seasons according to history" in League Setup - Historical.

6) Sounds like a bug or something - never seen this.

7) I have had a ton of modern closers with almost nil stamina and they are fine as long as you don't use them too many games in a row. Someone else may have a more specific answer here.

Fyrestorm3 · 08-09-2013, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peregrine

2) Not sure if you can turn this off, but under player and picture options you can adjust the batter aging speed and pitcher aging speed - I assume you could put a very high value on both if you wanted your players to basically not age. You could also use commissioner mode to unretire players, though this would be a ton of work for a whole league.

No no no - a LOW number makes players age slower. You're modifying a coefficient, so 1.000 is default (in other words, 100%). Raising it to 1.500 will make players age at 150% of normal speed, while lowering it to .500 will make them age at 50% speed (approximately).

Sorry I don't have anything else to add to this discussion; just wanted to correct that.

tdmsu · 08-09-2013, 02:49 PM

Hi Peregrine and Fyrestorm3,

Thanks for your replies... I think I'll set the aging to the minimum. Is there a way to reset all player ages in bulk? I know I can go in and reset them manually, but there are over 1000 players!

So, for some reason, my closers don't stay in that role when I sim a whole season... For example, Bryan Harvey never ends the year as a closer, he usually gets 17 saves or so, then becomes a middle reliever. Any suggestions?

I've set it so the AI cannot make roster changes... I guess if we sim a week at a time, it won't be an issue, though.

cavebutter · 08-09-2013, 03:59 PM

There is a setting on the Manager - Options page that allows you to determine who controls all aspects of an organization's management. This includes who sets lineups and rotations. To lock someone in a particular role, just set the control to yourself (as GM). It's a piece of cake to do this for one organization. It would be a pain to go in and set all the roles for every team in your league, though.

Fyrestorm3 · 08-09-2013, 04:08 PM

You can also go to Team Menu -> Player Strategy, select the player you want closing, and set his "Force Start/Use at Position" option to Closer.

Lukas Berger · 08-09-2013, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdmsu

Hi Peregrine and Fyrestorm3,

Thanks for your replies... I think I'll set the aging to the minimum. Is there a way to reset all player ages in bulk? I know I can go in and reset them manually, but there are over 1000 players!

You can export the rosters to a txt file, change the .txt ending to .csv and then edit in excel or OO and re-import with the ages changed.

Go to league setup > Export rosters which will be on the top right. The .txt will be in the import_export folder of your league save.

To import again hit import rosters, right above the export rosters button.

nyy26wc · 08-09-2013, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

You can also go to Team Menu -> Player Strategy, select the player you want closing, and set his "Force Start/Use at Position" option to Closer.

I have trouble getting "force start/use at position" to work with pitchers. The AI will respect it, for a limited time, and will then ignore it. For hitters, no problem, but pitchers are another story.

tdmsu · 08-09-2013, 06:23 PM

I also tried the "force start" to make the closer stick, but my results were unreliable at best. For some players, using force and making sure their stamina was at least average worked. For others, it hasn't... It's frustrating because its unpredictable.

I have injuries off for now, so that could not be causing this.

tdmsu · 08-11-2013, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukasberger

You can export the rosters to a txt file, change the .txt ending to .csv and then edit in excel or OO and re-import with the ages changed.

Go to league setup > Export rosters which will be on the top right. The .txt will be in the import_export folder of your league save.

To import again hit import rosters, right above the export rosters button.

Thanks Lukasberger... your suggestion worked perfectly, and much more quickly than editing each player!

08-09-2013, 09:59 AM	#1
tdmsu Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 44	New convert from DMB Hi everyone, First, I'd like to say how great this forum is... such a vibrant and welcoming community. I have been reading and trying to make up my mind about ootp for a few years now, and I've decided to make the jump from DMB. A little background, then a few questions: My friend and I have been running computer baseball leagues for over 20 years now, and we've used many programs, from MicroLeague to Tony Larussa, to DMB, and now we want to switch to OOTP. After reading on these forums for a long time, it seems our league is a bit different from most others, and I'm not sure how to describe it. We only use retired players with stats averaged over their entire careers, but not normalized or adjusted for their eras. The players do not age or retire, and their stats stay the same. I know this is not the usual way, but it is how we've always done it, and for the sake of continuity... the teams are fictional, but based in real cities in the western hemisphere, and the players are not tied to the city in which they really played. We decided to buy OOTP recently, and I've been putting in the players - the historical database has been invaluable - thanks to everyone involved in that project, and the jerseys - wow! I imported the players into our fictional league and used their rookie years to mitigate the OOTP aging system, then I went through and fixed some unusual stats, such as Addie Joss having a "1" for every pitch! After running a few test seasons to evaluate the settings and stats, I have a few questions: 1. It seems that OOTP changes the stats to fit eras... is there a way to turn that off, or failing that, what is the most neutral era? 1a. If we found a "neutral" era, would we have to keep resetting the game to it? 2. I turned off player development, but they are still aging and retiring (Paul O'Neill retires every year!) and their stats wane... is there a way to turn that off? 3. Is there a way to use injuries, but with much less frequency and severity? Even when turned down to the lowest setting, it is still possible for Ty Cobb to have a career ender... no good for our league. 4. Sometimes when I enter a pitcher, OOTP substitutes its own HRA for the historical one I input (especially with dead ball pitchers). I realize that this is normalizing, but is there a way to turn that off? 5. Does OOTP penalize if a player gets more AB or IP than they averaged? 6. A couple times, a player started the season exhausted, and never recovered enough to play, but did not show up as injured. This happened to Jim Rice - he got 1 AB in a season after which he hit 38 HR. Any idea what happened? 7. What kind of stamina would you give to a modern closer? Let's say, Troy Percival? OOTP gave him 14, but then he was unable to be the closer for the whole season, and ended the year with an undefined role. Thanks for reading, for your patience, and again for this great community! Paul We have come such a long way... Attached Images

08-09-2013, 03:59 PM	#5
cavebutter All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,163	There is a setting on the Manager - Options page that allows you to determine who controls all aspects of an organization's management. This includes who sets lineups and rotations. To lock someone in a particular role, just set the control to yourself (as GM). It's a piece of cake to do this for one organization. It would be a pain to go in and set all the roles for every team in your league, though. __________________ MySQL, MyStruggle - A self-indulgent blog about my attempts to roll my own MySQL Database with OOTP Logo Gallery

08-09-2013, 06:23 PM	#9
tdmsu Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 44	New convert from DMB I also tried the "force start" to make the closer stick, but my results were unreliable at best. For some players, using force and making sure their stamina was at least average worked. For others, it hasn't... It's frustrating because its unpredictable. I have injuries off for now, so that could not be causing this.

08-09-2013, 12:36 PM	#2
Peregrine All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Cary, North Carolina Posts: 635	Welcome to OOTP! I have played some DMB years ago, and I'm sure others here have to. I will try to answer some of your questions if I can. 1) The game adjusting the era of the game is under your control, in the League Setup - Strategy section. You can choose whatever year you like to control the "feel" of the league. If you want something completely neutral you can adjust the player creation modifiers to make them that way. Also uncheck the option to "Automatically adjust league total modifiers for accuracy" if you want to do this, as well as "Automatically import historical player-creation modifiers." 2) Not sure if you can turn this off, but under player and picture options you can adjust the batter aging speed and pitcher aging speed - I assume you could put a very high value on both if you wanted your players to basically not age. You could also use commissioner mode to unretire players, though this would be a ton of work for a whole league. 3) Don't use storylines, and possibly use commissioner mode to undo random career ending injuries - not sure any other option here. You can also turn off injuries entirely if you choose. 5) Pretty sure it does not - I've had plenty of players play whole seasons when they were historically gone (like in WW2.) Make sure you turn off "Retire players according to history" and "Players miss seasons according to history" in League Setup - Historical. 6) Sounds like a bug or something - never seen this. 7) I have had a ton of modern closers with almost nil stamina and they are fine as long as you don't use them too many games in a row. Someone else may have a more specific answer here.

08-09-2013, 02:49 PM	#4
tdmsu Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 44	Hi Peregrine and Fyrestorm3, Thanks for your replies... I think I'll set the aging to the minimum. Is there a way to reset all player ages in bulk? I know I can go in and reset them manually, but there are over 1000 players! So, for some reason, my closers don't stay in that role when I sim a whole season... For example, Bryan Harvey never ends the year as a closer, he usually gets 17 saves or so, then becomes a middle reliever. Any suggestions? I've set it so the AI cannot make roster changes... I guess if we sim a week at a time, it won't be an issue, though.

08-09-2013, 04:08 PM	#6
Fyrestorm3 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Tampa Bay, Massachusetts Posts: 2,928	You can also go to Team Menu -> Player Strategy, select the player you want closing, and set his "Force Start/Use at Position" option to Closer.