Help Importing Draft Classes

[Mister_G]

Help please! I'm posting this here because it's a more active forum than the mods or database posts.

For YEARS I have been attempting to create a fictional universe with fictional leagues/teams, but real players. I would like to import players in draft classes or as free agents, one year before their debut. However, I constantly run into the problem of duplicate players, or missing players.

What's the best way to do this using the databases in the game? How do I avoid duplicate players and at the same time, make sure I can include negro leaguers or random minor leaguers?

[NoOne]

not sure on the duplicates, unless it's an old league and you simply ran through the players available.

maybe, changed a setting, reverted a setting and somehow reset the potential draft pool stock back to full compliment?

you could import a random draft class by hand.. .wouldn't take too much if you stripped the right columns from the "master.csv" or whatever file has the players in it... hopefully a debut column too..

use a spreadsheet to randomize table rows... formatted to fit draft class import file for easy copy/paste of info... "player id, year" etc...

i'd just import the master data as its own worksheet, then reference first row of pertinent data on 2nd worksheet. then you can highlight and fill down (as easy as click/drag or in this case use the menu 'fill' wizard will be faster with so many table rows.) to create your custom formatted data for copy/paste. can even subtract 1 from debut year in the reference equation ... "=$worksheet1.b1 - 1" if "b" was the debut year column and no headers etc

if familiar, or willing, you can create the entire table in a matter of minutes...

[whaleheader]

Hello. I run an online league where we only use real players and, effectively, have a shadow major league.

I create our annual draft pool every year. Depending on how many players that you want in the pool, it’s going to require some database or spreadsheet work to create what you want.

Before getting into the process…how quickly do you play? What season are you currently playing?

[Mister_G]

I would want to start in like 1871, maybe 1875. In the past I've done fictional leagues from Commish mode and can bang out 3-5 years in a couple hours.

Do players show up in both the master.csv and the minor league list? How do I make sure I'm only importing one version of each player (at their youngest possible age)

[Mister_G]

What I'm trying to do also seems to be described in this thread. Maybe the answer is to just use the Spritze database? If that is the case then I need to know how to find the right IDs to import certain players. The ones in the Master list for Spritze's database don't seem to work when I attempt to import them in the actual gam.

[Tiger Fan]

I tinkered for a long time trying to make a master list that included the debut years for everyone and eliminated duplicates. It was a pain and I always seemed to have something go wrong. But about a week ago I stumbled upon a workaround that is actually very simple and I can't believe I never thought of this before.




If I am understanding correctly you want to have all of the real major and minor leaguers from a rookie draft class import just as they would in a historical league with Negro Leagues and Minors enabled but you want the teams in your league to be entirely fictional?

If that is correct here is the work around. I have tried it with 1921 and just did a 1901 test to lay out my step-by-step process and I see no reason it would not work if you want to start in the 1870s instead.



STEP 1- Choose NEW HISTORICAL LEAGUE in the League creation wizard. Follow step one of the wizard in selecting your season to start (I will use 1901 for this example). Select import complete history up to 1901 if you so desire - does not matter either way. What does matter is make sure you have the checkbox for Import Real Negro Leagues (1920-1950) and Minor Leagues (1915+) UNCHECKED. That is essential. Also do not check the option to Use Random players from all eras instead of real rosters or this will not work. Optimize Player ratings for either Career Play or Single Season replay is fine.

Click next step. The game will then take you to Step 2 out of 6 of the Historical League creation wizard.

STEP 2: At this point click on Advanced Mode to get out of the wizard and to the normal league creation screen.

STEP 3: From the create new game screen you will see your Major League Baseball league. Click on the historical tab and from here enable the checkbox to IMPORT &MAINTAIN REAL MINOR LEAGUES

STEP 4: At this point you can if you desire add fictional minor leagues to your league, change any of the rule settings you like, rename your teams, do pretty much anything you like.

However, do not change the date of your amateur draft to during the season. Leave it at December 15th as the default setting indicates. (Note, perhaps you can make some changes without hurting things but I have it working fine leaving it as is). I also changed my Amateur Draft Pool Reveal date (in the RULES tab for my Major League baseball) from 120 days to 180 days prior to the draft. I don't think it matters when you have it as long as the draft class reveal date occurs before the World Series finishes. That date will be key so remember it. In my case it says June 18. Also, I suggest while you can rename the existing 16 major league teams (in my setup I am using 1901)do not add any or delete any, at least not until your league is finished the creation process.

STEP 5 - So I have renamed my teams, added my minor leagues (make sure enable ghost minor leaguers has not be unchecked as you will be short players the first few years if you added minors). Click on the START GAME option and your league is created.


STEP 6- You now have your major league with the renamed teams you decided upon. You also have your 16 teams with full rosters but they correspond to the real life MLB teams of 1921 so if you like you can go to the LEAGUE SETTINGS/FUNCTIONS tab and choose clear rosters and then schedule a free agent draft to randomize them.

Note at this stage there are only players who played in MLB in 1901, no career minor league or Negro League players yet. They will only appear beginning with the 1902 draft class.

STEP 7- When you are ready to go play out your league. When you get to June 18th (or whatever day is set as your draft class reveal date) the rookies, including all of the career minor leaguers from the MiLB database will import.

STEP 8-The only thing you need to do now to make sure the game does not overwrite your fictional teams and minor leagues with real ones so after the draft pool announcement date go to the HISTORICAL tab in LEAGUE SETTINGS AND uncheck in this order: Automatically import historical rookies followed by Automatically expand league. I typically do that on June 30th, after I make sure my draft class is in place. Note you must be sure to uncheck both of those options mentioned here or the game will overwrite your leagues will real MLB and minor leagues

From there all you need to do is each year after opening day but before your June 18 draft class reveal date make sure you enable both of those checkbox options in the Historical tab - Automatically Expand League and Automatically Import Historical Rookies. I have been doing it on June 1st each season in my current league and then at the end of June (after the new rookie crop appears) I uncheck them again until the following June.



That looks like a lot when I read it back but it is pretty straightforward and easy to do once you have the league created. It really comes down to just those 2 checkboxes being changed twice each June. Depending upon how many minor leagues you have you could turn off the option to use ghost minor leaguers once you get a few years in and start to have a lot of rookies.

Let me know if you have any questions. I did 10 years in my 1921 start and am in 1907 at the moment in my 1901 start using this method and all is working fine - my team names and minor leagues are all intact, no real MLB teams have taken over (or minor leagues in the case of the 1920s sim) and all of the players (MLB and minor leaguers) appear to be importing just as they would were it a standard historical league with full minors.

[luckymann]

I have a full combined DB of the two, including NeLers. I'm not going to say it is absolutely 100% accurate but it is fairly close.

That said, I encountered issues using it on 23. Not sure if it was a bug or just a one-off, but the RETIRE ACCORDING TO HISTORY seemed to act in the reverse, along with retiring a lot of the big names after just their rookie season. As soon as I unchecked it, everything worked much better.

But there's no doubt the game doesn't particularly like manual import. Other issues to consider are that many players import with service time and options used, ratings vagaries and various bits of odd behaviour like old man cameos funking up leaderboards. Anyway, if you've been doing this for some time I'm sure you have a handle on it.

If you want a copy of my csv, PM me your email and I'll send it through. Be warned, at 140k players, it is - to say the least - an unwieldy beast. So, caveat emptor.

[Pelican]

Wow, thanks to Tiger Fan and luckymann! This does make the path forward simpler, and will save me time and frustration. I had figured out maybe half of this. It’s the other half that would have been stressful.

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Wow, thanks to Tiger Fan and luckymann! This does make the path forward simpler, and will save me time and frustration. I had figured out maybe half of this. It’s the other half that would have been stressful.

I was shocked how easy it was to have real minor leaguers import into a fictional league, and disappointed at myself for never figuring it out earlier. I doubt the developers ever even thought about it as I was always of the understanding they said there was no way the game could automatically import minor league rookies without having the full minor league structure.

[Mister_G]

Thanks ya'll. This is all very helpful. However, what I'm really looking for is that the players import at the same time they would've been drafted IRL. So not the 1995 Derek Jeter, but the 1992 Derek Jeter, which I don't think would work with your method Tiger Fan.

I'm thinking maybe just using Spritze's database is still the best for this? However, when importing, I'm seeing an issue where if I try to import someone during their say, age 29 season (which I would need to at the start of the game so that my rosters and not entirely filled with 17-year olds) they come with stats. This seems to occur even with the "keep selected season's statistics in player career stats" box unchecked. And I can't seem to find a way around it. Any thoughts on that?

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by Mister_G

Thanks ya'll. This is all very helpful. However, what I'm really looking for is that the players import at the same time they would've been drafted IRL. So not the 1995 Derek Jeter, but the 1992 Derek Jeter, which I don't think would work with your method Tiger Fan.

It absolutely does work that way. If Jeter's first season in the minor league database is 1992 he will be in the '92 draft class. I am at 1929 in my test league and as an example Johnny Mize is one of the top prospects for the Dec 1929 draft. Mize made his minor league debut in 1930 at the age of 17 so he will do the same under this setup even though his MLB debut is not until 1936 in real life. Having them debut in their draft year (as opposed to their MLB debut year) was my whole reason for trying to find a workaround to import using the minor league database in a fictional league.

[Mister_G]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

It absolutely does work that way. If Jeter's first season in the minor league database is 1992 he will be in the '92 draft class. I am at 1929 in my test league and as an example Johnny Mize is one of the top prospects for the Dec 1929 draft. Mize made his minor league debut in 1930 at the age of 17 so he will do the same under this setup even though his MLB debut is not until 1936 in real life. Having them debut in their draft year (as opposed to their MLB debut year) was my whole reason for trying to find a workaround to import using the minor league database in a fictional league.

In that case, this may be what I do! Does that mean I can change the Major League's name/teams/structures, etc.?

I assume I have to keep that original "historical" league running in order for players to import correctly?

[Tiger Fan]

Yes I would say keep the original league running is a must but I am sure after you completed setup you could add or remove teams. I did not try to add any but had no issues making my own minor leagues.

[Mister_G]

Also, anyone who's familiar with the Spritze database, I have players importing with the wrong ethnicity, and the game is not finding the fg file.

For example, Josh Gibson imported as caucasian. I don't know if he has a facegen file, but when I look at the Spritze Master list he is listed as African for ethnicity. Not sure what to do here.

[Mister_G]

Tiger Fan, this kind of gets back to my original question, but I'm guessing you don't know if there's a way to look at all the players who will be imported before they are? So I can do things like have Ichiro enter as a free agent and not through the draft, or make small changes to the draft class? I'd also like to go without a draft for awhile and just have players import as free agents in the beginning. Thanks for all your help, and anyone else who may have the answer, go ahead and let me know!

[gbrooking]

Can someone provide instructions? Please and thank you.

[gbrooking]

Is importing the 2023 draft class possible?