Unwanted Fictional Players

[Pelican]

In my 1938 Season sim, which started in OOTP 22 and transferred to 23, I just notice that entirely fictional players are showing up on some teams. I have toggled off the option to "fill teams with fictional players", so I have no idea why or how this could be happening. The AI has roster control of the teams I am not managing; but not player creation.

For now I am deleting the fake players, but they show up as "released" and thus become free agents. I want them gone. This really interferes with the realism of the historical replay. Some of the fake players are good!

I checked, and the teams adding fake players at the MLB level have plenty of prospects in the minors. This is not a situation where "Unknown" would be brought in to pitch or fill a vacant slot. There are no vacancies.

I just double-checked my settings, and cannot find any menu where I would have enabled or permitted fictional player creation. The default setting is off, and I have not altered that.

This feels like a bug, rather than some kind of user error on my part (which is the case in 95% of my OOTP issues). But before I report it, I want to make sure I haven't inadvertently altered some setting. Thing is, I have disabled fictional players in all of my sims, and I have never had this problem before. Because of that, I have no experience for how fictional player creation might work, for those who use it.

I see there are criteria that can be set for the creation of fictional players. I have never bothered with that, so the AI would be completely on its on creating these players. They tend to stand out, because in 1938 there were not many Dominican players, and in my sim the black players all come from the Negro Leagues, with the color bar gone.

Funny, but because some of the created players are cool, I may actually be tempted to try a fictional league some day, as a challenge. But I don't want to "contaminate" my sim with these guys. If I do this, I want to be able to control and understand the process. This is random.

I'd appreciate any insight, particularly from those who regularly create players. Feel free to tell me to report this as a bug. Or to point out how to fix it. Many thanks.

[Pelican]

Seems like, based on the lack of any responses, I may have been an outlier. Again. When, on September 1, I returned control of team rosters to the teams other than mine, each team added players (seven, given my roster limit of 32) who seemed appropriate from their farm systems. I have not run across any fake players. (If I don’t recognize a name, I look to see if there is a tab for “real life stats”. Occasionally, checking box scores, I still come across a fictional player who was created at some point. I keep trying to delete these imposters entirely; but they only become free agents, and thus are at risk of being re-signed. Not sure how to purge my sim of theses unwanted players.

[Bluenoser]

Pretty sure for historical leagues there is a setting to not allow fictional players to reach the majors.

Check in your league setup.

[luckymann]

Not that this addresses the source issue bud, but the deleted players appearing in the logs as "released" or "free-agents" is of no consequence. They are gone.

Now, as to the issue itself, I can't see why this would be happening. A few questions.

Was this set up as a custom or historical league?

Do you have DISABLE AUTO CREATION OF FAS & FICTIONAL DRAFT CLASS toggled off (in RULES tab)?

In the PLAYERS tab, have you got it set to create International FAs etc?

G

[Pelican]

Thanks for the help and advice, Bluenoser and Luckymann. I’ll try to respond.

I’ve set up this as a replay starting with the 1938 Season, using historical rosters, but dissolving the color line.

I’ve checked the box “Disable automatic creation of free agents and fictional draft class”.

In the players tab, I have none as to the international free agents, scouting discoveries, established free agents, and from independent leagues.

On the Historical tab, I checked the box “Automatically import historical rookies” and not the “use random rookies from all eras”.

In the League Settings, League Functions tab, I have not chosen “Fill teams with fictional players”.

So, yeah, I don’t know where these guys are coming from. I’m going to run through rosters to see if there are more I have not purged (good to know they are gone for good, where I have). If I find any, I’ll screenshot and post.

Again, thanks for your time.

[luckymann]

Got me beat then. If you want to screenshot each tab I can eyeball it but seems like you've checked it all pretty closely so doubt you've missed something.

Sorry, keep us informed as to how you go.

G

[Pelican]

This is probably the most unusual of the created players. The first Major League Player born in India. Presumably he was really really good at cricket.

[Pelican]

The fact that these guys are showing up on minor league rosters makes me wonder if there is some option to fill minor leagues with fictional players. I would not have consciously chosen such an option, and the 1938 minors seem to be full of players already. No need for fictional guys.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Attachment 915189

This is probably the most unusual of the created players. The first Major League Player born in India. Presumably he was really really good at cricket.

Check his HISTORY tab. How does it say he entered the league?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Pelican

The fact that these guys are showing up on minor league rosters makes me wonder if there is some option to fill minor leagues with fictional players. I would not have consciously chosen such an option, and the 1938 minors seem to be full of players already. No need for fictional guys.

I've never used it, but I'm pretty sure there is an option that you can select when creating a historical league to require minor league rosters to be full and if chosen, the game does create fictional players to fill the holes. At work, so I can't check, but I'm almost positive it exists.

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Check his HISTORY tab. How does it say he entered the league?

It only says that he joined the Elmira Pioneers on June 3. And lists his salary. No prior history. He’s 25 and from India.

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I've never used it, but I'm pretty sure there is an option that you can select when creating a historical league to require minor league rosters to be full and if chosen, the game does create fictional players to fill the holes. At work, so I can't check, but I'm almost positive it exists.

I recall that, too; but can’t find it, now that the league is set up. But I would not have selected that option, and I believe the default would be no fictional players to fill out the minors. It would be completely unnecessary here, with full minor league rosters, and lots of minor league free agents (who are not fictional players).

[Pelican]

I’ve checked “Allow incomplete minor league rosters (ghost players)” which should prevent creation of fictional players. In other saves, when there are gaps in minor league rosters, the ghost players are all “Unknown”.

[Pelican]

Under League Functions, there is a tab for “Fill all affiliated leagues with fictional players”. It is not a check box, and it’s not immediately clear if this option has been selected. I didn’t select it for this sim. When I click on that, it warns “Are Your Sure?” And allows me to cancel, so pretty sure this is not activated.

[Dutch Alexander]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Under League Functions, there is a tab for “Fill all affiliated leagues with fictional players”. It is not a check box, and it’s not immediately clear if this option has been selected. I didn’t select it for this sim. When I click on that, it warns “Are Your Sure?” And allows me to cancel, so pretty sure this is not activated.

That is not an option that can be checked. It is a one time action that fills all open roster spots in the selected league with fictional players. If roster spots open up afterwards nothing happens. No new fictional players will be created untill you use the function again.

[Pelican]

I really appreciate the suggestions from the community. Seems like we have exhausted the possibilities of me having goofed in setup. I always like to source the collective wisdom, before bothering the developers with a trouble ticket. In this case, there’s an easy work-around. But, in case it is a glitch, probably easy for them to fix.

The only thing left by way of troubleshooting would be to set up a new sim, and go through the choices on created players we have discussed, to see if I missed something. But I have no such problem in any of my other seven running sims, some on PC, some on Mac. My approach to setup has been the same each time, at least as to fictional players. And the default setting seems to be none.

One thing that fascinates me is how the game creates fictional players. This could open a new door for me, to an imaginary baseball world. I see that I could, in setting up a fictional sim, set the % of players from each country. I may try a league of teams and layers from New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, South Africa, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Does the database really have names for that? Intriguing.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Pelican

One thing that fascinates me is how the game creates fictional players. This could open a new door for me, to an imaginary baseball world. I see that I could, in setting up a fictional sim, set the % of players from each country. I may try a league of teams and layers from New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, South Africa, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Does the database really have names for that? Intriguing.

I don't know that it comes with the game, but there are all sorts on the mods board.

[luckymann]

With this scenario Pelican my friend, I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest you might have inadvertently hit this FILL ROSTERS button on setup:




I just don't see this being a bug.

[Pelican]

I suspect you are right. I don’t recall it; but recently I did go through and “correct” for certain teams not having enough minor league affiliates in 1938. As I recall, there were two MLB clubs that did not have an AAA team. And several others that had two AAA teams. There were gaps in AA teams as well. I went through and “corrected” so that each MLB team had one AAA team, and at least one AA team. That should not have generated a need to fill rosters; but it’s possible I inadvertently hit the wrong checkbox and created some fictional dudes who later reached the majors. It’s off now, and the imposters I identified have been purged, so all is good.

And, unable to resist temptation, I did try a fictional season, Caribbean league with eight teams, November to March, all fictional players. It is uncanny how soon I became attached to the fake guys. And I could test my approach in the player draft of “strong up the middle” and lots of middle relievers. Much to my surprise, I won the initial league season, going away. It was very much a work in progress, and I learned a lot that I would do differently, next time. And there will be a next time. I’m hooked.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Pelican

I suspect you are right. I don’t recall it; but recently I did go through and “correct” for certain teams not having enough minor league affiliates in 1938. As I recall, there were two MLB clubs that did not have an AAA team. And several others that had two AAA teams. There were gaps in AA teams as well. I went through and “corrected” so that each MLB team had one AAA team, and at least one AA team. That should not have generated a need to fill rosters; but it’s possible I inadvertently hit the wrong checkbox and created some fictional dudes who later reached the majors. It’s off now, and the imposters I identified have been purged, so all is good.

And, unable to resist temptation, I did try a fictional season, Caribbean league with eight teams, November to March, all fictional players. It is uncanny how soon I became attached to the fake guys. And I could test my approach in the player draft of “strong up the middle” and lots of middle relievers. Much to my surprise, I won the initial league season, going away. It was very much a work in progress, and I learned a lot that I would do differently, next time. And there will be a next time. I’m hooked.

Obviously, my interest is rooted in the historical. But I love the idea of fictional because you don't have a preconceived expectation of the players. You need to scout them properly. Because of that, I found myself becoming "closer" to them than any - or at least almost any, I do have my favourites - real historical player. Using them in combination is, for mine, highly enjoyable. But I definitely have a 100% fictional save in my future.