My Wishlist for OOTP 27

[pholmer]

This list was inspired by a suggestion by kq76 for dealing with frustrations about OOTP games. Good suggestion, kq76.
6/7/2025

1) Player Ratings. The charts below were created by jpeters1734 and prompted me to comment.




This chart will be helpful to many of us who play OOTP, I'm sure. However, the scale does highlight a problem I've noticed with the ratings system.

The blue category is from 158-250. That is 37% of the ratings that are in the highest category. That skews the ratings away from the higher numbers, and the ratings numbers aren't always correct. If the 1-250 scale were evenly distributed over the 5 categories, the blue category would start as 200, not 158.

If I draft, sign, or trade for a specific player who I know can hit, run, and field well, I don't believe he deserves to have a 1 rating in any area, but sometimes they do. Same thing with pitchers; today I acquired an excellent veteran pitcher only to find all his pitches were rated 38! (Out of 600)

I once drafted Joe DiMaggio and found out his "Avoid Ks" number was 123/550. This for a player who struck out only 369 times in his whole MLB career! But just trying to bring a player up to the "League Average" (when you know they are in fact an above average player), often results in him getting 5-star rating when they probably deserve a 4-4+.

I'm not criticizing the jpeters1734 scales at all; I believe it accurately reflects the existing ratings system and will help me more accurately adjust players' ratings when necessary. I don't think every good player needs to get a 5-star rating for just being good. Nor do I think the top ratings need to reflect a "perfect" player. Even HOFers.

Ray Schalk, for example, was not a stellar batter or runner, but he helped define the role of the Catcher, especially the act of backing up the 1st Baseman when a batter is running to 1st. HOF, yes, OOTP 5 Stars, no. We all know players who could have some ratings approaching 250, 600 or whatever in certain categories. Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson; Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, etc. We shouldn't be afraid to give Mariano Rivera a 575 for his cutter if he deserves it.

I know there's a lot of math behind our current ratings; I don't what it is but I believe the current system has a basis in facts and statistics. One last personal comment: there's a reason the 20-80 ratings start at 20, not zero. The 1-600 scale should be 120-600 and the 1-250 should be 50-250. Players scoring lower probably wouldn't ever make it to the majors. A rethink about players' ratings needed.

2) Editable Datapaths

I play on a Mac and I am having difficulty accessing saved games, backing up my games, and importing games from 25 to 26. I have found work-arounds for some of them, but it would be simpler if I could edit the datapaths, sending all my data to the same folder. My files were stored here:

Users/(username)/Library/Containers/OOTP Baseball 26/Data/Application Support/Out of the Park Developments/OOTP Baseball 26/(folder_name)
(Place where the datapaths separate in boldface.)

Files from OOTP 23, 24, and 25 were also stored here. But when I wanted to restore a game I was playing from a backup, OOTP said I would find it here:

/Users/(username)/Library/Containers/com.ootpdevelopments.ootp26macqlm/Data/Application Support/Out of the Park Developments/OOTP Baseball 26/(folder_name

But there was no such folder on my computer.

If editing were allowed, I could change it - no problem. or it could also be solved by adding a " Choose an existing folder" Button. Either way works for me.


3) Buttons for raising salary amounts

During arbitration (used in the later part of the 1900s), there are buttons next to the dollar amounts for each year of the proposed contract. These buttons are used to alter the dollar amounts for each year. (+1000, +100, +10, and their opposites in the negative)

It would be helpful if similar buttons were available on each player's salary settings on his bio (editor) page. When I sign Babe Ruth to a contract, I want it to be for a long time, but I would like not to have to enter each year's salary manually.

Sorry for over-explaining, but I didn't know about the arbitration process until recently. I have spent most of my years on OOTP living in the past.

4) Additions to the "Birthplace" cities list

I would like to be able to add a town or city to the list when appropriate. I imagine the list is extremely long, but there's no reason players of OOTP shouldn't be able to do this. The aforementioned HOFer Ray Schalk came from the same 300-person village as my father did, Harvel, Illinois. Many MLB Negro League, and minor league players come from small towns. Those towns, like Harvel, are justifiably proud of their native sons and should be acknowledged. I think the players would have wanted their hometowns attached to their bios and we owe them the respect of getting that right.

[Carplos]

Originally Posted by pholmer

4) Additions to the "Birthplace" cities list

I would like to be able to add a town or city to the list when appropriate. I imagine the list is extremely long, but there's no reason players of OOTP shouldn't be able to do this. The aforementioned HOFer Ray Schalk came from the same 300-person village as my father did, Harvel, Illinois. Many MLB Negro League, and minor league players come from small towns. Those towns, like Harvel, are justifiably proud of their native sons and should be acknowledged. I think the players would have wanted their hometowns attached to their bios and we owe them the respect of getting that right.

You can already do this and have been able to for several versions.

Game > Explore World. Click into a nation, there are both add city and add state buttons in the upper right.

Another way to do it so it's permanent would be to edit the world xml file and then reimport it through the Database screen.

[pholmer]

Thanks for the response. I'll try that