PUBLIC BETA - OOTP 11 update #4

[Andreas Raht]

Today we're starting a public beta for the update #4, which will be released soon. The files for PC, Mac and Linux are online at Index of /ootp/11.2.25

Download link for the PC update installer is http://www.ootpdevfiles.com/ootp/11....tp11update.exe

Please do only download and install this build if you know what "beta testing" means! Make backup copies of your OOTP folders before you install the update. Please let us know any issues or problems ASAP if you find something. These are the changes which need extra testing:

- The message panel and the league news article reports should show Facebook and Twitter buttons now. Please try to post news articles to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
- Fixed issues with awards not going to deserving players when they are not on a team
- Fixed projected payroll calculation when extension offers exist
- Fixed rare crashes when enabling the DH prior to a game
- Fixed some PbP issues
- Fixed issue that resulted in duplicated players when manually activating minor league players from the DL and asking for AI minor setup afterwards
- Fixed rare instances when players have no demands listed in the free agent list but asked for a major league contract in the offer screen
- Fixed a bug which caused bad fielding ratings when importing a historical league with custom CSV files and neutralized stats enabled
- Fixed problem where story line messages did not contain person names
- Ongoing stories will now be saved in world.dat instead of an extra file
- Added several baseball card features
- File version of english.xml file displayed on database info page
- Fixed multiple small bugs, mainly cosmetic ones

Thanks for your help!!

[jtb]

Andreas,
Thanks for the update. I just tried the new options on the baseball cards and when I chose default I did not get a players picture. Everything else looks great so far. Thanks.

[Andreas Raht]

Originally Posted by jtb

Andreas,
Thanks for the update. I just tried the new options on the baseball cards and when I chose default I did not get a players picture. Everything else looks great so far. Thanks.

Thanks!
Did the playr have a picture already? What else is on the card if not the picture?

[jtb]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Thanks!
Did the playr have a picture already? What else is on the card if not the picture?

Yeah he had a picture. Everything else is there. I checked other leagues of mine and they all work great. Thanks again Andreas.

[jtb]

Originally Posted by jtb

Yeah he had a picture. Everything else is there. I checked other leagues of mine and they all work great. Thanks again Andreas.

Upon further review, I think the problem may have been that for the said league mentioned I changed the preference shortly before applying the new patch from "Normal" to "In" more face on the facegen.

[Andreas Raht]

Originally Posted by jtb

Upon further review, I think the problem may have been that for the said league mentioned I changed the preference shortly before applying the new patch from "Normal" to "In" more face on the facegen.

Hm... it should work for either setting...

[Faaip De Oiad]

Twitter posting is pointless. There is no info, just the title. Facebook seems to be working fine.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

- The message panel and the league news article reports should show Facebook and Twitter buttons now. Please try to post news articles to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

why on earth would i want to publicize how much of a dork i am?

[OmahaBaseball]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

why on earth would i want to publicize how much of a dork i am?

[bosunmate]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

why on earth would i want to publicize how much of a dork i am?

Now that's funny.....

[falkonisback]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

why on earth would i want to publicize how much of a dork i am?

LMAO..that is funny!!! But I'd bet my left one that you're not the only person that feels this way..

[fintach]

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

- The message panel and the league news article reports should show Facebook and Twitter buttons now. Please try to post news articles to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I have a couple of questions about this, one for the community and one for the development team:

Community question -- Would this be useful for online leagues?

I can imagine setting up a custom Twitter or FB account for a league and using this to update it, but I have trouble imagining sicking my game news on friends who don't play.

Development team question -- Could this also be set up to post these items (and perhaps others like standings and leader boards) to e-mail or blogs?

That seems more useful to me since they don't have character limits and can include the player images. I wouldn't expect such a change in this patch or anything, but it might be worth considering for the future.

[Bristolduke]

- Fixed a bug which caused bad fielding ratings when importing a historical league with custom CSV files and neutralized stats enabled

I have been testing this fix. So far it looks OK except that the neutralized fielding stats are still showing double on the player page. That is the each year shows twice. I have verified this my taking the game provided files (e.g. no custom csv) and deleting the .odb file. I use then start a historical league using neuralized stats (1901 season).


I hope to have time to run some extensive tests over the weekend.

Thanks

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Bristolduke

I have been testing this fix. So far it looks OK except that the neutralized fielding stats are still showing double on the player page. That is the each year shows twice. I have verified this my taking the game provided files (e.g. no custom csv) and deleting the .odb file. I use then start a historical league using neuralized stats (1901 season).


I hope to have time to run some extensive tests over the weekend.

Thanks

Yahoo!!!

When you think about it, while disconcerting, the double vision neutralized fielding stats part of this issue isn't that big of an issue because while all the counting stats double, the rate stats: FPCT, RNG, ZR and EFF would all stay the same.

[Bristolduke]

I've run several additional test and the double listing on the neutralized fielding tab is still the only issue. I have worked thru some of my files and was going to try Gambo and Spritze files next.

I don't know that you can assume it is counting the data twice, it may simply be a display issue. I have some thoughts on how to test that, but not sure it will prove conclusive.

[Solonor]

Originally Posted by fintach

I have a couple of questions about this, one for the community and one for the development team:

Community question -- Would this be useful for online leagues?

I can imagine setting up a custom Twitter or FB account for a league and using this to update it, but I have trouble imagining sicking my game news on friends who don't play.

Development team question -- Could this also be set up to post these items (and perhaps others like standings and leader boards) to e-mail or blogs?

That seems more useful to me since they don't have character limits and can include the player images. I wouldn't expect such a change in this patch or anything, but it might be worth considering for the future.

Well, so far, it's not of much use. I set up a FB page for my league, but the feature only posts to my wall. There's no way to redirect it to the wall of a managed page. Also, the posts don't contain any of the graphics or links from news stories, so they're kinda dry and lifeless.

There is still a ways to go to make this feature useful.

[Corsairs]

We have a good start here with the Facebook/Twitter implementation. It's an idea that has a ton of potential, especially for online leagues. As some others are mentioning, there are still some steps to be taken before this thing is ready to really take off. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Allow users to edit wall updates/tweets before they get posted. This is a biggie. Right now, there's no customization possible. If users can't personalize their messages, they aren't going to be motivated to use the feature.
2. Provide a blank template for users to create tweets/wall updates from within the game. Another huge one. Currently, OOTP can only send out wall updates/tweets about in-game news stories. Users are going to want more than that. They'll want to type up their own custom tweets and updates about things happening in the game. We shouldn't force them to leave the application to do that; it should be possible from right withing OOTP.
3. Add player pictures/stats to Facebook wall updates. Solonor mentioned the possibility of adding graphics and stats to wall updates. That would certainly add some color and make the feature more attractive.
4. Allow users to specify the Facebook/Twitter account to be used. Solonor also brings up a good point about not being able to direct OOTP to use a particular account. Adding a section into the Online Game Options where users can enter in account data would be helpful.

Above all else, incentivizing the use of the new Facebook/Twitter feature by allowing users to customize their wall updates and tweets should be the top goal. Personalization is what gets people invested in OOTP leagues in the first place. You can be sure that users will want more than the "just the facts" headlines tweeted through OOTP; they're going to want to send off their own updates on events as they occur (e.g. "OMG, pujols just hit gm7 9th ning HR! he is king kthnxbye!").

As I said, there's a lot of potential here. This is the kind of feature that might get pooh-poohed at first because it sounds outside the scope of the game ("I came here for baseball, not social networking!"), but once it's kicking on all cylinders, I think a lot of people will be surprised by how much they enjoy its addition. I'm really excited about the possibilities that Facebook/Twitter support will open up after the feature receives a little more polish!

[Solonor]

Originally Posted by Corsairs

Allow users to specify the Facebook/Twitter account to be used. Solonor also brings up a good point about not being able to direct OOTP to use a particular account. Adding a section into the Online Game Options where users can enter in account data would be helpful.

Not exactly the account, because it does ask you to login to Facebook. The problem I have is that while I am logged in as me, I have more than one FB page that I am in control of (my personal page is one, my band is another, and the new one I created for OOTP is a third). What I need is to be able to tell OOTP to post the article to the wall of a managed page.

[Bristolduke]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Yahoo!!!

When you think about it, while disconcerting, the double vision neutralized fielding stats part of this issue isn't that big of an issue because while all the counting stats double, the rate stats: FPCT, RNG, ZR and EFF would all stay the same.

After some testing, I am of the opinion that it is reading both entries in computing the ratings (small data sample here and there are several anomalies but that is what it appears). Also the ratings are different so it is affecting the ratings as well. (NOTE: In some cases it also affects their position)

So with respect to the beta patch, I believe the duplicate entries on the Neutralized fielding tab is still broken, and it does affect the ratings, but at least some ratings are being produced.

I want to re-iterate that any errors I find with custom csv files I go back and verify with the OOTP provided files. I simply delete the .odb file from the standard set up. This ensures it is not an error with the custom csv, but rather a bug in the game. As an added piece of data, using the regular OOTP files with the ODB removed, and seleting real stats you still get double neutralized stats. (Note this is a change I believe, as in the past, if you selected real stats the neutralized tabs were blank (e.g not populated - which makes sense).


I am going to start a new thread under historical leagues, because what I am seeing in the neutralized implementations is really confusing, and this is WITH the ODB files in place.

[BusterKing]

Thank God it's a beta. Now Markus can focus on fixing this.