Historical Expos - Can I Stop Relocation?

Zooerp · 10-03-2023, 08:33 AM

I started a historical game with the expansion Expos. When 2004 rolls around, is there a way to prevent the automatic relocation for the Expos while keeping the rest of the league updating automatically each year as normal?

Brad K · 10-03-2023, 09:16 AM

You'll have to leave the league on follow history and manually move the Expos back to Montreal each year. Also if you're playing assign rookies to historical teams you'll need to manually assign them to the Expos.

thehef · 10-03-2023, 02:45 PM

In additionl to Brad K's suggestion, you should also be able to accomplish this without the annual manual steps by editing the teams.csv file. It might take a little trial-and-error to determine exactly which fields to change, but for sure you'd want to change columns AO (name) back to 'Montreal Expos' and column AP back to 'Stade Olympique.'

You'll need to leave column C (teamID) as "WAS" because this is how OOTP connects the minor league affiliates, and - if I'm not mistaken - is the connector for historical transactions. (If you're not using historical txns, then an alternative for connecting the minor league affiliates would be also editing the milbteams.csv file and changing all of those 2005-current Nationals affiliates' Franchise/AffiliationID field from WAS to MON, and then also changing the teamID field in teams.csv from WAS to MON.)

I do not know about these fields:

- Column AT, teamIDBR and column AV, teamIDretro - I don't think OOTP uses these fields, but am not sure.
- Column AW, hist_team_id - this is a new field for OOTP 24 and so I'm not sure how OOTP uses it; it appears to change whenever the team name (city and/or nickname) changes; so perhaps you'd want to change this from 60 back to 150, since the team name would not be changing in your save.

Again, trial and error to be sure about those ^ fields.

Finally, you absolutely - under no circumstances - would want to do any of this without a) backing up your save, b) backing up any files you plan to edit, and c) running tests several years past 2005 just to make sure things are happening the way you want them to as far as the Montreal franchise's non-evolution. (And if you're not an Excel guy who's comfortable with editing csv files, etc., LMK and I can probably get those files to you pretty quickly.)

Good luck!

Brad K · 10-03-2023, 08:31 PM

You mentioned historical transactions. Does one of those edits allow the unmoved Montreal to get Washington's historical rookies?

10-03-2023, 08:33 AM	#1
Zooerp Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 29	Historical Expos - Can I Stop Relocation? I started a historical game with the expansion Expos. When 2004 rolls around, is there a way to prevent the automatic relocation for the Expos while keeping the rest of the league updating automatically each year as normal?

10-03-2023, 09:16 AM	#2
Brad K Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2016 Location: St Petersburg Florida USA Posts: 6,297	You'll have to leave the league on follow history and manually move the Expos back to Montreal each year. Also if you're playing assign rookies to historical teams you'll need to manually assign them to the Expos. __________________ Pirates Play Moneyball 1951 to 2008 46,000 views and counting!... Wow, up to 47,000, thank you. Wow, I hadn't checked for weeks. Oct 9 2024 its 79,561. Why do people use different players, different lineups, different strategy, development, talent change randomness, and the development lab, but judge the game on whether it produces historical statistics?

10-03-2023, 08:31 PM	#4
Brad K Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2016 Location: St Petersburg Florida USA Posts: 6,297	You mentioned historical transactions. Does one of those edits allow the unmoved Montreal to get Washington's historical rookies? __________________ Pirates Play Moneyball 1951 to 2008 46,000 views and counting!... Wow, up to 47,000, thank you. Wow, I hadn't checked for weeks. Oct 9 2024 its 79,561. Why do people use different players, different lineups, different strategy, development, talent change randomness, and the development lab, but judge the game on whether it produces historical statistics?

10-03-2023, 02:45 PM	#3
thehef Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,291	In additionl to Brad K's suggestion, you should also be able to accomplish this without the annual manual steps by editing the teams.csv file. It might take a little trial-and-error to determine exactly which fields to change, but for sure you'd want to change columns AO (name) back to 'Montreal Expos' and column AP back to 'Stade Olympique.' You'll need to leave column C (teamID) as "WAS" because this is how OOTP connects the minor league affiliates, and - if I'm not mistaken - is the connector for historical transactions. (If you're not using historical txns, then an alternative for connecting the minor league affiliates would be also editing the milbteams.csv file and changing all of those 2005-current Nationals affiliates' Franchise/AffiliationID field from WAS to MON, and then also changing the teamID field in teams.csv from WAS to MON.) I do not know about these fields: - Column AT, teamIDBR and column AV, teamIDretro - I don't think OOTP uses these fields, but am not sure. - Column AW, hist_team_id - this is a new field for OOTP 24 and so I'm not sure how OOTP uses it; it appears to change whenever the team name (city and/or nickname) changes; so perhaps you'd want to change this from 60 back to 150, since the team name would not be changing in your save. Again, trial and error to be sure about those ^ fields. Finally, you absolutely - under no circumstances - would want to do any of this without a) backing up your save, b) backing up any files you plan to edit, and c) running tests several years past 2005 just to make sure things are happening the way you want them to as far as the Montreal franchise's non-evolution. (And if you're not an Excel guy who's comfortable with editing csv files, etc., LMK and I can probably get those files to you pretty quickly.) Good luck!