challenge mode

[dime]

Couldn't find this in search or FAQs...I created fictional solo league, said yes to challenge mode. Wanting to customize the league a few years in but grayed out due to challenge mode...is there any way to disable challenge mode and drop out and keep my league history, etc?

I tried to save as a quickstart and the challenge mode was already on even when I did that. Is there any way to get out of challenge mode without having to recreate and customize all my teams, etc and losing my history?

[quillenl]

There is not. A difficult, but important, lesson to learn.

In the end, you'll enjoy your 2nd league more than the old one with challenge mode off. Will only hurt for a couple days I promise

[tomnov]

Try exporting the game as a template, from the game/game settings menu under the button 'available global actions'/save this game as template.
Then start a new game, and in the advanced tab in the create game dialog, click the button 'import template'.
Then, choose the template from the menu. Templates are saved in the world_templates directory inside your OOTP installation as files with a .wtp extension.
Then finish your game setup if it will let you, making sure you UNcheck the challenge mode checkbox.

OR if that doesn't work...
Try exporting the league structure, league rosters, league stats, league history.
Then use the new league you created above, or a league configured exactly the same way (I don't see a way to import league structure other than from a template), and then import rosters, stats, and history.
A little tinkering may be needed. One possibility that you might have to try is to copy the original game (.lg) folder to a safe location, delete the original game from the load game screen, and name the new game the exact same name as the original, so the game thinks you're importing the data back into the same game.

This is all only theory, that is one mistake I've not had to recover from yet, but in theory it may be able to work.

[AKAthatoneguy]

I've asked about this for a few years now and there seems to be no interest in giving us an option to disable it. The fact that you can earn a small amount of PT cards through achievements in CM seems to be the main reason they won't let us do it; as they're worried that we'll disable the mode, look at actual player ratings and go back to our original saves to game the system. Not that anyone cares about the leaderboards in the first place.

Seems to me that this option should be available in some sort of permanent way for those of us who were excited, bought the game, started a fictional universe and later found out that many options aren't available to us because we chose Challenge Mode. I've been told, just as you have now, I can abandon my hundreds of hours put into my fictional league or just deal with not being able to do things like add an additional level of minor league play. Seems really silly to me.

[quillenl]

Originally Posted by AKAthatoneguy

The fact that you can earn a small amount of PT cards through achievements in CM seems to be the main reason they won't let us do it; as they're worried that we'll disable the mode, look at actual player ratings and go back to our original saves to game the system. Not that anyone cares about the leaderboards in the first place.

Leaderboards no longer work with this version... so that reason is out.
The quickest way to game the system is to run the 1927 Yankees through a season every 3rd day to get your pack... so that's out.

All I see left for a reason for this mode is allowing it to exist solely to be able to say Perfect Team is technically free to play since a method of acquiring free packs exist. Even simple things like the signature you could get previously to display your achievements no longer works. I say simple because they managed to get it working in short order for Perfect Team.

They really should have a better warning on this mode as it lacks challenge but has the potential to ruin the play experience for newer players of OOTP.

[BaseballNewsNow]

I know that I’m not new to the game, but I just want to bump this thread to test a few theories that I have developed:

I made the stupid mistake of enabling challenge mode when creating my Tropical League, so now I’m in 2071 and stuck with challenge mode on. This can get really annoying.

I have two theories on how to get rid of challenge mode:
1. Delete the challenge.dat in the saved games folder. This could work, however it is a long shot and unlikely to work. EDIT: DOES NOT WORK
2. Create a new league, and copy over ALL of the data in the saved games folder excluding the challenge.dat. Make sure to start the new league without challenge mode.

Since I won’t be at my computer until late this evening, I won’t be able to test these theories until later. In the meantime, if anyone would like to attempt one or both of these, that would be great. Thanks!

[koohead]

Originally Posted by BaseballNewsNow

I know that I’m not new to the game, but I just want to bump this thread to test a few theories that I have developed:

I made the stupid mistake of enabling challenge mode when creating my Tropical League, so now I’m in 2071 and stuck with challenge mode on. This can get really annoying.

I have two theories on how to get rid of challenge mode:
1. Delete the challenge.dat in the saved games folder. This could work, however it is a long shot and unlikely to work.
2. Create a new league, and copy over ALL of the data in the saved games folder excluding the challenge.dat. Make sure to start the new league without challenge mode.

Since I won’t be at my computer until late this evening, I won’t be able to test these theories until later. In the meantime, if anyone would like to attempt one or both of these, that would be great. Thanks!

Deleting the dat file results in a corrupt save and the game won't proceed/load. It gives an error regarding the world.dat file, so there must be a bit set in there that necessitates Challenge mode.