Tips for Handling Fictional League

[nebben]

I just started playing OOTP this summer, and used to stick to historical leagues. I'm trying to get into fictional leagues, but I get overwhelmed with trying to have good logos, stadiums, etc.



Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, but if I start a league in, for example, 1871, I expect logos to look like they did in that time period. But team logos should change over time, as should their stadiums. I love many aspects of fictional leagues, yet can't deal with all the little updates I feel it takes to keep a league legit over the years.


So, I guess I have a couple of questions:
• Do you update logos and stadiums for your league over the years, or do you just stick with the same stuff you start the league with?
• And, more broadly, any tips or suggestions for how I can get over this psychological hump I'm experiencing? (Other than therapy. )

[luckymann]

If you are looking at doing a league using MLB teams but filled with fictional players, I suggest you look at these two threads:

STADIUMS

UNIFORMS

They tell you exactly when to use which graphics.

If you are looking at creating an entirely fictional universe I recommend you find the unis and logos you like then name your teams after them and use them in-game. This guy's unis are my pick, but spend some time on the mods board picking them off - the possibilities are almost endless. Same goes with stadiums.

If the idea of full fictional does your head in then I suggest you consider the import historical rookies option, which will give you some familiar names among all of the AI-generated ones.

[nebben]

Excellent, thank you. The forums are an incredible resource, though I failed to find some of the links you provided. Much appreciated!

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by nebben

I just started playing OOTP this summer, and used to stick to historical leagues. I'm trying to get into fictional leagues, but I get overwhelmed with trying to have good logos, stadiums, etc.



Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, but if I start a league in, for example, 1871, I expect logos to look like they did in that time period. But team logos should change over time, as should their stadiums. I love many aspects of fictional leagues, yet can't deal with all the little updates I feel it takes to keep a league legit over the years.


So, I guess I have a couple of questions:
• Do you update logos and stadiums for your league over the years, or do you just stick with the same stuff you start the league with?
• And, more broadly, any tips or suggestions for how I can get over this psychological hump I'm experiencing? (Other than therapy. )

Yes, I personally put in a ton of time with my fictional universes. It is very labor intensive but that is how I enjoy the game the best. I like to take that birdseye view and watch things unfold. Not only do I update logos and such but I also manually edit city populations, league schedules and player names to fit the era of play. I have created a few formulas that I use with a random number generator to determine whether a league expands or folds. I also do the same with individual teams in terms of whether they relocate or simply fold. It is a lot of fun.

[ptFri217]

You could try keeping things like logos simple/generic. I know it may not be as immersive, but for me, logos were one of the issues I had in actually breaking my immersion. You could create some like my picture on the left (just a single letter).

Another idea I tried recently was to let OOTP generate logos the old school way with templates. These are either the letter or abbreviation of a team, along with different backgrounds. To do this, for anyone who’s interested, simply rename the folder that has those fictional logos in it. I typed a “z” in front of it, so I can easily revert this. OOTP is programmed to search this folder and match logos, but by renaming the folder, OOTP must then go to the template. It’s just another way to get generic logos with letters, and is pretty easy to do. Once done, logos can mostly be ignored without them interfering with immersion by being too futuristic or outdated.

[Bliketa]

I try to stick to the logos I have made first but I change some that I didn't like. In particularly, the first few franchises I have created had simple logos that I decided to improve when I created other logos.

There is a way to set an automatic refreshal of logos by year, it is already set up for MLB logos throughout the years. You can have a look at the _readme.txt file in your OOTP\logos folder, it is well explained.

As for stadiums, I usually upgrade or change them when I did an expansion, in order to harmonize the different stadiums with the new ones.

[The_Offspring187]

I used txrangwers logos and jerseys and ball caps and found the stadium files on the mods. I honestly start in the 1800s and dont update the stadiums and logos as time passes. I even kept the financials from the 2012 season (I started my league on OOTP13), so that meant I had guys in the 1880s making millions.

My answer is I put some effort into it to immerse myself but not so much that it makes the game feel like a chore. You gotta find where your line is between the two.

[nebben]

Originally Posted by Bliketa

I try to stick to the logos I have made first but I change some that I didn't like. In particularly, the first few franchises I have created had simple logos that I decided to improve when I created other logos.

There is a way to set an automatic refreshal of logos by year, it is already set up for MLB logos throughout the years. You can have a look at the _readme.txt file in your OOTP\logos folder, it is well explained.

As for stadiums, I usually upgrade or change them when I did an expansion, in order to harmonize the different stadiums with the new ones.

I had no idea you could setup logos to autorefresh, nor did it occur to me to check out the readme files. Thanks!