Ultimate Guide to Auto-Calc/Recalc (?)

Larryk007 · 03-26-2025, 12:04 PM

The more I read about Auto-Calc or is Recalc, the more I get confused! Please someone write the Ultimate Guide to Auto-Calc/Recalc!

I know what the idea of matching a season to the players to perform that season. The forums and some videos are great but there are many ways to play this game that the use of Recalc becomes confusing. I am reading now that the new features for the Practice Facility does not benefit players who are in a universe of Reclac.....Huh? Run recalc just before you start the first game of the season...Huh? What if I don't use recalc, crazy homeruns?

There have been some really good guides written here, Minor Leagues and Defensive recently.

Someone please write this for the two ways I think the game is played, one being Historical Players playing historical seasons, and two, being Fictitious Players playing historical seasons.

Rain King · 03-26-2025, 12:25 PM

I'm not one to write big ole guides, but I think people tend to get too in the weeds on these things and you are obviously confusing the two terms quite a bit in your original post so I'll try to provide a more basic guide.

Recalc is purely utilized in Historical leagues with real players. It is a process that re-sets (i.e. recalculates) the player ratings each season based on their real-life season (or group of seasons, you can choose 1-year, 3-year, or 5-year Recalc options).

---

Auto-Calc is a process that can be used to set your league's statistical environment. It's name represents an auto-calculation of the modifiers. It is used in conjunction with the League Totals. It runs simulated seasons and then adjusts the Modifiers that you see on the same page as the League Totals based on the results of those simulations (i.e. if home runs are hit at a higher rate than the league totals then it lowers the home run modifier).

Whether using historical players or fictional players it is generally a good idea to run Auto-Calc anytime the League Totals change as the process fine tunes your environment.

The simplest way I can put what Auto-Calc is aiming to do is that it is adjusting your expected environment (i..e League Totals) based on the talent distribution (i.e. player ratings) that are in your league.

Opening Day is the best time to run auto-calc (and is when the game will run it if you have the "Use Auto-Calc of modifiers (Recommended)" box checked because the game uses the actual lineups that the the teams currently have set to run the simulations and if you are in the off-season/pre-season/spring training those may not be very representative.

---

It is going to be pretty difficult for anyone to write a guide that will be able to cover every single way someone may want to set up a league/environment. Since the game is so modifieable there are many moving parts. If anyone were to want to get into the weeds on this stuff, I would recommend setting things up based on what makes sense to you, backing up your league, and testing. If you do not get the results you were hoping for, post your results/settings and ask for help.

Larryk007 · 03-26-2025, 12:57 PM

OK, that was pretty darn good! That was exactly what I needed, short and sweet!

OK, then what about the new Practice Facility effort, does it work with Auto-Calc?

Rain King · 03-26-2025, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryk007

OK, that was pretty darn good! That was exactly what I needed, short and sweet!

OK, then what about the new Practice Facility effort, does it work with Auto-Calc?

Auto-Calc can be used in any league.

I think you are referring to the Development Lab. The Development Lab does not make much sense to use with Recalc because at the end of each season, your historical players' ratings are going to get completely Recalculated based on what they did in real life. So, those ratings changes that occurred from the Development Lab are wiped out at that point.

Now, you can still technically use it and it will adjust ratings up until the next Recalculation (this happens as you move into the off-season) and there also might be some edge cases where players are in your real player historical league that are not getting recalculated (i.e. your settings allow them to keep playing past their real life playing days or your league is also incorporating fictional players, etc.). This is what I mean by getting in the weeds though.

Larryk007 · 03-26-2025, 01:31 PM

OK, much better now.

I use fictitious players playing through seasons, so the new features in the Development Lab will work for me, correct?

Rain King · 03-26-2025, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryk007

OK, much better now.

I use fictitious players playing through seasons, so the new features in the Development Lab will work for me, correct?

Yep, no problems there.

If you are using fictional players only then Recalc is not something you need to worry about.

Larryk007 · 03-26-2025, 02:07 PM

Again, thank you for your answers and time you spend here. This forum has some truly wonderful helpful people!!!

fredbeene · 03-26-2025, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain King

Auto-Calc can be used in any league.

I think you are referring to the Development Lab. The Development Lab does not make much sense to use with Recalc because at the end of each season, your historical players' ratings are going to get completely Recalculated based on what they did in real life. So, those ratings changes that occurred from the Development Lab are wiped out at that point.

Now, you can still technically use it and it will adjust ratings up until the next Recalculation (this happens as you move into the off-season) and there also might be some edge cases where players are in your real player historical league that are not getting recalculated (i.e. your settings allow them to keep playing past their real life playing days or your league is also incorporating fictional players, etc.). This is what I mean by getting in the weeds though.

i am pretty sure there is still confusion on recalc for players. From the manual:
https://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com...tical_accuracy

Doubles the weight of the player's current year stats evaluating historical players. If you are playing in 3-yr recalc mode in 1988, for example, then player ratings will be based on 1987+1988+1989 stats. If you are playing in 3-yr recalc mode with "double-weight" in 1988, then player ratings will be based on 1987+1988+1988+1989 stats. The focus year is added twice into the evaluation. Some people feel that this option results in more realistic AI decisions in certain areas, like pitcher roles.

still confusing as to me it reads it takes into account what you simmed too

twins_34 · 03-27-2025, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryk007

OK, much better now.

I use fictitious players playing through seasons, so the new features in the Development Lab will work for me, correct?

If you want to play historical use career mode and recalc is not used in that mode and the development lab is.

twins_34 · 03-27-2025, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredbeene

i am pretty sure there is still confusion on recalc for players. From the manual:
https://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com...tical_accuracy

Doubles the weight of the player's current year stats evaluating historical players. If you are playing in 3-yr recalc mode in 1988, for example, then player ratings will be based on 1987+1988+1989 stats. If you are playing in 3-yr recalc mode with "double-weight" in 1988, then player ratings will be based on 1987+1988+1988+1989 stats. The focus year is added twice into the evaluation. Some people feel that this option results in more realistic AI decisions in certain areas, like pitcher roles.

still confusing as to me it reads it takes into account what you simmed too

It does not take anything you have simmed into account. It is using actual real life stats. If you go to Baseball Reference, THAT is the data it uses. Not the data in your game.

highandoutside · 04-17-2025, 05:09 PM

Dumb question but here it goes: I imported my fictional league to ootp 26. It is now the day before opening day. Before spring training I had set the league totals to 2024 which had the effect of changing some of my imported modifiers (they all went to 1.000). There are 16 teams in my league and I’d like the offensive environment to be the same as modern day baseball. Do I now click autocalc to calibrate everything to 2024, or should I leave it alone? Does it matter that the league totals seem based on 30 teams and I only have 16? Thanks!

Brad K · 04-17-2025, 05:25 PM

From the wiki

https://wiki.ootpdevelopments.com/in...Totals_Options

Use Pre-Calculated Modifiers

...

In a non-replay league with historical players but talent that varies from historical, player output will be closer to what would be expected by their ratings while overall league totals will not be as close. Talent among the high use players varies in such leagues for many reasons. Some are non historical starting lineups, presence of players who retired historically but not in the save, absence of players who were injured in the save but not historically, use of three year or five year rating basis rather than one year, Development set to on, and Talent Change Randomness set to on.

I realized similar information was not provided for auto calc modifiers so I added that (not live yet, approval pending).

Rain King · 04-17-2025, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highandoutside

Dumb question but here it goes: I imported my fictional league to ootp 26. It is now the day before opening day. Before spring training I had set the league totals to 2024 which had the effect of changing some of my imported modifiers (they all went to 1.000). There are 16 teams in my league and I’d like the offensive environment to be the same as modern day baseball. Do I now click autocalc to calibrate everything to 2024, or should I leave it alone? Does it matter that the league totals seem based on 30 teams and I only have 16? Thanks!

1.) It does not matter that your league has 16 teams vs. 30 MLB teams. The League Totals work based on the ratios (i.e. percentage of HR's, etc. per AB).

2.) Sinces this is an Imported League AND you have changed the League Totals, I would generally recommend running Auto-Calc for your first season.

highandoutside · 04-21-2025, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain King

1.) It does not matter that your league has 16 teams vs. 30 MLB teams. The League Totals work based on the ratios (i.e. percentage of HR's, etc. per AB).

2.) Sinces this is an Imported League AND you have changed the League Totals, I would generally recommend running Auto-Calc for your first season.

Thanks, RK. Much appreciated.

03-26-2025, 12:04 PM	#1
Larryk007 All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 503	Ultimate Guide to Auto-Calc/Recalc (?) The more I read about Auto-Calc or is Recalc, the more I get confused! Please someone write the Ultimate Guide to Auto-Calc/Recalc! I know what the idea of matching a season to the players to perform that season. The forums and some videos are great but there are many ways to play this game that the use of Recalc becomes confusing. I am reading now that the new features for the Practice Facility does not benefit players who are in a universe of Reclac.....Huh? Run recalc just before you start the first game of the season...Huh? What if I don't use recalc, crazy homeruns? There have been some really good guides written here, Minor Leagues and Defensive recently. Someone please write this for the two ways I think the game is played, one being Historical Players playing historical seasons, and two, being Fictitious Players playing historical seasons.

03-26-2025, 12:25 PM	#2
Rain King Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 3,109 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	I'm not one to write big ole guides, but I think people tend to get too in the weeds on these things and you are obviously confusing the two terms quite a bit in your original post so I'll try to provide a more basic guide. Recalc is purely utilized in Historical leagues with real players. It is a process that re-sets (i.e. recalculates) the player ratings each season based on their real-life season (or group of seasons, you can choose 1-year, 3-year, or 5-year Recalc options). --- Auto-Calc is a process that can be used to set your league's statistical environment. It's name represents an auto-calculation of the modifiers. It is used in conjunction with the League Totals. It runs simulated seasons and then adjusts the Modifiers that you see on the same page as the League Totals based on the results of those simulations (i.e. if home runs are hit at a higher rate than the league totals then it lowers the home run modifier). Whether using historical players or fictional players it is generally a good idea to run Auto-Calc anytime the League Totals change as the process fine tunes your environment. The simplest way I can put what Auto-Calc is aiming to do is that it is adjusting your expected environment (i..e League Totals) based on the talent distribution (i.e. player ratings) that are in your league. Opening Day is the best time to run auto-calc (and is when the game will run it if you have the "Use Auto-Calc of modifiers (Recommended)" box checked because the game uses the actual lineups that the the teams currently have set to run the simulations and if you are in the off-season/pre-season/spring training those may not be very representative. --- It is going to be pretty difficult for anyone to write a guide that will be able to cover every single way someone may want to set up a league/environment. Since the game is so modifieable there are many moving parts. If anyone were to want to get into the weeds on this stuff, I would recommend setting things up based on what makes sense to you, backing up your league, and testing. If you do not get the results you were hoping for, post your results/settings and ask for help. Last edited by Rain King; 03-26-2025 at 01:54 PM.

03-26-2025, 12:57 PM	#3
Larryk007 All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 503	OK, that was pretty darn good! That was exactly what I needed, short and sweet! OK, then what about the new Practice Facility effort, does it work with Auto-Calc?

03-26-2025, 01:31 PM	#5
Larryk007 All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 503	OK, much better now. I use fictitious players playing through seasons, so the new features in the Development Lab will work for me, correct?

03-26-2025, 02:07 PM	#7
Larryk007 All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2022 Posts: 503	Again, thank you for your answers and time you spend here. This forum has some truly wonderful helpful people!!!

04-17-2025, 05:09 PM	#11
highandoutside All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 683	Dumb question but here it goes: I imported my fictional league to ootp 26. It is now the day before opening day. Before spring training I had set the league totals to 2024 which had the effect of changing some of my imported modifiers (they all went to 1.000). There are 16 teams in my league and I’d like the offensive environment to be the same as modern day baseball. Do I now click autocalc to calibrate everything to 2024, or should I leave it alone? Does it matter that the league totals seem based on 30 teams and I only have 16? Thanks!

04-17-2025, 05:25 PM	#12
Brad K Banned Join Date: May 2016 Location: St Petersburg Florida USA Posts: 6,693 Infractions: 0/2 (4)	From the wiki https://wiki.ootpdevelopments.com/in...Totals_Options Use Pre-Calculated Modifiers ... In a non-replay league with historical players but talent that varies from historical, player output will be closer to what would be expected by their ratings while overall league totals will not be as close. Talent among the high use players varies in such leagues for many reasons. Some are non historical starting lineups, presence of players who retired historically but not in the save, absence of players who were injured in the save but not historically, use of three year or five year rating basis rather than one year, Development set to on, and Talent Change Randomness set to on. I realized similar information was not provided for auto calc modifiers so I added that (not live yet, approval pending).