Getting ready to make history

[rasnell]

As release day approaches, I hope this is helpful to new fans of OOTP, especially those looking for a historical sim.

Remember that OOTP 2007 ships with fictional players and its own database, but third-party developers have created all kinds of rosters and updates, including arod/garlon, gambo, cubby fan, and more.

Here's the standard file that you'll want to start with and download for your own use in OOTP 2007. It was created by Sean Lahman and friends and includes the complete statistical history of any player who ever played in the majors.

http://baseball1.com/statistics/

You need to download Lahman 5.4 comma-delimited version. Save this so it will be simple to find when you import it from OOTP 2007. The easiest is to create a folder in your C: drive called stats and copy everything into there.

You're now ready to play any year in baseball history with this database and to import the real history and real stats to your league history and each player card or profile.

Start OOTP 2007 and click New Game. The new league wizard will pop up and you can follow the easy steps. You can also go to advanced mode and jump right to all of the huge list of possible settings. That might be intimidating for the first-timer, but it's also the fun of starting new leagues over and over again to test all the variety that this game offers.

To keep this simple, here are the basic settings that I would use to get into this game quickly, not be challenged by all the messages and decisions when using coaches and scouts, and just get a basic understanding of the game.

Step One: Open OOTP 2007 and choose New Game.

2. League Wizard pops up. Select Create Historical League.

3. First link asks you to Select Path to database. Click on this and browse to where you put that folder (c/stats). Click on the master.csv file. This is the index to everything in that folder and what the game needs to find its way.

4. Season year. Type in the year that you want this real historical league to begin. I like the 70s because that was my boyhood era for the Big Red Machine. Remember that the Lahman database gets kind of incomplete for data before 1901 and only goes through 2006 so make sure you choose between those years.

5. Import complete history: This is a wonderful new feature that brings in all of the career stats, leaderboards, playoff champions and more from the entire history of the Lahman database. If you want everything that ever happened before your starting season, click the box. If you started in 1970, it will take a long time to import everything back to 1901, but it's worth the wait.

6. Leave all other settings at default and click Next Step in the lower right.

7. The next screen shows you the exact team names and division settings. Click next step.

8. Step 3 asks for what levels of minors you want. This is important for future play and to really get into the details of player development and progression. However, for this first-time sim, it's much easier to learn the game if you allow the reserve roster to function by default and not mess with all of the management and roster moves.

9. Step 4. Also leave all these settings as marked by the wizard. You'll get automatic expansion when the new teams really arrived in history and the player recalc is set to three years by default. Player recalc is the most significant advancement in OOTP 2007 in my opinion as a long-time historical simmer. It looks at the real stats of each player and pulls them back into line if the sim departs too much from normal. What this means is that it's unlikely that anyone will top 61 HR until after 1961 when Maris did it; it will be rare for a .400 hitter in the modern era; players will change positions and pitching roles somewhat close to the real thing because of this. In beta testing, we got repeated, reliable results for season leaders and the career leaderboards looked very realistic. Obviously, each time you sim, an alternate universe will happen. JR Richard won't suffer a stroke in his prime and could become a very dominant pitcher; Lou Gehrig won't have his career shortened; Cal Ripken might actually suffer a career-ending injury; etc. Player recalc does not work when a player sims beyond his real career; that's when the game's player development code takes over and makes random decisions based on that player's age, ratings, etc. to allow the career to continue. This helps for players like JR Richard or when Ted Williams serves in WWII and has no stats.

10. Step 5 of the wizard. This is where you can choose to turn FaceGen on. This is a remarkable new feature and much more than eye candy. It's extremely valuable for fictional players because you can actually begin to identify with them from their individual portraits. In historical play, you will find on the boards the option to download all of the real player pictures in history and bring that into your game without ever needing FaceGen. But for this first-time sim, let's leave the default setting of FaceGen off for a historical league and not worry about importing real photos. Click next step.

11. Step 6 of 6 in the wizard. Name yourself as the human manager. Select the team that you want to control. Do not go into commissioner mode. (This is an advanced option for future use that allows you to make any change you want, including stadiums, editing players, and more). You can name your game, but leave the year alone. Click next step.

You could start right now, but I want to take you to the advanced mode of game setup and tinker with a few more settings. By the way, you're on the new home page for your human manager. Look at all the links and easy ways to find your way around the game from this critical page. Remember this. You can get to it from the menu at the top as manager home page or by clicking the far left icon at the bottom, the manager home icon.

[rasnell]

OK, here are the final tinkers in advanced mode. You get there by going to the Game menu and choosing Game Setup at the top menu.

See how the "Global Setup" tab is highlighted. Unclick the check marks in coaches and scouts. I want to turn these off. These great features add tremendous depth to your game, but it also adds lots of complexity, variability, and a learning curve. Try these later when you're more comfortable with the basics of the game. One important note to remember: SISA scouting reports are accurate for every team when scouts are turned off; they are unreliable (on purpose) when scouts are turned on, forcing you to depend on the varied opinions of your scouts instead of one master league news report that SISA represents.

Under injuries, turn them OFF. I don't want you to have to fuss with roster moves and adjustments because of injuries. However, for future use, this adds a lot of interest and variability. I would recommend low injuries and low fatigue in your future play for more realistic results. But for now, turn it OFF.

Everything else is up to your own taste on settings. You might want to keep news logs, transaction news, etc. That's a matter of personal taste. It won't slow the game down much, simply adds to the hard drive space needed, but if you've got the room, I'd change it to save it for 10 years.

Now let's just go from left to right with the tabs at the top. To the right of global setup is "player picture and options." Click that tab and look around. It's nice to see all the changes that you can make in the future. I only recommend one change for this first-time basic sim. Click the box to delete players who don't make it to the majors. No need to save these stats because I only care about those who make The Show.

Next tab: AI options. No changes here but look at what you can tinker with in the future.

Almanac options tab: No changes. A lot to tinker with here, but beware that it takes lots and lots of time to generate the full history and depth. I'm frankly so satisfied with what history the game keeps by default that I don't even use the almanac. But it's there for you to play with in future use.

Online options tab: It's there. A whole new dimension of play. Even I have not ventured past my safe world of solo play, but some day I'd like to get into this. No changes for this basic start.

League setup tab: This jumps you to a whole new series of tabs that allow you to get into every detail about your current selected league. Take a look around and click all of the new tabs that are displayed to see just how much you can adjust.

Recognize that with recalc and financials on (by default), expansion and all the other automatic historical features, your league will progress with inflating salaries, cash, ticket prices, attendance and more. There can also be declining factors (such as after the 1929 season) based on history.

I want you to change just one setting in League Setup. Go to the Rules tab and look down the middle of the page where it says "Amateur Draft Date." I want you to change this to November 1 instead of June 15. Why? Because the game immediately pulls the player in from the Lahman database on that date in history, one season before the player actually made his debut. So, if you move the draft back to November, the offseason, the game properly pulls him in for the year he was a rookie.

Look at the extremely rich number of options you can change. That's the fun of tinkering and starting new leagues. But these are the basics that I would suggest for a fun start.

All the rest can be found in the manual and by simply tinkering. (By the way, the manual is just as deep and wonderful as the game, topping more than 400 pages, and represents two years of very hard work by Steve Battists.)

So now you're ready to begin making history with this first setup for a historical sim.

Can you do better than the real managers that you had to suffer with through your childhood? (In my case, how could I top the beloved Sparky Anderson?)

[Tycobbler]

Nicely done Rasnell

[Sunny D]

yeah great guide - might be worth getting this thread set to sticky.

Or maybe get the notes linked off the front page off the main site ?

[grandpa1001]

Wonderful job, thanx much!

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by rasnell

I want you to change just one setting in League Setup. Go to the Rules tab and look down the middle of the page where it says "Amateur Draft Date." I want you to change this to November 1 instead of June 15. Why? Because the game immediately pulls the player in from the Lahman database on that date in history, one season before the player actually made his debut. So, if you move the draft back to November, the offseason, the game properly pulls him in for the year he was a rookie.

I feel smart, I figured that trick out on my own.

Thanks for the nice guide.

[Anrhydeddu]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

I feel smart, I figured that trick out on my own.

Thanks for the nice guide.

Regarding that advice, is there the option to have the draft after FA and before Spring Training? Having historical players come in exactly the same year in real life is not important for me so I would like to see some flexibility in that.

Nicely done, thanks.

[PotatoPeeler]

This should be stickied in the Historical Leagues forum.

[jtb]

Thanks for the setup guide. This will be very useful for those new to OOTP.

[Cooker]

Originally Posted by jtb

Thanks for the setup guide. This will be very useful for those new to OOTP.

And also helpful for those of us oldtimers who (for the first time) will be trying a historical league with OOTP2007!

[kagnew35]

Stickey this truly fine tutorial. Rasnell, a great read, very helpful.

And if you really are considering an online league, look over the Realtime Baseball League thread, still 5 teams available.

[noble]

Very nice write up. this will help tons of new players and even some vets I am sure.

[statman]

WOW! Thanks, great job, without even owning the game yet I feel like I know where to start.

[rogmax11]

Terrific posts, rasnell! This thread may be better than any of the RTR posts to date.

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

Terrific posts, rasnell! This thread may be better than any of the RTR posts to date.

I agree! Fantastic posts - I'm sure my Dad and I will be playing a historical league now, just not sure whether we'll start in 1946 or 1969.

[rogmax11]

Originally Posted by Dagrims

I agree! Fantastic posts - I'm sure my Dad and I will be playing a historical league now, just not sure whether we'll start in 1946 or 1969.

How interesting Dags, those are my favorites also, assuming Im not going to slog through the deadball era.

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

How interesting Dags, those are my favorites also, assuming Im not going to slog through the deadball era.

Those are our favorites because not only are there interesting reasons to start with those seasons, they were the years my Dad and I were born, respectively.

[ctorg]

Stickied in historical.

[rogmax11]

Originally Posted by Dagrims

Those are our favorites because not only are there interesting reasons to start with those seasons, they were the years my Dad and I were born, respectively.

Your Dad and I share the birth year, and 1969 would have been a reasonable debut year for me if I'd had any talent at all; I've run a bunch of histories in which I was drafted by the Dodgers, or the Cardinals, or once even by the Yankees *shudders*. Funny thing is, even when Ive shamelessly tweaked my talents it seems I'm prone to CEIs and never amount to much.

Damn realistic simulation...

[Exodor]

Originally Posted by rasnell

Now let's just go from left to right with the tabs at the top. To the right of global setup is "player picture and options." Click that tab and look around. It's nice to see all the changes that you can make in the future. I only recommend one change for this first-time basic sim. Click the box to delete players who don't make it to the majors. No need to save these stats because I only care about those who make The Show.

Does the game still re-use Player IDs?

If it does then don't you risk players getting some other player's history in their player history when the game re-uses the ID# of a player who never made it to the big leagues?