issues with editing names.dat files

sixto · 09-26-2002, 10:22 PM

I edited the names.dat files on my PC, adding many names and changing the frequency of many names to suit me. I did this in Excel rather than notepad or wordpad.

When I try to generate a new player with those files activated, I get a crash. Both the first names and the last names file crash me because I've reverted to the original names.dat and original fnames.dat files, and been able to generate players again.

What could be the problem? Is a tab, instead of a space, going to cause the program to crash? Excel seems to have inserted tabs in some cases in my file. Could it be that apostrophes set it off? I may have added an apostrophe to the last names, though I doubt I did to the first names.

Can the files be too long? There were spaces in the file I had been using, I took them out - does the game need the spaces for some reason? I can't believe I've typed this much on this issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

-6

Steve Kuffrey · 09-26-2002, 11:51 PM

My guess is that making the changes in excel may have changed the format since I assume you "saved" the changes. I have made changes with "notepad" and had no issues.

Killebrew · 09-27-2002, 02:47 AM

Yeah, don't edit a text file in excel, that is definately the problem here.

sixto · 09-27-2002, 03:59 PM

yeah, i did it in excel because i could sort the frequencies and it made it easier to fix some of the issues, like having a frequency of 84 on names like thomas and william. i swear every 4th player in my league is named thomas or william. anyway, i searched for and deleted all tab characters in my fnames.dat file and fixed that, but my last name file still has a problem hidden in it somewhere.

Killebrew · 09-27-2002, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sixto
yeah, i did it in excel because i could sort the frequencies and it made it easier to fix some of the issues, like having a frequency of 84 on names like thomas and william. i swear every 4th player in my league is named thomas or william. anyway, i searched for and deleted all tab characters in my fnames.dat file and fixed that, but my last name file still has a problem hidden in it somewhere.

Are you saving it as an ascii text file with no trailing spaces?

sixto · 09-27-2002, 06:15 PM

not sure. i mean, i'm saving it as a text file, but i think sometimes microsoft products do what they want to do. i will check for the trailing spaces. those will crash me?

6

sixto · 09-28-2002, 10:39 AM

ya....40,000 names and there was *one* trailing space that caused a crash. got it up and running now. thanks killebrew!

Killebrew · 09-28-2002, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sixto
ya....40,000 names and there was *one* trailing space that caused a crash. got it up and running now. thanks killebrew!

Arg! Frustrating, but good news Sixto

. Thx for the update - that might help others in your same situation.

Sam Delulie · 09-29-2002, 10:23 PM

How edit names.dat files and how many are there?

Scott Vibert · 09-29-2002, 10:29 PM

You edit the names.dat, fnames.dat, lafnames.dat, lanames.dat, afnames.dat, anames.dat with any standard notepad/wordpad type application. Make sure you maintain the same format for each line. (You can add lines.. just don't add extra spaces, etc.)

These files contain the names used by the game. The names.dat files contain the last names for the various ethnic groups. (names.dat = English; lanames.dat = Latin American; anames.dat = Japanese/Asian (I believe the names are almost all Japanese)

The fnames .dat files contain the first names for the various ethnic groups. (see above).

There are 6 files total.

Hope this helps.

Sam Delulie · 09-29-2002, 10:38 PM

How do you take out the japanese names because I just want the white people for my league OOOTP generates way too many hispanics.

Scott Vibert · 09-29-2002, 11:27 PM

Copy the data from the English name files over the data Japanese name files. This will give you all English names. (Note the English names aren't race specific..) You can not adjust the frequency of origin for the players in fictional leagues... but by filling the Asian or Latin American name files with the English names you will eliminate the names existence in your game.

couriers · 06-22-2003, 10:36 AM

Bump with a question:

I was told not to edit DAT files with a text editor but instead to go out and find a good hex editor instead. This thread states otherwise in reference to the name files. What is the final consensus on this issue? I also want to edit my Manager.dat file in order to change the location of where my manager.bmp is located.

Thanks.

EDIT: Never mind. I found a really good thread on the subject. Any advice is still welcome though.

couriers · 06-22-2003, 11:30 PM

If anyone could verify the following it would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

If any of the 6 main name files are edited using Notepad should the extra character rules be applied? Meaning, if I don’t want certain names included and want to delete them from the original files is that ok or will it cause problems? If some of the names are shortened like Johnny to John or vise-versa is that ok or will that cause problems? Finally, If I want to add names to the file is that ok and if so are there any major rules that should be followed like inputting only a certain amount of characters as a maximum for each line? Also, If I am able to add names should they be alphabetized or simply added starting at the end of the current file?

Last two questions I hope:

The default names are entered with all capital letters but some of the additional names from various sources have been added in with only the first letter capitalized. Does this make a difference or does either method work?

The frequency factor does not appear to be a percentage or at least not in the typical 1-100 scale. How does this work exactly?

Thanks again.

Treches · 06-23-2003, 08:43 AM

I created the latin files like this:

1.- Wrote all the names down in Word (each of them in a different paragraph) to take advantage of the sorting feature.

2.- Copied and pasted them into Editpad (similar to Notepad).

3.- The one thing you have be sure of, is keeping the symbol that's at the end of the file.

If I remember correctly, caps or not, the game will capitalize the first letter only. There's no extra character rules, but be wary of long names (best to keep them at 12 or 13 characters max, if I recall) to avoid overlapping in some screens (leaders and such). Don't remember about frequency.

There're some things that won't work, though:

a) Tildes and dots.
b) Names like DE LOS SANTOS will show up as Delossantos, McKNIGHT will show up as Mcknight.
c) Middles names. Bobby J will show up as Bobbyj.

Mind all that is regarding the names files. There are other dat. files that contain code and I haven't messed around with them, so I don't know how they are supposed to work.

couriers · 06-23-2003, 01:55 PM

Thank you very much. This should help with my confidence in working with these files.

If anyone can comment of the frequency factor that would be great.

Thanks again.

kq76 · 07-17-2003, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by couriers
If anyone can comment of the frequency factor that would be great.

I think it just divides that frequency by the total of all the frequencies to get a %.

couriers · 07-17-2003, 10:37 AM

Jamey responded to a PM that I had sent him on this issue. Here is what he had to say:

"i got the frequency by using information from the United States Population Bureau. The most frequent last name is Smith, which makes up 1% of the population of the US. So, since there is about 100,000 names in my file, i made the frequency of Smith 1000, which is 1% of 100,000. So, hopefully, 1% of American players generated in the game will have the last name of Smith. I did that for the other more frequent last names, for the not-so common ones, i just made it 1."

kq76 · 07-17-2003, 10:53 AM

I posted the site before, but I'll post it again for those that didn't see it: http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/

I assume Jamey saw that link previously and worked off of it. It's basically how OOTP does it too, but they're more precise in their frequencies. OOTP of course does not give as many different names as Jamey does though.

couriers · 07-17-2003, 11:33 AM

The difference in the original OOTP frequencies compared to the ones used by Jamey is what had originally sparked my curiosity on this issue. After hearing his explanation regarding the increased number of names that were included the concept of the frequency numbers completely made sense. I felt kind of stupid for not figuring it out on my own. O'well.

09-26-2002, 10:22 PM	#1
sixto Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,262	issues with editing names.dat files I edited the names.dat files on my PC, adding many names and changing the frequency of many names to suit me. I did this in Excel rather than notepad or wordpad. When I try to generate a new player with those files activated, I get a crash. Both the first names and the last names file crash me because I've reverted to the original names.dat and original fnames.dat files, and been able to generate players again. What could be the problem? Is a tab, instead of a space, going to cause the program to crash? Excel seems to have inserted tabs in some cases in my file. Could it be that apostrophes set it off? I may have added an apostrophe to the last names, though I doubt I did to the first names. Can the files be too long? There were spaces in the file I had been using, I took them out - does the game need the spaces for some reason? I can't believe I've typed this much on this issue. Any help would be appreciated. -6

09-26-2002, 11:51 PM	#2
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,023	My guess is that making the changes in excel may have changed the format since I assume you "saved" the changes. I have made changes with "notepad" and had no issues. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

06-22-2003, 10:36 AM	#13
couriers All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale Fla Posts: 932	Bump with a question: I was told not to edit DAT files with a text editor but instead to go out and find a good hex editor instead. This thread states otherwise in reference to the name files. What is the final consensus on this issue? I also want to edit my Manager.dat file in order to change the location of where my manager.bmp is located. Thanks. EDIT: Never mind. I found a really good thread on the subject. Any advice is still welcome though. Last edited by couriers; 06-22-2003 at 10:45 AM.

06-22-2003, 11:30 PM	#14
couriers All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale Fla Posts: 932	If anyone could verify the following it would be highly appreciated. Thanks. If any of the 6 main name files are edited using Notepad should the extra character rules be applied? Meaning, if I don’t want certain names included and want to delete them from the original files is that ok or will it cause problems? If some of the names are shortened like Johnny to John or vise-versa is that ok or will that cause problems? Finally, If I want to add names to the file is that ok and if so are there any major rules that should be followed like inputting only a certain amount of characters as a maximum for each line? Also, If I am able to add names should they be alphabetized or simply added starting at the end of the current file? Last two questions I hope: The default names are entered with all capital letters but some of the additional names from various sources have been added in with only the first letter capitalized. Does this make a difference or does either method work? The frequency factor does not appear to be a percentage or at least not in the typical 1-100 scale. How does this work exactly? Thanks again. Last edited by couriers; 06-23-2003 at 12:38 AM.

06-23-2003, 08:43 AM	#15
Treches Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Damned Hell Posts: 2,150	I created the latin files like this: 1.- Wrote all the names down in Word (each of them in a different paragraph) to take advantage of the sorting feature. 2.- Copied and pasted them into Editpad (similar to Notepad). 3.- The one thing you have be sure of, is keeping the symbol that's at the end of the file. If I remember correctly, caps or not, the game will capitalize the first letter only. There's no extra character rules, but be wary of long names (best to keep them at 12 or 13 characters max, if I recall) to avoid overlapping in some screens (leaders and such). Don't remember about frequency. There're some things that won't work, though: a) Tildes and dots. b) Names like DE LOS SANTOS will show up as Delossantos, McKNIGHT will show up as Mcknight. c) Middles names. Bobby J will show up as Bobbyj. Mind all that is regarding the names files. There are other dat. files that contain code and I haven't messed around with them, so I don't know how they are supposed to work. __________________ The Computer Baseball League

09-27-2002, 02:47 AM	#3
Killebrew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 3,326	Yeah, don't edit a text file in excel, that is definately the problem here.

09-27-2002, 03:59 PM	#4
sixto Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,262	yeah, i did it in excel because i could sort the frequencies and it made it easier to fix some of the issues, like having a frequency of 84 on names like thomas and william. i swear every 4th player in my league is named thomas or william. anyway, i searched for and deleted all tab characters in my fnames.dat file and fixed that, but my last name file still has a problem hidden in it somewhere.

09-27-2002, 06:15 PM	#6
sixto Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,262	not sure. i mean, i'm saving it as a text file, but i think sometimes microsoft products do what they want to do. i will check for the trailing spaces. those will crash me? 6

09-28-2002, 10:39 AM	#7
sixto Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,262	ya....40,000 names and there was one trailing space that caused a crash. got it up and running now. thanks killebrew!

09-29-2002, 10:23 PM	#9
Sam Delulie Bat Boy Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Natal, TA Posts: 4	How edit names.dat files and how many are there?

09-29-2002, 10:29 PM	#10
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,208	You edit the names.dat, fnames.dat, lafnames.dat, lanames.dat, afnames.dat, anames.dat with any standard notepad/wordpad type application. Make sure you maintain the same format for each line. (You can add lines.. just don't add extra spaces, etc.) These files contain the names used by the game. The names.dat files contain the last names for the various ethnic groups. (names.dat = English; lanames.dat = Latin American; anames.dat = Japanese/Asian (I believe the names are almost all Japanese) The fnames .dat files contain the first names for the various ethnic groups. (see above). There are 6 files total. Hope this helps.

09-29-2002, 10:38 PM	#11
Sam Delulie Bat Boy Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Natal, TA Posts: 4	How do you take out the japanese names because I just want the white people for my league OOOTP generates way too many hispanics.

09-29-2002, 11:27 PM	#12
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,208	Copy the data from the English name files over the data Japanese name files. This will give you all English names. (Note the English names aren't race specific..) You can not adjust the frequency of origin for the players in fictional leagues... but by filling the Asian or Latin American name files with the English names you will eliminate the names existence in your game.

06-23-2003, 01:55 PM	#16
couriers All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale Fla Posts: 932	Thank you very much. This should help with my confidence in working with these files. If anyone can comment of the frequency factor that would be great. Thanks again.

07-17-2003, 10:37 AM	#18
couriers All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale Fla Posts: 932	Jamey responded to a PM that I had sent him on this issue. Here is what he had to say: "i got the frequency by using information from the United States Population Bureau. The most frequent last name is Smith, which makes up 1% of the population of the US. So, since there is about 100,000 names in my file, i made the frequency of Smith 1000, which is 1% of 100,000. So, hopefully, 1% of American players generated in the game will have the last name of Smith. I did that for the other more frequent last names, for the not-so common ones, i just made it 1."

07-17-2003, 10:53 AM	#19
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 11,758	I posted the site before, but I'll post it again for those that didn't see it: http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/ I assume Jamey saw that link previously and worked off of it. It's basically how OOTP does it too, but they're more precise in their frequencies. OOTP of course does not give as many different names as Jamey does though. __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project)

07-17-2003, 11:33 AM	#20
couriers All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale Fla Posts: 932	The difference in the original OOTP frequencies compared to the ones used by Jamey is what had originally sparked my curiosity on this issue. After hearing his explanation regarding the increased number of names that were included the concept of the frequency numbers completely made sense. I felt kind of stupid for not figuring it out on my own. O'well.