I believe I figured out a way to make an ethnically evolving world (with a coexisting Negro League)

[cephasjames]

So, I have been trying to figure out a way where I could start a world in 1871 with 'historic' names and all caucasian players and have it evolve into the modern world with 'modern' names and a variety of ethnicities. The problem is when you create a world whatever nations.txt you use is all that you get... there's no changing it. So if I create a world where the U.S. has ethnicities of150 African, 10 Asian, 750 Caucasian, and so on it will stay that way for the duration of that world. Same with the language. Whether its 0 (modern US names) or 39 (historic US names). Whatever is in the nations.txt when the game is created is how it stays. So there isn't any leeway [sic?] in evolving the game world over time... as OOTP2007 is shipped.

I believe I have figured out a way (a bit of a workaround) to change that. Below is the readme to the mod I will send to PadresFan when he gets back from vacation. Check it out and see what you think.

README

The way Out of the Park Baseball 2007 is shipped there is no way to start a world using 'historical' names and a 'historically accurate' racial make-up and have it evolve into using 'modern' names with an 'accurate' modern racial make-up. This mod is designed to allow that evolution to take place.

First off, thanks for downloading this and checking it out. I hope it is helpful to you and allows you to have the type of world you are wanting have. It has been fun working on it and seeing the good fruits it has produced. This readme should explain what I have done and why it should work.

Incuded in this mod:
1871_ethinicities.txt
1900_ethinicities.txt
1945_ethinicities.txt
1970_ethinicities.txt
1945_first_names.txt
1945_names.txt
edited_cities.txt
edited_nations.txt
readme.txt

Export all of these into your My documents/....../data/database folder

What I hope to have created is a way to have an ever changing world with ever changing names and ethnicities. Since we cannot re-import the nations.txt after a world is created I just created alternate versions of the U.S. within one nations.txt. Each U.S. version has the exact same cities in it as the others. The only difference is in the cities.txt there are different nation codes in each city line:

Abbeville,11558,1,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12
Abbeville,11558,16,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12
Abbeville,11558,206,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12
Abbeville,11558,22,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12
Abbeville,11558,5,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12
Abbeville,11558,7,Louisiana,29.97,-92.12

This makes it so when changing from one U.S. version to another the exact same cities are used. Thus, Atlanta in U.S. 1871 is still Atlanta in U.S. 1970, with the exact same location and population and so forth.

The downside of adding these alternate U.S.s is that I had to replace existing countries to do it. So I picked countries to replace (including their cities) that I didn't feel would be missed by the baseball world. Also, your scouts may find a hidden gem in the foreign country of the 1900 United States . Here are the switches that I made in the nations.txt:

U.S. 1871 - all caucasian; historic names; english
1,The United States 1,U.S.A.,USA,American,4,5,39,100,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1 000,0,0
replaces
1,Afghanistan,Afghanistan,AFG,Afghan,2,0,17,100,0, 0,0,0,0,0,0,180,0,820,0

U.S. 1900 - mostly caucasian; a little hispanic; historic names; english; spanish
5,The United States 5,U.S.A.,USA,American,4,5,39,95,1,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,97 5,0,25
replaces
5,Andorra,Andorra,AND,Andorran,3,0,1,70,8,20,5,10, 0,0,0,0,170,0,830

U.S. 1945 - mostly caucasian; more hispanic; a little african; modern names; english; spanish
7,The United States 7,U.S.A.,USA,American,4,5,0,95,1,5,0,0,0,0,25,0,90 0,0,75
replaces
7,Anguilla,Anguilla,AIA,Anguillan,4,0,20,100,0,0,0 ,0,0,0,940,0,60,0,0

U.S. 1970 - mostly caucasian; more hispanic; more african; modern names; english; spanish
16,The United States 16,U.S.A.,USA,American,4,5,0,85,1,15,0,0,0,0,150,0 ,750,0,100
replaces
16,Bahrain,Bahrain,BHR,Bahraini,2,0,17,85,20,15,0, 0,0,0,50,0,0,950,0

U.S. Negro League - all african; historic names; english
22,The United States 22,U.S.A.,USA,American,4,5,39,100,0,0,0,0,0,0,1000 ,0,0,0,0
replaces
22,Benin,Benin,BEN,Beninian,1,0,19,100,0,0,0,0,0,0 ,990,0,10,0,0


HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

Say you want to create a world in 1871.

Before you do anything BACKUP the original nations.txt, cities.txt and ethinicities.txt. Maybe just rename them ORIGINAL_xxxx.txt.

Then rename the edited_nations.txt to nations.txt, the edited_cities.txt to cities.tx and the 1871_ethnicities.txt to ethnicities.txt. This way when your world is created the game will use these during creation.

Start the world creation process. When you create your world you will want to make sure you have the correct version of the U.S. I added a number to all of these for ease of finding them. It doesn't show up in the player screens (only when exloring the world or lookig at the national profile).

The United States - U.S. Modern
The United States 1 - U.S. 1871
The United States 5 - U.S. 1900
The United States 7 - U.S. 1945
The United States 16 - U.S. 1970
The United States 22 - U.S. Negro League

So when you create your world pick The United States 1. Make sure you have all of the other settings the way you want them and start the game.

Play your world.

As your world moves on to 1900 it is time to change to a new U.S. and a new ethinicities.txt.

First, in your database folder rename your ethnicities.txt back to 1871 ethnicities.txt. Then rename the 1900_ethnicities.txt to ethnicities.txt.

Then in the 'Game' drop-down menu, go to 'Game Setup.' This will take you to the Game Setup where the first screen you see is 'Global Setup.' At the bottom of this screen there is a button labelled 'Re-Import Name & Ethnicity Database.' Click this and it will import your new ethinicities.txt (previously known as 1900_ethnicities).

After that go to 'League Setup.' In the structure tab change the League Nation to United States 5.

Now when the new players are created they will be created using the 1900 ethnicities with the exact same cities.

Repeat these steps every time you wish to change the ethnicities.

For 1945 there is the option of having the United States 7 use either Modern names (which is what they use by default - my default) or you can use the 1945_names.txt and 1945_first_names.txt. With these two .txt files I have removed all of the 'modern' names from the O Language ID and replaced them with the 'historic' names that have been previously used.

If you choose to use the historic version of names for 1945 make sure to BACKUP the first_names.txt and names.txt. Then rename the 1945_first_names.txt to first_names.txt and the 1945_names.txt to names.txt. Then when you click the 'Re-import Name & Ethnicities Database' button you could have 'historic' names for both The United States 7 and The United States 22.

NEGRO LEAGUE:

I also made it possible to create a Negro League that can run right along side the other leagues. When creating the Negro League make sure you are using the 1945_ethnicity and the second down U.S. The 1945 U.S. uses the language 0 ID, while the Negro League uses the language 39 ID, therefore they don't conflict with each other. It's not perfect but it allows coexistance. The biggest drawback to this is the Negro League is considered to be part of different country.


"ISSUES":

When you make a transition from one version of the U.S. to another you are officially changing the League Nation for the league. Any player that was created in the previous nation officially becomes a foreigner, though it only appears that way when looking at the Nation List. For leagues that do not allow foreigners and have free agency, when a 'foreign' player becomes a free agent he may not be able to resign into the league. I honestly don't know how this will be handled.


DISCLAIMER:

The ethnicity settings in the xxxx_ethinicities.txt are all a figment of my imagination. They are not based off of real statistics whatsoever. I used what I thought would be ideal for my world and now I am sharing them with you. Tweak away all you want.


END NOTES:

I truly hope this works for you the way you want it to and that it adds to you enjoyment of such a fantastic game. Like most mods there is a little bit of work to makes this successfully do what its supposed to, but I believe the work is well worth it. That is why I am sharing this with you.

Thanks to Neags23 for turning me onto a program (TextPad) that made this a quick and easy task.

Enjoy

cephasjames

I have a bit more testing to do (though not much) but it seems like all is working as planned.

[CHCfan]

at first glance . . . this looks VERY interesting. Now for a second glance . . . (it's so confusing to me )

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by CHCfan

at first glance . . . this looks VERY interesting. Now for a second glance . . . (it's so confusing to me )

It took me a bit to grasp it too (and I'm the one that made it )

EDIT: My wife also tells me that I often use 30 words when 5 would suffice. So, on par with my usual wordiness tacked onto my desire to be clear, I may have muddied the water with words.

[CHCfan]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

It took me a bit to grasp it too (and I'm the one that made it )

EDIT: My wife also tells me that I often use 30 words when 5 would suffice. So, on par with my usual wordiness tacked onto my desire to be clear, I may have muddied the water with words.

lol, the words are actually pretty clear. It's all those damn numbers working in the background that muddies the water, so to speak.

[cephasjames]

Oh, and for whomever reads this... I need a good catchy name for this. "Ethnically evolving world (with a coexisting Negro League)" Just doesn't seem to cut it.

[ashantewarrier]

Excellent...this is the very thing that I have been working on for my historical fictional league that I have been playing. I have been testing fictional.txt files and have not been able to acheive the results that I want. Good work!

[ashantewarrier]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Oh, and for whomever reads this... I need a good catchy name for this. "Ethnically evolving world (with a coexisting Negro League)" Just doesn't seem to cut it.

By the way can I get a copy of this mod via e-mail? Padre is on vacation and I would love to check it out!!!! BTW- "Progressive baseball world file" for the mod name!

[CHCfan]

i hate the yankees, but i love that avatar

[ashantewarrier]

Originally Posted by CHCfan

i hate the yankees, but i love that avatar

HEY THATS MY SON!!!!!!


...................thanks!

BTW- I'm from the NYC born and bred. I go back with the Yankees since Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Nettles.....stc.

[Raidergoo]

You don't have to replace existing nations. You cant make new ones, and assign new country numbers, say, with nation #229. That's how I made Montenegro and the DR of Congo when they became independent states last year.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

You don't have to replace existing nations. You cant make new ones, and assign new country numbers, say, with nation #229. That's how I made Montenegro and the DR of Congo when they became independent states last year.

Really? I thought we were limited to the number that was there. Oh well. It's pretty easy to change if I want to... but will the world of baseball really miss Bahrain? I think not.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Really? I thought we were limited to the number that was there. Oh well. It's pretty easy to change if I want to... but will the world of baseball really miss Bahrain? I think not.

Nations are not limited in number. Name sets are.

Your Arabian Gulf League may miss Bahrain.

[cephasjames]

As of the OP, in 'U.S. 1945' the two excisting US's ('normal' and 'negro league') were using the two US Language IDs (0 & 39). Well, 0 uses modern names while 39 uses historic names, thus forcing the 'normal' US to have modern names, while the 'negro league' US had historic names. I just created a new first_names.txt and names.txt that will allow both the 'normal' and 'negro league' to use historic names.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

Nations are not limited in number. Name sets are.

Your Arabian Gulf League may miss Bahrain.

Good to know.

[cephasjames]

bump to stay on page one

[ashantewarrier]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

bump to stay on page one

Hey C,

As you already know that the nations.txt file can have more than 229 nations. Considering this is there a way you can add back those nations you removed (Bahrain, etc.) along with cities in your mod? Thanks!

[Neags23]

I got a blurb in a mod!

Glad the program worked well for you!

[ashantewarrier]

Originally Posted by Neags23

I got a blurb in a mod!

Glad the program worked well for you!

???

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by CHCfan

at first glance . . . this looks VERY interesting. Now for a second glance . . . (it's so confusing to me )

I agree...with both glances. I will print the "read me" out and study it tonight with a Guinness...

It's a great idea, though! Thanks for all the hard work!

I'm enjoying the game but having some trouble getting my head 'round the ways it can be modded to reflect historical realities and create leagues for this nation or that.

Last night I created a Haitian League, but the ethnic results were not accurate at all.

[dcpcarmona]

I will be watching...

dcc

btw, very cute baby. I hate the Yankees too!