Road to Release 12: Three "Mystery" Features!

[battists]

Road to Release 12: Three "Mystery Features"
OOTP is FULL of features and options, to the point where some users discover interesting features several versions after they are released. (I've been doing this with Microsoft Word for about 10 years now.) Even some veteran OOTPers are surprised to learn about certain features that they weren't aware of. Today, we'll talk a bit about three "mystery features." That is, features that we feel don't get a lot of press, but bring a lot of value to our customers. But first, a quick update on some reviews and blogs that are already talking about OOTP 11!

Reviews and Blogs
We handed out copies of OOTP to a number of baseball bloggers to do one-season MLB predictions using OOTP 11. Later on we'll be doing something to publicize the overall results of those individual predictions. For now, bloggers have already started posting some articles about OOTP! Come check them out!

OOTP 11 on Cincinnati Reds blog on FanHuddle
OOTP 11 on "Rise of the Rays" blog
OOTP 11 on Braves-Nation.com

In addition, "review season" has started, with Braves-Nation.com also getting the distinction of the first OOTP 11 review published:

Review of OOTP 11 on Braves-Nation.com

As always, please let us know if you learn about OOTP getting mentioned somewhere! OK, on to the rest of the Road to Release!

Replay
OK, the first in our list of "mystery features" is "Replay". Every now and then I hear people mentioning they'd like the ability to "just watch" a game. In OOTP, you can actually "record" as many games as you like, and watch them again later! In the Global Setup page, you can select the games for which you would like to save replay files:



Any time you have recorded a replay, if you look at that game in the schedule once it's completed, you will have an option of replaying that game:



When you watch a replay, it behaves very similarly to playing out the game in "broadcast" mode, but of course you have no control over what the teams do.



This is an especially cool feature for online leagues to add, since it means online GMs can actually "watch" their own games, or the league can have a single "broadcast of the week," or just save replays from playoff games!

Almanac
The Almanac has been around for a while, but there are still a number of OOTPers who are confounded by it, so I'll try to explain it a little better!

Information in OOTP is loosely divided into "current-year" reports (like the Team Home) and "historical reports" (like the League History page). At the end of each season, key statistical data is swept from the current reports into history. However, as you start the next season, the current-year reports start over from scratch.

To put it another way, let's say your team produces a "yearbook" at the end of each season that has ALL of the information from the just-completed season. In addition, at each game you can buy a program. As the new season starts, all of the programs handed out at the stadium have up-to-date statistics for all of the players, including last year's statistics, but the rest of the information is about the NEW season. To see exactly what things were like LAST season, you'd need to get out your yearbook.

With OOTP's default settings, each year you get the programs automatically. With the Almanac, you can keep copies of the yearbooks from each season too!

The Almanac process typically runs on Dec 31st of each season when enabled, and it's also customizable!



You can customize which reports get archived each year, and you can also use the Almanac to automatically export data, if you need it for third-party utilities.

As much fun as it is to have access to all of the Almanac data, these things take a toll on the performance of the game and the size of your league files. Saving this data each season results in thousands upon thousands of files being stored on your computer, and so by default the Almanac is not enabled.

Adding Intro Music for Players
You've probably heard songs at the ballpark played as the player walks up to bat. These music clips are called "player walk-up music" or "player intros". With OOTP, it's very easy to create your own customized intros. That's right, you can create custom walk-up music for every player on your team if you wish! Here's all you have to do:

1. Start with OOTP closed.
2. Create the desired sound in .wav format, and place it in your \data\sound directory.
3. Name your .wav file "firstname-space-lastname".wav, without the quotes and dashes. Example: John Smith.wav (Windows doesn't care, but Mac and Linux are case-sensitive, so it's safest to capitalize appropriately!)
4. Start OOTP. Now, whenever the player comes to bat, you'll hear his favorite walk-up music just as in real life!

You may have to play around a bit to find the best recording settings for your files, but in general, sound clips should be between 7-10 seconds long and set to a volume level of 50%. If the clips are too long, depending on what happens, it could overlap into the next player's at-bat.

Incidentally, this works in OOTP 10 too!

Preorder now!
Well, if you haven't bought your copy of OOTP 11 yet, you've missed your chance at a discount. But, you still have an opportunity to get the game two days before the rest of the world! Preorder OOTP 11 now for $39.99, and you will get the game on April 12th instead of the public release date of April 14th! Preorder now for Windows/Mac or for Linux!

Click here for more information about OOTP 11!

Previous Road to Release Articles
If you missed one of the previous RTR articles, here are some quick links for you:

• Road to Release 1: The Interface Tutorial
• Road to Release 2: Player Comparison, Manager Notes, and Single Game Records
• Road to Release 3: Drafting realism like you've never seen before!
• Road to Release 4: Making History with OOTP 11
• Road to Release 5: New Skin, Operation Sports Preview, and a Few More Tidbits
• Road to Release 6: A Trip into History
• Road to Release 7: A Cornucopia of New Features
• Road to Release 8: Try the Online Challenge!
• Road to Release 9: Putting the "Fantasy" back in "Fantasy Baseball"! (April Fools!)
• Road to Release 10: OOTP 11 to be Released on April 12th/14th!
• Road to Release 11: Three Skins!

[Sweed]

Don't know that I'll ever use it but the player walk-up music is something I didn't know about.

[Malleus Dei]

Player walk-up music? What a waste of time and resources that could have been spent on something actually useful - like an undo/confirm button.

[wspahn21]

player walk-up music!

[TNCubsFan]

Do teams still sign the 17yo "discovered" prospect to a Major League contract, then immediately put them on waivers?

Much rather have that fixed instead of walk up music.

[wspahn21]

Maybe they should have just kept player walk-up music to themselves. They are taking an early beating on this "feature"....

I was hoping for baseball card screenshots in this RTR so that I can know they really made it in.

[BMD]

While I might never try the feature, FTR I think player walk-up music is a nice touch. It is one more way to make your team your own, and gives a little more personality to players, particularly in a fictional league.

[Dark Horse]

Will the walk up music work when using replay?

[nwohio_cubsfan]

Love the idea of walkup music for players!

Although I'm a Cubs fan, loved when I saw the Brewers and Cubs play up at Miller Park, OF Frank Catalanotto coming up to the plate with "Your Love" by the Outfield. Classic, classic.
Going to love playing around with this option in the game. Just adds something a little different.

[trapper]

It says that walkup music was already there in OOTP10. So it isn't as if any time was spent on it this year. And also it really doesn't take too much programming time or difficulty to get a program to play a wav file. It's a pretty simple command.

[Tony M]

Originally Posted by trapper

It says that walkup music was already there in OOTP10.

But that's a fact, and facts have no place in a rant justification

[Go Tribe]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

Player walk-up music? What a waste of time and resources that could have been spent on something actually useful - like an undo/confirm button.

yeah and since it works in ootp10 they wasted that time and those resources LAST year

nice try

[Go Tribe]

that being said, how is the almanac a mystery feature?

[battists]

Originally Posted by Go Tribe

that being said, how is the almanac a mystery feature?

Not quite sure myself, but I'm always surprised at the number of questions we get about it that seem to indicate people didn't know about it, or what it was for.

[Go Tribe]

Originally Posted by battists

Not quite sure myself, but I'm always surprised at the number of questions we get about it that seem to indicate people didn't know about it, or what it was for.

we use it to predict the weather and crops right???

[BaseballMan]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

Player walk-up music? What a waste of time and resources that could have been spent on something actually useful - like an undo/confirm button.

oh yeah well tell that to the Mitch Willaim fans who have waited 10 years for this awesome feature. Just imagine the experience of actually hearing "Wild Thing" when Willaims comes in from the bullpen. Its the total baseball experience.

[eriqjaffe]

Originally Posted by BaseballMan

oh yeah well tell that to the Mitch Willaim fans who have waited 10 years for this awesome feature. Just imagine the experience of actually hearing "Wild Thing" when Willaims comes in from the bullpen. Its the total baseball experience.

...except that it's for when players come up to bat.

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by Go Tribe

that being said, how is the almanac a mystery feature?

Or the replay feature. Wasn't that around in v10? If so, you can tell how much I used it.

[struggles_mightily]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

Player walk-up music? What a waste of time and resources that could have been spent on something actually useful - like an undo/confirm button.

Dumb, dumb, dumb argument. (And I know that other people have made it, but this was the first.)

The code which is required to add walk-up music would probably consist in about two lines: opening a sound file; closing a sound file. The "waste of time and resources" is infinitesimal.

By all means agitate for additions that you would like (and undo/confirm is a good choice), but beating the development team over the head with their decision to include small, cosmetic features as though these things are somehow related is both obnoxious and ignorant.

[TNCubsFan]

Originally Posted by struggles_mightily

By all means agitate for additions that you would like (and undo/confirm is a good choice), but beating the development team over the head with their decision to include small, cosmetic features as though these things are somehow related is both obnoxious and ignorant.

IMO it is neither "obnoxious or ignorant" to express an opinion. Especially when those opinions have been shared multiple times and have been ignored. This is the first version since 3 that I have not pre-ordered, and will not be ordering.

Legacy issues not being fixed has finally stopped me from enjoying playing OOTP. I know the eye candy is important to new customers, but fixing the big WTF items should be the priority. There have been to many excellent members of this board that have left because of issues like this.

No you cant please everyone. Trying to only leaves everyone dissatisfied. However the big atomic cockroaches should be the target. Not walk -up music.