Players "Hidden" in Search?

soxfan445 · 07-24-2006, 06:45 PM

I was just wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same phenomenon that I recently found in my 1.0.2.12660 league. I've searched the boards, and haven't found any mention of this before.

While making an unrelated search in the search bar (the area with the magnifying glass), I realized that there were a lot of foreign names that I had never seen in my league before. Strange, as this league only had 10% foreign players with mostly default settings. Upon clicking on each of the players, I realized that a lot of them were from countries that I've never seen players from before, because the talent in those countries is rated "non-existant." I seem to remember someone mentioning that the game would never create players from a "non-existant" country, so I set up a test league with 2 teams to check if this happened again, and sure enough, it did. Here are pictures to show what happens:

I search for "abdul" (just because it's a common name for the Arabic nameset, along with names containing "bin")

I get the following screen, to which I've added the nationalities of the players:

Notice that all of them except for Tunisia ("poor") have a rating of "non-existant"

I choose our Omani friend Mr. Abdul-Jalil

Notice he's not very good, but it's still a player that doesn't show up in any other area of the game. I sign Abdul-Jalil to a contract, and he shows up on my roster.

And in the "Player Search and Shortlist" area as well (note that none of the other "abduls" show up).

And now Oman has one player.

This is just bizarre to me that there are players hidden in the search area from "non-existant" countries that don't show up in any other areas of the game. In a related test, I sent a scout out to Djibouti to see if the player was a "hidden talent", and after 2 years he came up with nothing. Also, if I check off "Create and develop hidden players" when I start the league, these players do not show up. Two questions: Is this happening to anyone else, and why am I allowed to sign players from non-existant countries that only show up in the search.

Thanks for any insight people might be able to shed on this.

Chris Johnson · 11-01-2006, 06:55 PM

I can't find anybody else that seems to be having this exact problem, so I hope it is happening because we aren't doing something right. A couple of us noticed that one team was finding great players every sim that nobody else in our league was seeing. I did a massive search before our last sim (including looking at "All Players" in our league) and found nothing. Sure enough, this team found two outstanding players to sign.

We have a standard ML setup, but teams can sign international free agents. The one team in question had a very impressive roster on his player shortlist - none of whom we can find in the game except on this owner's short list. By in the game, I mean that none of the player search menus reveal this player. The only way I can find mention of them is to enter a name in the search function, and he shows up as an unsigned player. They don't show up under the "Explore the World" section or anywhere else except on this owner's short list.

Any ideas why this is happening? Thanks.

Chris Johnson · 11-01-2006, 07:19 PM

Ok, this post describes exactly what we are seeing Players "Hidden" in Search? and there appears to be no response to this issue.

Chris Johnson · 11-01-2006, 07:23 PM

Also, our league has coaches and scouts off. It appears that "hidden" players are not really hidden?

battists · 11-01-2006, 09:11 PM

Let's move these threads over to Tech Support...

battists · 11-01-2006, 09:11 PM

Moving this over to Tech Support so we can take a look...

disposableheros · 11-01-2006, 11:00 PM

i just tried searching for random non-player names in one of my online league files (Baseball Maelstrom, just because i had it open already) to confirm this and it does occur there too. some of them have better ratings than any player currently in our league.

holy loophole, batman!

Chris Johnson · 11-02-2006, 07:34 AM

This is a huge, huge problem for online leagues that I am assuming won't be fixed until the 2007 version. Is there any hope of us getting a minor patch to fix this? If there is no patch, then Commissioners will have a hard time preventing hidden players from being signed. In my league. the obvious hidden players (the ones with huge ratings) won't be difficult to spot. The marginal ones will be impossible to see, and by marginal I mean players with 50 or so overall potential.

Raidergoo · 11-02-2006, 09:15 AM

I don't recall trying to use the search function during testing in order to see if it could be exploited in such a manner. Then again, I never tried Google-assisted hacking, either.

Great.

sporr · 11-02-2006, 12:12 PM

Can you turn off the ability to sign free agents from other leagues and only turn it on when you need to manually?

Raidergoo · 11-02-2006, 08:51 PM

I can recreate this at will, in an online league that is not using scouts, and is not using "hidden" players.

I can put in a fragment of a name, and see dozens of opportunities. They are so far all crud, but I did find a 40 rated guy in 5 minutes just goofing off.

I think a determined person could loot the planet.

MadMax58 · 11-03-2006, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

I can recreate this at will, in an online league that is not using scouts, and is not using "hidden" players.

So does this mean that despite telling the game to not use hidden players, it still creates & maintains them in the background? If so, then would it necessarily be limited to online leagues?

Naturally you can house rule yourself into not using these players, but online leagues will be tough to control.

Stu · 11-03-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

I can recreate this at will, in an online league that is not using scouts, and is not using "hidden" players.

I can put in a fragment of a name, and see dozens of opportunities. They are so far all crud, but I did find a 40 rated guy in 5 minutes just goofing off.

I think a determined person could loot the planet.

FWIW, I'm not seeing this (I don't think) in my online league that is using scouts and has "hidden" players off.

Ive been searching for various names but im only seeing guys who are either on a team or on the FA list.

Subby · 11-03-2006, 01:49 PM

This is a feature, not a bug.

If you find Abu Abu-YaYa, you win a free copy of OOTPBM2009.

Raidergoo · 11-03-2006, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

FWIW, I'm not seeing this (I don't think) in my online league that is using scouts and has "hidden" players off.

Ive been searching for various names but im only seeing guys who are either on a team or on the FA list.

Try searching for Gonz, then see what happens.

Raidergoo · 11-03-2006, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subby

This is a feature, not a bug.

If you find Abu Abu-YaYa, you win a free copy of OOTPBM2009.

That's Osama bin Laden, not Abu Abu dude! If you find, you get a free copy of OOTP 2009. Of course, you also have to have America's Army on your PC to qualify.

Stu · 11-03-2006, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

Try searching for Gonz, then see what happens.

Came up with a list of 15 players. 10 are currently on a roster, 4 are listed in the Free Agent list and 1 is retired. I'm supposed to be searching in this box correct?

I really don't think my league is having this issue. Originally I thought we were, but it turns out the guys who werent FA's and on a roster were members of the upcoming Rookie Draft class.

This league was created with 1.01 if that helps.

cuervo72 · 11-03-2006, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Subby

This is a feature, not a bug.

If you find Abu Abu-YaYa, you win a free copy of OOTPBM2009.

Ok, bringing that up and unearthing that saga made my day.

Raidergoo · 11-03-2006, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

Came up with a list of 15 players. 10 are currently on a roster, 4 are listed in the Free Agent list and 1 is retired. I'm supposed to be searching in this box correct?

I really don't think my league is having this issue. Originally I thought we were, but it turns out the guys who werent FA's and on a roster were members of the upcoming Rookie Draft class.

This league was created with 1.01 if that helps.

Yes, you are exactly on target.

1.01? That is an interesting bit of news. The league I went over was built in 1.03. I guess this means that there is a remote possibility that this is a new bug created somewhere in 1.02, or 1.03.

Thanks for that little piece of the puzzle.

Stu · 11-03-2006, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

Yes, you are exactly on target.

1.01? That is an interesting bit of news. The league I went over was built in 1.03. I guess this means that there is a remote possibility that this is a new bug created somewhere in 1.02, or 1.03.

Thanks for that little piece of the puzzle.

Yup, we started the online league after the first patch. Took a break after patch 2 and resumed with patch 3.

07-24-2006, 06:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
soxfan445 Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1	Players "Hidden" in Search? I was just wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same phenomenon that I recently found in my 1.0.2.12660 league. I've searched the boards, and haven't found any mention of this before. While making an unrelated search in the search bar (the area with the magnifying glass), I realized that there were a lot of foreign names that I had never seen in my league before. Strange, as this league only had 10% foreign players with mostly default settings. Upon clicking on each of the players, I realized that a lot of them were from countries that I've never seen players from before, because the talent in those countries is rated "non-existant." I seem to remember someone mentioning that the game would never create players from a "non-existant" country, so I set up a test league with 2 teams to check if this happened again, and sure enough, it did. Here are pictures to show what happens: I search for "abdul" (just because it's a common name for the Arabic nameset, along with names containing "bin") I get the following screen, to which I've added the nationalities of the players: Notice that all of them except for Tunisia ("poor") have a rating of "non-existant" I choose our Omani friend Mr. Abdul-Jalil Notice he's not very good, but it's still a player that doesn't show up in any other area of the game. I sign Abdul-Jalil to a contract, and he shows up on my roster. And in the "Player Search and Shortlist" area as well (note that none of the other "abduls" show up). And now Oman has one player. This is just bizarre to me that there are players hidden in the search area from "non-existant" countries that don't show up in any other areas of the game. In a related test, I sent a scout out to Djibouti to see if the player was a "hidden talent", and after 2 years he came up with nothing. Also, if I check off "Create and develop hidden players" when I start the league, these players do not show up. Two questions: Is this happening to anyone else, and why am I allowed to sign players from non-existant countries that only show up in the search. Thanks for any insight people might be able to shed on this. Last edited by soxfan445 : 07-24-2006 at 06:48 PM.

11-01-2006, 06:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chris Johnson Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 357	International Player Problem I can't find anybody else that seems to be having this exact problem, so I hope it is happening because we aren't doing something right. A couple of us noticed that one team was finding great players every sim that nobody else in our league was seeing. I did a massive search before our last sim (including looking at "All Players" in our league) and found nothing. Sure enough, this team found two outstanding players to sign. We have a standard ML setup, but teams can sign international free agents. The one team in question had a very impressive roster on his player shortlist - none of whom we can find in the game except on this owner's short list. By in the game, I mean that none of the player search menus reveal this player. The only way I can find mention of them is to enter a name in the search function, and he shows up as an unsigned player. They don't show up under the "Explore the World" section or anywhere else except on this owner's short list. Any ideas why this is happening? Thanks. __________________ IOSBL - Commissioner & Jacksonville Sharks TLB - Los Angeles Dodgers APBL - Tampa Bay Devil Rays

11-01-2006, 07:19 PM	#3 (permalink)
Chris Johnson Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 357	Ok, this post describes exactly what we are seeing Players "Hidden" in Search? and there appears to be no response to this issue. __________________ IOSBL - Commissioner & Jacksonville Sharks TLB - Los Angeles Dodgers APBL - Tampa Bay Devil Rays

11-01-2006, 07:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
Chris Johnson Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 357	Also, our league has coaches and scouts off. It appears that "hidden" players are not really hidden? __________________ IOSBL - Commissioner & Jacksonville Sharks TLB - Los Angeles Dodgers APBL - Tampa Bay Devil Rays Last edited by Chris Johnson : 11-01-2006 at 08:22 PM.

11-01-2006, 11:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
disposableheros Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,339	i just tried searching for random non-player names in one of my online league files (Baseball Maelstrom, just because i had it open already) to confirm this and it does occur there too. some of them have better ratings than any player currently in our league. holy loophole, batman! __________________ 2 Wild Cards, 11 Division Champs, 4 League Champs, 3 World Champs, and 3 Best GM awards Baseball Maelstrom - New York Mets - 180-149 .547 Corporate League Baseball - Coke Buzz - 889-649 .578 Western Hemisphere Baseball League - Santiago Saints - 672-793 .459 Record - 2428-2271 .517

11-01-2006, 09:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
battists Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 14,130	Let's move these threads over to Tech Support...

11-01-2006, 09:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
battists Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 14,130	Moving this over to Tech Support so we can take a look...

11-02-2006, 07:34 AM	#8 (permalink)
Chris Johnson Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 357	This is a huge, huge problem for online leagues that I am assuming won't be fixed until the 2007 version. Is there any hope of us getting a minor patch to fix this? If there is no patch, then Commissioners will have a hard time preventing hidden players from being signed. In my league. the obvious hidden players (the ones with huge ratings) won't be difficult to spot. The marginal ones will be impossible to see, and by marginal I mean players with 50 or so overall potential. __________________ IOSBL - Commissioner & Jacksonville Sharks TLB - Los Angeles Dodgers APBL - Tampa Bay Devil Rays

11-02-2006, 09:15 AM	#9 (permalink)
Raidergoo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: 39.84 N -84.12 W Posts: 7,165	I don't recall trying to use the search function during testing in order to see if it could be exploited in such a manner. Then again, I never tried Google-assisted hacking, either. Great. __________________

11-02-2006, 12:12 PM	#10 (permalink)
sporr Moderator* Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Muscatine, IA Posts: 8,180	Can you turn off the ability to sign free agents from other leagues and only turn it on when you need to manually? __________________ Baseball Maelstrom - Commish/ St Louis Cardinals USBA - Las Vegas Scorpions

11-02-2006, 08:51 PM	#11 (permalink)
Raidergoo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: 39.84 N -84.12 W Posts: 7,165	I can recreate this at will, in an online league that is not using scouts, and is not using "hidden" players. I can put in a fragment of a name, and see dozens of opportunities. They are so far all crud, but I did find a 40 rated guy in 5 minutes just goofing off. I think a determined person could loot the planet. __________________

11-03-2006, 01:49 PM	#14 (permalink)
Subby Major Leagues Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 356	This is a feature, not a bug. If you find Abu Abu-YaYa, you win a free copy of OOTPBM2009. __________________ The FOBL: Knocking Up Your Daughter Since 2001.

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