[The Great Demo]

Aewin and The Great Demo's 20 Step Guide to Importing Rosters

After many attempts at importing avsfan534's rosters in to Matter2003's universe, we finally found a way to do so and figured you'd all could use this information as a blueprint on what steps to follow.

1) You must have two leagues. "League A" is the .lg file we're grabbing our rosters from and "League B" is the .lg file we're exporting rosters to.

2) Open "League A" and under "Game" menu find "Game Setup." Click on the "League Setup" tab and select the first league in the list. On your right hand side, with the "Structure" tab selected you will find the Selected League's structure.

At the bottom you will find 3 buttons, "Import/Export," "Financial Functions," and "Other Functions." Click on the "Import/Export" button and a dropdown menu will appear. Select "Export." After doing so, OOTP2006 will prompt you to enter a file name for the .txt file. Enter one that will make the file easy to identify by league. Repeat this process for every league in the universe.

3) Now return to the top of the list of leagues and this time hit the second button at the bottom of the "Structure" tab, "Financial Functions." Select "Release all Players / Clear Rosters" from the drop-down menu. OOTP2006 will prompt you with a dialog box asking if you're sure, select OK. Repeat this process for every league in the universe until every player in the universe is a Free Agent. NOTE: This action can only be committed for "parent" leagues and not its affiliates (eg: Major League Baseball, but not the Pacific Coast League).

4) Save "League A" and open "League B."

5) Under "Game" menu find "Game Setup." Click on the "League Setup" tab and select the first league in the list. On your right hand side, with the "Structure" tab selected you will find the Selected League's structure.

At the bottom you will find 3 buttons, "Import/Export," "Financial Functions," and "Other Functions." Click on the "Import/Export" button and a dropdown menu will appear. Select "Export." After doing so, OOTP2006 will prompt you to enter a file name for the .txt file. Enter one that will make the file easy to identify by league. Repeat this process for every league in the universe.

6) Now return to the top of the list of leagues and this time hit the second button at the bottom of the "Structure" tab, "Financial Functions." Select "Release all Players / Clear Rosters" from the drop-down menu. OOTP2006 will prompt you with a dialog box asking if you're sure, select OK. Repeat this process for every league in the universe until every player in the universe is a Free Agent. NOTE: This action can only be committed for "parent" leagues and not its affiliates (eg: Major League Baseball, but not the Pacific Coast League).

7) Close OOTP2006.

8) Grab a pen and paper.

9) Import the league exports from "League A" into Excel and write down each team's ID. These are all found at the very top of the file.

10) Import the league exports from "League B" into Excel and write down each team's ID.

11) Compare which team ID numbers differ, if any at all.

12) Because the rosters are to be imported from "League A" into "League B," we must edit "League A" files so they fit in perfectly into "League B." eg: If the Aberdeen Aces' team ID in "League A" is 28, but their team ID in "League B" is 405, you will have to change this value for every player on Aberdeen Aces' roster in the "League A" export. It will be the value in column B in Excel. Do this for all players needed (this can be time-consuming). Save the files as ".csv" files in the same directory. Close Excel.

13) Navigate to "League A's" directory and find all the .csv files you've created. Delete all the .txt files in the directory. Change the file extensions on the .csv files from .csv to .txt.

14) Delete the "players.dat" file from the directory in "League B." Copy the "players.dat" file from "League A's" directory into "League B's" directory.

15) Launch OOTP2006 and open saved game "League B." Every player in "League B" is still a free agent, but the players that are there are now the free agents from "League A."

16) Under "Game" menu find "Game Setup." Click on the "League Setup" tab and select the first league in the list. On your right hand side, with the "Structure" tab selected you will find the Selected League's structure.

At the bottom you will find 3 buttons, "Import/Export," "Financial Functions," and "Other Functions." Click on the "Import/Export" button and a dropdown menu will appear. Select "Import." After doing so, OOTP2006 will prompt you to find the roster import's location on your hard drive. Navigate to "League A's" directory (Program Files/Sports Interactive/OOTP2006/data/saved games/League A/) and import the desired roster. NOTE: Before importing the affiliate rosters, import all Parent League rosters first. eg: Import the MLB roster file before importing its minor league rosters.

17) After importing all the rosters, you will find all the players on their correct team as they appeared in "League A."

18) For all parent leagues that have no players, under "Game" menu find "Game Setup." Click on the "League Setup" tab and select the first league in the list. On your right hand side, with the "Structure" tab selected you will find the Selected League's structure.

At the bottom you will find 3 buttons, "Import/Export," "Financial Functions," and "Other Functions." Click on the "Import/Export" button and a dropdown menu will appear. Select "Other Functions." After doing so, OOTP2006 will prompt you and ask if you're sure? Select OK.

19) Under the "Financial Functions" button's dropdown menu select "Make Fictional Contracts." This will keep your game from crashing when simming.

20) Enjoy your imported rosters into your new league universe.

[The Great Demo]

feel free to make any suggestions or ask questions regarding the process.

[aewin]

The Exceptionally Great Demo does himself an injustice by including me in the title.

[aewin]

Steve,

Not sure, but this may help for the Customisation Guide.

Cheers,

[Church OOTP]

Forum admins ... please make this a sticky! Thanks you two for the solid info.

Sure would be nice if one of the programmers could make up a utility that did the compare/address the ID issues for you. Just point to the two exports and walaa

[Carplos]

Is there anyway to import players from multiple leagues/universes into one?

It doesn't seem like this method would work for that based on Step 18.

[The Great Demo]

Originally Posted by Carplos

Is there anyway to import players from multiple leagues/universes into one?

It doesn't seem like this method would work for that based on Step 18.

i'd suppose that you'd first need to create fictional players and then assign these players' ID numbers to the players you want to import from a second league.

eg: say you wanted to import avsfan534's rosters into matter2003's universe and followed all the instructions. Next you wanted to import the Nippon rosters. If you followed the instructions exactly, the Nippon League in the universe would now already be empty. You'd have to generate fictional players for this league. Without replacing the players.dat file, you could then use import the roster.txt file. HOWEVER, you'd need to make sure to give all your Nippon baseballers the player IDs that correspond to the fictional players you created and then perhaps as a personal preference, erase their career stats.

[Carplos]

I'll probably mess around with it and see if it's more work than simply recreating the leagues I want to combine in a larger universe. But it at least sounds possible.

Thanks a lot for the help.

[DRaysGoRocco]

First off, great tutorial. I was doing this somewhat similar except for the chaning of the players.dat files, which is an excellent idea.

Here's my question...

Let's say that league A has only MLB and all their affiliated minors but no other winter or international leagues. But League B has MLB and affilated minors PLUS international leagues. would this process and the chaning of the players.dat files make it so that there are no players in those additional leagues or would the game crash and not accept it?

Basically what I'm asking is, will this work with two universes that don't have the same leagues?

[The Great Demo]

Originally Posted by DRaysGoRocco

First off, great tutorial. I was doing this somewhat similar except for the chaning of the players.dat files, which is an excellent idea.

Here's my question...

Let's say that league A has only MLB and all their affiliated minors but no other winter or international leagues. But League B has MLB and affilated minors PLUS international leagues. would this process and the chaning of the players.dat files make it so that there are no players in those additional leagues or would the game crash and not accept it?

Basically what I'm asking is, will this work with two universes that don't have the same leagues?

if you dont change the players.dat files, i believe the importing of the rosters is a cosmetic one only (you change the name and ratings basically, and thats it). by releasing everyone to free agency when changing the players.dat files, both leagues recognize that every team in the universe is now empty and that the only players that exist are the ones in the free agent pool. when you change the players.dat files, you're importing the players themselves, and no longer just their information. by then importing the roster.txt files, youre assigning them to their proper teams.

and yes. and these are the exact steps we followed to import avsfan534's rosters into matter2003's universe.

the process of editing the roster.txt files for each league so they match up with their corresponding team ID numbers in "league b" is a long one but you must be very careful in getting it done right and to make sure all your values lineup in their appropiate columns, otherwise the sim will crash when importing the roster.txt files.

as for the extra leagues in the universe, those will remain empty. i'd suggest generating fictional players and contracts because otherwise, as you pointed out, the sim would crash.

in short: yes, you can import the rosters from a universe that has a different number of leagues.

[Carplos]

if you dont change the players.dat files, i believe the importing of the rosters is a cosmetic one only (you change the name and ratings basically, and thats it). by releasing everyone to free agency when changing the players.dat files, both leagues recognize that every team in the universe is now empty and that the only players that exist are the ones in the free agent pool. when you change the players.dat files, you're importing the players themselves, and no longer just their information. by then importing the roster.txt files, youre assigning them to their proper teams.

I don't really see a significant difference between the two... isn't changing the player names and their ratings to those in the league you're trying to import all you want? What is actually missing from the former process?

[The Great Demo]

Originally Posted by Carplos

I don't really see a significant difference between the two... isn't changing the player names and their ratings to those in the league you're trying to import all you want? What is actually missing from the former process?

League A's roster has less players than League B.

if you were to just import the roster.txt files to League B without switching the players.dat file, then you're only replacing some players.

Say that League A has 5 players and League B has 10 players.

the roster.txt file for League A probably looks like:

player id player name
0001     John Smoltz
0002     Greg Maddux
0003     Tom Glavine
0004     Jeff Francouer
0005     Chipper Jones

and lets say the players in players.dat file for League B are:

player id player name
0001     John Smith
0002     Tommy Reeves
0003     Sandy Herrera
0004     DJ Trigg
0005     JD Hershiser
0006     Jose Palma
0007     Rich Stenson
0008     Ricky Barrera
0009     Mario Valenzuela
0010     Frankie Unitas

If you were to just import the roster.txt file, your new players.dat file would look like:

player id player name
0001     John Smoltz
0002     Greg Maddux
0003     Tom Glavine
0004     Jeff Francouer
0005     Chipper Jones
0006     Jose Palma
0007     Rich Stenson
0008     Ricky Barrera
0009     Mario Valenzuela
0010     Frankie Unitas

because youre only replacing the names of the first 5 players in "League B," without editing the other five players in the league.

by replacing the players.dat file, you are telling the league, "there are only five players in this league now, and in the roster.txt file is their information and their team assignments"

[Carplos]

Okay, I see why you're saying that now.

FWIW, I was thinking of utilizing this for combining my individual fictional leagues rather than real life roster sets. I would try and make sure there were a similar amount of players between the individual league and its counterpart in the larger universe, obviously.

[DRaysGoRocco]

Another huge thing is that just importing/exporting is that it only replaces the players that have similar player ID's. So if Manny Ramirez has player ID=1049 and no one in Universe B has that ID, he won't be imported.

It is also my understanding that replacing the .dat file will transfer contract, personality and injury attributes, whereas just importing/exporting, you will lose the info

[The Great Demo]

Originally Posted by DRaysGoRocco

Another huge thing is that just importing/exporting is that it only replaces the players that have similar player ID's. So if Manny Ramirez has player ID=1049 and no one in Universe B has that ID, he won't be imported.

It is also my understanding that replacing the .dat file will transfer contract, personality and injury attributes, whereas just importing/exporting, you will lose the info

actually, im not sure about the personality and injury attributes, but i do know the contract won't transfer. because the players are all released to free agency first and then the roster.txt files are imported to get the players assigned to their proper team, all players will have minor league contracts. it is necessary for you to generate fictional contracts based on their ratings' value. if there was some way to export financial information for all teams and import into another league that'd be great, but i dont believe that as of right now that exists.

[DRaysGoRocco]

Originally Posted by The Great Demo

actually, im not sure about the personality and injury attributes, but i do know the contract won't transfer. because the players are all released to free agency first and then the roster.txt files are imported to get the players assigned to their proper team, all players will have minor league contracts. it is necessary for you to generate fictional contracts based on their ratings' value. if there was some way to export financial information for all teams and import into another league that'd be great, but i dont believe that as of right now that exists.

Good Point, thanks for the info

[BlackCats101]

Good stuff-might be useful to sticky this.

[The Great Demo]

heh, wicked. i hadn't been on ootpdev (or much online for that matter) and when i do come back, i come to find this thread stickied. w00t us!

[wildcat000]

Awesome work guys. I was just trying to figure out a way to import 2000 rosters without having to re-create the minor league affiliates.

[sboehler]

Originally Posted by The Great Demo

feel free to make any suggestions or ask questions regarding the process.

Yeah this is the way I have been doing it. Excel comes in handy (s long as you save to a csv file...