Random Debut

[Mr. Capo]

In-game support for random debut years of real players.

In past versions there have been random debut databases available for this "time warp" style of play. It is my favorite way to play, and I'm sure more people would enjoy it, talk about it on forums, etc. if it were easier to set up.

I would love to see this available within the game itself, and not left to third party database developers, for whom it seems an afterthought, or low priority novelty. I think it would be a very popular way to play. So far, it does not seem to be available even as an add-on or hack, for the current version.

[Spritze]

The reason a random debut database is an afterthoughted low priority novelty is because it is a low priority novelty that anyone with semi-moderate spreadsheet skills could do themselves if they so chose using nothing more than the CSV files supplied with the game.

[Mr. Capo]

Originally Posted by Spritze

The reason a random debut database is an afterthoughted low priority novelty is because it is a low priority novelty that anyone with semi-moderate spreadsheet skills could do themselves if they so chose using nothing more than the CSV files supplied with the game.

I have pretty good spreadsheet skills, but I would not presume to start editing files that are part of the game without some kind of instruction or support.

Is this really such an unpopular, oddball way to want to play the game, that someone who wants to do it should have to edit spreadsheets and replace game files? It still seems reasonable to me that it could be supported within the game options.

[Spritze]

Originally Posted by Mr. Capo

I have pretty good spreadsheet skills, but I would not presume to start editing files that are part of the game without some kind of instruction or support.

Is this really such an unpopular, oddball way to want to play the game, that someone who wants to do it should have to edit spreadsheets and replace game files? It still seems reasonable to me that it could be supported within the game options.

It is a very oddball way to play but then so is how I play it. I often add 100 years to all the oldtimers so they debut in 1971 instead of 1871 and use them in conjunction with the real 1971'ers. I do this by presuming to edit files that are part of the game. Keep in mind that one of the reasons they are there is so you CAN edit them. Presume away!

[Chicagofan76]

Originally Posted by Spritze

It is a very oddball way to play but then so is how I play it. I often add 100 years to all the oldtimers so they debut in 1971 instead of 1871 and use them in conjunction with the real 1971'ers. I do this by presuming to edit files that are part of the game. Keep in mind that one of the reasons they are there is so you CAN edit them. Presume away!

Any chance you could make a tutorial on how to do this? There may have been 1 out there but I cant seem to find it tonight. Bristol Duke was creating a random league for me. i would love to have Shoeless Joe play in the same OF as Baines and Lance Johnson. a rotation of Ruth, Pierce, Buehrle & Glavine.

[Spritze]

Sure, here is what I do....I simply add 100 to the yearID fields in the batting, pitching, fielding files where the year is less than 1901. Then I go to the master and do the same to the birthyear and debut fields. I then delete the historical data odb file.

To make this random I'd simply create a spreadsheet with all the PlayerID's you wish to use (which is the key field). A copy of the master is a good choice for this. Add a random number column and populate it with whatever constrained random number you wish. You need to constrain it to be between 1871 and 2011. That becomes your players new random debut date. Add another column that is the difference between the real and the random debuts. Then apply this difference to each players record as noted in paragraph one. Once the Batting, Pitching, Fielding and Master files have been updated.....Play Ball!!!!!

Constraining the random number is covered on the Microsoft Support site if you use most versions of Excel, it is also covered on various "fancy things you can do with spreadsheets" sites. If you use something other than Excel it is probably covered somewhere else.

Don't ask because I don't have it on me. I do the simpler 100 year thing myself.

For my spreadsheet version one would use this formula.......... =RANDBETWEEN(1871,2011)

[Mr. Capo]

Originally Posted by Chicagofan76

. ...i would love to have Shoeless Joe play in the same OF as Baines and Lance Johnson. a rotation of Ruth, Pierce, Buehrle & Glavine.

I think a lot of people would like to see things like this in the game, but don't want to go through the spreadsheet edits described above. That is quite a bit of work, and does require expertise.

I submitted this here in the Suggestions for Next Version forum, because I would like it added as an in-game feature. Spritze considers these editing chores to be quick and simple, but he is skilled at it, and so undaunted. Most users would not tackle them. Please consider that this suggestion has merit.

When I tell people about OOTP, they usually say something like, "Oh, so you can have Ruth bat against Clemens?" or, "you can see how Cobb does against today's pitchers..." and so forth. To many people, combining and matching up players across time like that is the first thing they think of, and the most fun thing to do with a game like this.

Specific discussion of editing the .csv file(s), and potential problems arising from that, should probably be conducted in the database forum.

[Spritze]

Of course the suggestion has merit, this just gets you by until OOTP17 comes out. I put it here specifically for YOU. Thought you might not want to wait. Since you wish to wait, no harm - no foul.

[Chicagofan76]

Originally Posted by Mr. Capo

I think a lot of people would like to see things like this in the game, but don't want to go through the spreadsheet edits described above. That is quite a bit of work, and does require expertise.

While I don't disagree with you that it would be a cool added feature to a future version, it's not that difficult to do what Spritz has said. Everything in life requires a little bit of expertise.

[kenhale]

@Spritze Sounds like this is a home run for you, so is there any chance you want to make a quick $50? I will paypal you $50 in trade for a working set of random debut files using the latest 2011 data set. Please?!