OOTP Developments Documentation

OOTP Interface and Controls

Out of the Park Baseball 9 features a browser-style interface with hyperlinks, right-click menus, drag and drop, recent page history, bookmarks, customizable player lists and filters, and much more. Not only does the interface look great, it makes your OOTP experience comfortable and incredibly flexible.

This section reviews most of the components of the OOTP interface. These are repeated throughout the game, so it's good to get an understanding of how they behave. Don't forget to check out our description of OOTP's powerful Views and Filters as well.

If you're more of a visual learner, check out our video tutorials. Video tutorials can be accessed through the Help menu in the game.

OOTP Controls

OOTP is primarily a mouse-driven game. In other words, if something interests you, click on it. The game interface is reminiscent of a web browser, and most users will be familiar with the appearance of colored text 'hyperlinks' that appear throughout the game. Click on a link to be taken a page with more information about the object you clicked. In-game hyperlinks are typically shown as colored text, and will change color in some way when you 'mouse over' the text. These links include menus, names, teams, and other information.

Right-Clicking

OOTP uses right-clicking extensively. (Macintosh users with a single-button mouse must hold down the CTRL key while clicking to use the right-click functionality.) In most cases, right-clicking on an object will bring up a menu of actions that we refer to as a 'right-click menu.' For example, right-clicking on a player name brings up a menu of actions that pertain to that player, such as promoting the player or assigning him a spot in the lineup. The actions available in the right-click menus are context-sensitive, meaning that they might change depending on the page. For example, on the Lineups page, the right-click menu includes options for inserting a player into the lineup or removing him from the lineup. On the Depth Charts page, the right-click menu includes options for inserting a player into the depth chart or removing him from the depth chart.

Similarly, right-clicking on any of the tabs in the game brings up a right-click menu with all the pages and subpages available in that area of the game. (See below for more information on the terms 'tab,' 'page,' and 'subpage.')

Right-clicking has one other important function, called quick return. On most pages, right-clicking in an area of the page without a hyperlink returns you to the previous page. For example, if you delve from the Roster page into a specific Player Profile, right-clicking on the Player Profile page will send you back to the Roster page.

Drag-and-Drop

Many game pages also support 'drag-and-drop' functionality. For example, you can often make changes by dragging players from one area of the page to another. Drag-and-drop is used most noticeably in making roster transactions, trading players, and in setting up your lineups, pitching rotations, and depth charts. If a page supports drag-and-drop, that fact will be noted in the description of that page.

Backspace

In most areas within OOTP, hitting the Backspace key on your keyboard will take you back one page, just like the back arrow in a web browser.

The OOTP Interface

The OOTP interface takes advantage of a number of tools to make it as easy as possible for you to get at the wealth of information in the game. Below is a description of the interface features used in OOTP. Not all of these will be used on each page in the game. The numbers in the following text correspond to the numbered circles in the screen shots.

1. Game Page Navigation Arrows

Game page navigation arrows appear at both the top and bottom of the page. They allow you to move back and forth between game pages. The left and right arrows function like a web browser's Back and Forward buttons. Click the left arrow to go back to the page you visited just before the one you are viewing, and the right arrow to move in the opposite direction through pages you have visited recently.

Additionally, the backspace key on your keyboard can also be used to move you back one page.

2. Banner

A banner extends across the top left of most pages in OOTP. The information provided in a banner changes depending on the page. In most cases it will tell you the name of the page and subpage you are viewing.

3. Game Menus

OOTP has eight primary game menus that run across the top of the page beneath the banner. Unlike many other aspects of OOTP, the content of these menus does not change based on where you are in the game. The menus and their options are described in detail elsewhere in the online help, hyperlinked below.

4. Search

By entering text into the search box and pressing the Enter key, you are able to quickly find any player, team personnel member, or team in your baseball universe. The search engine is not case-sensitive, and it does not support Boolean commands such as AND, OR, or NOT.

Note: Human manager identities cannot be found through the search engine, although computer managers can be found.

5. Game Information

The top right of the page contains some general information about the game, including the name of your game file, the name of the currently active manager identity, the team he or she manages, and the team's current record. The manager's name and the team name are hyperlinks. If the manager is also a commissioner, the 'Act As' drop-down is displayed here.

In OOTP, although you can have multiple leagues, the game generally displays one league at a time. In the top right-hand corner of most pages in OOTP is the Select League drop-down menu, which shows a list of all the leagues in your universe. To change the selected league, select a league from the drop-down. See Game Universe Terminology for more information on what defines a league.

7. League Information

Below the Select League drop-down are three rows of information. They include:

a. The current date in the league.
b. The abbreviation of the selected league.
c. The current period of the baseball season; for example, spring training or regular season.

Note: The current date is not a 'progress meter.' If you are simulating a month of games, for example, this display will not change until all simulating has been completed.

8. Tabs and Pages

Many of the areas in OOTP are so full of information that they have been divided into multiple pages through the use of tabs across the top part of the page. Each tab displays a page of information. A tab is the navigation tool, and the page is what is displayed. In other words, you click on a tab to get to a page. For example, you click on the Lineups tab to see the Lineups page.

You can also right-click on a tab to get a right-click menu of all the pages and subpages in that area of the game. See Right-Clicking for more information.

9. Subpages

Some pages have so much data that they have been broken down further into subpages, which are displayed under the row of tabs. Subpages contain subcategories related to the selected tab. For example, the Front Office page has separate subpages that show team finances and possible free agents.

Subpages can also be accessed through the right-click menu that appears when you right-click on a tab. See Right-Clicking for more information.

10. Drop-Down Menus

Drop-downs menus are an important part of the OOTP interface. Most drop-downs are located near the top of the page, underneath a row of tabs. In many cases, especially on pages with player data, drop-downs are used to define how you want to view the data on the page. Specific drop-downs will be described in greater detail in other areas of the guide.

11. Column Headings

Game data, such as player information, is usually displayed in a spreadsheet style, with rows and columns. Most columns in OOTP are sortable: Clicking on a column heading will sort the data according to that column, alphabetically or numerically. Clicking the same heading again will reverse the sort order. A small arrow pointing up or down will appear in the column heading when the data is sorted according to that column.

Note: Only one level of sorting is supported. For example, you cannot sort by age, and then within each age group have the list sort alphabetically by name.

12. Right-Click Menus

As mentioned in Right-Clicking you can often see a right-click menu when you right-click on an object on the page. Not all objects support right-click menus. However, most hyperlinked names support right-click menus.

Note: Right-click menus are also available within HTML reports in the game.

13. Breadcrumbs

Just below the drop-down menus is a list of breadcrumbs that describe all selected drop-down settings. This is a quick way to remind yourself of what data you are currently seeing.

14. Action Menus

Action menus are where a lot of the 'good stuff' happens. Action menus are usually 'drop-up' menus, since the options cascade up from the menu when you click on it. They show specific actions that you can take. Action menus are different on almost every page; some pages have five or more action menu items, and some have none. Additionally, items on action menus might or might not appear, depending on your role and which team you control. A commissioner has access to options that a minor league manager does not, and a manager has more options when looking at his own team than when looking at another team. The specific actions available on each page will be covered later in the guide.

Many of the items in action menus are also available through right-click menus when you right-click on a player or team. See Right-Clicking for more information.

15. Icon Bar

The Icon Bar is a series of icons that run across the bottom of most game screens. The icons in the icon bar provide quick access to key areas of the game. Most of these areas are also accessible through the menus and tabs in the game. The icons are here simply to make your life easier. They also have 'tips' that appear if you hold the mouse over an icon for a few seconds.

16. Finish Today Button

The Finish Today button is the second way of advancing time in OOTP, along with the Auto-Play Menu described in The Auto-Play Menu. Clicking the Finish Today button advances time by one day in all leagues across your baseball universe.

Note: Do not use the Finish Day button if you want to play out a game using the Play-by-Play engine. See Play-by-Play Mode (Playing out Games), Play-by-Play, for more information.

Warning! Be careful with the Finish Day button. You have no chance to confirm after you click this button, so make sure you have made all necessary management changes before clicking.

See The Finish Today Button for more information on using Auto-Play and the Finish Today button.

17. Sliders

A number of pages have sliders-bars that toggle in-game settings. Move a slider by clicking and dragging the marker between the arrows to the left or right. Alternatively, you can click on the arrow on either side of a slider to move the marker one step in that direction. Sliders are primarily used on management strategy pages. As a rule, dragging or clicking a slider to the left will decrease the use of an option, and moving it to the right will increase the chance of that strategy being used.

18. Quick-Flicks

When you are looking at an individual player page, the top right corner of the page includes two player names and arrows pointing to the left and right. These are called 'quick-flicks,' and they allow you to quickly move to the previous or next player in the list you were viewing. Click on a name to open the selected player's profile.

The names displayed in the quick-flicks are chosen according to the sort order of the page you were previously on. For example, if you were looking at your roster, sorted alphabetically, the previous and next players in the quick-flicks would be the previous and next players in alphabetical order.

Note: Quick-flicks are not available on all pages.