Changing player skill ratings

[rcleslie]

When is it possible to alter player skill ratings? I am interested in doing some experimenting re the effect of various rating combinations on a team's play, e.g., a QB with high pass accuracy and low intelligence as opposed to a QB with low accuracy and high intelligence. I am interested in how various skills interact in the game. So far I have not been able to discover how to do this. I realize that once a season has started changing ratings may be impossible. At least when I have tried (using the player tools utility)I get the following message upon trying to save the change: "There was a problem verifying player information." Is it possible to alter ratings right after the end of a season?

[Tbird]

You can change the player ratings Anytime via the game utilities [8D]

[rcleslie]

Tbird,

Thx for your quick reply. I am using build 2.18. On several occasions I have attempted to change player's skill ratings using the player tools utility. While this has worked occasionally I usually get the "There was a problem verifying player information" message upon clicking "save" after making the change. What might I be doing wrong?

[David Winter]

Hi.
 
You may need to check the other fields to ensure they're valid. I don't recall off the top of my head, but does the version of player utilities you have still have the DOB field? If so, ensure that's filled out.
 
If you continue to have trouble, zip up and send the league file to support@wintervalley.com and let me know what team and player you're editing. I'll see if I can find the problem here.
 
thanks
David 

[rcleslie]

David Winter,

Thanks for your reply.

I think I have it worked out. If I go to utilities/player tools and select a player from a full team roster as opposed to from a specific position list (i.e., just RBs)I do not have any problems. I only have difficulty when first selecting a position and then the player. I don't know if this represents a glitch, but as long as I can do it by selecting from the full roster I am happy.

[rcleslie]

Oops! I spoke too soon. I have run into the problem when selecting a player from the full roster. It seems I can some times make a change successfully, but upon trying to make a second one, I get the "... problem verifying player information" message. So... what is the DOB field? To me DOB is "date of birth" - I suspect that's not what is meant.

[jdhalfrack]

When is it possible to alter player skill ratings? Is it possible to alter ratings right after the end of a season?

Using my editor, you can edit player ratings anytime you would like. Here's the link to the most recent release of my editor.

Max FB Database Editor v 1.4.4

So... what is the DOB field? To me DOB is "date of birth" - I suspect that's not what is meant.

DOB does stand for date of birth, but, from what I can tell it's not the actual DOB of the player. It's the date the game created the player via the game engine. So, if you create a league on January 8th, 2008, the DOB is 01/08/08. My editor also allows you to change the DOB just for the purposes of "realism" for printouts and stuff.

Hope this helps!

JD

[rcleslie]

jdhalftrack,

Thanks for your input re DOB. I did download your editor (v. 1.4.4) but am not sure what to do with it. When I try to open my league file I get a very fast scrolling of names in the left-hand column followed by the message: "Run-time error '380' invalid property value". I suspect I am missing something very basic that my self-taught curriculum overlooked when I never took computers 101. Here's hoping I am missing the obvious and you can set me straight without to much trouble. Thx.

rcleslie

[jdhalfrack]

When I try to open my league file I get a very fast scrolling of names in the left-hand column followed by the message: "Run-time error '380' invalid property value". I suspect I am missing something very basic that my self-taught curriculum overlooked when I never took computers 101.

Well, that error is kin of vague (as are most Microsoft errors...). A couple things you can try are downloading one of my oler versions of the editor, or if you don't mind, send me your database file (joshdixon1980@yahoo.com) and I will open it with the source code. That way, when it runs into an error, I can pinpoint exactly where it is occurring.

I have not heard of anyone else running into this this error (which doesnt mean it's not happening). Sorry, I can't be of more help to you!

JD

[rcleslie]

jdhalftrack,

Thx for the offer of help. I will try to take you up on it.

rcleslie

[jdhalfrack]

Thx for the offer of help. I will try to take you up on it.

Check your e-mail, I responded to yours. I think you sent me the wrong file. I just need your lge_<name>.mdb file.

JD

[rcleslie]

JD, I just made a third try at sending you the league file. The second try failed due to my making a typo in your address. I hope third time is the charm.

rcleslie

[jdhalfrack]

JD, I just made a third try at sending you the league file. The second try failed due to my making a typo in your address. I hope third time is the charm.

Okay, good news and bad news. The good news is that I know why it's messing up. I replicated the error and it's because the "Height" field of the "Players" Table has decimal numbers like 67.35 and things like that. My editor assumes (or I assumed, rather) that all heights were integers and they were in inches.

The bad news is that I do not know if it is just your league that has this problem or a lot of leagues. You're the first person that has said anything to me. So, I don't even know what it means when they are in decimal format...

David or Mauraders or anyone, if you read this, can you explain to me what this means and if this is something I should take into consideration in the future?

When I find a remedy, I'll get back to you rcleslie. Sorry I can't help right now.

JD

[Marauders]

Player Height&nbsp;is in inches.
&nbsp;
I am not sure why some players have decimal points, as most do not.
&nbsp;

[rcleslie]

To: jdhalftrack and Marauders, As always, many thx for the assistance. Height - who'da believed it! I revisted my roster via the utilities players tools and discovered that many (most?) did not have height filled in. A trial with about ten players found that if I fill in height and then attempt to alter a rating it works -- at least so far! I filled in the heights from the selection given by the utility which are all in feet and inches -- no decimals. Maybe you folks who know code and all that "esoteric stuff" can figure it out. My next try will be to put in the heights for my entire roster and then see how it goes with jd's program. I will let you know what happens.

[jdhalfrack]

Yeah, let me know.

And, I'll update my editor to replace decimals with integers. It wont be a "perfect" conversion (because I don't know why it is using decimals), but it will at least load in the editor.

JD

[rcleslie]

jd, It occurs to me that I will need to enter heights for all the rosters in my league in order to try again with your program. That may be more tedium than I want. There should be some way to ensure that heights are filled in routinely if, as it seems, they must be for editing to be done. In some cases where they have been filled in they have been unrealistic, e.g., a college level team a whole bunch of 5'5" guys. According to DW this parameter does not figure in the algorithms that determine play outcomes, so I suspect it may not be a high priority item.

[jdhalfrack]

The reason they are all 5'5" is because that's the shortest your players can be. The relates to "65" (65 inches) in "Height" field of the "Players" table. What I am realizing is that almost all of your players have heights less than 65 inches. So, my guess is that the game/editor you are using sets all heights that are below 65 equal to 65 inches. This is in fact what I just changed my editor to do.

So, unfortunately, it looks like you will need to reset all your heights...[:(]

JD

[Marauders]

Wouldn't it be nice to have an editor that would allow the league owner to set the minimum and maximum height and fill in a random hight for players that do not have one listed.&nbsp; [;)]
&nbsp;
Perhaps I should add it to the wish list.
&nbsp;

[jdhalfrack]

Okay, I didn't want you to have to change every player's height... that would take forever. So, I made this program real quick. If you installed my editor, you shouldn't need any extra components. To use this program:

MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR LEAGUE FIRST!

1. Download and unzip the file RandomHeights.exe and run it

2. Click the Button that says "randomize Player Heights"

3. Select your league databse from the list.

4. Wait until you get the message "Finished"

5. It automatically saves the database

6. Now you're league should have "normal heights" (but completely random) associated with the players

Hope this helps!

JD