[UTILITY] Max FB Database Editor v 1.6.2

[GlennN]

Ok, I think I finally got a format I can attach.

[jdhalfrack]

Okay, do me a favor:

Right click on my installer and select "Open With..." and tell me what options it gives you.

If one of them is "Windows Installer" then select that.

Let me know what happens then.

JD

[GlennN]

No, Windows Installer is not one of the options. Now that I am a pro on screenshots, here's what I see:

[GlennN]

And the scroll down:

[hack153]

GlennN...all the games on your desktop look just like mine (ootp, madden, eastside manager, etc)!  good to see someone else is a sports game sim fanatic too!

[jdhalfrack]

Okay, the good news is that I definitely know what the problem is. MindSpring Internet software has the same extension (.msi) as my program. So, it's trying to open my installer with MindSpring's software.

The bad news is that it's hard to explain exactly how to fix it without sitting in front of your computer, but we'll try anyway.

Do this:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. From the "Tools" menu, click "Folder Options..."
3. Click the File Types tab.
4. Wait for the computer to search for all file types on your computer.
5. Click the column that says "Extensions" (this should arrange the file extensions alphabetically).
6. Scroll through the list and find the .MSI extension(s)
7. Find the .msi extension related to MindSpring.
8. Select this file, and then click Delete (located right below that window) to remove the association.

After doing all of this, try to run my program again. If it works, GREAT! Truthfully, however, I expect it won't. This is because now you need to associate a file to open .msi files with.

Download Windows Installer and run it. It should now automatically associate .msi files with windows installer.

I hope this helps and works! Good luck!

JD

[dreamtheatervt]

JD,
 
Awesome job.  I think I'm really going to like what I can do with this thing.  Only one minor problem...the "overflow error" I get that shuts the program down is annoying.  Anyway you can fix this in future versions, at least to prevent it from closing?
 
Also, what do the functions in the "College football" tab do under the "Global Edits" tab?
 
Thanks again for creating an awesome editor!

[garysorrell]

You can assign players a college team. There is a field for it, I think it's called Junior Football.

You can assign all the players, or rookies only.

[jdhalfrack]

Okay, first, GlennN I will do a little research on your problem. Do me a favor though. What exactly does it say now when you try and open my installer?

Second:

Only one minor problem...the "overflow error" I get that shuts the program down is annoying.  Anyway you can fix this in future versions, at least to prevent it from closing?

What overflow error? I agree, I don't do a good job of error handeling...[:(] This is actually what takes me a while to release some updates. Since I don't know how to handle the error, I try as hard as I can to make sure you can't DO the error. Clearly I missed something. So, do me a favor:

a) let me know what you were doing when the error occured
b) let me know what youwere TRYING to do when the error occured (this may be the same as a)
c) what the exact error message was

I'll do my best to figure it out.

Also, what gary said about the college teams. You can assign a college team to players (mainly just for personal use). In the global edits tab, it will randomly assign colleges to all players (or just rookies). You can change what level of college (NCAA I, II, III or NAIA) you want used and what percentage likelihood each level will be used. Hopefully that all made sense!

JD

[jdhalfrack]

Okay, GlennN let's try this:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. From the "Tools" menu, click "Folder Options..."
3. Click the File Types tab.
4. Wait for the computer to search for all file types on your computer.
5. Click the "New" button right under the list.
6. In the box that pops up type "MSI" (without the quotes) in the "File Extension:" text box
7. Click the "Advanced >>" button to the right (it will take about 30 seonds for it to load all the extentions)
8. In the "Associated File Type:" combo box, scroll all the way down to "Windows Installer Package" and select it
9. Click the "OK" button
10. Now click the "Close" button at the bottom

At this point, it should now work. Try this out, and let me know!

Good luck!

JD

[GlennN]

Success!! At first, I got the same OCX error that you discussed above. When I followed the directions, I am now a proud user of the JD Editor! Thanks for all of your help.

If I could make a request (after all of that), would it be possible to have a search function in the editor? Say I was looking for a WR with better than 85 speed, 85 agility and 85 catching. Could I search to locate players fitting my specific search?

[jdhalfrack]

Success!! At first, I got the same OCX error that you discussed above. When I followed the directions, I am now a proud user of the JD Editor! Thanks for all of your help.

EXCELLENT! I'm glad you had success! Enjoy the editor!

If I could make a request (after all of that), would it be possible to have a search function in the editor? Say I was looking for a WR with better than 85 speed, 85 agility and 85 catching. Could I search to locate players fitting my specific search?

That is an excellent idea! However, with the option to search that advanced it will take a little reworking of some code and probably the form design, too. I'll add that to the list (the long, long list... [:(]) of things to add.

JD

[Terryt33]

Hi JD,
First, let me start off by saying what a great job you did on this editor. It has made Maximum Football even better by allowing the editing of just about everything you can edit in the roster files very quickly. I do have a request though, since you're still adding to the list. When I did an export to CSV of my league file (by the way, VERY cool feature), I noticed that the depth chart field is blank (or set to 0, I don't remember which). I know that is because the roster table doesn't include the depth chart. However there is another table called, interestingly enough, 'depth chart' which has that information and the two tables can be linked by the player ID field. (I did this manually in Access 97 just to see if it would work.) So my question is, is there a way in your editor you can link these tables to populate the depth chart field in your editor?

Maybe if I give you an example of what I want it for, it would help if I am not explaining what I am asking for well enough. I have an old USFL league I am creating. I have all the rosters and hts, wts, colleges, etc. that I have used your import/export feature with. I created a league, and let it do all the drafting and training camps. So I have this player file. I was going to just copy/paste the names,hts,wts,etc to update the file. However, I realized, with out that depth chart field, I would just be randomly pasting names onto attributes. So if I for instance wanted Hershel Walker to be the Generals's RB#1, I'd have to figure which player corresponds to RB#1 on the Generals team, otherwise one of the greatest RBs in that league may be sitting on the bench... LOL Anyway, I wasn't sure if it could be done, but thought I'd ask

[simmer]

JD I was wondering if the next utility would be capable to edit depth charts based on the best players to worst.

[jdhalfrack]

If I could make a request (after all of that), would it be possible to have a search function in the editor? Say I was looking for a WR with better than 85 speed, 85 agility and 85 catching. Could I search to locate players fitting my specific search?

Done. Ready for next release already. I relaized this wasnt going to be that hard. All I really had to do was just change my search parameters around a little.

However there is another table called, interestingly enough, 'depth chart' which has that information and the two tables can be linked by the player ID field. (I did this manually in Access 97 just to see if it would work.) So my question is, is there a way in your editor you can link these tables to populate the depth chart field in your editor?

JD I was wondering if the next utility would be capable to edit depth charts based on the best players to worst.

A depth chart editor/exporter/importer is in the works. There are a few issues I am running into, though. It is the first thing on my "non-players" list to work on. Now, simmer, you asked if it could fill a depth chart from "best" to "worst" and yes, I could probably make it do that. The issue is that there really isn't a formula to calculate "best" or "worst" players. In madden there was. I could probably modify that formula a little for Max FB. In fact, I could probably make it so that I would make a formula to figure "overall" ratings for players, but the user could edit the formula to their liking. Maybe I'll actually test this out here in the next week"ish."

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions guys! I am really trying tomake this an all-in-one editor (even though it's basically just players right now). And, I am trying to make it custom suited for you all!

JD

P.S. Although I do hope to convert my editor over to visual studio 9.0 some day, it is proving very time consuming and probably wont be ready until the summer...[:(]. So, until then, I will continue releasing on visual studio 6.0 (which isn't an issue unless you're a vista user).

[simmer]

I recently used the player attribute randomizer that was just created. I worked great with your editor. The problem that I found in the game though was that the offensive line was giving up alot of sacks, and that the best offensive players were not on the field. I honestly dont know if this is the reason, but there is a lot of sacks and running backs getting stopped in the back field too manny times. I think that a depth chart based on a selected player attribute might solve this????

[jdhalfrack]

I think that a depth chart based on a selected player attribute might solve this????

I totally agree. I just need to know how we decide what the "best" ratings are. In madden they use an "Overall" rating which basically gives each player an overall rating between 1 and 100 based on the important skills for each position.

JD

[dreamtheatervt]

About the "overflow error" I was receiving...

Run-time error '6':
Overflow

I get it sometimes when I edit the values skills/attributes tab in global edits.

I've tried recreating it on purpose, but it doesn't seem to want to.  It has happened this time when editing the max field from 95, which I highlighted, and started typing in '85'. It happened when I hit the 5 appearantly. I have gotten the error from each field though (min, max, mean, deviation). 

[sacjones]

Great work on the editor!

I'm hoping you can give me some insight on a few things though -
* when I open the program it shows a version number of 1.61, not 1.62
* I don't think I understand the import/export function. Whenever I import a roster the player names, etc. get changed but when saving I get this error -

I exported the existing team roster, edited it and tried to import it back in. If that's not the way to do it I'd love to know what went awry.

Thanks!

[dreamtheatervt]

I can answer the first question...1.61 and 1.62 are identical, but a file was missing in 1.61.  So the file was added and renumbered 1.62, I guess so people know its not the version with the missing file.
 
Haven't messed with the export function though.