Dynasty mode: Best Practices

So, anybody have any real good best practices tips for keeping your Dynasty healthy, wealthy and wise.

I felt this was time to say this, especially if you play the game on the PC:

MAKE A FRICKEN BACKUP COPY OF YOUR DYNASTY!(periodically)

I've heard one too many "my dynasty won't load anymore" that it's getting tiring to hear..especially for GMs who've gone 3,4,5 years into their dynasty...

Dynasty Best practices...how I wish we could sticky this...even if it was for this one tip, it'll save all those hours you've 'invested' into your dynasty.

Tip #2: Here's a subclause to the one above: Make sure you make a backup copy of your dynasty before you do ANY dbf editing...

heh yeah.... so true... so true...

I have about 20 backups of my Blazers' dynasty, and about that many of my Bobcats' dynasty....provided my whole HDD doesn't get wiped, I'm fine for most dynasty problems....

my advice:

1. Only use DBCommander to dbf edit

2. NBA Live '06 is a lot more sensitive to dbf editing. Be very careful trading players or deleting players through dbf. Best to do it in-dynasty if possible. If you trade one of your own players in dbf then you have to remember that in Live '06, there are 2 player ID files for your team's players....one normal one, & one that I think has something to do with evolution

3. Do not install too many patches, & make sure the patchmaker's work is trusty & won't screw you up. If you can live without some stupid new facial hair for Kobe then please do.

4. Backup regularly

if you have your save's folder open in the background while saving in game, your save will disappear... its happened to me just a week ago

When I save my game I'm always saving to the new file (not replacing the old one). So I've never suffered that problem, that Dynasty never loaded.
Also I avoid dbf editing if not necessary, only when I'm trading players after off-season.

Lot's of great 'best practices" here! The X...wow you went above and beyond, impressive comments!

Oh here's one small one that was relevant in 2004 (does anybody know if it's still relevant in '06):
1) Make sure you have your Live CD in the CD rom at all times while the game is going. Especially, when coming out of game mode into the Dynasty menu. (I don't know why I needed to take the CDrom out...perhaps DBF editing and testing on my laptop while playing a game on my desktop) It's crashed on me several times when trying to read a Live CD that wasn't there...at least temporarily.

2) Keep your Live CDs clean and out of the reach of nosey family members! (I've had to buy Live 2004 twice.)

Just in addition to the backing up advice (which is a must), I prefer to save my Dynasty to two seperate files after I've made progress one way or another, even if I don't intend on doing any DBF editing. Periodically is fine, but that way you'll always have an up to date backup.

You might also want to check you can sim to the end of the year and through another few seasons. If it crashes simming, it'll crash when you play, too.

You might also want to check you can sim to the end of the year and through another few seasons. If it crashes simming, it'll crash when you play, too.

Good good point, I never thought of that! I should feel lucky that I made it all the way to 2021 in my Live 04 dynasty with all the Dbf editing and mods I've done in the last 3 years!

my advice:

1. Only use DBCommander to dbf edit

Have you got a reason for this? I only use UltraEdit and had no problems so far...

That suggestion could probably amended to using a DBF editor rather than Microsoft Excel, since it's very easy to save the file incorrectly and corrupt it when using Excel compared to DB Commander, DBF Viewer Pro or other such software.

as Andrew said....DBCommander is just readily available of most Live users, so that's why I said it just don't use Excel

We use excel QUITE often at work, and let me tell you, there are numerous 'gotchas' and quirks about it. Really, DBCommander has suited me just fine. Not that I do any EXTREME DB editing besides the Dynasty vs Dynasty online thingy I do.

can someone explain how to do trades through dbf editing??

Check here. All you need is to find the players you want to trade and change the number in the column TEAM.

Btw, wrong section

Check here. All you need is to find the players you want to trade and change the number in the column TEAM.

does this apply to editing a dynasty aswell?

Yeah, for sure

what if u havent used any patches or anything. do u still have to backup dynasty?

Well, no, but it's a good idea in case an error occurs or you accidentally save over it.

how do i backup my dynasty? Do i take it from the saves folder and store it somewhere?

^^^yes

ok thanks

Or you can just save your Dynasty in two different slots/folders. Backing up those folders in another location isn't a bad idea either. It's not necessary, you may be fortunate enough to never have any problems but it's a good idea just in case something goes wrong.

I must be a LOT more paranoid than you guys, I have several saves for each dynasty each year. For example by the end of the first year with Chicago I will have saved

CHI0607start
CHI0607allsta
CHI0607plaoff
CHI0607offsea

I guess the titles are obvious. I do this for every dynasty every year.

I've rarely gone to that extent, but it's not a bad idea at all. Good suggestion.