Player stats files

[Andrew]

Cool. That second feature might be a good way of editing the default All-Star teams.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

Yeah, even copying within the same database must be an option.

For eg making a new player based on an old players data.

---

In my fantasy database there are over 950 teams divided into 8 team leagues
and each league has an all star team that plays in 8 team leagues with other all star
teams.

[Andrew]

Sounds good to me. All-Star editing isn't too complicated as is, players can be created in-game and modified as necessary in the database and re-assigned accordingly, but it would be much quicker that way and of course, easier for DBF novices.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

I ran into some special modifications of the extra SQL editor that is a part of
the Simple Editor, that I probably need most of the weekend to sort out.
So dont expect anything before Sunday.

Will try to implement the 'clone a player in the same database' function also,
that could be used for creating eg All star players. Is it okay okay to just copy
the player (assign the clone with a new Player Id) and assign the clones team = free agent
or do you have any other suggestion of fields that needs to be corrected?

[Andrew]

No worries.

Cloning the player to the Free Agent pool might be the most error-free option. The other alternative, if there's going to be an All-Star replacement function, would be to have them overwrite slots on the All-Star team (eg clone to the entry with ROSTERPOS 0, TEAM 30 to replace the centre on the Eastern All-Stars) if that's at all possible. That might be difficult for the later games though, since there's also appearance.dbf to worry about.

Is it possible to assign players to TEAM 30, 31 and 32 (East All-Stars, West All-Stars and the Retired Pool respectively) in the editor? If so, then replacing the All-Stars could be done like this:

1. Clone feature to place a copy of a player in the Free Agent pool
2. Edit player on All-Star team to TEAM 32, essentially removing them from the active roster
3. Edit cloned player in Free Agent pool to TEAM 30/31 (also changing ROSTERPOS as necessary)

That'd be fairly straightforward, I reckon. So yeah, cloning to the free agent pool with the ability to change TEAM and ROSTERPOS values would be a useful feature.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi

Cool, thanks for the feedback.

[Andrew]

No problem!

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

I got this wild idea, for how to make transfers, when I woke up today.

About creating a 'players in transfer pool'

When you move a player to the transfer pool, his team is changed to 10xx instead of xx.
This will make it possible to see a list of all players in transfer (including free agents moved to the pool).

Players in the pool can then be added to teams or to free agent etc.

When moving a player from a team to the pool, it creates a vacancy in that team.
So a temp 'fix roster vacancy' player is created with 10xx as team. Then it will be possible to see
a list of what teams that have a vacancy and might need more players.

When doing the actual transfer I think the most easy thing is to assign the player to the first free bench
rosterpos in the new team and then let the user change the starters and bench positions.

When transfer has been made the team that received a player must be edited by the user and
a temp 'fix roster received' player is created with 10xx as team. Then it will be possible to see what
teams that needs a fix of the rosterpos. When the user thinks he is finished with editing he can
remove the fix roster received & vacancy players for the finished team.

How do salary affect transfers in later games?

[Andrew]

That sounds like it might be a bit confusing for the average user. Truth be told, I'm having a little trouble following the idea myself. It would probably be easier just to assign players directly and if possible, run a check for any conflicts with ROSTERPOS/more than 15 players assigned to a team etc.

However, automatically assigning a player to the first free ROSTERPOS slot and then allowing the user to reorder the roster as desired seems like a good feature, especially if you were going to implement that idea.

Something to be wary of in NBA Live 06 onwards is that players on the user's team have two entries in the database in Dynasty Mode; the second entry is for the development comparison screen between seasons. That might complicate things with editing and it makes trading players on the user's team through DBF editing pretty much impossible without causing crashes.

Salaries are handled pretty much the same in all games. The main distinction with the later games is that the fields are labelled differently (eg CASH_TEAM as opposed to SALARYTEAM), otherwise the functions are all the same.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

I think for now the simplest would probably be just to change the team number for the player. More complex
transfer coding will be done later.

I have been sitting with some bugs & modifications all day today so I am a bit behind schedule right now and I will
be busy with some social activities tomorrow. So middle of next week is the new deadline. I need
to install the editor on my game PC first and test it there before I send it to you for beta testing.
And make some kind of user's guide for you so you understand the concept & how to do configuration etc.
Otherwise I think it is almost ready after my alpha testing on the development PC.

[Andrew]

Sure thing. Appreciate all the efforts, looking forward to helping out with some testing.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

I managed to build a simple version of my 'trade pool' using SQL configuration files to the editor.

And when doing trading it is cool that it is possible to have multiple instances of the
editor connected to the same database with both the SimpleEditor & the Extra SQL editor
windows opened. It is possible to update data from both the SimpleEditor & from the
Extra SQL editor.

You can eg have free agents in SQL editor and do searches for specific roster positions,player
names, teams etc while having one team and the teams players open in the SimpleEditor.

[Andrew]

Awesome! That'll be very handy.

Quick question, does it support mass edits, eg all Dunking ratings to 99, all dribbling ratings for guards +10, etc?

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

Nope, not yet, now you can only update one field at the time in the SimpleEditor.

But in the SQL editor it might be possible to do something like that via an SQL call?

[Andrew]

Cool. "Tweaked" rosters aren't really in vogue these days as they were years and years ago so it's probably not a feature we'd need to use all that often; handy to have but not essential and if it can be done through the SQL editor then advanced users could still do it when need be.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi

The thing with the SQL editor, is that the user must really know what he is
doing, if making UPDATE calls, otherwise that might end up in a 'corrupted'
db. As long as there are only SELECT calls made there are no problems.

At least the user should get a warning pop up box that says 'doing an UPDATE is on
his own risk'.

The SQL editor makes a SQL call either from predefined files (with SQL calls) or the user can enter/edit
a SQL line in a text box and then push a 'ask SQL' button.

[Andrew]

For sure. I'm guessing only advanced users would be really looking to make use of it, warning boxes and general advice that it's for advanced users only would definitely seem appropriate.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

Tested it on my gameing computer (Win XP home) and it worked like a charm.

Some initial configuration must be done, but up and running after 10-15 minutes.

This little rascal is superfast only takes 207k of disc space and the configuration
needs less disc space than that probably with all help files etc. And I dont
think there is any need to download any extra vb6 runtime stuff?

I have a bug that I need to fix, that I already have a correction for in another
personal version of the SimpleEditor and I also need to change the icon of the program
now the standard icon looks so silly.

I have also written a very simple instruction & configuration guide for you.
My plan is to release it to you, for beta testing, tomorrow night (probably some other
time for you Australia)

I just want to check that you have MS Access? I dont know if the data base connection
will work just with the .mdb or .mde file, might do? If you dont have it, then I can
make a .mde file that link to the data base tables in a specified folder inside the
SimpleEditors configuration folder, but then you probably need to place the folder
eg on the c:\

[xpoing]

Hi Bob,

could you explain again step by step what you are trying to do?

And also tell me what the advantages it will bring?

It would be great to have a simple explenation because I don't quite understand.

Cheers,

xpoing

[Andrew]

I just want to check that you have MS Access? I dont know if the data base connection
will work just with the .mdb or .mde file, might do? If you dont have it, then I can
make a .mde file that link to the data base tables in a specified folder inside the
SimpleEditors configuration folder, but then you probably need to place the folder
eg on the c:\

Good news. Yes, I've got MS Access 2003 installed at present.

Hi Bob,

could you explain again step by step what you are trying to do?

And also tell me what the advantages it will bring?

It would be great to have a simple explenation because I don't quite understand.

Cheers,

xpoing

It's an editor that will allow you to modify NBA Live's database files, with explanations of fields and values like the old Toolkits (along with other features, of course). The main advantage is that it'll be much easier than having to navigate the DBF files in programs such as DB Commander and it'll have some specific functions for working with NBA Live's files that DB Commander obviously does not since it wasn't written specifically for that purpose.

[hentzman]

It's an editor that will allow you to modify NBA Live's database files, with explanations of fields and values like the old Toolkits (along with other features, of course). The main advantage is that it'll be much easier than having to navigate the DBF files in programs such as DB Commander and it'll have some specific functions for working with NBA Live's files that DB Commander obviously does not since it wasn't written specifically for that purpose.

Well, I had no problems with DB Commander or my favourite editor CDBF, but I will let myself be surprised.

A completely phenomenal feature of a new editor would be a way to generate nba schedules for any year. I would most appreciate that.

[Andrew]

For experienced users it's certainly no problem (I've been using DB Commander for years now) but a tool written specifically for NBA Live's files makes things much easier and efficient for everyone and a whole lot simpler for novices.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi Andrew

You have a PM.

[Andrew]

Doesn't seem to have come through.

[Bob Yordan]

Hi

Sorry I must have done something wrong when sending it, think I got it right now.

Check your PM again.