Custom Start Date Patch / ArtMoney Development Thread

[98765432lop]

Anyone want to make a DB that contains all previous season history in them?

Example: Having Sid's 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011

Might be too much work to get every player though.

[AdamOates]

Anyone want to make a DB that contains all previous season history in them?

Example: Having Sid's 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011

Might be too much work to get every player though.

I'm sure it will be added to the Manimal roster once it's all worked out. At the very least you'd have to add the players who have a chance to break career records (Crosby, Ovechkin, etc.) or have already broken them (Brodeur).

[Alessandro]

Well, the problem is that for now we didn't find a way to show these histories with a future date as the game blocks them. But when we'll find a workaround I'm sure every player will have them.

[archibalduk]

This is really great. I hope it all works out. The editor can change all the birth dates back to what they were right?

That's exactly right. You just need to use the Editor to figure out by how many years the birth dates were changed (e.g. by looking at the DOB of a player you know) and then you can easily reverse it.

As for the post 2005/06 career histories - this is something I'd really like to change but fixing the WC bug takes priority first.

[Xalfen]

Anyone want to make a DB that contains all previous season history in them?

Example: Having Sid's 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011

Might be too much work to get every player though.

I'm sure it will be added to the Manimal roster once it's all worked out. At the very least you'd have to add the players who have a chance to break career records (Crosby, Ovechkin, etc.) or have already broken them (Brodeur).

I tried this few weeks ago, turns out it doesn't work the way I did it. I added to Stamkos his real stats, and the game won't show them. Don't know why.

[archibalduk]

I've virtually finished the first version of the CSD Patch. It works just as well as the ArtMoney method but is a lot quicker and easier. The patch is fully working and even automatically detects the current season so as to save you time. E.g. between January 2011 and August 2011 the patch will automatically set the year in the input box as 2010; and between September 2011 and December 2011 the year is automatically set as 2011. Hopefully this will make things a little bit quicker.

I don't want to release the patch quite yet because I want to complete the Quick Start CSD Patch and I want to work on solving the WC issue (although I'm going to share it by next weekend with a few private testers to ensure it works as planned). The first CSD Patch will be released shortly before October.

In the meantime, here's a screenshot showing how it works. It's not the prettiest UI but it does the job!

[Ogilthorpe]

That looks like great Archi!

When you have the patch available you will be making hundreds or possibly thousands of people very happy.

Besides the start date what else do you hope to be able to change in the game with this type of patch?

[pens66]

Just to understand things right: I can choose to set my starting date to 1957 with this little program if I want to do so??
That would be incredible.

[Alessandro]

That looks like great Archi!

When you have the patch available you will be making hundreds or possibly thousands of people very happy.

Besides the start date what else do you hope to be able to change in the game with this type of patch?

I suggest you to have a look at this exact thread and this one: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =13&t=8142 and this one: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =13&t=8160

[Alessandro]

Just to understand things right: I can choose to set my starting date to 1957 with this little program if I want to do so??
That would be incredible.

Yes

[Alessandro]

I've virtually finished the first version of the CSD Patch. It works just as well as the ArtMoney method but is a lot quicker and easier. The patch is fully working and even automatically detects the current season so as to save you time. E.g. between January 2011 and August 2011 the patch will automatically set the year in the input box as 2010; and between September 2011 and December 2011 the year is automatically set as 2011. Hopefully this will make things a little bit quicker.

I don't want to release the patch quite yet because I want to complete the Quick Start CSD Patch and I want to work on solving the WC issue (although I'm going to share it by next weekend with a few private testers to ensure it works as planned). The first CSD Patch will be released shortly before October.

In the meantime, here's a screenshot showing how it works. It's not the prettiest UI but it does the job!

Amazing job my friend.

[nino33]

pens66 wrote:
Just to understand things right: I can choose to set my starting date to 1957 with this little program if I want to do so??
That would be incredible.

Yes

With my 1974 db I think I can use the PreGame Editor to change all DOBs (move them all back 32 years...from 2006 to 1974).
BUT how would contracts work? Won't this be a problem?

For the 1974 db won't all the Contract Start Dates need to be before August 1974? and all End Dates need to be between 1975 and 1986? (11 year contract max)
Will this mean manually editing 40,000+ contracts?!!

Regards

[Ogilthorpe]

I suggest you to have a look at this exact thread and this one: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =13&t=8142 and this one: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =13&t=8160

I went back and read the rest of the thread soon after I posted. I should have edited what I said.

[Alessandro]

pens66 wrote:
Just to understand things right: I can choose to set my starting date to 1957 with this little program if I want to do so??
That would be incredible.

Yes

With my 1974 db I think I can use the PreGame Editor to change all DOBs (move them all back 32 years...from 2006 to 1974).
BUT how would contracts work? Won't this be a problem?

For the 1974 db won't all the Contract Start Dates need to be before August 1974? and all End Dates need to be between 1975 and 1986? (11 year contract max)
Will this mean manually editing 40,000+ contracts?!!

Regards

Well, with the pregame editor you can mass-edit the DOB of all players, I'm sure it's possible to write a similar thing for contracts.

[ElQuapo]

It would also be great if the editor could delete the whole database so one could start from scratch with creating new players, staff, teams etc. for a given historical year.

That way there wouldn't be a lot of current players in the historical databases.

[archibalduk]

That looks like great Archi!

When you have the patch available you will be making hundreds or possibly thousands of people very happy.

Besides the start date what else do you hope to be able to change in the game with this type of patch?

Thanks! The patch I'm working on at the moment will deal solely with the start date. Once I've gotten this complete, I'm going to create a second utility (I'll probably call it something like a Memory Patch or Updater) that will be the same as the Custom Start Date Patch but will additionally be able to load custom update files. These custom update files can contain additional offsets to be altered which affect things such as league structures, rules, etc. The idea is that if Manimal/Marek/Alessandro wanted specific rules/structures changed for one of their roster updates then they could create their own update file which could be loaded using my Memory Patch.

After this, I plan on creating a contract editor which will allow contract expiry dates to be edited en masse. This will be one step towards allowing historic rosters to work properly with a historic start date.

It would also be great if the editor could delete the whole database so one could start from scratch with creating new players, staff, teams etc. for a given historical year.

That way there wouldn't be a lot of current players in the historical databases.

Marek has posted a lot of useful information in the two other hex threads which should enable somebody to create a blank database. The teams and leagues would have to stay however (so as not to upset the league structures or hardcoded teams). It's something I'd like to try at some point - but there's other things I want to work on first.

With my 1974 db I think I can use the PreGame Editor to change all DOBs (move them all back 32 years...from 2006 to 1974).
BUT how would contracts work? Won't this be a problem?

For the 1974 db won't all the Contract Start Dates need to be before August 1974? and all End Dates need to be between 1975 and 1986? (11 year contract max)
Will this mean manually editing 40,000+ contracts?!!

Regards

Well, with the pregame editor you can mass-edit the DOB of all players, I'm sure it's possible to write a similar thing for contracts.

I plan on creating a utility to adjust contract expiries en masse by a customisable number, The basics are there already in the tool I created and so I'm hopeful I can pull this off. I'll be working on this after the Memory Patch.

[tinyheed]

incredible stuff mate.

Would think that this will give the game a much needed boost.

[nino33]

After this, I plan on creating a contract editor which will allow contract expiry dates to be edited en masse.

Wow! The 1974 db with 1974 as the start date.....awesome!
You note the editing of contract expiry dates....do you think you'll need to include "start date" as well?

It would also be great if the editor could delete the whole database so one could start from scratch with creating new players, staff, teams etc. for a given historical year

For me I think I'd rather have a way of just having all player/staff names randomized (can we create a saveable/editable "random database" with "fake names" with EHM07? I don't know how to if we can).....I've found just partially editing less than 5000 players to be an enormous amount of work, and I wouldn't want to create 40,000+ "from scratch"

The idea of EHM actually showing 1974 as the date for the 1974 db is so exciting!!!

Regards

[YZG]

I've personnally badly wanted blank databases for so long! I tried several times to just release all staff from their contracts using the FA Utility then replacing the staff and name files by blank ones; I tried different combos of original and blank files, and all that works is blanking the player history file. That's great, but still not enough.

I found that with overwriting current players in historical dbs, you can quickly loose track of what you've done and what you haven't and you can forget lots of things. Creating 40-50k players from scratch is a pain in the arse; however, I find that, if the blank staff db comes with blank names dbs, the golden opportunity to build a great historical db AND a respectable names db is worth the hassle. Regen names too often suck badly.

- YZG

[nino33]

I guess for me it depends on what a "blank database" means.....I just did some quick calculations, and working 5 hours EVERY day it would take almost 18 months to create 40,000 staff/players, and this is at a rate of one player "done" every 4 minutes, which is about one "data box" filled evey 4 seconds when creating the player, and I just don't work so fast!
I wonder what would happen if a game was started with a blank database? If EHM "creates" needed players (whether grey players or real players) then a blank database would be great, because you'd only need to create a few thousand players!

Something that might be cool IMO woulld be the ability to mass edit Reputation. Europeans/Russians over age 20 with a Reputation of 80 and below (regardless of their CA/PA, thus CA/PA can be high) do not get an NHL Release Clause, and thus "stay" in Europe/Russia for as long as their contract is set for (11 year max); for a lot of historical databases (or some European/Russian focused databases) I think this would likely be very desireable

I found that with overwriting current players in historical dbs, you can quickly loose track of what you've done and what you haven't and you can forget lots of things

All the work that I have done is on paper and/or excel first before I ever start editing (I have lists/spreadsheets/rosters of all the changes I've made and am making + multiple "dollar store notebooks" full of notes that map out my intentions/work in progress)...for me I can't imagine working any other way

Regards

[Alessandro]

Thanks! The patch I'm working on at the moment will deal solely with the start date. Once I've gotten this complete, I'm going to create a second utility (I'll probably call it something like a Memory Patch or Updater) that will be the same as the Custom Start Date Patch but will additionally be able to load custom update files. These custom update files can contain additional offsets to be altered which affect things such as league structures, rules, etc. The idea is that if Manimal/Marek/Alessandro wanted specific rules/structures changed for one of their roster updates then they could create their own update file which could be loaded using my Memory Patch.

This is awesome. Me and Marek already started adding some stuff to your excellent patch (import rules, shoot-out, etc) and thus this will be truly welcome to accomodate all our needs. Moreover, artmoney is one hell of a piece of software, but unfortunately it's not too handy to use and thus having a "semplifier" would truly help the gamers.

[Lazion]

I cannot find any words on this.. I'm happy!

About the blank db - Last year I cleared (retired) every player in db using some sort of mouse recorder. It took around 10-30 hours to procress. That is easiest way -for those who doesn't get a s*** about cpu languages- to create 'blank' db. Even thought retired players are still showing up in editor you can filter those away.
Unfortunatelly I lost the DB in hard-drive crash.

[archibalduk]

You note the editing of contract expiry dates....do you think you'll need to include "start date" as well?

That's a good point. I'll need to keep that in mind. Although I don't really know what effect the "date joined club" field does to be honest. I'll also need to include the national team date joined and contract expiry fields.

The idea of EHM actually showing 1974 as the date for the 1974 db is so exciting!!!

Yeah it would be brilliant! I just hope that changing the contracts and possibly the league histories is enough. The career histories might also need to be changed, come to think of it.

This is awesome. Me and Marek already started adding some stuff to your excellent patch (import rules, shoot-out, etc) and thus this will be truly welcome to accomodate all our needs. Moreover, artmoney is one hell of a piece of software, but unfortunately it's not too handy to use and thus having a "semplifier" would truly help the gamers.

Yeah ArtMoney is perfect for testing but it's not feasible as a patch. It'll be a lot easier to have a simple patch file to do the job instead. If you and Marek continue development of the structure/rules updates and I keep working on the patcher then together we will achieve something very cool.

I've personnally badly wanted blank databases for so long! I tried several times to just release all staff from their contracts using the FA Utility then replacing the staff and name files by blank ones; I tried different combos of original and blank files

Theoretically, a tool could be created that renames every player in the database with a random name. All first names and surnames are stored in the database as a separate table and so the tool could randomly select a first name and surname according to the nationality of the player. I've got too much on my plate at the moment and so I'm not going to promise to look into something like this... But something like that is feasible.

Something that might be cool IMO woulld be the ability to mass edit Reputation. Europeans/Russians over age 20 with a Reputation of 80 and below (regardless of their CA/PA, thus CA/PA can be high) do not get an NHL Release Clause, and thus "stay" in Europe/Russia for as long as their contract is set for (11 year max); for a lot of historical databases (or some European/Russian focused databases) I think this would likely be very desireable

This would certainly be feasible. It would be a case of a utility opening the appropriate database, filtering through the database for the desired nationalities and then setting the new reputation. As with the above, I'm not going to say I'm going to write something to do that (far too busy with other bits at the moment), but it's something I might consider in the future once I have more spare time and have improved my C++ programming knowledge (only started learning/using C++ last Thursday). Maybe once you've gotten your 1974 DB finalised and people have had the opportunity to test it out, maybe we could discuss these sorts of things (i.e. I wish there was a utility to do X, Y, Z etc)?

[Tyees]

I would love to be able to select multiple players at once and mass edit that way, rather than 1 or everyone. Not really the thread for it at this point!

[Alessandro]

This is awesome. Me and Marek already started adding some stuff to your excellent patch (import rules, shoot-out, etc) and thus this will be truly welcome to accomodate all our needs. Moreover, artmoney is one hell of a piece of software, but unfortunately it's not too handy to use and thus having a "semplifier" would truly help the gamers.

Yeah ArtMoney is perfect for testing but it's not feasible as a patch. It'll be a lot easier to have a simple patch file to do the job instead. If you and Marek continue development of the structure/rules updates and I keep working on the patcher then together we will achieve something very cool.

This is out of question, of course we will keep on working (as soon as he gets back from Peru...)
When you'll want to send me something for testing, I'll do some cross-tests, it will be interesting