EHM 2007 Updater (A Pre-Game & Saved Game Editor)

[MKoivuFan]

Just to be 100% clear, the post I quoted is about editing the .DAT files using a hex editor and NOT the .XML files. The Updater cannot edit contracts in a saved game. The Updater only edits contracts in the database.

I'm really struggling to understand your questions, but I've tried to answer them:

1. I understand that in the club_staff.xml file you have to change the contract club & contract league and who they are playing for, when they joined the team and when the contract expires the part im confused is the iD numbers.

What is a club_staff.xml file?

2. i tried to open the exported_clubs.xml and it just lists the different clubs unless all 3 steps above are in the exported_staff.xml file..

Exported_clubs.xml lists just the details of all of the clubs. What were you expecting? If you tell me what you're expecting to find then I can tell you whether or not it is currently possible with the Updater.

Exported_staff.xml lists all of the staff (i.e. players and non-players).

if someone just updates the contract club & league, playing for, date it joined and contract expired just fixed all of those it should work right..

for example

Player A contracted with Regina Pats / Western Hockey League
Playing For: Regina Pats
Date Joined 6/30/2006
contract expired: 6/30/2010

changed to

Player A contracted with Lethbridge Hurricanes / Western Hockey League
Playing For: Lethbridge Hurricanes
Date Joined 7/1/2007
contract expired: 6/30/2010

if i made those changes to the players they should work?

Yes, if you make those changes using a contract_update.xml file then it'll work. But, as I mentioned above, you can only do this with a database and not a saved game.

1. sorry i ment exported_staff.xml

2. what i asking i should have asked more clearer my appologizes... what i was trying to explain is in the exports_staff.xml u can edit in a excel who plays where and such.. but if i changed like i said above those changes in the exported_staff.xml and then import it with the updater it still wouldnt work... if it doesnt work is there any editor out there work for a save file where u can move a player from team A to team B because i want to have edmonton oil kings but not start till 2007 if there isnt ill have to start the game with the roster on it type thing as a worse case scenario..

[archibalduk]

Ok, I understand what you mean now.

No, there's no way of moving a player from one team to another in a saved game right now. It's something I'd like to add to the Updater, but it's really low on the list because the DB editing functions have to take priority.

The ID numbers in the exported_staff.xml file aren't important. They just help me test that new features in the Updater work. They're also useful if you're doing hex editing. You should use the contract_update.xml file if you want to move players to other teams (but in the DB only - it doesn't work for saved games).

[gbarton24]

I downloaded the latest roster. 6.3. I've put it in the correct folder and edited it with the pre game editor to update contracts and staff movements. However, when I load the roster in the game, none of the changes have taken effect. I have done this loads with previous rosters no problem. When I load the roster in pre game editor to check the changes I made are still there, they are. How come the changes aren't being seen in the game when they have been saved according to the editor? Thanks

[gbarton24]

I have just played around editing the roster version 6.1 and those changes appear in the game. The 6.3 roster loads absolutely fine, just with no changes that I made in the editor. Really confused

[nino33]

I downloaded the latest roster. 6.3. I've put it in the correct folder and edited it with the pre game editor to update contracts and staff movements. However, when I load the roster in the game, none of the changes have taken effect. I have done this loads with previous rosters no problem. When I load the roster in pre game editor to check the changes I made are still there, they are. How come the changes aren't being seen in the game when they have been saved according to the editor? Thanks

I have just played around editing the roster version 6.1 and those changes appear in the game. The 6.3 roster loads absolutely fine, just with no changes that I made in the editor. Really confused

Hmmm...seems like you might be encountering the "Run as Admin" issue; see Archi's post in this thread http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 17&t=11145

[archibalduk]

Yeah, I'm almost certain the reason is as Nino mentions. If you look at this post in the thread Nino mentions, you'll see an explanation on how to recover your DB.

The most important thing to do is to always use Run as Admin when running the game, Updater, Pre-Game Editor or any other EHM utility.

[gbarton24]

Yeah sorted it. Thanks for that. Been a while since I played so must have forgot the administrator bit for the editor. I remembered about the other ones. Thanks

[ramfeild66]

So I've been playing around with this today, but I'm missing something I can't really find an answer to in the readme.

I'm trying to mass edit the names database (first and last) to work with my fictional nation. I'm placing my nation over the Norwegian league and I'm subsequently altering the Norwegian portion of the first and last names.

So I exported the first and last name databases into a .csv format using the updater and made my edits using the format given working only over the Norwegian names. I then saved the file and tried to import them back into the database using the data updater. I got the "Unknown Updater File Type." So I then saved the file to a .xml 2003 spreadsheet and tried re-importing it and again got the same message. So I went to the Create Spreadsheet Template function, however all I have is an empty folder, but also reading the readme it doesn't seem like there is a template for editing names.

My file is currently called exported_first_names.xml

I've used the Name Extractor from Archibald, but that only gives a raw names and name ID format that doesn't show nationalities or name count so I am unsure what will happen if I edit it in that format.

Is it possible to alter the names database through this? And what is the best way of altering the names? I've been currently covering up the current database slots with my own names, retaining the database ID. Without testing I suspect this will create errors, however I was also planing on adding name ID's as well. I was also not planning on using real players.

[nino33]

So I've been playing around with this today, but I'm missing something I can't really find an answer to in the readme.

I'm trying to mass edit the names database (first and last) to work with my fictional nation. I'm placing my nation over the Norwegian league and I'm subsequently altering the Norwegian portion of the first and last names.

So I exported the first and last name databases into a .csv format using the updater and made my edits using the format given working only over the Norwegian names. I then saved the file and tried to import them back into the database using the data updater. I got the "Unknown Updater File Type." So I then saved the file to a .xml 2003 spreadsheet and tried re-importing it and again got the same message. So I went to the Create Spreadsheet Template function, however all I have is an empty folder, but also reading the readme it doesn't seem like there is a template for editing names.

My file is currently called exported_first_names.xml

I've used the Name Extractor from Archibald, but that only gives a raw names and name ID format that doesn't show nationalities or name count so I am unsure what will happen if I edit it in that format.

Is it possible to alter the names database through this? And what is the best way of altering the names? I've been currently covering up the current database slots with my own names, retaining the database ID. Without testing I suspect this will create errors, however I was also planing on adding name ID's as well. I was also not planning on using real players.

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure the Updater does not allow you to edit names (maybe it will someday, but not yet).
All editing using the Updater is accomplished only by using the available templates (currently the data exports include data that can't yet be edited using a template)

You can edit names using the PreGame Editor http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =88&t=6745
Things can go wrong when you edit names, and so to even do so using the PreGame Editor you need to enable/allow name editing (open the PreGame Editor and load the database you want to edit, select Tools at the top of the screen, and then select Allow Editing of Forenames/Surnames)...there's no way of exporting/importing data with the PreGame Editor, so the editing is very tedious/time consuming...I'm not sure if you can edit Nation and/or add a fictional Nation (I don't think so)

[archibalduk]

Nino's right - the Updater cannot import names right now. I'd go with Nino's suggestion about the Pre-Game Editor.

The Names Extractor is pretty basic because it was something I wrote to help Nino fix some issues he had with some names in his 1974 DB.

Name editing is something I'd like to eventually add to the Updater. I'll post more details when I have some spare time but, in short, my ultimate goal is to make the entire DB editable using Updater spreadsheets.

[NOTE TO SELF: Add player records deletion from club histories.]

[ramfeild66]

Thanks for the response. Ah, that's a shame, although at least I know I'm not doing something wrong. It would be awesome if this could one day be included. I use the Pre-Game editor already, however updating the names list through that will be a laborious job. My hope had been to redo the names database and then run the game using fictional names so that I wouldn't have to create my own players (an extremely tedious task). I should really give a little background on my project. I used to be a hobbyist writer of mainly fantasy fiction, from childhood I'd always been fascinated by maps, geography and history. A few years ago I created a contemporary real world nation called Nyrkraj (or New Shores). It's a mineral rich island north of Norway and straddling the Norwegian/Russian maritime border with a population comparable to Malta. The nation is a mongrel in terms of ethnicity and whilst predominantly Russian and Norwegian, there are significant populations of native Inuit, Tatars, Poles, Scandinavians, Americans, Cornish, Australians, Ukrainians and even Somalians and Pakistani's.

While my original story had been about the breakup of a Russo-Norwegian condominium (a dual ruled state), being a massive sports fan, I decided to start basing fictional leagues within my nation. Subsequently I have a Speedway league courtesy of a game called Flying Shale, a Football pyramid thanks to Football Manager 2013, Baseball courtesy of OOTP 14, Basketball from Fast Break Basketball, American Football via Second and Ten, Aussie Rules (hence the Australian/Cornish mining influence being shoe horned into the Arctic) due to a game called Footy Fanatic, Cricket thanks to Cricket Coach 14, Handball from Handball Manager 2010 and Volleyball courtesy of Volleyball Manager 2013. I even have boxing thanks to a game called Title Bout Boxing. All these games are extremely editable, but all require different skills and all have varying depths (Ruck and Maul, my Rugby base is very basic, as is Flying Shale), they're all simulators and I've lost count of the hours I've dedicated to this project (I work at sea as a merchant naval officer, so I generally have a lot of empty nights). However, ice hockey has always been my favourite sport, prior to this project I spent my hours playing EHM 2007 starting with Wightlink Raiders and trying to make it to the NHL (The AHL was the closest I got after about 10 years in the ECHL via two tiers of Finnish ice hockey). Being an Arctic nation, ice hockey is the missing link. There are other hockey management sims out there, I was excited about FHM as OOTP is amazingly editable, however in its current format, it's frankly broken and the other hockey games sorely lack the depth of EHM.

I've already built up a massive names database when I was first editing OOTP, so some games take little more than a morning to edit and I had hoped the editor would allow me to do that. However, I'm about to take on an 6-8 month contract so I may just make it an overarching project and add 50 or so a day.

I knew I couldn't create a fictional nation, as I attempted that a year or so ago and totally broke the database. Most of the time I find myself editing data over an existing nation as few games allow you to build from the ground up... even Football Manager 2014 only allows you to copy over extinct nations. I think OOTP is the only game that I could have added the nation from the ground up, but even then I think I simply copied over Malta. Modding simulators has become a bit of an obsession to be honest. I know exactly when this all began... when old FIFA games allowed you to create your own teams in the 90's!

[mongo]

I need some help on loading my save game. I'm using 2.0.5 (editor) but I get the 86-87% freeze ("player_stats_hist.tmp") in the app when I try to load my saved game and then it crashes. I know someone asked about this issue a while ago but I never really saw a fix for it. Any ideas?

[archibalduk]

I need some help on loading my save game. I'm using 2.0.5 (editor) but I get the 86-87% freeze ("player_stats_hist.tmp") in the app when I try to load my saved game and then it crashes. I know someone asked about this issue a while ago but I never really saw a fix for it. Any ideas?

It might be a corrupt saved game. Can you zip up the saved game and upload it? I'll take a quick look for you.

I will try to remember to add corruption-checking to saved games in the Updater so as to avoid the crash/freeze.

[mongo]

Here you go..

http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/59456608/file.html

[archibalduk]

It's because you're using the Saved Compressed option in EHM. The Updater cannot load compressed saved games.

You need to load your saved game in EHM -> Click on Preferences -> Disable the "Save Compressed" option -> Re-save your game. Then it'll work in the Updater.

In addition to detecting corrupt saved games, I also need it to detect compressed saved games so that it will let it you know why it can't load them.

[mongo]

Thanks dude, I'll try that.

[mongo]

Ok it's working in loading up my saved game now however I'm confused as to how I edit/manipulate either attributes or contracts. The only thing I see to edit attribute-wise is "pass tendency" and "strength-calculation". Did I misunderstand in that you could edit a number of things in your saved game such as; contracts, ALL attributes, etc?

[Tasku]

No, I don't think those are editable via the saved game editor. The pre-game editor, yes.

[archibalduk]

You can edit player and non-player attributes only, but many are encoded - see page 20 of the readme for more details.

[axepig]

I'm trying to mass edit the potential of all players to 200 PA but I'm having an issue with the updater, whenever I try to import my .xml it says that the number of columns is incorect. I've checked and all of my files had 81 columns, including the original imported file. Can I just delete any column that I didn't modify or is there a way to import 81 columns properly?

[nino33]

The number of columns is determined by the importing template you're using. You can't just edit and import the exported files.

When you open the Updater click on Spreadsheet at the top, and then click on Create Spreadsheet Templates. This will create the 7 different Templates that can be used to import changes...to mass edit PA, you'll likely want to use the attribute_update file (which is 80 columns wide).

[axepig]

Oh alright the template looks slightly different, is there a way to have all the players of my DB on it automatically though? I thought I'd copy the exported file but the columns are not the same so that wouldn't work and the template only have the column names

[nino33]

Oh alright the template looks slightly different, is there a way to have all the players of my DB on it automatically though? I thought I'd copy the exported file but the columns are not the same so that wouldn't work and the template only have the column names

There's no way to have the importing templates automatically populate. It doesn't take long to either copy/paste from your edited file to the importing template, or go column by column to ensure the files match and transfer your edited file with one big copy/paste (what used to take months/years can now be done in minutes!).

You only need to input into the importing template the Player Name and DOB + whatever values you edited, you can leave the rest blank if you want....so if you're just trying to increase the PA of all players to 200, you could do so in just a couple minutes.

[axepig]

Alright I think it worked, thanks a lot!

[archibalduk]

The number of columns is determined by the importing template you're using. You can't just edit and import the exported files.

When you open the Updater click on Spreadsheet at the top, and then click on Create Spreadsheet Templates. This will create the 7 different Templates that can be used to import changes...to mass edit PA, you'll likely want to use the attribute_update file (which is 80 columns wide).

This is an easy mistake to make - and one I have seen made numerous times. I think I need to make it harder to make this mistake because I know how frustrating it is going round in circles trying to figure out where you've gone wrong.

When you export certain data (such as player attributes - aka exported_attributes), it is possible to "convert" them into an attribute_update file by deleting the columns that don't appear in the attribute_update template file (such as club/comp playing and contracted). The exported_attributes xml file contains the same hidden tags as the attribute_update file and so if you try importing an exported_attributes file, the Updater will treat it as an attribute_update file. However, when it sees that the file contains more columns than expected, it'll display the too many columns error. I think I need to remove the hidden tags from the exported_attributes xml file so that the Updater will simply say something like "Unrecognised File. Are you sure you are using a Template file?".

I have also improved the columns error message for the next Updater - it now says how many columns it was expecting in addition to the number actually contained in the file.