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Game Almanac
The Game Almanac option (OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac) gives access to OOTP's Almanac. The Almanac is disabled by default.
To put it another way, let's say your team produces a "yearbook" at the end of each season that has ALL of the information from the just-completed season. In addition, at each game you can buy a program. As the new season starts, all of the programs handed out at the stadium have up-to-date statistics for all of the players, including last year's statistics, but the rest of the information is about the NEW season. To see exactly what things were like LAST season, you'd need to get out your yearbook.
With OOTP's default settings, each year you get the programs automatically. With the Almanac, you can keep copies of the yearbooks from each season too!
So, if it's so great, why is it off by default? As much fun as it is to have access to all of that data, these things take a toll on the performance of the game and the size of your league files. Saving this data each season results in thousands upon thousands of files being stored on your computer, and so by default we don't burden your machine like that!
OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac >> Almanac Options...
or OOTP Menu >> Game Setup >> Almanac Options tab:
These options are described in detail on the Almanac Options page.
You can then access the Almanac by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac >> Almanac xxxx, where 'xxxx' is the calendar year of the completed season. The Almanac itself is simply a set of all of the HTML reports for the season, that will open up in your computer's browser.
- What is the Almanac?
- Archiving Reports
- What Do I Lose if I Don't Use the Almanac?
- Automating Data Exports
- Setting Almanac Options
- Generating the Almanac
- Viewing the Almanac
What is the Almanac?
The Almanac is a yearly archiving process that serves two main functions:- Archiving reports
- Automating data exports
Archiving Reports
Information in OOTP is loosely divided into "current-year" reports (like the Team Home) and "historical reports" (like the League History page). At the end of each season, key statistical data is swept from the current reports into history. However, as you start the next season, the current-year reports start over from scratch.To put it another way, let's say your team produces a "yearbook" at the end of each season that has ALL of the information from the just-completed season. In addition, at each game you can buy a program. As the new season starts, all of the programs handed out at the stadium have up-to-date statistics for all of the players, including last year's statistics, but the rest of the information is about the NEW season. To see exactly what things were like LAST season, you'd need to get out your yearbook.
With OOTP's default settings, each year you get the programs automatically. With the Almanac, you can keep copies of the yearbooks from each season too!
So, if it's so great, why is it off by default? As much fun as it is to have access to all of that data, these things take a toll on the performance of the game and the size of your league files. Saving this data each season results in thousands upon thousands of files being stored on your computer, and so by default we don't burden your machine like that!
What Do I Lose if I Don't Use the Almanac?
If you don't use the Almanac, at the end of each year the following information will get wiped out in preparation for the next season:- Box scores from the past season
- Game logs from the past season
- Replay files from the past season
- All of the specific individual reports you can access from the Team Home page
Automating Exports
OOTP has a number of export functions that can be used to export statistical data from the game to a variety of database formats. Some OOTP users have made modifications that use this data. The Almanac has a secondary feature that automates the exporting of this data at the end of each year, so that people who need this data do not need to do so manually. Unless you have a specific need to export data, there is no reason to do anything with this capability!Setting Almanac Options
There are two ways to enable the Almanac or set Almanac options:OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac >> Almanac Options...
or OOTP Menu >> Game Setup >> Almanac Options tab:
These options are described in detail on the Almanac Options page.
Generating the Almanac
If you have enabled the Almanac, it will be generated automatically each December 31st. However, you can also generate the Almanac manually at any time by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac >> Generate Almanac now. The almanac process moves all of the selected HTML reports for the just-completed season into an extra folder in your saved game: ewslmanac_xxxx, where 'xxxx' is the calendar year of the completed season.Viewing the Almanac
Once a season's data has been archived in the Almanac, the just-archived season will get its own entry in the Almanac submenu:You can then access the Almanac by navigating to OOTP Menu >> Game Almanac >> Almanac xxxx, where 'xxxx' is the calendar year of the completed season. The Almanac itself is simply a set of all of the HTML reports for the season, that will open up in your computer's browser.