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Schedule Editor
A baseball schedule is a staggeringly complicated piece of work. OOTP comes with schedules that fit a number of different league configurations, but ultimately, you may decide that you want to tweak the schedule, or that OOTP's schedules don't suit your needs. In that case, the Schedule Editor might be your best friend. Read on for more information about schedules in OOTP:
When you create a league, and on the first day of the preseason in each subsequent season, OOTP checks the predefined schedules to see if it already has a schedule that matches your specific league setup. If a match is found, OOTP will use that schedule, and the computer will randomly juggle the team matchups from year to year, so that the schedule isn't identical each year. If multiple matching schedules are found for a certain league setup, OOTP will cycle through the different schedules each year, to provide variety. If no matching schedule can be found, OOTP will automatically generate a schedule consistent with your league setup.
All of this works to help create realistic schedules. However, you may find that you wish to customize the schedule further. The Schedule Editor is a great help in this regard.
OOTP's Schedule Editor can be used to edit a league's existing schedule, but it can also be used to create exhibition games, spring training games, or custom playoff games. The Schedule Editor is also the only way in OOTP that you can schedule games between teams in different leagues. Some players may use this feature to have the champions from different leagues play each other, or to create a tournament-like scenario.
You can access the Schedule Editor via the League Functions page, either by selecting Edit Schedule from the Functions action menu, or by selecting Edit League Schedule from the scrolling list.
In the Schedule Editor, first use the Select League drop-down in the top right to select the league whose schedule you wish to edit. The Schedule Editor displays one day at a time, using a calendar system in the upper right corner, just like the one used on the Scores & Schedule page. Once you have selected a date, all of the scheduled games for that date will be listed on the page.
In the Schedule Editor, there are several different tasks you can accomplish:
If you wish to delete a game, just click the Delete button next to the game.
Note: You cannot change the teams in an existing game. If you wish to change teams, you must delete that game and create a new one with the team matchup you want.
To add a game or series to the schedule, use the following steps:
The Schedule Grid report is a color-coded chart that is a little rough on the eyes, but is very helpful in analyzing a schedule.
The chart shows the numeric month and day down the left side, and the different teams in the league across the top. Each row of data represents one day, and displays all scheduled games for that day. Home teams are listed in yellow, and away teams in red.
For example, in the graphic above, let's look at the first row of data. The 4 and 7 mean that we're looking at April 7th. Then the next column tells us that NO (New Orleans - the team in the column header) is playing against POR (Portland, represented in the intersection between the row and column). The fact that POR is in yellow tells us that the game is in Portland. In the next column, we see that Sacramento is playing at San Francisco, and so on across the columns.
The Schedule Evaluation report gives you numeric data about your schedule, and is divided into two parts. The first part is a numeric summary of how many games of what types your teams have scheduled.
The second part of this report is a team-by-team analysis that shows how many games each team has against the others, and the days of the week on which they fall.:
In each column, there are two numbers separated by a slash. These indicate the number of home and away games. So, in the graphic above, the "2/1" in the San Francisco / Sunday row/column means that New Orleans has three games against San Francisco on Sundays, 2 at home, and 1 away.
Note: There are also a number of wonderfully helpful OOTP community members who create custom schedules upon request. You can find them in the Scheduling Forum.
How OOTP's Scheduler Works
Baseball schedules are created based on the structure of your league (how many teams, divisions, subleagues, etc.). OOTP comes with over 250 schedule files, stored in the dataschedules directory in your OOTP installation folder. These schedule files match all of the standard leagues, as well as a number of other historical and fictional league scenarios, enabling the game to create realistic schedules for most types of leagues.When you create a league, and on the first day of the preseason in each subsequent season, OOTP checks the predefined schedules to see if it already has a schedule that matches your specific league setup. If a match is found, OOTP will use that schedule, and the computer will randomly juggle the team matchups from year to year, so that the schedule isn't identical each year. If multiple matching schedules are found for a certain league setup, OOTP will cycle through the different schedules each year, to provide variety. If no matching schedule can be found, OOTP will automatically generate a schedule consistent with your league setup.
All of this works to help create realistic schedules. However, you may find that you wish to customize the schedule further. The Schedule Editor is a great help in this regard.
OOTP's Schedule Editor can be used to edit a league's existing schedule, but it can also be used to create exhibition games, spring training games, or custom playoff games. The Schedule Editor is also the only way in OOTP that you can schedule games between teams in different leagues. Some players may use this feature to have the champions from different leagues play each other, or to create a tournament-like scenario.
You can access the Schedule Editor via the League Functions page, either by selecting Edit Schedule from the Functions action menu, or by selecting Edit League Schedule from the scrolling list.
In the Schedule Editor, first use the Select League drop-down in the top right to select the league whose schedule you wish to edit. The Schedule Editor displays one day at a time, using a calendar system in the upper right corner, just like the one used on the Scores & Schedule page. Once you have selected a date, all of the scheduled games for that date will be listed on the page.
In the Schedule Editor, there are several different tasks you can accomplish:
- Edit existing games in a schedule
- Add new games or series to a schedule
- Generate a new fictional schedule
- Generate schedule reports
- Perform other schedule functions
- Customizing schedules outside of OOTP
Editing Existing Games
If you just want to tweak a few things, editing existing games is pretty simple. To change the start time of a game, simply type in the new time in the text box next to the game, and then press Enter. You must include the letters 'am' or 'pm' after the time.If you wish to delete a game, just click the Delete button next to the game.
Note: You cannot change the teams in an existing game. If you wish to change teams, you must delete that game and create a new one with the team matchup you want.
Adding Games or Series
The lower half of the Schedule Editor screen is used to add new games or series to the schedule.To add a game or series to the schedule, use the following steps:
- Using the calendar in the top right, make sure you are on the day you wish to schedule the game, or the first game of the series.
- Using the drop-downs in the lower left and lower right, select a home and visiting team for the matchup.
- Select an option from the Select Game Type drop-down. You can choose from Exhibition, Spring Training, Regular Season, or Playoff.
- Select an option from the Select Number of Games drop-down. You can choose from 1 to 10 games in the series.
- Click the Schedule Series/Game button. Your new game or series will be added to the schedule on consecutive days beginning with the current date.
Generating Fictional Schedules
If you think you have made a mistake, or just want to let OOTP take over, you can always click the Generate Fictional Schedule button at the bottom of the page. This will ask OOTP to create a full schedule for the currently selected league. Unless you have been playing with the schedules, this shouldn't be necessary in the normal course of play. (Another case where generating a new schedule is common is if you have changed the structure of your league.)Generating Schedule Reports
OOTP also has two schedule reports that can be generated on-demand. These are often helpful to look at while editing a schedule. Both of these reports can be accessed through the Action menu in the lower right. They are the Schedule Grid report and the Schedule Evaluation report.The Schedule Grid report is a color-coded chart that is a little rough on the eyes, but is very helpful in analyzing a schedule.
The chart shows the numeric month and day down the left side, and the different teams in the league across the top. Each row of data represents one day, and displays all scheduled games for that day. Home teams are listed in yellow, and away teams in red.
For example, in the graphic above, let's look at the first row of data. The 4 and 7 mean that we're looking at April 7th. Then the next column tells us that NO (New Orleans - the team in the column header) is playing against POR (Portland, represented in the intersection between the row and column). The fact that POR is in yellow tells us that the game is in Portland. In the next column, we see that Sacramento is playing at San Francisco, and so on across the columns.
The Schedule Evaluation report gives you numeric data about your schedule, and is divided into two parts. The first part is a numeric summary of how many games of what types your teams have scheduled.
The second part of this report is a team-by-team analysis that shows how many games each team has against the others, and the days of the week on which they fall.:
In each column, there are two numbers separated by a slash. These indicate the number of home and away games. So, in the graphic above, the "2/1" in the San Francisco / Sunday row/column means that New Orleans has three games against San Francisco on Sundays, 2 at home, and 1 away.
Schedule Functions
In addition to the reports, the Schedule Editor also has a few more functions tucked away in the Action menu, as follows:| Option | Description |
| Clear Schedule | Erases the entire schedule for the selected league. |
| Export to File | Exports the selected league's schedule to an XML file. You are presented with a file dialog box, where you can choose where to save the file. The schedule file will be saved with an .lsdl extension, and it can be opened with any text editor. |
| Import from File | Imports an XML schedule file for the selected league. You are presented with a file dialog box, where you can select the file to be imported. |
| Import for 1st subleague | Imports an XML schedule file only for the first subleague in the selected league. You are presented with a file dialog box, where you can select the file to be imported. |
| Import for 2nd subleague | Imports an XML schedule file only for the second subleague in the selected league. You are presented with a file dialog box, where you can select the file to be imported. |
Customizing Schedules
In addition to all of the above, it is also possible to create your own custom schedule files outside of OOTP, and import them into the game. For more information, see the section of the manual on customization.Note: There are also a number of wonderfully helpful OOTP community members who create custom schedules upon request. You can find them in the Scheduling Forum.