Baseball Mogul 2017: Schedule File Formats

Baseball Mogul 2017 now includes support for team abbreviations in schedule files, making it much easier to create or import your own schedule files (for historical and/or fictional seasons).

This is a copy of the document included in the Baseball Mogul "schedules" folder.

Schedule Filenames

The league format is converted to numbers and letters that are used to create the file name. If the schedule is from a specific year, the year is appended to the filename.

This is an example of the name of a schedule file: 162-U-555-555-I-2017.txt.

• ‘162’ is the number of games in the season.
• ‘U’ means the schedule is “unbalanced”. This means that teams play more games within their division, that vs. league opponents. (A ‘B’ would be used to indicate a “balanced” schedule, where all league teams play every other league team roughly the same number of times).
• The first ‘555’ refers to the number of teams in each division of league #1 — the American League has 5 teams in each of 3 divisions. The second ‘555’ refers to the number of teams in each division of the league #2 — the National League also has 5 teams in each division.

Because this schedule is for an unbalanced league, Baseball Mogul needs to ensure that league format has the correct number of teams in each division. Thus, the schedule file includes a number for each division.

For balanced schedules, the game only cares about whether the number of teams in each league match the schedule format. This only requires one number for each league. If the above file were for a balanced schedule, it would use the following filename: 162-B-15-15-I-2017.txt.

• The ‘I’ indicates that the schedule includes interleague games. If the schedule only features league play, this is replaced with an ‘L’.
• By default, all schedules have a 3-day all-star break. If this schedule didn’t have an All-Star Break, '-N' would be appended to the filename (for ‘No all-star game’).
• Finally, the specific year can be added as an optional parameter. If a year is listed, this schedule will only be loaded for that season.

The Baseball Mogul "schedules" folder

Examples

162-B-14-16-I = 162 games, balanced, 14-team AL, 16-team NL, with interleague play.
162-U-554-565-I = 162 games, unbalanced, 5-5-4 AL, 5-6-5 NL, with interleague play.
154-U-77-66-L = 154 games, unbalanced, 7-7 AL, 6-6 NL, no interleague play.
154-U-77-66-L-N = 154 games, unbalanced, 7-7 AL, 6-6 NL, no interleague play, no All-Star Break.

Schedule Formats

All schedule files use one line per scheduled game. Each group of games is preceded by a single
specifying the date on which those games occur.

This date must always be in the format “XXX M/D/Y”. For example, “Wed 4/5/2017” refers to
Wednesday April 5th, 2017. The month and day are the only data used; the year and day of week are
ignored.

Individual games on each day can be represented in one of two formats:

1. Numerical Team Indexes

Teams are represented by numbers, starting at 0, such as the following lines:

Sun 4/3/2017
0 @ 6
1 @ 3

Each number specifies a team in the database, with the teams grouped by division.1 For example, in a
template for the 1977 season:

- Teams 0-6 are the AL East
- Teams 7-13 are the AL West
- Teams 14-19 are the NL East
- Teams 20-25 are the NL West

Teams are ranked alphabetically within each division. Using 1977 again as an example:

- Team 0 is the Baltimore Orioles
- Team 1 is the Boston Red Sox
- Team 2 is the Cleveland Indians
- etc.

Note: Baseball Mogul assumes that leagues are sorted alphabetically, and divisions are sorted from East to West. The “American League” will be listed before the “National League”; the “AL East” will be listed before the “AL Central” and the “AL West”; etc.

2. Team Abbreviations

New for Baseball Mogul 2017, schedule files now support 3-letter abbreviations. For example:

Sun 4/3/2017
SFG @ ARI
NYY @ TBR

Team abbreviations can be viewed (or edited) in the League Editor inside Baseball Mogul.

Schedule Files as Templates

If the specific year is omitted, Baseball Mogul will use the schedule file as a template. Instead of
scheduling the games exactly as specified in the file, it will load the schedule file and then randomize
team schedules within each division. This allows the game to create unique schedules for future years, or for historical years for which we do not yet have specific data.

Schedules are shuffled WITHIN each division. So, in the 1977 example above, if Team 0 is scheduled to play the first game of the season, then the schedule created from that template will feature ANY ONE of the first seven teams to play the first game of the season.

Double-Headers

Baseball Mogul doesn’t currently support teams with more than one game schedules on the same day.
If you are creating a schedule file for a historical year with scheduled double-headers, you will need to move the 2nd game to a day where those teams have a day off (such as by moving the 2nd game of a Sunday double-header to the following Monday).

Missing Schedule Files

If there is no matching schedule file, Baseball Mogul fabricates a schedule using an algorithm than can produce some unrealistic schedules (with large gaps between games played). I am trying to expand the number of schedule files available inside Baseball Mogul. If you have created a file for a missing year or format, please forward it to cjd@sportsmogul.com and/or post it to our mod forums.

Thank you!

Appendix A: Numbers Used in Schedule Files for 2014-2016 Seasons

Note that teams are ordered:

1. Alphaterically by League (AL then NL).
2. Then by division from east to west.
3. Then alphabetically within each division.

AL East
BAL 0
BOS 1
NYA 2
TBR 3
TOR 4

AL Central
CHA 5
CLE 6
DET 7
KCR 8
MIN 9

AL West
HOU 10
LAA 11
OAK 12
SEA 13
TEX 14

NL East
ATL 15
MIA 16
NYN 17
PHI 18
WAS 19

NL Central
CHN 20
CIN 21
MIL 22
PIT 23
STL 24

NL West
ARZ 25
COL 26
LAD 27
SDP 28
SFG 29

Adding Stadium Art to Baseball Mogul

I got an email this morning with the following question:

I am trying to use this photo of Jarry Park in Baseball Mogul, but all the numbers are skewed. The batter is nowhere near home plate, the first baseman is almost on the pitchers mound... what can I do to fix this?

They attached a file called PBP-Stadium-Montreal.jpg:

To verify the problem, I copied this file to my 'Stadiums' folder and started a new game as the 1974 Expos. When I went into Play-By-Play mode for their first home game, the field looked like this:

As reported, the ratings for all the fielders are in the wrong place on the field (as are the outfield fence distances). This is because every stadium photo requires a matching text file that specifies the coordinates that Baseball Mogul needs to use when drawing these labels.

To get these coordinates, open the photo in a graphical editing program. I use the "Paint" program included with Windows. Baseball Mogul assumes a photo size of 640 x 480 pixels, so you should resize your photo before proceeding.

Microsoft Paint displays the coordinates of your cursor in the lower left corner of the window. Start by placing your cursor over home plate and record the coordinates to a text file. Continue this process for each of the following locations on the field, typing each set of coordinates on it's own line. (If the foul poles are outside the picture, estimate their coordinates.)

Home Plate
First Base
Second Base
Third Base
Left Field Corner
Center Field Wall
Right Field Corner

After each pair of coordinates, you can add a comment by typing '//' and the following it with a useful label. When done with PBP-Stadium-Montreal.jpg, my text file looks like this:

318,351 // HOME_PLATE_COORDINATES Bottom corner
515,290 // FIRST_BASE_COORDINATES Outside corner
321,250 // SECOND_BASE_COORDINATES Top corner
128,285 // THIRD_BASE_COORDINATES Outside corner
-47,221 // LEFT_FIELD_COORDINATES Base of foul pole
324,194 // CENTER_FIELD_COORDINATES Base of CF wall
700,229 // RIGHT_FIELD_COORDINATES Base of foul pole

Save this file with the same filename as the stadium photo, but add the ".ini" file extension (e.g. PBP-Stadium-Montreal.ini).

When I go back into Baseball Mogul 2016 and resumed the game with the 1974 Expos, the stadium view now looks like this:

Much better!

Adjusting Rookie Talent Levels (Football Mogul)

Football Mogul 2014 has a new feature that lets you adjust the talent level, the talent distribution, and the improvement potential for each of the 15 position types in the game.

This is implemented by the addition of a file called DraftTalent.txt, located in the same folder with FB2K14.exe. If you have trouble finding this folder, you can choose "Open Game Folder" from the Help Menu.

DraftTalent.txt includes instructions, but I will include them again here for convenience.

The first 15 lines of DraftTalent.txt look like this:

  0,  0, 0, // QUARTERBACK
  0,  0, 0, // RUNNING_BACK
-30,  0, 50, // FULLBACK
-50,  0, 0, // TIGHT_END
-10,  0, 0, // WIDE_RECEIVER
 30,  0, 0, // TACKLE
 50,  0, 0, // GUARD
 70,  0, 0, // CENTER
-40,  0, 0, // DEFENSIVE_END
-60,  0, 0, // DEFENSIVE_TACKLE
-30,  0, 0, // LINEBACKER
  0,  0, 0, // CORNERBACK
  0,  0, 0, // SAFETY
  0,  0, 0, // KICKER
  0,  0, 0, // PUNTER

Each line refers to a position (shown at the end of the line, after the '//'). Football Mogul actually ignores all text after '//'. The position names are only there so humans know which line refers to which position. What Football Mogul does care about is the line order. The first line will always modify QB talent, then next line is for RBs, then FBs, and so on.

For each position:
First number = base talent level
Second number = talent level variation
Third number = "potential" (i.e. the difference between "Overall" and "Peak")

The default value is 0. A positive number indicates an increase. A negative number indicates a decrease.

Example #1: Your amateur draft has 10 QBs with the following Overall/Peak talent levels:
60/70, 63/73, 65/75, 67/77, 69/79, 70/80, 71/81, 73/83, 75/85, 77/87, 80/90

Increasing the first number will increase the entire talent pool, as in this example:
65/75, 68/78, 70/80, 72/82, 74/84, 75/85, 76/86, 78/88, 80/90, 82/92, 85/95

Increasing the second number will increase the talent level variation (while the average remains the same):
55/65, 59/69, 62/72, 65/75, 68/78, 70/80, 72/82, 75/85, 78/88, 81/91, 85/95

Increasing the third number will increase the amount that each player improves after the draft:
60/75, 63/78, 65/80, 67/82, 69/84, 70/85, 71/86, 73/88, 75/90, 77/92, 80/95

For overall talent level, changing a 0 to 10 *roughly* equals a 1-point change in the "Overall" rating.
For talent level variation, changing a 0 to 10 *roughly* increases the distance between the worst and best player by 1.

Note that college players are generated for the draft at the end of each regular season (i.e. at the start of the playoffs). So, in order to see your changes to DraftTalent.txt reflected in the game, you will need to make any edits (and save the new file) before the first playoff game.