Mana Games

[lreese]

Hi,

Inspired by the discussion in this topic,http://www.managames.com/Forum/topic15-5098.php, I decided to try to make a PlayersATP.ini file that makes the mens tour playable from 1985 instead of 1990. Here's the result.

Features:

* The real top 100 players and their ranks for the years 1985-1989. You now can play along the bulk of the careers of ledgendary players such as Becker, Lendl, Edberg and Wilander. Plus cameos from players such as Vitas Guerulitis and Guillermo Vilas who still played in 1985.
* All the players already in the base who played in those years are now moved to their first year between 1985 and 1989.
* Misc other player edits to make the 80s and 90s characters already in the base more like they actually were.

I haven't researched the more unknown players as to playing and strike styles, outfits etc. Feel free to use this topic to post playing styles and outfit codes if you know anything about them.

Notes:
* The game now ends in 2021 instead of 2026 as I have used futeure players to add the 1985-1989 players who wasn't in the base
* Many of the fake player who started in 1990 has been moved to start in 1985 instead. This might mean there won't be enough players post 2000. If you wanna play these years don't install this one.
* I haven't playtested it fully, it might not work, but I am playing 1985 as I write this and no problems so far. Davis Cup should fine.
* There are a few warnings in the system log. Some players have too many playing yeas (more than 19, i.e Agassi who actually played more than 19 years) but it doesn't seem to crash the game. Some country codes I entered are wrong (easily fixed but I haven't had the time)

Installation: Remember, INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK!! Installing this file will INVALIDATE YOUR CURRENT SAVE GAMES.

1) Unzip to your Data folder.
2) Rename file to "Players.ATP.ini"
3) Replace your current file. Save your original!!!

Hope you enjoy it

LReese

[torto14]

Thanks for making this, I will try it out soon.

Are you going to make a Tour.ini as well? It might solve the problem of having to use "fake" players (if you added all the real old players of course, which I understand would be tedious).

I have one I made, but it's for 1992 and is only has ATP tour level events, but I can post it if you want.

If you did want more old player names to fill out the rankings table, you could try the Davis cup website as there are some players on there who are not in the ATP database.

[rodgegui]

Nice, I don't have enough time to look what you did but I think it could be the start of an answer to what I suggested a few months ago : http://www.managames.com/Forum/topic29-4563.php . I would also prefer to have more "real years" and less fictionnal years

I am thinking about a way to edit easily all the players. I don't have a lot of time but I will try something

[lreese]

Torto14:
I used the ATP site. They have all the ranking tables for all the years and bios on most players. I'm pretty happy with just the top 100 being real players. That's were you will spend most of your time anyway. Only the first year if you start at rank 300-1000 will you encounter a lot of fake players in challenger and futures and such. I can live with it.

About Tour.inis, the problem is changes to it will for most part invalidate save games. The tour changed a lot during these years. For instance, the AO was played at the end of the season in 1985, it was not held in 1986 and then it was moved to january in 1987. But moving it (or removing it to insert it again later) seems to invalidate save games and make careers impossible. Likewise you cannot switch tour categories, promoting some events to master series (which were called super9 and whatnot), demoting others etc. This too, will invalidate save games. You can change surfaces, though, so you can play the AO on grass and then on Rebound Ace from 1988 and onwards.

Also, to make the tennis more "80s-like" you can try this:
1) slow down the cpu (and yourself, if you can handle it) by 10%
2) Add an equal(ish!) amount of friction to all the courts except grass, which I think is a bit weird in this game. For grass decrease friction somewhat (I use 0.602) and raise the elasticity to 0.75. These changes seem to negate some of the power. The realism goes up quite alot, even for modern tennis.
3) use elite control, maybe with fast auto-positioning if it's too hard.

rodgegui:
Yes, I read that topic while researching ways to add the years. It was where I came up with idea to move the fake players to 1985 to avoid there not being enough players to fill all the draws. I also added a few ranking years to many of them in hopes of not creating a vaccum in later years.

[torto14]

About Tour.inis, the problem is changes to it will for most part invalidate save games. The tour changed a lot during these years. For instance, the AO was played at the end of the season in 1985, it was not held in 1986 and then it was moved to january in 1987. But moving it (or removing it to insert it again later) seems to invalidate save games and make careers impossible. Likewise you cannot switch tour categories, promoting some events to master series (which were called super9 and whatnot), demoting others etc. This too, will invalidate save games. You can change surfaces, though, so you can play the AO on grass and then on Rebound Ace from 1988 and onwards.

Yes, there is far too much change between years to try and change the tour.ini each time without invalidating the Save game. Ideally there would be support for separate tour.ini files for each season (This is feature I most want added to the game!)

I just thought it would be better to use one old year than to the play the 2010 season with the old players (as it's pretty vastly different) especially since you said this player base isn't suitable for modern years. You do have to be careful of course, I lost a save by getting stuck at a week with an error (fixing the error invalidated the save).

I'll try what you said about the modifying the court.ini.

I am thinking about a way to edit easily all the players. I don't have a lot of time but I will try something

Yes, it would be nice if there was a tool or something for adding players, no one will want to add the other 700 or so players manually.

[lreese]

I'll try what you said about the modifying the court.ini.

You can watch the .dmo in this thread http://www.managames.com/Forum/topic15-5201.php. It's played with those approximate settings. I think it looks pretty real.

(This is feature I most want added to the game!)

Also, a way to mod global power levels for the different strokes, in addition to player movement. The courts are fine, really, messing with physics is just an tentative solution. It's just that I think the game is slightly overpowered, even for todays tennis.

[lreese]

UPDATE. I have now run several of new years plus a few into the 90s. No problems detected.

I will be posting an updated file with some corrections and more player edits soon.