How to set up a season replay with Diamond Mind Baseball
How to set up a season replay with Diamond Mind Baseball
All Diamond Mind databases are prepared so that they are ready for you to get started playing games right out-of-the-box. For seasons that include real-life transactions and game-by-game lineups, these features are enabled by default to allow the computer to make the right moves at the right time based on what happened in real-life. And all of the computer's on-field decisions are guided by the manager profiles that have been carefully prepared for every team.
Beginning a realistic replay is as easy as playing your favourite team's first scheduled game, but that doesn't mean there isn't more that you can do to make your replay even more interesting. What follows are some of the accepted best practices for getting started with a realistic and immersive Diamond Mind season replay.
1. The first step is to install the database to the game. See the following information page on the Diamond Mind website for step-by-step instructions.
How to install a season database file – Diamond Mind Baseball (diamond-mind.com)
2. Get Organized. You can view and modify the various elements that comprise a DMB database (Teams, Parks, Players, Leagues, Orgs, Eras, Schedules, Drafts and Notes) through the game's Organizer window. Click View from the game's main menu and then click Organizer to get started.
3. Update Team Information. Click the Teams tab in the Organizer window, select a team from the list and click the Modify button.
From the Modify Team window, you will see that most of the information is already filled in for you. Here you can enter the team nickname and the manager's name. Click OK when you are done with your changes and repeat the procedure for the rest of the teams.
Click the Help button near the bottom right of the window to learn more about working with teams.
4. Rename the leagues. Click the Leagues tab in the Organizer window, select a league from the list and click the Modify button.
From the General tab of the Modify League window, you can replace the default "A" designation with the more verbose "American" for the name of the league. Click OK when you are done and then repeat the same steps to replace the "N" with "National" for the other league.
Click the Help button near the bottom right of the window to learn more about working with leagues.
5. Create an Organization. Diamond Mind season databases that don't have inter-league play aren't usually prepared with an organization. This allows you to replay each league schedule at a different pace if you choose. However, to allow your league champions to meet in a championship "World Series" at the end of the postseason you will need to create an organization eventually.
You can create an organization at any time during your season or wait until the playoffs. By doing so you will link your two leagues so they share a schedule, a common set of rules and options and allow you to set the matchups for a championship series.
For modern seasons with inter-league play, the organization has already been created for you by DMB.
Click the Orgs tab in the Organizer window and then click the New button.
From the General tab of the New Organization window, you can enter general information about the organization. Enter the name, year, and set the UID. Since there can only ever be one organization in a database, the number "1" is a sensible value to use, but any positive integer value will work.
Choose the leagues to be included and whether or not inter-league games will be played during the regular season. Be sure to leave the schedule box set to <none> to combine the existing league schedules.
Click OK when you are done. If you have left the schedule as <none> you will be prompted to combine the league schedules, Click Yes and a new combined schedule will be created for you and assigned to your organization.
6. Adjust the rules and options. If your season was prepared with an organization or if you have created one, setting the shared rules and options for your organization can be done from the Orgs tab. If you have elected to forego the creation of an organization you can set the rules and options for each league separately from the Leagues tab.
From the Orgs tab, select the organization, click the Modify button and then click the Rules/options tab. Appropriate defaults will be set for modern seasons but for earlier seasons you should pay special attention to the following settings.
Sacrifice fly rule. This rule will default to the modern-day rule so you may need to adjust this if you are replaying an earlier season (pre-1954). See the "Sacrifice Fly Rules" topic in the "Important Concepts" section of the game's help library for details.
Designated hitter rule. For seasons in which the DH was used by either league, the recommended setting is Home Team DH rule. For seasons before the DH was instituted, select No DH.
Minimum BF for pitching change. This rule was changed by MLB before the 2020 season to requires pitchers to either face a minimum of three (3) batters in an appearance or pitch to the end of a half-inning, with exceptions for injuries and ejections. For seasons prior to 2020, this setting should be 1.
Intentional walk rule. This rule was changed to No pitches required by MLB before the 2017 season. Set to Pitches required for 2016 and earlier.
Batter pitching rule. A new rule announced for 2020 but not yet implemented by MLB. Select Unrestricted to follow the traditional rule that allows for batters to be used as pitchers at any time in a game regardless of the score or situation. Select Restricted to adhere to the new rule that prevents batters from pitching unless a game is in extra innings or the score differential is more than six runs.
Extra inning rule. Another new rule for 2020. Select Runner on second if you want every half-inning in extra innings to begin with a runner on second base. Select Bases empty for seasons prior to 2020.
Transaction and lineups. For the most realistic replay, select Use real-life transactions and lineups. This means that when playing games with the included default schedule, DMB will try to apply the real-life roster moves (trades, promotions, demotions, disabled list moves, and so on) on the days they happened and use the same starting lineups for each game as was used in real life. Using this setting requires that the team rosters and schedule must be exactly as they were in real life so that everything remains in sync throughout the season.
You can choose to play your season with any rosters and lineups that you want, make transactions as you see fit, or even create a new schedule, but if you do, you'll need to turn off the real-life transactions and lineups. After doing so you will be responsible for making all roster moves for all teams manually.
See the "Real-life Transactions and Lineups" topic in the "Important Concepts" section of the game's help library for details.
Limit bench playing time. When this option is enabled the computer manager will do its best to prevent players who performed exceptionally well in a limited amount of playing time from being used too often off the bench. Unfortunately, this makes the computer choose between playing to win and playing to match playing time. This can sometimes result in the computer leaving a weak hitter in the game in a pinch-hit situation to avoid overusing the players on the bench.
This setting is best left unchecked when replaying a season with real-life transactions and lineups as players who made few appearances are not likely to be on the active roster for the whole season and therefore not available to be overused.
The rest of the settings can be left at the defaults or adjusted to suit your preference. Click the Help button near the bottom right of the window for a more detailed description of each rule and option.
7. Scheduled Game selection. To start playing games, click Game from the main menu and click Scheduled to bring up the game calendar and standings display.
When playing scheduled games, you can choose between a number of options such as to play one game at a time with you controlling one or both of the teams or you can let the computer manager autoplay one or more games. For example, you can play your chosen team's game(s) for the day and then have the computer autoplay the rest of the games on that day.
8. Tutorials. If you are a newcomer to DMB, or just need a refresher we suggest that you have a look at the tutorials included in the game's extensive help library to learn more about DMB's features and how the game works.
To view the tutorials, click Help on the game's main menu bar and then click Help Topics. From the Help contents double-click the "Tutorials" topic heading and then click the "Tutorials Overview" subtopic.
The Basic tutorial is perfect if you are just getting started with DMB. If you are already familiar with DMB but want some tips on playing your scheduled games skip to the Advanced tutorial.
