Copyright: Copyright © Dynamix, Inc 1997
Citation: Copyright © Dynamix, Inc 1997


'IN THE STADIUM' TUTORIAL

FPS: Baseball gives you several options for playing the game of baseball.  This tutorial leads you through the mechanics of batting, pitching, and fielding. These mechanics are the same whether you're in arcade, exhibition, or league play.

If you haven't already done so, go to the Windows 95 Start menu and select Programs > Sierra > FPS Baseball Pro.

Batting Practice

We will start with a little batting practice. When you are in Batting Practice mode, there is no batting count, no plays, no scoring, and no statistics kept. You are just practicing your batting skills against a pitcher.

1.  To enter Batting Practice, click Batting Practice from the FPS: Baseball startup screen.

2.  For now, click Start Batting Practice to set up your controls.

3.  From the first drop-down list, select a method of control. We recommend using "Keyboard R" for this tutorial.

4.  Select "Normal" as the difficulty level and click OK. As you get more experienced, you can select "Custom," which will bring up the "Difficulties Settings" screen, and give you many more options for controlling the batter-pitcher match up.

If you chose "Keyboard R," you'll use the number pad on your keyboard to control the batter. The picture below describes how you use the keyboard to control your players. The keys surrounding the "5" key on the number pad of the keyboard emulate the movements of a joystick. The keys surrounding the "S" key on the left side of the keyboard do the same and are referred to as Keyboard L in FPS: Baseball. When you are playing ball, you can assign one hand to control the batter and one hand to control the pitcher.

5.  Each item in the Swing box has a number - arrow combination to the left of it. If you want to select a bunt, you'll notice it has a down arrow with a "1" next to it. So you will hold down the "2" key (corresponds to "Joystick Down"), then press Enter (corresponds to "Button 1").

6.  The timing of your swing is the critical element of the batter-pitcher dual.  Be ready to push the Enter key.

Once you are comfortable with swing timing, try batting practice in the Advanced batting mode, in which you also control where in the strike zone you will start your swing.

For a full explanation of batting, see Batting.

5.  After experimenting with Batting Practice, press the Return button on the Stadium screen to go back to the FPS: Baseball startup screen.

Exhibition Play

Exhibition games are played outside the regular league schedule. Exhibition games have no effect on league standings or on the statistics of the teams and players. Injuries that occur in exhibition games are not recorded.

There are two methods for starting exhibition games: either from the FPS: Baseball startup screen or from the Main menu in the Front Office. Starting Exhibition Play from the Front Office gives you several additional options for setting game ground rules and picking teams.

1.  To start Exhibition Play, click the Exhibition Play button on the FPS: Baseball startup screen..

FPS: Baseball will display a screen with the previously selected stadium, listing the two teams that are set to play by default.

2.  If you wish to change either the visiting or home team, you can click on the appropriate button and choose a team from the list.  For now, just accept the default teams and click Start Game.

4.  You will be taken to a screen where you will be asked what controllers you would like to use for each team.  Select the control device you wish to use for your team using the pull-down combo box beneath the picture.  Set the opposing team to Computer control by selecting the Computer controller for that team.

5.  If you wish to change the difficulty mode, you may do so by selecting the desired mode from the combo box beneath the controllers selection.  For now, accept the Normal default and click OK to continue.

6.  You will now see a screen that allows you to change the default starting pitchers and lineup.  See Lineup Card for information on how to change players within the lineup, but for now, just click OK to start the game.

7.  You will taken to the stadium and will either be in control of the batter or pitcher, depending on the team you chose to control.

Introduction to Pitching

In FPS: Baseball, pitching is as simple or as complex as you want it to be. In Standard pitching mode, all you have to do is select the type of pitch, and select where in the strike zone you want it to go.

For your exhibition game pitching debut, let's keep it simple:

1.  When the Pitch Selection menu opens, assuming you are using "Keyboard R" to control your pitcher,  you press "8" and then Enter. This will select your pitcher's best pitch. If you were using "Keyboard L," you would press "W" and then the Spacebar.

2.  When prompted to select a pitch location, press "1" and then Enter. This will select the left side of the strike zone as your targeted location for the pitch.

3.  After the batter steps into the box, press the Spacebar to throw the pitch. (You cannot throw the pitch until the batter is ready.)

In the Basic pitching mode, you select only the type of pitch to be thrown. In Standard mode, you select the pitch type and the pitch location. In Advanced mode, you select the pitch type, location, and speed. For a detailed explanation of pitching in FPS: Baseball, see Pitching.

Introduction to Fielding

Your initial fielding responsibilities will be easy to learn. In the Standard fielding mode, you can let the computer control the player best positioned to make a play on the batted ball. You do, however, have to take control once the catch has been made. All you have to do is throw the ball to the appropriate base and move fielders to bases for force outs and tag outs.

You can see where the ball will land by watching for the yellow catch zone. You can also see how far away the ball is from the catch zone. The larger the catch zone, the farther away the ball is from the landing point.

Once the fielder has caught the ball, press the key that will direct him to the appropriate base and press Enter to throw the ball. (If you are using keyboard L, you would press the appropriate key and then the Spacebar.)

Ball-Throwing Controls

If you play in the Advanced fielding mode, you must control the player as he attempts to field the ball.

Introduction to the VCR Interface

The VCR interface lets you recapture play-by-play coverage of any on-field action.  Once a play has taken place, select "Replay..." on the Game Options pop-up menu (F5) to open the VCR interface and watch or edit replays from a variety of perspectives.

For a full explanation of the VCR interface, see Instant Replays and Camera and Replay Modes.

What Next?

Perfecting your batting, pitching, and fielding skills takes practice in FPS: Baseball. Keep in mind that you can always adjust the difficulty settings to match your skill level. For further assistance, see: Game Controls and Team Controls.


ACTION AND SHOW MENUS

The Action and Show Menus

The commands on the Action and Show menus change depending on the screen you are in because their commands work directly on those screens. For instance, you can select the Print command from the Action Menu to print a team schedule from the Team Schedule screen. Or you can select Players from the Show menu to show player statistics instead of team statistics in the Association Statistics screen. To get help on the commands on these menus, select the second option from the Help menu or press the F1 key when you're viewing that screen.


Actual Ratings defn.
Actual Ratings:  Ratings which represent the player’s normal performance levels.  Actual ratings do not change in Single-Season Associations nor will they change during the season in Career Associations.  For Career Associations, actual ratings increase and decrease as a player ages, see Aging.  During Spring Training the player's training time is allocated to each rating in order to maintain, and possibly increase, their Actual value.

Actual and Potential ratings values are computed when the player is created but may be manually modified or recomputed by using the DataIn utility.  Additionally, you may edit the Actual ratings for individual players from the Team Roster screen, see Editing Players.


ALL-STAR GAME

At about mid-season in each full-season schedule, all teams have a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off so that the Association All-Star game can be played on the Tuesday in the middle of the break.  Two teams will be generated by the computer divided into the two leagues or divisions present in the association.  Associations with three leagues or divisions will have two teams representing an amalgamation of the best players in the Association.  The All-Star teams are selected by FPS: Baseball at the time the game is played and are based on the statistics generated by the players in the Association's current season, as well as their rated abilities.

To start the All-Star game, go to the League Schedule screen by choosing Schedule from the Association menu and click on the game text.  You may choose to either play or simulate the All-Star game.  Player injuries and pitcher fatigue will be recorded for this game, but the statistics will not.

Half- and short-season association schedules do not have an All-Star break, but you may choose to play an All-Star game from the Exhibition Play screen at any time in the season and teams will be generated based on the player statistics and skills available to the groupings you choose.


ASSOCIATION DATA

The Association Data screen allows you to modify names of various structures of the Association and reset the ownership and Computer GM (General Manager) options for all teams in the Association.

Text Fields

You may edit any of these fields at any time.

Association: The Association's name. It may be up to 32 characters long.

League 1, 2, 3: The name of each league. Each may be up to 32 characters long. If there is only one league in an Association, it does not have a separate league name.

Abbreviation: The abbreviation for each league. Each may be up to four characters long.

Division 1, 2, 3: The name of each division. Each may be up to 16 characters long.

Championship Trophy: The trophy name can be up to 32 characters long.

Check Boxes

Ground Rules: For a Single-Season Association, you may set the ground rules prior to the first game of any season. For a Career Association, you may set them prior to the first game of the first season.

Designated Hitter: You may turn the DH rule on or off for each league separately prior to the first game of any season.

Use ratings: Turns the use of individual player ratings on or off. When it is turned off, all players' skills are rated as Average (50).

Injuries: Turns injuries on or off. When it is turned on, players may be injured and have to leave the game.

Fatigue: Turns pitcher fatigue on or off. When it is turned on, pitchers tire as the game progresses according to their Endurance rating and the number of pitches thrown.

Base Stealing: Turns base stealing on or off. When it is turned on, base runners may attempt to steal.

Fielding Errors: Turns the possibility of fielding errors on or off. If it is turned off, all throws are on target and fielders will not make errors, although there still may be balls that they cannot handle.

Pitch to Center: Disables the Pitch Location variable. When it is turned on, all pitches will be thrown down the center of the plate.

Items You Can't Change

Type: The type of the Association, Single-Season, or Career is set when the Association is created and cannot be changed.

The Action Menu

Reset teams: Brings up the Reset Teams dialog box that allows you to modify the ownership or Computer GM options for ALL teams in the Association in one easy step.

Print: Prints the Association Data. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


ASSOCIATION HISTORY

The Association History screen provides a look at the past achievements for the current Association.  You may open this screen at any time by selecting the History command on the Association menu.  There may be times when one or more of the lists is empty, because no player or team has won the award yet.  For example, when you create a new Association, all of the lists will be empty, until the first season has been completed.  Likewise, there may be years when no player wins the Triple Crown award.

The following items can be displayed on this screen, by selecting the appropriate command from the Show menu. The Show menu also lists the league names, which you can select to display the awards (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Triple Crown) for different leagues in the Association.

Champions: Shows the championship teams and their World Series record from prior seasons.  In associations without scheduled playoffs, the team's seasonal record is shown instead of the record in the non-existent World Series.

Hall of Fame:  Players who have shown outstanding performance over the course of their career may be nominated for election into the association Hall of Fame.  To be eligible for nomination, a player must have played at least 10 years, or every year in an association's history, and must have made a certain impact on the association.  Nominated players are eligible for election 5 years after retirement and remain eligible for 15 more years.

Each year the most qualified of eligible retirees are elected for enshrinement in your Hall of Fame, but only a limited number are selected each year.  Marginally qualified players may find themselves at the bottom of each year's eligibility list and may never get elected to the Hall of Fame before becoming ineligible, but given a period of time when the relative level of player accomplishments is low, the marginally qualified player may get enshrined.

Player accomplishments are measured statistically for each season and for the player's career as a whole.  Players are given credit for each statistical accomplishment as well as reaching certain "magic" milestones, such as 3000 hits or 300 wins, and a host of others.  If the player wins any seasonal awards or is an important member of winning teams, particularly if he plays an important defensive position, such as catcher or shortstop, he will have a greater chance of being nominated and elected.  (Note: the Hall of Fame is not available for Single-Season Associations.)

Most Valuable Player Award:  Awarded to the most valuable player in each league with pitchers being ineligible.  Individual statistical accomplishments and milestones (such as hitting 30 homers and having 30 stolen bases), relative team strength, and defensive importance all contribute to the selection.

Cy Young Award:  Awarded to the top pitcher in each league and awarded to pitcher's based on their statistical accomplishments and milestones (such as winning 20 games or having 30 saves).

Rookie of the Year Award: Awarded to the top rookie in each league, being a player with an Experience of 0.  Players with 0 Experience will not get a year of experience awarded to them each season as long as they remain in the minor leagues, but once they appear in a league game, they will increment a year of Experience each season, whether they play or not.  The Rookie of the Year award can be given to either a pitcher or a position player and is based on the same criteria as are used to select the MVP and Cy Young award winners.

Triple Crown:  Not really an award, but more an acknowledgment of this rare accomplishment.  The Triple Crown is awarded to any player who leads his league in Batting Average, Home Runs, and Runs Batted In.  A player may be tied for the lead in homers or RBI, but must lead the league outright in batting to win the award.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the currently displayed data. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


ASSOCIATION MENU

The Association menu allows you to control and view information that pertains to the Association as a whole. Here are the menu choices available to you.

News: The Association News screen presents the news for all teams in the Association for the current day. The upper list box shows transactions, and the lower list box shows injuries.

Data: Allows you to examine and edit the Association, league, and division names and the rules for the current Association.

Statistics: Allows you to examine the statistics for all of the players or teams in a league, or to view statistics for retired players from the Association.

Schedule: Shows the daily schedule for each league.  From here you may start League games, view box scores and highlights, look at past scores, or examine the future schedule.

Standings: Shows the current standings for each league.

History: Displays a list of Hall of Fame members, past champions, and past award winners (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Triple Crown).

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The following Association menu commands are available only at certain times of the year, or for certain Association types.

Start New Season: After the playoffs are finished, selecting this command continues your FPS: Baseball career on to the next season or starts a new season for single-season Associations.

Restart Season: The command, available only to Single-Season Associations, clears seasonal statistics and resets the schedule back to the beginning of the season.

Start/Resume Draft: Starts the Initial Draft, Free Agent Draft, or the Amateur Draft, depending on the time of year; resumes a paused draft.

Start Spring Training: Takes all of the teams in your Association through training camp. Note: a dialog box will warn you if any human-owned or human-managed teams have not allocated all of their training time. You can choose to have FPS: Baseball finish allocating time, or postpone Spring Training.


ASSOCIATION NEWS

The Association News screen gives you the opportunity to see what's happening with all the the teams in your Association for the current day, without going to each team's Team News screen. The Transactions report in the upper half of the screen shows roster moves and trade proposals. The lower half of the Association News screen shows the injury status for the Association's players. Unlike the Team News screen, you cannot click on any of the entries in the list boxes to perform an action.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the Association's transactions and injuries.

Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.


ASSOCIATION OVERVIEW

An Association in FPS: Baseball is defined as a group of 8-48 teams, divided into 1-3 independently scheduled leagues made up of 8-16 teams each, divided into 1-3 Divisions.  FPS: Baseball supports two types of Associations:

Career:  Career associations take on a life and history of their own.  At the end of each season, players are subject to the effects of aging, with some players electing retirement.  Fictional high school and college are generated for the amateur draft, each with abilities ranging from one-dimensional players who may never play in games, through the players of average skill, to the star players who may eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame.  As players age, the younger ones see improvements in their skills while the skills of older players decline.  Spring training is not only used to maintain and sharpen skills for the coming season, it can be an opportunity to accelerate a player's growth or to slow the decline of an older player.

Although the winning and losing happens on the field, it is guided and planned in the front office.  As Owner and General Manager of a team in a career association, you will be faced with the challenge of building and maintaining an organization that will be competitive for more than just the current season.  You will be faced with the loss of players due to injuries, retirement, or simply the effects of age.  You will need to field a competitive team with the depth to endure injuries to key players, yet you must keep an eye on the future, growing the kind of players that can be the cornerstone of your organization for the next 20 years.

Single-Season:  Allows you to play one or more seasons with the same group of players.  Because there is no need for new players, the amateur and free agent drafts, player retirements, and spring training are skipped, although you may still elect to start the association with an initial player draft.  Players may have their seasons ended by injury, but will have their injuries cleared when a new season is started.

The following outline portrays the life cycle of an association:

1. Create an Association

2. Initial Player Draft (optional)

3. Spring training (career associations only)

Spring Training occurs prior to the first season only if an Initial Player Draft was held.

4. Regular season play begins

FPS: Baseball automatically schedules games for each team in an Association.  Teams play games every day, although there are off days in each full-season schedule.  All games for a current day must be resolved before the association can proceed to the next day.

5. Amateur draft (career associations only)

6. Regular season play continues

7. All-Star game (full-season schedules only)

8. Regular season play continues

On September 1 active rosters may be expanded to 40 players (full-season schedules only).

9. End of regular season play

10. Playoffs begin (except 8 and 10-team associations)

11. Playoffs end

MVP, CY Young, Rookie of the Year, and Triple Crown awards are given out.

12. Start new season

In career associations, all players undergo the effects of aging, with some choosing to retire.  Outstanding retirees may be nominated for election to the Hall of Fame and existing nominees may be elected.  With single-season associations this resets all injuries, generates a new schedule, and makes the association ready to repeat the cycle with step 4.

13. Free agent draft (career associations only)

14. Go to Step 3.


ASSOCIATION SCHEDULE

The Association Schedule screen allows you to examine the daily schedule for any league in the current Association. To display this screen, select Schedule from the Association menu.  When the screen is displayed, the current game date is shown. To look at other dates in the schedule, use the Date option under the Show menu to jump quickly to a specific date; you may also click on the buttons at the bottom of the screen to move backward or forward by a day or a week at a time. You may view the schedule for other leagues in the Association by selecting the league name from the Show menu.

For games that have not been resolved, the League Schedule shows the pitchers scheduled to start the game, their respective Won-Lost records, and their current ERA. For games that have already been played, the League Schedule shows the final score. It also shows the winning and losing pitchers, as well as a save, if one was earned.

You may use this screen to play or simulate league games or to view box scores for games that have been played within the last game week. To start a single game, click on the option button next to the game listing to set the game to Play or Sim, then click on the game listing itself (right on the words 'STL AT CIN' for example) to start the game. (For the differences between Play and Simulate, see "Play vs. Simulate.") If the Sim button is set, the computer will automatically simulate the selected game. If you have set it for Play, you will be asked to choose the controls for each Human-owned team in the game. (For more information on controllers, see "Playing Modes".) Next, you will be asked to confirm the starting pitcher and lineup for each Human-owned team in the game. See "Setting Starting Pitchers and Lineups".

To simulate multiple games at once, select the Simulate command on the Action menu. A dialog box will be displayed, allowing you to specify the range of games to be simulated.

Note: All games from previous days must be completed before a new game can be started.

If the game has been completed within the last 7 game days and the score is displayed, you can view the box score by clicking on the game listing itself (right on the words 'CIN 3, STL 0' for example)

The Action Menu

Simulate:  Brings up the Simulate Games dialog box, which allows you to simulate groups of games.

Print:  Brings up the Print Schedule dialog box that allows you to print one or more days in the league schedule. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

The Show Menu

Date:  Brings up a dialog box that allows you to select a date for which the schedule is to be displayed.  To change the date, move the slider or use the left and right arrow button until the desired date is shown.

Leagues:  Selects the league to be displayed. (If the current Association is a single-league Association, the area of this menu is left blank.)

Playoffs:  Takes you to a screen that shows the status of the playoffs. This command is available only after the regular season has been completed.


ASSOCIATION STANDINGS

The Association Standings screen displays a variety of information relating to the Won-Lost records of the teams of each league in the Association. To display this screen, select Standings from the Association menu. The following information is displayed:

Team: Team name

W: Number of wins.

L: Number of losses.

Pct.: Winning percentage.

GB: Number of games each team is behind; this is the number of games that the team would have to win and the top team would have to lose in order for the team to move into first place.

1-run: Record in games decided (won or lost) by one run.

X-inn: Record in extra inning games.

L-10: Record for last 10 games.

Strk: Current winning or losing streak.

Home/Road: Home or away records. (Click title to switch between Home and Road.)

vs. LHP/vs. RHP: Each team’s Won-Lost records against either left- or right-handed starting pitchers. (Click title to switch between vs. LHP and vs. RHP.)

In Div/NonDiv: Won-Lost records against teams in division or teams out of division. (Click title to switch between In Div and NonDiv.)

To display the standings for another league in the Association, select that league from the Show menu. Standings can be printed by selecting Print from the Action menu. The Standings will be printed using the current information displayed. If you wish to print other information, change the on-screen display before printing.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the League Standings. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

The Show Menu

Leagues: Selects the league to be displayed.  (If the current Association is a single-league Association, the area of this menu is left blank.)

Playoffs: Takes you to the Playoffs screen that shows the current status of the playoffs. This option is not available until the regular season has been completed.


ASSOCIATION STATISTICS

The Association Statistics screen can be used to compare statistics for all players or teams in an Association by league. To display this screen, select Statistics from the Association menu. The statistics display consists of ten columns of data, eight of which can be set by you. To change the data displayed in any column, choose Change Columns from the Action menu. You may sort the data shown by any of the columns by clicking on the column heading. That heading is then shown in white letters.

You can also view individual player stats by league. To do this, first select Players from the Show menu. Then you can customize the statistics shown with the Choose Players options from the Action menu as well as the other options available from the Show menu (outlined below).

The Action Menu

Change Columns: changes the data displayed in any of the eight configurable columns.

Choose Players: selects which players are to be displayed..

Print:  Prints the information that is on-screen for all players currently in the list.

Print Top 50:  Prints the information that is on-screen for only the top 50 players currently in the list. To change the order of players in the list, click on a column heading to sort the list.

Print Column Leaders:  Prints the top 10 players in the current list, and only the information that is displayed in the selected column. For instance, to check out the home run leaders, click on the column header for home runs (HR), which sorts the list, then select Print Column Leaders from the Action menu. The  top 10 leaders in HR for the league are printed, along with the number of home runs for each.

Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.

The Show Menu

leagues: Selects the league to be displayed. (If the current Association is a single-league Association, the area of this menu is left blank.)

Teams: Sets the statistics display to show team totals by league.

Players: Sets the statistics display to show players. The players shown are determined by the Choose Players dialog box in the Action menu.

Retired Players: Sets the statistics display to show a list of players who have retired since the Association was formed. This is valid only for Career Associations.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE: Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team. It is only available if historical statistics were copied as part of the Association creation process.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.) Not available for teams or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding data.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching data.

See also Roster and Statistics Screens.


ASSOCIATION VS. EXHIBITION GAMES

Association games are played between two teams in the same Association, according to the Association schedule. After the game is over, statistics are saved, league standings are updated, and injuries are recorded. Box scores are saved for the last 7 game days. All games for the same day in the Association schedule must be completed (thus advancing the FPS: Baseball calendar) before any games on subsequent days may be started. For more information, see the Association Overview.

Exhibition games on the other hand, may be played between any two teams from any two Associations. A team may even play against itself. After the game is over, statistics and injuries are not recorded, and league standings are not affected. Only one box score, from the most recently completed exhibition game, is available. You may start and save as many exhibition games as you wish (as long as you have space on your hard drive). For more information, see the Exhibition Play screen.


BBARCHIVE - BACKING UP YOUR ASSOCIATION

Backing up important data files is always a good idea, and FPS: Baseball Associations are no exception.  A separate utility called FPS Archival Utility, or BBArchive, is automatically installed when you install FPS: Baseball, and it can be found in the Sierra/Baseball program group, or it can be found under the name BBARCH.EXE in the directory where FPS: Baseball was installed.  BBArchive finds all of the files belonging to the selected association (except for saved games), and compresses them into a single backup file on the destination you specify.  If you specify a floppy drive destination, BBArchive will prompt you for additional floppies as needed.

When you start BBArchive, it will automatically search for any Associations found on your hard drive (or other drive specified in the drive text box) and display them in the upper list box. Highlight each one that you want to archive (one at a time) and click any appropriate check boxes.

Delete Original: removes the original Association files from your hard drive once they are backed up.

Include Box Scores: includes box score files with the other association files.

Include Highlight Films: includes highlight films with the other association files.

Click the Archive button to begin the backup. A dialog box will appear, allowing you to select the directory location for the backup file. You may select a floppy drive and BBArchive will split the backup across multiple floppy disks as necessary. The time required for backup will vary depending on the size of the Association.

Restoring a Backup

Any Associations shown in the lower list box may be restored into the \Assn and \Stats directory where FPS: Baseball is installed on your hard drive . Highlight the name by clicking on it, then click the Restore button. If the Delete Archive box is checked, it will remove the archived file once it is restored to your hard drive.


BASERUNNING

The selected baserunning mode determines your level of control over the baserunners. The following four baserunning modes are available:

Computer: delegates all baserunning to the computer.

Basic: you can control a runner’s advance or retreat once the ball is in play.

Standard: you can attempt to steal a base (if Ground Rules permit).

Advanced: you must also deal with pitch-outs and pick-off attempts. Your baserunners will advance if they are in a force situation. Otherwise, they will remain in their positions unless you instruct them to advance.

Game control shifts from batting to baserunning as soon as the 3D Stadium view appears.

Control of Baserunners with the Joystick

To advance, move the joystick toward the appropriate base. To retreat, move the joystick toward the base and press Button 1.

Control of Baserunners with the Keyboard

To advance, press the key for the next base. To retreat, press the key for the previous base and [Enter] or [Spacebar]. See Keyboard Equivalents for detailed instructions.

Multiple Runners

Even with multiple runners on base, you can control the actions of all runners. For example, if runners are on second and third base, you can advance one or both runners. To advance the runner on third to home when the ball is hit, push the controls down. Next, push the controls left to advance the runner on second to third. If the batted ball is caught, push the controls left and press Button 1 to have the runner from third retreat to third base. This automatically orders the runner heading for third to retreat to second.

Note: To advance a runner to a base, that base must not be occupied by another base-runner.

Stealing Bases

To lengthen the lead of a baserunner, push the controls toward the base to which the runner will advance. Runners can take short, medium, or long leads. Faster runners will start with longer leads than slower runners.

To lengthen a runner’s lead, move controls toward the next base. To shorten his lead, move back toward the current base and press Button 1. To send the runner (to attempt to steal the next base), push the controls toward the next base when he has taken his maximum lead.


BATTING

In FPS:Baseball, your control of batting can be as tactical or as strategic as you wish. Control every swing at the ball, sit in the dugout sending signals to the batter, or turn the entire batting process over to the computer and just enjoy watching the action.

As with pitching, the selected batting mode determines the level of control over the batting process. The following four batting modes are available:

Computer: delegates all batting to the computer

Basic: you control swing type.

Standard: you control swing type and swing timing

Advanced: you control swing type, swing "look" location, and swing timing

Changing Batting Mode

You can change the batting mode whenever you start an exhibition or a league game.

Exhibition Play

The control options appear in the lower left-hand part of the Exhibition screen. (To get to the Exhibition screen, select Exhibition Play from the Main menu.) To change Batting (or any other option), the Control setting must be set to Keyboard L, Keyboard R, or Joystick and the Manage Only mode must be turned off. Then click in the Batting text box under the Visitors or Home heading to cycle through the options mentioned above.

League Play

You may only change the batting mode one team at a time. Select Data from the Team menu. The control options appear under the Play Modes section. To change any controls, the Ownership text box at the left must be set to Human. Also, the Manage Only mode must be turned off. Then click in any of the mode text boxes to cycle through the control options.


BATTING PRACTICE

Batting Practice can be used to fine tune your batting skills.  You can access Batting Practice from the FPS: Baseball startup screen.

To customize Batting Practice:

1.  Click Change Batter and select a batter from any team in the MLBPA '97 association. The buttons on the right side of the dialog box let you narrow your choices. You can display a list of batters based on whether they are right- or left-handed, their position, or their team.

2.  Click Change Pitcher and select any pitcher from any team in the MLBPA '97 association. The buttons on the right side of the dialog box let you narrow your choices. You can display a list of pitchers based on whether they are right- or left-handed, their role (starter, reliever, etc) , or their team.

3.  Click Change Stadium (optional) to select a different ball park and field surface.

When you click Start Batting Practice, the Select Controllers Screen is displayed.

1.  Select the type of control you want to use - either the keyboard or joystick.

2.  Select the difficulty level. If you choose custom, you will be presented with additional difficulty options.

Balls, strikes, or outs are not recorded in practice mode, so you can continue practicing with the same players as long as you like. You can change the current batter or pitcher by returning to the startup screen and selecting new players.


BOX SCORE

The box score screen shows the box score from a game you have selected. You can display the box score screen in any of the following ways:

1. From the Association Schedule screen, click on the game that has been completed within the last 7 game days.

2. From the Team Schedule screen, click on the game that has been complete within the last 7 game days.

3. From the Exhibition Play screen, select Show Box score from the Action menu.

You may also choose to see highlights, if they are available by selecting Highlights from the Show menu. This will take you into the 3D Stadium for VCR playback. (Highlights are only save for the previous day's games.)

There are two scroll boxes, which show data for each team. The visitors are shown in the left display, and the home team in the right display. (In the screen shot above, the home team's display is scrolled down to show all of the stats.) The displays show either Batting/Fielding data (as shown above) or Pitching data (as shown below) based on the settings on the Show menu.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the box score. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

The Show Menu

Batting/Fielding: Sets the box score displays to show data about batting and fielding during the game.

Pitching: Sets the box score displays to show data about pitching during the game.

Highlights: Takes you to the VCR to see saved highlights from the game. Highlights may not always be available. The computer will automatically save highlights from simulated games, but highlights are not automatically saved from Exhibition games. Highlights will be available from played games only if you have saved them. In addition, highlights from League games are deleted after one game day.

Statistical Definitions

Batting/Fielding

The stat abbreviations across the top are as follows:

Position (this is the position at which the player first appeared in the game)

Player Name

At bats (AB)

Runs (R)

Hits (H)

Runs batted in (RBI)

Bases on balls (BB)

Strikeouts (SO)

The team data is listed at the bottom. You may need to scroll down to see it all:

Doubles (2B)

Triples (3B)

Home runs (HR)

Sacrifice hits (SH)

Sacrifice flies (SF)

Hit by pitch (HBP)

Intentional walks (IBB)

Grounded into double play (GDP)

Stolen bases (SB)

Caught stealing (CS)

PickOff

Runners left on base by team (Team LOB)

Errors (E)

Passed balls (PB)

Double plays by the team (DP)

Triple plays by the team (TP)

Pitching

The stat abbreviations across the top of the pitching box scores are as follows:

Pitcher's name

Innings pitched (IP)

Hits (H)

Runs (R)

Earned runs (ER)

Bases on balls (BB)

Strikeouts (SO)

The team data is listed at the bottom. You may need to scroll down to see it all:

Winning pitcher (W)

Losing pitcher (L)

Save (SV)

Intentional walks (IBB)

Hit by pitch (HBP)

Wild pitch (WP)

Inherited runners/scored

Pitches-strikes


BUYING AND SELLING TEAMS

All teams in a new Association start off with the same ownership and management settings they had in the Association they were copied from.  (See "Selecting Teams" topic) You may "buy" any team by changing its ownership from Computer to Human, or "sell" a team by changing ownership from Human to Computer. You may buy or sell a team at any point during the season.

To change the ownership of a team, select Data from the Team menu, then click on the Ownership text box. If you are changing ownership from Human to Computer, you will be prompted for confirmation before the change is made. To change the ownership of all teams in the Association at once, see Reset Teams. When a team becomes computer-owned, FPS: Baseball will reevaluate and modify roster assignments and starting lineups for that team.


CAMERA AND REPLAY MODES

FPS: Baseball provides a variety of options for controlling the cameras that cover the on-field action. To get to the Camera Angle Management System (CAMS) control window, press the F6 key, or right-click anywhere within the playing field during a game, then select CAMS from the pop-up menu. This dialog opens with "Basic" settings displayed. These are the 10 preset camera angles you can select by clicking one of the radio buttons in the top part of the box.

You can click Advanced... if you would like to choose from some more precise options for controlling Location, Height, Zoom, and Rotation of the camera. There are also options for selecting 1 of 7 different modes and selecting a number of targets.

Controls

Location: dollies camera forward/backward/left/right

Height: raises/lowers camera

Zoom: zooms camera in/out

Rotation: pans camera left/right/pitch up/pitch down

Modes

Additional controls (Location, Height, Zoom, Rotation) are only available in certain modes.

Free Floating: Stationary camera that you can place anywhere in the stadium facing in almost any direction. This camera does not track or zoom on any object.

At Target: Places the camera at the point of view of the selected target. The selected target can be any player on the field (offensive or defensive), the fielder who is fielding the ball, the ball itself, or the destination toward which the ball is headed (the catch zone).

Track Target: The camera stays positioned between the target and the backstop to track the target as it moves. As with the At Target mode, you can select any player on the field, the fielder, the ball, or the catch zone for your target.

Follow Target: The camera will reposition the screen so it always remains at the target's back and keeps the target in the center of the screen. As with the At Target mode, you can select any player on the field, the fielder, the ball, or the catch zone for your target.

Trail Target: Trails the target from behind at a set distance. The camera will reposition itself to always remain at the target's back. As with the At Target mode, you can select any player on the field, the fielder, the ball, or the catch zone for your target.

Static TV: Pans in any direction to track the selected subject, and will zoom in and out automatically to keep the subject at a constant distance. This stationary camera can be placed anywhere, but its physical location will not change while tracking.

Target Area: Allows you to define preset cameras for each of the nine field regions (listed in the Target drop down menu within the CAMS dialog box). You can change the position of each camera by first selecting the appropriate field region, then using the directional edit keys. When this mode is active, the camera (for the selected field region) will center on the catch zone while the ball is in the air. Once the ball hits the ground, the camera will "track" the ball until the ball leaves that camera’s region.

The Active region refers to the one where the ball is in play. It can be any of the nine regions where the cameras are located. Camera positions cannot be changed when Active is displayed in the Target box. Active should be displayed in the Target box when you exit the CAMS dialog box.

Reset Mode: resets Mode to the FPS: Baseball default setting.

Reset CAMS: resets all settings in the dialog box to the FPS: Baseball default settings.

Save Settings: saves the settings as they are displayed in the dialog box; these setting will then be used for all future games until you change them again.


CHANGE COLUMNS DIALOG BOX

The Change Columns dialog box allows you to select from over 1500 data items per player to show in the roster or statistics displays. To display the Change Columns dialog box, select Change Columns from the Action menu (on a screen that uses a roster/statistics display, such as Association Statistics or Team Roster). To change a column, click on the column heading to highlight it (see SLOT in the diagram below), then select a data item from the scrolling list below it. Use option buttons on the left side of the dialog box to change the items available in the scrolling list box. You may mix and match data items freely. NOTE: you must select the column heading first to avoid inadvertently changing the wrong heading.

There are eight categories of statistics available on the Change Columns dialog box: four for Pitching and the same four for Batting/Fielding. Only the data items in the scrollable list change.

Player Data: Biographical data about the player and playing status (Slot, Health, Pitches available, etc.)

Player Ratings: Basic and situational ratings.

Statistical Totals: Overall statistics for the time frame in question.

Situational Statistics: Statistics for performance in specified situations.

Saving Column Sets To Disk

Once you have organized the columns to be displayed, you can save them to disk for easy display in the future. A set of 8 column headings is known as a StatSet. Click on the Save (to copy over an existing file) or Save As... (to save a new file) and choose a name for saving the new StatSet. Use the Load... button to load a saved StatSet.


CHANGING BATTING/FIELDING RATINGS

To change a rating, click on a text box and enter a new value. The actual ratings that are displayed, range from 0-99. The ratings are described below:

Batting

CH: Contact Hitting

This rating indicates how often the player makes contact, putting the ball into play.

PH: Power Hitting

This rating indicates how hard the player hits the ball.

SP: Speed

This rating indicates how fast the player runs.

G/F: Groundball/Flyball

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to hit the ball on the ground or in the air. A batter with a high G/F rating hits more on the ground; one with a low G/F hits more in the air.

Pull: Pull

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to pull the ball. A batter whose Pull is 70 or more is a strong pull hitter, one whose Pull is near 50 is a spray hitter, and one whose Pull is 30 or less is an opposite field hitter.

Batting Situational Modifiers

These modify the CH and PH ratings of the batter. If a batter has a situational rating of 50 (average), it means the situation has no effect on his performance. A rating over 50 indicates that he does better than normal in this situation. A rating under 50 means he does worse than normal in this situation.

The two non-monthly situational modifiers (vs. L, Home) have implied 'opposite' ratings, which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a batter with a vs. L. rating of 55 has an implied vs. R rating of 45.) The two situational modifiers, ScPos and C&L, show how well a player does in those situations.

The six monthly modifiers indicate an overall proficiency of a player during a given month. For instance, a player with an August modifier rating of 40 compared with ratings of over 50 for all other months, is likely to slump in all ratings during August.

All situational modifiers have a range of 40 to 60, except vs. L, which runs from 35 to 65.

vs. L: vs. Left-handed pitching situational modifier

ScPos: Scoring Position situational modifier

C&L: Close and Late situational modifier

Home: Home situational modifier

Apr: April situational modifier

May: May situational modifier

Jun: June situational modifier

Jul: July situational modifier

Aug: August situational modifier

S/O: September/October situational modifier

Fielding

Arm Strength (AS)

This rating indicates both how far and how accurately a fielder can throw the ball.

NOTE:  Unlike the other player ratings, Arm Strength cannot be calculated from existing fielding statistics and is thus completely subjective.  All players in the MLBPA 96 have AS values that have been assigned based on information contained in player scouting reports.  You should feel free to change any player ratings that you disagree with.

FA:P -- FA:RF: Fielding Ability

These ratings indicate how well the player plays each of the defensive positions.


CHANGING PITCHING RATINGS

To change a rating, click on a text box and enter a new value. The actual ratings that are displayed, range from 0-99. The ratings are described below:

HdRn: Holding Runners

This rating indicates how effectively the pitcher holds base runners.

EN: Endurance

This rating indicates how many pitches a pitcher can throw in a game before losing his effectiveness.  While this rating determines the number of pitches that can be thrown before tiring, the value of the rating does not represent the actual number of pitches.

CO: Control

This rating indicates how accurately the pitcher throws at his target location

G/F: Groundball/Flyball

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to hit the pitcher’s pitch on the ground or in the air.  A pitcher with a high G/F rating gets more pitches hit on the ground; one with a low G/F has more hit in the air.

AS: Arm Strength

This rating is used to determine the speed of the pitcher's fastball..

Pitches

FB: Fastball

This is the standard pitch that nearly every pitcher has in his repertoire. Its flight path is essentially straight from the pitcher’s hand to the targeted location in the strike zone.

CB: Curveball

The basic breaking ball, this pitch curves down and away from a batter batting from the same side of the plate as the pitcher is throwing (both are right-handed or both are left-handed).

CU: Change-up

Also known as an off-speed pitch, the change-up is about 15 M.P.H. slower than the pitcher’s fastball.

SL: Slider

A cross between a fastball and a curve, a slider breaks away from a same-handed batter like the curveball. The slider has more horizontal break than vertical break.

SI: Sinker

Also known as a two-seam fastball, the sinker is thrown with near fastball velocity and has a sharp break downwards at the plate.

SC: Screwball

A "reverse curveball," this pitch breaks toward a same-handed batter.

KN: Knuckleball

A pitch thrown with almost no spin, the knuckleball is susceptible to any random air currents between the mound and plate and breaks very unpredictably.

A pitcher may have a rating for each of the seven pitches, but may only use his best four pitches in a game.

Situational Modifiers

These modify the ratings of the pitcher. If a pitcher has a situational rating of 50, it means the situation has no effect on his performance. A rating under 50 indicates that he does worse than normal in this situation. A rating over 50 means he does better than normal in this situation.

The two non-monthly situational modifiers (vs. L, Home) have implied 'opposite' ratings, which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a pitcher with a vs. L. rating of 55 has an implied vs. R rating of 45.) The two situational modifiers, ScPos and C&L, show how well a pitcher does in those situations.

The six monthly modifiers indicate an overall proficiency of a pitcher during a given month. For instance, a pitcher with an August modifier rating of 40 compared with ratings of over 50 for all other months, is likely to slump in all ratings during August.

vs. L: vs. Left-handed batters situational modifier

Home: Home situational modifier

ScPos: Scoring Position situational modifier

C&L: Close and Late situational modifier

Apr: April situational modifier

May: May situational modifier

Jun: June situational modifier

Jul: July situational modifier

Aug: August situational modifier

S/O: September/October situational modifier


CHOOSE PLAYERS DIALOG BOX

The Choose Players dialog box allows you to narrow the list of players displayed in the Associations Statistics display.

There are two sets of option buttons. The first allows you to show players of all positions or to select positions.  In the dialog box shown below, catchers and second basemen have been selected.

The second set of option buttons allows you to show all players at the positions selected, or just those who meet the minimum playing time qualifications. To qualify for inclusion in the batting statistics, a player must have a minimum of 3.1 plate appearances (PA) per game that his team has played. To qualify for inclusion in the pitching statistics, a player must have at least 1 inning pitched (IP) per game that his team has played.


CLAIMING FREE AGENTS

You may sign free agents at any time during the season and assign them to any of the team’s rosters (except during the Amateur and Free Agent Drafts). To sign a free agent, or to see what talent is currently available, select Claim Free Agent from the Team menu (make sure your team is the "current team" first). The Set Criteria dialog box will appear, allowing you to narrow down the list of players to suit your needs. Then the roster display will change to show all the players currently available in the free agent pool.

To make a claim:

1.  Use the Set Criteria dialog box to narrow down the list of players to suit your needs.

2.  Display the free agents that meet your criteria by selecting Free Agents from the Show menu.

3.  Change the display columns to view information that will help you make your decision by selecting Change Columns from the Action Menu. You can sort the list by clicking on the heading of one of the display columns (it will then turn white).

4.  When you have found a player you want to claim, double-click on his name. His name will be displayed in the Claim edit box at the top of the screen.

5.  Select Submit Claim from the Action Menu to send your claim to the Commissioner. While the day’s games are being played, the Commissioner’s Office will respond to free agent claims. If two or more teams claim the same free agent, he will be awarded to the team with the poorest winning percentage.

If the Commissioner’s Office approves your free agent claim, a message will appear in your Team News. Double-click that message and the Reassign Players dialog box will appear, allowing you to specify to which of the various team rosters the new player(s) will be assigned. You must assign the player to the active, reserve, or Low Minors roster before you can start your next game.

The Action Menu

Set Criteria: Brings up the Set Criteria dialog box, which allows you to set the criteria for players you want to see. Depending on how you set the requirements in this dialog, you may eliminate all players from the display. If this happens, bring up the dialog box again and change some of the settings.

Submit Claim: Sends the free agent claim to the League Commissioner's office. If multiple claims are made for the same free agent, the Commissioner will award the player to the team with the poorest won-lost percentage.

Change Columns: Brings up the Change Columns dialog box, which allows you to choose the statistics to be displayed in each column of the roster display.

Print: Prints all of the displayed players in the free agent list.

Print Top 50: Prints the first 50 players in the free agent list. To rearrange the order of the players, click on a column heading to sort the list by that column.

Print Column Leaders: Prints the first 10 players in the list and the selected column of data. To select a column of data, click on the heading.

Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.

The Show Menu

Free Agents: Changes the roster display to show the players in the free agent pool. Only players who meet the criteria on the Set Criteria dialog box will be shown.

Team: Changes the roster display to show the players on your team.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.) Not available for teams, or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.

See also Trading Players.


CONFIGURING CONTROLS

A Note about Controls

Throughout the game, control menus appear at various points to allow you to take control of players, change camera angles, view VCR tapes, and so on.

Some menus are visible (such as Offense Manage), some are graphical (such as CAMS), and other are hidden (such as fielding).

Any visible menu item can be clicked on by the mouse. Some items respond immediately, others allow for multiple selections.

For each team, you can set up a device to control the menus when not playing in computer control mode. For more information, see Team Data.

FPS: Baseball currently supports the following devices:

joysticks 1-16 (if installed)

keyboard left - see reference card

keyboard right - see reference card

Control Setup

The Control Setup dialog allows you to calibrate/configure joysticks and also create and assign command maps to each joystick. To display the Control Setup dialog box, press the J key in the Front Office, or press the F2 key and click on the Configure Controls button in the Stadium.

Note: If a control menu is open in the Stadium, or the joystick is in use, you may not be able to capture a joystick value and therefore edit individual menu commands. In the Front Office, you are able to access any joystick.

Calibrating Joysticks

The Calibrate Joysticks button takes you to the Windows Control Panel to allow you to install/calibrate the joysticks which are connected to your computer.

Once you return to FPS: Baseball, any changes you made will be reflected in the list of available joysticks.

Assigning Joystick Maps

By default, all joysticks use the "Default Map." This map is designed for a regular 2-axis, 2-button joystick but will also work with just about any joystick, provided the driver is installed correctly.

You can assign a more advanced map to your joystick. For example, the "Map for SideWinder 3D Pro" connects throttle, rudder, and hat to allow you to 'fly' your camera view while in the CAMS menu.

To assign a map, select the joystick to which you want the map assigned to in the Joystick drop-down box. Then select the map from the list of maps in the Command Map drop-down box. The assignment is immediate and requires no confirmation.

A control map may be assigned to a number of joysticks. Changes to this map affect ALL devices that have it assigned to them. To make a change that affects a single device, save the map as a new name and assign that new map to the control. You may then configure the new map for that control.

Configuring Control Maps

The Configure Maps option will allow you to program joystick position/button combinations for every command on every menu in the stadium (pitching, batting, baserunning, fielding, managing, and so on). To do this, click on the Configure Maps button in the Configure Controls dialog box.

The currently selected map is opened by default, though you can open and edit any control map.

Each map consists of a list of joystick-control movements and button-press values assigned to menu items for each menu in the game.

Note: If you have a joystick with rudder and/or throttle, make sure these controls are centered if you select one of the advanced maps that use these axes, such as "Map for SideWinder 3D Pro."

Select the menu you wish to modify in the Menu drop-down box. Then select the command which you want to alter from the Command scroll box. Then click the Learn button (with the correct joystick selected). You will now have the opportunity to move the joystick controls where you want and click on the joystick button you want to initiate the selected command, or press the Enter key if you don't want a button involved. For example, say you want the Steal 2nd command on the Offense menu to be Joystick down, press button 2. After you click the Learn button, move the joystick down, then press Button 2. If you select a setting that another command on the selected already uses, a dialog box will alert you and allow you to cancel the change or accept it and remove the setting from the other command.

You don't have to learn a command from the same joystick that you will assign the map to, BUT they must be compatible types. For example, if you learn a rudder-twist+button 4 from a SideWinder 3D Pro, and then assign this map to a 2 axis joystick, you will not be able to activate this command with the joystick. Conversely, if you learn a simple joystick left+button 1, then most joysticks will be able to generate this sequence.

If you capture a joystick command sequence that is in use by another command in the current menu, you will be asked if you wish to overwrite the existing assignment, or not.

You can click on the Reset Command button to clear the assignment for the selected command.

The axes which are enabled for this map are shown below the map name. This allows you to ignore unwanted input from the joystick which could confuse FPS: Baseball. For example, you have rudder pedals which are configured under Control Panel, but they don't physically center correctly and you don't want to use them in the game. By clearing the appropriate check box, you can make sure that only the axes you need are read by the game.

The lower right area of the dialog allow you to learn (or capture) a position value from a joystick.

A static display of available joystick axes will help you see what inputs make sense from this joystick.

Unfortunately, no standard exists for what axis name will correspond to a physical control axis on a joystick device. However, they usually are:

X - joystick left-right

Y - joystick forward-back

Z - throttle

R - rudder

POV HAT - POV Hat (only 5 discrete positions)

FPS: Baseball supports the first 16 joystick devices, up to 7 axes on each joystick, and up to 32 buttons on each joystick.

To create a new map, select the map to use as your template, then press "Save As" to save the map to a new name. You may then edit this new map.

Configuring Keyboard Commands

The keyboard key map assignments are not configurable.


Contents


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

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This software is copyrighted. This software and documentation is licensed to you by Sierra On-Line. You may copy it onto a computer for your own personal use and you may make back up copies of the software to protect your software against loss. This software may be used by more than one person, and may be freely moved from one computer location to another provided that there is no possibility of the software being used at one location or on one computer while it is being used at another.  The software can not legally be used by two different people in different places at the same time. You may not modify, network, rent, lease, loan, distribute the software or create derivative works based upon the software in whole or in part, and you may not electronically transmit the software from one computer to another or over a network.

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 © 1997 Sierra On-Line, Inc. ® and/or TM  designate trademarks of, or licensed to Sierra On-Line, Inc. All rights reserved.


Creating an Association
CREATE A NEW ASSOCIATION

FPS: Baseball not only allows you to manage a professional team, but you can create entire Associations consisting of leagues and divisions organized to satisfy your baseball dreams. You have the freedom to mix historical teams with MLBPA teams from the current season. You can even enter your own favorite teams from the past or fantasy teams for use in your Associations using DataIn.

To build a new Association:

1.  Select the Create New Association command from the Main menu. The New Association Configuration menu appears. Here you select the number of teams, league and divisional alignment, and set the new Association as either Career or Single-Season.

2.  Select teams from existing Associations that will be copied into the new Association on the Select Teams screen. You may select any team from any Association, including Associations created with DataIn.

3.  Specify whether to dump all players from the teams into a free agent pool so they can be redrafted during the Initial Player Draft. You can also select a single Association to dump players from into the Initial Player Draft.

Specify whether to copy historical and career stats. If you choose to copy historical stats, your Association will require more disk space, but you will have access to the player's real life statistics from the Association Statistics and Team Statistics screens. If you choose to copy career stats, your Association will require more disk space, but you will have access to the player's statistics that were generated in the previous FPS: Baseball Association.

The computer will then take a few moments to begin creating the new Association.

4.  Select the schedule length from the "Select Schedule Length" dialog box. There are three schedule lengths available for all Association configurations:

The computer will finish creating your new Association and will then display the Association Data screen, where you can edit the names of the Association, leagues, division, and set ground rules, and reset team ownership/controls.


CREDITS

Director/Lead Programmer	Glen Wolfram

Lead Designer	Doug Johnson

Stadium/Action Programmer	Dave Merrill

Front Office Programmer	Glen Wolfram

Additional Programming	Randy MacNeill, Michael Lytton

Technical Assistance	Rhett Anderson, Glenn Wallace

Art Direction	Tom VanVelkinburg

Artists	Troy MacFarland, Mark Peasley

Online Manual	Michael Stearns, Doug Johnson

Video Production 	Jim Carey, David Aughenbaugh, Kate Alley

Music	Charles Barth

Musicians	Tim Pierce, Mike Miller, Billy Savage, Charles Barth

Voice Talent	Bill Barrett

Sound Effects	LOUDMOUTH, Ken Rogers

Photgraphers	Simon P. Barnett, Simon P. Barnett, Jim Commentucci, J.D. Cuban, Jonothan Daniel, Stephen Dunn, Otto Gruelle, Will Hart, Jed Jacobsohn, Ken Levine, Bill Paciello, Fred Roe, Rick Stewart, John Swart, Todd Warshaw

Photographs	Provided by The National Baseball Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball Players Association, and Allsport, Inc.

TM/c 1997 Paige Enterprises under license authorized by CMG

Worldwide, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46256 USA

www.cmg.com

TM/c 1997 Lou Brock under license authorized by CMG

Worldwide, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46256 USA

www.cmg.com

TM/c 1997 Estate of Billy Martin under license authorized by CMG

Worldwide, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46256 USA

www.cmg.com

TM/c 1997 Harmon Killebrew under license authorized by CMG

Worldwide, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46256 USA

www.cmg.com

Quality Assurance Manager	Dave Steele

QA Lead	John Wolf

QA Team	Aaron Anderson, Trish Bayless, Geoff Hampton, Joe Rush, Jesse Russell, Kenn Smith, Jackson Snellings, Matthew Vincent

Beta Testers	Ken L. Brewer, John Ehlinger, Bill Harris, Ted V. Huckaby, Kevin Kitchens, Robert B. Jones, Tim Krasniewski, Stuart Malis, Lee Roy Perkins, Dan Spezzano, Shava Sullivan, Jeff Walzer

Baseball Statistics	STATS Inc.

Producer	Kate Kloos

The Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro '98 Season team would like to give special thanks to the following people and organizations who helped make this product happen:

JD Alley	Eugene Emeralds	Tony Raines	Randy Johnson

Brain Peck	Maureen Smith	Mark Adams	Seamus Blackley

Randy Dersham	Kurtis Engle	Bill James	Seattle Mariners

Matt Larson	Lindsey Lombard	David Stambaugh

Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro '98 Season would not have been possible without the previous work of the following people:

Rhett Anderson, Brian Apgar, Mark Brenneman, Patrick Cook, Ron Clayborn, Steve Cordon, Dan Duncalf, Ian Gilliland, Gerald Harrison, Doug Johnson, Kate Kloos, Piotr Lukaszuk, David McClurg, Louie McCrady, Jeff Mckay, L. Allen McPheeters, Dave Merrill, Bill Money, Vance Naegle, Rick Overman, James Poelke, Joe Rudi, David Sandgathe, Chris Singleton, Dave Steele, Dale Tendick, Tom VanVelkinburg, Kurt Weber, Dan White, John Wolf, Glen Wolfram, Scott Youngblood

Copyright © Sierra On-Line, Inc 1997


Current Team
Current Team: the team that all commands on the Team menu pertain to. For example, if Chicago is the current team, selecting Schedule from the Team menu will display Chicago's schedule. To change the current team, select Select Team from the Team menu or press Ctrl+C. In the dialog box that is displayed, scroll through the list and click on the team you want. Then click OK.


CUSTOMER SERVICE

The best customer service in the industry.

"You don’t just buy our games--you buy the support of the whole company."

--Ken Williams, CEO Sierra On-Line, Inc.

Sierra On-Line is dedicated to helping you with each and every question or problem. Whether it’s memory shortages, software compatibility, or any other issue affecting our products, we guarantee your satisfaction.

The Sierra No-Risk Guarantee!

THE PROMISE: We want you to be happy with every Sierra product you purchase. Period. Complete and return the enclosed owner registration card, and we will be able to serve you better. If you are unhappy with one of our software products for any reason, you can return it for an exchange or refund within 30 days of purchase. (If it was purchased retail, please include the original sales receipt.)

THE ONLY CATCH: You have to tell us why you don’t like it, so we can improve. If you send it back and tell us why, we’ll do our best to make you happy.

Software Warranty & Replacements

If your Sierra software or disk fails within 90 days of purchase, we will replace it free of charge. Return the CD directly to us with a copy of your sales receipt. After 90 days,  include the replacement fee: $10.00  in U.S.; £6.00 in U.K.; £7.00 outside U.K. Note: this policy applies to the original owner only.

In the US, send Replacements/Returns to:

Sierra On-Line Fulfillment

P.O. Box 485

Coarsegold, CA 93614

(For Returns, add Attn: Returns)

Overseas, return your disk(s) to the appropriate Sierra Customer Service center, marked "Attn: Returns."


DISPLAY WINDOWS

You can access these "Display Windows" settings from the Game Options dialog box.

Top View: Displays a window with an overhead view of the playing field; you can position this window anywhere on the screen. Offensive players are shown as red dots, within an outline of the actual play field. The selected defensive player shows up as a yellow mark when the ball is in play (the ball is indicated by a white mark). Otherwise, defensive players show up as blue dots, provided you have them selected in the "Player Graphics" tab of the Game Options dialog box.

Note:  When the defensive positioning dialog box is open, all defensive players show up as blue marks. It's a good idea to have this window open when you go into the Position Defense dialog box so you can see the various defensive structures.

Scoreboard: Opens or closes a scoreboard window; you can position this window anywhere on the screen. This shows the inning, score, number of runs, hits, errors, balls, strikes, and outs.

Player Info: Displays a window with the following information (you can position this window anywhere on the screen):

Pitcher - the ratings of his four best pitches; a white square shows up around his most recently thrown pitch.

Batter - his contact hitting, power hitting, and speed ratings

Baserunners - who is on base and their speed ratings

Pitcher Info: Displays a window with the following information (you can position this window anywhere on the screen):

Strike zone - where the last pitch was thrown relative to the strike zone

Radar - the speed of the last pitch.

Game Updates: Displays starting game conditions and player information by inning; you can position this window anywhere on the screen and resize it as desired.

Fullscreen 3D: Causes the display window to expand to full-screen size, when the stadium switches to 3D view.


DRAFT ROSTER

The draft screen handles the drafting of players. To display it, select Start/Resume Draft from the Association menu.

The roster display consists of ten columns of data, eight of which can be set by you. To change the data displayed in any column, choose Change Columns from the Action Menu. You may sort the data shown by any of the columns by clicking on the column heading. That heading is then shown in white letters.

The Action Menu

Set Criteria: Brings up the Set Criteria dialog box, which allows you to select the players to be shown.

Skip Round: Causes the team to not choose a player in the current round, if the team's draft functions are human-controlled.

Skip Draft: Causes the team to not choose any more players in the draft, if the team's draft functions are human-controlled.

Start/Continue Draft: Causes the draft selection process to begin or resume from where it left off. If the team's draft functions are computer-controlled, the computer will select the player to be drafted, display a message of who was drafted, and pass control to the next team. If the team's draft functions are human-controlled, you select the player to draft by double-clicking on his name in the roster display. You can specify whether draft functions should be human controlled or computer controlled on the Team Data screen.

Restart Draft: Puts all players for all teams back into a common pool for drafting. This option is available only for the Initial Draft, not for the Amateur or Free Agent Drafts. In the confirmation dialog box that appears, you may choose to use the Same Order or New Order for drafting. If you select New Order, FPS: Baseball will randomly choose a new order for the draft.

Print: Prints all of the displayed players in the draft list.

Print Top 50: Prints the first 50 players in the draft list. To rearrange the order of the players, click on a column heading to sort the list by that column.

Print Column Leaders: Prints the first 10 players in the list and the selected column of data. To select a column of data, click on the heading.

(Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

Change Columns: Brings up the Change Columns dialog box that allows you to choose the statistics to be displayed in each column of the roster display.

Draft Delay Time: Brings up a dialog box that allows you to specify the time (from 0 to 30 seconds) that FPS: Baseball will wait between computer-controlled teams making draft selections. Caution: if you set the time to 0, you will not be able to interrupt the draft until it is complete, if there are no human-controlled teams.

The Show Menu

Draft Order: Shows the order the teams will pick in the draft.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE: Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.)  This option is not available for teams, or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.


EDITING PLAYERS

If the team is human-owned, you can edit certain player data.

Changing General Information

At the top of the dialog is a section for general player data. Here you may change the first name, last name, uniform number (NO), age, or experience by clicking on the text box and entering new data. You can change the player's batting hand or throwing hand by clicking on the text box and cycling through the possibilities (L-left hand, R-right hand, S-either hand). You can change their skin color and pitch delivery by clicking on the option buttons.

You can specify which positions the player is qualified to play by clicking on the check boxes next to the position labels. Then you can specify their primary position by clicking on an option button. (Primary position must be one of the positions they are qualified to play.)

The bottom part of the Edit Player dialog box displays either Pitching ratings or Batting/Fielding ratings. To switch between the two, click on the button labeled Batting/Fielding or Pitching Ratings in the lower-left corner. Once you've finished editing the player data, click on OK to save it, or Cancel to ignore your changes.


EDITING THE BBPRO.INI FILE

If you are a seasoned veteran of FPS: Baseball, you might prefer to go directly to the Front Office, rather than see the startup screen each time you launch the game.

Note:  Although this is a simple procedure, we recommend making a backup of your file if you are not experienced with making changes to configuration files.

To modify FPS: Baseball so you get direct access to the Front Office:

1.  Open the BBPRO.INI file, which is in the Bbpro_98 directory. In Windows 95, it is listed as the file"Bbpro" with the type "Configuration Settings."

2. Add these lines to your configuration file:

[BBShell]

EZShell=0

3.  Save changes to the file.

The next time you launch FPS: Baseball, you will go directly to the Front Office.

4. If you want to revert to having the startup screen appear at startup time, set EZShell=1.

For further instructions on customizing the BBPRO.INI file, read the file BBPROINI.TXT, which is in the BBPRO directory.


END USER LICENSING AGREEMENT

BY USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE.

Sierra On-Line End User License Agreement

This software is copyrighted. This software and documentation is licensed to you by Sierra On-Line. You may copy it onto a computer for your own personal use and you may make back up copies of the software to protect your software against loss. This software may be used by more than one person, and may be freely moved from one computer location to another provided that there is no possibility of the software being used at one location or on one computer while it is being used at another.  The software can not legally be used by two different people in different places at the same time. You may not modify, network, rent, lease, loan, distribute the software or create derivative works based upon the software in whole or in part, and you may not electronically transmit the software from one computer to another or over a network.

This End User License Agreement grants you a limited license to use the Redistributable Code licensed to Sierra On-Line, Inc. by Microsoft Corporation, Inc. together with Microsoft operating system products.  All intellectual property rights in Microsoft's Redistributable Code contained in this product belong exclusively to Microsoft Corporation, Inc.

Limited Warranty

Sierra warrants the diskette(s) to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase.  Sierra On-Line's entire liability and your exclusive remedy will be replacement of the disk.

SIERRA ON-LINE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS  OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

This limited warranty gives you specific legal rights; you may have others which may vary from state to state.  Some states do not allow the exclusion of incidental or consequential damages, or the  limitation on how long an implied warranty lasts, so some of the above may not apply to you.


ENTERING CUSTOM TEAM DATA

FPS:Baseball '98 includes a separate program that allows you to enter player data and statistics, and convert this information to player ratings that can be used in the game. You may create full teams of up to 40 players and use them as a source when creating new Associations. You may also create individual players to be placed in the free agent pool of existing Associations.

To start Datain, select Start > Programs >  Sierra >  FPS DataIn Utility..

Complete instructions for using the program are contained in its on-line help. Press the F1 key anytime while in the DataIn program to display  its help file.


ERROR MESSAGES

This section offers possible solutions for error messages you may encounter. See also Troubleshooting.

UNABLE TO OPEN ASSOCIATION DATA FILE.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THE ASSN AND STATS DIRECTORIES EXIST, AND THAT THERE IS ENOUGH SYSTEM MEMORY AVAILABLE.

FILE: ...MRDATA.CPP LINE 255

Besides checking that the SIERRA\BBPRO_98\ASSN and SIERRA\BBPRO_98\STATS directories exist, and freeing up system memory by closing other applications, use the DOS ATTRIB command to verify that the files in the \ASSN and \STATS directories are not read-only. From the DOS prompt, type:

C:\SIERRA\BBPRO_98\ASSN>   attrib -r *.*

C:\SIERRA\BBPRO_98\ASSN>   cd ..\stats

C:\SIERRA\BBPRO_98\STATS>   attrib -r *.*

UNINSTALLER ERROR

AN ERROR OCCURRED WHILE TRYING TO REMOVE SIERRA ON-LINE GAMES (REMOVE ONLY).

UNINSTALLATION HAS BEEN CANCELED.

This error may occur if you attempt to use Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs feature and it can not find the Sierra Setup program where it was originally installed. If this happens, run the Sierra Setup & Uninstall item from the Sierra program group instead. Then select Uninstall from Setup's main menu.

RUNTIME ERROR-ABNORMAL PROGRAM TERMINATION

If this error occurs as you are trying to start FPS: Baseball, it may be because you have deleted all of your Associations or the one that was set in Preferences to load by default when the game starts. Try using BBArchive to restore the shipping Associations off of the FPS: Baseball CD into the directory where FPS: Baseball was installed. Then delete the BB.CFG file from the directory where FPS: Baseball was installed and restart the game.


EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

The Exhibition Play screen allows you to select two teams and play a game that does not affect the standings or statistics of those teams in their respective Associations.

To play an exhibition game:

1. Click Exhibition Play on the FPS: Baseball startup screen or select Exhibition Play from the Main menu.

2. Select the teams and the stadium.

3. Select the weather conditions.

4. Set the field rules and game options.

5. Set the team controls.

6. Select Play Game from the Action Menu.

7. Set the starting pitchers and lineup. This step is optional. If you check Use Preset Lineup in the game options, you do not need to set the starting pitchers and lineup.

Once you have completed an exhibition game, you can view the most recently completed game's box score by selecting Box Score from the Show menu while displaying the Exhibition Play screen.


EXHIBITION: RULES & OPTIONS

These options are available when you select Exhibition Play from the Main menu in the Front Office. However, they are not available when you select Exhibition Play from the FPS: Baseball startup screen.

Ground Rules

There are seven ground rules. To turn on a ground rule click on the check box next to it, so that a check appears. To turn off the ground rule, click on the check box so that the check disappears. You may set the rules differently for the home team and the visiting team.

Injuries: When "Injuries" is turned on, players may be injured and have to leave the game. (If you turn Injuries off after a player has been injured, that player will not return to the game.)

Fatigue: When "Fatigue" is turned on, pitchers tire (and their performance suffers) as the game progresses according to their Endurance rating and the number of pitches thrown.

DH Rule: Determines whether the team can use a designated hitter. If "Designated Hitter" is turned off during a game, the player who had been the DH will be removed from the game and cannot be used later.

Use Ratings: Determines whether individual player ratings are used during the game. When it is turned off, all players' skills are rated as Average (50).

Fielding Errors: Determines whether fielding errors may or may not occur. If it is turned off, all throws are on target and fielders will not make errors, although there still may be balls that they cannot handle.

Base Stealing: When turned on, the team's base runners may attempt to steal.

Pitch to Center: Disables the Pitch Location variable. When it is turned on, all pitches thrown by your pitcher in the Exhibition game will be to the center of the plate.

Game Options

There are two game options that you can set on the Exhibition Play screen. To turn an option on click on the check box next to it, so that an check appears. To turn it off, click on the check box so that the check disappears. The options apply to both teams.

Use Preset Lineup: Proceeds directly to the game using preset lineups for facing left- and right-handed pitchers. If turned off, you will have the chance to set the starting lineup for each human-controlled team.

One Pitch Mode: When it is turned on, only the final pitch of the plate appearance will be shown, except for stolen bases, wild pitches, passed balls, successful pickoffs, and pitchouts. Note: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding controls must all be set to Computer for one-pitch mode to be available.


EXHIBITION: TEAMS AND STADIUM

When the Exhibition Play screen is displayed, it already has teams and a stadium selected (the ones that were used the last time to start an exhibition game).

Changing a Team

To change a team, click on the team name, for either the home team or the visitors. A dialog box appears, giving you the option of selecting either a Standard Team (one that currently exists in some Association) or an All-Star Team, which FPS:Baseball '98 creates for you. You can also press Cancel if you decide to use the previously selected team.

Standard Teams

If you select Standard Team, the Standard Team selection dialog box is displayed. In the edit box at the top is the name of the Association that contains the teams displayed in the list box. To select a different Association, click on the Association name. The Select Association dialog box is displayed. Scroll through the list of the Associations and click on the one you want to use. Then click the OK button.

Now, scroll through the list of teams and click on the one you want to have play in the game. Then click on the OK button.

All-Star Teams

If you select All-Star Team, a Choose Players From: dialog box appears. The top edit box lists the name of the Association from which to select the all-star players. (All players on an all-star team must come from the same Association). To select a different Association, click on the Association name. The Select Association dialog box is displayed. Scroll through the list of the Associations and click on the one you want to use. Then click the "OK" button.

The League text box displays the league from which to select the all-stars. It may say All Leagues to select the players from all leagues in the Association (or if there is only one league in the Association), or it may list the specific league to use. To select a different league from within the Association, click on the League edit box. The text will change to the next league or All Leagues. Repeat until the league you want is displayed.

If you select a specific league from which to select the all-stars, you'll also have the opportunity to specify the division from which to select the players. Click on the Division edit box to cycle through the divisions in the selected league, or All Divisions to include all divisions within the league.

Click on the OK button to have FPS: Baseball generate the All-Star lineup.

Changing the Stadium

To change the stadium in which the game will be played, click on the Stadium text box. A Choose Stadium dialog box is displayed.  Scroll through the list of stadiums and click on the one where you want to play. Then click on OK. If you want to play in the home team's stadium, just click on the Home Team's Stadium button. If you change your mind and do not want to select a new stadium, just click on Cancel.


EXHIBITION: WEATHER CONDITIONS

The weather condition options are available when you select Exhibition Play from the Main menu in the Front Office. However, they are not available when you select Exhibition Play from the FPS: Baseball startup screen.

There are three ways to specify the weather conditions for the exhibition game you are about to play (you can not change weather conditions for Association games):

1. Have the computer select the conditions.

Click on the Computer Selects option button, then click on the City text box to select the city. A Select City dialog box appears. Scroll through the list of cities and click on the one you want. Then click OK or click Cancel to leave the selection as is. FPS: Baseball will pick a month and set the weather conditions accordingly.

2. Select the city and month.

Click on the Set Month option button, then click on the city text box to select the city. A Select City dialog box appears. Scroll through the list of cities and click on the one you want. Then click OK. Then, below the city name, click on the option button for the month in which you want to play.  FPS: Baseball will set the weather conditions accordingly.

3. Specify the exact conditions you want.

Click on the Set Conditions option button. The conditions will be displayed below the button (as shown above). Use the scroll bar to set the Temperature and Wind Speed. Click on the Skies and Wind Direction text boxes to cycle through the various conditions and directions. (Yes, you can even make it rain in a domed stadium...)


FIELDING

The degree of control you have over the players on the field depends on the fielding mode you select. The following four fielding modes are available:

Computer: the computer controls all fielding.

Basic: the computer controls the fielding of the ball. You may take control once the defensive player has the ball, or let the computer complete the play.

Standard:  you may let the computer field the ball OR take control of the appropriate fielder by moving the joystick. Once the fielder has the ball, you take over to make the throw or the tag.

Advanced: you control all fielding. When the ball is hit by the batter, you automatically gain control of the fielder best suited to make a play on the ball.

Catching the Ball

NOTE: Keyboard Equivalents may be substituted for all joystick commands given below.

In Advanced fielding mode, once the ball has been hit by the batter, you are given control of the fielder most able to make a play on the ball. You may attempt to make the play with that player, or select the next closest fielder to control (if another player is close enough to the ball). To switch to the other fielder, press Button 2.

To catch the ball, move the active fielder toward the "catch zone," indicated by the yellow circle on the playing field.

The catch zone circle shows where the best location to make the catch is, and its size shows how close the ball is. The higher (and farther away) the ball, the larger the catch zone.

If you get the fielder into the catch zone before the ball lands, you have a good chance of making the play. The player’s fielding rating can affect those chances, however.

You can make fielders dive or jump to make difficult plays. To dive for the ball, push the controller in the direction you want the fielder to dive and press Button 1. To jump for the ball, center the controls (stop the fielder) and press Button 1.

Throwing the Ball

Once your fielder has the ball, you may throw it. Move the controls toward the appropriate position to specify a base to throw to, then press Button 1 to throw the ball.

For example, to throw to 1st base, push the joystick to the right and press Button 1. To throw to the relay man, center the joystick and press Button 1.

Catcher Throwing to Bases

While the catcher has the ball in the Batting/Pitching screen (the ball has crossed the plate, but has not been thrown back to the pitcher), you can throw to any base by pushing the controls toward that base and pressing Button 1.


FRONT OFFICE TUTORIAL

Before starting league play, you have the option of creating  a new association or using one of the associations included with FPS: Baseball. For this tutorial, you'll be creating a new association.

Creating an Association

1.  Select Main menu > Create New Association....

2.  Create a 28-team league.

3.  Choose Career - meaning that FPS: Baseball will track the statistics of the players in this association through multiple seasons.

4.  Accept the defaults of two 14-team leagues.

5.  Change the division configuration to two five-team divisions and one four-team division, just like the major leagues. When the New Association Configuration box looks like the following picture, click OK.

Configuring the Leagues

After configuring the association ,the Select Teams screen appears.

6.  You can stick with the default teams or set up your own custom association by selecting teams from any available FPS:Baseball association on your system.

7.  To select a different team, first select an alternate Source association by clicking in the Association box in the source section of the screen.  Select the "1997 MLBPA Opening Day" Association.

8.  Select a source league and division in this association using the buttons in the source section of the screen until you have located the ones that contain the team you want to add to your new association. Click on that team in the scrollable list to select it.

9.  Using the league and division buttons in the New Association section of the screen, locate the league and division to which you wish to assign this team.  Click in one of the numbered team slots to replace the existing team with the one you selected in the previous step.  A yellow box will appear to the right of the team name, indicating that it has been changed from the default team.

10.  Now, create a name for your new association.  Click in the Association name field, which reads "New Association," press the Delete key to clear the text, and type "Tutorial Association."  Click the Continue button.

11.  The Player Options dialog box is displayed. For now, accept the default choices and click the OK button.

12.  After processing, you will be asked what length schedule you would like to use.  Select "Full Season" to match the big leagues and click OK.  Since the association is using a full season, 14-team league schedule, you will be asked to choose between a historical (balanced) schedule and a divisional schedule.  Click historical to make it like the majors.

The Association Data screen is displayed.

14.  Click in the "League 1" field, press delete, and type "National." In the "League 2" field, type American. Since you made changes on this screen, you will be asked if you want to save your changes.  Click the Yes button.

15.  Select Action menu > Reset Teams.

16.  In the Reset Teams dialog box, select "Change All to Computer" and then click OK.

Setting up a Team

Now you will choose a team to take control of in this new association.

1.  Select Team menu > Select Team. and double-click the Seattle Mariners to select them.

2.  Select Team menu > Data.

3.  Click in the "Ownership" field to change the team control from Computer to Human.

4.  Click in the manager field, press delete, then enter your name as manager.  This is now your ball team!

5.  Turn off all of the Computer GM options on the right side of the box by clicking in the X'd boxes. This gives you complete control over the team.

6.  Turn off the "one-pitch" mode by clicking its box.

7.  In the "Play Modes" area, Click to the right of "Managing" until Standard appears.

8.  "Manage-only"  should currently be checked. Click it once to turn it off. Then click in the fields below it to make pitching and batting Standard. These settings will increase your control over your team in the ball park. You always have the option of choosing more automated settings.

Setting Lineups

1.  Select Team menu > Roster.

2.  Select Show menu > Batting Order vs Left-Handers.

3.  Switch Martinez and Griffey by clicking Griffey in the player list, then click the third slot in the lineup that Martinez is currently occupying.

Note: Players already in the lineup are displayed in a highlighted color in the player list.

4.  Select Show menu > Pitching Staff Roles.

5.  Highlight Mike Jackson and click "First Closer."

Starting the Game

1.  Select Team menu > Schedule.

The current day of the seasons is highlighted. The Team Schedule displays the home games, road games, and days off for your team.  Home dates are indicated by a green box, road games by a gray box, and off days are indicated by a blue box.  The current day in the schedule is indicated by a yellow border surrounding the box.

2.  If the current date has a yellow border around it, this indicates that this is a game date and you can proceed to step 5. If there is no yellow border, then this is an open date for your team you will need to simulate the association's games for the current date in order to advance the schedule so that you can play your game.  To do this, go to  Association menu  > Schedule  (Save your changes when prompted.)

3.  Select Action > Simulate... then select OK to simulate all the games for the current day.  You will be taken to the Stadium and will be shown a list of games for the day.  As each game is completed, its score is written to the list.  When all the day's games are completed, you will be returned to the Association Schedule screen.

4.  Select  Team menu > Schedule and you should see the yellow "current day" indicator around the box containing your first game.

In the lower right corner of each home or away game box is a small icon that looks like a computer screen.  Any game marked with this icon is set up to be "simulated" rather than "played".

5.  Locate the first scheduled game for your team.  Click the small computer icon in the bottom right corner of your opening game so it changes to a joystick. This marks the game to be "played" instead of being "simmed."

6.  Now click the game to start it..

5.  The Select Controls dialog box is displayed.

6.  Select "Keyboard R" for your team, or if you have a joystick you can select that option. The other team will be  set to Computer-owned.

The Start Game dialog box appears.

7.  Click OK to accept the default starting pitchers and lineup, then click Start Game.

You are now on your way to the stadium. Have fun!


GAME CONTROLS

Mouse

In the Front Office

Use the mouse to control the cursor on the screen, click buttons, and select menus or menu items. Most functions are started by a single mouse click. To "click" an item, move the cursor over the desired item and press the left mouse button once. To select an item from a "scrolling" menu like the Team Roster, first click the option to highlight it, then click again to select it. (This is also called a "double-click.")

In the Stadium

The mouse is also available in the stadium as a supplemental controller to your joystick or keyboard. You can use the mouse during the game to select the swing type for the batter, and the pitch type, pitch location, and pitch speed for the pitcher. (You cannot, however, use the mouse to control the batter’s swing.) You can also use the mouse to access any of the Manager menus during a game.

Joystick

Use your joystick to select menu items and control action in the stadium.

To recalibrate your joystick while in the stadium:

1. Right-click on the Stadium window to display the pop-up menu.

2. Select Game Options.

3. Click on the Configure Controls button at the bottom of the Game Options dialog box.

4. Click on the Calibrate Joysticks button in the Control Setup dialog.

To recalibrate your joystick when you're in the Front Office:

--Press the J key.

Keyboard Equivalents

If you are using the keyboard, you can select to use a right keyboard set or a left keyboard set. Both accomplish the same tasks.

The right keyboard set uses the numeric keypad to emulate the joystick directions as shown below. The Enter acts as Button 1 and the * key acts as Button 2.

Likewise, the left keyboard set emulates the eight joystick directions. The Spacebar acts as Button 1, and the 2 key acts as Button 2.

Note: There is no way to select different keys to perform the above functions, as there is with using a joystick.

Keyboard

You can use the keyboard for any command in FPS: Baseball, including all joystick actions in the Simulation, as well as the following "hot keys."

Throughout Game

Help	F1

Exit	Ctrl+X (with a screen prompt)

Exit	Alt+F4 (with no questions asked)

In the Front Office

Calibrate Joystick	J

Music on/off 	M

In the Stadium

Pause the Game	Pause

Game Options Menu	F2

Graphics Options	F3

Sound Options	F4

VCR Interface	F5 (Instant Replay)

Camera Angle Mgmt. Sys	F6

Lineup Card	F7

Simulation Pop-Up Menu	F10

Close Current Window	Ctrl+F4

Front Office Key Commands

Most FPS: Baseball menu commands have "hot key" keyboard equivalents:

Menus: To open a FPS: Baseball menu, press Alt and the menu’s underlined letter (for example, Alt+M for the Main menu).

Ctrl + Keys: These keys let you select most of the menu options without opening the menu.

Open Menu Options: On an open menu, including the variable Do, Show, and Help menus, simply type the underlined letter to select an option.

Main Menu	Alt+M

Create New Association	Ctrl+W	Create Association

Load Association	Ctrl+L	Load Association

Preferences	Ctrl+P	Change game preferences

Exhibition Play	Ctrl+E	Play or review game between any teams

Resume Saved Game	Ctrl+G	Resume saved game

Exit	Ctrl+X	Exit to Windows

Association Menu	Alt+A

News	Ctrl+Z	Association news

Data	Ctrl+A	Edit Association

Statistics	Ctrl+O	Review Association/team statistics

Schedule	Ctrl+K	Select scheduled games to sim/play

Standings	Ctrl+S	Review standings

History	Review champions, awards

Start New Season	Start new season

Restart Season	Restart Single-Season Association season

Start/Resume Draft	Start or resume any of the Association drafts

Start Spring Training	Takes all teams through training camp

Team Menu	Alt+T

News 	Ctrl+N	Team news

Data 	Ctrl+D	Edit the team

Roster	Ctrl+R	Review players

Statistics	Ctrl+M	Review team/player stats

Schedule	Ctrl+H	Select games to sim/play

Training Allocations	Ctrl+T	Direct spring training allocations

Reassign Players	Move players from one roster to another; release players.

Propose Trade	Propose trades

Claim Free Agent	Claim free agents.

Batting Practice	Go to the stadium for batting practice.

Select Team	Ctrl+C	Select another team

Choose Player	Ctrl+Y	Select a different player (during training allocation)

Action Menu	Alt+D

Functions vary depending on current menu screen:

Play/Simulate Game,...

Start New Season, Draft, Spring Training,...

Change Uniform,...

Print,...

Show Menu	Alt+S

Functions vary depending on current menu screen:

Batting/Fielding/Pitching Stats,...

Accumulated Stats, ...

Date,...

Help Menu	Alt+H

Contents	General starting point for help

screen name	F1	Context sensitive help for currently selected Menu screen (varies)

About FPS: Baseball	Version and copyright information and game credits.


GAME OPTIONS

The Game Options dialog box contains various options that can be modified depending on whether you are playing a league or an exhibition game. To display the Game Options dialog box while you are in the stadium, right-click on the Stadium window and select Game Options from the pop-up menu, or press the F2 key.

When playing a league game, the options that cannot be changed are ghosted (disabled). In fact, only the Controls (see Playing Modes) for the home and visiting teams can be altered during a league game.

All game options can be changed during an exhibition game, however. This includes the playing modes, Team Options (see Ground Rules), stadium, and weather conditions.

See also Display Windows, Graphics, Sound Settings, Home/Away Difficulty.


GAME OVERVIEW

Whether you want to manage an entire baseball league or just go out and hone your batting skills, FPS: Baseball has something for everybody.  When you launch FPS: Baseball, you will see the startup screen. This screen provides the following basic options for playing the game:

Arcade Play

Exhibition Play

Batting Practice

League Management

Web Site

Preview

Note: Experienced FPS: Baseball users can bypass the startup screen and go directory to the league management screen by editing the BBPRO.INI file.

In the Stadium

Arcade Play, Exhibition Play and Batting Practice all take place in the Stadium, where you can use your joystick, keyboard, or mouse to control the batters, pitchers, and fielders, and you can even create replays and highlight films. Once you have created an association and are ready to play regular league games, you will access the stadium from the Front Office. (See Stadium Overview for  complete details.)

Arcade Play allows you to play an exhibition game with all settings at their easiest levels. This is ideal for the beginning player who wants to get a feel for the game.

Exhibition Play takes you to the stadium for an exhibition game. An exhibition game is identical to a league game, except that the results and game statistics are not added into league or team data. you can use exhibition games to learn to play the game a little better and experiment without affecting Association statistics. Exhibition Play is also ideal if you are not interested in having your own team or running your own Association.

Note: When selecting Exhibition Play from the FPS: Baseball '98 startup screen,  you can only play games between the current year's MLPA teams and you can't change the game's "ground rules" before starting. This is more limiting than entering Exhibition Play from the Front Office, where you can play any two teams from any two associations and they can be standard or all-star teams.

Batting Practice allows you to match any batter against any pitcher, regardless of which team they are on.

Selecting any of the above options takes you to the Stadium and you will see the Batting/Pitching display on your screen. You can access all pitching, batting, and manager and game options from here. When the ball is put in play, the display switches to the 3D Stadium view for fielding and baserunning. After each play, you have the option to see an Instant Replay and edit it as much as you want using the Camera Angle Management System (CAMS). You can also pause a play in progress and start CAMS from the 3D Stadium view.

The Front Office

The League Management button on the startup screen takes you to "the Front Office," where you select the game(s) you want to play, set up your Associations and teams, review rosters or stats, conduct spring training and trades, and so forth. the menu bar at the top of the screen allows you to display different information and controls. These intuitive "point-and-click" screens are easiest to use with a mouse, although you may also use the keyboard. Menu options that you can currently select appear in black type. Options not currently available are grayed out, or "ghosted." The active option appears highlighted in white type. For more information, see Menus.

You can only manage one Association at a time in the Front Office. The association's name is displayed on the right of the status bar at the bottom of the screen. The Association's current calendar date is displayed on the left part of the status bar. You can select commands from the menu to load a different association, view the schedule, look at team rosters, make trades and so on. For more information on Associations, see Association Overview. If you are not interested in running your own team or Association, select Exhibition Play from the Main menu to set up a single game to play.

A Bit of History

Baseball (bas · bol), the "national pastime" of the U.S., popular also in Japan and in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and other Latin American countries.

It derives its name from the four bases, spaced 90 ft. (27.43 m) apart on the inner playing field (the diamond). Cowhide-covered hard balls, wooden or aluminum bats, and padded gloves constitute the basic equipment. A game is played by two opposing teams of nine players each -- a pitcher, a catcher, four infielders, and three outfielders. To win, a team must score more runs in nine innings than its opponent, a run being a complete circuit of the bases. Extra innings are played to resolve ties.

A form of baseball, doubtless derived from the English games of cricket and rounders, was played in the early 19th century. The belief that Abner Doubleday invented the modern game in 1839 has been largely refuted.

In the U.S., two main professional associations form the major leagues. The National League (NL; organized 1876) and the American League (AL; 1900) comprise a total of 28 teams representing U.S. and two Canadian cities. Champions of each league have met annually in the World Series since 1903 (except for 1904, when the NL team refused to play, and 1994, when team owners canceled the Series during a players' strike).

Major-league baseball became truly national in scope with the westward migration of several franchises, beginning in 1953, when the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. During the 1960s the number of clubs expanded from 16 to 24, with two divisions in each league. In 1977 the AL added two more franchises. The NL expanded to 14 teams in 1993, and in 1994 the number of divisions in each league was increased to three.

The game's greatest figures are elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, at Cooperstown, N.Y. (opened 1939). Baseball is also played by minor-league professional clubs and by semiprofessional, amateur, college, and school teams and since 1992 has been an Olympic sport as well. Plans for two additional major leagues, the United and Continental leagues, were announced in 1994, with play expected to begin in 1996 and 1997 respectively.


GAME SETTINGS POP-UP MENU

The pop-up menu is accessed while you're in the stadium by right-clicking your mouse in the Stadium window. From here, you can select one of the following options:

Pause: Pauses or resumes the game in the stadium.

Help: Displays this help file. F1

Game Options: Opens a dialog box that allows you to reset several game settings. F2

Replay: Opens the VCR control dialog box. (Not available until a play has occurred.) F5

CAMS: Opens the Camera Angle Management System control dialog box. F6

Lineup: Open the lineup dialog box. F7

Exit: Exits the game with options to save the game, resume the game in simulation or play/watch mode, or delete the game. Ctrl+F4


GRAPHIC OPTIONS

You can access several graphic options screens from the Game Options dialog box. These options give you control over the way things are displayed in the 3D Stadium view. Turning options off and setting detail levels lower will speed up the play in the 3D Stadium view. To display the Game Option dialog box, right-click in the Stadium window and select Game Options... from the pop-up menu or press the F2 key. Within the Game Options dialog box are tabs for Ball graphics, Player graphics, and Stadium graphics.

Stadium Graphics

All settings affect the speed of the play in 3D Stadium view. The more detail, the slower the speed.

Level: Determines the number of structures to show within the stadium.

Stadium Texture: Shows detail within the selected stadium structures.

Crowd: Shows people in the seats.

Field Texture: Shows grass patterns.

BPI Texture: Shows batter number during the batter/pitcher interface (BPI).

Sky Texture: Shows the cloud cover according to the day's weather or the stadium's dome, as appropriate.

Weather Texture: Shows precipitation, if there is any.

Player Graphics

All settings affect the speed of play in 3D Stadium view. The more detail, the slower the speed.

When any of these check boxes are selected, that information will be displayed over the selected player once the ball is put into play. Choose from name, number, and position for batter, runner, on deck, selected, battery, infield, and outfield.

You can also select which players are shown in the "Top View."

IntelliPoint Graphic: activates the IntelliPoint cursor, which has two arrows. One arrow shows the direction a fielder is facing and the other shows the direction the fielder needs to move to make a play on the ball. When you line up the two arrows the fielder will be facing in the right direction to make the play.

Ball Graphics

These check boxes will determine what is displayed in the Info Window when it is open. (These are not the same options as discussed in the Game Options topic.)

Radar Gun: Shows the speed of the most recent pitch.

Strike Zone Calls: Shows the location of the most recent pitch relative to the strike zone.

Pitch Zone Indicator: Causes a shrinking box to be displayed in the strike zone, corresponding to the pitch location. The outline of the box will be red if the pitch will be out of the strikezone or green if the pitch will be in the strike zone.

Catch Zone Indicator: Shows the area where the ball is headed once it is put into play.
None turns it off.
Fixed paints the ball-landing zone at its final location.
Floating paints the ball-landing zone on its current trajectory; this zone drifts as the ball drifts.

Magnify: increases the size of the ball as it is displayed on screen.

Trail: adds a "trail" to the ball to allow you to track it easier once it is put into play. The length of the trail is determined by the Trail Length scroll bar.

Trail Length: determines the length of the ball trail; the larger the value, the longer the trail. This value has no effect, if the Trail option is not checked.


HELP MENU

These are the menu choices available from the Help menu.

Contents: This command opens the Contents file and displays a hierarchical list of topics that you can scroll through, expand and collapse, to help you find the topic you need.

Context Sensitive Help: The text of the second command on the menu changes depending on the screen you are in. Selecting it will take you to the appropriate help topic for that screen. You can also get context-sensitive help by pressing the F1 key.

About FPS: Baseball: opens a dialog box and displays version information for the various components of FPS: Baseball. It also shows copyright information and provides a link to Credits for the game.


HOME/AWAY DIFFICULTY

The Home Difficulty and Away Difficulty screens allow you to set the difficulty levels for the game currently in progress. You can specify difficulty levels for batting, pitching, and fielding.

The Fielding section includes these features:

Single Fielder Control  allows you to control only one fielder on any play instead of having to control all fielders.

Smart Move makes fielding much easier by allowing you to approximate the direction that you point your fielders in when making a play.

Smart Throw takes all the guesswork out of throwing the ball. If you are making a play, simply press the keyboard or joystick button and the ball will go in the right direction.


INSTALLING FPS: BASEBALL

To install FPS: Baseball:

1. Insert the FPS: Baseball Pro '98 Season CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2. If the Windows 95 AutoPlay feature is enabled, the FPS: Baseball PreGame screen will appear in a few seconds. When it does, click on the Install Baseball Pro option. Then follow the on-screen directions to install the game.

If the PreGame screen does not appear, you can start the Setup program with these steps:

1. Click on the Start button on the Windows 95 task bar.

2. Select the Run command.

3. Type D:\SETUP, where D: is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive. Then click on the OK button.

4. Then follow the on-screen directions to install the game.

Note: FPS: Baseball installs Microsoft DirectX as part of the game install process; this is used to enhance the music and sound effects on the field.


INSTANT REPLAYS AND HIGHLIGHT TAPES

You can view Instant Replays of all on-field action in FPS: Baseball. After any play, press the F5 key or right-click once in the Stadium window and select Replay from the pop-up menu to open the VCR.

From the VCR, you can view a replay as many times as you wish, changing the speed and direction of the tape each time. When you are done viewing the replay, you can save it to disk for future viewing. You can also open saved tapes from the VCR dialog box. All of the VCR interface controls are diagramed below.

Open: Load VCR tapes.

Save: Saves VCR tapes.

OK: Closes the VCR Control Panel and returns you to the playing field.

Beginning: Jumps to the beginning of the tape.

Fast Reverse: Runs the play backward at fast speed.

Reverse: Runs the play backward at normal speed. If Pause is turned on, the play will step back one frame per click.

Pause: Pauses replay. Pause will remain locked until you uncheck it. Once you uncheck it, you need to click on Play to resume. If it is activated, pressing the Play button will advance the replay one frame. Pressing the Reverse button will reverse the replay one frame.

Play: Runs the play forward at normal speed. If Pause is turned on, Play moves the play forward one frame at a time.

Fast Play: Runs the play forward at fast speed.

End: Jumps to the end of the tape.

Slow: Plays the tape at half speed. To resume normal speed, click the Slow check box again.

When you save replays to disk as a VCR tape, you can rerun, reedit, and resave the camera views on the play as many times as you wish.

To edit a tape you are viewing, open the CAMS control window by pressing the F6 key or by right-clicking in the Stadium window and selecting CAMS from the pop-up menu. As long as the CAMS control window is on the screen, you are able to alter the viewing perspectives for the current replay.

The camera positions you select while rerunning tapes can be included on the tape. To record the new camera position, the camera positioning interface must be showing, and the frame must be "played" with the new camera settings. Once recorded, the new camera settings will be saved with the tape.


LAUNCHING FPS: BASEBALL

If you are using Windows '95:

1. Go to the Windows '95 Start menu and select Programs > Sierra > FPS Baseball Pro.

OR you can just insert your FPS: Baseball CD into the CD drive and select "Run Baseball Pro" from the menu that is displayed after a few seconds.

Now, you can go to the Game Overview to find out more about FPS: Baseball.


LEAGUE MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW

FPS: Baseball allows you to manage every aspect of a major league baseball association. You can choose to focus your efforts on one team in the association or you can rule over your entire baseball world.

When you click League Management from the FPS: Baseball startup screen, the Association Data screen is displayed.

Note: If you find yourself always wanting to go directly to League Management, you can edit the BBPRO.INI file to bypass the startup screen.

In this manual, we will refer to the League Management part of the game as the Front Office. Management responsibilities are carried out on an Association-wide basis and on a team-by-team basis. You might find it convenient to set most of your team and league activity to be automatically handled by the computer so you can focus on one team. Or you can also take a more active role in managing the teams in your league. The possibilities are endless with FPS: Baseball.

See these topics for specific information on running the Front Office:

Front Office Tutorial

Association Overview

Association Menu

Team Menu


LINEUP CARD

To make changes to your lineup, select the Lineup Card button on the Defense Manage menu or Offense Manage menu..

You can use the option buttons in the Ratings/Stats Group and Ratings/Stats Type boxes to choose the type of statistics or ratings to display for the selected player in the Selected Player box. To select a player, scroll through the Position Players or Pitchers list boxes and click on a player's name. His information will then be displayed in the Selected Player box.

Click on OK to accept your changes or Cancel to ignore your changes and close the Lineup Card dialog box. Click on the Other Team button to display the other team's information. Click on the Roster button to change the display to show a scrollable list of ratings/stats for all players.

Warming Up a Pitcher

A relief pitcher should be warmed up before entering the game. If a reliever is sent in before he is properly warmed up, he will not be as effective as he would normally be and has a greater chance of injury. Warm-up time will vary for individual pitchers, depending upon the fatigue level, their accustomed role, and the weather conditions.

To warm up a reliever, click on his name in the ELIGIBLE PITCHERS section of the Pitchers listbox. Then click on one of the two bullpen slots (B1 or B2). If you wish to have a pitcher in the bullpen sit down, click on the Clear B1 or Clear B2 buttons.

To start a position player (non-pitcher) warming up, select the player from the Position Players list box, then follow the same procedures described for pitchers.

Changing Pitchers

To change pitchers, click on the new pitcher’s name in the Pitchers listbox, then click on the CP (Current Pitcher) text box. The new pitcher will appear in the CP text box. BE CAREFUL! Be sure the pitcher you put in the game has had a chance to warm up.

If you put a pitcher into the game who was warming up, his name will disappear from the Bullpen box.

To put a position player (non-pitcher) on the mound, select the player from the Position Players list box, then follow the same procedures described for pitchers.

Making Changes in the Lineup

You can replace a defensive player by clicking on the name of the incoming player in the Position Players listbox, then clicking on the name of the player you wish to replace in the Lineup area. If you are filling a vacant slot, click on the empty text box for that position. The new player will be displayed in the lineup.

To move a player already in the game to another position, select the new position in the position combo box (in the Lineup area, next to his name). He will trade places with the player that was in that position.

Example: You want to remove your first baseman, move your left fielder to first, and put a new player in left field. Click on the new left fielder in the Position Players listbox, then click on the first baseman's name in the Lineup display. This will switch the players in the game. Now, select the combo box that has LF displayed and change it to 1B. The combobox that had 1B will automatically switch to LF.


LOADING AN ASSOCIATION

The Load Association dialog box allows you to load a new Association. Only one Association can be loaded at a time.

To load a new Association:

1. Select the Load Association command from the Main menu.

2. Scroll through the list of Associations in the dialog box that appears. Click on the desired Association.

3. Click the OK button.

Deleting Associations

You can also use the Load Association dialog box to delete an Association you no longer want. (You can use the BBArchive utility to back-up the Association before deleting it).

To delete an Association:

1. Make sure that the Association that is currently loaded in FPS: Baseball is NOT the one you want to delete (you can not delete the currently loaded Association). Look at the status bar at the bottom of the screen. The Association name is displayed on the right. If this is the one you want to delete, you need to load a different Association using the steps listed above.

2. Select the Load Association command from the Main menu.

3. Scroll through the list of Associations in the dialog box that appears. Click on the desired Association.

4. Click the Delete button.

5. A dialog box will prompt you for confirmation before deleting the Association.


MAIN MENU

Following is a description of the menu choices available from the Main menu.

Create New Association: Brings up a series of dialog boxes which allow you to create a new Association using teams from existing Associations.

Load Association: Brings up a dialog box which allows you to load another Association. Only one Association is loaded at a time. All commands on the Association and Team menus apply to the Association that is loaded; for example, selecting Association Statistics shows statistics only for the loaded Association.

Preferences: Brings up the Preferences dialog box.

Exhibition Play: Allows you to set up and start an Exhibition game, or view the box score and highlights from the most recently played Exhibition game.

----------------------------------------------------

Resume Saved Games: Displays a list of saved games and allows you to select one to resume.

----------------------------------------------------

Exit:  Exits FPS: Baseball.


MENUS

There are six menus in the "Front Office" portion of FPS: Baseball (Main, Association, Team, Do, Show, and Help). The commands on the first three menus stay the same, regardless of which screen you are viewing. The Action and Show menus vary according to which screen you are viewing. Likewise, the context sensitive command on the Help menu changes according to the screen displayed.

All commands are described within the specific menu topics.

Disabled Commands

If a command appears in gray on the menu (ghosted), you cannot select it. A command may be disabled because it is the wrong time of year (you can't start Spring training in September) or the wrong type of Association is loaded (you can't restart the season in a Career Association), or the current team is not human-owned (you can't change the roster of a computer-controlled team).


NEW ASSOCIATION: GROUND RULES

Setting Ground Rules

You can also define the Ground Rules for your Association. Caution: Ground rules for a Single-Season Association are in force for the entire season--you can change them during the off-season only. Ground rules for a Career Association are set permanently prior to the first game of the first season, and cannot be changed thereafter.

Options include:

Injuries: When "Injuries" is turned on, players may be injured and have to leave the game.

Fatigue: When "Fatigue" is turned on, pitchers tire (and their performance suffers) as the game progresses according to their Endurance rating and the number of pitches thrown.

Designated Hitter: Determines whether the team can use a designated hitter.

Use Ratings: Determines whether individual player ratings are used during the game. When it is turned off, all players' skills are rated as Average.

Fielding Errors: Determines whether fielding errors may or may not occur. If it is turned off, all throws are on target and fielders will not make errors, although there still may be balls that they cannot handle.

Base Stealing: When turned on, the team's base runners may attempt to steal.

Pitch to Center: Disables the Pitch Location variable. When it is turned on, all pitches in League games will be to the center of the plate.

You activate a ground rule by clicking on its checkbox. If selected, that playing condition is turned on for the entire Association.

You can select the Designated Hitter rule separately for each league within the Association by clicking on the Designated Hitter option box for that league. Unlike other Ground Rules, the DH can be set for each individual league in your Association, and can be changed between seasons, even in a Career Association.


New Association: Player Options
NEW ASSOCIATION: SELECTING PLAYER OPTIONS

The Player Options dialog box, which is automatically displayed as you go through the process of creating a new association, gives you several options about the players you will be adding  to your new Association.

Copy Player Historical Statistics: copies all players' historical statistics from their previous Association into the new Association. Historical statistics are "real-life" statistics, that either come from the Associations that ship with FPS: Baseball or from Associations created with the DataIn utility.

Copy Player Career Statistics: copies all players' career statistics from their previous Association into the new Association. Career statistics are FPS: Baseball-generated statistics.

Dump All Players into a Common Draft Pool: creates an initial player draft. If you select this option, all the players from the teams you placed in the new Association are placed in a pool. Initial rosters are then determined by a player draft. The draft order is randomly determined in an Initial Draft.

Only Use Players From Source Teams: uses only players from the source teams selected in your new Association.

Generate New Players As Necessary: allows FPS: Baseball to generate new players as necessary to fill out the rosters on all teams and to create a pool of free agents in the new Association.

Generate All New Players: instructs FPS: Baseball to create all new players for the new Association. This option is for the user who does not want any preconceived notions about player performances based on real player names. This option is available only if the Dump All Players into a Common Draft Pool option is checked.

Use ALL Players from this Association Only: select this option if you do not want to use the players from your source teams. WARNING: if your new Association is 48 teams and you select an Association here that is only 8 teams, you will not have enough players to fill out your rosters. If this is the case, then during the regular season, FPS: Baseball will automatically generate fictional players to allow you to field a team. This option is available only if the Dump All Players into a Common Draft Pool option is checked. Once you click this option button, you can click on the Association name to select a different Association. A dialog box will appear with all the Associations displayed in it. Scroll through the list and click on the Association that contains the players you want to use. Then click OK.

If you choose to have an initial player draft when creating a new Association, Start/Resume Draft will appear as an option on the Association menu. Select this to begin the Initial Player draft.

The computer will automatically make draft decisions for computer-owned teams, and for any teams that have Free Agent Draft selected under the Computer GM options on the Team Data screen.

For more information about the drafting process, see "Player Drafts".


NEW ASSOCIATION: RESETTING TEAMS

When teams are selected for a new Association, they will retain the ownership and any Computer/General Manager settings they possessed in their original Association. (For information about ownership and the Computer/GM options, see Team Data.) If, for instance, a team was Human-owned and had all of the General Manager functions disabled, those settings would be copied into the new Association for that team. You may use the Reset Teams option to change the ownership of all the teams in your Association or to set the Computer/ GM functions for all Human-owned teams in the Association.

To reset teams, select the Reset Teams item in the Action Menu on the Association Data screen. You can reset these options at any time during a season.

The Reset Teams option is especially useful when creating a new Association using teams from your existing Associations because teams retain all their team data. You may also want to use this to set all teams to Human-owned with the Sign Free Agents, Propose Trades, and Respond to Trades options turned off, so you can exactly duplicate trades and free agent signings of your favorite real-world professional baseball Association manually.


NEW ASSOCIATION: SCHEDULE LENGTH

The Select Schedule Length dialog box, which automatically appears as you are going through the process of creating a new association, shows the number of games to be played by each league for each season option: Short, Half, and Full. The number of games varies with the number of teams in the leagues. For Career Associations the schedule length selection is permanent. In Single-Season Associations, a new schedule length may be selected each season.

Click the option button for the length of season you prefer, and click on OK to continue.

If you have a 14-team league in your Association, and you are using a full-length schedule, FPS: Baseball offers two types of schedules. Historical will use the scheduling model in effect in professional baseball. Divisional will create a schedule that assures your team of playing the majority of its games against teams within the same division.

Schedule Length for League

Number of Games

Teams in League	Short Season	Half Season	Full Season

8	14	84	154

10 	18	90	162

12 	32	86	162

14  (2 divisions)	38	90	162

14  (3 divisions)	26	76	162

16 	30	88	160

Once you have set the schedule length for the Association, the new Association process is complete. The Association Data screen will be displayed, where you can change the Association name, league and division names, ground rules, and so on.


NEW ASSOCIATION: TEAM SELECTION

The Team Selection screen allows you to select the teams to be copied into the new Association you are creating.

NOTE: The Main, Association, Team, and Show menus are ghosted and unavailable on this screen. To leave this screen, you must select either Continue or Cancel from the Action Menu or click on the Continue or Cancel buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The screen is divided into two sections: a Source section and a New Association section. The Source section has a text box which shows which Association is loaded. You may click on this text box to bring up the Select Association dialog box to load a new source Association from which you can select your individual teams. You may select teams from several different Associations for your new Association.

Also in this section are two sets of radio buttons for leagues and divisions. To the right is a list box which displays the teams available from the selected league/division. Use the radio buttons to specify the league/division combination and display the list of corresponding teams.

The lower section contains a text box for the name of your new Association, two sets of radio buttons with text boxes for new leagues and divisions names, and a group of 10 text boxes for teams. Set up your new league and division names by selecting the appropriate radio button, clicking in the text box, then typing in a new name.

Select Teams

The text boxes to the right show the default teams that will be copied into the new Association. By default, teams from the MLBPA will be placed in the slots. To change any team, select the new team name from the list in the Source section above, then click in one of the team slots in the New Association section (1 through 10, depending on division size). Be sure you have the league and division radio buttons set the way you want before placing the team. A small square will be displayed to the right of the text box, to indicate that the team to be copied in is a non-default team. Don't worry about the team names at this point, as you will be able to change them in the Team Data screen after you are finished creating the Association.

When you select teams, you may use teams from any existing Association, including the single-team Associations created by the DATAIN program. (For more information about entering teams from the past into FPS: Baseball, see Entering Custom Team Data.) Teams retain the team data they had in their previous Association, including the type of ownership (Human or Computer).

Remember, you can change the default names for the Association, leagues, and divisions. Click on the text box you wish to change and then type in a new name.

After you have made your changes to league and division names and you are satisfied with the organization and placement of teams in your new Association, click on the Continue button or choose Continue from the Action Menu..

The Action Menu

Load new source: Allows you to load another Association as a source for the teams to be copied into the new Association.

Continue: Continues the New Association Creation process.

Cancel: Cancels creation of a new Association.

You may buy and sell teams within your Association after it is created. For more information on how to do this, see Buying and Selling Teams.


NEW ASSOCIATION: TYPE & CONFIGURATION

To start a new Association, you must specify its type and configuration by selecting Main menu > Create New Association.

Click on the arrow buttons at the top to set the number of teams. An Association may have from 8 to 48 teams. Selecting the number of teams will automatically determine the league and division configurations available for that particular number of teams. FPS: Baseball provides 48 Association/league configurations.

Below the "slider" control that sets the number of teams are option buttons for setting the Association type to either Career or Single-Season. In Career Associations, new players are drafted each year. As the seasons pass, these players accumulate career statistics, age, and eventually retire. In Single-Season Associations, no drafts take place, no players age or retire, and no career totals are recorded.  This choice is final - once you leave this dialog box, the only way to change it is to delete the Association and start over.

After you have set the number of teams and selected the league configuration and Association type, click on the OK button. The program will take you to the Select Teams screen.


OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE

Speeding up the Game

To speed up the performance of FPS: Baseball '98, try the following:

1.  Decrease your color depth.  Using 32k colors or more is great because it gets rid of the "psychedelic flash" when a new palette is loaded in 256-color mode, but in order to work with the lower end machines, and for speed and storage space issues, FPS: Baseball '98 uses an 8-bit (256-color) palette.

In Windows, 8-bit palettes operate differently than full-color palettes, meaning that if you mix the application with the video mode, more processor time will be needed for the conversion process.  You should always match your video color depth to that of the application.  The use of Microsoft's Powertoys "QuickRes" utility allows you to easily switch resolutions and color depths, without rebooting or closing applications.

2.  Decrease your screen resolution.  Although FPS: Baseball '98 takes advantage of large video resolutions by giving you more room to place and size windows when in the stadium, it takes more processor time to paint each pixel, since there are more of them.  Drop the resolution down using the Microsoft Powertoy QuickRes utility.

3.  If the Batter/Pitcher Interface is choppy, but the field view is OK, try increasing the size of the BPI window until there is a thin black border between the BPI image and the window border. This ensures that the BPI image is not being scaled down on the fly, taking up valuable processor time.

4.  Reduce graphic detail.  FPS: Baseball was designed to operate on the full range of machines available.  As a result, slower machines must have less detail.  The detail settings that have the largest effect on the framerate in the field view are:

Field Texture

Weather Texture

Sky Texture

Stadium Model Size (although the specific stadium model in use may effect the framerate, due to increased detail)

Crowd Texture (on/off; the level, other than off, doesn't matter for framerate purposes)

and in the BPI:

BPI Texture

As long as the game runs smoothly with NO detail, you should be able to find a detail level that will run at an acceptable framerate.

6.  Reduce sound quality.  Use of the High Quality sounds will have an effect on the framerate.  Try reducing sounds to Normal Quality.

7.  Keep the field view window to the minimum size required by the BPI window (since they are the same window).  Using Full Screen has a huge hit on the framerate, when used with large display resolutions (1024+).

8.  Turn off the info windows.  Although the Scoreboard, Info, Game Updates, and Top View windows don't take much processor time, they do take some and that may be enough to make a difference.  They DO have an effect on the speed of simulated games. To maximize sim speed, remove ALL windows (you have the Stadium window title bar info to take the place of the scoreboard).

9.  Increase available RAM.  You can do this by closing other windows and active applications (including the System Tray in the extreme), but is best done by adding more RAM.  With RAM, the more the merrier.  FPS: Baseball '98 will cache all of its sound and graphic files to RAM for instant recall if there is enough available RAM.  Normally it does this on an "as needed" basis, but you can specify to preload all animations to RAM when loading each game, at the expense of longer load times.  For more information, check the BBPROINI.TXT file. which is in the BBPRO_98 directory.

10.  Increase available drive space on C: (or whatever is your "swap file" drive).  The swap file provides faster access than a CD or normal hard drive access, so if there is insufficient RAM but plenty of swap file space, Windows will load the animations there (treating it as RAM).  Remember, if you have the game on the same drive as your Windows swap file, you must figure that some of the drive will be used by the swap file and there must still be space to write the necessary game files.  You will probably find that having 50 MB free of hard disk space improves the performance of other applications, as well as FPS: Baseball. See the section below on freeing up hard disk space.

11.  Use the Scandisk and Defrag utilities on both the Windows swap file drive and the game drive for optimum performance.  If the Windows swap file is strung out all over the drive, you will have overall decreased performance.  If the game files are strung out all over the drive, the game will have decreased performance.

12.  Install ALL the game files.  CD access and retrieval times are about 10-20 times slower than most hard drives.  The game needs these files, and will wait for them if necessary.  If you see an inordinate amount of CD activity, try reinstalling to get all the files onto your Hard Drive.  IMPORTANT! Back up your association files using BBArch (to some other directory than the \SIERRA or \SIERRA\BBPRO_98 directories) before reinstalling FPS: Baseball, or else they will be erased.

13.  Use the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your video and sound cards.  Manufacturers only make new drivers when there is a good reason to do so.

14.  Calibrate your controllers.  If an unused controller is giving a continuous signal, it may still impact game performance.  You may also want to try turning off unused controllers to eliminate extraneous signals from causing "signal overload" or other interference.

Reducing Hard Disk Space

The following are some methods for reducing the amount of disk space used by FPS: Baseball:

 - Use the BBArchive utility to backup any of your old Associations (with the Delete Original option).

 - Delete any of the Associations that shipped with FPS: Baseball '98 (NOT the _DEFAULT.* files). To safely delete these associations, go to the Load Association dialog (select Load Association from the Main menu). Click on any association you do not want, then click on Delete.

 - Uninstall FPS: Baseball '98 (after you've backed up your Associations) and then reinstall it; this time, choose to install fewer additional game components to the hard drive. Note: This may decrease game performance; the best option not to install to the hard drive are the 3D stadium files. These are read once when each game is started.


PICKOFFS

You can try to pickoff runners on any base. To throw to a base with a runner, push the joystick toward that base and hold it there while pressing Button 1 or use the keyboard equivalents.


PINCH HITTERS AND PINCH RUNNERS

To use pinch runners or pinch hitters, select the Lineup Card from the Offense Manage menu.

Click on the name of the incoming player from the list of position players. Click on the name of the player currently on base or at bat who you wish to replace. The current player will leave the game and the new player will take his place.

Be aware that the pinch runner/hitter will also be assuming the defensive position of the player he replaced. If, for instance, you inserted an outfielder to pinch run for your catcher, when your team takes the field you will have an outfielder behind the plate unless you make additional changes in your lineup.


PITCH LOCATION

In Standard or Advanced pitching modes, you must aim pitches at specific areas in or around the strike zone. To select a pitch location within the strike zone, move the joystick in the direction the pitching chart indicates and press Button 1. To aim a pitch right down the middle, press Button 1 with the joystick centered. To throw pitches outside the strike zone, push the joystick in the direction the pitching chart indicates and press Button 2. To throw a pitchout (a pitch thrown high and outside the strike zone on the opposite side of the plate from the batter), press Button 2 with the joystick centered.

Keyboard Controls: Use the mouse to click on the appropriate command from any pitching menu or see Keyboard Equivalents.


PITCH SELECTION

Each pitcher can have up to four pitch types--his four best. The available pitches are listed in order of the pitcher’s rated ability to throw them. For more information, see "Pitching Ratings".

To select the pitch type, move the joystick in the direction of the desired pitch (as indicated on the Pitch Type menu) and press Button 1 or press the appropriate key on the keyboard (see Keyboard Equivalents). You may also click on the menu item with the mouse.


PITCH SPEED

When playing in the Advanced pitching mode, you will also determine the speed of the pitch. You can put a little extra on a pitch by choosing Fast, but more speed means less control. To slow the pitch down, you can choose Slow. This makes the pitch a little more accurate, but also easier to hit.

To throw the pitch fast, push the joystick up and press Button 1. For a slower delivery, pull the joystick down and press Button 1. To throw at normal speed, push the joystick right or left and press Button 1.

When you have completed your pitching selections and the batter steps into the batting box, you are ready to pitch. With the joystick centered, press Button 1 to throw the pitch.

Keyboard Controls: Use the mouse to click on the appropriate command from any pitching menu or see Keyboard Equivalents.


PITCHING

FPS:Baseball '98 gives you complete control of the pitch-by-pitch confrontation between your pitcher and the opposing batter. This includes strategic options, such as pitching around a batter or attempting to pick off a runner, as well as the speed, location, and type of each pitch.

The degree of actual pitch control you have depends on the pitching mode.  Four pitching modes are available:

Computer: the computer controls the entire pitching game

Basic: you can choose the pitch type

Standard: you can choose pitch type, and pitch location

Advanced: you can choose pitch type, pitch location, and pitch speed


PITCHING STAFF ORGANIZATION

If the Reassign Players option for your team is not set to Computer GM, then you will need to assign roles to the pitchers on your team. This includes establishing a starting rotation and, at your option, assigning specific relief roles to non-starting pitchers. These assignments are used by the computer when you play in Basic or Standard Manager mode, or when you are simulating games. You may assign roles to your pitchers from the Team Roster screen by choosing Pitching Staff Roles from the Show menu.

The possible assignments are:

Starting pitchers: The first pitcher used in a game. Each pitcher will be used in turn. You may use a four- or five-man starting rotation.

Long Relief/Spot Starter: This is the guy who will be brought in if the starter is knocked out of the box early. He is also used as an emergency starter, and he may be called in if the game goes to extra innings.

Middle reliever: These are the guys brought in to pitch the sixth or seventh innings, or to finish off games that are not close.

Set-up men: These are the guys who close things down in the seventh and eighth, so you can bring in the closer.

Closer: This is the man you bring in to get the last three outs, to nail down the victory.

To change the assignments, click on a player in the roster display. The player is now highlighted. Now click on the assignment slot into which you want the player to go. If the player you put into the slot already had an assignment, the player who previously occupied the new slot will move to the old slot. (For example, if Randy Johnson is the number one starter, and Jeff Fassero is the number three starter, moving Fassero to S1 moves Johnson to S3.)

Not all roles have to be filled; you are only required to designate four starting pitchers. If you want to remove a pitcher from his role without replacing him with another pitcher, highlight his name in the list, then click on his name in the assignment slot.

The Endurance rating (EN) is your primary guide in determining the best utilization of a pitcher. An EN rating of 60 or better qualifies a pitcher to be a starter. A pitcher with a low EN rating is better qualified for a short relief role (Setup Men or Closers).

You can select specific pitchers as Middle Relievers and Setup Men. When choosing a Closer from your bullpen staff, you probably want to use a pitcher with a very good Control rating (CO).

You may also leave any bullpen role empty (except for the first four starting pitchers). To take a pitcher out of an assigned slot, click on his name, then scroll to the bottom of the displayed roster, where you will see a blank line. Click on the blank line. The list of players is color-coded. Names appearing in red are currently assigned a role somewhere on the staff.

If you opt to make no specific bullpen assignments, the computer will use its best judgment in determining the use of relief pitchers.

To change assignments, click on the desired text box containing the pitcher currently assigned to a role, and then click on a name from the displayed roster. The two pitchers will exchange places and roles.

Note: A team cannot start a game or batting practice until its top four starting pitcher spots have been filled.


PLAY VS. SIMULATE

League games may be either played or simulated. When a game is played, you see the game take place on your screen, and if either of the teams involved is human-owned, you can take control of that team. You might want to watch a game between two computer-owned teams to scout an upcoming opponent for a team you control. You can specify on the Association Schedule screen which games to simulate.

When a game is simulated, the computer controls both teams, and the game is not shown on screen. Because the computer makes all the decisions and no graphics are shown, a simulated game takes much less time than one that is played. All games are set to simulate by default, but you can set any individual game to be played on either the League (Association) Schedule or Team Schedule screens.

Using FASTSIM

FPS: Baseball includes a FASTSIM feature that allows you to simulate games in about one third the speed of the standard simulation, but without saving highlights.  By default, FPS: Baseball is set to use the standard simulation mode. To change to FASTSIM:

1.  Open the BBPRO.INI file, which is in the BBPRO directory.

2.  Locate the "Fast=0" entry in the [Sim] section and change it to "Fast=1."

3.  Save changes to the BBPRO.INI file.


PLAYER AGING

The birth date for each player in the MLBPA associations has been set so that in Career Associations, each player's Age is increased on their actual birthday.  Between seasons, each player will experience the effects of aging according to his age when Start New Season is selected.  Younger players will generally see an increase in their Actual Ratings while older players will see a decrease.

Each rating has a "normal" growth curve based on the player's Potential Rating and Age in that skill.  A player's growth can be accelerated, and his decline slowed down, by applying extra training time to that skill in Spring Training.  Similarly, his growth will be severely impaired, and his decline accelerated by providing less than the minimum required amount of training time to a skill.  However, the vast majority of a player's growth in each skill is due to aging and his potential.

In general, a player's skills will peak at about 28 years of age.  However, each skill has a different growth curve and may actually peak earlier or later than 28.  Although each player is unique and can vary from the norm, the following guidelines can be used when gauging the effects of aging on player skills:

1.  Contact hitting (CH) is a younger player's skill.  Although teen-aged players will not likely start with a large portion of their potential, they will improve quickly and should peak before they reach 28 years of age.  Players should maintain their contact hitting well into their 30's before they start to decline in skill.

2.  Power hitting (PH) is an older player's skill.  Teen-aged players will not likely start with a majority of their potential and will not improve as quickly as with contact hitting, but will start to see greater improvements as they get stronger in their mid-20's and will continue past age 28.  Power hitting is maintained by players into their late 30's, but should show a sharp decline as they age further.

3.  Speed (SP) is a young player's skill and is pretty much established as a teenager.  Player's may see some minor improvement in their speed as they get older, but a player's speed should peak well before he is 28 years old.  Players start to lose speed as they get into their mid-30's and their speed decline is rapid.

4.  Fielding ability (FA) is a skill that established early, but has room for moderate growth.  Players will generally peak at about 28 years of age with their fielding ability and will maintain it throughout their career.

5.  Arm strength (AS) is similar to speed in that teen-aged pitchers and position players already have almost all the arm strength they will achieve, but with room for minor growth. Arm strength is generally maintained by the player or pitcher until somewhere around 40 years of age and then will generally decline rapidly.

6.  Control (CO) is an older pitcher's skill and, like power hitting, will show a slower early development with an accelerated growth as the player hits his mid-20's and continuing past 28.  Pitchers will generally retain most of their control into their 40's.

7.  Endurance (EN) is an established skill with nominal growth and will be maintained well into the late 30's, but will generally start to show a sharp decline thereafter.

8.  Hold runner (HdRn) is a skill in which a pitcher can show moderate growth, peaking at about 28 and maintaining throughout his career.

9.  Pitch ratings (FB, SI, SL, CB, CU, SC, KN) are usually established, but can show moderate growth.  In rare cases a pitcher may have a hidden ability in the knuckle ball or screwball pitches, but otherwise, if a pitcher has no ability to throw a pitch, he won't learn it.

For more information, see Player Ratings.


PLAYER DATA COLUMNS

While in the Team Roster screen, you may select Change Columns from the Action menu to display the following items for all players, both pitchers and batters:

NO.	Uniform number

POSN	Primary defensive position

QPOS	Qualified defensive position. If the player is qualified at only one position, QPOS is the same as POSN.  If the player is qualified at two or more positions, the secondary position at which he has played the most games is shown. NOTE:  In order to be qualified at a position, a player must have played a number of games at that position equal to at least 1/8 of total games he has played (including historical data).

B	Batting hand

T	Throwing hand

AGE	Age as of current game date

EXP	Experience at the major league level (in years)

SLOT	Roster slot occupied by this player. This could be Act (Active roster), AAA, DL (disabled list) or Low (Low Minors, in a Career Association).

HEALTH	Current health status. This could be OK (not injured), HURT (injured, but able to play) or OUT (injured and unable to play).

The following data is additional only in pitching columns:

AVAIL	Number of pitches the player has available, before becoming exhausted.


PLAYER DRAFTS

There are three different drafts in FPS: Baseball Pro '98:

Initial Draft: both Career and Single-Season Associations may have initial drafts, if that option is chosen during the Create Association process in the Player Options screen. The initial draft occurs by dumping all players in the Association into a pool, from which teams then select, one by one, until all of the team rosters are refilled.

Note: During computer-controlled drafts, one team may not stop drafting for a number rounds after the others have completed their drafts. The draft round number displayed may become a negative value. Possible Solution: Let the draft continue normally. The team will eventually stop with a complete team as normal. Although the problem appears to be serious, it isn't. The team will have enough players to play games and the Association will continue as normal.

Free Agent Draft: held in December; teams can try to plug some of the holes in their rosters created by players retiring. Only held for Career Associations.

Amateur Draft: held in June; kids out of high school and college are selected and placed on a team’s Low Minors roster.  Only held for Career Associations.

Other than what is stated above, the drafts are handled in a similar manner:

1. You are automatically notified when it is time for a draft to begin.

2. Teams are automatically set into a draft order based on their Won-Lost percentage in the previous season (for Amateur and Free Agent Drafts) or in a random manner (for Initial Drafts).

3. To start a draft, select Start/Resume Draft from the Association menu, then select Start/Resume Draft from the Action menu.

4. The computer will automatically make draft decisions for computer-owned teams, and for any teams that have Free Agent Draft selected under the Computer GM options on the Team Data screen (for Free Agent Draft and Initial Draft) and Amateur Draft selected for Amateur Draft. If the draft is being handled by a human for a team, the player is selected by double-clicking on the player name is the roster display.

To aid in your selection, you can use the Set Criteria and Change Columns commands on the Action menu to select a group of players to display and select what information to display on screen. You can then use the commands on the Show menu to display different stats and time frames.

Once selected, if the Team has Reassign Players set to human control, the Reassign Players dialog box is displayed and you can place the selected player on one of your rosters. Otherwise, your Computer GM will do it for you.

5. To pass for a round, select Skip Round under the Action menu. To take your team out of all remaining rounds, select Skip Draft on the Action menu. You may examine the draft order by selecting Draft Order under the Show menu.

6. The drafts continue as long as teams want to select. Players not selected in the draft are added to the free agent pool. The player drafts must be completed before the season can continue.

The Action menu

Set Criteria: Brings up the Set Criteria dialog box, which allows you to select the players to be shown.

Skip Round: Causes the team to not choose a player in the current round, if the team's draft functions are human-controlled.

Skip Draft: Causes the team to not choose any more players in the draft, if the team's draft functions are human-controlled.

Start/Continue Draft: Causes the draft selection process to begin or resume from where it left off. If the team's draft functions are computer-controlled, the computer will select the player to be drafted, display a message of who was drafted, and pass control to the next team. If the team's draft functions are human-controlled, you select the player to draft.

Restart Draft: Puts all players for all teams back into a common pool for drafting. You may also change the draft order.

Print: Prints the Team Roster. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

Change Columns: Brings up the Change Columns dialog box that allows you to choose the statistics to be displayed in each column of the roster display.

Draft Delay Time: Brings up a dialog box that allows you to specify the time (from 0 to 30 seconds) that FPS: Baseball will wait between computer-controlled teams making draft selections. Caution: if you set the time to 0, you will not be able to interrupt the draft until it is complete, if there are no human-controlled teams.

The Show Menu

Draft Order: Shows the order the teams will pick in the draft.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE: Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.)  This option is not available for teams, or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.


PLAYER HEALTH

Injuries

In FPS: Baseball, as in real life, players may be injured. Injuries may be minor, resulting in a reduction of abilities for a period of days, or serious enough to end a player’s career. (Any injuries sustained in exhibition play, regardless of severity, are not recorded after the exhibition game concludes.)

If a player is injured during a game, look at the Team News after the game to find out the severity of the injury and how long the player is expected to be hurt. If the player is listed as "day-to-day," he may be used in games, but he will heal more slowly than if he is allowed to rest. If a player is listed as "expected out for" some period of time, he cannot be used in a game. The player’s status is listed in the Health column on the Team Roster. A healthy player is listed as "OK." A player who is injured, but able to play, is listed as "HURT," and a player who cannot play is listed as "OUT."

Healing

Injured players heal a little bit every day. The amount that they heal depends on how they are used each day. A player who plays most of a game will not heal very much. One who appears briefly in a game will heal more, and one who does not play at all will heal the most. A player heals fastest when he is placed on the Disabled List, but a player cannot be brought back from the DL for at least 15 days, even if he fully recovers from his injury sooner.

Some players may incur injuries that will leave them listed as "day-to-day" for an extended period of time. If a player continues in this state for more than a few days, you should consider placing him on the Disabled List. To do this, click anywhere within the Injuries list on the Team News screen or select Reassign Players from the Team menu to display the Roster Assignments screen.


PLAYER RATINGS

All players have several basic ratings, which range from 0 to 99. These numbers indicate the player’s current skill levels. The higher the numeric rating, the more skill the player possesses. The lower the rating, the lower the skill level. An average rating is 50 in all categories. The ratings are divided into two categories: Batting/Fielding and Pitching. However, since pitchers can bat, and batters may occasionally pitch, all players are rated in both categories.

In a Career Association, certain skill ratings will change during the course of a player’s career, improving from work during spring training and slowly declining as the player ages.

Each player has three different sets of ratings, which are used at various points:

Actual ratings represent the player’s normal performance levels as shown on the roster screen. Actual ratings do not change during the season.

Potential ratings represent the maximum level the player may reach in his career. You will never actually see a player’s potential ratings displayed anywhere within FPS: Baseball. A player’s actual ratings may increase during spring training and aging, but will never surpass the level of his potential ratings.

Effective ratings are up-to-the-minute player ratings used during a game. The effects of injuries, pitcher fatigue, and any situational modifiers are reflected in a player’s effective ratings.

Player Ratings: Batting/Fielding

Contact Hitting (CH)

This rating indicates how often the player makes contact, putting the ball into play.

Power Hitting (PH)

This rating indicates how hard the player hits the ball.

Speed (SP)

This rating indicates how fast the player runs.

Fielding Ability (FA)

This rating indicates how well the player plays his primary defensive position.

Arm Strength (AS)

This rating indicates both how far and how accurately a fielder can throw the ball.

Note:  Unlike the other player ratings, Arm Strength cannot be calculated from existing fielding statistics and is thus completely subjective.  All players in the MLBPA 98 have AS values that have been assigned based on information contained in player scouting reports.  You should feel free to change any player ratings that you disagree with.

Pull (Pull)

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to pull the ball. Right-handed batters "pull" the ball when they hit it towards left field. Conversely, left-handed batters pull the ball when the hit it towards right field.  A batter whose Pull is 70 or more is a strong pull hitter, one whose Pull is near 50 is a spray hitter, and one whose Pull is 30 or less is an opposite field hitter.

Groundball/Flyball (G/F)

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to hit the ball on the ground or in the air. A batter with a high G/F rating hits more on the ground; one with a low G/F hits more in the air.

Batting Situational Modifiers

These modify the CH and PH ratings of the batter. If a batter has a situational rating of 50 (average), it means the situation has no effect on his performance. A rating over 50 indicates that he does better than normal in this situation. A rating under 50 means he does worse than normal in this situation.

The two non-monthly situational modifiers (vs. L, Home) have implied 'opposite' ratings, which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a batter with a vs. L. rating of 55 has an implied vs. R rating of 45.) The two situational modifiers, ScPos and C&L, show how well a player does in those situations.

The six monthly modifiers indicate an overall proficiency of a player during a given month. For instance, a player with an August modifier rating of 40 compared with ratings of over 50 for all other months, is likely to slump in all ratings during August.

All situational modifiers have a range of 40 to 60, except vs. L, which runs from 35 to 65.

vs. L: vs. Left-handed pitching situational modifier

ScPos: Scoring Position situational modifier

C&L: Close and Late situational modifier

Home: Home situational modifier

Apr: April situational modifier

May: May situational modifier

Jun: June situational modifier

Jul: July situational modifier

Aug: August situational modifier

S/O: September/October situational modifier

Player Ratings: Pitching

All players have pitching ratings, even if their primary position is not pitching. The ratings are as follows:

Holding Runners (HdRn)

This rating indicates how effectively the pitcher holds base runners.

Endurance (EN)

This rating indicates how many pitches a pitcher can throw in a game before losing his effectiveness.  While this rating determines the number of pitches that can be thrown before tiring, the value of the rating does not represent the actual number of pitches.

Control (CO)

This rating indicates how accurately the pitcher throws at his target location

Groundball/Flyball (G/F)

This rating indicates how likely the batter is to hit the pitcher’s pitch on the ground or in the air.  A pitcher with a high G/F rating gets more pitches hit on the ground; one with a low G/F has more hit in the air.

Arm Strength (AS)

This rating helps determine the speed of the pitcher's fastball.

Fastball (FB)

This is the standard pitch that nearly every pitcher has in his repertoire. Its flight path is essentially straight from the pitcher’s hand to the targeted location in the strike zone.

Curveball (CB)

The basic breaking ball, this pitch curves down and away from a batter batting from the same side of the plate as the pitcher is throwing (both are right-handed or both are left-handed).

Change-up (CU)

Also known as an off-speed pitch, the change-up is about 15 M.P.H. slower than the pitcher’s fastball.

Slider (SL)

A cross between a fastball and a curve, a slider breaks away from a same-handed batter like the curveball. The slider has more horizontal break than vertical break.

Sinker (SI)

This pitch has very little horizontal break, but drops substantially when it reaches the plate.

Screwball (SC)

A "reverse curveball," this pitch breaks in toward a same-handed batter.

Knuckleball (KN)

A pitch thrown with almost no spin, the knuckleball is susceptible to any random air currents between the mound and plate and breaks very unpredictably.

A pitcher will have a rating for each of the seven pitches, but if he has more than four pitches, only the best four pitches are available in games.

Pitching Situational Modifiers

These modify the ratings of the pitcher. If a pitcher has a situational rating of 50, it means the situation has no effect on his performance. A rating under 50 indicates that he does worse than normal in this situation. A rating over 50 means he does better than normal in this situation.

The two non-monthly situational modifiers (vs. L, Home) have implied 'opposite' ratings, which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a pitcher with a vs. L. rating of 55 has an implied vs. R rating of 45.) The two situational modifiers, ScPos and C&L, show how well a pitcher does in those situations.

The six monthly modifiers indicate an overall proficiency of a pitcher during a given month. For instance, a pitcher with an August modifier rating of 40 compared with ratings of over 50 for all other months, is likely to slump in all ratings during August.

vs. L: vs. Left-handed batters situational modifier

ScPos: Scoring Position situational modifier

C&L: Close and Late situational modifier

Home: Home situational modifier

Apr: April situational modifier

May: May situational modifier

Jun: June situational modifier

Jul: July situational modifier

Aug: August situational modifier

S/O: September/October situational modifier


PLAYER RETIREMENT

In a Career Association, players decide at the end of each season whether to return for another season or to retire. Factors involved in their decision include the number of seasons they have played, how well they performed in the previous season, and how well their team performed in the previous season. Any player who has suffered a career-ending injury will retire at this time as well.  Notification that players have retired appears in the Team News and Association News screens. You can view retired players statistics from the Association Statistics screen.


PLAYING MODES

FPS: Baseball lets you customize team control and on-field game play to match your personal tastes.

Whenever you start an exhibition game from the Front Office or configure a new Association, you may select the level of strategic and on-field control you want. You may also change the control level during the game. Choose complete control, delegate everything to the computer, or find a comfortable mix--the choice is yours.

Note:  When you select Exhibition Play from the FPS: Baseball startup screen, as opposed to starting from the Front Office, you don't have the same level of control over several game options.

Control Mode

These settings determine the control of each team. They can be set for an exhibition game by selecting Exhibition Play from the Main menu. They can also be set for both exhibition and league games from within the Game Options screen during the game.

The control modes are Computer, Joystick 1 - Joystick 16 (if available), Keyboard L, and Keyboard R control. If set to Computer, this mode sets all other modes to Computer for that team also.

Note: You may watch the action in "one-pitch mode" if all on-field modes for both teams are set to Computer. One-pitch shows only the decisive pitch of each at-bat.

Managing Mode

This setting determines the degree of managerial control you have over the on-field simulation.

Basic: You may call any play. The computer will position defensive players, instruct fielders to charge bunts from first or third base, and signal the pitcher to hold a baserunner. It will also make all player substitutions, including pinch hitters, pinch runners, and relief pitchers. You will be informed of any player substitutions the computer makes on your behalf.

Standard: The computer still positions defensive players, instructs fielders to charge bunts from first or third base, and signals the pitcher to hold a baserunner. It will only suggest player substitutions. You may accept the suggestion or do something else.

Advanced: You control all Manager options for your team: positioning fielders, charging bunts, holding baserunners, making substitutions, etc.

Manage Only

Click this check box to set all the following on-field modes--Pitching, Batting, Fielding, and Running--to Computer. This lets you play in any Managing mode you want while the computer controls all on-field play.

Pitching Mode

Computer: The computer takes complete control of the pitching game.

Basic: You select the pitch type only.

Standard: You select the pitch type and location.

Advanced: You select the pitch type, location, and speed.

Note: If human-managed, you may order pickoffs, pitchouts, and pitch arounds in all pitching modes.

Fielding Mode

Computer: The computer controls all fielding.

Basic: The computer takes control of fielding any batted ball. If you wish, you may take control of fielders after the ball is fielded. You can then move with the ball or throw to a base. If you do not take control, the computer will control all fielding.

Standard: You may take control of the fielder attempting to field the ball. If you do not take control, the computer will try to field the ball. You must take control after the ball has been fielded, and are then responsible for moving the fielder or throwing the ball to a base.

Advanced: You control all fielding and throwing.

Batting Mode

Computer: The computer controls all batting. It decides the type of swing to use, and when and where to swing.

Basic: You select only the type of swing the batter will use (power, contact, bunt). The computer decides when and where to swing.

Standard: You select the swing type, and when (and if) to swing. The computer controls the location of the swing.

Advanced: You control all aspects of batting: swing type, and when and where to swing.

Baserunning Mode

Computer: The computer controls all baserunning.

Basic: You may advance or retreat a base runner after the ball is in play. The computer controls all stolen base attempts, and returns runners to base on pickoffs and pitchouts.

Standard: You may advance or retreat a base runner when the ball is in play, and you control stolen base attempts. The computer will automatically return a runner to base on pitchouts and pickoff attempts.

Advanced: You control all baserunning.

Note: To quickly set all on-field modes to "Computer," check the Manage Only option. If done for both teams, this also will allow the "one-pitch" mode option.


PLAYOFF SCHEDULES

After the regular season schedule has been played, the best teams in each division or league may advance to the postseason tournaments, which begin on the second day after the end of the regular season.

There may be two sets of tournaments: League Championships and World Championships. How long each lasts depends on the configuration of the Association.

All League Championship tournaments must last the same number of rounds. If any league in the Association has three divisions, the League Championships must last two rounds. If the largest number of divisions in any league is two, the League Championships last only one round. If the Association has only single-division leagues, there are no League Championships at all -- the team with the best regular season record is the League Champion.

Similarly, the length of the World Championships is determined by the number of leagues. A three-league Association has two rounds. A two-league Association plays one round. If there is only one league, the winner of the League Championship is the World Champion.

The following table lists the lengths of each round of playoffs for each league configuration. The number of divisions listed is for the league with the most divisions in that configuration.

Note: Each playoff round is a "best of" series.

Playoff Schedule for League Configurations

Number of Games

Number of	Number of	League	League	Association	Association
Leagues	Divisions	1st Round	2nd Round	1st Round	2nd Round

1	1	0	0	0	0

1	2	7	0	0	0

1	3	7	7	0	0

2	1	0	0	7	0

2	2	7	0	7	0

2	3	5	7	7	0

3	1	0	0	7	7

3	2	5	0	7	7

3	3	3	5	5	7

Once the regular season has ended, you may track Playoff Status from the Playoffs menu item on the Show menu.

The results of all Association championships are displayed when you select History from the Association menu, then select Champions from the Show menu.


PLAYOFF STATUS

The playoff status screen shows the status of the championship playoffs for an Association whose regular season schedule has been completed. To display this screen, select Playoffs from the Show menu of either the Association Schedule or Association Standings screens. It is useful in monitoring teams as they advance through the playoff rounds.

For each playoff round started, information about the 'best of' series is displayed, followed by the results of each played game. Any available league championship information is displayed first, followed by any available world championship information.

Playoff Statistics

At the start of each playoff round, all weekly statistics will be cleared. This provides a method of viewing exact results of how teams/players have performed in the current round, using any of the various roster and statistical screens.

The Action Menu

Print:  Prints the playoff status. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


POSITIONING FIELDERS

You can control the defensive positioning of each player on your team. In addition to using standard defensive strategies (such as setting up a double play or positioning your players to protect the lines), you can customize your defensive alignments.

To position fielders, select Manager Menu from the Pitch Selection menu. When the manager menu is displayed, select Position Defense.

Standard Defensive Positions

The Defensive Positioning screen provides quick access to a variety of standard fielding options.

Preset options for the outfield include:

Normal

Move Left: Shifts all outfielders left.

Move Right: Shifts all outfielders right.

Preset options for the infield include:

Normal

Guard Lines: Moves the infielders into position to guard against hits down the foul lines.

Cut-Off Run: Moves infielders into the base paths, reducing the chance of any runners advancing.

Double Play: Positions the infielders for a double play defense.

Custom Positioning of Fielders

In addition to these standard defensive options, you can position each fielder exactly where you wish on the playing field, and then save these customized fielding configurations for later use. Each team can have up to three sets of Custom Positions defined for easy access in the Defensive Positioning screen.

You can use the Current Player combo box to set positioning for the two groups of defensive players, infield and outfield, as well as each individual defensive position. If Current is selected in the Custom slot combo box, then the positioning you select will only stay set for the current play. If you want to use a customized positioning in the future, make sure that Custom 1, Custom 2, or Custom 3 shows in the Custom slot combo box.

You can then move any player with movement buttons to the right of the dialog box. Consecutive clicks move the player further each time. Be sure to have the Top View window open on the play field and enlarged to a size that allows easy viewing of your positioning.

Select and move individual players until you have set the custom locations for your players. When you select any other button on the screen, the altered Custom Position will be saved automatically. The Custom Position is saved until you redefine it.

Once the players are positioned as you want them, click on OK and the players will assume their positions. The players will remain in the set defensive position until the end of the current plate appearance. They will then return to their default positions for the next batter.


Potential Ratings defn
Potential Ratings: ratings which represent the maximum level the player may reach in his career. A player's potential ratings never change and are never displayed in FPS: Baseball. A player’s actual ratings may increase during spring training, but will never surpass the level of his potential ratings. The FPS: Baseball team set actual and potential ratings for the players in the Associations that come with FPS: Baseball, using statistical reports and player profiles. You may modify actual ratings for players; see Editing Players.


PREGAME SCREEN

(If you have already installed FPS: Baseball, you can go to the Game Overview.)

The PreGame screen comes up automatically when you insert the FPS: Baseball CD into the drive while running Windows 95, if the Windows 95 AutoPlay feature is enabled. If you want to insert the FPS: Baseball CD without this screen showing up, just hold down the SHIFT key while you insert the CD.

If you have not installed FPS: Baseball '98, you will see the following choices:

Install BASEBALL PRO: Runs Sierra Setup so that you can install FPS: Baseball and test your hardware.

READ ONLINE MANUAL: Brings up this Help file. If you're interested in finding out more about FPS: Baseball, click on the Contents button at the top of this screen.

EXIT: Ends the start-up program.

If you have already installed FPS: Baseball, you will see these choices:

RUN BASEBALL PRO:  Starts FPS: Baseball from the directory where you installed it. Once it's running, you can create and/or play in Associations or start a single game with any two teams of your choosing.

PLAYBALL: Starts FPS: Baseball from the directory where you installed it, but takes you right to the field to play a game with two pre-selected teams.

READ ONLINE MANUAL: Brings up this Help file. If you're interested in finding out more about FPS: Baseball, click on the Contents button at the top of this screen.

REINSTALL: Reruns Sierra Setup so that you can reinstall FPS: Baseball, test your hardware, or change settings.

SIERRA WEB PAGE: If you have Web browser software installed, you can connect to Sierra's Web page on the Internet.

EXIT: Ends the start-up program.

If you've previously installed FPS: Baseball, you can start it by selecting FPS Baseball Pro from the Sierra group. If you haven't installed FPS: Baseball, you can run SETUP from the root directory of the CD to install it.

To continue with this game overview, click on the forward browse button in the toolbar above.


PREFERENCES

The Preferences dialog box allows you to change certain settings while you are in the Front Office.

Team: This text box shows the default team and/or Association that will be loaded when the program is started. To change the team, click on the text box. A dialog box will be displayed that shows the Association name at the top and the teams below. To select a different Association, click on the Association name text box. Another dialog box will appear, allowing you to select a new Association. When you click OK, the team selection dialog box will reappear. You can then select the team and click OK.

Startup Screen: This text box shows the screen which will be loaded when the program is started. To change the Startup Screen, click on the text box. A dialog box will appear, showing a list of the screens you may select. Click on the screen you want, then click OK.

Music: Turns the background music on or off.

Print To File: When checked, any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT in the directory where BASEBALL.EXE is located. If this box is not checked, the data will be sent to your printer.


PRINT SCHEDULE DIALOG BOX

The Print Schedule dialog box allows you to print the schedule for the currently selected league. To display this dialog box, click on Print in the Action menu of the Association Schedule screen. You have three printing options:

Today's schedule only: prints the schedule of games for the current date only.

From-To any dates you choose: you select the range of dates to be printed.

Full season schedule: prints the entire league's schedule.

Scores for games that have already been completed will be printed.


PRINTING

You may print reports from several places while you are in the Front Office portion of FPS: Baseball: rosters, schedules, news, champions, awards, statistics, and so on. To print a report, go to the screen that contains the information you want to print, then select Print from the Action menu.

For example, to print Seattle's team data:

1. Select Data from the Team menu.

2. Select Select Team from the Team menu, and select Seattle in the dialog box that is displayed.

3. Select Print from the Action menu.

Some screens may have additional print commands. For example, on the Association Statistics screen, you can select Print Top 50 or Print Column Leaders. This modifies what gets printed. Top 50 prints only the top 50 players in the list (no surprise there). Print Column Leaders prints only the top 10 players' names and the selected column of data.

When you install FPS: Baseball, it is set to print to your default Windows printer. It uses the default font on that printer and expects to have enough room to print 80 characters wide. If you are having problems printing, or if you want to be able to load the print-out into another program, such as a spreadsheet, word processor, or desktop publishing program, you can print to a file. To print to a file, select Preferences from the Main menu. Click on the Print to File checkbox. When it is checked, all output from printing gets appended to a file called PRINT.OUT, which is located in the directory where BASEBALL.EXE is located. You can turn this option off and on to alternate between printing to your default Windows printer and the PRINT.OUT file.

Printing Documentation

In an effort to provide you with the most up-to-date information available about FPS: Baseball, all documentation is on-line, in the help file you are currently viewing. You may use Windows Help to print any topic you want, for future reference. To print a topic, click on the Print button, just below the menu bar. To print out more than one topic at a time, in Windows 95, you can display the Windows Help Contents page by clicking on the Contents button, just below the menu bar.

Highlight the book or subbook you want to print, the click on the Print... button at the bottom. In the dialog box above, On the Field and all of the items below it, will be printed, including On Offense, On Defense, and Other.


REASSIGNING PLAYERS

The players on your team may be assigned to the active roster, AAA, the Disabled List, or, in a Career Association, to the Low Minors. (See "Teams and Rosters" for a detailed explanation of the various rosters.) From time to time, you may need to make changes in these assignments. To do this, select Reassign Players... from the Team menu (make sure your team is the current team first).

The top four list boxes show the players currently on your team’s various rosters. The buttons above the lists identify the roster and indicate the number of players currently on that list. The bottom three lists are used to move players on and off the roster.

To move players between these rosters, highlight the player’s name and then click on the button above the list to which the player is to be moved.

You can move players freely between the rosters listed on the top half of the screen. The lists on the bottom half of the screen, however, vary in how you can use them.

If you have signed a free agent or drafted a player, his name will appear in the Signed Free Agent list. Prior to starting your next game, you must assign him to one of the team rosters on the top half of the screen. Click on the free agent’s name, and then click on the roster to which you wish to assign him.

The Released Players list shows the player (or players) that you will be releasing from your roster, once you click OK. Click on a player’s name in any list, then click on the Released Players button to move a player to this list. If you have inadvertently moved a player here, you can move him back to any of the top four list boxes, before you click OK.

If a player trade has been finalized, your new players will appear in the Receive In Trade list. These players must be assigned to one of the team rosters prior to your next scheduled game.

See also Trading Players.


RECOMMENDED READING

If you want more information on the rules and strategies of professional baseball, the FPS: Baseball team recommends the following books:

Rules

Official Baseball Rules, The Sporting News, 1997.

Nemec, David, The Rules of Baseball, New York, Lyons & Burford, 1994.

Skills

Boggs, Wade, and David Brisson, The Techniques of Modern Hitting, New York, Perigree Books, 1990.

Baker, Dusty, Jeff Mercer, and Marv Bittinger, You Can Teach Hitting, Carmel, Indiana, Bittinger Books, 1993.

Jordan, Pat, Pitching: The Keys to Excellence, Lanham, Maryland, SportsIllustrated Books, 1988.

Williams, Ted, and John Underwood, The Science of Hitting, New York,  Simon &Schuster, Inc., 1970.

Lau, Charlie, with Alfred Glossbrenner, The Art of Hitting .300, New York, Penguin Books, 1980.

House, Tom, The Pitching Edge, Champaign, Illinois, Human Kinetics Publishers,1994.

Hernandez, Keith, Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.

Statistics & Statistical Analysis

The Sporting News Baseball Guide, St. Louis, MO, The Sporting News Publishing Company, 1997.

The Sporting News Official Baseball Register, St. Louis, MO, The Sporting News Publishing Company, 1997.

The Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book, St. Louis, MO, The Sporting News Publishing Company, 1997.

STATS Minor League Handbook 1997, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

STATS Major League Handbook 1997, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

The Scouting Notebook: 1997, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

STATS Baseball Scoreboard, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

STATS Player Profiles 1997, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

STATS 1997 Minor League Scouting Notebook, Skokie, IL, STATS Publishing, 1997.

Srinivasan, David, and Doug Myers, The Scouting Report: 1997, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1997.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen, The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, New York, St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer, Total Baseball, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1997.

Baseball Weekly 1997 Almanac, New York, Hyperion, 1997.

Baseball America's 1997 Almanac, Durham, NC, Baseball America Press, 1997.

James, Bill, The Baseball Abstract, New York, Ballentine Books, 1983-1988.

Clark, Dick, and Larry Lester, The Negro Leagues Book, Cleveland, OH, The Society for Baseball Research, 1994.

History & Miscellaneous

James, Bill, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, New York, Villard Books, 1988.

Ritter, Lawrence S., The Glory of Their Times, New York, William Morrow and Company, 1966.

Peary, Danny, We Played The Game, New York, Hyperion, 1994.

Okkonen, Marc, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century: The Official Major League Baseball Guide, New York, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.

Curran, William, Big Sticks: The Phenomenal Decade of Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, and Hornsby, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1990.

Dickson, Paul, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, New York, Avon Books, 1989.

Zimbalist, Andrew, Baseball and Billions, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1992.

Miller, Marvin, A Whole Different Ballgame: The Sport and Business of Baseball, New York, Birch lane Press, 1991.

Baseball Weekly (published weekly).

Lowry, Phillip J., Green Cathedrals, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1992.


REFERENCE

Welcome

Backing Up Your Association (BBArchive)

Updating Your FPS: Baseball '94 Associations (BBUpdate)

Entering Custom Team Data (DATAIN)

Technical Support

Customer Service

Recommended Reading

Credits

Copyright Notice

End User Licensing Agreement


Remote Leagues - Commisioner Tasks
REMOTE LEAGUES - COMMISSIONER TASKS

FPS: Baseball includes a utility for managing a multi-player remote league so owners can play out their league games on their own computer system and send the results to a commissioner for compilation into the master association files.

If you are going to be an owner in a remote league, see Remote Leagues - Owner Tasks.

Following is an overview of the remote league process that you can use as a checklist to ensure that the remote league operates smoothly:

Commissioner Responsibilities

Generating the Starting Game Files

1.  The commissioner (being the person responsible for maintaining the master league files) makes an archive of the current association files using the BBArchive archival utility.  The commissioner should also ensure that the default association loaded when Baseball is started is the remote association.  See Preferences for instructions on setting the default association and team.

2.  Go into the Front Office portion of FPS: Baseball and create an association in the normal manner.

3.  Exit FPS: Baseball and launch the Remote Manager Utility, which is in the Bbpro_98 directory.

4.  Select Main > Select Association and load the association you just created.

5.. Select Main> Set Preferences to configure the remote functions for the selected league.

Remote directories - Local and FTP sites

Maximum play modes - The maximum level of control (Computer, Standard, or Advanced) that the commissioner will allow owners to have over remote league games.

Commissioner name and password

Specify a "preferred play" team. (If both teams send results, the preferred play team's results will get processed.)

6.  Select Commissioner > Set Source to set the current condition of the league as the "original source" to be used when generating update files.

7.  Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the "original source" association files to the remote site and announce a deadline for getting change files from prospective owners.

Basic Management Responsibilities

1.. When the deadline for owners to submit change files arrives, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to download any change files from the remote owners.

2.  Select Commissioner > Process Day's Results to process the change files from remote owners.

3. Select Commissioner > Create Update to create an update file with the changes from the new owners.

4. Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the new update file to the remote site.

Initial Draft (optional)

If the commissioner starts the association with an initial draft, it must be completed and processed before league play can commence. To initiate a draft:

1. Announce to the league members that their draft list must be uploaded to the remote site by a specific date and time. The commissioner also specifies how many rounds will be included in the draft.

2. At the draft list submission deadline, selects Commissioner > Upload/Download to obtain the draft lists from the remote site.

3. Select Commissioner > Process Draft List to process the draft lists.

4. If the draft is not completed, select Commissioner > Create Update.

5.  Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the update file to the remote site.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 until the draft is completed.

Series Play

For each "play period," the commissioner needs to designate the number of games to be played, who is responsible for playing the games ( home or visiting owner), and when the deadline for uploading game results will be. He then performs the following actions:

1. Select Commissioner > Create Update to create the update file for the current period.

2. Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the update file to the remote site.

3. When the deadline for the play period arrives, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to download the results from the remote site.

4. Select Commissioner > Process Day's Results to process the game results and roster moves for each team in the league.

5. If there are any remaining games for the current day, select Commissioner > Simulate Remaining Games to launch FPS Baseball '98's Front Office and simulate the remaining games.

 6. This will advance the association date. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all games are completed for the current period.

7. (Optional) Select Commissioner > Print and/or Team > Print to create any desired HTML printouts, such as the box scores for the current play period. The printout is sent to the download site at the next upload or download.

8.  Select Commissioner > Create Update to create an update file for the end of the current period. This gives visiting owners a chance to make roster changes before the beginning of the next play period (home owners can make roster moves during the play period).

9. Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the update file to the remote site. Announce a deadline for roster moves to the owners.

10.  When the roster move deadline arrives, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to get any change files from the remote site.

11. Select Commissioner > Process Day's Results to process the roster move change files for the current day.

The association is now ready to begin the next play period at step 1.

Between Seasons

1.  Upon completion of any post-season play, the association is ready for the next season.  The commissioner starts the game normally and selects Start New Season from the Association menu.

2.	After all processing has completed, the association is ready for the Free Agent Draft.  The commissioner exits FPS: Baseball, starts Remote Manager, and selects Commissioner > Create Update to generate the update file for the draft and gives owners a deadline to get their draft lists uploaded.

3.	Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the update file to the remote site.

4.	When the draft list submission deadline is reached, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to download the draft lists.

5.	Select Commissioner > Process Day’s Results to process the draft lists.

6. 	Select Commissioner > Create Update to generate the update file.

7.	If the draft is to continue, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the latest update to the remote site and announce a new draft list deadline.  Repeat steps 4-7 until the draft is completed,  leaving the game ready for spring training.

8.	Select Commissioner > Create Update to generate the update file for the end of the draft.

9.	Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the latest update file.  Announce a deadline for Spring Training change files to be uploaded to the remote site.

10.	Upon reaching the deadline, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to download the spring training change files.

11.	Select Commissioner > Process Day’s Results to process the spring training change files.

12.	Start baseball normally, load the remote association, and select Start Spring Training from the Association menu to process spring training.  Upon completion exit the game and restart Remote Manager.

13.	Select Commissioner > Create Update to generate the latest update file.

14.	Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the update file to the remote site.  Announce a deadline for final roster moves prior to starting regular season play.

15.  Upon reaching the deadline, select Commissioner > Upload/Download to download any roster moves.

16.	Select Commissioner > Process Day’s Results to process the roster move change files into the main game files.

17.	At this point, the game is ready to start league play for the new season.  The commissioner should reset the Source league.  To do this, select Commissioner > Set Source.

18.	Select Commissioner > Upload/Download to send the new source association files to the remote site.

The association is now ready to play games.


REMOTE LEAGUES - OWNER TASKS

Before starting a league, the commissioner will recruit people to play.  During this time, owners must decide which teams they will play and await the source association files to be sent by the commissioner.  When the commissioner has created all source files, he will inform the owners that it is time to begin league play.

Most of the management tasks for a remote league are performed from the FPS: Baseball Remote Manager utility, which you can open by going to Start > Programs > Sierra > FPS BBManage Utility.   Here's what you do if you are an individual owner  playing in a remote league:

League Preparation Phase

1.	Select Team > Join League.  A dialog box is displayed asking the user to specify the location of the source league files.  This will be the main remote site directory (without the SOURCE subdir).  The computer will then go the specified site and look for a source league file.  If found, the file will be downloaded and "loaded" into memory.

2.	Select Main > Set Preferences to set the local preferences for the remote league.  The remote site and max play modes will already be set by the commissioner, so the local owner needs to specify the local directory to store all necessary files and the remote directory to send HTML files (optional).

3.	Select Main > Select Team to select the working team.  A check box on the dialog will allow the user to specify that team as the default to be used whenever this association is loaded or the team can be selected manually each time the user starts the Remote Manager.

4.	Select the League Management button on the main screen to launch the shell with the specified association and team loaded.  Go to the Team/Data screen to make any desired changes to the team data, including uniform color, stadium model and surface type, desired play and manage modes, and any desired name changes.

5.	Exit the Front Office, returning to the Remote Manager.

6.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the changes to the remote site.

Initial Draft (optional)

If an initial draft is to be done, the player will perform the following actions:

1.	Once the commissioner has announced that the league is ready for the draft, select Team > Upload/Download to get the latest update files from the remote site.

2.	Select the Front Office button to go to the front office to generate the draft list for the currently selected team.

3.	In the Front Office, select the Association > Start/Resume Draft option to get to the draft.

4.	A dialog box is displayed telling the user to select at least as many players from the draft pool as the number of rounds the commissioner has specified for the draft, multiplied by the number of teams in the association.

5.	The user selects as many players as desired from the pool, continuing to pick players until the required number of players has been put into the pick list.

6.	The user exits the game to return to Remote Manager.

7.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the pick list to the remote site.

8.	After the commissioner has announced the presence of a new update file, select Team > Upload/Download to download and apply the latest update.

9.	Repeat steps 2-8 until the draft is completed or until the user wants to drop out of the draft.  To drop out of the draft, the user would select END DRAFT as normal.

Series Play (if you are the active team)

For each series, the commissioner specifies how many games are to be played.  The default (home or away) team plays the games unless other arrangements are made.  For each play period, the active team (the one playing the games) performs the following actions:

1.	Select Team > Upload/Download to get the latest update from the remote site.

2.	Select the Front Office button on the main screen to go to  the Front Office.

3.	The owner can make any last minute roster moves, if desired.

4.	The owner launches his game from either the League or Team Schedule screens by clicking on the game matchup as normal.

5.	The game is played either versus the computer or head-to-head on the same computer.

6.	Once the game is completed, the user goes to the League Schedule screen and selects Action > Simulate, which marks all the rest of the day’s games as "played," without taking the time to simulate them.  Only the current day’s games will be marked, regardless of the length of time the user selects to "simulate".

7.	Now that the day has advanced, exit the game or play the next game in the series, as desired.

Note: You can exit the Front Office at this time and then repeat the above steps for playing each day’s games or you can remain in the Front Office and play all subsequent games without exiting.  You can make any desired roster moves before play begins for any given game day.

8.	Once all games have been completed, exit the Front Office and return to the Remote Manager.

9.	Select Team > Print and/or Commissioner > Print to create any desired HTML printouts.

10.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the change files to the remote site and the HTML files to the specified HTML site.

11.	Once the commissioner has announced the presence of a new update for the roster move period, select Team > Upload/Download to download the update from the remote site.

12.	Select the Front Office button to start the Front Office.  Make any desired roster moves, then exit back to the Remote Manager.

13.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the change file to the remote site.

Series Play (if you are the inactive team)

The inactive team may make changes to the roster or lineups for any given game day.  If the changes need to be made in the middle of a play period, the owner should perform the following steps:

1.	Select Team > Upload/Download to get the update file for the beginning of the play period.

2.	Select the Front Office button.

3.	If the changes are to be made on the current day, simply go to the roster and make the changes.  Otherwise,  use the Action > Simulate function on the League Schedule screen to mark all games for the day as played, advancing the day.  Repeat this step until the desired day is reached, then make the roster moves.  Repeat if roster moves need to be made on additional days.

4.	Exit the Front Office.

5.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the roster moves to the remote site.

In most cases, the inactive team will wait for the roster move update before making changes, allowing these actions:

Note: If a starter incurs a 100% injury during a game, the active owner may email the inactive owner for instructions for the lineups for subsequent changes.  The active owner would start the game as a head-to-head game, make necessary lineup changes, then set the team to computer control in the game simulation.  If lineup instructions are not given, the computer will automatically make out the starting lineups for each of the subsequent games.

6.	Once the game period has been completed and the commissioner has uploaded the update for the roster move period, select Team > Upload/Download to download it from the remote site.

7.	Select the Front Office button on the main screen to launch the Front Office portion of the game.

8.	Make any roster moves, team data changes, free agent claims, or trade proposals as desired.

9.	Exit the Front Office and return to Remote Manager.

10.	Select Team > Upload/Download to send the roster moves to the remote site.

Series Play (inactive head-to-head)

If the two owners play their games head-to-head on the same computer the rosters for both teams will be updated after each game, allowing daily roster moves by each owner.  However, separate change files must be made by each owner by entering the Front Office with a different team selected.


Reset Teams
RESET TEAMS DIALOG BOX

The Reset Teams dialog box allows you to change the ownership or General Manager (GM) options for ALL the teams in the Association at once. To display this dialog box, select Data from the Association menu. Then select Reset Teams from the Action menu.

The Reset Teams dialog box consists of two sets of radio buttons. The first set allows you to make changes to the ownership, between Human or Computer, or you can elect to make no changes.

The second set of buttons allows you to make changes to the Computer GM options of all human-owned teams in the Association. If you made no changes to the ownership, the Computer GM options will affect all teams that were human-owned before you selected Reset Teams. If you changed all teams to human-owned, the Computer GM changes will be made to all teams. If you changed all to computer-owned, the Computer GM options are ghosted and unavailable. You may also choose Make no changes here.

(If you set both the Ownership and Computer GM options to Make no changes, nothing happens at all.)


RESUME SAVED GAME

The Resume Saved Game screen displays a list of all games that have been saved while in progress. To resume a game, click on the game in the list box, then select Resume Game from the Action menu.

To delete a saved game, click on the game in the list box, then select Delete Game from the Action menu. Each saved game uses about 100 KB of hard disk space.


ROSTER DISPLAYS

Many of the screens that are displayed in the Front Office have a roster display showing player ratings and statistics. The data shown in these displays can be customized to meet your informational needs.

On screens with roster displays, such as the Team Roster screens, the Show menu allows you to change the roster display to show Batting/Fielding stats or Pitching stats. You may also select the time frame for which statistics are shown. Accumulated statistics from games you play can be shown for the previous week, for the current season, or for a player’s FPS: Baseball career (in a Career Association). For players included in FPS: Baseball, or players you enter using the DATAIN program, you may also review historical statistics. (On some screens, some options may not be available.)

To rearrange the data being displayed, select Change Columns in the Action menu. To change information displayed in an individual column, click on the column heading you wish to alter. Pick the new data item from the list box by clicking on it. The data set currently displayed in the list box is controlled by the option buttons on the left side of the screen. Each of these will open a new data set for selection in the list box. The roster display can be sorted by any statistic by clicking on a column heading. Clicking on HR, for instance, will automatically display the list according to the number of home runs each player has hit.


ROSTER AND STATISTICS SCREENS

Statistics maintained by FPS: Baseball are available from a variety of locations within the game. To see ratings and statistics for individual players on your team, select the Roster command from the Team menu. To view player and team statistics, select the Statistics command from the Team menu. To view current league leaders in the various statistical categories, select the Statistics command from the Association menu.

Statistics are maintained for all players on three levels: weekly, seasonal, and in a Career Association, for the duration of a player’s career. When using players you have entered from historical baseball teams or players who we have included in Associations that came with  FPS: Baseball, the actual historical statistics of the players are also available for review. The Show menu of the Team Roster, Team Statistics, and Association Statistics screens lets you select the set of statistics you wish to view.

On any of these screens, you may print the data shown by selecting Print from the Action menu.

For information on what can be displayed, see "Change Columns dialog box."


ROSTERS

Single-Season Association teams consist of a 40-man roster divided into an active roster and a reserve roster. (In Career Associations, you have an additional 10-man Low Minors roster.) The active roster holds the players who are available for use during games, and the reserve roster contains players on your top minor league team (AAA) or on the Disabled List (DL). From Opening Day until August 31, the active roster can have a maximum of 25 players. After September 1, teams may expand the active roster to as many as 40 players by promoting players from AAA and the Disabled List. The total number of players, however, still may not exceed 40.

You may move players between the active roster and AAA freely at any time. (Exception: During the playoffs, you may only promote a AAA player to replace an injured player.) You may place injured players on the Disabled List (DL) at any time, but once placed on the disabled list, players must remain there at least 15 days. A maximum of 15 players may be on the DL and at AAA at any given time.

In a Career Association, each team also has a separate Low Minors roster, which may have up to 10 players. This represents the team’s farm system. Players are assigned to the Low Minors when drafted in the June Amateur Draft. Players may be promoted from the Low Minors to the 40-man roster at any time, but once promoted, they may not be returned to the Low Minors roster. A player under the age of 26 may, however, be released to the free agent pool, then re-signed one day later and assigned again to the Low Minors roster. Of course, the player may be signed by another team before the original team can re-sign him.

A player traded from a team’s Low Minors roster may be placed on the new team’s Low Minors roster or the major league roster, but a player traded from a major league roster may not be placed on his new team’s Low Minors roster.

To move players from roster to roster, the team must be human-owned. Select Reassign Players from the Team Menu. For more information, see Reassigning Players.


Save Changes?
SAVE CHANGES? DIALOG BOX

The Save Changes? dialog box appears when you have changed data on a screen and have selected a command from the menu to go to another screen. Click Yes to save your changes or No to discard them.


SAVING GAMES

To quit a game in progress, click the right mouse button anywhere on the Stadium window and select Exit from the pop-up menu or press Ctrl + F4. You will be prompted to Exit Stadium? Yes / No. If you select No, you will return to the Stadium. If you select Yes, the dialog box shown below is displayed.

Play/Watch: Returns to the stadium in Play mode (see Play vs. Simulate for more information)

Simulate: Returns to the stadium in Simulate mode (see Play vs. Simulate for more information)

Save for later: Saves game; select Resume Saved Game from the Main menu to resume the game

Delete: Removes all game data; you must restart the game from the beginning


SET CRITERIA DIALOG BOX

This dialog box allows you to narrow the list of players to just the ones you want to see while you are drafting or trading players, or signing free agents.

Pitchers: These option buttons allow you to select the throwing hand of the pitchers shown.

Batters: These check boxes allow you to set the batting hand of the players to be shown. You must have at least one of these boxes turned on.

Positions: These check boxes allow you to set the positions of the players to be shown. You must have at least one of these boxes turned on. 'Utility' players are those who qualify at multiple positions, at least one of which is not in the outfield.  (For example, a player who is qualified at LF and RF is not a utility player, but one who is qualified at LF and 3B is.)

Minimum Ratings: When any of these check boxes are turned on, all players who do not meet the minimum rating are eliminated from the list. However, the Position player minimums are not applied to the Pitchers listed, and vice versa.

Age: You may set one or both of these check boxes to restrict the age range of the listed players.


Set Starting Pitchers and Lineups
SET STARTING PITCHERS & LINEUPS

If you start an exhibition game with the Use Lineup option turned on, the game will start using the next starting pitcher in the rotation and the standard starting lineup for each team. If Use Lineup is turned off (or when starting league games), the Start Game dialog box lets you modify the starting pitcher and lineup for this game.

This dialog box is divided into four sections, but only one is active at a time. Each team may change the starting pitcher and then the starting lineup. To make changes, click on the Change button. This will take you to the Team Roster where you can alter both defensive positions and pitchers.

When you have made all desired changes in a section, click OK to advance to the next one.


SETTING DEFENSIVE PLAYS

When your team has the field, access defensive commands and defensive plays by selecting the Manager Menu button on the Pitch Selection menu. Use your mouse to click any of the commands or follow the joystick diagrams next to each one.

The commands available will vary depending upon current game conditions. For example, you will not be able to call Hold Runner if no runners are on base.

Commands include:

1st Charge: Instructs the first baseman to charge home plate in anticipation of a bunt when the pitcher begins his windup.

Pos Defense: Activates the Position Defense screen, which allows you to control the defensive position for all fielders. (For more information, see "Positioning Fielders".)

Hold Runner: Instructs the fielder to hold a runner at first (if second base is open) or at second (if third base is open). This command will override any other defensive positioning instructions for the affected fielder. When the pitcher releases the ball, the first baseman will return to his normal position, or begin to charge the plate if 1st Base Charge has been selected.

3rd Charge: Instructs the third baseman to charge home plate in anticipation of a bunt when the pitcher begins his windup.

Visit Mound: Activates the Visit Mound screen. This is available only once per pitcher per inning.

Pickoff: Instructs the pitcher to attempt a pickoff of the lead runner. (This is available only when pitching mode is set to Computer or Basic, or when Manage Only is turned on.)

Pitchout: Instructs the pitcher to throw a fastball high and wide to the side of the plate opposite the batter, either to allow the catcher to attempt to throw out a baserunner, or as part of an intentional walk. (This is available only when pitching mode is set to Standard or Advanced.)

Pitch Around: Instructs the pitcher not to throw the batter any good pitches, even if he must give up a walk. The ball, however, could end up in the strike zone if the pitcher’s control is less than perfect. (This is available only when pitching mode is not set to Standard or Advanced.)

Lineup Card: Lets you review the lineup, substitute a defensive player, start a relief pitcher warming up, or bring a relief pitcher into the game.

Normal: Cancels all other options listed above, except defensive positions.

Select Pitch: Returns to the Pitch Selection menu.


SETTING OFFENSIVE PLAYS

The availability of offensive plays, strategies, and options depends upon the current game situation as well as your selected Ground Rules and playing modes. For example, if there are no baserunners, the base stealing options will not be available.

When your team is at bat, access offensive plays and options by selecting Manager Menu on the batter’s Swing Selection menu. Use your mouse to click any of the commands or follow the joystick diagrams next to each one.

Depending on the game situation, the Manager menu offensive options include:

Steal 2nd: Gives a runner on first, permission to steal second. A computer-controlled runner will try to steal only if he thinks he can get a good jump.

Steal 3rd: Gives permission for the runner on second to attempt to steal third.

Double Steal: Gives both baserunners permission to steal the next base. One runner will start, and the other will go when the ball is thrown to try to catch the first runner. Which runner breaks first depends on the situation. With runners on first and third, the runner on first will begin the double steal. With runners on first and second, the runner on second will lead. With runners on second and third, the runner on third will make the initial steal attempt.

Steal Home: Gives permission for the runner on third to attempt to steal home.

Hit and Run: Tells the baserunner(s) to attempt to advance to the next base when the ball is pitched, and the batter to attempt to hit a ground ball, preferably to the right side of the infield.

Squeeze: Orders the runner on third to break for home with the pitch, and the batter to attempt to bunt.

Take: Tells a computer-controlled batter not to swing at the next pitch. (Available in Computer mode only.)

Sacrifice Bunt: Tells a computer-controlled batter to attempt a sacrifice bunt, and the runner to go on contact. (Available in Manage and Computer batting modes.)

Lineup Card: Lets you review the lineup, substitute a pinch hitter or runner, or work with the bullpen.

Normal: Cancels any other offensive play instructions you have set.

Select Swing: Returns to the Swing Selection menu, keeping any manager decisions made.


SETTING STARTING LINEUPS

You may set starting lineups for your team for use against left- and right-handed starting pitchers on the Team Roster screen. To show the batting orders, select Batting Order vs. LHP or Batting Order vs. RHP from the Show menu. To show the defensive lineups, select Defense vs. LHP or Defense vs. RHP. These displays let you manage your batting order and defensive lineup with all the flexibility available to a major league manager.

The Batting Order display shows the players currently assigned to each of the nine places in the batting order for games against the specified type of pitcher (right- or left-handed). To make a change, click on the player in the Roster display, and then click in the text box where you want to place him in the Batting Order display. If he was in the lineup already, he will swap places with the player in his new spot. If he was not already in the order, he will replace the player who was there.

To move a player in the defensive lineup, switch to the Defense vs. LHP or Defense vs. RHP display from the Show menu, highlight the player’s name in the displayed roster, and click on the slot in the defensive lineup where you wish to insert him. If the selected player is already in the game, he will trade positions with the player already in that position. If the selected player is not already in the lineup, the player currently in that position will be removed from the lineup. The new player will assume both the defensive position and the place in the batting order occupied by the exiting player.

Note: In designated hitter leagues, the DH replaces the pitcher in the batting order. Pitcher and DH substitutions are made separately.

The Defensive Lineup screen is interlinked with the Batting Order screen. If you replace a fielder in the defensive lineup, the new player will automatically assume the position in the batting order held by the player he replaces. Conversely, substituting a player in the batting order will automatically place him in the fielding position of the player he replaced.

Teams with an empty space in their batting order (for either LHP or RHP) cannot start games until those empty spaces are filled.


SIMULATE GAMES DIALOG BOX

This dialog box, which is available from the Action menu when the Association or Team schedules are displayed, offers you a choice of three option buttons. These choices allow you to simulate games for three different time frames.

Today's games only: Simulates all games on today's schedule that are set to Sim. Afterward, if all of today's games have been resolved, the game date will be advanced, and all between-days activities (resolving free agent claims, healing injuries, etc.) will be completed.

All games until next "Play": Simulates all games set to Sim, until the game date cannot be advanced because games are set to be Played, rather than Simulated. If no games are set to Play, the simulation will continue through the end of the season. (Playoff games are set to Play by default.)

All games until date: Simulates all games set to Sim until a date you specify. You may choose any date up to the end of the regular season. The simulation will be interrupted if any games are set to Play prior to the date selected. To choose a date, move the slider until the desired date is shown, or use the left and right arrows to go backward and forward.

If either of the last two options are chosen, the simulation will be interrupted if an injury causes any player in a starting lineup or pitching rotation to be unable to play, if that team is Human-owned and does not have the Reassign players function of the Computer GM turned on.


SITUATIONAL MODIFIERS

Each player has situational modifiers for both batting and pitching, which are applied to a batter’s Contact Hitting and Power Hitting ratings, based on the current game situation. The situations are:

vs. Left (vs.L)
Modifies the batter’s ability to hit against left-handed pitchers. This has an implied 'opposite' rating which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a batter with a vs. L. rating of 55 has an implied vs. R rating of 45.)

Home (Home)
Modifies the batter’s ability in home games. This has implied 'opposite' rating which can be figured by subtracting the rating from 100. (For example, a batter with a Home rating of 55 has an implied Road rating of 45.)

Scoring Position (ScPos)
Modifies the batter’s ability when hitting with base-runners in scoring position (on second or third base).

Close & Late (C&L)
Modifies the batter’s ability in late innings of a close game.

Monthly (Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, S/O)
Modifies the batter’s ability in each month of the season: April, May, June, July, August, and September/October.

A situational modifier that is above 50 means that the batter tends to do better in this situation. One below 50 indicates that he does worse. Each of the batter’s and the pitcher’s situational ratings or their opposites will be applied on each plate appearance.


Situational Statistics
SITUATIONAL STATISTICS COLUMNS

While in the Team Statistics or Team Roster screens, you may select the Change Columns command from the Action menu to display situational statistics for your players, both batters/fielders, and pitchers.

These columns display statistics for players in particular situations. All of the columns are the same for batters/fielders and pitchers with the exception of the Pro column (a batting-only statistic). All of the statistics shown below can be displayed for any of the situational modifiers listed in the Player Ratings topic.

Stat	Description

AB	At bats

H	Hits

2B	Doubles

3B	Triples

HR	Home runs

RBI	Runs batted in

BB	Bases on balls (walks)

SO	Strikeouts

Avg	Batting average

OBP	On-base percentage

Slg	Slugging percentage

Pro	Production. Pro = OBP + Slg. Pro attempts to measure a player's rate of offensive production. (Devised by Pete Palmer and Dick Cramer.)


Smart Move
Smart Move makes fielding much easier by allowing you to approximate the direction that you point your fielders in when making a play.


SmartThrow
Smart Throw takes all the guesswork out of throwing the ball. If you are making a play, simply press the keyboard or joystick button and the ball will go in the right direction.


SOUND SETTINGS

To change sound settings in the game, right-click on the Stadium window and select Game Options... from the pop-up menu. Then click the Sounds tab.

Action sounds are umpires sounds, the crack of the bat, and so on. To turn these off, click on the Mute checkbox in the Action box. To increase the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar in the Action box to the right (larger values). To decrease the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar to the left. Click on the Test button to play a sample sound at the new volume.

Heckler sounds are fans, vendors, and so on. To turn these off, click on the Mute checkbox in the Heckler box. To increase the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar in the Heckler box to the right (larger values). To decrease the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar to the left. Click on the Test button to play a sample sound at the new volume.

Crowd sounds is the background fan noise. To turn it off, click on the Mute checkbox in the Crowd box. To increase the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar in the Crowd box to the right (larger values). To decrease the volume of these sounds, slide the scroll bar to the left.

You can turn the Distance and Stereo effects off by clicking in the check box. You can choose between high-quality and normal-quality sounds, using the option buttons in the Sound Quality box.

Using normal quality sounds, or using Mute to turn sounds off may improve game performance. Note: if you install normal-quality sounds during the FPS: Baseball install process, and select High-Quality in this dialog, FPS: Baseball will attempt to play the sounds from the FPS: Baseball CD, which may adversely affect performance.

Click on Save Settings button to save these sound settings for future games (until you change them again).


SPRING TRAINING

Each spring, teams in Career Associations hold training camps to prepare their players for the new season. As the manager, you can allocate percentages of training time to each of the individual skill ratings. (See Player Ratings for details.) If sufficient training time is allocated to a particular skill, a player’s actual ratings for that skill will increase. The amount of increase in actual ratings depends on the amount of training time allocated and the percentage of his potential ratings the player has reached. If a player has an actual rating that is very close to his potential, very little increase will be gained even by a large amount of training.

Training Allocations for all players will be made automatically by the computer after the Free Agent draft (and Initial draft, if selected during the Create Association process), unless the player has 100% of his training time already allocated. You may modify the training schedule for any player on your team after the computer has set it. For example, if the Championship series, your star 3rd baseman fails to get a base hit and you lose the game. You could immediately set his training time for Contact Hitting to 30%, and fill out the other 70% for other ratings. The computer will then not touch his allocation time (since it is 100%), when it fills out the other players on your team.

Teams must be human-owned in order for you to change the training time allocations. To do this, select Training Allocations from the Team menu.

When you are satisfied with your team's training allocations, select Start Spring Training from the Association menu. If any teams have incomplete allocations, a dialog box will list those teams and ask whether you want to have the computer finish assigning their training allocations.


STADIUM OVERVIEW

"In the Stadium" refers to the actual play field and its associated menus and dialog boxes. It applies to batting practice, the Arcade,  Exhibition play, and Association games. There are multiple offensive, defensive, and overall game controls in the stadium. To review a particular topic, click on it below.

Offense Tips

Batting

Baserunning

Pinch Hitters and Pinch Runners

Setting Offensive Plays

Defense Tips

Fielding

Pitching

Visiting the Mound

Pickoffs

Positioning Fielders

Setting Defensive Plays

Changing Pitchers or Lineup

Using Other Control Features

Camera and Replay Modes

Pop-Up Menu: Game Settings

Instant Replays

Exiting and Saving Games


STARTING A GAME

The simplest way to start an exhibition game is to click Exhibition Play on the FPS: Baseball startup screen. This option limits your choices as far as selecting teams in different leagues or all-star teams. For more control over Exhibtion Play, you can click League Management to go to the Front Office and select  Exhibition Play from the Main menu, then choose your settings and click Play Game.

To start an Association game, you can use the Team Schedule screen or the Association Schedule screen.


STARTING A NEW SEASON

After the playoffs are finished, you may continue on to the next season by selecting Start New Season from the Association menu. Starting a new season does the following things:

1.  Age and retire players (Career Associations only)

2.  Set up the Free Agent Draft (Career Associations only)

3.  Reset all team and player seasonal statistics to zero.

4.  Generate a new schedule.

It is a good idea to backup your Association before starting a new season.

Restarting a Season

For Single-Season Associations, you can restart the season at any time by selecting Restart Season from the Association menu. This resets all team and player seasonal statistics to zero. It is available at all times for Single-Season Associations.


STATISTICAL TOTALS

Batting/Fielding Statistical Totals

While in the Team Statistics or Team Roster screens, you may select the Change Columns command from the Action menu to display statistical totals for your players, both batters/fielders, and pitchers. The list of available statistics is as follows:

Stat	Description

G	Games played

AB	At bats

R	Runs

H	Hits

1B	Singles

2B	Doubles

3B	Triples

HR	Home runs

RBI	Runs batted in

SH	Sacrifice hits

SF	Sacrifice flies

HBP	Hit by pitches

BB	Bases on balls (walks)

IBB	Intentional bases on balls

SO	Strikeouts

SB	Stolen bases

CS	Caught stealing

GDP	Ground into double play

Avg	Batting average

OBP	On-base percentage

Slg	Slugging percentage

PA	Plate appearances

Iso	Isolated power. Iso is simply slugging percentage  minus batting average.  Iso of .200 or higher is very good. (Devised by Bill James.)

K/BB	Strikeouts-to-walks ratio

RC	Runs created. RC is a method of putting together basic stats in such a way as to give an idea of a player's overall offensive contribution. 100 runs created is a very good season. (Devised by Bill James.)

TB	Total bases

SA	Secondary average. SA evaluates the kind of things that don't go into a batting average.  SA of .350 or higher is very good. (Devised by Bill James.)

Pro	Production.  Pro = OBP + Slg. Pro attempts to measure a player's rate of offensive production. (Devised by Pete Palmer and Dick Cramer.)

TA	Total average. TA is another measure of a player's offensive output. (Devised by Thomas Boswell.)

The data displayed for each of the following fielding statistics are for the player's primary fielding position only.

Stat	Description

GPos	Games played at position

Inn	Innings played at position

PO	Putouts

A	Assists

E	Errors

DP	Double plays

PB	Passed balls

Pct	Fielding percentage

Rng	Range factor. Rng = (PO + A) * 9 / Inn. We include Rng for first basemen and catchers, although the large number of putouts each makes (first basemen on throws from other infielders, and catchers on strikeouts) do not reflect the player's own defensive ability.  (Devised by Bill James.)

TC	Total chances. TC = PO + A + E.

Pitching Statistics Totals

Stat	Description

G	Games played

GS	Games started

GF	Games finished (as a reliever)

IP	Innings pitched

BFP	Batters facing pitcher

W	Wins

L	Losses

Sv	Saves

BB	Bases on balls (walks)

IBB	Intentional bases on balls

SO	Strikeouts

AB	At bats

H	Hits

1B	Singles

2B	Doubles

3B	Triples

HR	Home runs

RBI	Runs batted in

SH	Sacrifice hits

SF	Sacrifice flies

HB	Hit batsmen

CG	Complete games

ShO	Shutouts

QS	Quality starts. A starting pitcher makes a QS when he goes at least six innings and allows no more than three runs.

SBA	Stolen bases allowed.

CS	Caught stealing

R	Runs

ER	Earned runs

IR	Inherited runners.  A relief pitcher receives one IR for each runner on base when he enters the game.

IRS	Inherited runners scored.

Hld	Holds. A relief pitcher receives a Hold if he enters the game in a save opportunity (see below) and passes on the save opportunity to the next relief pitcher.

SvOp	Save opportunities. A relief pitcher receives a SvOp if he receives a Save, or if he enters the game in a save situation and gives up the lead.

WP	Wild pitches.

Avg	Opponent's batting average

OBP	Opponent's on base percentage

Slg	Opponent's slugging percentage

K/BB	Strikeouts-to-walks ratio

Pct	Winning percentage. Pct = W/W+L

Sv%	Save percentage. Sv% = Sv/SvOp

ERA	Earned run average. ERA = ER*9/IP

RAT	Ratio. Ratio = (H + BB)/IP. Ratio is a common fantasy league statistical category.

K/9	Strikeouts per 9 innings pitched

BB/9	Walks per 9 innings pitched

H/9	Hits per 9 innings pitched


SWING LOCATION

In Advanced batting mode, prior to swinging the bat, you must choose a location in the strike zone to look for the pitch.  If the pitch is in that location and you swing, the batter will have a greater chance of driving the ball with authority.  If the pitch is not in that location, the batter will attempt to adjust his swing to the actual location of the pitch, with his ability ratings and swing type determining the success of his adjustments.

The strike zone is divided into nine areas that correspond to the directions of the joystick and the keys on the keyboard (see Keyboard Equivalents for more information). After you've selected the swing type, a menu will appear (as shown below) allowing to select where to watch for the pitch.  Once you've selected the location, the pitcher will throw the ball. Press Button 1 to swing. If the pitch is not thrown in the zone you selected, you still have a chance of making an adjustment and hitting it. FPS: Baseball makes this adjustment for you automatically, based on the batter's ratings.


SWING TIMING

In Standard and Advanced batting modes, you must decide when to swing. Press Button 1 on your joystick or the appropriate key on the keyboard (see Keyboard Equivalents) to start your swing. Remember, if the pitch is a fastball, you must start your swing earlier to hit the ball into fair territory. You should wait a little longer on breaking balls and change-ups.

Take advantage of Batting Practice to get your timing right.


SWING TYPE

When controlling the batter, your first selection is the type of swing. The power swing is a strong rising swing. You may hit more long fly balls with a power swing, but you will also strike out more. The contact swing maximizes your chances of making contact and putting the ball into play. The normal swing is a normal swing. The bunt swing causes the batter to attempt to tap the ball softly into the infield.

To select a swing type, push the joystick in the direction indicated by the on-screen arrow, and press Button 1. To select the Power swing, for example, push the joystick right and press Button 1. (Push left for a Contact swing, push up for a normal swing, or pull back to select a Bunt.)

Keyboard Control: Use your mouse to click on the command of choice in the Swing Type menu, or press the corresponding keyboard key. (See Keyboard Equivalents.).


TEAM CONTROLS

The control text boxes allow you to choose how each team is to be controlled. You may choose Computer, Keyboard R (right), Keyboard L (left) or, if available, Joystick 1 - Joystick 16. Click in the text boxes to cycle through the options. (See Game Controls for more information)

Managing Mode: allows you to select the managing control for human-owned teams. Click in the text boxes to cycle through Computer, Basic, Standard, or Advanced settings.

Manage only: turning on this check box sets all on-field control modes (Pitching, Batting, Fielding, Running) to Computer.

Pitching, Batting, Fielding, Running:  These text boxes allow you to set the on-field control modes for each team.  Click on the text boxes to cycle Computer, Basic, Standard, and Advanced modes.


TEAM DATA

This screen allows you to take control of and modify a team in the current Association. To display this screen, select Data from the Team menu. Information for the current team is displayed. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

Team Name, Nickname, Abbreviation: You may click directly on these text boxes to type in new data for these items. The Name and Nickname may be up to 16 characters each, and the Abbreviation may be up to 4 characters.

Manager: You may click directly on this text box to type in new data. The manager's name may be up to 32 characters.

Ownership: You may click on this text box to toggle the ownership of this team from Computer to Human and back. When the ownership is set to Computer, you cannot change any of the team's data - the computer has complete control of the team. Once the ownership is changed to Human, you can modify the team as you wish. NOTE: you may toggle all teams at once between human- and computer-owned by selecting Reset Teams from the Action menu on the Association Data screen.

Play Modes: Make choices as to what level of control you will have during league games.

Roster Management: Make choices as to what level of control you will have over player transactions.

City and Stadium: Select the city and stadium where the team will play and the surface for the stadium.

The Action Menu

Print:  Prints the team data that has been saved for the team. If you change data (for example, team nickname), and print it without saving, you will get the old name. To save changed data, press Ctrl+C or select Change Team from the Team menu. A dialog box will appear, prompting you to "Save Changes?" Click OK; then when the Change Teams dialog box is displayed, click Cancel. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


TEAM DATA: ROSTER MANAGEMENT

FPS: Baseball provides a Computer General Manager to handle any management functions you wish to delegate. This allows you to concentrate on the aspects of team management that interest you, while leaving routine functions to the discretion of your computer assistant.

Management options that can be delegated to the Computer GM include:

Reassign Players: This sets the degree of control the Computer GM will have over the team’s players. When this option is selected, the computer will make decisions about roster assignments, resting players, and moving players to and from the Disabled List. When Reassign Players is checked, the three options listed directly below it are also available:

Propose Trades: The Computer GM will initiate trade proposals with other teams.

Respond to Trades: The Computer GM will make decisions concerning trade proposals received from other teams.

Sign Free Agents: The Computer GM will sign free agents as needed for the team.

Amateur Draft: The Computer GM will make draft selections for the team in the annual Amateur draft in June.

Free Agent Draft: The Computer GM will make draft selections for the team in the annual Free Agent Draft and the Initial Draft (if that option was selected when the Association was being created).


TEAM DATA: STADIUM AND CITY

Each team has a home stadium located in or near a city. The stadium model and the city can affect players’ ratings during a game. 28 stadium models and 85 cities are included in FPS: Baseball. The nearest city, and the calendar date of the game, determine the weather for all league games. The weather affects ratings (except when using the domed stadiums).

You can change the name of your stadium at any time.

You may change your stadium model or move your team to a new city prior to the first game of any season. To change these, click on the appropriate text box. A dialog box will show you a list of available choices. Scroll through the list until the desired model or city appears, then click on that item and click OK.

You may also decide whether the stadium has an artificial or grass surface by selecting the appropriate option button in the bottom left corner of this screen.


TEAM MENU

Following is a description of all items in the Team Menu:

News: Shows the team's recent player transactions and current injuries. You may respond to trade offers made by other teams on this screen and reassign injured players.

Data: Allows you to examine and edit information about the team, such as team name, nickname, ownership, uniforms, nearest city, stadium, and playing modes for games in the Stadium.

Roster: Allows you to examine ratings and statistics for players on your team. You may also set starting lineups and the pitching rotation.

Statistics: Shows statistics for the players on the team and the team as a whole.

Schedule: Displays the team's schedule including scores of completed games and scheduled starting pitchers for future games. You may examine box scores and highlights from here as well as select games to be played or simulated.

Training Allocations: Allocate spring training time for any player on your roster.

These menu commands are only available to Human-owned teams.

Reassign Players: Allows you to move players between your Active, AAA, DL, and  Low Minors rosters. You can also assign newly acquired players to a roster or release players from a roster.

Propose Trade: Put players up on the "auction block" or seek demands from other teams for players you want.

Claim Free Agent: Search for a player you need and submit a claim.

Select Team: Brings up a dialog box which allows you to change the current team to be displayed on any of the Team screens.


TEAM NEWS

The Team News screen displays the Team name, record, division, and Association at the top. The screen is divided into two list boxes: Transactions and Injuries. To display this screen, select News from the Team menu. Information for the current team will be displayed. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

Transactions

The Transactions report in the upper half of the screen shows roster moves and trade proposals.

You can take the following actions by clicking on items in the Transactions list box, if the team is human-owned:

Trades proposed by your team: Cancels a pending trade proposal you have made to another team. A dialog box will ask you to confirm the cancellation.

Trades proposed by other teams: Lets you accept or reject a trade proposed by another team. If you accept the trade, you will go directly to the Roster Assignments dialog box to make the necessary roster adjustments.

Trades accepted by the other team: Opens the Roster Assignments screen, where you can assign these players to your roster.

Free agent claims by the team: Cancels a pending claim you have on a free agent.

Free agent signings by the team: Finalizes a free agent claim that has been approved by the league and opens the Roster Assignments screen, where you can make the necessary roster adjustments.

Injuries

The lower half of the Team News screen shows the injury status of team members. If the Injuries report is longer than the display area, you can use the scroll bar on the right to move down the list. You can reassign injured players to the Disabled List by clicking in the Injuries list box to bring up the Roster Assignments dialog box, if the team is human-owned.

Clicking on an injured player brings up the Reassign Player dialog box.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the team's transactions and injuries. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


TEAM ROSTER

The Team Roster screen allows you to set up batting orders, defensive lineups, and your pitching staff, if the team is human-owned. To display this screen, select Roster from the Team menu. Information for the current team will be displayed. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

The Action Menu

Change columns: Brings up the Change Columns dialog box, which allows you to choose the statistics and/or ratings to be displayed in each column of the roster display.

Print: Prints the Team Roster. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

The Show Menu

Position Players: Shows you all of the position players on the the team, including those at AAA, on the disabled list, or in the low minors.

Pitchers: Shows you all of the pitchers on the team, including those at AAA, on the disabled list, or in the low minors.

Batting Order vs. LHP: Shows you the team's regular batting order for use against left-handed starting pitchers. This is one of the screens where you can set your starting lineup.

Batting Order vs. RHP: Shows you the team's regular batting order for use against right-handed starting pitchers. This is one of the screens where you can set your starting lineup.

Defense vs. LHP:  Shows you the team's regular starting lineup for use against left-handed starting pitchers. This is one of the screens where you can set your starting lineup.

Defense vs. RHP: Shows you the team's regular starting lineup for use against right-handed starting pitchers. This is one of the screens where you can set your starting lineup.

Pitching Staff Roles: Shows you the normal assignments for the pitching staff.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE:  Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.)  Not available for teams, or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.

The Roster Display

The roster display consists of ten columns of data, eight of which can be set by you. To change the data displayed in any column, select Change Columns from the Action menu. You may sort the data shown by any of the columns by clicking on the column heading. That heading is then shown in white letters.

The players who are assigned to a defensive position, a batting position, or a pitching role are highlighted. This makes it easy for you to determine who is already in the lineup.

See also Roster Displays and Setting Starting Lineups.


TEAM SCHEDULE

The Team Schedule screen shows the current team's schedule for the current season. Each date on the calendar shows the game scheduled for that day. The current date is indicated by a yellow highlight. Each date is color-coded to indicate a home game, away game, or open date. To display this screen, select Schedule from the Team menu. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

Unresolved games: You may click on the current date to start today's game. The scheduled starter for the game is indicated by the code SP:Sx, where 'x' is the slot in the starting rotation that is due up. You can click on the small icon in the bottom right corner of each date to toggle it to show either a joystick (Play mode) or a monitor (Simulate mode).  See "Play vs. Simulate."

Resolved games: Each date shows the score of that day's game. Box scores are available for the past week's games; this is indicated by the word 'Box' on the calendar. To see the box score, just click on the date.

The Action Menu

Print: Prints the team schedule. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)


TEAM STATISTICS

The Team Statistics screen can be used to compare players on the team and to compare team totals with those for opponents. To display this screen, select Statistics from the Team menu. Statistics for the current team are displayed. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

The statistics display consists of ten columns of data, eight of which can be modified. To change the data displayed in any column, choose Change Columns from the Action menu. You may sort the data shown by any of the columns by clicking on the column heading. That heading is then shown in white letters.

The Action menu

Change Columns: Brings up the Change Columns dialog box, which allows you to choose the statistics to be displayed in each column of the roster display.

Print: Prints the team statistics. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

The Show Menu

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE:  Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics.

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.

See also Roster and Statistics Screens.


TECHNICAL SUPPORT

U.S. Technical Support

If you need additional help installing or using your Sierra product, and you can't find the answer in this guide, try our Automated Technical Support Line at (206) 644-4343; it is available 24 hours a day and provides recorded answers to the most frequently asked questions. Follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic.

If you can't resolve the problem through the Automated Support Line, you can contact our Technical Support representatives directly. You may call, write, fax, or contact us on one of the online services that Sierra supports. (For sales information, back orders, returns, technical support in Europe, or other information, see Customer Service.)  If you choose to write or fax us, please provide detailed information on your computer system and the nature of your problem. In addition, please include your address and phone number should we need to call back or send you information.

Automated Technical Support Line

(425) 644-4343

Technical Support - United States

Sierra On-Line	Phone: (425) 644-4343
Technical Support	Fax:     (425) 644-7697
P.O. Box 85006	8:15 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. PST,
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506	Monday-Friday

Technical Support - United Kingdom

Sierra On-Line Limited                 	Phone: (0118) 920-9111

2 Beacontree Plaza	           	(Monday through Friday, 9:00AM-5:00PM)

Gillette Way 	           	Fax:     (0118) 987-5603

Reading, Berkshire

RG2 0BS  United Kingdom

Support Technique - France

Parc Tertiaire de Meudon             	Phone: 01-46-01-46-50

Immeuble "Le Newton" 	(7 jours sur 7 de 10h à 19h)

25 rue Jeanne Braconnier	Fax:   01-46-30-00-65

92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex

France

Technical Support - Germany

Sierra Coktel Deutschland	Phone: ( 0) - 6103 - 99 40 40

Robert-Bosch-Str. 32	(Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19h)

D-63303 Dreieich	Fax:       (0) - 6103 - 99 40 35

Germany	Mailbox (0) - 6103 - 99 40 41

Servicio Tecnico - Spain

Coktel Educative Multimedia 	Tel:  (01) 383-2623 (lunes a viernes de 9h30 a 14h y de 15h a 18h30)

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1°-OF2

28036 Madrid

Spain

Technical Support - Italy

Contact your local distributor or vendor

Modem Support

CompuServe USA: CompuServe United Kingdom:  CompuServe France : CompuServe Germany :	GO SIERRA GO UKSIERRA GO FRSIERRA GO DESIERRA
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Sierra offers technical support and patch files via its CompuServe forum, as well as product demos, hints, and reviews. Members of CompuServe can type GO SIERRA TO reach the forum. To join CompuServe, call toll-free (800) 848-8199 and ask for Representative 461 for your FREE introductory membership and usage credit.

Patch Disks

If you have learned of a patch (update) disk for your game, please send in your request to the address below. Let us know the game, version number (VER# on game disk(s)), and the disk type.

Sierra On-Line

Patch Disks

Dept. 10

P.O. Box 485

Coarsegold, CA 93614-0485

Troubleshooting: Answers to common questions.

Error Messages: Error messages you may encounter and what to do to correct them.

 Direct Sales / Information

U.S. Direct Sales

Sierra Direct	PHONE: (800) 757-7707
7100 W. Center Rd STE 301	FAX: 402-393-3224
Omaha NE 68106	Hours: 7AM to 11PM CST, Mon-Sat; 8AM to 9PM CST, Sundays

Direct Mail - United Kingdom

Sierra On-Line Limited                 	Phone: (0118) 920-9111

2 Beacontree Plaza	           	(Monday through Friday, 9:00AM-5:00PM)

Gillette Way 	           	Fax:     (0118) 987-5603

Reading, Berkshire

RG2 0BS  United Kingdom

Vente par correspondence - France

Parc Tertiaire de Meudon             Phone: 01-46-01-48-53 (lundi au vendredi de 9h à 18h)

Immeuble "Le Newton"                  Fax:    01-46-30-00-65

25 rue Jeanne Braconnier

92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex

France

Direktversand - Germany

Sierra Coktel Deutschland	Phone: (0) - 6103 - 99 40 40

Robert-Bosch-Str. 32	(Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19h)

D-63303 Dreieich	Fax:       (0) - 6103 - 99 40 35

Germany

On-Line Sales

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US Disk/Doco Replacement & Returns

Disk/Doco replacement:	Product Returns:

Sierra On-Line Fulfillment	Sierra On-Line Returns

PO Box 485	PO Box 485

Coarsegold CA     93614	Coarsegold CA      93614

NOTE: To replace your disk(s) please send only Disk #1 (or the CD) and copy of your dated

receipt, if less then 90 days.  After 90 days please include a $10 handling fee along with Disk / CD #1.  For

documentation,  please include a $ 5.00 handling fee  and a  photocopy ONLY of disk #1.  Payment should be

made at the time of your request.  Sorry, no credits cards.

International Support Services

International Sales

Sierra Direct	For direct orders:
7100 W. Center Rd  STE 301	Main: (425) 746-5771
Omaha NE 68106	Fax: 402-393-3224

United Kingdom

Sierra On-Line Limited	Customer Support: (0118) 920-9111
2 Beacontree Plaza	9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
Gillette Way	Monday-Friday
Reading, Berkshire	Fax: (0118) 987-5603
RG2 0BS United Kingdom	Modem: To Be Announced
(Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00, or £7.00 outside the UK.  Add "ATTN: Returns".)

France

Parc Tertiaire de Meudon	Phone: 01-46-01-46-50
Immeuble "Le Newton"	Fax:  01-46-30-00-65
25 rue Jeanne Braconnier
92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex
France
(Disk/CD replacements: Call for information.)

Germany

Sierra Coktel Deutschland         	 Phone: (0) - 6103 - 99 40 40 (Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19h)

Robert-Bosch-Str. 32                  Fax:       (0) - 6103 - 99 40 35

D-63303 Dreieich                        Mailbox (0) - 6103 - 99 40 41

Germany

(Disk/CD replacements: Call for information.)


TRADING PLAYERS

To explore possible player trades with another team, select Propose Trade on the Team menu. The roster for the current team is displayed. To change teams, select Select Team from the Team menu. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the team you want to display, then click OK.

You may use this display in two ways. You may put one of your players "on the auction block" to see what other teams offer in exchange, or you may ask another team for a specific player to see what they will demand in return.

Shopping a Player

To see other teams’ responses on a player you are willing to trade away, make sure your players are shown in the roster display by selecting Players to SEND in the Show menu. Click on the player that you are willing to part with, then click on the Send text box. The player’s name will appear in the box. Then select Get Response to SEND from the Action menu. The Computer General Managers (GMs) of all of the other teams in the Association will take a look at your player and, if they are interested, will offer a player in exchange. The names of all interested teams will appear in the Team list box. To see each offer, click on the team name, and the player will appear in the Receive box.

Note: You may send or receive up to three players in trade at a time. You may also make "uneven" trades, such as one for three or three for two, etc.

Finding the Right Player

To find the right player to fill your team’s needs, select Show menu > Players to display a list of available players and select Set Criteria from the Action menu. A dialog box will allow you to set your requirements. You may select players based on their current team, qualified positions, batting and pitching hands, minimum ratings, age, and current roster status (active, AAA, or Low Minors). The roster display will change to show the players who meet your criteria. If you see one you are interested in, click on his name, then click in the Receive text box. Select Get Response to RECEIVE, and the other team will name the player wanted in exchange in the Send box.

Submitting the Trade

Once you have found a deal you are happy with, make sure the proper players are in the Send and Receive boxes and select Submit Trade from the Action menu. Messages will appear in the Team News of each team. If the team you are proposing a trade to is a human-owned team, the GM will have one game day to respond to your offer. Computer teams will respond at the end of the game day. You may withdraw your offer at any time before the other team takes action on it by clicking on Team News. (See Team News.)

Two things to remember about proposing trades:

1.	If you are proposing a trade to a human-owned team that has Respond to Trade turned off on the Computer GM settings, the team might not accept a trade that the Computer GM approved during negotiations.

2.	You may submit any trade, even if the players involved were not the ones listed by the Computer GM as ones he wanted to trade. He is asking for the player he wants the most, but may accept another.

Trade Restrictions

Trades have some restrictions. Players on the Disabled List may not be traded. Also, after August 31 (in Associations with full-length schedules) you may trade with teams in the same league only. For example, if you owned a team in the National Baseball League, you could not trade with teams in the American Baseball League. Finally, no trades may be made during the playoffs.

Responding to Trade Proposals

If you receive a trade proposal from another team, a message will appear in your Team News. Click on that message to respond to the trade. If you accept the trade, you must assign the player to one of your rosters before you start your next game. (See Reassigning Players.)

When a Proposal is Accepted

If your trade proposal is accepted, a message will appear in your Team News. Click on that message to assign your new player to one of your rosters. (Players received from another team’s active or AAA rosters may not be placed on your Low Minors roster.) You must assign the player to one of your rosters before you can start your next game. (See Reassigning Players.)

The Show Menu

Players to Send: Changes the roster display to show the players on your team.

Players to Receive: Changes the roster display to show the players on another team. Only players who meet the criteria on the Set Criteria dialog box will be shown. The players shown will be from the team highlighted in the team box on the Trade display.

Historical Data: Shows the historical statistics for the players shown. NOTE:  Historical data is not kept for teams. This selection shows the totals of the historical statistics for the players on each team.

Accumulated Week: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball for the past seven game days.

Accumulated Season: Shows the statistics generated in FPS: Baseball during the current season.

Accumulated Career: Shows the statistics generated for each player during his FPS: Baseball career. (Historical statistics are not included.) Not available for teams, or if the current Association is of the Single-Season type.

Batting/Fielding Stats: Shows batting and fielding statistics

Pitching Stats: Shows pitching statistics.


TRAINING ALLOCATIONS

One of the cool features of FPS: Baseball is that you can actually help players improve over the course of their career. This is done by allocating Spring Training time to different ratings. A team must be human-owned in order to change training allocations.

At the end of a season, players will undergo aging. Aging will tend to raise or lower a player's ratings, depending on the rating and the player's age. During Spring Training, the player must apply a certain amount of time to his ratings in order to maintain their current level (after aging effects). If the player puts the minimum required amount of time into their ratings, they will likely see no change to the ratings, they will simply be maintained. If the player puts additional time into a rating, may see an increase in that rating. If a player puts less than the minimum amount of time into a rating, he will see a significant decrease in that rating.

Spring Training Allocations are available throughout the season. This allows you to make changes to the player's upcoming Spring Training time whenever you notice a shortcoming during the current season. The player doesn't train at that time (he must wait until the next spring); this is more of a "note pad" feature, allowing you to make notes during the season about how you will want the player to train next spring.

IMPORTANT! If any players do not have 100% allocated when you select Start Spring Training from the Association menu, you will be asked if you want to have the computer fill in the remaining time. If you do not allocate 100% of the player's time, FPS: Baseball will allocate all 100% of the player's time; for example, if you allocate 20% of a pitcher's time to a Curve ball (CB), and allocate nothing else, the pitcher probably will not end up with 20% allocated to CB after FPS: Baseball has allocated the time.

You can allocate training time for each player in increments of 5%, dividing it among the various skills. You cannot exceed a total of 100%. The minimum amount of time that a player will need is based on the rating. CH, PH, and SP all require a 20% allocation to maintain their current levels. CO and non-pitcher FA ratings require 15%. AS, EN, HR, pitcher-FA, and all pitch ratings require a minimum of 10% training time to maintain their level.

Players in the LOW minors will benefit from additional training and will get a slight edge in ratings development.

Selecting a Player

There are two methods for selecting the player to display:

1. Click on the Previous or Next buttons at the bottom of the screen.

2. Select Choose Player from the Action menu. The Choose Player dialog box will show all players and the percentage of training time allocated. Highlight a player’s name and click OK to display that player in the Spring Training screen.

About the Display

The player’s current rating for each skill is shown. Click the arrows beside the displayed allocation percentage to increase or decrease the amount of time the player will spend improving that particular skill. Players may have a fielding rating for all nine defensive positions. Those positions for which they are qualified are indicated by the check boxes next to each position. Training time can be allocated for each individual fielding position, with the exception of the three outfield positions, which use the same training allocation.

The Action Menu

Choose player: Brings up a dialog box that allows you to choose another player for whom to allocate training time.

Print:  Prints the spring training allocations. (Note: There is a check box option under Preferences in the Main menu where any data that you print on any screen will be added to the end of a file called PRINT.OUT. Otherwise, the data will be sent to your printer.)

Starting Spring Training

When you are satisfied with your team's training allocations, select Start Spring Training from the Association menu. If any teams have incomplete allocations, a dialog box will list those teams and ask whether you want to have the computer finish assigning training times or postpone Spring Training.


TROUBLESHOOTING

See also Error Messages.

Problem: I've got my Top View, Scoreboard, Info, or Games Updates window turned on, but I can't see it.

Possible Solution: To correct this problem, go to the "Display Windows" tab on the Game Options dialog box and click the "Reset Positions" button.

Problem: When first playing a game in the stadium, the animations are jerky or sluggish, but as the game goes on the sluggishness goes away.

Possible Solution: The sluggishness is a result of loading the animations into memory when they are first needed, in order to save time when starting a game. If you have sufficient memory available on your system, you may preload the animations by editing the BBPRO.INI file; in the [Graphics] section, set (or add) the entry that says PreloadAnims=  to PreloadAnims=1. Note this will cause FPS: Baseball to take longer when starting a game (since it is preloading all the animations), but once the game starts, animations should play more smoothly.

Problem: I've deleted or modified the Associations that came with FPS: Baseball. How do I get the originals back without reinstalling the game?

Possible Solution: The default Associations are on the FPS: Baseball CD in an archived format. Use the BBArchive utility and select your CD drive. The default Associations will be displayed and you can restore 1 or more of them. For more information, see Backing Up Your Association.

Problem: The accelerator or shortcut keys shown on the menu (Ctrl+D, for example) don't work or do the wrong thing.

Possible Solution: You may have the keys assigned in Windows to do something else. Check your Windows documentation for more information.

Problem: My cursor is behaving erratically.

Possible Solution: We have found that animated and 3D cursors exhibit some erratic behavior when used with FPS: Baseball.  To avoid these problems, simply double-click the MOUSE icon under Control Panel, select Pointers, and choose the Windows Standard scheme.

Problem: AutoPlay is not working with FPS: Baseball.

Possible Solution: Many Windows 95 users have the popular Powertoys accessories installed as part of their default Startup options.  We have found the Powertoys utility, FLEXICD, to have some potential to cause minor difficulties with FPS: Baseball. The problem usually occurs when you place the FPS: Baseball CD into the drive. We suggest you disable this utility before playing.  To close Flexicd, right click on the CD icon on the taskbar and select EXIT FLEXICD.

Problem: The sounds stop playing or play improperly when I switch from FPS: Baseball to another application and back.

Possible Solution: For sounds to play properly in FPS: Baseball, the game's window must be the active window. If the FPS: Baseball window is not the active window, all music and sounds should stop. When FPS: Baseball is made active again, sounds and music will resume. If they do not, it may be necessary to leave the stadium and return to it to resume the game.

Problem: I'm having memory problems...

Possible Solution: Windows 95: Check your Virtual memory settings on your system.  Click on the START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL.  Click on SYSTEM, PERFORMANCE, VIRTUAL MEMORY, and make sure the system is set up for "Let Windows manage my Virtual Memory Settings".  If you still experience memory problems you may need to free up some hard drive space to enable Windows to use it for virtual memory.  Note: If you have less than 8Mb of free space on your HD, virtual memory behavior can become erratic.


TUTORIAL OVERVIEW

The tutorials are designed to introduce you to  FPS: Baseball's basic features.

The "In the Stadium" tutorial shows you the basics of playing the game, including the fundamentals of batting, fielding, and pitching.

The "Front Office" tutorial prepares you to create your own baseball association and begin league play.

If you have not already done so, launch FPS: Baseball, by going to the Windows 95 Start menu and selecting Programs > Sierra > FPS Baseball Pro.


UNIFORM COLORS

To modify a team's uniform colors, click on the Uniform Colors button on the Team Data screen. Here, you may customize the color that will be used for jerseys, caps, sleeves, trim and pants on your team’s uniform. You may also customize the uniform colors for home and road trips, as well as special dates. Additionally, you may select what those special dates are.

The default colors for Associations provided with FPS: Baseball are close approximations of each team's actual home, away, and special uniforms. The image below is meant to show the placement of controls only.

The screen will show a player as an example of the colors you are selecting. Adjust the R (red), G (green), and B (blue) slider bars left and right to alter the combination of basic colors and change the hue. When you are finished, click on OK to return to the Team Data screen.


UNINSTALLING FPS: BASEBALL

If you need to remove FPS: Baseball from your hard drive, follow these steps:

IMPORTANT! Use the BBArchive utility to back up any Associations you want to keep. When you back up the Associations, make sure you place them in a directory other than where FPS: Baseball was installed (when FPS: Baseball is uninstalled, everything in the BBPRO_98 directory will be deleted).

ALSO: If you have installed FPS: Baseball in more than one directory (for example, in a \SIERRA\BBPRO_98 directory and in a \GAMES\SIERRA\BBPRO_98 directory), UNINSTALL will remove the first one you installed. If you have any doubts as to which was installed first, do not use UNINSTALL; instead, delete the files and directories manually.

1. From the Windows 95 Start menu, select Programs > Sierra > Setup & Uninstall.

This will run the Sierra Setup program.

2. Click on the Uninstall button on Setup's Main Menu. A dialog box displaying all of your Sierra products will appear.

3. Select Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro '98 Season from the list and click OK. Setup will remove the entire BBPRO_98 directory and all of the files in it. Setup will also remove items from the registry pertaining to FPS: Baseball.

What Is Not Removed

Setup does not attempt to remove any system software that was installed as a part of FPS: Baseball. For example, when you installed FPS: Baseball, Microsoft DirectX may have been installed.


UNRESOLVED TRANSACTIONS

When you attempt to start a game, you may get a dialog box which says "There are still teams with unresolved trades or free agent signings." You have the option to "Reject trades and release free agents" or "Cancel".


UPDATING ASSOCIATIONS

There is no need for you to update FPS: Baseball '96 associations for use with FPS: Baseball. However, if you still have FPS: Baseball '94 associations, you will need to update them.  BBBUPDATE is a FPS: Baseball utility program. It allows you to search your drive(s) for FPS: Baseball '94 associations, copy them to the Baseball '98 directory, and convert them to a format compatible with FPS: Baseball.

Starting the Program

To start the program, go to Start > Sierra > FPS BBUpdate Utility.

Program Operation

1. When the program starts, it automatically detects all drives on your system and adds them to the "drive" box at the top of the BBUPDATE screen.

2. Then BBUPDATE does an automatic search of all directories on the first drive listed. If it finds a FPS: Baseball '96 Association, it adds it to the upper list box ("Baseball '96 associations found on this drive").

3. Next, you may do any of the following:

Exit: This simply exits the program without any copying or converting.

Add: This copies the selected association from the "found" list box to the lower "chosen" list box ("Associations to be copied and converted").

Remove: This removes the selected association from the "chosen" list box.

Copy and Convert: This ends the selection process and begins the copying and converting. The wait cursor is displayed, and the status of the operation is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. When copying/converting is complete, the program terminates. During the copying/converting process, a log file named BBUPDATE.LOG is produced in the same directory where BBUPDATE.EXE is located. This file will show you what associations were copied and converted. If you run BBUpdate again, the results will be appended to this file.

The Space available... and Space required... text boxes show you the required storage information.

Note: BBUpdate can not read associations that are read-only. Consequently, you will not be able to update associations from a CD. You can copy the Association to your hard drive yourself, then run BBUpdate to convert it.


USING THE FPS: BASEBALL WEBSITE

If you click the Web Site button on the FPS: Baseball startup screen,  you will be connected via Windows 95 dialup networking to Sierra On-Line's Baseball Pro `98 home page (http://www.sierra.com/entertainment/bball98). This function will only work if you have dialup networking properly configured to connect to your Internet Service Provider.

The FPS: Baseball web site is an invaluable resource, offering tips, support notes, and software updates. You can also go to Sierra On-Line’s home page at http://www.sierra.com.


UTILITIES OVERVIEW

FPS: Baseball includes four utilities to help you manage your associations:

BBUPDATE allows you to convert FPS: Baseball '94 associations to current associations.

BBARCHIVE helps you manage and archive multiple associations.

DATAIN allows you to enter player data and statistics to use when creating a new associations.

REMOTE MANAGER lets you participate in remote leagues with other FPS: Baseball users.


VIEWING ON-FIELD ACTION

FPS: Baseball offers the unique Camera Angle Management System (CAMS) which allows you to change a camera's location, angle, and direction at any time, even while the play is running.

If you change a camera position during a play, the play will pause while you make the changes. When you resume the play, the new camera settings will be used. This gives you a level of camera control that even sportscasters can only dream about. You can personalize the camera coverage of the game to suit your tastes and viewing preferences.

Along with the multi-featured CAMS, you can record any play, utilize the CAMS features during the taping of a play, keep a library of tapes, and use the VCR control window for instant replays.


VISITING THE MOUND

A visit to the mound may give a struggling pitcher a chance to compose himself and help keep him in the game longer. It can also be used as a stalling tactic to gain time for a relief pitcher who is not adequately warmed up.

While on the mound, you get a full report of the game situation and relevant factors that will affect your managerial decision. To display the Visit Mound dialog box, select Visit Mound from the Defense Manage menu.

The Visit Mound screen will display the current pitcher, his physical condition (OK, Tired, or Exhausted), and all the accumulated statistics for the game in progress. It also indicates the condition (Cold, Half, or OK) of any pitchers warming up in the bullpen.

The Visit Mound screen also shows you the results of each pitch thrown. This pitch history uses the following codes to indicate what happened on each pitch:

B	Ball

CS	Called Strike

SS	Swinging Strike

F	Foul Ball

P	In Play

You will also see information about the next three batters coming to the plate, including batting statistics for the current game and their Contact and Power Hitting ratings.

Important: Once you leave the mound, you may not revisit the mound again until you either change pitchers or start a new inning.

After reviewing the information and considering the game situation, you may either click the Bullpen button if you want to change pitchers or start warming up a reliever, or click Return to leave the mound and resume the game.


WELCOME TO FPS: BASEBALL

Baseball is a different game to different people. For some fans, the fascination lies in the stately ritual of a single game. For others, it is the burning tension that builds during the dramatic final days of a close pennant race or Series. Still others see baseball as more of a religion--ongoing proof that seasons of dedication, teamwork, and vision can eventually raise any player from the bush leagues to the front page, any team from cellar-dwellers to champions.

The "National Pastime" has its unique appeal to each fan. That is why we have designed Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro ’98 Season (FPS: Baseball) with the widest, most flexible array of play options and features in any baseball simulation. It is designed to emphasize the relationship you have with professional baseball.

Whether you prefer the arcade action of an exhibition game, or the strategic challenge of building and maintaining a baseball dynasty, FPS: Baseball is as close as you can get to the major league dugout without putting on cleats. In fact, it is better--rather than a pre-structured playing environment, FPS: Baseball is, in effect, a baseball fan’s fantasy construction set that lets you play any role--or all.

The range of playing options is unprecedented. Opt for swing-by-swing control of on-field action. Build a dynasty with the draft, trade, and training strategies you select in Career Associations. Input historical teams and replay classic pennant races, build your own league from scratch, or create any combination you want.

This "do it yourself" approach extends to the VCR and replay options. Our Camera Angle Management System (CAMS) lets you select exactly how you want to view the action, choosing from five camera modes. You can even record and edit your own highlight films and trade them with your friends.

FPS: Baseball provides a diverse and powerful set of tools for constructing your own dream teams. From the optimism of spring training to the intense drama of the championship series, welcome to the world of professional baseball!

See "What's New for '98" for a complete list of things we've added or changed since the '96 version.

--The Front Page Sports Team

Click here for a quick game overview.


WHAT'S NEW FOR '98

FPS: Baseball Pro '98 inherits the core set of features that made Baseball '96 so popular. But go ahead and run Baseball '98 and you will immediately begin to see the major enhancements that take FPS: Baseball '98 to a new level of ease-of-use, accuracy, and fun!.

The first change you will notice is the newly designed startup screen.  For those of you who just want to jump in and swing the bat, this feature provides you with quick access to batting practice, exhibition games, or arcade play without having to deal with leagues, schedules, or statistics.

Batting practice has been enhanced, as well.  Instead of being limited to practice with only a single team, you may now choose to face off any batter and pitcher from the 1997 MLBPA season in any of the 28 big league ball parks.

Another enhancement is the addition of adjustable difficulty levels in the arcade game.  You can quickly choose an "Easy" or "Normal" setting for batting, fielding, and/or base running, in any combination, or if you want, you can set your own custom difficulty levels by changing such things as the effective size of the bat for hitting or the size of the glove for fielding.

We've also added several playing aids to make it easier to control the various arcade aspects of the game.  The SmartMove and SmartThrow features can be combined with the IntelliPoint player cursor to make fielding the ball easier for the casual arcade gamer.  The ability to control only a single fielder during a play provides simpler access to the arcade game.

Graphically, the game has been enhanced by the addition of the player's uniform numbers on the backs of their jerseys in the arcade game.  Additionally, the Front Office portion of the game has seen a face lift with the addition of background photos on the desktop.

The Remote League concept has been expanded considerably from the difficult, process-intensive system found in FPS: Baseball '96, to the new Remote Manager utility.  Remote Manager completely automates the task of running and playing in remote leagues over the Internet.  It can even create expanded reports with embedded HTML codes for automatic updating of team and league Web pages.

Simulation gamers will appreciate the new "fastsim" module, which sacrifices game highlights in favor of completing seasons in about one third the time required by the "normal" simulation engine. Best of all, the new fastsim doesn't come at the expense of consistency and accuracy, as it is a derivative of the original simulation module, rather than being a completely new design.

Of course the 1997 MLBPA association is included with the game, as well as an association reflecting team rosters as of the end of the 1996 MLBPA season.  Additionally, the 1997 MLBPA Opening Day association features the 1997 schedule, complete with interleague games.

The most important new feature cannot be seen without playing the game and looking at the statistics.  The heart of the game, the batting and pitching model, has been completely redesigned to more accurately simulate the batting and pitching tendencies of the MLBPA players. Pitchers need to be able to establish their ability to throw strikes with each of their pitches and need to change speeds and locations to be successful.  A mediocre fastball or hanging breaking ball in the middle of the strike zone will get punished accordingly.  Batters will tend to wait for a good pitch that they can drive, until they fall behind in the count and then will work to protect the plate.  Computer controlled batters will even check their swing, or at least attempt to, if they identify a pitch as being unhittable.

We've spent the majority of our efforts working to improve the accuracy of the simulation model, from both raw statistical results and "on the field" points of view. When it comes to "accuracy," FPS:Baseball Pro '98 is unique in that it provides both accurate statistical results and uses the same physics and type of pitch-by-pitch thought processes that the real MLBPA players use.

In addition to the improved batting and pitching system, the entire on-field artificial intelligence system has been modified.  Fielder and baserunner logic has been enhanced to allow players to more accurately gauge their abilities on the field and basepaths, resulting in better fielding and base running by the computer-controlled players.

Field Manager AI in the Stadium and General Manager AI in the Front Office have been improved, as well.  Each manager should perform a more capable job of controlling the team on the field and of providing the team with the right talent to win, or to rebuild for the future as circumstances require.

Along with this advanced strategical intelligence, is the addition of altitude to the game's physics model.  As can be seen from the barrage of runs coming out of Denver the last few seasons, altitude can have a huge effect.  In fact, the same physics that would send a ball 400 feet to dead center in New York would send it sailing 40 feet further in Denver!

Even better than having improvements to the game's AI is the ability to change it yourself, and that's just what you get with BB98!  Over 800 different aspects of the game's AI and physics model have been included in the [Playbalance] section of the BBPRO.INI file in the BBPRO_98 directory. These entries allow you to adjust various aspects affecting the game's results, giving you the ultimate baseball "construction set."  For more details, check the BBPROINI.TXT file in the BBPRO_98 directory.

We can't detail every improvement or change from the previous version, so just jump in and check it out.


WINDOW POSITIONING

You can position the Top View, Scoreboard, Info, and Game Update windows on the screen wherever you want, by clicking on the title bar and dragging the window to where you want it to be. You can have the windows display in 2D, 3D, 2D & 3D, or not at all by choosing the appropriate command from the cascading menus on the Pop-up menu.

It is possible to position your windows off the screen. For example, if you set the Top View window to be in the upper-right corner of your screen in 1280x1024 mode of Windows, then close the game, then change your Windows resolution to 640x480, and restart FPS: Baseball. The Top View window will not be visible. To correct this problem, exit FPS: Baseball. Delete the BBPRO.INI file that is in the directory where FPS: Baseball was installed (SIERRA\BBPRO_98). Now when you restart FPS: Baseball, it will set the window positions back to the default for your new Windows screen resolution.