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┌────────────────────────────────┐ │ LineDrive Fantasy Baseball │ │ Release 6 │ └────────────────────────────────┘ Introduction to LineDrive...........................Page 1 Minimum System Requirements.........................Page 2 Editing Keys........................................Page 3 Installation........................................Page 4 League Types...................................Page 4 Choosing Statistics............................Page 5 Update Types...................................Page 6 Personalizing LineDrive........................Page 6 Weekly Prize Fund..............................Page 7 Entering Team & Owner Names....................Page 8 Running LineDrive...................................Page 9 Program Layout.................................Page 10 League Update..................................Page 11 Player Edit....................................Page 12 Manager's Options Select Team.....................................Page 12 View Starting Lineup............................Page 12 View Entire Roster..............................Page 12 Individual Player Options.......................Page 13 View Statistics............................Page 13 Change Position............................Page 13 Extend Contract............................Page 13 Release Player.............................Page 14 Change Real Life Team......................Page 14 Commissioners Options Calculate League Standings......................Page 15 Print Newsletter................................Page 15 Print All Teams' Active Stats...................Page 16 Player Draft (or Auction).......................Page 16 View League Records.............................Page 18 Prize Fund Options..............................Page 18 Close Out Season................................Page 19 Exit Options Registering LineDrive...........................Page 20 Exiting to DOS..................................Page 20 The General Manager's Disk..........................Page 21 Player Trades...................................Page 21 Signing Free Agents.............................Page 22 Error Messages......................................Page 24 Ever noticed that there are three things the average man figures that he can do better than anyone else? Generally those three things are barbecue a steak, run the company he works for, and manage a baseball team. The last is the reason for Fantasy Baseball. Fantasy baseball is the game that has swept the national pastime over the last several years. Fantasy Baseball allows a student or college professor, a Chairman of the Board or a steel mill worker not only to manage a professional baseball team, but to "own" it. With your own team made up of real-life major league stars you become owner, general manager, manager and chief talent scout. No longer do you have to agonize over the errors made by those mental midgets that are running your favorite team into the cellar. Now the day to day decisions are yours to make. Do you bench Canseco? Extend Fielder's contract? Trade Clark for Clemens? When you own the team it's all up to you. U.S.A. Today estimates the number of fantasy team owners to be about half a million (and growing!). The fantasy team owner is ridiculously easy to spot. He's the guy who can't get to work on time because the paper boy was late again and he ain't leavin' until he finds out how Stewart pitched last night. He is the guy sitting in the rear of the divorce court watching ESPN's Sportscenter on his portable TV while his wife is divorcing him for neglect. Now LineDrive Fantasy Baseball brings Fantasy Baseball to your computer. Gone are the hours of pouring over the sports section, armed with reams of paper, several pencils and a five pound box of erasers as you try to get a handle on your league's statistics. LineDrive will organize your league in a manner that will reduce the time spent entering statistical information to about an hour a week. LineDrive will conduct your player draft, keep track of team rosters, starting lineups, player contracts, league standings, fees & fines, and print out your league newsletter for you. The program allows rosters of up to 45 players per team and can be played for "big bucks" or "just for fun". If the program is set up as an Auction League (the "big bucks" version) it can re-define the office pool. Players no longer need to sit passively and watch the teams they drew in the pool but can build their own team, wheeling and dealing their way to weekly prizes as well as the season end pot. The basics of LineDrive are simple. Grab 2 to 15 friends to form a league. Decide on which of the 12 statistics you want to base your league standings on (see page 5) (you may use as many of the statistics as you like). Each team selects up to 45 real-life Major League players in a draft or auction. These players then become the "property" of the owner that drafted them and their real-life statistics become the basis for his Fantasy League standings. Each week the USA Today publishes the season total statistics for all players in the Major Leagues. These stats are entered into the program (either by hand or by using our AutoStat automatic update utility) and LineDrive determines the league standings based on each team's performance in each category. Points are awarded based on the number of teams in the league. For example, in an eight team league, first place in each category is worth 8 points, second place is worth 7 points, third is worth 6, etc. - 1 - While the basic of the game are simple it is loaded with nuances. Of the 45 players on a Fantasy Team's roster, only 23 are "active" at any time. A LineDrive roster consists of 9 pitchers, 2 catchers, 1 first baseman, 1 second baseman, 1 third baseman, 1 shortstop, 1 corner (can be either a first or third baseman), 1 middle infielder (shortstop or second baseman), 1 utility man, 5 outfielders, 7 reserve players and a 15 man farm team. Players who are not occupying an "active" position do not count toward league standings. Thus the trick a successful season is building your team and then determining which players are "hot" and activating them at just the right moment. While luck will allow the casual owner to pick off an occasional weekly pot, the big winnings will invariably go to the owner who is a student of the game. ************************ IMPORTANT NOTICE ************************ LineDrive requires the following minumum require- ments: 1 MEG OF FREE DISK SPACE. This can be free space on a hard disk, one 1.44 meg 3.5 inch disk drive, or one 1.2 meg 5.25 disk drive. (We have retained an older version of LineDrive that allows a league of up to 8 teams may be played on a two 360 kb floppy disks. If you would like a copy of this version of the program specify LineDrive 7.0 when registering.) YOU MUST HAVE THE STATEMENTS FILES = 15 BUFFERS = 25 IN YOUR CONFIG.SYS FILE ON YOUR BOOT DISK. These are minumum requirements. If the number of Files and Buffers specified in your config.sys exceeds these numbers that's fine. If you don't have enough files and buffers specified it is a simple procedure to add the above statements to your CONFIG.SYS file. Simply load your current CONFIG.SYS file (found in the root directory of your hard disk or boot-up diskette) into your favorite word processor and add the above lines. MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THE FILE IN THE ASCII FORMAT (there will instructions on saving an ASCII file in your word processor). DOS 5 users can use the EDIT program that came with DOS 5. EDIT automatically saves in the ASCII format. -2- ****************** KEY CONVENTIONS ****************** In these instructions for LineDrive and within the programs themselves the following conventions are used: < > indicates a required key to be pressed on your keyboard. For example <ESC> indicates that the escape key is to be pressed. The ^ symbol links a sequence of keys to be pressed. For example <CTRL>^<Q>^<Y> would indicate pressing the control key and holding it down while pressing <Q> and then <Y>. <F1> indicates the F1 Function Key. <F1> is used to bring up a context sensitive help screen anywhere in the program. {PG.xx} indicates a cross-reference to another section of this documentation. This symbol is also used in the help screens to direct you to the appropriate pages of these instructions should you need more help than is contained in the help screen. ******************* EDITING KEYS ******************* Throughout LineDrive, whenever you are required to enter or edit text (such as player names, salaries or statistics) you can use the following WordStar style editing commands: <RIGHT ARROW> moves one letter or space to the right <LEFT ARROW> moves one letter or space to the left <INSERT> toggles the insert / overstrike mode <ENTER> accepts the data and moves to the next field <CTRL>^Q^Y (pressing <Q> and then <Y> while holding down the control key) deletes text from the cursor to the end of the line <CTRL>^<Y> deletes all text on this line <CTRL>^<RIGHT ARROW> moves to next word <F1> on-line context-sensitive help -3- ********************* INSTALLING LineDrive ********************* LineDrive can be customized in many different ways so that it may best suit your league's needs. In order to tell LineDrive which options you want you must run the SETUP program. This creates the file LD.CFG, which in turn tells LineDrive which options to use. DO NOT RUN SETUP FROM THE ORIGINAL DISKS. IN ORDER TO FREE UP DISK SPACE SETUP WILL DELETE ITSELF AFTER RUNNING !!!! SETUP is a one time procedure that only takes a few minutes. Once LineDrive is installed it will run for as many seasons as your league is in existence without needing to be installed again. Before you run SETUP you should know the answers to the following questions: How many teams will be in your league? What are the names of the owners and what will each owner call his team? Will this be a DRAFT or AUCTION league {pg.4}? If this is an Auction League, what fees will the league charge for player trades, free agent signings and roster moves {pg.6}? HARD DRIVE USERS - before running the SETUP program create a directory on the hard disk to hold the program files. Make sure that you are starting from the root directory of the drive by typing the command "CD \". Then create a subdirectory by typing the command "MD LD" . Log to the directory you just created by typing the command "CD LD". Place the LineDrive distribution diskette in the A: drive and copy the files from the distribution diskette by typing "COPY A:*.*". Type "SETUP" to begin the installation process. FLOPPY DISK USERS - before begining installation make a copy of the distribution disk by placing your DOS diskette in the A: drive. Type the command "DISKCOPY A: A:" and then follow the prompts. Your original distribution diskette will be the SOURCE DISK, the backup will be the TARGET DISK. When finished place the backup disk in your A: drive and begin the installation process by typing "SETUP". *************** LEAGUE TYPES *************** The first option in SETUP you will have is the type of league that you want to run. You have the option of a DRAFT LEAGUE or an AUCTION LEAGUE. An AUCTION LEAGUE is one where players are selected in a player auction {pg.16}. The price paid at the auction for each player becomes his "salary" for the length of his contract. In an auction league, the league charges a fee to teams making player trades and signing free agents. These fees go into the league's prize fund and are distributed as prize money. LineDrive can be set up to pay all the prize money at season end or to pay a percentage each week to the weekly winners {pg.7} and the remainder at the end of the season. Players in a draft league are chosen in a round-by-round player draft. In the league's initial season drafting order is random. In ensuing seasons drafting order is the reverse order of finish. A draft league can be played just for fun or for cash prizes with each team being charged an annual franchise fee and fees for player trades and free agent signings to make up the prize fund. ************************ CHOOSING STATISTICS ************************* LineDrive will allow you to choose the statistics that you wish to base your standings on. In each category you choose points will be awarded according to the number of teams in the league. In other words, in an 8 team league, first place in each category is worth 8 points, second place is worth 7 points, etc. You may choose any or all of the following 12 statistics: * Batting Average * Runs Batted In (RBI's) * Homeruns * Stolen Bases Runs Scored Slugging Percentage * Pitchers' Wins * Pitchers' Saves * Pitchers' Ratio (hits plus walks divided by innings) * Pitchers' Earned Run Average (ERA) Pitchers' Winning Percentage Pitchers' Strikeouts (optionally strikeouts per 9 innings) Statistics preceeded by (*) are considered standard fantasy league statistics. -5- *************************** CHOOSING THE UPDATE TYPE **************************** The next step is to choose the manner in which to update your player's stats. You may choose either the BOX SCORE update or the USA TODAY update. We heavily recommend using the USA TODAY update. Each Tuesday the USA TODAY publishes the season total statistics for the American League. On Wedesday the National League's stats are published. LineDrive's statistical input was written with the USA TODAY's format in mind to make the data entry easier. However, you may use any paper that publishes the SEASON TOTAL statistics with the USA TODAY update type. If you do not have access to the USA TODAY (or a paper that publishes season total stats), or wish to update your league DAILY, choose the BOX SCORE update. With this type of update you enter the stats for the previous game only and LineDrive totals the stats for you. Daily updating makes player transactions a bit easier but entails much more work for the commissioner. Regardless of update type, LineDrive reduces data entry to about an hour per update for an 8 team league. ************************ PERSONALIZING LineDrive ************************ The next screen in set up allows you to enter much of the data that personalizes LineDrive to your specifications. This is especially true of Auction Leagues because here is where you set up your league's fee and fine schedule. When editing any of these fields, use the EDITING KEYS shown on page 3. If you just want to accept the default answer to any field just press <ENTER> to move on. If you decide you need more information before continuing press <ESC> to exit the program. 1- LEAGUE NAME: can be up to 30 characters 2- COMMISSIONER'S NAME: enter the name of the person who handles your league's update, prize fund, etc.. The name can be up to 30 characters. 3- NUMBER OF TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE: LineDrive will handle from 2 to 15 teams. 4- THE DISK DRIVE / DIRECTORY FOR TEAM DATA: the default is the current drive/directory. You may choose another drive or directory as long as it already exists. 5- LENGTH OF STANDARD PLAYER CONTRACT: how long will each player be "owned" by the team that drafts him? Default is 3 years. At any time before the player reaches the final year of his contract he may be re-signed (at a substantial pay raise) {pg.13}. A player's contract expires at the END of the final season of the contract. EXAMPLE: a player whose contract expires in 1991 will be under contract until you choose the CLOSE OUT SEASON option {pg.19} at the end of the 1992 season. He will then be eligible to be drafted by any team in the 1993 player draft. 6- AMOUNT OF ANNUAL SALARY INCREASE: how much per year does a player's salary increase when he is re-signed. Default is $5. Example: You currently own Andy Van Slyke whose contract is $18. If the salary increase is $5 and you extend his contract for 3 years, his -6- salary would become $33 per year (18+5+5+5). Fees for salary increases go into the prize fund. Additional information on re-signing is found on page 13. 7- PLAYER AUCTION SPENDING LIMIT: how much is each team allowed to spend during the player auction at the beginning of each season. Money spent at auction makes up the majority of the prize fund. The default is $300. 8- FEE FOR PLAYER TRADES: how much does the league charge for each player involved in a player trade? The default is $5. For example if the fee is left at $5 and team A deals 2 players to team B for 1 player the league's fee would be $15. You will then be able to designate how much of the total fee each team will pay. For further information on trades see {pg.21}. 9- FEE FOR FREE AGENT SIGNINGS: how much does the league charge a team to sign a free agent. A free agent is a player who is unowned by any other team AFTER the player draft. Fees for free agents signings are added to the prize fund. This fee is in addition to the player's salary. For further information on signing free agents see {pg.22}. 10-FEE FOR ROSTER MOVES: how much (if anything) does the league charge to move a player from reserve to an active position. The default is one dollar. **************************** WEEKLY PRIZE FUND (auction and draft for cash leagues only) **************************** LineDrive can be set up to pay weekly cash prizes as well as the normal season-end prizes. The weekly prizes are based on each team's performance during the previous game ONLY as opposed to their season to date. This gives teams that find themselves out of the running for the total season prizes an incentive to keep on competing right to the end of the season in hopes of capturing the weekly prizes. If you answer "YES" to a weekly prize fund a window will open asking you for the number of weeks in a normal season. (This would be about 26. To determine count the number of Tuesdays in the season on a calendar). You are then asked for the amount of prize money to pay the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams. The total weekly prizes (1st+2nd+3rd) times number of weeks MUST be less than the Auction Salary Limit times the number of teams. EXAMPLE: Our 7 team league has a $300 auction day spending limit. This gives us a $2100 start to the season (or slighlty less depending on actual spending on auction day). We pay $20 for each weekly winner, $10 for 2nd, $5 for 3rd over a 26 week season. This means every week we pay out $35 and over a 26 week period this amounts to $910. This leaves us about $1190 to divide at season end among the top 4 teams (player transactions add to this amount.) You need not worry about doing all this calculation. LineDrive will do it for you. Just enter the numbers you want for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each week and the program will show you what the proposed payoff -7- would do to your season end prizes. If you want to adjust the payoffs just answer "NO" when asked "IS DATA CORRECT?" and you will be allowed to re-enter any or all of the data in this section. ************************** ENTER TEAM & OWNER NAMES *************************** The final step in installing LineDrive is to enter each of the team owner names and the names of the teams. You may use the up and down arrow keys or <ENTER> to go from field to field. Use the editing keys {pg.3} to edit text. After you have finished each team and owner, you will be asked if the data is correct. Use the <LEFT ARROW> & <RIGHT ARROW> keys to highlight your choice. Press <ENTER> to select. -8- ****************** RUNNING LineDrive ****************** LineDrive is a simple program to run. The program is based on a series of menus and most of the time you just select the item you want from the appropriate menu. You will sometimes need to enter player's names or data from the newspaper. Any time you enter data you may use the editing keys {pg.3} to edit your entry. LineDrive is basically a simple game. Each owner selects up to 45 players in a player draft or auction, depending on the league type. Before each game of the season each owner gives the league commissioner a list of the players that will be the starters on his team for the week. When the statistics come out in the paper the commissioner enters them into the program and LineDrive will then calculate the league standings. League standings are based on the categories that you select during the installation procedure {pg.5}. In each category points are awarded based on the number of teams in the league. For example in a 15 team league you would get 15 points for first place, 14 points for second, 13 for third, etc.. The league's standings are based on the total points from all categories. The purpose of the games is to determine who can build and maintain the best team overall by making use of the player draft, making key trades, and signing free agents. The owner must not only build the best team possible but know when to use his players. -9- ****************** PROGRAM LAYOUT ****************** LineDrive's menus are laid out as follows. We will follow the menu outline as we explain each option and any of the rules that apply to that option. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Update Manager's Commissioner's Exit │ │ Statistics Options Options to Dos │ └──────┬─────────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────┬───────┘ │ │ │ │ ┌──────┴──────────┐ │ ┌───────┴─────────────┐┌───┴───────────┐ │Manual Update │ │ │ Calculate Standings ││Register │ │Automatic Update │ │ │ Print Newsletter ││League Editor │ ┌─┤Edit Players │ │ │ Print Active Stats ││Auto Help Off │ │ └─────────────────┘ │ │ Player Search ││Exit To DOS │ ├─────────────────────┐ │ │ View League Records │└───────────────┘ │ Edit Name/Contract │ │ │ Hold Player Draft │ │ Edit Stats │ │ │ Prize Fund Options ─┼─┐ │ Return To Main Menu│ │ │ Close Out Season │ │ └─────────────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌────┴───────────────┐ ┌───────┴───────────────────┐ │ Funds Remaining │ │ Select Team │ │ Distribution │ │ View Starting Lineup │ │ Accounts Receivable│ │ View Entire Roster │ └────────────────────┘ │ Individual Player Options├───┐ ┌────┤ Print Out Roster │ │ │ │ Access Player Data Base │ ┌─┴───────────────────────┐ │ └───────────────────────────┘ │ View Statistics │ ┌──────────┴─────────────┐ │ Change Position │ │Print Active Stats │ │ Extend Contract │ │Print Last Week's Stats │ │ Release Player │ │Print Contract Status │ │ Change Major League Team│ │Print MLB Stats │ └─────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘ To access any of the options on the main menu use the <LEFT ARROW> and <RIGHT ARROW> keys to open the windows. Use the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW> to move the highlight within the window. Press <ENTER> to select. -10- LEAGUE UPDATE (SEE AUTOSTAT.DOC ON THE DISTRIBUTION DISK FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON RUNNING THE AUTOMATIC UPDATE UTILITY. TO PRINT THIS FILE TO YOUR PRINTER TYPE THE COMMAND "TYPE AUTOSTAT.DOC > PRN". DO NOT TYPE THE QUOTATION MARKS.) LineDrive's unique method of updating stats will save you many hours of slaving over the paper. Instead of entering all of the stats for the players on team 1 and then all of the stats for the players on team 2, etc. LineDrive sorts all the players into groups based on their REAL LIFE teams. In other words you update all of the Baltimore Orioles, then all of the Boston Red Sox, then all of the California Angels, and so on through the San Francisco Giants. After you have finished each team you are given the option of continuing to the next team or returning to the main menu. In this way you can split the update into several sessions if time does not permit you to finish in one session. The next time you access LEAGUE UPDATE you will return to the team that you left off with. USA TODAY UPDATE: As each player in turn comes up you will be presented with a window containing the statistical category and his season total in that category to date. If a stat is unchanged from the previous update you may press <ENTER> to move to the next stat. You may move up and down the categories by using the UP & DOWN ARROW Keys. Enter the stats for ALL PLAYERs regardless whether they occupy an active position. LineDrive will subtract any stats acquired by inactive players and count only active stats toward league standings. BOX SCORE UPDATE: Enter the stats for the previous game only. LineDrive will total the season stats for you. Enter the stats for ALL PLAYERS regardless of position. The program will deduct stats of reserve or farm players from the active stats for you. ******************** IMPORTANT NOTICE ******************** Due NOT re-enter the LEAGUE UPDATE to make corrections to a player after the update has been finished. LineDrive calculates each players weekly stats as it writes the player to disk. If you go back into the League Update function to correct a player's stats you will corrupt your weekly stats. If you need to make corrections, use the PLAYER EDIT FUNCTION. -11- ************* PLAYER EDIT ************* To edit a player you must first tell the program which player you want to work with. When you select the edit function a window will open that will allow you to input a search string. You need not put the entire name in, LineDrive is capable of searching for the player based on any part of his name and the search is not case sensitive (you may use upper or lower case letters). For example the search string "WIL" would turn up "Willy Smith","John Wilson" and "Gary Williams" because each of these names contains the search string. The more precise your search string, the more narrow the search becomes. When the search turns up the correct player answer 'NO' to "CONTINUE SEARCH". Once LineDrive has located your player you will be presented with a sub-menu asking you if you want to edit Contract Status or Statistics. Choosing Contract Status will allow you to edit the player's name, salary amount, year his contract expires, etc. If you choose to edit stats you will then be presented with a window that looks like the LEAGUE UPDATE window except that there are 3 columns rather than one for each stat. These columns are labeled SEASON, BENCH and LAST WEEK. Season stats are the players total stats for the season just as they are listed in the newspaper. Bench stats are any stats accrued by this player while he was on the "bench" (reserve list) or prior to the time that he was owned by his current team. Last week's stats are the player's stats in the previous week only. Enter the stats in each column and category or press <ENTER> to accept the default statistics and leave it unchanged. ************** SELECT TEAM ************** Each of the options under MANAGER'S OPTIONS requires that you choose a team to work with. In other words before you can view a team's starting lineup you must first tell LineDrive WHICH team's lineup you want to view. When you select the option SELECT TEAM a window will open that shows every team and owner in your league. To select a team, use the UP & DOWN Arrow keys to move the highlight to the team you want to work with. Press <ENTER> to select. ********************** VIEW STARTING LINEUP ********************** This option allows you to view the players that are currently designated as starters on the selected team and shows the position that they occupy. This option is useful in determining who a team's starters are, what changes could be made to enhance performance and if all starting positions are full. Press any key to exit this option and return to the main menu. ******************** VIEW ENTIRE ROSTER ******************** Viewing the team's entire roster allows you to see players that are currently on the "bench" or reserve list. This allows you to see how many roster spots are left open in case an owner wants to make a trade or sign a free agent. Press any key to exit this option and return to the main menu. *************************** INDIVIDUAL PLAYER OPTIONS *************************** INDIVIDUAL PLAYER OPTIONS is the area of the program that allows you to view a player's statistics, change his position, extend his contract, release him as a free agent or change his major league team. When you choose this option a window opens up allowing you to choose the player on the selected team that you wish to work with or view. As soon as the player is chosen a sub-menu opens as follows: VIEW STATISTICS CHANGE POSITION EXTEND CONTRACT RELEASE THIS PLAYER CHANGE MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETURN TO MAIN MENU Use the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW> keys to select the option on the sub-menu and press <ENTER> to select. The options are as follows: VIEW STATISTICS opens a further sub-menu that allows you to choose whether to view the player's contract stats or his playing stats. Contract stats will show you the time remaining on his contract, salary amount (Auction Leagues), and how he was acquired by this team (draft, free agent signing, or trade). Playing statistics are shown as ACTIVE (the stats accrued while he was a starter and that count toward league standings, BENCH (the stats accrued while the player was inactive or before he was owned by this team, and LAST WEEK (the player's performance during the previous week). CHANGE POSITION allows you to move the player to another active position or to and from the "bench" (reserve). When you opt to change a player's position a window will open showing all the positions on the team and the player that currently occupies them. Use the UP, DOWN LEFT & RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight the position you want this player to occupy. Press <ENTER> to select. NOTE: selecting an occupied position will automatically move the player that previously occupied that position to RESERVE. Some leagues charge a fee when a player is moved from a reserve position to the starting lineup {pg.7}. EXTEND CONTRACT (auction leagues only) allows you to extend the amount of time that you own a player. An extension automatically gives the player a substantial raise. The raise is determined by the annual salary increase that you decided on during installation {pg.6} and the number of years that you wish to extend the contract (1-5). For example if you own a player whose current salary is $10, your annual -13- increase is $5, and you wish to extend his contract by 3 years, his new contract would pay him $25 per year (10+5+5+5). You may only extend a player's contract one time. At the end of the extension the player automatically becomes a free agent and may be drafted by any team during the ensuing player draft. A player who is under an extended contract has a GUARANTEED CONTRACT. If he is released before the contract has expired any money remaining over the length of the contract must be paid into the prize fund. You MAY NOT extend the contract of a player after the Player Auction during the final year of his contract. After the Auction the player begins playing out his option and will become a free agent at the beginning of the ensuing season. Contract extensions are not available to draft leagues because there are no salaries paid in a draft league and no reason why a team couldn't tie up it's major stars for their entire careers. RELEASE PLAYER releases this player as a free agent available to any other team in the league that wants him. If this player's contract has been extended it is considered a guaranteed contract and any money remaining on this contract must be paid to the prize fund before the player may be released. {see Extending Contracts above}. CHANGE REAL TEAM allows you to move the player to the appropriate real-life team in case he is traded or goes else- where as a free agent. This keeps him in the right order during the League Update function {pg.11}. **************************** PRINT ROSTER **************************** The final option under Manager's options is Print Roster. This option allows to make a list of the selected {pg.12} team's players. You are given the choice of printing the player's contract status, which lists the player's name, salary and the date that his contract expires, or his active stats. Active stats are those stats accrued while he held a position on this team's starting lineup. These are the stats that count toward this team's league standings. Any stats that this player compliled before he was a member of this team (including active stats on another team if he was acquired in a trade or as a free agent), or while he was on the bench (reserve) DO NOT count toward this team's league standings and are NOT active stats. -14- ***************************** THE COMMISSIONER'S OPTIONS ***************************** ********************* CALCULATE STANDINGS ********************* At any time AFTER you have finished the LEAGUE UPDATE you may CALCULATE STANDINGS. As previously mentioned, LineDrive standings are based on each team's ranking in each category based on the number of teams in the league. While it calculates the season standings, LineDrive will also calculate a second set of standings based on the team's performance for the previous week. This set of standings is based on what each team's players did during the previous week ONLY! This set of standings can be used to make weekly payoffs in an auction league {pg.7} or just for "bragging rights" in a draft league. The weekly standings can also be used to show why there is a sudden increase or decrease in a team's standings in any area. As it calculates the standings, LineDrive will compare each team's performance for the week in each selected category to determine the league records. LineDrive keeps records for the best single week performances in the history of your league. In auction leagues that have chosen to make weekly payoffs the program will ask you if you wish to make the weekly payoff after it is finished with the standings calculation. If you choose to make the payoff the top 3 winning teams' accounts will be credited and the week of play will be advanced. You may choose to re-calculate the week's standings again before the next update but DO NOT PAY WEEKLY WINNERS MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK. To do so will corrupt your weekly winnings' accounts. ****************** PRINT NEWSLETTER ****************** LineDrive will print your league's newsletter for you listing season and weekly standings, any player transactions (releases, trades or free agent signings) that have transpired since the last newsletter, any fees due to the prized fund and the current league records for each statistical category with the team that set the record and the date it was set. You also have the option of adding up to 15 line of commissioner's notes, allowing you to add your personal touch to the newsletter. This can be used to denote upcoming league meetings, outstanding performances by a team or player or any of the wit and wisdom unique to LineDrive commissioners. When adding commissioner's notes use the editing keys {pg.3} to edit your text. MAKE SURE THAT YOU PRESS <ENTER> AFTER EACH LINE TO FIX THE LINE INTO MEMORY. The newsletter function also allows you to choose whether to print to your printer or to a disk file. Printing to a disk file allows you to further edit the entire newsletter with your favorite word processor. -15- ***************** PRINT ALL TEAMS' ACTIVE STATS ***************** This option allows you to print the active stats for all of the teams in your league without having to choose each team under Manager's Options and then choosing Print Roster and then choosing Print Active Stats and then beginning the whole process again for the next team. You may choose to print stats to either your printer or to a disk filie. If you choose disk file as the print method, team files will be saved as TEAM*.PRN in the data directory (ie. TEAM1.PRN, TEAM2.PRN, etc. ******************** PLAYER SEARCH ******************** The Player Search function allows you to determine which team (if any) owns a player. Choosing this function will open a window that allows you in input a name or any part of a name to search for. The search is not case sensitive (you may use upper or lower case letters). ******************************* Hold Player Draft (or Auction) ******************************* The player draft (or auction depending on the league type) is held before the beginning of every season. NOTE: If you didn't acquire the program before the season started, not to worry. Just go ahead and hold your draft. LineDrive will prompt you for any statistics accrued by the players prior to the draft and will deduct them from stats accrued AFTER the draft. You will be given proper credit for all stats accrued by your active players from the time of the draft on. AUCTION LEAGUES ONLY: (Draft Leagues skip ahead to pg.16) When you enter the AUCTION function, any players whose contracts are due to expire at the end of this season will be marked as playing out their options. You will NOT be able to re-sign these players after this date. They will be released as free agents at the end of the current season. LineDrive will then go through the entire roster and deduct the salaries of any players held over from the previous season from the Auction Spending Limit {pg.6}. EXAMPLE: Team A retained players from last season whose contracts totaled $190. The Auction Spending Limit for this league is $300. Team A would have $110 to spend on new players during this draft. (300 - 190 = 110). After the auction is over each team must pay the amount spent on player salaries into the prize fund including the salaries of new players AND the players retained from the previous season. If Team A in the above example spent $90 on new players the owner would owe $280 to the prize fund at the end of the auction ($190 in old contracts plus $90 in new contracts = $280 total). Team owners take turns nominating players for the auction. Once a player is nominated bidding begins. The bidding proceeds until only 1 owner remains. The amount bid becomes the player salary, payable to the league's prize fund at the close of the auction. It is now the next owner's turn to nominate a player and the cycle begins again. -16- The auction continues until: A: all teams' rosters are full B: all teams have expended their auction spending limit or C: there are no more owners interested in aquiring any more players. DRAFT LEAGUES: In a Draft League players are chosen in a round-by-round draft with the order of the draft being based on the team's finish during the previous season. The last place team would have the first choice, the next to last team would choose second, etc. NOTE: In a draft league's initial season the draft order is determined by the computer at random at the time of the draft. ALL LEAGUES: Before each player is drafted (or purchased) a window will open offering you the following choices: SELECT PLAYER: choose a player VIEW STARTERS: take a look at the lineup to determine what positions need to be filled or strengthened. VIEW ROSTER: look at all players owned by this team to determine how many roster spots are open and the players that are on the "bench" (reserve). TRADE PLAYERS: allows you to trade for players already owned by another team. See PLAYER TRADES {pg.21} for the procedure involved. DRAFT LEAGUE NOTE: Although the program does not keep track of traded draft choices, you may trade choices using the SELECT ANOTHER TEAM option below when the traded choice comes up. Drafting order will return to normal on the next round. SEARCH FOR A PLAYER: allows you to determine if a player is already owned by another team. See PLAYER SEARCH {pg.16} for the procedure. SELECT ANOTHER TEAM: use this option if you arrived at this window in error by selecting the wrong team, want to trade this select to another team (see above), or just were using this window to view a team's roster or starting lineup. QUIT DRAFT (or Auction) will open a sub-menu that allows you to CONTINUE DRAFT (in case you selected QUIT by mistake, QUIT FOR TODAY (exit the draft and return another time to finish it, or CLOSE OUT DRAFT (meaning you are finished with the player draft or auction for this season). If you elect to CLOSE OUT DRAFT you will not be able to re-enter the draft until after you choose the END SEASON option under commissioner's options. When a player is chosen a window will open that allows you to input his name. Use the editing keys {pg.3} to accomplish this. Auction league teams will be asked for the player's salary (the amount paid at auction for this player) at this time. You will then be asked to assign this player to a position (or to reserve). A window will open showing all the positions on the team and the player that currently occupies them. Use the UP, DOWN LEFT & RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight the position you want this player to occupy. Press <ENTER> to select. NOTE: selecting an occupied position will automatically move the player that previously occupied that position to RESERVE. The next step is to inform the program of the real-life team that this player plays for. This will keep the player in the proper order for the stat update. A screen will open showing all of the available teams. Use the UP, DOWN, LEFT & RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight the team. Press <ENTER> to select. If the major league season is already under way you will be asked to input any stats that have already been accrued by this player. The league update section {pg.11} shows the procedure used here. As each player is drafted (or purchased at auction) he becomes the property of new owner until: A: his contract expires {pg.6} B: he is released by this owner {pg.14} or C: he is traded to another owner {pg.21} The selection of players continues until all rosters are full, all teams have expended thier auction spending limits (auction leagues) or there are no owners who wish to acquire any more players. ************************* VIEW LEAGUE RECORDS ************************* LineDrive keeps records of the best weekly performances of the teams in your league. Records are kept in each statistical category that you select during the installation. Choosing this option allows you to view the best (and worst) weekly performances by the teams in your league. Press any key to exit the League Records window and return to the main menu. ************************* Prize Fund Options ************************* This option will open a sub-menu with the following choices: VIEW WEEKLY WINNINGS VIEW TEAM EXPENDITURES ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE VIEW PRIZE FUND TO DATE VIEW WEEKLY WINNINGS allows you to view the amount won to date in weekly prizes by each team in the league. VIEW TEAM EXPENDITURES allows you to view the amount spent by each team this season. Expenditures include player salaries, trade fees and free agent fees. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE allows you to adjust the amount owed to the prize fund by the teams. When you choose this option a window will open showing all the teams in the league and the amount each team owes to the prize fund. Select the team by using the UP & DOWN ARROW keys to move the highlight. Press -18- <ENTER> to select. When a team is selected, a window will open that allows you to enter the amount of the payment received. LineDrive will deduct the payment received from the amount owed. Accounts receivable are printed in the newsletter so that each owner will be aware of the amount he owes the prized fund for league fees. ******************************** CLOSE OUT SEASON ******************************** Choose this option to end the current season. Choosing this option zeros out all player statistics, league standings and the prize fund in preparation for the next season. All players whose contracts are due to expire will be released as free agents at this point. At this time each team will be required to submit a list of the 18 players that will be carried as the off season roster. All players that are NOT on this list will be released as free agents and will be available to be drafted by any team in the player draft or auction at the beginning of the next season. A window showing the entire roster of each team will be opened. You will mark the players that the teams wishes to keep by using the UP, DOWN, LEFT & RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight the player and then pressing <ENTER> to "mark" the player. "Marked" players have a check mark along side their name. A running total of the number of "marked" players is maintained in the bottom corner of the screen for your convenience. NOTE: If you release a player who has been signed to a extended contract before his contract expires you MUST pay the amount remain- ing on his contract to the prize fund for the following season. Remember extended contracts are GUARANTEED contracts. If you make a mistake or change your mind about a player he can be "un-marked" by using the same procedure used to mark him. If a "marked" player is re-selected the check mark next to his name disappears and the number of "marked" players is reduced by one. Continue "marking" players until you have reached the 18 man limit or have "marked" all of the players you wish to keep on the off season roster. As soon as a team is finished selecting it's off season roster the next team in the order appears. This procedure continues until all the teams in the league have selected the players they will hold over for next season. -19- THE LEAGUE EDITOR Almost anything is LineDrive may be changed using the league editor. You may delete a team (if some weak-hearted, spineless owner decides to quit), add expansion teams (during the off season ONLY), change a team name or edit the league records if a data entry error resulted in a record being incorrect. To use the league editor, select it under EXIT TO DOS and then select the option you wish to use and follow the instructions below. CHANGE TEAM/OWNER NAME: simply choose the team to be changed and then overwrite the old name when it appears on screen. Edit keys (pg. 3 apply) ADD EXPANSION TEAM: this is best done during the off season. Simply type in the name of the new team and owner just as you did during setup when entering the original teams. DELETE A TEAM: select the weak-hearted, spineless owner's team and press <ENTER>. The program will ask for verification before dropping him into oblivion. EDIT LEAGUE RECORDS: select either INDIVIDUAL RECORDS or TEAM RECORDS. Choose the appropriate record from the sub-menu and then over-write each data field on the next screen with the new information, ie. player's name, statistic, fantasy team's name and date. Use the up and down arrow keys to move from field to field. Editing keys (pg. 3) apply. -20- **************************************** USING THE GENERAL MANAGER'S DISK (registered version only) **************************************** The GENERAL MANAGER'S DISK (GM.EXE on the distribution diskette) allows you to "wheel & deal" in your fantasy league. You now have the options of making the block-buster trades and signing that high priced free agent. Type "GM" from your startup directory to initialize the GENERAL MANAGER. Select the team that you want to work with by using the UP & DOWN ARROW keys to highlight it and then press <ENTER> to select. (Press <ESC> to exit the program and run LineDrive). GENERAL MANAGER gives you the following options: TRADE PLAYERS SIGN FREE AGENT EXIT PROGRAM Highlight the option of your choice and press <ENTER> to select. ******************************* TRADE PLAYERS ******************************* Use this option to trade players with another team. When you choose this option a window will open allowing you to see all the players on your team and the position they currently occupy. Choose the players that you wish to trade to the other team by "marking" them. To "mark" a player, use the UP, DOWN, LEFT & RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight him and press <ENTER>. A player "marked" for trading will display a check mark next to his name. If you change your mind about a player or "mark" him by mistake, he can be "un-marked" by using the same procedure you used to "mark" him. A running total of players "marked" appears in the bottom corner of the screen. When you have "marked" all of the players that you wish to trade press <ESC>. A window will open showing you all of the "marked" players and asking if these are correct. Answering "NO" will return you to the initial Player Trade screen with all players "un-marked". Answering "YES" will allow you to continue. When all the players on the first team have been "marked" and verified as correct you will be returned to the team selection window where you will select the second team involved in the trade and repeat the process of "marking" players the players involved in the trade. As soon as the players on the second team are "marked" and verified the program will make the trade and charge the trade fee to the trading teams accounts. -21- After GM.EXE completes the trade, it will ask you to assign the players involved to a position on their new team. To place a newly acquired player in a starting position just move the highlight to the position you want him to occupy (even if this position is currently held by another player) and press <ENTER>. If the position is being held by another player, that player will automatically move to the first open reserve or farm system file. When a player is traded to another team, his contract remains intact. The player's salary remains the same (although it is not charged to the new owner until the next player auction), if it is an extended contract it remains guaranteed, and it expires the same year as it was originally set to expire. Statistics accrued by traded players up until the time of the trade remain with the team that traded them. These stats are reflected in the "RELEASED PLAYERS" area of the roster printout. ******************************** SIGNING A FREE AGENT ******************************** Free agents are players that are unowned by any other team AFTER the player draft (or auction). You may not sign a free agent during the off season. Auction leagues should decide on a minimum salary for free agents (ours is $10). This is charged to the team acquiring the player IN ADDITION to the league's free agent fee {pg.7}. After each week's standings calculation, each team in the league may submit a list of any free agents it would like to add to it's roster. If the players involved are not on any other team's list they are automatically added (up to the 45 man limit). In an auction league the team acquiring the free agent pays the miminum free agent salary in addtion to the free agent fee. If more than one team list the prospective free agent on their list an auction is held with the player going to the highest bidder (auction league) or the player is given to the team with the lowest league standing (draft league). When you sign a free agent you will first input the player's name, salary amount (the default is the free agent fee), USA ID number (for leagues using automatic stat updating ONLY) and the year the player's contract expires. To input this data use the editing keys on page 3. You will then need to select the Major League team that this player plays for by using the mouse or arrow keys to move the highlight and pressing enter or the left mouse button to select. GM.EXE will now ask you whether or not to charge the league's free agent fee to this team. Most of the time the answer will be YES. The program will now verify that all data is correct. Answer NO to make any changes necessary. You will now be asked to assign the new player to a position. Use the left - right arrow keys or mouse to position the highlight over the position you want the new player to occupy and press <ENTER> or the left mouse button. Note that any player currently holding this position will automatically be moved to the first open reserve or farm team spot. -22- The final step is to input any stats that this player has accumulated to date. Stats accumulated up to the time this player was signed DO NOT count toward league standings. The signing team WILL get credit for any stats accrued by this player from now until the end of the season, as long as this player is in a starting or active position. GM.EXE will then ask if you wish to sign another player. Answer YES to begin the free agent procedure again or NO to return to the opening menu. *************************** ERROR MESSAGES **************************** If you get one of the following errors messages your equipment is somehow at fault. Here are the error numbers and the way that they can be corrected: Error 7: OUT OF MEMORY. Your computer does not have enough memory. This sometimes occurs on the DOS SHELL command used to backup files. You may exit the program and type "copy *.dat a:" from the dos prompt to accomplish the same thing. Error 24: DEVICE TIMEOUT. Indicates a printer error. Is your printer turned on and on line? Error 25: DEVICE FAULT. Indicates a serious hardware problem probably with printer. Error 51: INTERNAL ERROR. Again indicates a serious hardware problem. Error 53: FILE NOT FOUND. Do you have the correct data disk in the correct drive? Error 57: DEVICE I/O ERROR. Indicates a printer problem Error 61: DISK FULL. You have too many files on your data disk. Make a new data disk or try copying LnDRV.DOC to another disk. Error 67: TOO MANY FILES. You have too many files on this disk. See Error 61. Error 68: DEVICE UNAVAILABLE. No printer is on line. Error 70: DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED. LineDrive needs to access the disk. Remove the write protect tab. Error 71: DISK NOT READY. Close the disk drive door. Error 72: DISK MEDIA ERROR. Is this disk formatted? See your DOS manual for info on formatting a disk. If this is a formatted disk then it has gone bad. Error 75: PATH/FILE ACCESS ERROR. Usually caused by an insufficent number of handles. This error can be corrected by adding the lines: FILES = 15 BUFFERS = 25 to your config.sys. See page 2 for details Error 76: PATH NOT FOUND. See Error 75 If you get an error not listed here, please contact: McS Custom Software PO BOX 1032 Fortuna, Ca. 95540 We will be glad to help in any way we can. If the problem lies with the program we will make corrections and rush you a corrected version free of charge. -24-