Hockey League Simulator Brought to you by Belgarath Introduction Bethesda Softworks’ Hockey League Simulator (HLS) allows you to design and manage your own customized league or create current or classic leagues from the past. Its extensive features allow you to: - Create leagues and teams based on your criteria. - Develop league game schedules. - Track extensive statistical data. - Instantly compute the results of a scheduled game. - Play scheduled games in Wayne Gretzky Hockey*. - Make trades. - Manage money. - Draft players and put them on waivers. Hockey League Simulator comes pre-loaded with players and teams from the 1987-1988 NHL hockey season and an 80 game schedule. Additional hockey season team disks are available from Bethesda Softworks. Any of the yearly data can b-e loaded directly into the Hockey League Simulator to provide up-to-date team and player data. (See “Loading Teams from DataDisks”, page 12.) If you prefer, you can create you own teams and schedule. HLS allows you to include as many as 48 teams in a league, any number of which may be computer-controlled. The Hockey League Simulator generates a league schedule and provides the necessary player and team data for playing each game in Wayne Gretzky Hockey (WGH), allowing you to simulate an entire season of hockey. If you don’t have time to manually play all the games in a schedule, you can compute the results of each game using HLS. It only takes a few seconds for each game and in that time, all game sta- tistics are generated by the computer. Because the purpose of HLS is to keep track of all the games and statistics for a league over a season based on a specific schedule, it is not designed for randomly playing one team against another. Keep in mind that the statistics for any game played outside the league schedule should not be saved to the HLS, since these statistics have no real meaning in rela- tion to league play. * The award-winning hockey simulation from Bethesda Softworks. Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick: Depressing the keyboard return key, clicking the left mouse button and depressing the joy- stick fire button have the same effect. Throughout this manual, the words “depress the return key” will be used. If you have a mouse, you should press the left mouse button, instead. If you have a joystick, press the fire button. Selecting/Highlighting: Selecting and highlighting is done with either the keyboard, a mouse, or a joystick. Selecting an item causes it to ‘reverse out,’ that is, the type will reverse to light against a dark background. When an item is highlighted, it will change colors or will be boxed in by lines. In addition to simply highlighting the selection, selecting and highlighting certain menu options result in a specific action taking place. For example, selecting and highlighting 'Exit' at the bottom of a menu box will take you out of that menu and return you to the previous menu. Selecting and highlighting sequences for a keyboard, mouse, and joystick are described below: . Keyboard--use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the item to be selected. Then hit the return or enter key to highlight the selection. . Mouse-the cursor follows the mouse movement. Move the cursor over the item to be selected and hit the left mouse button; the selection will then be highlighted. . Joystick-the cursor follows the joystick controller. When the cursor is over the item and it is selected, depress the joystick fire button to highlight the selection. In this manual, the word “select” is used to describe the process of selecting and highlighting-that is, moving the cursor over the menu option and depressing return (or depressing the left mouse button, or depressing the fire button.) For example: select ‘Save Roster’ means that you should both select and highlight this menu option. Menu Operation: In general, there are three types of menu operations-operations which: . Move you to new menus (e.g., Head Coach, Load/Save League) . Set options which then require selection of another option (e.g., selecting a game or a team). In the case of setting options, simply selecting that option causes it to be active. For example, selecting ‘Manual’ sets up Auto-Play for manual operation. For the second menu type, selecting an option causes another screen to appear. For example, selecting ‘Head Coach’ in the Main Menu brings up the Head Coach Menu. In the last menu type, a first menu option must be selected before choosing a second (and sometimes a third) menu option. For example, in the Head Coach Menu, in order to display the Canadians game roster, you must first select ‘Display.’ Then select ‘Canadians’ (in the conference window). An example of a third menu option is the Trade Players option in the General Manager Menu. This requires 3 selections: first ‘Trade Players,’ and then each of the two teams (in any order). Important: In any situation where you are selecting more than one menu option, depressing the escape key (‘Esc’) will abort the operation. Menu Flow Chart As you use Hockey League Simulator, you will be moving in and out of numerous menus. In some cases, you will be unable to exit directly back to the menu you came from. If you have trouble exiting a menu, it is usually caused by an illegal configuration. In this situation, a dialogue box appears with a description of the problem The problem will have to be corrected before you can proceed to the next menu. The Menu Flow Chart can also be depicted on your screen by depressing the F1 key. Note: For additional information be sure to read the most commonly asked questions listed at the back of this manual. Installing and Using the HLS 1. READ the Installation Instructions for your computer (Included in the HLS package). 2. After HLS has been started, a disclaimer screen appears; follow the instructions on the screen to continue. If appli- cable to your particular computer, refer to the Installation Instructions for information on the pass code screen(s). 3. The Main Menu appears. The title of the Main Menu is the name of the League that is presently active. If this is the first time HLS is used, the default is the National Hockey League. You are now ready to begin using your Hockey League Simulator. Important: Before you use team data to play a game in Wayne Gretzky Hockey, you must first save the team ros- ters (see page 7). Playing a Game in HLS As previously mentioned, HLS comes pre-loaded with the player ratings and team data for the 1987-1988 National Hockey League. If you wish, you can immediately begin playing a game from the NHL schedule. In order to create realistic statistical data, league games mast be played in sequence. A game scheduled in the middle of a season cannot be played before a game scheduled at the beginning of a season. You have three choices for playing a game: you can let the HLS compute the results (Auto-Play), you can import the data into WGH and play the game yourself, or you can enter the STATS manually. Note: If you let HLS compute the results (Auto-Play), game statistics are generated at the same time. Since the game statistics then become a part of the league record, replaying the game no longer makes sense. If you decide you do want to replay the game in WGH. you will not be able to enter the new statistics from the replayed game into the Hockey League Simulator. Auto-Play Make sore the Main Menu is displayed. If your league is properly set up, a complement of games will be listed in the right-hand box of the Main Menu (the Game Window). If this is the first time you are using HLS, the games listed in the first complement are the first games to be played in the 1987-1988 NHL 80 game schedule. Warning: Do not Auto-Play a game you want to play in WGH. Once the game is Auto-Played, the statistics are automatically updated in HLS. If you replay the game in WGH, you will not be able to load the new game statistics back into HLS - the statistics for that game will already be recorded. To Auto-Play a scheduled game, select one of the Auto- Play modes under Auto-Play Options (Main Menu). The two modes are Manual and Automatic. Manual allows selection of a single game to be computer generated, while Automatic begins playing all games between computer- controlled teams, starting with the first one on the schedule. Manual Auto-Play Note: In Manual Auto-Play, both computer-controlled and human-controlled games can be played. First select ‘Manual’ from the Auto-Play options in the Main Menu. Then select ‘Auto-Play’ from the Game Options column in the Main Menu. Finally, select the game you want HLS to compute from the Game Window of the Main Menu. Almost instantly, the results of the game appear on the screen. At the same time-all the sta- tistics, including placing players injured on the injury list-are generated and recorded. Note: The game window displays a full complement of games scheduled to take place at a given time-such as all the games that are scheduled for January 23rd. You can play the games in the game window in any order (in the same way that you could play all the games on one day in any order); however, you will not be allowed to move to games in the next complement (i.e., next day’s schedule) until you have played the previously scheduled games. If this sounds confusing, simply try playing the games and see what happens. You can then repeat these steps for each game you want to Auto-Play. As you exhaust the complement of games in the Game Window, HLS will automatically bring up the games which are scheduled next. Automatic Auto-Play Note: Automatic Auto-Play only works with teams that have been assigned computer-control; these teams have an asterisk after their name. First select ‘Automatic’ from the Auto-Play options in the Main Menu. Then select ‘Auto-Play’ from the Game Options column in the Main Menu. HIS will go through each game, computing the results, recording the statistics, and displaying the results. If a game that is not computer- controlled is encountered, Automatic Auto-Play stops. If you want to Auto-Play the entire schedule, you must make sure every team is assigned computer-control. Hint: If you are in Automatic Auto-Play and want to stop the play, depress the escape ‘Esc’ key. Hint: If nothing happens when you start Automatic Auto- Play, check that both teams in the first game are computer- controlled. Remember, computer control is necessary for Automatic Auto-Play. Playing a Game in WGH Saving Team Rosters Eject the HLS disk and insert a blank disk (or one you want to reuse) into the floppy disk drive. 1. (Amiga Only) Under Game Options in the Main Menu, select ‘Format Data Disk.’ This creates a properly for- matted disk for saving information and data created in HLS. Note: If you own on IBM or compatible, you will have to format the disk before running HLS. 2. Under Game Options in the Main Menu, select ‘Save Rosters. 3. From the Game Window, select the game you want to play. 4. IBM Only: A DOS Menu is displayed; select ‘Save File’ and exit to the Main Menu. The rosters for the game you want to play are now saved to disk. If you think you may want to play additional games, save the rosters for those games also by repeating steps 2 through 4 for each game. Once you have saved rosters, you must exit HLS by select- ing ‘Quit’ at the bottom of the Main Menu. If necessary, save the league (see “Loading and Saving a League,” page 16). Load WGH into your computer. Once you have loaded WGH, you will need to import the player ratings and team data for the two teams you want to play. One team is the home team and one is the visiting team. Importing the Home Team into WGH Load the Home team into WGH by going to the Home Team Editor and selecting ‘Team DOS.’ The teams whose rosters you saved will appear in the window. Each team’s name will be followed by an extension, (either .home or .vis ). to indicate whether the team is the Home Team or the Visiting Team. Select the Home Team. Then, select ‘Load Team.’ The information is imported into WGH. Importing the Visiting Team into WGH To import the Visiting Team data, go into the Visiting Team Editor and select ‘Team DOS.’ Select the Visiting Team, (the one with the .vis extension) and select 'Load Team.’ The information is imported into WGH. Once the Home and Visiting Team data is loaded, you can play the game. Important: The designation of Home or Visitor is impor- tant in tracking statistics. Make sure that when you are in the Home Team Editor that you select the Home Team and when you are in the Visiting Team Editor, you select the team with the .vis extension. Saving the Stats in WGH Once the game is over, you must save the stats. To do this, select ‘Save Game Results' in the End of Game Menu (this option is found under “For League Simulator Use”). You will be placed into a DOS Menu. Select ‘Save File’ to save the stats; WGH will automatically give the file a name. Loading the Stats in HLS Loading in the stats is very similar to the process used to Save Rosters, only select the ‘Load Game Stats’ option from the Main Menu rather than the ‘Save Rosters’ option. Manually Entering Game Stats First select ‘Edit Game’ from the Main Menu. Then select the game whose stats you want to enter from the Game Window of the Main Menu. The Edit Stats window appears. The Edit Stats window shows only one team at a time, beginning with the home team. The home team players are listed in a column in the left side of the window and the statistical categories are listed along the top. The categories displayed will change according to the player’s position. For example, save percentage would be listed for a goalie, but not for a forward or defenseman. Some categories are a calculation of previous categories. Points are the sum of goals and assists, for example. Categories based on calculation update automatically when the categories on which they are based are updated. To change a stat, move the cursor over the stat to select it. Then, press the return key and hold it down while pressing the up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the stat’s value. When you have finished editing the stats, select ‘Exit.’ The Edit Stats window reappears; this time the visiting team is shown. Repeat the editing procedure discussed above. Then select 'Exit' again. A prompt will appear asking if you want to keep the stats. Hit ‘y’ for yes; this will save the changes you have just made. You can create you own league based on your own criteria. However, there are certain rules governing a league’s structure. Creating Your Own League League Structure The following rules apply to the structure of a league: . All leagues must have two conferences . Each conference must have between 1 and 4 divisions . Each division must have between 2 and 6 teams . The largest and smallest division must not differ by more than one team Steps in Creating a League There are three steps in creating a league. These are: . Setup and name league . Make a Schedule . Draft Players (optional) Setting-up and Naming a League In setting-up and naming a new league, you alter the league that is presently active. That is, you never start from scratch. The menu choice for creating a new league is found in the Main Menu. To setup and name the new league, select ‘Create League’ under Things to Do. This will bring up the League Setup Menu. Note: If the current league has not been saved, you may be asked to save it. If you want to reuse this league, you should save it. Note: Whenever the League Setup Menu is brought up, all statistics and schedules are cleared: however player rat- ings and team data are not altered. This means that any rime you go into the League Setup Menu. you must create a new schedule before you can exit. Once you are in the League Setup Menu, select ‘Rename League.’ A dialogue box appears; type in the new name. The next step is to rename the conferences. Conferences are displayed, one at a time, in the right half of the League Setup Menu in the conference window. Both conference names appear as menu choices under Select Conference, and the presently displayed conference name is high- lighted. You must select and display a conference before you can rename it. When the conference you want to rename is displayed, select ‘Rename Conference.’ A dialogue box appears; type in the new name. Repeat this procedure for the other conference. In setting up divisions, you must decide how many divi- sions you want and what their names will be. In the League Setup Menu under No. of Divisions, select 1.2, 3, or 4 Divisions. Keep in mind that the division changes you are making are for the currently displayed conference and must be repeated for the other conference. Note: Conferences can have an unequal number of Divisions. Division names are displayed in the right half of the screen. The number of divisions that appear corresponds to the number of divisions you chose for the active confer- ence. To rename a division, first select ‘Rename Division.’ Then select the division name you want to change. A dia- logue box appears; type in the new name. Repeat this for each division in the conference. This completes the naming of the divisions in the active conference. You must now select the other conference and repeat the steps for renaming the divisions. Note: Divisions can have an unequal number of teams with two requirements-the total number of teams in each divi- sion must not differ by more than one from any of the other divisions in the league. The minimum number of teams in a division is two. Now that the league, conferences, and divisions have been setup, it is necessary to setup the teams. Remember, you are altering the active conference and not working from scratch. This means you must add or delete teams from a division to obtain the correct number of teams. This is done by selecting ‘Add Team’ or ‘Delete Team’ from the League Setup Menu and then selecting the blank space or team name in the division where you want to add or delete. Generally, you want to get each division to the point where it has the number of teams you want. The?, you will rename the teams. However, if you are adding a team where there is a blank space., a dialogue box will appear asking you to type in the name of the new team. Once you have all the divisions setup with the correct number of teams, you can then rename them. For each team you are renaming, select ‘Rename Team,’ and then select the team. A dialogue box appears; type in the new name. When all the teams in the active conference have been renamed, select the other conference and repeat the pro- cedure for renaming the teams. Note: When a league is created, all the teams will auto- matically become computer-controlled. You may warn to change some of the teams to human control. However, if you want to (automatically) Auto-Play the games. you should leave all the teams in computer-control. Changing Between Computer Control and Human Control To change a team from computer-control to human control, select ‘Human Control’ from the League Setup Menu. All the teams listed in the conference window that are pres- ently human controlled will be highlighted. Select the corn- puter-controlled team you want to change. Repeat this pro- cedure for each team you are changing. To change a team from human control to computer control, select ‘Computer Control' from the League Setup Menu. All the teams listed in the conference window that are pres- ently computer-controlled will be highlighted. Select the human-controlled team you want to change. Repeat this procedure for each team you are changing. Reset League If at any time you are creating a league and you want to discard the changes you have made, select ‘Reset League’ from the League Setup Menu. This will restore the National Hockey League configuration of the 1987-1988 teams. Exiting the League Setup Menu Select ‘Continue at the bottom of the League Setup Menu and you will move into the Team Setup Menu. Setting Up Teams Loading Teams from DataDisks First, select ‘Load/Save Team’ from the Team Setup Menu and then select a team from the conference window-the data will be placed into this team. The Load/Save Team window appears. Insert the DataDisk into a disk drive. From the Load/Save Team window, select the proper drive; the team names appear in the window. Reselect a team and select ‘Load File'-the data will be taken from this team and loaded into the team you selected in a pre- vious step. Finally, select ‘Exit’ to return to the Team Setup Menu. This procedure can be repeated as many times as there is team data to load. Loading Teams Created in Wayne Gretzky Hockey Select ‘Load WGH Team’ from the Team Setup Menu. Select a team and the Load WGH Team window will appear. Follow the same procedure outlined above for loading from DataDisks. Making a Schedule Scheduling of games is done from the Team Setup Menu. Select ‘Make a Schedule’ and the Schedule Menu comes up. There are two parts to the Schedule Menu: Divisional Games and Other games. Other games represent games between teams in different divisions. Setting the Number of Games Move the cursor over Divisional Games. Then, hold the return key down and use the arrow keys to change the value of Divisional Games. Next, move the cursor over Other Games. Hold the return key down and use the arrow keys to change the value of Other Games. The display showing the total number of games will be updated automatically. Playoff Requirements Under Playoffs, select the number of teams per division that make the playoffs at the end of the season. You have the choice of the top 2 teams, top 3 teams or the top 4 teams. Under Series Length, you must select the number of playoff games in each playoff series. You have a choice of best of 3, best of 5, and best of 7. The playoff requirements become highlighted when they have been chosen. Automatically Generating a Schedule To automatically generate a schedule, select ‘Automatic’ under the Make Schedule Heading. A schedule will auto- matically be created and a dialogue box will be displayed during the process. The total number of games in the schedule is based on the size of the league and the selec- tions you have made in the Schedule Menu. The maximum number of games is 100. If your league size and selections require a schedule of more than 100 games, a dialogue box will warn you that you have exceeded this amount and you will have to make appropriate changes in either the league size or the Schedule Menu selections. Manually Generating Schedule To manually generate a schedule, select ‘Manual’ under the Generate Schedule Heading. The Schedule Maker window appears. The schedule is in the left half of the window (schedule window) and the teams are listed in the right half (conference window). The general procedure is to first select the team name in the conference window and then select the location in the schedule window. This places that team in the schedule. To accomplish this, first highlight and select a team in the conference window. Then, immediately place the cursor at the location in the schedule window where you want to place the team. This will highlight the location. Then hit the return key to select the location and place the team name. If you make a mis- take while placing the team, you can click on the schedule location you want to change and the team name will dis- appear, or you can simply replace one team with another. For example, suppose you scheduled game 6 as Canadians at Capitals, but then decided you wanted Canadians at Bruins instead. To replace the Capitals with the Brains, select ‘Bruins' from the conference window, move the cursor over Game 6 in the schedule window until Capitals is highlighted. Now press Enter. Game 6 should now read ‘Canadians at Bruins.’ The schedule window only allows 10 games to be sched- uled at one time. An option at the bottom of the schedule window, Next Games, allows you to schedule the next 10 games. When generating a schedule manually, dates may be assigned to games. The date should be selected just prior to assigning the teams to the schedule. For example, if you want to specify the date for game three, assign games one and two and then select the date. This date will automatically be selected for game three. To set the date, move the cursor over ‘Set Date’ in the upper left hand comer of the schedule window and hold down the return key. While continuing to hold down the return key, use the arrow keys to change the day. Next, release the return key and depress it again. Use the arrow keys to change the month. Finally, release the return key and depress it for a third time. Depressing the arrow keys will change the year. Select ‘Exit’ to exit the Schedule Maker. Printing a Schedule To print one team’s schedule, select ‘Team’ under the Print Schedule Heading in the Schedule Menu and then select the team whose schedule you want to print. If your printer is properly connected to your computer and tuned on, the team’s schedule will be printed. If there are prob- lems in printing, an error message will appear. To print out all the games for all the teams (approximately 8 pages for a standard NHL schedule), select ‘League’ under the Print Schedule Heading in the Schedule Menu. Exiting the Schedule Menu Select ‘Exit’ at the bottom of the Schedule Menu and you will return to the Team Setup Menu. Exiting the Team Setup Menu Select ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the Team Setup Menu and you will return to the Main Menu, where you can exit the program or start playing your league. Hints for Managing a League Rosters Rosters are divided into two categories: Team and Game. The Team Roster consists of all the players on the team ( 20 to 25 players). The Game Roster consists of the 20 players on the team who will actually play a game. It is up to you as the coach to decide if a player should be benched, sent down to the minors or even traded. Money If you wish, you can make money management a part of your league play. To do this, select ‘Set Options’ from either the Main Menu or the Team Setup Menu. Now make sure ‘Money’ is highlighted. The money management works as follows: Each team starts out with an initial budget (enough to pay each player’s salary, plus an extra $200,000 to $300,000). This money is used in the course of a season to pay the players’ salaries. It can also be used to pick up players off waivers, or in trades. It is important to keep track of your financial state-if you run out of money (resulting in the players not getting paid) the players will go into a nasty slump, making it difficult to win games. Waiver Draft The waiver draft is a one-time draft which takes place after the initial (“Entry”) draft, but before the regular-season begins. The waiver draft is made up of all minor league players, and all unprotected pro players. If more than one team wants a player in the waiver draft, he goes to the team with higher priority. (Priority is determined by the teams’ drafting order: team 1 has higher priority than team 2 which has higher priority than team 3, and so on.) If a team drafts a player, the player’s original learn receives $40,000 from the new team, and the player is transferred to his new team. He will remain with this team only as long as a team with higher priority doesn’t draft him. If he IS drafted by another team, his current team receives S40,000 from the new team. The players displayed can vary from team to team. The players displayed for a given team are all undrafted players, and all unprotected players which have been drafted by teams with a lower priority. This means that team 1 will always be able to see every player (except its own) in the waiver draft. Note: Once you exit the waivers display, you will have “cleared your options” on all the players, and will be unable to draft any more players. Once you exit the Waiver Draft Menu, all undrafted players remain with their original teams. The menu operation is identical to the General Manager Menu. Loading and Saving Leagues Saving a League When using the Hockey League Simulator, all information that is generated (statistics, game results, and team infor- mation) is temporarily stored In the computer memory. If you turn the computer off without saving the new informa tion to disk, it will be lost. The Main Menu has a ‘Load/ Save League’ option. Always select this option before quitting HLS, if you wish to save the information you have generated. If information has been generated and you forget to select the ‘Loud/Save League’ option, a dialogue box will prompt you with the message asking you if you want to save your league. Type ‘y’ to save the changes. Note: Never save to the HLS disk, always save to a separate disk. To load or save a league, first, select ‘Load/Save League.’ This puts you into the Load/Save League Menu. Insert a disk into a disk drive and select that drive from the Load/ Save League Menu. First time saving a league: If this is the first time you are saving the league, then select ‘Save File.’ A dialogue box will appear, asking for the tile name. Type in the name and hit return. The league will be saved to disk with the file name you have given it. Updating a file already on disk: If you have loaded a league file from a disk for play, and are now saving the new data, first select the file name that appears in the Load/Save League Menu. Then, select ‘Save File.’ A dialogue box appears telling you that the file already exists and asks you if you want to overwrite the file. Select yes by typing ‘y’. if you want the old data in the league tile to be replaced by the new data you have gener- ated. If you want to save the old data, type ‘n’, for no, and then choose ‘Save File’ from the Load/Save League Menu without selecting a league name. You will be asked to name the file. Be sure to give it a name that is different than the name already listed in the Load/Save League Menu. If the disk is full, a message will warn you that of this condition and inform you that the file was not saved. Simply put in a new disk, and repeat the steps for saving the league. Note: If you are saving leagues during the playoffs, HLS will automatically append a .plf extension to the league file name. This allows you to save the playoff stats separately from the regular season stats. Loading a League When starting up HLS, the NHL league that comes on the HLS disk will load automatically. To resume play with a previously saved league, it is necessary to load that league into HLS. To do this, enter the Load/Save League Menu by selecting ‘Load/Save League’ from the Main Menu. Insert a disk into a disk drive and select that drive from the Load/ Save League Menu. Then, choose a league file from list of available files in the Load/Save League Menu and select ‘Load File’-the data from this league will be loaded into HLS. Select ‘Exit’ to return to the Main Menu. Hints for Hard Disk Users (IBM Only): When loading or saving files, it is important to know which directory you are in. If you lose track of this information, you will have trouble finding the file. The directory is listed in the path information at the top of the menus. Remember, you will have to reenter this directory to have access to the file. To change directories, simply select the desired directory name from the window. If you have problems finding files on your hard disk, you can solve this problem by saving to floppy disks. Menu Listings Head Coach Menu The Head Coach Menu is used to set up a roster for a game. The League Simulator uses two different types of rosters-the Team Roster and the Game Roster. The Team Roster consists of up to 2.5 pro players. The Game Roster consists of 20 players (18 skaters and 2 goalies). The Game roster is used to play a game using Wayne Gretzky Hockey or to play a computer-simulated game. Every Game Roster must have at least 3 centers, 3 left-wings, 3 right-wings, 6 defensemen, and exactly 2 goalies. When- ever a new Game Roster is selected, new lines mast be set up, and the starting goalie must be chosen. Note: A new Game Roster must be set up whenever a player in the current Game Roster is injured or traded. Game Roster Computer Picks - have the computer set up a Game Roster. Pick New Roster - pick your own Game Roster. Players currently in the Game Roster will have an asterisk dis- played instead of their jersey numbers. The number of players at each position will be displayed at the top of the screen. If you wish, you may change players’ positions (the new position will only affect the Game Roster-the original position will still be displayed in the Team Roster). Changing positions between forwards and defensemen is allowed, but the players’ ratings will suffer. Goalies may not have their positions changed. Display - display a team’s current Game Roster. If a player is injured, the letter ‘I’ will be displayed instead of his number, and his ratings will all be 0 except for his ‘Injury’ rating, which will indicate the number of games he will miss. Print - print a team’s current Game Roster. Team Roster Display - display a Team (25-man) roster. (Players cur- rently in the Game Roster will have an ('*') next to their name. Print - print a Team (25-man) roster. Sort by Name - sort the players on a Team Roster alphabetically. Sort by Position - sort the players in a Team Roster by their positions. Sort by Number - sort the players on a Team Roster by their jersey numbers. Pick New Lines - select new lines for a Game Roster. Computer’s Lines - have the computer select new lines for a Game Roster. Print Lines - print a Game Rosters current lines. Starting Goalie - choose the starting goalie for a Game Roster. Note: Computer-controlled teams will always pick their own goalies. General Manager Menu The General Manager Menu is used to fire coaches, trade players, move players between the pro and farm teams, pick up players on waivers, and check finances. A player is put on waivers whenever he is sent down from a franchise’s pro team to its farm club. A player remains on waivers until all teams have “cleared their options” on that player. A team can explicitly clear its options by checking waivers and not picking up any players. Its options will automatically be cleared as soon as it plays a game. If a team picks up a player on waivers, the player’s old team is paid $40,000. The player is still eligible to be picked up by any other team with higher priority (team pri- ority is determined by draft order). This means that the same player could go from team to team, and would end up on the team with the highest priority. Fire Head Coach - get rid of your current coach. If you have set the League Options so that coaches can affect players, then you will be presented with a list of coaches you may “hire.” Otherwise, you will merely be prompted for a new name. Check Waivers - view all players currently on waivers. Beware! Once you exit from the waivers display, you are “clearing your options” on all the players listed. Trade Players - select the two teams involved in the trade. A new menu will be displayed, allowing you to either trade players or money. A traded player is sent to his new team’s FARM CLUB. (He may either stay there, or be brought up to the pro team.) Note: Trades with computer-controlled teams are allowed; see Trade Players Menu below. Send To Farm - choose a team. Its pro roster will be dis- played. Click on the players you wish to send to the farm club. You might want to do this if a player is in a slump, or if you are running out of money. However, any player sent down to a farm team is automatically put on waivers, and may be picked up by another team. Note: Injured players may be sent down Send To Pro - bring up a player from a farm club to a pro team. This works the same way as sending a player down to a farm club, except that the player is NOT put on waiv- ers. Also, you must have an empty spot on your pro roster. This is one way to replace an injured player. Check Finances - display a financial report for a team. You are responsible for paying the salaries of the players on your pm team. Players are paid on a per-game basis, so it is possible to run out of money in the middle of the season. The report shows a team’s total income (from its original budget and money received from trades or waiv- ers), and its expenses to date. It also shows the team’s “projected expenses.” Beware! If you go “in the red” (run out of money) your players will not play at their fullest abilities. If you are running out of money, you could send a player with a high salary down to your farm club, which would remove him from the payroll. If you have already run out of money, the only alternative is to try and trade a player to another team for cash. Note: This menu selection is only displayed if you have selected ‘Money’ in the Set Options Menu. Display Salaries - display annual salaries for a team. Change Control - change control of a team (manual control / computer control). If ‘Edit Players’ option is set, screen will show: Edit Pro Roster - edit player names, positions, numbers, and ratings. Edit Farm Roster - edit player names, positions, num- bers and ratings. If ‘Edit Players’ option is not set, screen will show: View Pro Roster _ display all players on a pro team View Farm Roster - display all players on a farm team. Stats Menu Display Stats - stats will be displayed on screen. Print Stats - stats will be sent to a printer. League Standings - over-all team won/lost records. Divisional Records - won-lost records against divisional and non-divisional teams. Home-Away Records - won-lost records at home and on the road. Power Play - team power-play scoring percentages. Penalty Killing - team penalty-killing percentages. Penalty Minutes - team penalty minutes (total, and per- game average). Scoring - total number of points (goals and assists). Goaltending - top goaltenders: average, wins, save per- centage, shut-outs. Defensemen - top scoring defensemen. Goals leaders in goals, assists, power-play goals, short- handed goals, game-winning goals, game-tying goals, shots, and first-goals. Team Listings - display the stats for a single team. Select either ‘Scoring’ or ‘Goaltending’, and then select a team. Note: Players who have not played in at least one game will not be listed. Team Setup Menu Here is where you finish setting up the league. From this menu you can customize teams, load or save teams, draft players, and make a schedule. Load/Save Team - click on a team to be loaded or saved. You will then enter a DOS Menu very similar to the ‘TeamDOS’ Menu in Gretzky Hockey. If you load a team, it will replace the team you selected. If you save a team, the league will be unaffected, and you will have a dupli- cate team for future use. Load WGH Team - load a team created in Gretzky Hockey into HLS. Set Budget - set one team’s annual budget. The amount you set here is used throughout the season to pay your players’ salaries. Note: Set Budget will only be displayed if ‘Money’ option is selected. Fire Head Coach - get rid of your current coach. If you have set the League Options so that coaches can affect players, then you will be presented with a list of coaches you may “hire.” Otherwise, you will merely be prompted for a new name. Edit Pro Team - this is identical to the roster editor in Gretzky Hockey, except that now you have as many as 25 players to deal with. The number of players on the NHL teams will vary, so you may find empty spots on some teams. Edit Farm Team - add, change, or delete players on a farm team. Print Pro Team - print one team’s 25-man roster. Set Options - pick the way you want your league run (see the Set Options Menu for more information). Protect Players - this option will only be displayed if you have drafted players. In this case, you may protect 20 players from the Waiver Draft (all unprotected players will be included in the Waiver Draft, which takes place before the start of the regular season). After you select the team whose players you wish to protect, you will be in a roster display similar to ‘Edit Roster.’ The number of players protected will be listed at the top of the screen. To protect a player, move the cursor bar over the player, and click the left mouse button. An asterisk (*) will be displayed next to his name. If you decide you don’t want to protect him after all, click on him again. The asterisk will disappear. Remember: there is no guarantee that unprotected players will still be on your team after the Waiver Draft. Continue - Return to the league Main Menu (or go to the waiver draft if you’ve drafted players). When this option is selected, you will be asked if you’re sure you want to con- tinue. If a schedule hasn’t been created or a new schedule needs to be made (if you changed the league), you will not be able to leave the menu. In addition, each team is checked for unique jersey numbers. If two players on the same team have the same number, you’ll have to fix them before continuing. Computer-controlled teams will auto- matically be fixed. Remember, if you have drafted players, you may protect up to 20 players from the Waiver Draft. Draft Menu The draft allows each team to start from scratch, and pick the players they want on their team. Each team may draft up to 35 players (25 for the major league team and 10 for the minor league team). Teams pick in the order listed on the screen. If the ‘Reverse Order’ option is selected, then the order will be reversed after each round (for example: round 1: 1,2,3 ,... 21; round 2: 21, 20, 19 ,..., 1; round 3: 1,2,3,...21). Enough players are included in the draft so that there are at least 35 players available for each team. All players from every NHL team are always included in the draft, no matter how many teams are actually in the league (so even if the league only has 4 teams in it, you’ll still have players from all 21 teams to choose from). Other players in the draft come from non-NHL teams and the farm teams. The farm teams consist of fictitious players with below-average ratings (although there may be a few “sleepers” in there). Set Draft Order - choose the order in which teams will draft. Click on one team, and then click on another. The two teams will swap positions. When you’re done, click on ‘Save Order’ at the bottom of column 3. Print Draft Order - print out a listing of the drafting order. Normal Order - teams will always pick in the same order each round. Reverse Order - the order will be reversed each round. Sort By Name, Position, Or Salary - sort all players in the draft by the indicated value. Since there may be over 1600 players in the draft pool, the sort may take as long as a minute and a half. Sorting the players by salary is a good way of listing the players by ability, since each player’s salary is based on his ratings (although different ratings are weighted more heavily for different positions). Display Players - display all players in the draft pool on the screen. At this point, players have merely been copied from all the teams; if you look at them and then exit with- out drafting, the teams will be unaffected. Prim Players - print out a list of all players in the draft. Again, since there may be over 1600 players in the list (depending on the league size), be prepared to have a lot of paper on hand. If you are in the middle of printing and decide you want to quit, hit the escape key ‘Esc.’ The players currently in the printer’s memory will be printed, and then the printout will stop. Draft Players - perform the draft. Once you select this option, all teams will be cleared. The computer will auto- matically pick players for computer-controlled teams. Since there are so many players in the draft, the up and down arrows have been replaced by ‘Page Up’ and ‘Page Down’ options. These will move through the list 15 players at a time. The name of the team which is currently picking is displayed at the top, along with its remaining money. The salary of the player currently under the cursor bar is displayed in the upper-right of the screen. To draft a player, move the cursor bar over him and click the left mouse button. You may draft him to your pro team, farm team, or you may choose not to draft him. Enter the cor- rect response (‘p’ = draft to pro team, ‘f ' = draft to farm team, 'c' = cancel). If you draft him to your pro team but your pro team is already full, he will automatically be placed on your farm team. You may choose to pick no more players at all. If you choose the ‘Exit’ option before the draft is completed, the computer will finish the draft for all teams. In general, the computer decides what position to draft for, and then looks for the best player left at that posi- tion (best player = highest salary). Note: Players on the farm teams will NOT be protected from the waiver draft. Also, a team may go over budget during the draft, but this could have dire consequences during the regular-season. Set Options Menu League Options allow you to select the way you want the league to run. This menu can be entered from either the Main Menu or the Team Setup Menu, and the options may be changed as many times as you wish. Coach Affects Play - if this option is highlighted, then dif- ferent coaches can affect player performance (i.e. ratings) differently. Thus, in the course of a season, some players’ ratings may increase or decrease one or two points. Note: In order for a coach to affect players, you must first fire your coach. The new coach will now affect the players positively, negatively, or not at all. It is up to you to decide if the coach is any good. Money - No Money - selecting the ‘Money’ option adds another dimension to managing a team. Each team will start out with a budget. From this amount player salaries must be paid. If the team runs out of money, its players will “go on strike” (their ratings will all drop drastically). If the ‘No Money’ option is selected, then money will have no bearing on the league. You Manage - you will be in charge of selecting rosters for all teams-even those controlled by the computer. This gives you the final say in who will play each game. This will probably be of most use to people who are interested in exactly reproducing games played in real life. Computer Manages - the computer will pick its Own ros- ters, manage its own teams, and decide whether or not to accept trades proposed by human-controlled teams. Streaks/Slumps - If this option is selected, players will go through “hot” and “cold” streaks. That is, for a certain number of games, a player’s ratings may go up or down by as much as two points. These changes are only temporary, and may change on a game-to-game basis. The adjusted ratings are displayed in the Head Coach Menu. To see original player ratings, use the General Manager Menu. Trade Players Menu This menu is entered via the General Manager Menu. If the Money option is activated (see Set Options Menu ) both players and money may be involved in a trade. Oth- erwise only players may be moved. Players may be selected by choosing the appropriate team under ‘Select Players.’ After you have selected players and/or money, they will appear in the Trade Window beneath their car- rent teams. After all of the selections have been made, each team must accept the trade in order for it to go through. To do this, select ‘Accept’ on the proper side of the menu beneath the team name. If you don’t like the trade, select ‘Cancel.’ Note: If one of the teams is computer-controlled and the ‘Computer Manages’ option is activated (see Set Options Menu ), then the computer will decide whether or not to accept the trade after you select ‘Accept’ for the other team. If the computer turns you down, you can try “sweet- ening the pot” by adding additional money and/or players. For example, suppose the Capitals wanted to trade Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy to the NorthStrs for Dino Cic- carelli and Bob Rouse. To do this, you would first select ‘From Capitals’ from the menu. This would put you into the roster display. Find Mike Gartner in the player listing and move the cursor bar over him so that he is highlighted. Now press return. An asterisk (*) will appear next to his name. Do the same thing for Larry Murphy. Now select ‘Exit.’ Select ‘From NorthStrs,’ and select Dino Ciccarelli and Bob Rouse in a similar way. After you select ‘Exit,’ you will be back in the Trade Menu, and you will see the players displayed under their current teams (Gartner and Murphy under the Capitals; Ciccarelli and Rouse under the NorthStrs). To finish the trade both the Capitals and the NorthStrs most select ‘Accept.’ Note: After a trade, players are sent t o their new ream’s farm club. Select ‘Exit’ to return to the General Manager Menu. Schedule Review Menu This menu allows you to display or print the schedule during the course of a season. Games which have already been played will have their scores displayed. Print Schedule All Games - print all games in the schedule, starting at the beginning of the season. Remaining Games - print only games which have not yet been played. League - selecting this option causes every game to be printed. Team - this option causes only a single team’s games to be printed. Review Scores Display - display scores on the screen. Print - send scores to printer. One Team - display scores and upcoming games for a single team. Two Teams - display scores and upcoming games between two teams. This is useful if you’re interested in seeing how your team has fared against a particular team during a season. Exit- return to Main Menu. Commonly Asked Questions General Information 1. “Can I use teams that I made in Wayne Gretzky Hockey with the Hockey League Simulator?” Yes, with certain qualifications. Refer to “Loading Teams Created in Gretzky Hockey” on page 12. Since WGH teams have only 20 players and HLS teams have 25, the extra 5 spots will be cleared. 2. “What about Bethesda Softworks’ NHL DataDisk.?” DataDisks that Bethesda produces have both types of teams on them, so that they may be used with both the Hockey League Simulator and Wayne Gretzky Hockey. 3. “Sometimes I change league data and the next rime I run the Hockey League Simulator. all my changes have disappeared. Why ?” You probably did not save your changes when you quit HLS. Any time you make changes to the HLS, a dia- logue box will appear when you quit, asking if you wish to save the changes. Be sure to depress ‘y’ for yes. 4. “What is Auto-Play?” Auto-Play means that the computer will “play” a game between two teams. Auto-Play provides a quick way to play a lot of games, and is usually used to play a game between two computer-controlled teams, (although any game may be played this way). There are two ways to ‘Auto-Play’ a game. In Manual mode, you pick one game for the computer to generate. In Automatic mode, the computer will continue to generate games as long as both teams are computer controlled. 5. “How do I use the League Simulator with Wayne Gretzky Hockey?" To play a league game using Wayne Gretzky Hockey, you must save the rosters for the game you wish to play. Then, when you play Gretzky Hockey, load in the teams (in the ‘TeamDOS’ Menus). Play the game, and when you are finished, save the stats. You will then be able to load the stats back into the League Simulator. 6. "How does the money work?” Each team starts out with a budget. After each game, players are paid their salaries from this budget. If a team runs out of money, the players won’t get paid, and there- fore will not play as well as they are able. 7. “Does every team have to start out with the same amount of money?” No. In fact, in the pre-made league, each team has a dif- ferent budget (generally enough to pay salaries plus an additional $100,000 - $200,000). However, if you draft players, each team’s budget will be reset to $5,000,000. You can always change the budgets after the draft, though. 8. "Can I run a league without worrying about money?” Yes. If you’re not interested in the financial aspects of the League Simulator, then select ‘No Money’ in the Set Options Menu. 9. “Why do player ratings sometimes change between the Head Coach Menu and the General Manager Menu?" The Head Coach Menu displays players’ ratings after they have been adjusted for their streaks and slumps, while the General Manager Menu always displays the actual ratings, without adjustments. Amiga COMMODORE AMIGA (All models) 1. “Can I use regular Amiga-DOS disks with the League Simulator?” No. Because we use a proprietary (i.e. non-standard) DOS, you must use specially formatted disks. You may format a disk in the League Simulator Main Menu by selecting the ‘Format Data Disk’ option. After the disk has been properly formatted, it can then be used with the Hockey League Simulator and Wayne Gretzky Hockey. 2. “Can I run the League Simulator from a hard disk?” No. Because WGH uses a special operating system that is not compatible with standard AmigaDOS, a hard disk cannot be used. This is the one unfortunate side effect of using our more efficient, but different, DOS. IBM IBM and Compatibles 1. “Can I format a disk within the League Simulator?” No. Although the League Simulator runs in MS-DOS, you must format disks separately before you use the League Simulator. 2. “Can I run the League Simulator from a hard disk?” Yes. In fact, we recommend using a hard disk if you have one. 3. “Sometimes when I try to load stats from Wayne Gretzky Hockey into the Hockey League Simulator, the file name doesn't appear. What should I do?” If you stats file does not appear automatically in the Load Game Stats Menu, select ‘Force Load.’ This will force the display of all existing stat files. Once they appear, select the one you want. Brought to you by Belgarath