Front Page Sports: Football version 1.02 Supplemental Documentation General Information 1. The music and sound effects will occur in the opening sequence of the game even if the music and sound are turned off in the game menus. 2. When the Dynamix screen first appears, hitting ESC, Enter, Space, mouse button, or joystick button will skip over the opening credits and go directly to the main menu. 3. Backing up league data is extremely important. At a minimum, Dynamix recommends that you back up the league data before reaching the Between Seasons portion of the career leagues. It is highly recommended that you back up after each week of play. The league backup consists of copying the LEAGUE.* files onto a floppy disk or into a separate subdirectory of the hard drive. Because the number of files change throughout the course of a season, it is best to not overwrite previous backups, or to copy over bad league files when restoring. Therefore, if the target contains a previous backup or league, it should be deleted before backing up or restoring the desired league. 4. Pressing SHIFT-F6 causes the current screen to be captured as an LBM graphic file. The LBM format is primarily a Deluxe Paint (TM) file format, but can be converted to the more popular formats such as GIF or BMP. Navigating Menus Controls: Game screens can be controlled and functions can be selected with either the mouse, Joystick 1, or the keyboard. The mouse is the preferred method. Unless specifically noted, all instructions will assume the use of the mouse as the menu selection device. Full instructions on how to use these control devices can be found on pages 8-9 of the Front Page Sports: Football game manual. Selections: There are several types of items that can be selected from game menus: Menu Items, Text Boxes, Radio Buttons, Check Boxes, and Text Items. Menu Items are red buttons with grey borders and white lettering. Text Boxes are dark grey boxes with yellow lettering. Most text boxes allow free-form data entry. Radio Buttons allow exclusive selection of one option from a group of two or more options. The button is dark grey when in it's "depressed" or selected state and light grey when not selected. Check Boxes allow for individual selection of specific game options. They appear as a dark grey box with a yellow X when the option is selected. Text Items on some screens can be selected. Clicking on text which is not selectable does nothing. File Requester: Some game selections will display a File Requester box. Each File Requester has five principle areas: Menu Items in the lower right corner, usually OK and Cancel buttons. Text Box in the upper left corner, allowing for direct filename entry Caution: Because the file extension is optional, it is possible to enter an illegal filename which uses more than 8 characters. On files which store their directory structure, an illegal filename will cause the file to be inaccessible. Scroll Box in the lower left corner, displaying files in the current directory which match the type of file being requested in yellow. Additional subdirectories are displayed in grey. To select an item in a scroll box: 1) Click once on an item to highlight it. Click on the highlighted item to select it. If the desired item is already highlighted, click it once to select it. OR 2) Move highlight bar to desired item. Click on the OK menu item. Selecting subdirectories allows navigation through various DOS subdirectories until the desired location is found. Drive Selection Button between the Scroll Box and the Filename Text Box. Clicking the button allows Scroll Box or Text Box entry of the active disk drives. Selection of a drive returns the display to Filenames. Current Directory Display to the right of the Drive Selection Button. Text area displays the current directory. Because of space limitations, only the last part of the path is displayed. For example if the display is MIX\FOOTBALL then the current directory is \DYNAMIX\FOOTBALL. It is important to check the current directory to assure that files are saved in the correct location. Scroll Boxes: Most screens with lists display the list in a scrolling box with a scroll bar. The scroll bar has 4 basic components: Up Arrow (clicking this scrolls up the list on line at a time), Down Arrow (clicking this scrolls down the list one line at a time), Bar Background (black area behind the Bar Status indicator - note that this is not always visible), and the Bar Status indicator (grey movable box on top of Bar Background). The Bar Background is only visible when the list exceeds the available display area. The size of the Bar Status indicator is inversely proportional to the size of the list. The relationship of the size of the Bar Status indicator compared to the overall size of the Bar Background is directly proportional to the relationship of the display area compared to the overall size of the list. Short List=Big Bar - Long List=Little Bar A list can be scrolled in several ways: click the up and down arrows, click and drag the Bar Status indicator up and down the Bar Background, and clicking on the Bar Background above or below the Bar Status indicator to page through the list. Special mention must be made for non-mouse usage of Scroll Boxes. Use the up/down keyboard keys or joystick movement to move the pointer to the Bar Background (note that the pointer will be in the middle of the Bar Background length and may be actually on top of the Bar Status indicator). Then, press and hold down the "A" button. Use the Up/Down keys or joystick movement to scroll the Bar Status indicator up and down. Keyboard Notes: The proper cursor keys to use are the ones on the numeric keypad, NOT the "T" cursor. Using the "T" cursor keys can cause the help box to display necessitating clearing it by tapping the "B" button. Date Display: Whenever a league is loaded, the current league date is displayed at the bottom left of the screen. Menu Descriptions Screen Title: Main Menu Activating Menu/Item: None - this is the opening game menu Menu Items: QuickStart - Begins play of game based upon settings in the Changing Quickstart screen. Change QuickStart - Activates the Changing QuickStart screen. League Play - Activates the League Play screen. Exhibition Play - Activates the Exhibition Play screen. Return to DOS - Exits the game. Special: After 1 minute of user inactivity on this screen, the computer will start a demonstration game. The teams used are randomly chosen from the league selected as the default league in the Changing QuickStart screen. If left unattended the game will play to completion using the quarter lengths selected as the default quarter length in the Changing QuickStart screen. Hit ESC to exit the demonstration and return to the Main Menu. Screen Title: Changing QuickStart Activating Menu/Item: Main Menu/Change QuickStart Menu Items: Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Boxes: Default League - Activates the File Requester to allow selection of the default league. Home Team - Displays a list of teams in the Default League in a grey box. Click on the team name to select it. Visiting Team - Displays a list of teams in the Default League in a grey box. Click on the team name to select it. Radio Buttons: Type of Game - Exhibition or League Quarter Length in Exhibition - 5:00, 10:00 or 15:00 minutes Home Team Playcall Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Home Team Action Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Home Team Controls - Joystick 1, Joystick 2, Keyboard or Computer Visiting Team Playcall Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Visiting Team Action Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Visiting Team Controls - Joystick 1, Joystick 2, Keyboard or Computer Note: A control item will be "greyed" out when it is unavailable. Control items in use by the other "side" will be unavailable except Computer. Special: The selected Default League is the league that is loaded when the program is started. The computer will also randomly pick teams from this league when a demonstration game is started. The selected Quarter Length in Exhibition is the quarter length the computer will use when playing demonstration games. Screen Title: Exhibition Play Activating Menu/Item: Main Menu/Exhibition Play Menu Items: Show Highlights - Loads the Highlights/Instant Replay screen. Play Football - Begins play of Exhibition Game using teams and settings on this screen. Play Editor - Loads the play editor, using the team in the Home Team Text Box. Note that a Home Team must be selected in order to use this function. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Boxes: Home Team - Displays a list of teams in the Home League in a grey box. Click on the team name to select it. Home League - Activates the File Requester to allow selection of the home league. Visiting Team - Displays a list of teams in the Visiting League in a grey box. Click on the team name to select it. Visiting League - Activates the File Requester to allow selection of the visiting league Radio Buttons: Home Team Playcall Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Home Team Action Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Home Team Controls - Joystick 1, Joystick 2, Keyboard or Computer Visiting Team Controls - Joystick 1, Joystick 2, Keyboard or Computer Note: A control item will be "greyed" out when it is unavailable. Control items in use by the other "side" will be unavailable except Computer. Visiting Team Playcall Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Visiting Team Action Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced Home Jersey - Light or Dark Quarter Length in Exhibition - 5:00, 10:00 or 15:00 Screen Title: League Play - League Name Activating Menu/Item: Main Menu/League Play Menu Items: Teams & Standings - Activates the Standings screen. League Schedule - Activates the Schedule screen. League Leaders - Activates the League Leaders screen. Trade Desk - Activates the Trade News screen. League Data - Activates the League Data screen. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: Menu items and their titles will change on this screen at different points of each season. The above items are available at all times. The following items are available between seasons in career leagues. Note that before starting the new season you should perform all necessary Injured Reserve moves, and should be sure that all desired statistics have been saved or printed. Note that the team play editor and free agent signings are not available at this point. This is a very good point to exit the program and backup the league. Start New Season - Appears upon completion of the League Championship game. This option creates a new season for the current league which consists of erasing the previous season statistics, setting up a new schedule, and creating a new college draft pool for career leagues. Examine Draft Order - Appears after clicking the Start New Season button. Activates the Draft Order screen. This item is the same for both College and Supplemental drafts. Examine Draft Roster - Appears after clicking the Start New Season button. Activates the Draft Roster screen. This item is the same for both College and Supplemental drafts. Start Draft - Appears after clicking the Start New Season button for the start of the College Draft and before the start of the Supplemental Draft. Activates the Draft - Round X screen. Resume Draft - Appears when either the College or Supplemental Drafts are in progress. Activates the Draft - Round X screen. Start Training Camp - Appears upon completion of the Supplemental Draft. Clicking this button conducts the training process. If human managed teams have not completed training camp assignments, a pop-up menu appears declaring that the named teams have not completed their training assignments, and offers Continue and Cancel menu items. Selecting Continue will continue with the training without the necessary assignments. Selecting Cancel stops the training camp and allows you to go to the Team News screen and make the necessary training assignments. The Training Camp simulation can take quite some time to perform. Screen Title: League Data Activating Menu/Item: League Name/League Data Menu Items: Past Champions - Displays a pop-up menu containing a scroll list with the name of each year's champions in this league. New League - Starts the New League creation process. See Tutorial 6: Building a New League on page 58 for details. Select Teams - Activates the New League screen. Available only during the New League creation process. Load League - Activates a file requester for loading another league. In addition to the standard file requester items, this requester offers a text box that displays the full league name of the highlighted league, and a Delete menu item which erases the currently highlighted league. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Boxes: League Name - Free text entry up to 24 characters. Conference Name - Free text entry up to 24 characters. Not available on all leagues. Division Name - Free text entry up to 24 characters. Championship Trophy - Free text entry up to 24 characters. Special: Changes can only be made to the league data between seasons. Any change made prompts you to save the changes upon choosing Return. See Building Custom Leagues for details on selecting teams from different leagues when building a new league. Screen Title: New League Activating Menu/Item: Team Data/Select Teams Menu Items: Select Team - Displays a pop-up menu of team names from the currently selected league for insertion into the position of the currently selected team. Load League - Displays a File Requester box allowing selection of the current league. This allows you to select teams from multiple leagues for the new league. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Items: The team names are displayed alphabetically in their respective divisions on the left side of the screen. Click on a team name to make it the active team. The active team is displayed in orange and it's slot is displayed in the test box on the upper right side of the screen. Text Box: The area on the upper right side of the screen displays both the currently selected league, and the currently selected team. This is not directly editable, but changes as the current league and teams are changed. Special: When alternate teams are selected, the team names will not be resorted in order to make it easy to keep track of which team slots have been changed. Single Season leagues may import teams from Single Season or Career leagues, but Career leagues may only import teams from other Career leagues. Screen Title: League Play - Standings Activating Menu/Item: League Name/Teams & Standings Menu Items: Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Items: Clicking on Team Name will activate the Team News - Team Name screen. Special: 1. The statistics on this screen are not documented. They are: W - number of Wins L - number of Losses T - number of games Tied PF - Points For, the number of points scored by this team PA - Points Against, the number of points scored by this teams opponents 2. This screen is not printable. Screen Title: Team News - Team Name Activating Menu: Standings/Team Name Menu Items: Training Camp - Loads the Training Camp Assignment screen. Team Data - Activates the Team Data screen. Play Editor - Loads the Play Editor. Roster - Activates the Team Roster screen. Schedule - Activates the Team Schedule screen. Statistics - Activates the Team Statistics screen. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Items: Team trade proposals and news will appear under the Current News heading. To accept or reject a trade proposal, click twice on the proposed trade. You are prompted to "Accept or Reject this trade?" and are given Accept, Reject and Cancel menu items. Note that the computer will automatically reject all outstanding league trade proposals involving either of the two teams when a trade is accepted. Special: The Play Editor menu item is not available for computer owned teams or for teams which do not have all assigned slots filled. The Training Camp menu item is made available immediately following the supplemental draft in a career league. Screen Title: Team Data - Team Name Activating Menu/Item: Team News/Team Data Menu Items: Change Password - Prompts for password entry and confirmation. Warning: the password is encrypted into the league file, therefore loss of a password will render the league unplayable. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Boxes: Team Name - Free text entry up to 16 characters. Nickname - Free text entry up to 16 characters. Abbreviation - Free text in capitals up to 4 characters Ownership - Toggles between Human and Computer ownership. When changing a team to human ownership, you are prompted for a password. Warning: the password is encrypted into the league file, therefore loss of a password will render the league unplayable. Unless it is absolutely necessary, it is recommended to not use a password. To avoid using a password, simply press enter or click the OK item when prompted. Head Coach - Free text entry up to 24 characters. Stadium - Free text entry up to 16 characters. Surface - Toggles Outdoor/Grass, Outdoor/Artificial and Indoor/Artificial stadium and surface types. Nearest City - Activates a selection screen similar to the File Requester displaying available cities. Note that this selection is for determining weather for outdoor stadiums only. You can make Team Names using cities other than the ones provided for this selection, simply choose a Nearest City whose weather patterns most closely resemble those of the city used. Light Jersey - Displays a screen allowing selection of the Light Jersey Color. Available colors are: Gold, Silver, Orange, Aqua, White. Dark Jersey - Displays a screen allowing selection of the Dark Jersey color. Available colors are: Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Red Pants Color - Displays a screen allowing selection of the Pants color. Available colors are: Blue, Orange, Green, Gold, Purple, White, Red, Aqua, Black, Silver Radio Buttons: Playcall Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced. This overrides the default selection in QuickStart. Action Mode - Basic, Standard or Advanced. This overrides the default selection in QuickStart. Check Boxes: Computer Manager. When selected, the computer will perform all Roster Moves. Screen Title: Team Roster - Team Name Activating Menu/Item: Team News/Roster Special: This is a Turn to... screen with 10 options in 3 subtypes. Each subtype is listed. Subtype: Open/IR Roster Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K, Open/IR, and Injured players. Roster Move - Displays pop-up menu allowing selection of Propose trade, Sign free agent, and Injured reserve. Note this option is only available for human owned teams. The Propose trade option is only available during the first half of the season. Print - Prints the entire roster in position order. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: The Roster Move option is only available for human owned teams. The propose trade option is only available in the first half of any league season. Subtype: Injured Players Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K, Open/IR, and Injured players. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: The scroll box lists all players which have injuries. The categories displayed and their meanings are: 1st column - displays type of slot the player is occupying, A=assigned, O=open, I=Injured reserve POS. - Player position, i.e., QB, HB No. - Player jersey number Name - Player name INJY - Injury category and length. Letter indicates severity of injury and is charted on page 36. The number indicates the number of weeks the player is expected to remain injured, not the total length of expected injury or the original assessment. CONDITION - Description of the type of injury originally sustained. WK. -The number of the week in which the player was originally injured. Subtype: Position (QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K) Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K, Open/IR, and Injured players. Change Number - To change a displayed player's number, click the Change Number button. Then click on the player twice. A pop-up menu appears describing legal jersey numbers, a text box for number entry, and OK and Cancel menu items. Illegal number entry simply causes the OK button to not function. There is no warning. Change Slot - To exchange the positions of an assigned roster slot player and an open roster slot player, click the Change Slot button. Then click twice on either player. The player list will be redrawn with the selected player at the bottom of the list in a grey highlight and all players in the opposite slot listed above. Click twice on the second player to complete the swap. Print - Prints the entire roster in position order. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: Clicking twice on a player name on these screens without first clicking either Change Number or Change Slot displays a pop-up menu that allows player data to be modified. Note that this is only available before the start of any season. For career leagues, the player's first and last names may be freely edited. Both names are limited to 12 characters each. For single-season leagues, the player's 8 ratings may be modified as well. The menu also has an OK and Cancel button. Reference page 35 for a table listing player modification restrictions. Note that version 1.02 of the program removed the single season league restriction on changing player name. Screen Title: Team Schedule - Team Name (Record) Activating Menu/Item: Team News/Schedule Menu Items: Return - Returns to activating menu Text Items: The selected team's schedule is displayed. Games which have been played will display the score with the winning team listed first. Games which have not been played will display the game in the format Visitor AT Home. Providing that no games have been played in the current week, clicking on the previous week's game will activate the Game Boxscore screen. Clicking on the current week's game will display a pop-up menu showing the game matchup and Play, Simulate, and Cancel menu items. Upon completion of play or simulation of a game from this screen, the League Schedule screen is loaded. Screen Title: Team Statistics - Team Name (Record) Activating Menu/Item: Team News/Statistics Special: 1. This is a Turn to... screen with 8 options and 2 subtypes. Both subtypes are listed. 2. None of the Team Statistics screens are printable. 3. Team Statistics categories are explained on pages 86-89 of the manual. Subtype: Individual Statistics (Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Fumbles, Defense, Kicking/Punting, and Kick/Punt Returns). Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Fumbles, Defense, Kicking/Punting, Kick/Punt Returns, and Team statistics. Career/Last Game/Season - Changes the current statistical display to include the type of statistics listed. Clicking Career will display the career statistics for all active players on the team in that category. Clicking Last Game will display the statistics for the last league game matchup involving this team. Clicking Season will display the accumulated current season statistics for the players in that category. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Subtype: Team Statistics Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Fumbles, Defense, Kicking/Punting, Kick/Punt Returns, and Team statistics. Last Game/Season - Changes the current statistical display to include the type of statistics listed. Clicking Last Game will display the statistics for the last league game matchup involving this team. Clicking Season will display the accumulated current season statistics for the players in that category. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Screen Title: Training Camp Assignment Activating Menu/Item: Team News - Team Name/Training Camp Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of which position to make training assignments. The menu displays the 8 primary positions (QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K) and a Cancel button. Next to each position is the percentage of training time assigned. To select a new position, click on the % number, not the position title. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: 1. This screen displays the assignments for the Quarterback position when first entering. 2. The screen displays each of the 8 ratings categories, each with a % assigned, up and down arrows, and a description of the type of training performed: Acceleration (AC) - Wind Sprints Agility (AG) - Footwork Drills Hands (HA) - Ball Handling Strength (ST) - Weight Training Speed (SP) - Speed Drills Endurance (EN) - Daily Doubles Intelligence (IN) - Game Films Discipline (DI) - Scrimmages Clicking an up arrow increases the amount of training camp time spent in that category by 5%. Clicking a down arrow decreases the amount of training camp time spent on that category by 5%. 3. If no training time is allocated to a category, players in that position will have the ratings in that category decrease. Allotting just 5% time will allow the players to neither gain nor lose rating in that particular category. Allotting more time to a category will increase the players ratings in that category. The amount of increase depends upon how much time is assigned and how close each player's rating is to his potential rating which is not viewable by the user. 4. Selecting Turn to... without completing training time assignments for the current position will cause a pop-up menu to be displayed informing you that "Not all time has been allotted for this position. Go to another position?" and prompting you for an OK or Cancel. 5. Selecting Return without completing training time assignments will cause a pop-up menu to be displayed informing you that "Not all time has been allocated for each position. Save Partial allocations and leave Training Camp now?" and prompting you for an OK or Cancel. 6. After all training time has been allocated, selecting Return prompts you to save the changes, Yes, No, or Cancel. Screen Title: League Play - Current Schedule (Past Schedule/Future Schedule) Activating Menu/Item: League Name/League Schedule Menu Items: Simulate - Commences simulating all game matchups with the Sim radio button depressed. Look Back - Changes the display to the previous week's schedule. If no games have been played in the current week, the last week's boxscores may be viewed. Look Ahead - Displays the next week's schedule of games. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Items: Game matchups will be displayed vertically to the right of a grey area containing the radio buttons. The text items are active only under certain conditions. When the screen header displays Current Schedule, clicking a text item will either play or simulate that game depending upon whether the Play or Sim radio buttons are depressed. When the screen displays the matchups for the week prior to the current week and no games have been played in the current week, clicking the game matchup will activate the Game Boxscore screen. Radio Buttons: To the left of the game matchups are groups of radio buttons labeled Play and Sim. When the Simulate menu item is selected, all game matchups which have their Sim radio button depressed will simulate. Special: Hitting CTRL-ESC during simulation will abort the entire simulation session. Because the league is updated only upon completion of the simulate session, all simmed gamed will be lost. Note that the menu items are not always available, depending upon the current date and status of the league. When simming a game between 2 human owned teams, the computer will ask you "What team are you?" This is to determine which team is selecting it's gameplans first. Screen Title: Box Scores: Week X Activating Menu/Item: Current Schedule or Past Schedule or Team Schedule/Game Matchup Menu Items: Print - Available only on the Team Statistics screen and prints only the Team Statistics. Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of Offensive Player Statistics, Defensive Player Statistics and Team Statistics. Show Highlights - Loads the VCR interface allowing computer or human selected game highlights to be viewed. In games which are completely controlled by the computer, the computer will pick the five best plays for the game highlights. For games which have a human player, you must manually save highlights in order for them to be here. See pages 81-83 for a full description of the VCR interface. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: 1. Refer to the Box Score Reference on pages 84-85 for a full description of the contents of these screens. 2. The maximum score displayable on the Team Statistics screen is 128 points. If a team's score in a game exceeds this value, the screen will only display 128 points, but the full score is being calculated into the cumulative statistics of the game. 3. Due to space limitations, not all player contributions will be displayed on the Offensive and Defensive Player Statistics screens. Even though a player's contributions are not being displayed here, they are still being calculated into league totals. 4. Only the Team Statistics screen is printable, hence it is the only screen that displays the Print menu item. Screen Title: League Leaders Activating Menu/Item: League Name/League Leaders Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of the statistical category to display. Displayable statistical categories are: Passing, Rushing, Pass Receptions, Scoring, Sacks, Interceptions, Field Goals, Punting, Kick Returns, Punt Returns, Turnovers, Yards, Tackles and Cancel. Next Page - Displays the second page of the statistics screen when viewing statistics categories which have more than one screen full of data. The Passing and Punting screens have two pages. Individual/Team - Toggles between Individual and Team total statistics display on most screens. The screens which do NOT have separate Individual/Team are: Pass Receptions (Individual only, team reception statistics are the same as team pass statistics), Sacks & Tackles (shows both team and individual on the same screen) and Turnovers & Yards (show team statistics only). Print - Prints the current statistics list in the current sort order. Note that the entire list is printed which can be quite lengthy. There is no way to limit the list, nor to print to file. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Text Items: The statistics category headers are active. The header with the yellow label shows the currently sorted category. Clicking on any other black header will resort the list on that category. Headers in grey (example is Name) are not sortable. Statistical Categories: The manual does not document the league leaders section. Following is a complete list of all the statistics on each screen. Passing: Page 1: ATT - Number of pass attempts CMP - Number of pass attempts completed CMP% - Completion percentage (CMP/ATT) YDS - Total number of yards gained by passing AVG/ATT - Average yards gained per pass attempt (YDS/ATT) RTG - Passer rating. This is an official statistic which holds very little real meaning. It has a theoretical cap of 100, but in practice good passing teams have ratings higher than 100. Page 2: TD - Number of touchdowns scored via passing LG - Longest touchdown pass INT - Number of interceptions thrown SK - Number of times sacked SK YDS - Total yards lost on sacks NET YDS - The difference between total yards and sack yards Rushing: Rushes - Number of rushing attempts Yards - Number of yards gained via rushing Average - Average yards gained per rushing attempt (Yards/Rushes) Long - Longest rush TD - Number of touchdowns scored via rushing Pass Reception: No. - Number of pass receptions Yards - Total yards on pass receptions Average - Average yards gained on pass receptions (Yards/No.) Long - Longest pass reception TD - Number of touchdowns via pass receptions Scoring: TD - Total number of touchdowns TDR - Touchdowns via rushing TDP - Touchdowns via passing TDM - Miscellaneous touchdowns (kick/punt returns, interceptions, fumbles, etc.) PAT/A - Point After Touchdowns made and attempted (this is commonly known as the Extra Point) FG/A - Field Goals mad and attempted SAF - Safeties TP - Total points Sacks: Sacks has only one category, sacks made. Both individual and team stats are shown on the same screen. Interceptions: No. - Number of interceptions Yards - Yards gained on interception returns Average - Average yards gained per interception (Yards/No.) Long - Longest interception return TD - Number of touchdowns scored on interceptions Field Goals: 1-29 - Number of field goals made and attempted from between 1 and 29 yards 30-39 - Number of field goals made and attempted from between 30 and 39 yards 40-49 - Number of field goals made and attempted from between 40 and 49 yards 50+ - Number of field goals made and attempted from longer than 50 yards TOT - Total number of field goals made and attempted PCT - Field goal completion percentage LG - Longest field goal made Punting: Page 1: Punts - Number of punts made YDS - Total number of yards for all punts, not including returns LG - Longest punt, not including returns GRS AVG - Gross average, not including returns (YDS/Punts) Page 2: TB - Touchbacks on punts BLK - Number of punts blocked RET/YDS - Number of punts returned and total yards allowed NET AVG - Net average yards per punt attempt. Average number of yards punted minus average return yardage Kick Returns: No. - Number of kicks returned Yards - Total number of yards gained on kick returns Average - Average yards gained per kick return (Yards/No.) Long - Longest kick return TD - Number of touchdowns made on kick returns Punt Returns: No. - Number of punts returned FC - Number of fair catches called Yards - Number of yards gained on punt returns Average - Average number of yards gained per punt return (Yards/No.) Long - Longest punt return TD - Number of touchdowns made on punt returns Turnovers: Takeaways: INT - Number of interceptions caught FUM - Number of opponent fumbles recovered TOT - Total number of takeaways Giveaways: INT - Number of interceptions thrown FUM - Number of fumbles lost TOT - Total number of giveaways Yards: Gained: Pass - Number of yards gained via passing Rush - Number of yards gained via rushing Total - Total number of yards gained Allowed: Pass - Number of yards allowed via passing Rush - Number of yards allowed via rushing Total - Total number of yards allowed Tackles: Tackles has only one category, defensive tackles made. Both individual and team tackles are shown on the same screen. Note that this category only calculates and displays defensive statistics. Additionally compiling the data for this screen can take quite a bit of time. Special: 1. Printing any "league leaders" screen prints all players in that position, regardless of qualifications for league leader status. This is contrary to the standard method of displaying league players, but this section is operating correctly. 2. Lists will be printed in the selected sort order. 3. Clicking the B button on the category header explains the category. Screen Title: Trade News Activating Menu/Item: League Name/Trade Desk Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of Proposed trades, Accepted trades, and Rejected trades. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: When this screen is activated it will be using the last displayed screen, i.e. Proposed, Accepted or Rejected. Screen Title: Draft Order Activating Menu/Item: League Name/Examine Draft Order Menu Items: Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: The teams are displayed in reverse finish order. The winner of the League Championship game is the last team and the loser of the League Championship game is the second from last team displayed. All other teams are displayed in reverse finish order using the tie breaker procedures as outlined on page 32 of the manual. Screen Title: Draft Roster Activating Menu/Item: League Name/Examine Draft Roster Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P, K and Cancel. Print - Prints all available players in the draft for all positions. This list can be long. There is no way to limit the number of players printed. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: All draftable players are displayed on screen, one position at a time, in a scroll box. Screen Title: Draft - Round X Activating Menu/Item: League Name/Start Draft or Resume Draft Menu Items: Quick draft - Clicking Quick Draft starts/continues the draft process. The computer will make selections for computer managed teams in the draft order until a human managed team is encountered. If no teams are human managed, this will conduct the entire draft. When a human managed team is encountered, the computer displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K and Cancel. Selecting a position will display the Draft Roster screen. Selecting cancel will return to this screen. Select - Clicking the select button allows the next team in the draft to select a player. If the team is computer managed, a pop-up menu will display the draft pick and requires you to click an OK button. If the team is human managed, the computer displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P/K and Cancel. Selecting a position will display the Draft Roster screen. Selecting cancel will return to this screen. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Special: 1. Clicking Cancel from Quick Draft returns to this screen but does not display the Quick Draft menu item. This indicates that the Quick Draft is still in effect. Choosing Select will continue the Quick Draft with the current human owned team. Choosing Return will cancel the current Quick Draft. 2. See the Between Seasons section for step by step instructions on conducting a draft. Screen Title: Draft Roster Activating Menu/Item: Draft - Round X/Quick Draft or Select Menu Items: Turn to... - Displays a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P, K and Cancel. Print - Prints the entire roster of all available players. This list can be long and there is no way to limit what prints. Return - Returns to the activating menu. Scroll Box: A scroll box displays the available players for the selected position. Clicking twice on the desired player will draft him. Special: See the Between Seasons section for step by step instructions on conducting a draft. Roster Moves Propose trade - Trades can only be made during the first half of any league season. Note that the player you wish to trade must be in an open roster slot and must not be injured. 1. From the Team Roster - Open/IR Slots screen, click Roster Move. 2. Click Propose Trade. 3. A pop-up menu says "Please select player to trade away" and give OK and Cancel options. 4. Click OK. 5. Click twice on player to be traded. 6. A Select Position pop-up menu appears. Select the position of player desired. 7. A pop-up menu will appear stating either "No teams interested in player" OR "Teams interested in trade" with the teams listed and a Cancel button. Note that human managed teams will always be displayed. This does not indicate an assumed interest by that team. 8. Click on a Team to choose a player or Cancel to abort the trade. 9. The Team Roster for the selected position appears along with Print and Cancel menu items. 10. Click twice on the desired player. 11. A pop-up menu displays the proposed trade details and offers OK, New Team, New Player, and Cancel menu items. Selecting New Team will return to step number 8. Choosing New Player returns to step number 9. Clicking Cancel aborts the entire process. 12. Click OK to attempt trade. If the other team is human managed the trade proposal will be listed in the Current News of the two teams. The other team must then accept or reject the trade. If the other team is Computer Managed the trade will be either accepted or rejected immediately. If the trade is accepted you are prompted to click the OK button and are returned to their team's Open/IR roster. If the trade is rejected, you are returned to step number 11. Note: A computer managed team may express interest in a trade, but may reject all direct proposals. Deleting trade - Proposed trades with human managed teams may be deleted. From the proposing team's Team News screen, click twice on the Trade Proposal test item. Click on either Delete or Cancel. Accepting or Rejecting trade - From the accepting team's Team News screen, click twice on the trade proposal text item. Click on either Accept, Reject, or Cancel. Sign free agent - Free agents may be signed at any time except during the draft. 1. From the Team Roster Open/IR slots screen, click the Roster Move button. 2. Click Sign free agent. 3. A pop-up menu for position selection appears. Click the desired position or Cancel. 4. A scroll box with available players for the selected position appears as well as Print and Return menu items. Selecting Print from any free agent position listing will print a complete list of all available free agents for all positions. Selecting Return aborts the process and returns to the Open/IR Roster screen. 5. Click twice on the desired player. 6. If there are no open roster slots on the signing team, you are presented with a menu that says "Please select player to release" and has OK and Cancel buttons. Selecting Cancel will abort the process. 7. Select OK and you are presented with an Open/IR Slots listing of the team roster with a Return menu item. Selecting Return will abort the signing and return to the Team News screen. Clicking anywhere other than the Return button or a player name will abort the signing and return to the Team Roster Open/IR Slots screen. 8. Click twice on the player to be released. A pop-up menu displays who is being signed and who is being released and prompts for an OK or Cancel. Moving player to injured reserve - In order to be eligible to be moved onto the injured reserve list, a player must be projected to be injured for at least 6 weeks and be in an open roster slot. 1. From the Team Roster Open/IR Slots screen select Roster Move. 2. Click Injured reserve. 3. A pop-up menu appears saying "Please select player for injured reserve" with OK and Cancel menu items. Selecting Cancel aborts the process. 4. Click OK, then click twice on the player name. Moving player from injured reserve - In order to be eligible to return from injured reserve, a player must have been on the IR roster for at least 4 weeks. The player may still be injured and may even be eligible to be placed on IR after being placed on the active roster. 1. From the Team Roster Open/IR Slots screen select Roster Move. 2. Click Injured reserve. 3. A pop-up menu appears saying "Please select player for injured reserve" with OK and Cancel menu items. Selecting Cancel aborts the process. 4. Click OK, then click twice on the player name. 5. If the team has no open roster slots, a pop-up menu appears saying "Select player to release, or move to Injured Reserve" with Release, Injured reserve, and Cancel menu items. Selecting Cancel aborts the process. Selecting Release or Injured reserve allows you to select the player to move. 6. Click twice on the player to release or move to Injured Reserve. Note that the standard restrictions apply for roster move eligibility. General Notes: 1. If there are any unresolved trades when league play is attempted, the computer will give a warning and offer the option to Continue or Cancel. Selecting continue will cause the computer to automatically reject all open trade proposals and abort attempted league play. Selecting Cancel will simply abort attempted league play. 2. There is no direct provision for releasing a player without signing another. When a player is released by the computer because of a Career Ending Injury, the computer will sign an available free-agent to fill the roster spot, even for human managed teams. 3. To be eligible for injured reserve, a player must be projected to be injured for at least 6 weeks and in an Open roster slot. To be eligible to return from injured reserve, a player must have been on the injured reserve roster for at least 4 weeks. To be eligible for trade or release a player must be in an Open roster slot and must be uninjured. 4. To make a roster move, the desired player must not be occupying an assigned roster slot. In cases where a desired roster move involves a player in an assigned slot, and there are no players in that position to swap slots, you must first acquire an additional player for that position. Example: A team has only 2 quarterbacks and one gets injured for 10 weeks. The owner signs a free-agent quarterback and releases a receiver. Now the new quarterback exchanges slots with the injured one who is then moved to the IR. The owner may then resign the released receiver to fill the empty roster slot. In a league with only one human owner, or where the league rules allow, the released player will still be available. The number of assigned slots for each position is charted on page 33. 5. Trades may only be made in the first half of the season. Season lengths are described on page 25. Between Seasons 1. Upon completion of the League Championship game, the computer displays an animated, color newspaper front page proclaiming victory for the winner. This screen is displayed for several seconds before returning you to the League Name menu. A new button is now presented on this screen labeled Start New Season. Note that before starting the new season you should perform all necessary Injured Reserve moves, and should be sure that all desired statistics have been saved or printed. Note that the team play editor and free agent signings are not available at this point. This is a very good point to exit the program and backup the league. 2. Click the Start New Season button. This creates a new season for the current league which consists of erasing the previous season statistics, setting up a new schedule, and creating a new college draft pool for career leagues. At this point the Start New Season button will disappear from the League Name menu and three new menu items appear, Examine Draft Order, Examine Draft Roster, and Start Draft. The date will change to approximately March 1. 3. Before proceeding with the college draft, all human managed teams should be examined and players moved from open roster slots to fill the assigned slots which have been left open because of player retirements. In circumstances where there are not enough players to fill all the assigned slots in a certain position, you will have to take note of the fact, go back to the roster between draft rounds after signing a player for that position, and move the player to the assigned slot. 4. Clicking the Examine Draft Order button displays the order in which teams will participate in the draft. 5. Clicking the Examine Draft Roster button will display a scroll box with players for the Quarterback position. 6. Clicking on Start Draft changes the date to approximately April 25 and commences the first round of the College Draft. You may either conduct the draft in quick fashion or select through the picks one at a time. When a human managed team is encountered, you are presented with a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P and K positions as well as Cancel. 7. Choose a position and the Draft Roster screen is activated. Locate the desired player and click twice on the player name to draft that player. 8. Repeat step 7 for the duration of the draft (3 rounds for the College Draft). Because players may only be drafted into open slots, you may need to suspend the draft in order to perform roster moves. 9. The date will change to approximately May 18. The Start Draft button will be labeled for the supplemental draft. Examine human managed teams to make sure that all assigned slots are filled and examine the draft roster for desirable players. 10. Click on Start Draft to commence the first round of the Supplemental Draft. You may either conduct the draft in quick fashion or select through the picks one at a time. When a human managed team is encountered, you are presented with a pop-up menu allowing selection of QB, RB, R, OL, DL, LB, DB, P and K positions as well as Skip Round, Skip Draft and Cancel options. When a computer managed team fills it's roster it will drop off the draft order list, signified by the number next to the team name. If you select Skip Round, the computer will continue the draft, skipping that team for this round. If you select Skip Draft, your team's will be removed from the draft order list. The Supplemental Draft lasts as long as there are teams wanting to participate. 11. Choose a position and the Draft Roster screen is activated. Locate the desired player and click twice on the player name to draft that player. 12. Repeat step 11 for the duration of the draft (as long as any team wishes to continue the Supplemental Draft). Because players may only be drafted into open slots, You may need to suspend the draft in order to perform roster moves. 13. Upon completion of the Supplemental Draft the date advances to approximately July 19, all Draft related menu items are removed and the Start Training Camp button is made available. WARNING! Do not select the Start Training Camp menu item until all human managed teams have had their training camp assignments completed. 14. Select Teams & Standings, then select the human managed team. A new menu item on the Team News screen labeled Training is now available. 15. Select the Training menu item and make training camp time assignments for all positions. See the Training Camp Assignment section for details about making training camp assignments. 16. If you have custom plays or gameplans, this is the time to make the necessary modifications or to create new ones with the new personnel mix. You will not be allowed access to the Team Play Editor until after the first week of play in the next season. 17. Return to the League Name screen and select Start Training Camp when all teams have completed the necessary preparations for the training camp and for the next season. 18. Conducting training camp can take a long time, measured in hours on slow computers with the larger leagues. If the animated player cursor is active, the computer is not hung, but is working. Upon completion of the training camp, the date is set to approximately September 5 and the new season is ready to start. Building Custom Leagues 1. From the League Data screen choose the New League menu item. 2. You are prompted to choose between a Career or Single-Season league, or Cancel the operation. 3. After choosing the type of league, you are prompted to select the size of the new league or to Cancel the operation. 4. A pop-up menu is displayed asking if you want to select teams or use the default teams. Teams can be selected later after the league, conference, and division names have been determined. Choose Default. 5. Edit the text boxes giving the league the desired structure. The choose the Select Teams menu item. 6. The New League screen is displayed with the default team alignments displayed in the new division alignments. Select Load League and choose the first league to import a team from. 7. Click on the team to replace with the new team from the currently selected league. The currently selected team is displayed in orange. 8. Click the Select Team button. 9. A pop-up menu is displayed with the team names from the currently selected league. Select the desired team. 10. Continue selecting alternate leagues and teams until the new league is complete. Each team in the new league may come from a different league. Select Return to return to the League Data screen. 11. Once the league is determined to be in it's correct structure, select Return to be prompted to save the league. Player Ratings Player ratings are a measure of a player's physical abilities which determine how well that player will perform the functions and patterns he is assigned during the various plays throughout a game. See page 35 of the manual for a complete breakdown on the meanings of each rating category as well as the differences between the types of ratings. Each position has different requirements for a player's physical ratings. Player ratings categories can be divided into Primary, Secondary, and Other. The following chart displays the breakdown of Primary ratings for each position: QB: ST, IN DL: ST, AC RB: ST, SP LB: ST, SP R: SP, HA DB: SP, AG, HA OL: ST, AG P/K: ST, DI Additionally, for all positions, the secondary ratings are: EN, IN, DI Other ratings will affect the performance of the player doing certain functions. For example, although SP is not a primary or secondary rating for a QB, it will affect how well he can scramble out of the pocket. Note that all of the ratings interact with each player depending on the function being performed.