Editor for Cricket Captain 2018 (Release)

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Hi, @weetabixharry, am really enjoying using the editor both at the beginning and in-game also. I had a couple of doubts; Why does opener not show up when editing? Also, is there a way to edit a player such that he's an opener in Tests, but middle order in ODI's and T20's. Secondly what function does "Playing for country" have in the editor?

 

[weetabixharry]

@Prashanth S Kharche

Why does opener not show up when editing?

This is working for me. For example, if I load Alastair Cook (who is an opener), then the "Opener" box is ticked in the editor:


This corresponds to the "o" icon in the game:


If I don't want Alastair Cook to be an opener, then I can uncheck the "Opener" box in the editor and click "Apply". In the game, he is now not an opener:


Does this not work for you?

Also, is there a way to edit a player such that he's an opener in Tests, but middle order in ODI's and T20's.

Yes, I think this is possible. I will try to add it this weekend. Do you know any examples of real players that already have this? It is useful if I can see an example.

what function does "Playing for country" have in the editor?

This indicates that the player has been selected to play in an international match, so is unavailable to play for their club. For example, if Jason Roy is selected to play for England, then Surrey cannot select him.



If I clear the "Playing for Country" box and click "Apply", then he becomes available for selection for Surrey. You need to go back to the main menu, then back into squad selection to see the icon disappear:


I have only tested this for English clubs. Hopefully it works in other domestic leagues too.

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

@weetabixharry thanks for the clarification.

Just to cite some examples, Tom Latham of New Zealand is a Test opener but middle order batsman in ODI's and T20's. Shai Hope is an opener in limited overs, but bat's 3 or 4 in Tests. Same with Jason Roy, in Test matches, he would bat in the middle order.

While some of these instances have been covered by the Developers in their updates, few glaring omissions make the game unrealistic.

With regard to the "Playing for Country" option, I was hoping that selecting this would automatically mean that the player would get selected in the game in the starting XI or squad.

Because, even with England, we see the AI selection choosing players such as Tom Helm, Jamie Porter, Ben Coad, etc. in the starting XI in spite of upping the skill set of players such as Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, etc.

Have a great weekend!

 

[weetabixharry]

Just to cite some examples, Tom Latham of New Zealand is a Test opener but middle order batsman in ODI's and T20's. Shai Hope is an opener in limited overs, but bat's 3 or 4 in Tests. Same with Jason Roy, in Test matches, he would bat in the middle order.

Thanks - I will look at these today. I'm pretty sure I figured out how to do this, but then forgot to add it to the editor.

With regard to the "Playing for Country" option, I was hoping that selecting this would automatically mean that the player would get selected in the game in the starting XI or squad.

Yeah, that would be a nice thing to control. I currently don't know how to move players into international squads, or even how to change their domestic team (but I would really like to figure it out someday). Right now, the "Playing for Country" option is just a simple hack to let you select the unavailable player.

I'm not sure how the AI selects players for international squads, but I always assumed it just knows all the invisible player attributes, so picks the players with the best ability attributes. However, it is also possible that there is a "reputation" attribute, which would cause certain high-reputation players to be favoured. (Football management games like Championship Manager / Football Manager use a reputation rating like this). If this attribute exists, then it should be possible to find it, but would probably take many hours of searching. I'll put it on the to-do list.

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Thanks @weetabixharry. Looking forward to seeing this.

And yes, it was more challenging to know which players needed editing so that they do not to appear in international matches.

For example, in one Test, AI had chosen Steven Finn as 4th bowler over a spin option. The AI bowled him for 3 overs in 1st ings and 7 overs in the 2nd ings! But I guess no game can be perfect ‍

 

[weetabixharry]

@weetabixharryTom Latham of New Zealand is a Test opener but middle order batsman in ODI's and T20's.

It looks like Cricket Captain can't totally support this. I think there are basically 4 choices for what is displayed in the player's Personal profile:

1. (Not an opener).
2. Opener in T20 only.
3. Opener in T20 and OD.
4. Opener in T20, OD and FC (and player gets green "o" opener icon).

However, their number in the batting order is actually separate from this. For example, both Rory Burns (Surrey/England) and Dean Elgar (Surrey/South Africa) are displayed as "Opener in FC, OD, 20 Ovr.". However, in their attributes, they both bat at number 3 in T20 and OD. Therefore, you can set everything correctly, but it can't always be displayed correctly in the Personal profile.

I will add these options to the editor.

 

[weetabixharry]

@Prashanth S Kharche I have uploaded a new version of the editor (2018.09-05) so a player's preferred position in the batting order can be set for FC, OD and T20.

The opener checkbox has been removed and replaced with 3 drop-downs to set the batting position in FC, OD and T20.

As I mentioned before, Cricket Captain can't always display all the information correctly. Therefore, I have also added "Displayed Profile" status, which shows how the game is expected to display this information in the player's Personal profile. For example, Rory Burns is a FC opener and a number 3 in OD and T20, but the game displays "Opener in FC, OD, 20 Ovr.":



Please let me know if you find any problems.

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Many thanks @weetabixharry. In addition to trying this out, I'm also going to explore whether the "Playing for country" option forces the AI to choose the player to be selected in the XI.

Will get back to you tomorrow.

 

[weetabixharry]

@Prashanth S Kharche Thanks. I think I have only tested the "Playing for country" option for English clubs. (In fact, I possibly only tested it for English players at English clubs). Hopefully it will work with non-English players and non-English clubs.

Please let me know what you have any success/failure with. I suspect it won't force the AI to select the player, but it is certainly possible.

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Hi @weetabixharry sorry for the late response. I did try out the batting order option but does not work accurately. For eg. in spite of changing Latham as middle order in limited overs cricket, he still opens across all formats.

This maybe due to the AI selecting the batting order based on skill, nothing much can be done about it I guess. Same issue with Smith selected at 3 in ODI and Mitchell Marsh as 7, but still Marsh bat's at 4 and Smith at 5! Lots of aberrations such as these seem to occur.

The "Playing for Country" option is also overridden by the skill set by the AI. But at least makes all the players selected for country available to play, so only a couple of glaring issues in the selected XI for the match.

But to be honest, the game is definitely more realistic with the use of your editor. Many thanks

 

[weetabixharry]

I did try out the batting order option but does not work accurately.

Yeah, as far as I understand, these are more like player preferences. If the AI is stupid, it could totally ignore them.

I'm currently working on editing team selections directly. This is more difficult because almost all focus in the past has been on editing players. However, I'm making gradual progress, so hopefully this will eventually be possible.

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Yeah, as far as I understand, these are more like player preferences. If the AI is stupid, it could totally ignore them.

I'm currently working on editing team selections directly. This is more difficult because almost all focus in the past has been on editing players. However, I'm making gradual progress, so hopefully this will eventually be possible.

Wow! That would be awesome, it would make this game the best ever!

 

[TemPSaad]

Brother can you update the editor so that it shows player potential attributes as well?

 

[weetabixharry]

Brother can you update the editor so that it shows player potential attributes as well?

@TemPSaad Yes, I think this is possible. Currently, I am not happy with how the editor displays batting and bowling ability. The "batting level" and "bowling level" don't really make sense to me and I haven't updated this since 2008. Therefore, my plan was to fix this and then also add potential abilities to the editor. However, if you want it now, then I could add potential abilities today, then maybe tidy up the display later.

To be honest, I don't fully understand how the game represents ability and potential ability. From what I have read from the game developers over the years, there should be a "standard potential" for each of batting and bowling (and maybe one or more for fielding). A player's peak ability can exceed these potentials using training (and, to a lesser extent, if he is in good form).

There are separate ability attributes for batting, bowling and fielding. I'm not sure if there are separate attributes for ground fielding and catching. I have spent many, many hours trying to find the fielding attributes, but this is still work in progress.

Batting aggression and off-side/leg-side preference are visible in the game, so were easy to add to the editor. However, bowling aggression is hidden in the game, so is more difficult to be sure about. This will also be added to the editor when I am more confident it is correct.

 

[weetabixharry]

@Prashanth S Kharche I spent the whole of yesterday working on squad selections and transferring players between teams. I now have a slightly better understanding of how this works, but it is extremely complicated.

I was looking at how players are transferred during the start-of-season contract-signing stage. I know you are more interested in squad selection, but this was just a first step.

I might have a breakthrough today, or it could take months. It is hard work, so I will take breaks to add easy features to the editor, while I work on this much bigger problem.