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Ultimate General Manager Version 1.2
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Written by: Nick F. Keren
Nov 1992

The Ultimate General Manager is designed specifically to be an
addition to the Tony LaRussa Ultimate baseball game. This modest
little utility will:

- Allow you to trade players from team to team within a
point & click environment.

- Create a new player by cloning an existing player

- Choose different directories and league files

- Display player stats.

Tony LaRussa baseball is one of, if not the best computer baseball games on
the market today. Its graphics are the closest to real life I've seen so far.
The parks are awsome. However, its user interface leaves a bit to be desired.
(It does not support a mouse and trading players is cumbersome)

This utility was developed out of my own need to be able to quickly trade
players without the hassle of entering a keyword from the manual to get
in. (Besides, this kind of data manipulation is just perfect for a mouse.)

Notice: This utility is a shareware product, and as such you may freely
distribute and use this product. However, you may not offer this product
for resale or bundle it for profit.

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Section Contents
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0.0 Requirements
1.0 Installation
2.0 Using the GMPLUS program
2.1 Starting GMPLUS
2.2 General usage
2.3 Making Trades
2.4 Cloning Players
2.5 Deleting Players
2.6 Viewing Players
2.6.1 Changing Player information
2.7 SYNC option
2.8 SELECTING teams, leagues
2.9 Player name conversion
3.0 Customizing GMPLUS
3.1 EUTIL.ini
3.2 opening picture
4.0 Bonus utility
5.0 Shareware Registration
6.0 Revision Notes
7.0 Special Thanks
8.0
9.0 Final Note
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@- Tony LaRussa Baseball is a copyright of SSI inc. (TLUB)



0.0 Requirements
----------------

In order to use this utility you must have:


- TONY LaRUSSA's ULTIMATE BASEBALL game @

- VGA graphics

- mouse and mouse driver installed
(Although the keyboard cursor keys are supported, this
utility works best when used with a mouse)

- Windows 3.0 + is optional


1.0 Installation
----------------

This following files should accompany GMPLUS

- GM.bat Batch command file to run GMPLUS utility
- GMPLUS.exe The actual program itself
- GMINTRO.exe Sets up the AAPLAY program
- AAPLAY.exe Provides a nice little introduction **
- EUTIL.ini The initial params file for GMPLUS
- ESTART.ini File required by GMPLUS
- EUTIL.ico Icon for GMPLUS for windows installs
- EUTIL.pif PIF file for windows installs
- REGISTER.txt A note on shareware, plus a registration form

- INSTALL.bat An example batch file on how to install GMPLUS

In order to install this utility:

1- Create a directory under the LaRussa directory.
Example: C:\Ultimate\GMPLUS

2- Copy GM*.*, AAPLAY.EXE, and EUTIL.ini to the new directory.

3- If you used the default directory when installing LaRussa
you are now ready to use GMPLUS. However, if you did not
then you must customize GMPLUS. (See section 3.1 for details)



Your directory structure should now look like this:

ULTIMATE -+--- ALLTIME
|--- GMPLUS
+--- MINORS

Note: GMPLUS includes an ICON and a PIF file for installing this utility
under windows 3.0+ environment. Refer to your windows 3+ guide on how
to add a new application.

** AAPLAY is a public domain animation player developed by the Yost Group.
It is used to display .FLI files


2.0 Using GMPLUS
----------------

This section explains what you can do using GMPLUS, and how to go about it.


2.1 Starting GMPLUS
-------------------
To start GMPLUS, change your current directory to where you installed GMPLUS
and enter GMPLUS at the dos prompt.

C> GM


Or, for windows users simply double click the GMPLUS icon.



2.2 General Usage
-----------------

The usage of GMPLUS should be fairly straight forward. The screen
has the following basic parts:

1 - Option area
Players - click on players to show the non pitchers on your team
Pitchers - click on pitchers to display each teams pitchers
SYNC - toggles minor league synchronization (see section 2.6)
Exit - click to exit the GMPLUS program



2 - Team Areas
There are 4 team windows. Within each team window, the players
or pitchers are displayed. Each team window will take on the
colours of the team inside the window. Each team window also
has a SELECT button and a SAVE button.

The SELECT button allows you to select another team.

The SAVE button allows you to save the team in that window.

3 - Temporary Areas
At the bottom of the screen there are 3 temporary areas. These
areas exist for you to place players while making complex
trades.

CLONE Area: Allows you to duplicate a player.

TRADE Area: A temporary holding place while making complex trades.

DELETE Area: Players in this area are deleted.


Note: "click" means the LEFT mouse button or the RETURN key.

"Escape" means the ESC key or RIGHT mouse button. The right button
can be used to regain your mouse cursor if it "disappears"

"Mousing over" means moving the arrow cursor either by using the
mouse or the cursor keys.

2.3 Making Trades
-----------------

In order to make a trade from one team to another, simply mouse over to
the desired player and click. The player will be hi-lighted. Then, mouse
over to the other player who is involved in this trade and click. The
players will then exchange teams.

Note: Tony LaRussa baseball has roster restrictions on the number
of pitchers and players a team may have. Because of its internal
design you must trade a pitcher for pitcher, player for player, etc.
This is why the concept of having a minor league set of teams works well.
(see Section 2.7)


2.4 Cloning Players
-------------------

In order to create new players, you can "clone" an existing one, then change
the name and certain other information.

In order to make a duplicate of a player, all you must do is mouse over to
the desired player and click. The player will be hi-lighted. Then, mouse
over to the CLONE area at the bottom of the screen and click. A copy of
the player will appear in the CLONE area. To replicate, use the same procedure
for making trades, and "trade" the player from the CLONE area to a team window.
Notice that a copy of the player still remains in the CLONE area.

2.5 Deleting Players
--------------------

Deleting players is done by "trading" a player from one area to the delete area.

2.6 Viewing Players
-------------------

Viewing a player's stats can be done by double clicking on the player. Once
in the view screen, you have the following options:

- toggle between actual and computer play stats by clicking on the button
located in the top right corner of the display screen.

- Changing the following player data.
- Player's name
- Stats year
- Player's Ratings
- Player's skin attribute


2.6.1 Changing Player Information
---------------------------------

After displaying a player, you may change certain data by mousing over to the
data and clicking. An input field will appear where you can enter new data.

Name field - First and last name separated by a blank
Stats year - A number greater than 1870
Ratings - A number between 1 and 12
Skin Attr - L (light) D(dark)

See the TLUB manual for definitions of each rating level.

Notes: Invalid data, is rejected with a "beep"
IF no input is entered then the previous value remains


2.7 The SYNC option
-------------------

The SYNC option is something I built in as an aid to help me keep my teams up
to date. The best way to explain how to use it is by example:

The first two entries in my EUTIL.ini are:

[ultimate]
PATH=c:\BASEBALL Thus giving me my regular teams
VERSION=u1.0 plus a directory to keep my minor
[minors] leaguers.
PATH=c:\BASEBALL\MINORS
VERSION=u1.0


When the SYNC option is OFF, the 4 team windows can represent any team from
any league. However when the SYNC option is ON, Windows 1 and 3 can
represent any team (ie. are selectable), but windows 2 and 4 are automatically
associated with the teams in windows 1 and 3 respectfully. In my example, the
minor league teams.

In this manner I can make 1 for 2 player type trades, bringing up someone from
the minors, or assigning someone to the minors easily.


2.8 Selecting teams, leagues
----------------------------

By default the utility will display the first 4 teams. To select a
different team within that league, click the SELECT button.

You will be shown a list of teams. Click on one, or click on the
SELECT button within this window to choose a different league.

Note: The bottom of each team window has the actual path of the
team file for visual verification.



2.9 Name Conversions
--------------------

The actual data provided with with TLUB comes in a combination of mixed case
and upper case player names. This looks ugly on reports. The GMPLUS utility
automatically converts any player name to mixed case. This has no impact on
the actual game playing because TLUB shows uppercase names.

If you select a team and get the message "Team Modified, Save before..."
and you did not make any trades or player alterations, don't panic. The GMPLUS
utility converted player names to the mixed case that you see displayed.


3.0 Customizing GMPLUS
----------------------

3.1 Eutil.ini
--------------

GMPLUS may be customized so you may trade players from different leagues
(those team files located in a different directory) without having to
type in a directory path or picklist of files.

The default EUTIL.ini comes like this:

[The show] <---- The name of the league. Must be enclosed in [ ]
PATH=c:\ultimate <---- Path where the teams for the league
VERSION=u1.0 can be found
[minors]
PATH=c:\ultimate\MINORS
VERSION=u1.0 <---- What version of TLUB you are using.
[alltime] currently the only version supported
PATH=c:\ultimate\alltime is u1.0 (note u1.1 will work with u1.0)
VERSION=u1.0 Do not change this value.


Notes:

- You need at least 2 leagues for the SYNC option to be effective.
- The first league MUST be the directory where the LaRussa game is located.


3.2 Opening Picture
-------------------

The public domain animation player, AAPLAY displays some of the LaRussa .FLI
files during the introduction. To bypass this simply run the program GMPLUS.exe
directly instead of GM.BAT.


4.0 Bonus
----------

Included in this ZIP file is TLUBXPAN.ZIP. This will allow TLUB to support
the 2 new expansion teams in the NL. Refer to the documentation inside this
ZIP file.



5.0 Registration
------------------

A lot of effort has gone into this utility, and all I'm asking in return is
that you take the time to register it. The Registration amount is $15.
(See SHAREWRE.txt for a registration form)

For this measly amount, in addition to the utility itself you will get:

1) Support - any questions will be answered
- any bugs will be fixed (where possible)

2) EUTIL - I have written a series of utilities
for Tony LaRussa baseball. These include
- Scouting and Lineup reports
- Reports based on actual stats
- Reports based on league stats
- League standings
- Set lineups outside LaRussa
- Compare game play stats to actual.
- and much more

This will be sent to you.........

3) Updates - Those who register will be notified of
updated versions.


4) Futures - I am now writing a schedule maker, so I can simulate
the true 1992 MLB schedule. If this becomes worth
while I'll send registered users the 1993 schedules.


Feel free to evaluate this product for 30 days. After the evaluation period if you
decide to continue to use GMPLUS you must register them. Since only 2% of the people
actively using GMPLUS took the time to register it, an expiration date was implemented.



6.0 Revision Notes
------------------

Version 1.1 - corrected display bug where league stats show stolen bases
instead of RBIs.

Version 1.2 - Added Color & Support for the 2 new NL expansion teams



7.0 Special Thanks
------------------

To Beyond Software - great product.... don't settle at that, enhance it.

To Don Daglow, Co-Author of TLUB - Excellent work. I have great
repect for your programming. I also have some ideas on how to enhance
the game, but find it impossible reach you.

To my Beta testers - Thanks dude. Lunch on me, I have coupons.


8.0 Other TLUB add ons
------------------------
The following is a list utilities available for TLUB:


1991, 1992 Season disks Keith Jefferson PC Sports Connection
and others 1341 S. Anaheim Street Anaheim, CA
CA 92805 (714) 533-6728
SYSOP

Eutil - Reporting, lineups Nick Keren
injuries, and a
bunch more......





9.0 Final Note:
----------------

I would love to hear what people think of this utility. So, if you have
any comments or suggestions regarding GMPLUS, I can be reached at....

Nick F. Keren
1078 Heritage Drive American Online: NickKeren
Windsor Ont. Internet Address: NICK @ ucc.uwindsor.ca
Canada
N9H 2E2 Phone Number: (519) 253-4232 ext 2750