Frequently Asked Questions

What are the plans for future versions of FHL?
1. Developing an upgrade for the product that will see many new features be implemented, including a league conversion tool. This will be a purchased upgrade. Price will vary with the number of features we implement. It will also depend on your registration of 1.0x.
2. Fixing the more nasty bugs in the current version. Bug fix releases (ie releases to the right of the decimal point) will remain FREE.

When is the release going to be available?
We are currently carrying out the QA for the next release of FHL. Our project plan will be posted here as soon as the current plans are agreed to and finalized. We can't commit to any dates until FHL pays enough for someone to quit their job and do it full time (unlikely).

How can I buy FHL for Windows?
See our online purchase page.

Where did Sean go for so long?
Sean, like the rest of the FHLSim.com developers, has a day job, which sometimes requires a lot of his time. In an effort to eliminate these swings of inavailablility, we have added members to the team. With a product that grew beyond his expectations, the demands also have exceeded his ability to dedicate attention.

Why doesn't a newer ratings file come with FHL?
There are potential issues with the NHLPA. However, we believe a collaborative effort is both a cost effective and accurate alternative, since commissioners are already doing an excellent job.

Where can I download the newer roster files than the ones that come with FHL?
See our downloads page.

Will XtraStats be combined with FHL?
As many XtraStats features as possible will be integrated into the new release of FHL. Bear in mind that XtraStats is a separate program and won't be integrated completely, but there are many things that can be better from within FHL. The maintenance releases will continue to be compatible with XtraStats for as long as XtraStats is developed, although it will lag behind FHL releases. We are making stability a priority rather thean extra features. XtraStats will remain free.

How do I deal with bug reports?
To make it easy to fix, the best way to report a bug is to post a message to the FHL forum with the exact steps to repeat it.

Hints and Tips

I downloaded a file for newer players called filename.drs. How do I get it into my league?

Back up your league files (see below).
Create a new league. Use your existing league as the base.
From Explorer, rename the new league's leaguename.drs file to leaguenamebak.drs.
From Explorer, copy in the new file, filename.drs to the league's folder
Rename the filename.drs to leaguename.drs.
From within FHL, load the new league files using File|Load.
Run the File|Player Database.
Click Update Player Stats. FHL will then update each player's ratings in the .ros file from the new .drs file.

I have a new .drs file of players I want to add or update (aka rerate) in my league? How do I do this safely?
Players currently on teams in the league will only be updated if the exact name match is included in the DRS file. Players not currently in the league database will be added to the league if they are in the .drs file.

Back up your league files to a zip file.
From Explorer, rename the league's leaguename.drs file to leaguenamebak.drs.
Extract the new .drs file in the %FHLHOME% folder.
Start FHL.
Load your league files using File|Load unless they already come up.
Run the File|Player Database.
Click Update Player Stats. FHL will then update each player's ratings in the .ros file from the new .drs file.
Players not existing in the .drs file will not be affected in the league files.
If you have problems, you can back out by unzipping from the zip you created in step one.

How can I reset my entry draft? When conducting a draft, how do I update all my Available Players List for the Entry Draft list?
Use this procedure if you have accidentally started a draft and now want to either reset the draft or update the players list in the draft.

Overview: Create a new league from your last post-playoff league files, then create a clean set of draft files using a newly updated list of names. This set of updated draft files can then be used to replace the "dirty" league files.

Backup your Current League Files to a separate folder or zip file.
Load your last Playoff Files into FHL
Goto League/Start New Season, click Yes when ask.
Save League Files to a new folder, using the same name as your Current League Files.
Click Draft, now you should have the Begin Entry Draft Option, Select it.
Click Yes to Begin Entry Draft.
Point to the updated .txt containing you Available Players for the Entry Draft.
Click Exit, once the list loaded.
Save your League Files.
Exit FHL.
Just to make sure, Copy (don't move) your Backup League File to your default folder (where it was located before).
Copy the *.drf from the location at step 4 (above) to your default folder.
Start FHL.
Click Draft, now you should have the Continue Entry Draft Option, Select it.
Click Yes to Continue Entry Draft.
Start your Draft with your Updated Available List.

What are my "league files" as everyone refers to?
Your league files are all yoru league database files in your %FHL% folder. Say my league was called sensim, and I installed to c:\Program Files\Fantasy Hockey League\. The following files are my league files:

sensim.tms -	TeaMS file; this file records team names, division names, and alignments in the league.
sensim.ros -	ROSter files for accumulated stats.
sensim.lge -	LeaGuE file; this is where league settings are stored
sensim.pct -	ProspeCT file;
sensim.fas -	Free AgentS file; records who the free agents are and what level.
sensim.scd -	SCheDule file; this is where the current league schedule is stored.
sensim.dpk -	Draft PicK; this file holds information about team draft pick ownership and trades.
sensim.pri -	PRIority filel this is where the priority list for teams in drafts is stored.
sensim.wvr -	WaiVeR; holds players currently on waivers and claims against them.
sensim.coa -	COAch data file; stores info about your coaches.
sensim.drs -	Data RoSter files; source files for player ratings and creating new leagues.
sensim.tra -	TRAnsactions file; stores the stuff for trades, promotions, demotions, etc.
sensim.plf -	PLayofF file; stores information about the current state of your playoffs (if underway).
sensim.rec -	RECords file; not used in 1.x
sensim.csr -	Cumulative Stats Record; holds a checkpoint of a player's stats when he is traded.
sensim.eml -	EMaiL file; records email addresses of GMs.
sensim.frm -	FaRM file; records the farm stats.
sensim.dft -	DraFT file; this file stores information about the current draft if one is underway.

What are all these swp.* files?
swp files are the temporary working files FHL uses to ensure some league file integrity is maintained. Unfortunately, runtime errors and other Windows errors ruin this otherwise decently functioning failsafe. Here are the mappings of swap files with league files.

Tms -> swp.t
Ros -> swp.r
Lge -> swp.l
Pct -> swp.p
Fas -> swp.f
Scd -> swp.sc
Dpk -> swp.d
Pri -> swp.pr
Wvr -> swp.wv
Coa -> swp.c
Drs -> swp.dr
Tra -> swp.tr
Plf -> swp.pf
Dft -> swp.df
Rec -> swp.rc
Cum -> swp.cm
Eml -> swp.e
Frm -> swp.fm

How do I back up my league files?
The easiest way is just to copy them to a sub-directory. If you have Winzip and the command line add-on, you can do it easily with a single icon. Just use this as the command line:
"c:\Program Files\WinZip\wzzip" \progra~1\fantas~1\leaguefiles.zip \progra~1\fantas~1\sensim.*

What the heck are .drs and .ros files anyway?
.DRS and .ROS files are your league's player database files and can be found in your %FHL% folder (where your FHL.exe lives)
.DRS files are the data files that contain all the players in your current league.
.ROS files are the data files that contain all the players currently on teams and thier accumulated statistics in your current league.

How do I repopulate my .drs file from my .ros file.
There is a way to repopulate your .DRS file with your .ROS. All you need to do is first go into players database and click on clear db (back up first!), then release each player one by one. Once done re-assign them to their team and you'll have an up to date .DRS.

How do I update my current player skill attributes?
To update your current league's roster player ratings (.ros file):

Back up all your league files in %FHL% (in case you want to undo this operation).
Select a team in the FHL Commish tool.
Coach|Set Game Roster.
Double-click on a player.
Double-click on the rating you'd like to change, or in the case of age, right or left click to decrement/increment respectively.
Exit and answer Yes to Keep Changes? dialog box.
File|Save.

To update your current league's player database (.drs file):

File|Player Database
Select a player.
Change the attribute of your choice.
Click on Update Player. This updates just the .drs file.
Click on Merge DB. This updates ALL player statistics.

How do I create an All-Star game?
The best way is to create a cloned league and trade the all-start players onto two renamed teams.

Close FHL.
Use Windows Explorer to create an Allstar folder underneath the Fantasy Hockey League directory.
Copy your league files to Allstar.
Open FHL.
Load the league files in Allstar.
Rename two teams to the Allstar teams (ie: Campbell and Wales, World and North America, etc.)
Trade the players onto the two Allstar teams.
Run an exhibition game between the two teams.

How do I draft a random team? I heard there was a way to do it.
FHL 1.x supports assigning players to teams once they are created. I will give specific instructions here on how we did it for Sensim.

You can use a macro package such as MacroExpress to record and play back messages to the FHL GUI. Windows macro packages record GUI navigation commands such as keyboard presses, mouse moves and clicks as something called "messages". These messages are sent to a programs message queue, and the program responds to them whichever way the programmer intended. Macro packages allow you to create and record those messages and play them back to the application window of your choice. It's not perfect, the macro packages are a little like typing on a headless console (no monitor). There is no way for the macro to know if the GUI is actually doing what was supposed to happen or not.

I created the teams in the league. Sensim has a simple format - 4 division of 5 teams each. File|Save
Exit FHL and save your league files away somewhere safe.
Start FHL again, and get familiar with Draft|Assign Unused Players. Know how many TAB presses gets you to what buttons that you need.
Create a macro that assigns a the next player off the unassigned lest to each team just once. This is the part that takes work. Be sure to return the selection focus (the dotted line around the control) to the same textbox/button/control as when the macro started. Fortunately I still have my macro file from creating SenSim this year. You can see what messages I developed if you use MacroExpress.
In the macro editor, duplicate the macro as many times as you can. I think I managed to do around twelve rounds for twenty teams.
In the macro editor, assign the macro to a hotkey like CTL-ALT-SHIFT-D or something. This means that at one keypress, I assigned 240 players randomly!
If you know how, speed the macro up to like 50% of normal speed. It saves a lot of time.
Re-load the original league file. This one might be screwed up (some teams may end up with extra players if you don't).
Start hitting CTL-ALT-SHIFT-D and watch the GUI be driven by the macro to assign the players. Walk away once it looks like it's working.

More FAQ on the FHLSim Forum at http://pub40.ezboard.com/ffhlsimfrm7.