Front Page Sports: Baseball '94 v 1.03 Release Notes

Rather than marketing and selling a disk with the 1995 MLBPA rosters
for $20 or $30, as is the usual practice, the Front Page Sports:
Baseball '96 development team would like for you to have the teams
and players from last season for free, as our way of saying "Thank
You" for using Baseball '94.

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1. PREREQUISITES

The BBTHANX package is designed to upgrade users of Baseball '94
version 1.02.  If you have not yet installed the 1.02 patch, please
do so before installing the BBTHANX package.

If you are unsure of which version of Baseball '94 you have installed,
you may find out by either starting the game and noting the version
number in the lower left corner of the credits screen or by typing out
the contents of the BB94.VER file in the Baseball game directory.

To do this using MS-DOS, change to the game directory and type:

                        TYPE BB94.VER [enter]

The game version will be displayed on the next line of the screen.
Valid Baseball '94 versions include 1.00WC, 1.00WF, 1.01C, 1.01F,
1.02C, 1.02F, 1.02CX, and 1.02FX.  Any of the four 1.02 versions
can safely accept BBTHANX.

If you do not yet have the 1.02 patch, please refer to page 119 of
your Baseball '94 game manual for information on how to obtain the
patch disk to upgrade you to version 1.02.

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2. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

To install BBTHANX:
1.  Copy all files for the update to the \SIERRA\BASEBALL directory.
2.  Change to the \SIERRA\BASEBALL directory, type UPDATE <Enter>.
3.  When the program is finished, your game will be updated to v1.03
	and you can type PLAYBALL <Enter> to play Baseball '94.

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3. BUG FIXES

In addition to the free player rosters, the team has taken the time
to port some of the bug fixes that have been developed for BB96 into the
older BB94 code.  These new executables address the following problems:

  1.  Reduced the chance of sacrifice bunt attempts in all situations,
  particularly for non-pitchers in non-late-game situations.

   2.  Made changes to the base velocities and velocity ranges of the
  Fastball (FB), Sinker (SI), Slider (SL), and Change-up (CU) pitches.

  The sinker (SI), also known as the two-seam fastball, is now properly
  classified as a fastball class pitch and has a base velocity about 5
  mph below that of the standard four-seam fastball (FB).  Several
  players in the BBTHANX association, such as Greg Maddux and Orel
  Hershiser, do not have FB ratings because they throw sinkers as their
  primary fastball pitch.  Others, such as Eric Plunk and Mark Wohlers,
  throw the standard four-seam, "straight" fastball as their primary
  pitch.

  3.  A pitcher's base fastball velocity is now determined by his Arm
  Strength (AS) rating rather than the fastball rating.  This change
  allows the FB rating to be used exclusively as a pitch quality rating,
  which allows for players with blazing velocity but poor command and
  liveliness on their fastball pitches.

  Unfortunately this change will require that you modify the AS ratings
  for pitchers in existing associations.  The AS rating is designed to
  a range of 66-99 mph with a rating of 40 being approximately equal
  to a fastball velocity of 80 mph.

  We have provided a command-line utility that will change the AS
  ratings for all pitchers in existing associations to be equal to
  their FB ratings (with a minimum AS rating of 40).  To update the AS
  ratings of the pitchers in all associations, from the Baseball game
  directory, type:

                        UPTHANX [enter]

  4.  Made adjustments to the chance of making contact with the pitched
  ball based on the pitch velocity and location within the strike zone.
  
  5.  Fixed asserts relating to improperly tracked player substitutions
  during games, the most common of which were the GAMEINC.CPP:266 and
  the EARNEDR.C:308 asserts.  The removal of these asserts has proven to
  cause errors in game box score compilation, such as the involved
  players being displayed as a substitute for the wrong slot in the
  batting order.  We feel that having a substitute being displayed in
  the wrong slot is much less of a problem than lost games.

  6.  Fixed the "cheap save" bug.  Pitchers are now properly considered
  to be in a save situation when they pitch the last inning of a game
  with a three run lead.

  7.  Fixed a bug which prevented players with career ending injuries
  from retiring off of their team's rosters.  Players with existing CEIs
  will retire during the next day's association processing.

  8.  Fixed the September roster call-ups bug which resulted in the
  GAMESET.C:360 assert when starting games.

  9.  Fixed a bug in the player valuing system which was causing players
  with no career games played to be considered as not qualified at all
  positions.  The resulting lowered player values caused players to be
  used at non-qualified positions (such as Barry Bonds starting at the
  catcher position) and caused them to be undervalued in trades with
  other teams.  Players with no career games played are now properly
  considered as qualified at their primary position.

  10.  Made adjustments to the overall offensive, defensive, and speed
  considerations for each position in the player valuing process.

  11.  Removed all copy protection from the game.  You may now play games
  without having the CD in the drive or looking up an answer in the game
  manual.

If you continue to experience any problems, or if you have any questions
concerning any of the above steps, our Technical Support Team will be
more than happy to assist you.  Please call (206) 644-4343 between 8:15 a.m.
and 4:45 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Friday.  We can be
reached by Fax at (206) 644-7697, or by mail at the following address:

Sierra On-Line
P.O. BOX 85006 
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506
Attention: Technical Support

You can also reach our Technical Support Team on one of the following
services:

Sierra BBS          (206) 644-0112 or telnet bbs.sierra.com  
Compuserve          GO SIERRA
America Online      Keyword: Sierra
Internet            support@sierra.com or http://www.sierra.com

Please outline the problems along with the specific information about your 
computer system, and we will gladly respond to your letter, fax, or BBS 
message as soon as possible.  When contacting us by fax or BBS please 
allow 24-48 hours for turnaround.  During weekends or holidays, there may 
be some delays.

To better serve our European customers with technical problems and disk 
replacements, Sierra U.K Customer Support or Coktel Customer Support can 
be reached at the following address:

Sierra On-Line Limited                  Coktel Vision
Unit 2, Theale Technology Centre,       Parc Tertiaire de Meudon
Station Road                            Immeuble "Le Newton"
Theale, Berkshire RG7 4AA               25 rue Jeanne Braconnier
United Kingdom                          92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex
Main: (44) 1-734-303171                 France
Fax : (44) 1-734-303201                 Main: (33) 1-46-01-4650
BBS : (44) 1-734-304227                 Fax : (33) 1-46-31-7172

Sierra Technical Support provides this documentation as a reference to 
Sierra customers using Sierra software products.  Sierra Technical 
Support makes reasonable efforts to ensure that the information 
contained in this documentation is accurate.  However, Sierra makes no 
warranty, either express or implied, as to the accuracy, 
effectiveness, or completeness of the information contained in this 
documentation.
     
SIERRA ON-LINE, INC. DOES NOT WARRANTY OR PROMISE THAT THE INFORMATION 
HEREIN WILL WORK WITH ANY OR ALL COMPUTER SYSTEMS.  SIERRA DOES NOT 
ASSUME ANY LIABILITY, EITHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL, FOR THE USE 
OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN, INCLUDING ANY AND ALL DAMAGE TO OR LOST USE 
OF COMPUTER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, LOSS OF WARRANTIES, OR LOST 
DATA BY THE CUSTOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTY.  NO ORAL OR WRITTEN 
INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY SIERRA, ITS EMPLOYEES, DISTRIBUTORS, 
DEALER OR AGENTS SHALL CHANGE THE RESTRICTION OF LIABILITY OR CREATE 
ANY NEW WARRANTIES.  IN NO CASE SHALL SIERRA'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE 
PURCHASE PRICE OF THE SIERRA SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

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Once again, the Baseball '96 development team thanks you for using and
supporting Front Page Sports: Baseball '94.  Be sure and look for Baseball
'96 in your local retailers at the All-Star break!
