node-esms

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>ESMS Administrator Manual</title> <link rev="made" href="mailto:root@localhost" /> </head> <body style="background-color: white"> <a name="__index__"></a>  <ul> <li><a href="#esms_administrator_manual">ESMS Administrator Manual</a></li> <li><a href="#1._general_information">1. General information</a></li> <li><a href="#2._tutorial">2. Tutorial</a></li> <ul> <li><a href="#2.1_preparation">2.1 Preparation</a></li> <li><a href="#2.2_creating_the_rosters">2.2 Creating the rosters</a></li> <li><a href="#2.3_generating_league_schedule">2.3 Generating league schedule</a></li> <li><a href="#2.4_creating_the_teamsheets">2.4 Creating the teamsheets</a></li> <li><a href="#2.5_running_the_games">2.5 Running the games</a></li> <li><a href="#2.6_updating_the_league">2.6 Updating the league</a></li> <li><a href="#2.7_that's_it">2.7 That's it</a></li> </ul> <li><a href="#3._esms_configuration_files">3. ESMS configuration files</a></li> <ul> <li><a href="#3.1_league.dat">3.1 league.dat</a></li> <li><a href="#3.2_language.dat">3.2 language.dat</a></li> <li><a href="#3.3_tactics.dat">3.3 tactics.dat</a></li> </ul> <li><a href="#4._esms_programs_and_the_files_they_work_on">4. ESMS programs and the files they work on</a></li> <ul> <li><a href="#4.1_esms__the_main_engine">4.1 <code>esms</code> - the main engine</a></li> <li><a href="#4.2_commentary_files">4.2 Commentary files</a></li> <li><a href="#4.3_reports.txt">4.3 reports.txt</a></li> <li><a href="#4.4_stats.dir">4.4 stats.dir</a></li> <li><a href="#4.5_teams.dir">4.5 teams.dir</a></li> <li><a href="#4.6_updtr__the_updating_tool">4.6 <code>updtr</code> - the updating tool</a></li> <li><a href="#4.7_updtr_summary.txt">4.7 updtr_summary.txt</a></li> <li><a href="#4.8_table.txt">4.8 table.txt</a></li> <li><a href="#4.9_lgtable__table_updating_tool">4.9 <code>lgtable</code> - table updating tool</a></li> <li><a href="#4.10_tsc__teamsheet_creator">4.10 <code>tsc</code> - teamsheet creator</a></li> <li><a href="#4.11_roster_creator__creator_of_esms_rosters">4.11 <code>roster_creator</code> - creator of ESMS rosters</a></li> <li><a href="#4.12_roster_creator_cfg.txt">4.12 roster_creator_cfg.txt</a></li> <li><a href="#4.13_fixtures__generators_of_league_fixtures/schedule">4.13 <code>fixtures</code> - generators of league fixtures/schedule</a></li> <li><a href="#4.14_an_essential_subset_of_tools">4.14 An essential subset of tools</a></li> <li><a href="#4.15_end_of_round_cleanup">4.15 End of round cleanup</a></li> </ul> <li><a href="#5._epilogue">5. Epilogue</a></li> <ul> <li><a href="#5.1_what's_next">5.1 What's next</a></li> <li><a href="#5.2_contact">5.2 Contact</a></li> </ul> </ul>  <hr /> <h1><a name="esms_administrator_manual">ESMS Administrator Manual</a></h1> This document is the official Administrator's manual for the ESMS program. It explains how to use the ESMS family of programs to run a fantasy soccer league. Familiarity with the ESMS User's Manual is assumed. <hr /> <h1><a name="1._general_information">1. General information</a></h1> You are reading this document, which means that you have dowloaded ESMS and unzipped the package. If, for some reason you haven't, please do this now. Put everything in a single directory - I will call it the ``working directory'', or shortly the work dir. The work dir contains ESMS programs, configuration files and a ``doc/'' directory with the documentation. Some notation: administrator - the person who is in charge of a ESMS league. manager - a person participating in a league and managing a team. <hr /> <h1><a name="2._tutorial">2. Tutorial</a></h1> I think that the best way to learn something is by going through an example. This section guides you through running a very simple (though a complete !) league. It's trivial and will take only a few minutes, but it will get you started quickly with ESMS. This section swiftly goes through the steps - for an in-depth explanation of the programs and options involved, see the next section. <h2><a name="2.1_preparation">2.1 Preparation</a></h2> Make sure that you have the latest ESMS package unzipped to your work directory. ESMS programs are console based - that is, they don't have a GUI but provide a command line interface. You can work with ESMS from Windows like with any other program, but for some people it is more convenient to open a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd). Unix/Linux users almost always use a command prompt. Also, make sure you have a text editor at hand. Notepad should do, but it's better to have something more powerful (for example Scite, Textpad, Ultraedit, GWD, etc). Do not use Word or Wordpad unless you know very well what you're doing, since ESMS understands only plain text files, and those editors usually add special formatting characters that don't work with ESMS. <h2><a name="2.2_creating_the_rosters">2.2 Creating the rosters</a></h2> ESMS includes a program that creates rosters, which makes it simpler to initially setup leagues. The program is called <code>roster_creator</code> and it has a configuration file - roster_creator_cfg.txt Now run <code>roster_creator</code> - with its default options (which you can modify in roster_creator_cfg.txt). It should have created 4 new roster files: ss1.txt, ss2.txt, ss3.txt and ss4.txt Let us now decide on our team names. These are the abbreviations and full team names we will use: <pre> mac - Machos FC bla - Blade Runners esu - ESMS United cra - Crazy Insomniacs</pre> First of all, rename the rosters to these abbreviations - the rosters should now be mac.txt, bla.txt, esu.txt and cra.txt. You can take a look at the rosters, by the way. The player names have been randomly generated by <code>roster_creator</code> - they're far from perfect, but usually you will either let your managers pick their players' names on their own, or will use real players names for your league. The rosters generated by <code>roster_creator</code> are good as templates and for testing. Next, we will set up the full names translation for ESMS. This is done in the main configuration file - league.dat; you should have this file now in the work dir, open it with a text editor. In the bottom of that file there's an Abbreviations section. Insert the abbreviations there as follows: <pre> Abbreviations: mac = Machos_FC bla = Blade_Runners esu = ESMS_United cra = Crazy_Insomniacs</pre> Now ESMS will know the link between abbreviations and full team names. There is a lot of other interesting settings in league.dat, but that's for the next section. Note the underscores in the full teams' names. These replace spaces, just like in players' names. <h2><a name="2.3_generating_league_schedule">2.3 Generating league schedule</a></h2> Now we will generate the schedule for our small league. A schedule sets which team plays which and when. You don't have to do it manually, the <code>fixtures</code> program will help. First, create a text file named teams.txt - it lists the teams <code>fixtures</code> will use. Edit the file so it looks like this: <pre> Machos_FC Blade_Runners ESMS_United Crazy_Insomniacs</pre> Now, run <code>fixtures</code>. It should have generated a schedule file named fixtures.txt - this file can be sent to the managers to know what games their team will play during the league and when. Our fixtures.txt starts like this: <pre> 1.</pre> <pre> Machos_FC - Blade_Runners ESMS_United - Crazy_Insomniacs</pre> <pre> 2. ESMS_United - Machos_FC Blade_Runners - Crazy_Insomniacs ... and so on ...</pre> So, in the first ``week'' of the league, Machos_FC plays against Blade_Runners and ESMS_United hosts Crazy_Insomniacs. <h2><a name="2.4_creating_the_teamsheets">2.4 Creating the teamsheets</a></h2> Now we'd like to run the first week of our league. But we need the teams' managers to send in teamsheets, and there are no managers yet. So what can you do ? The <code>tsc</code> program is just for that - it takes a roster and generates a basic teamsheet for it. The teamsheet isn't too sophisticated - it has no orders, for example, but it generates correct teamsheets (it won't name injured and suspended players). Run <code>tsc</code> - it asks for a roster name, give it <code>mac.txt</code>, give it also a formation+tactic, for example <code>442N</code>. It should now create a teamsheet for mac.txt and name it macsht.txt. Take a look at the teamsheet. Now repeat the same operation for the other 3 teams. At the end you should have 4 teamsheets, one for each team: macsht.txt, crasht.txt, esusht.txt and blasht.txt <h2><a name="2.5_running_the_games">2.5 Running the games</a></h2> Now we are finally ready to run the games of the first round in our league. Run <code>esms</code> (the main engine). When it asks for a home teamsheet name give it macsht.txt, and for away teamsheet give it blasht.txt (recall from the schedule that these two teams clash in the first round). If everything is OK, ESMS will tell you that the game ended successfully. Take a look at the commentary file that was created: mac_bla.txt - it lists the game events (note that ESMS inserted the full team names where appropriate). Repeat the same to run a game between ESMS_United and Crazy_Insomniacs (run <code>esms</code> with esusht.txt and crasht.txt as the home and away teamsheets, respectively). You should get another new file - esu_cra.txt If you were running a real league now, you'd send each commentary file to the managers of the teams who played in that match. <h2><a name="2.6_updating_the_league">2.6 Updating the league</a></h2> If you look at the bottom of the commentary files, you will see that players accumulated statistics (such as goals and key tackles), got cards, lost fitness, etc. All this should be now reflected in the rosters. Besides, you have to create a summary of the round, and create/update the league table. The updating tool <code>updtr</code> does all that. It's as simple as a couple of clicks. But first you should create a teams listing for the tool to know which teams it should update. Create a new file - teams.dir (you do this only once for your league !), and put the following into it: <pre> mac.txt bla.txt esu.txt cra.txt</pre> Now run <code>updtr</code> and select option 6 (full update). When you press Enter, <code>updtr</code> runs and gives you a full report of what it did. <code>updtr</code> did many interesting things - it updated the rosters (you can take a look at them now), and created several new files. table.txt is the league table, for example. updtr_summary.txt is a summary of the round that is ready to be sent to the managers, together with reports.txt that lists all the results. Read in the next section about what goes into these files. <h2><a name="2.7_that's_it">2.7 That's it</a></h2> Wasn't it simple ? Running the next rounds is even simpler, because you don't have to do all the initializations like changing league.dat and creating the fixtures and teams.dir What you should remember to do is delete the stats.dir file before the next round, so that <code>updtr</code> won't do unnecessary updates. When you run the main engine for the next round, it will create a fresh and relevant stats.dir file. The next section explains everything in much more detail. <hr /> <h1><a name="3._esms_configuration_files">3. ESMS configuration files</a></h1> This section explains in detail each configuration file ESMS uses. <h2><a name="3.1_league.dat">3.1 league.dat</a></h2> ESMS is highly customizable, which allows every league to tailor it to its specific needs. The main configuration file in ESMS is <code>league.dat</code>. This file is built from <pre> key = value</pre> pairs. The keys are not case sensitive, so HOME_BONUS and home_bonus mean the same. The following are the keys of <code>league.dat</code> ESMS understands: <ul> <li><a name="item_home_bonus">HOME_BONUS</a> </li> The advantage that a home team has over an away team. The normal values are between 100 and 300. If it's set to 0, there's no advantage to the home team. If it's negative, there is an advantage to an away team. <li><a name="item_cup">CUP</a> </li> ESMS supports penalty shootouts, for occasions like cup games that end with a draw. This option is for such occasions. If it doesn't exist in league.dat or is set at 0, all games are considered normal, not cup games, and penalties won't be run. If it's set to 1, ESMS will ask you after each game whether to run a penalty shootout. If it's set to 2, ESMS will run the shootout after each game, without asking. <li><a name="item_team_stats_total">TEAM_STATS_TOTAL</a> </li> Set this option to 1 if you want team stats (signifying their strengths in defense, midfield and attack) to be printed to the end of the commentary each 10 minutes. Usage of this option is strongly discouraged in normal league games - use it only if you want to analyze a team's performance or run test matches. <li><a name="item_num_subs">NUM_SUBS</a> </li> Amount of substituting players that can be listed in a teamsheet. By default (when this option isn't present in league.dat), ESMS assumes that the amount of subs is 7. You can set it to another number if your league has different rules. <li><a name="item_substitutions">SUBSTITUTIONS</a> </li> Amount of substitutions each team is allowed to perform during a game. By default, ESMS assumes that it is 3. <li><a name="item_dp_for_yellow">DP_FOR_YELLOW</a> </li> The amount of disciplinary points given for a yellow card. <li><a name="item_dp_for_red">DP_FOR_RED</a> </li> The amount of disciplinary points given for a red card. <li><a name="item_suspension_margin">SUSPENSION_MARGIN</a> </li> This options is used to decide when players are suspended. The common value leagues use is 10. That means a suspension for each 10 disciplinary points. At 10 DP, a player is suspended for one game, at 20 DP - for two games, at 30 DP - for three games, and so on. <li><a name="item_max_injury_length">MAX_INJURY_LENGTH</a> </li> The longest duration (in weeks) of a player injury. <li><a name="item_updtr_fitness_gain">UPDTR_FITNESS_GAIN</a> </li> The average amount of fitness points a player gains after a game from getting a rest. <li><a name="item_updtr_fitness_after_injury">UPDTR_FITNESS_AFTER_INJURY</a> </li> The average amount of fitness points a player has when he comes back from an injury. <li><a name="item_abilities">ABILITIES</a> </li> The ``Abilities:'' section in league.dat lists the amounts of ability points given for different events/statistics. The names of the options are self-explanatory. <li><a name="item_abbreviations">ABBREVIATIONS</a> </li> The ``Abbreviations:'' section in league.dat lists the links between short and full team names in <code>short = full</code> style. The ESMS tools use the short names (usually a 3 letter abbreviation) for some things, and full names for some things, and this section is read to establish the connections. </ul> <h2><a name="3.2_language.dat">3.2 language.dat</a></h2> ESMS is designed to allow easy translation to languages other than English. The <code>language.dat</code> file is a single point of reference for language-dependent strings. By translating this file, people can decide how ESMS prints out game commentaries. Translation is not the only use of <code>language.dat</code>, however. It also allows to extend the commentaries ESMS prints, and some leagues inded took advantage of this feature. Take a look at <code>language.dat</code> - its structure is self-explanatory. Lines starting with <code>|</code> are comments which explain how to translate each commentary group. <h2><a name="3.3_tactics.dat">3.3 tactics.dat</a></h2> When ESMS runs a game, it computes three major skill totals for each team, and uses those to run the simulation. The totals are: <ul> <li></li> Team tackling - stopping the opponent's attacks. <li></li> Team passing - creating attacks. <li></li> Team shooting - has two effects: creating attacks (to a lesser extent than team passing), and scoring goals from these attacks. </ul> To compute these three totals, the contribution of each active player is summed. Each player (except the GK) contributes to all three totals, depending on his major skills (Tk, Ps, Sh), team tactic, and other factors (side, fitness, etc). The tactic acts as a multiplier on the player's major skills. For each position the player plays, the contributions are different. All these multipliers are set in the <code>tactics.dat</code> configuration file. The defaults that come with ESMS withstood the testing of time, so it's adviced not to change them, although that is possible if your league wants to modify tactics or even create new ones. A sample from <code>tactics.dat</code> will explain its structure: <pre> # P - Passing MULT P DF TK 1.0 MULT P DF PS 0.75 MULT P DF SH 0.3 MULT P DM TK 0.87 MULT P DM PS 0.87 MULT P DM SH 0.28 MULT P MF TK 0.25 MULT P MF PS 1.0 MULT P MF SH 0.25 MULT P AM TK 0.25 MULT P AM PS 0.87 MULT P AM SH 0.68 MULT P FW TK 0.25 MULT P FW PS 0.75 MULT P FW SH 1.0 BONUS P L MF SH 0.5 BONUS P L MF TK 0.5 BONUS P L FW SH 0.25</pre> There are two types of lines here. MULT lines set the tactic multiplier - for each of the positions (DF, DM, MF, AM, FW) - each of the contributions (TK, PS, SH). Thus, for example a DF in a team playing P has his PS contribution multiplied by 0.75. BONUS lines add bonuses to certain tactics against other tactics. <hr /> <h1><a name="4._esms_programs_and_the_files_they_work_on">4. ESMS programs and the files they work on</a></h1> ESMS consists of several programs and some files these programs read and write. For each program, I list the input files it expects and the output files it generates Note: Each of the ESMS programs can accept a command line argument <code>--no_wait_on_exit</code> that makes it exit immediately after finishing, without waiting for you to press Enter. While the waiting is convenient when running from Windows, people who use ESMS from the command line usually prefer to supply this argument. For running automatic games, it is essential. <h2><a name="4.1_esms__the_main_engine">4.1 <code>esms</code> - the main engine</a></h2> <code>esms</code> is the main game engine of ESMS. It runs a simulation of a soccer game between two teams, given their teamsheets and rosters (you can learn in detail about teamsheets and rosters in the User's manual). Input: Configuration files (league.dat, language.dat, tactics.dat), a pair of rosters and a pair of teamsheets for these rosters. Output: A commentary file for the game, and adds a line to the reports.txt file, and a line to the stats.dir file. <h2><a name="4.2_commentary_files">4.2 Commentary files</a></h2> A commentary file is generated by <code>esms</code> and contains the listing of all major events in the game. It is intended to be read by humans, and is usually sent to the two managers of the playing teams. The commentary file also contains a summary of game statistics and changes in players' attributes which is used by <code>updtr</code> to update the rosters. <h2><a name="4.3_reports.txt">4.3 reports.txt</a></h2> reports.txt contains a summary of games' results. It is generated by <code>esms</code> and can be sent to the whole league announcing all the scores in some round. This file is also used when updating the league table. <h2><a name="4.4_stats.dir">4.4 stats.dir</a></h2> stats.dir contains a list of commentary files which <code>updtr</code> should use to update the rosters. <code>esms</code> creates it and adds a line to it for each game it runs. In the end of the round, after <code>updtr</code> did its updating, this file should be deleted - it will be regenerated by <code>esms</code> in the next round. <h2><a name="4.5_teams.dir">4.5 teams.dir</a></h2> teams.dir is simply a list of the rosters that make your league. It should be created only once in the beginning of your league season. This file is essential for <code>updtr</code> to know which rosters it should update. <h2><a name="4.6_updtr__the_updating_tool">4.6 <code>updtr</code> - the updating tool</a></h2> <code>updtr</code> is the second of the two most important tools an ESMS league administrator uses to run a league. After <code>esms</code> runs all the games, <code>updtr</code> is used to handle all the rest - update the rosters with player statistics, update the league table with the latest results, and take care of injuries, suspensions and fitness. <code>updtr</code> can do it all just in a few clicks, and usually runs smoothly if your league files are set up correctly. When you run <code>updtr</code> you get the following menu: <pre> What would you like to do ? 1) Update rosters 2) Decrease injuries 3) Decrease suspensions 4) Update league table 5) Decrease suspensions + update rosters 6) Decrease suspensions, injuries + update rosters, league table Enter your choice -></pre> This lists the various functions <code>updtr</code> performs, and their combinations to make matters simpler. The functions are: Update rosters: <code>updtr</code> looks at all game commentaries listed in stats.dir, and updates the players' attributes from the played games in the team's rosters. For example, it adds 1 to the ``Games played'' statistic of all players who played, computes the injury periods of newly injured players, etc. Decrease injuries / suspensions: Players in ESMS are injured for a certain amount of weeks and suspended for a certain amount of games. <code>updtr</code> takes care to reduce the period of injury/suspension of each injured/suspended player. These options are separated because in some occasions suspensions and injuries are not parallel. For instance, in cup games that happen in the middle of the week, injuries are usually not decreased, but suspensions are. Update league table: <code>updtr</code> takes table.txt and the latest results from reports.txt and updates the table. If the table doesn't exist (like in the first league round), <code>updtr</code> just creates it. The other options are combinations to make working with <code>updtr</code> more efficient. For instance, (6) is used to update after league rounds - it does everything one needs. Most often, this is the single option admins use after running league rounds. (5) is often used to run updates after cup games. The multitude of separate options and their combinations were designed to provide the league administrator with a maximal level of flexibility. Input: <code>updtr</code>'s input depends on the function you ask it to perform, but generally it uses: the configuration file league.dat, stats.dir, teams.dir, commentary files listed in stats.dir, rosters, reports.txt and table.txt Output: <code>updtr</code> updates the rosters, table.txt and creates a summary file to be sent to the league managers - updtr_summary.txt <h2><a name="4.7_updtr_summary.txt">4.7 updtr_summary.txt</a></h2> A summary file created by <code>updtr</code> after each round. This file contains interesting information about the league round, together with some statistics. It is usually sent to the managers of the league after each round. <h2><a name="4.8_table.txt">4.8 table.txt</a></h2> This is a standard league table file. For example: <pre> Pl Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Blade Runners 4 2 2 0 3 1 2 8 2 Crazy Insomniacs 4 2 0 2 5 4 1 6 3 ESMS United 4 1 2 1 4 3 1 5 4 Machos FC 4 0 2 2 0 4 -4 2</pre> The columns are: Pl - place, Team - team name, P - games played, W/D/L - games won/drawn/lost, GF - goals for (how many goals the team scored), GA - goals against (how many goals the team conceded), GD - goal difference, Pts - points. <h2><a name="4.9_lgtable__table_updating_tool">4.9 <code>lgtable</code> - table updating tool</a></h2> The league table updating ability is so useful that a separate tool exists to handle it. League administrators don't really need it to run a league, but I include it in the package because some people find it convenient. <code>lgtable</code> does what <code>updtr</code> does in its table update - it updates table.txt with results from reports.txt. Input: table.txt and reports.txt Output: updates the table.txt <h2><a name="4.10_tsc__teamsheet_creator">4.10 <code>tsc</code> - teamsheet creator</a></h2> <code>tsc</code> assists managers to create template teamsheets. It is given a roster name and a formation+tactic and creates a teamsheet. Don't expect <code>tsc</code>'s teamsheets to bring you the league title - they are far from being sophisticated. <code>tsc</code> doens't care about fitness, sides and it doesn't create orders. But the teamsheets it creates are correct (contain no injured/suspended players) - they will run with <code>esms</code> so it is useful to just create template teamsheets for your team. Administrators also use <code>tsc</code> to create teamsheets for managers that forgot to send a teamsheet for some game. Input: a roster Output: a teamsheet <h2><a name="4.11_roster_creator__creator_of_esms_rosters">4.11 <code>roster_creator</code> - creator of ESMS rosters</a></h2> <code>roster_creator</code> creates as many random rosters as you want, using a configuration file - roster_creator_cfg.txt It is very useful for creating random players and teams. Input: roster_creator_cfg.txt configuration file Output: one or more rosters, depending on what's set in the configuration file. <h2><a name="4.12_roster_creator_cfg.txt">4.12 roster_creator_cfg.txt</a></h2> This file sets the configuration options for <code>roster_creator</code> as <code>key = value</code> pairs. <ul> <li><a name="item_n_rosters">n_rosters</a> </li> The amount of rosters to create. <li><a name="item_n_gk%2c_n_df%2c_n_dm%2c_n_mf%2c_n_dm%2c_n_mf%2c_n_">n_gk, n_df, n_dm, n_mf, n_dm, n_mf, n_am, n_fw</a> </li> The amount of players to create for each position. <code>roster_creator</code> creates players that are suitable for certain positions - for example players with high Ps for MF. <li><a name="item_average_stamina">average_stamina</a> </li> The average stamina of players. The actual stamina (and all other ``average'' options) is created by a pseudo-random process, and <code>roster_creator</code> tries to fit the average rating to the option set in the configuration. <li><a name="item_average_aggression">average_aggression</a> </li> The average aggression level of players. <li><a name="item_average_main_skill%2c_average_mid_skill%2c_average">average_main_skill, average_mid_skill, average_secondary_skill</a> </li> Main skill is the primary skill for each position, like Ps for MFs. Mid skill is the skill for the DM and AM positions. I.e. mid_skill = 11 means 11 at Tk and Ps for DMs (all in average, of course). Secondary skill is the non-primary skill of players, like Tk and Ps for FWs. <li><a name="item_roster_name_prefix">roster_name_prefix</a> </li> Given some prefix ``xx'', <code>roster_creator</code> creates rosters with the names ``xx1.txt'', ``xx2.txt'' and so on. <li><a name="item_generate_names">generate_names</a> </li> Set this to 1 if you want <code>roster_creator</code> to create randomized names for the players. If this option is not set, blank spaces will be left in the rosters instead of the names. </ul> <h2><a name="4.13_fixtures__generators_of_league_fixtures/schedule">4.13 <code>fixtures</code> - generators of league fixtures/schedule</a></h2> This program creates a schedule / fixtures list for a league. A league is played in two rounds, N-1 games in each round (where N is the amount of teams). During a league run, each team plays each other team twice, once home and once away. Input: table.txt - list of team names to create the fixtures for. Full names should be listed here. Output: a list of fixtures in fixtures.txt The input and output of this program is so simple that there's no point to list the files it uses separately. <h2><a name="4.14_an_essential_subset_of_tools">4.14 An essential subset of tools</a></h2> You probably noticed that the only tools a league administrator really needs are <code>esms</code> and <code>updtr</code>. All the rest are just auxiliary programs some administrators use, and some don't. <h2><a name="4.15_end_of_round_cleanup">4.15 End of round cleanup</a></h2> Most of the files created by the ESMS programs during a run of some round are either temporaries that are needed to communicate between the tools, or information files that are to be sent to the league managers. The files that really last between rounds are the configuration files, teams.dir, table.txt and the rosters. All the other files are usually deleted after performing their purpose, in order not to clutter the league directory. For example, after a round is run, the commentary files, reports.txt and stats.dir should be deleted. <hr /> <h1><a name="5._epilogue">5. Epilogue</a></h1> <h2><a name="5.1_what's_next">5.1 What's next</a></h2> That's about it for a guide on ESMS administration. Like with any unfamiliar program, it may look intimidating at first, but once you get to know it, it is really very simple. When your league is correctly set up, running the ESMS tools is very simple and only takes a few moments. Seasoned administrators report that each week the bulk of their time (which isn't more than a few minutes) goes into fixing mistakes in teamsheets sent in by managers. The rest of the process - running the games and updates takes almost no time. So if you are new to ESMS, the best advice I can give is practice. Go through the tutorial again, make sure everything makes sense, run a few more rounds, set up a small test league for friends. Practice brings perfection. If you need any help at setting up a league, or have any questions and requests regarding the ESMS programs, feel free to ask me. <h2><a name="5.2_contact">5.2 Contact</a></h2> This document, as is ESMS itself, was written and is maintained by Eli Bendersky. My email address is <a href="mailto:eliben@gmail.com.">eliben@gmail.com.</a> Feel free to send me comments, feedback and questions. I usually answer emails very regularly and will be glad to help. ESMS also has a low-volume, but important mailing list at Yahoo Groups. In the list new features are usually discussed, and people often ask questions and request ideas for their ESMS leagues. To sign to the mailing list, visit <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com">http://groups.yahoo.com</a> and look for <code>esms</code>. <hr>Eli Bendersky (<a href="mailto:eliben@gmail.com">eliben@gmail.com</a>) </body> </html>