Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: September 22, 2001

This page answers questions that are specific to the user interface and features of version 7. For answers to general questions about the game, our player ratings, and company policies, see FAQ -- General.

NOTE: Version 7 is a character-mode DOS game. In December, 2000, we introduced version 8, which contains many new features and a totally-redesigned Windows user interface. We will continue to sell and support version 7 for the time being, and most of our season disks are available in version 7 format, but any new season disks we offer will be available only for version 8 and beyond.

There's a new e rating on the defense region of the game screen. What does it mean?

It's a way of expressing the player's tendency to make errors. The number next to the e is the projected number of errors this player will make if he plays 100 complete games at this position.

Version 7 can automatically apply real-life transactions as the season progresses. Will Diamond Mind be supplying transaction logs for its season disks, or do we have to type them in ourselves?

We updated the1996 Season Disk to include all of the real-life transactions and game-by-game starting lineups. The 1997 Season Disk also has all the real-life transactions and lineups, and we plan to provide real-life transactions for any new seasons disks we develop after version 7 begins shipping.

We are also looking into references sources that would allow us to add transactions for our existing past seasons as well, and to offer these upgraded seasons at very reasonable prices. Unfortunately, we have not been encouraged by the levels of completeness or accuracy in the sources we've uncovered to date, so we're not yet in a position to say whether or when we'll be able to offer these updates. When we know more, we'll make the information available.

If you are using a season disk that we have not yet updated, you can enter the real-life transactions and game-by-game lineups as you progress through your season replay. This information would then be available if you wanted to play that season again (either manually or in autoplay mode).

I run a league that's in the middle of a season using version 6.5. Can we convert to version 7 during the season?

Yes, provided all league members make the switch at the same time. The league commissioner can convert the league disk from version 6.5 format to version 7 format without losing any of the stats and other information from the season that's underway. If every league member has purchased and installed a version 7 upgrade, the commissioner can begin distributing the league disk in version 7 format. It is not possible, however, for some league members to remain on version 6.5, since the stats transfer features require that the source and target of the transfer use the same version of the software.

After installing version 7, I made changes to the rosters of most teams. When I tried to play games, error messages indicated that certain players were not present on the roster. What's going on?

Along with version 7, we shipped an updated copy of the 1996 season disk for those customers who had previously purchased this season. The updated 1996 season disk contains a complete set of real-life transactions and game-by-game starting lineups for 1996, and the leagues are set up to use those transactions and lineups for any games that you play. If you make roster moves on your own, your rosters no longer match up with the information in the transaction log and the saved lineup file. You can use Organize/League/Modify to change the Play mode for each league to No Transactions. This will turn off the transaction and saved lineup feature.

During a game, I pressed the M key to activate the More choices command, but nothing happened? Why not?

Diamond Mind Baseball turns the NumLock key on when it displays a game screen menu, to make it easier for two people to share a keyboard. One player can press the number keys above the main portion of the keyboard and the other can use the numeric keypad at the right side of the keyboard. But on some notebook computers, the numeric keypad overlays some of the letter keys. When NumLock is toggled on, the M is interpreted as zero, J is one, and so on. You can ask the game not to toggle the NumLock key -- it's one of the options you can select on the forms that popup just before each game. Set Auto toggle NumLock to No, and you will be able to access the M key and the other letter keys used by the game screen menus.

While converting of one of my season disks to the version 7 format, I received the error message "Unable to open <filename>" and the conversion was not completed. What went wrong?

Diamond Mind Baseball needs to be able to open several player files at the same time while assigning the new pitch--by-pitch ratings. If your computer isn't set up to allow enough files to be opened, the conversion cannot do its job. The number of open files is controlled by a FILES= statement in your CONFIG.SYS file. Your CONFIG.SYS file needs to have FILES=20 or greater. If (a) this number is too low, (b) the FILES= statement is missing altogether, (c) there's no CONFIG.SYS file at all, or (d) you bypass the CONFIG.SYS file when starting your computer, DOS will default to FILES=8 and some Diamond Mind features (mainly conversion and the saving of stats at the end of each game) will not work.