Grab a towel! We're about to play tXtFL, a strategy-based football simulator. tXtFL allows you to be coach, focusing on the strategy of the game rather than on glitzy graphics and awkward finger motions to control them. A graphical game manager keeps you updated with how your plays have been faring, how your players have been scoring, and how you're leading your team to the endzone.

We've designed tXtFL to pack in all the information you'll need as a coach. Here we describe how to take control of the console and draft real teams...or the team of your dreams.

Installation

What Is tXtFL?

tXtFL is a football strategy simulator and team manager. You create the players, design and call the plays, and track statistics. tXtFL-Draft, the player management utility, lets you create players from downloadable statistics. Built-in networking lets you play head-to-head with friends.

If you want to focus on the stats and play-calling of the game, the tXtFL simulator is for you. As a high-intensity but low-maintenance simulator, you can play it as quickly (hold "Enter" for autopilot) or slowly (eg one play a day) as you'd like. Perfect for fantasy sports, the tXtFL sim allows you to design your own dream team and test the combination of players on the field.

Importantly, the simulator can also run in Total Text Mode, designed for those without a graphical environment or those with visual impairments.

How do I install and run it?

tXtFL runs on a variety of platforms. All you need is (free) Java software (v.1.4 or later) and the tXtFL simulator. Check here for the latest downloads.

Playing tXtFL

Quick Start

Familiarize Yourself with the Display. The graphical window consists of a main output field (Play Output), a place below it to enter your choices (User input), and surrounding stats displays (Scoreboard, Drive History and Drive selector, Player Stats). Each Question is generally followed by "[x, y/z/.../*1 (Go back)]". x is the default choice, while all the other ones are the other options. *1 means to go back to the previous entry. The Selection Options are give right above the question.

Quickest Start. The quickest way to play is to press and hold Enter. The computer will automatically put the game in 1-player mode, pick your team, choose heads or tails for the coin toss, and set up the kickoff. The auto-coach will pick all your plays.

Step In. At anytime you can step in, choosing plays by number from the text-based menus. Type the number, press Enter, and watch the results scroll across your screen, enter the history panel, influence the game manager, and get dispersed among players recorded in the stats panel.

Game Setup

Game type. "What kind of game shall we start with? [0, 1]" To choose a new game, type 0 and hit Enter. The number in brackets shows the default choice, chosen by simply hitting Enter. If you have previously saved a game, type 2, then hit Enter (see "Save Game" for more details).

Number of players. How many humans (ie non-AI) will be playing?

If you like playing with friends, but on the same team, just choose one-player mode. tXtFL is a strategy and management game, and you can discuss play and player decisions just as if you were fellow coaches on a football field.

• One-player: You vs. Computer

• Two-player: You vs. Friend (or enemy), either at the same computer or across a network. For two-player games at the same computer, you and another player share the same keyboard to choose and manage opposing teams.

Networking. One computer (the "host") runs the game, while another computer (the "client") telnets to the first computer. That means that only one computer needs tXtFL. Most computers have telnet built in. From "Run..." in the Windows Start menu or at a command prompt, type, "telnet address port", where "address port" are the numbers displayed on the host computer after the user has chosen the networking option and selected the port to listen on.

Team Selection Select your team from the list. You can also create your own teams, or download updated rosters.

Coin toss The referee chooses one team randomly to call the coin toss. If you're asked to call the coin, pick "h" or "t". For now, the winner is assumed to receive the kick off.

And now, it's game time! It's time to boot the ball.

Game Play

A typical play consists of 3 parts: 1) You choose the play category, 2) You choose the specific play, and 3) The players carry out your call.

1. Play Category. The categories are automatically adjusted to the current play type. For example, at the start of the game, you are presented with a list of kick-off categories. To make your pick, type the number of your chosen category, ad press Enter. "0", then "Enter", for example, would choose "kick-off" when you're getting ready to boot the ball to your opponent. Hitting Enter by itself selects a play type randomly for you.

2. Specific Play. Plays are based on the category you've chosen. An "R" or "L" at the end of a play name means that the play is geared toward that side of the field—"Right" or "Left," respectively. On defensive plays, choosing the R or L side depends on which side you will strengthen in anticipation of the offense making a move in that direction. If you decide to switch the play category or change the Options, choose the Back option (*1).

3. Watch Your Players. After selecting the play, the computer will automatically run it. The tXtFL simulator employs customized mathematical models to simulate probabilities of pass completions, sacks, yardage after the catch, and other individual components of plays to orchestrate the dynamic game of football. A sports announcer will track the play for you and report key details on players, play calls, and yardage.

Once the play has completed, tXtFL automatically enters it into the Game History panel, complete with a drop-down box to reference past plays. The players who participated in the play also have their stats entered into the individual team stats panels.

Two-player mode works the same as one-player mode does, except that the coaches alternate between making each of their choices.

Options

Each coach can call several options to customize the coach's team or the entire game.

• Stats Stats is the text-based equivalent of the Game History panel. Coaches playing in Total Text Mode, which doesn't use the graphical game manager, can here track drive summaries or team statistics entirely through a menu-based, text-driven interface.

• Roster Coaches can make player substitutions or reload the entire set of players from the team spec file. For example, if QB Jo Wisconsin just isn't cuttin it, call up Tim Moussay from the substitutions menu. If Moussay still doesn't provide the answer, open up your team spec file, type in improved stats, save the file, and reload the roster. Evolution is as quick and painless as that.

• Plays If you've edited plays in your team spec file during game play, you can reload them here.

• Save Game If dinnertime creeps up in the middle of a play, you can stop right where you are--without saving--and nobody will ever know the difference. Unless of course the power blows out and your computer fries. In that case, or if you need to turn off your computer for saner, purposed reasons, save your file with this option. tXtFL saves in a special binary format that should protect any casual human opponent from altering the game while you're not looking, so long as you remember how your team is doing.

• About Learn a little about tXtFL here, including its GPL license.

• End game You can end the game without exiting the program...

• Quit ...or end it immediately.

Team Management

Football is a dynamic sport. Players hop on the field, fell a few opponents, then wearily hop off as fresh replacements trickle in. Even midweek, new plays get drafted, new players get traded, even new coaches get hired. It's time you kept your job; it's time to keep up with the dynamism of tXtFL team management.

Download Stats

tXtFL Draft allows you to download entire teams or sets of players. Afterward, you can customize teams by distributing "Coaching Points" and players through "Player Skill Values."

Launch tXtFL Draft Draft can be launched at the start of any game. Simply choose "y" when tXtFL asks whether you want to download more teams or players.

First download players Download players stats prior to downloading team stats. Player downloads create separate specification ("spec") files with statistics and bio information for each player. Choose the players download option and the types of leading player stats to incorporate. You should choose to merge these stats with the already existing ones, unless you have finished some tXtFL games of your own and would like only the official player stats.

Download teams Team downloads create team files with rosters and a default playbook, along with the players to make those plays. These players will by themselves only have stub files, unless player stats are downloaded first. Make sure to download players first, which will then be updated with team information.

You can continue adding and merging stats for the various positions and stats types to make more and more complete players.

Key Customizations

Customize players. Players include "Skill Points" as a measure of raw talen. These values can be set to any number, reflecting the wide range of talent among even professional players. 1.0 is considered average.: Note that these skills will be futher incorporated into plays and player ratings in future versions.

• Hands: Catching balls and passing.
• Feet: Important for rushing plays and kicking or punting.
• Build: Influences blocking ability.
• Smarts: Key to QB's as they scan the field for open opportunities.

Customize teams. Teams include "Coaching Points," a maximum of 5 points that you can distribute among several areas of coaching:

• PassCoaching: Influences QB's ability to pass and makes passing plays more likely in autopilot mode.
• RunCoaching: Increases RB's and FB's ability to rush and makes rushing plays more likely in autopilot mode.
• PassRushCoaching: Provides added value to the offensive line.
• DefensiveBacksCoaching: Emphasizes the ability for CB, FS, and SS to stop plays.
• SpecialTeamsCoaching: Bolsters K, P, and returners.

Understanding spec files

tXtFL comes with a few sample teams and their players. Each team consists of a list of plays, another list of players, and a few background details, such as hometown. Creating your team is as simple as downloading players/teams or modifying one of these teams to your own needs and saving it as your personal team.

Player specs. Each player listed in a team spec needs to have his or her own file, or "player spec," which is a simple text (".txt") file. For tXtFL to detect your spec file, the filename correspond to the player's first and last names, in that order and separated by an underscore. The file must also end with ".txt", as in "Jerri_Wheat.txt". Each file consists of five sections: 1) Version, 2) Biographical, and 3) Stats.

To manually create players, it's easiest to copy players/draft/template-player.txt. Any text after a pound ("#") sign on a line is ignored and thus useful to mark up, or comment, on your team for future reference.

1. Version
   Section Version

   The player spec gets upgraded from time to time with new releases of the tXtFL sim. The number should correspond to the version of the sim you'll be playing. For version 0.9.2, for example:

   Version=0.9.2

2. Biographical
   Section Biographical

   The bio details include name, team, position, depth, and player skill values.

   Name: The name must include a first and last name corresponding to the name of the file. The "middle name" can include as many names as you'd like, but if your player has none, "-" should be substituted. For example:

   Jo - Wisconsin
   Jo Jim Wisconsin
   Jo Jim Bob Wisconsin
   are all valid names for Jo Wisconsin.

   Team: The team name is used to distinguish players with similar names during the draft. This name should match the hometown of the player's current team.

   Team=San Francisco

   Pos: The position is the player's default position. Positions in tXtFL have a slightly modified naming scheme to differentiate the sides of the field. The sample team lists these names in a graphical representation of their position on the field:

   

   where the "r" or "l" prefix designates the player's side of the field.

   The assigned position could be very exact (eg "rcb") or more generic ("cb") or even more generic ("db").

   Pos=db

   Depth: The depth value specifies whether the player is a "starter" (depth of 1) or a backup, and if so, how far back. For example:

   Depth=1
   designates this player as a starter, meaning that the player will be automatically eligible right at the start of play.

   Hands, Feet, Build, Smarts: See more information on these player skill values.

3. Stats
   Section Stats

   The bio details include cumulative stats for a give year, as well as total stats. The basic format of a line is:

   Yr G PassAtt Cmp Yds TD Int Rec Yds TD RushAtt Yds TD Tk KickAtt Yds FGA FGM Punt Yds

   A final line should have the same format, but replace the year with "Total" and include summations for each statistic:

   Total G PassAtt Cmp Yds TD Int Rec Yds TD RushAtt Yds TD Tk KickAtt Yds FGA FGM Punt Yds

Team specs Each team specification file, or "team spec," is a simple text (".txt") file. For tXtFL to detect your spec file, the filename must end with "team.txt", as in "MyTeam-team.txt" or "CoolGuys-team.txt". Each file must consist of five sections: 1) Version, 2) Background, 3) Plays, 4) Players, and 5) Coaching Points.

To manually create teams, it's easiest to copy players/draft/template-team.txt as a template. Any text after a pound ("#") sign on a line is ignored and thus useful to mark up, or comment, on your team for future reference.

1. Version
   Section Version

   The team spec gets upgraded from time to time with new releases of the tXtFL sim. The number should correspond to the version of the sim you'll be playing. For version 0.9.2, for example:

   Version=0.9.2

2. Background
   Section Background

   The first line on your file is the team name, the second line is your hometown, such as:

   Name=Too Cool
   Hometown=Wherever Dude

3. Plays
   Section Plays

   As coach, you can design your own playbook.

   Anatomy of a play spec: All plays are divided into offensive and defensive plays, then further divided into play categories. But all plays have the same anatomy. Here's the structure, on a single line:

   category of/df name dist side carrier deliverer [>=9 more players]
   Remember: Both the offensive and defensive plays must each have at least one of each play category.

   Category: Your team spec must have at least one offensive and one defensive play of each category. The categories are selected during game time according to the current type of play. For example, during a kick-off, the kick-off play categories will automatically be selected for you; tXtFL will be looking for your plays that are part of the kick-off categories. The full set of categories are:

   pass, rush, punt, field-goal, kick-off, kick-off-dropkick, pat, two-point-pass, two-point-rush, safety-kick-punt, safety-kick-dropkick, safety-kick-placekick.

   Why all the different type of kick-offs and safety-kicks? Most of the time, you'll probably just pick a standard "kick-off" or "safety-kick-punt". tXtFL strives to follow the entire set of official pro football rules, however, and tries to make available even the more obscure and historic types of plays.

   Offense/defense: Plays you mark with the full word "offense" or "defense" are available when your team is on the respective side of the ball. "defense" includes anytime you're defending your goal or receiving a kick or punt.

   Name: Call your play whatever you'd like. Just be sure to give it a unique name within the play category, and don't forget to avoid using spaces in a name.

   Note: the sample team's plays follow a particular naming convention, where the last section of each name refers to the width, or lateral position on the field. See the "Width" sectionfor more details. For example:

   pass defense 4-3(R) ...
   stands for a defensive play with a 4-3 lineup that anticipates a pass and emphasizes the right half of the field

   Distance: Each of your plays will target a given distance. For example, offensive pass plays with "25" as their distance will attempt a 25 yard pass. Defensive pass plays with "25" will anticipate a 25 yard pass and position players near that yardage. The goal of the defense is to predict these distances as closely as possible, which minimizes the offense's chances of ever getting there.

   Players: Each player assignment has up to two additional options. Listed by itself, the position refers to the default player for that position. If an equals ("=") sign and another position or player name follows the position, this player is substituted for the given position.

   For example, suppose that player Jerri Wheat is the default player for the left wide receiver position, and John Tyler is the default for the right wide receiver slot.

   lwr
   would assign Jerri Wheat to the left wide receiver position .
   lwr=rwr
   lwl=rwr would assign John Tyler to this position, overriding Jerri Wheat's spot and John Tyler's default assignment. Alternatively,
   lwr=John_Tyler
   could be used. Please note the undrscore ("_") used in place of the space in the player's name.

   Carrier: The first player listed in the players section of each offensive play spec is termed the "ball-carrier," the player who usually receives the ball, such as a wide receiver would during a pass play, or as a running back might during a rushing play. In kick-offs and punts, this player boots the ball.

   Deliverer: The second listed player delivers the ball to the ball-carrier, if applicable. During pass plays, for example, the deliverer would act as the quarterback, regardless of whether the qb has been asigned to this position. During special plays, you could even specify a running back to act as the passer.

   Other players: tXtFL allows up to 9 other players, for a full complement of 11 players per play.

4. Players
   Section Players

   Each tXtFL player has a unique spec file in the "players" folder. See the section, Creating Players, for details on how to create an entire roster of players from real player stats.

   Anatomy of a player: Medical textbooks will have more on the science of this matter, but here we take a look at the anatomy of a player spec. Here's the structure:

   name position [depth order]

   Name: This name corresponds to the filename of a player found in the "players" folder, minus the ".txt" extension.

   Position: The position field is either "-" or another position. For "-", the players will be assigned to the positions listed in their own spec files.

   Depth order: The depth order, or "string" of the players, refers to their priority in playing their position. Players with depth orders of 1 are "starters" and will play automatically.

   For example, to shift Jo Wisconsin from 2nd string QB to 1st string:

   Jo_Wisconsin - 1
   or from 2nd string QB to 1st string right DE (don't ask me why):
   Jo_Wisconsin rde 1

5. Coaching Points
   Section Coaching

   These values simulate training emphasis for your team. You are allotted a total of 5 "coaching points," which you can distribute among these different areas. If your total number exceeds 5, as many points up to 5 will be assigned before capping your team's training.

   See the team customization for details on how to assign these values.

Deprecated features...

...that might still just work...
"It's an older code, but it still checks out"

Creating players through spreadsheets

Copy stats from a website into a speadsheet. After opening your spreadsheet program, copy the table of stats, including the table headers, from the website into a spreadsheet. The same columns in the website should appear in your spreadsheet.

Adjust the columns. The table headers need to match tXtFL stat keywords. Missing stats will be given default values. The list of stat keywords is:

Player*, Hometown, Position, Depth, Year*, Games, PassAtt, PassCmp, PassYds, PassTD, PassInt, RecAtt, RecYds, RecTD, RushAtt, RushYds, RushTD, Tk, KickOffAtt, KickOffYds, FieldGoalAtt, FieldGoals, PuntAtt, PuntYds

where the starred ("*") items indicate required items.

To make one stat assignment for the entire set of players, append an equals sign ("=") and the assignment in the header position. If the player has an individual assignment after a constant stat column, all the constant columns must have a dash ("-") in the preceding constant stat columns. To override a constant for a given player, simply type in the assignment for the stat in the player's column for it.

e.g. You're looking at a page of 2003 stats. All the stats are, as you might expect, for the 2003 season. Instead of typing 2003 in every player's field under the Year column, simply type "Year=2003" in the column header.

Now let's suppose that you decide to write a couple more columns with constants. For one stat, you know that every player has played 12 games, except for Jerri Wheat, who got injured and only played 7. Simply type 7 in his field for the "Games=12" column. And be sure to type "-" in all the preceding columns with constant stats, such as the "Year=2003" column, for Jerri Wheat. Go ahead and leave the other player's columns alone.

It's usually easiest to save constant stat columns for the last columns in your spreadsheet. If you'd like to place one of these columns before any non-constant stat columns, every player must have "-" under the constant stat.

Save the spreadsheet tXtFL reads stats spreadsheets in plain text format. Save the spreadsheet as a Text CSV (".csv") file into the "draft" folder located in the "players" folder of your tXtFL program folder ( "tXtFL-x.y.z" > "players" > "draft").

Feed the spreadsheet through tXtFL-Draft After starting tXtFL-Draft, you can pick your new spreadsheet from the list of CSV files.

tXtFL-Draft will immediately attempt to create a player spec file for each of the players in your chosen spreadsheet. If successful, you will be asked whether to move them to the "players" folder, making them available immediatly for your teams. If you already have a player there who bears the same spec filename, the program will ask whether you would like to overwrite it.

Unless you'd like to create players from more spreadsheets, exit the program, update your team spec with any new players or adjusted plays to reflect those players, and start playing a fresh tXtFL!

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