49 replies to this topic

[Mike FF Today]

• Draft Buddy - 12 Years and counting!

Last year we've made some big changes in an effort to make the CC/DB more user-friendly, not the least of which was to combine the Compiler and Draft Buddy into one file. Since we're down to a single file, we've decided to shorten the name down to simply "Draft Buddy". Don't worry all cheatsheet creation functionality is still the program and in fact, we've been able to return some of the features that got lost in last year's makeover.

What's New?

• New name! New logo!
• Return of the countdown timer
• Return of trash talking sound effects *
• New tab: players picked by position
• Rushing stats, projections for WR & TE
• Deeper IDP projections

* If you want the Sound Effects you will need to download the appropriate sounds folder (Windows or Mac) from the Draft Buddy Download area.

For those that don't know, the The DB allows you to create customized cheatsheets for all your leagues and functions also a Draft tracker and manager. You can view screenshots of the program here.

System Requirements: The DB program requires a version of Microsoft Excel in order to function. The benefit of Excel is that Draft Buddy is both Windows and Mac compatible, with one exception - Microsoft lost their heads a few years ago and stripped out vital code making the DB incompatible with Mac Office 2008. The good news is, the CC/DB does work with all other version of Mac Office, including Mac Office 2011.

Purchase Info: You may make your purchase with your credit card through Paypal, or by check/money order. Order here Please make sure you are logged in with your FF Today Account BEFORE you make your purchase. It will make the purchase process much easier for you.

Login Help: If you have any trouble logging in after your purchase to download the Draft Buddy, please send a note to login@fftoday.com and we will assist you ASAP.

Product Support: Mike MacGregor and Mike Krueger will be offering tech support here at this board or you can send an email to compiler@fftoday.com if you have any questions. We will be happy to help!

As we've done in the past our Early Bird Price is $12.95 through July 31st ($16.95 after). Your purchase will entitle you to product updates through the start of the regular season (9/9) and get you one free entry into our $2500 DB Survivor Contest.

Here's our tentative schedule for projection updates. Unscheduled updates will likely occur more this season given the shortened time-span for free agency and trades. Rest assured, we'll be on top of everything.

6/5 - Initial release
6/21 - Done
7/5 - Done
7/12 - Done
7/19 - Done
7/26 - Done
8/2 - Done
8/9 - Done
8/11 - Done
8/16 - Done
8/23 - Done
8/27 - Done
8/30 - Done
9/3 - Done
9/6 - Done

Remember, you don't need to download a new copy of the DB for the projection updates. If you've already purchased the DB...

1. Open up the Draft Buddy
2. Click the "action" tab
3. Click the "Update Projections" button
4. Enjoy!

Draft Buddy



We welcome your feedback on the 2012 version of Draft Buddy in this thread but if you have specific problem or question please start a new thread and we'll be able to respond in a more timely manner. Thanks and happy drafting!

MK

[Mike MacGregor]

Hey guys, just checking in here myself. Glad to be up and running for 2012! I'll be working on Projection Pal to have it up next week. As always, if you notice any issues let us know and we'll work to resolve them ASAP.

[Mark DiBlasi]

Hey guys, just checking in here myself. Glad to be up and running for 2012! I'll be working on Projection Pal to have it up next week. As always, if you notice any issues let us know and we'll work to resolve them ASAP.

Mike - very excited for the changes in the 2012 product. Can't wait to dig into it.

Any chance you guys might be working on an iPad version for the future?

[Mike MacGregor]

Hey Mark. We'd love to have that capability, obviously. This is a big project, because it isn't like we can convert what we have with Draft Buddy. It is something new we need to build from the ground up. Our biggest stumbling block is finding the right person who can do a good job for us in a reasonable time. In short, we aren't going to have anything this year, but we know we need to work towards a mobile phone and tablet solution long-term. I own an iPad. No question it would be easier taking that to a draft than a laptop, although I'll still take the laptop if it is a better piece of software.

BTW, glad to have you back!

[Ditka vs. ______]

Does anyone have a preferred site that they would recommend to use with the Projection Pal?

[Mike MacGregor]

Since I haven't got Projection Pal ready yet, it might be tough at this point to make recommendations. I can say this though: during baseball season I used it at www.fantasypros.com and their consensus projections (average of projections from various sites). We'll see if they do a similar feature for football.

[jocool1313]

Hello,
Last year was my first year with DB. i really liked it since i am in a keeper league that you can keep everyone on your roster and only need to drop someone when you draft someone. So as you could see that with 8 teams each having 23 players other than rookies the draft is hard and takes time to prepare. I had a question though for this year, i dont have "office" I have open office, wil DB work with open office? it has speadsheets and stuff, but not all the bells and whistles of office.

[Mike MacGregor]

Hi jocool. Unfortunately I don't believe it will work with OpenOffice. There are too many advanced features that don't convert to work in OO, so it requires Excel. What happened to the computer you had last year that must have had Excel on it?

[Mike MacGregor]

Only a week in and we are already on our second version, version 1.5. Customers who already have 1.0 can login again to download 1.5. Check my announcement post. Plus Projection Pal is also ready. Check my other announcement post.

[Mike MacGregor]

The 6/21 projections update is up. Go to your copy of Draft Buddy, click the action tab and hit the Update Projections button. You'll get updated projections, ADP and updated depth charts. Enjoy!

[Pirates_Tide]

The 6/21 projections update is up. Go to your copy of Draft Buddy, click the action tab and hit the Update Projections button. You'll get updated projections, ADP and updated depth charts. Enjoy!

Who got jumps in projections and drops in projections? TIA Tommy

[Mike MacGregor]

Mike was working on a change log, but I'm not sure he finished it up. If you go through each position tab though, you can see in the yellow section for the FF Today projections a "U" or a "D" marking players that moved up or down with their projections. There were some other small changes - like number of receptions, attempts, etc. - for certain players that are not marked.

[Ditka vs. ______]

Projection Pal 1.5 works great. I've used the projections from Pro Football Focus, they worked great, really easy to input. I also used the projections from CBS Sports. These required a lot more work to upload into Draftbuddy, but with a little effort, it can be done. I will continue to look for additional / better options, as updating the CBS projections will require a lot of work each time.

[Mike MacGregor]

Thanks for the feedback Ditka. Good to know about both of those sources for other projections.

[usnnut]

The OVERALL and ADP tabs are hard to track for QB's. The RB's are highlighted in PURPLE, the WR's are highlighted in GREEN and the TE's are highlighted in ORANGE. Can we get a color code for QB's as well as part of a future update maybe? The way it is set up now it's awful easy to overlook the QB's cause they are in WHITE and with the BACKGROUND also being WHITE its tough to see for old eyes.

Possible to add a color for QB's on these tabs please? OVERALL and ADP.

[Mike MacGregor]

Hi usnnut. To keep everything compatible in both versions of Excel, we are limited to 3 colours - plus the white background if you want to count that as the fourth colour. You can switch the positions though, and do it on the fly. See near the top of the ADP tab or overall tab where it shows the positions that are highlighted and with each colour? Click on those boxes and a drop-down will appear allowing you to change the position. If you'd like to remove highlighting for a position, click on the cell and hit delete. Then maybe you can just go with a single colour and keep changing positions to quickly see the position you are interested in.

[Mike MacGregor]

Projection update, updated ADP and depth charts all pushed through yesterday

[Mike MacGregor]

July 12 update is ready. Lots of changes on the defensive player side. Some key changes on offense.

[Mike MacGregor]

July 19 projection update is up! I apparently missed the news on Mark Ingram. He's up (a little)! And down goes Marshawn and Dez...

[tdcman1]

anyone have success running DB2012 in Numbers on a Mac? I can open the spreadsheet but can not update the projections.

[Mike MacGregor]

I don't think that is going to work tdcman. You'll need Excel, because otherwise you can't run the backend programming (macros) needed to update projections, compile cheatsheets, even draft a player. If you don't have Excel then you can download a fully functioning trial version direct from microsoft.com

[Mike MacGregor]

8/2 update is UP!

[bluegold85]

Looking for some help. I'm trying to load Draft Buddy on a Mac running OSX 10.7 and Excel for Mac 2011. I follow the steps to download and launch Draft Buddy, and when I am prompted about running Macros, I click "enable macros." Then the spreadsheet tries to make a connection to the server, but I receive the following message from Excel "Error in loading DLL." I also receive a yellow security warning bar in the spreadsheet that says "Data Connections have been disabled" but I also have a button that says "Enable Content." When I press the "enable content" button, the security warning goes away, but I still receive the "Error in loading DLL" and I'm unable to download any content. Is there some other step I missed, or a security setting that I need to disable?? I'd love to use the product again this year, but I'm stuck right now.

[Mike MacGregor]

Hi bluegold85, glad to have you back. Funny enough, I just drafted an email to all Draft Buddy customers (coming soon) which mentions this DLL issue on Macs.

The Data Connections thing is separate, and hitting Enable Content on that is fine. Here is what I wrote for the newsletter on the DLL thing:


Q. Why am I getting some sort of DLL error on my Mac?

A. As I understand it, any error involving a DLL file is a Windows specific issue. For a couple people who experienced this on their Mac, we discovered they were running some sort of Windows emulator program such as Parallels that allows them to run Windows programs on the Mac. Once they shut Parallels or similar software off and returned the computer to pure native Mac form, the DLL error went away.


Okay, so you're my next test subject. Did this apply to your situation and fix it?

[bluegold85]

Hi bluegold85, glad to have you back. Funny enough, I just drafted an email to all Draft Buddy customers (coming soon) which mentions this DLL issue on Macs.

The Data Connections thing is separate, and hitting Enable Content on that is fine. Here is what I wrote for the newsletter on the DLL thing:


Q. Why am I getting some sort of DLL error on my Mac?

A. As I understand it, any error involving a DLL file is a Windows specific issue. For a couple people who experienced this on their Mac, we discovered they were running some sort of Windows emulator program such as Parallels that allows them to run Windows programs on the Mac. Once they shut Parallels or similar software off and returned the computer to pure native Mac form, the DLL error went away.


Okay, so you're my next test subject. Did this apply to your situation and fix it?

Mike, I don't think that was the cause. I'm not running anything like Parallels, and all of my programs are Mac specific. The only thing I run that is even remotely related to windows is office for Mac 2011. I even went through a full reboot to see if that cleared something out, but the same problem when I launched draft buddy... DLL error

[Mike MacGregor]

Well, that's not good. Can you check that your version of Excel is up to date? Try Help > Check for Updates

[JOHN 316]

Question from a newb....sorry if this sounds stupid.

Is the Draft Buddy dependant on having an active internet connection to use - or is is a downloadable file I import into Excel?

Our live draft location is in a remote area that does not have a dependable internet connection. Is the Draft Buddy still something I can use?

[Mike MacGregor]

You can use it John. Absolutely. The only time you need an internet connection is to update projections. You'll do that when you prep before going to your draft. From there it works offline - in Excel on your laptop.

Thanks for giving Draft Buddy a try this year.

[bluegold85]

Well, that's not good. Can you check that your version of Excel is up to date? Try Help > Check for Updates

Just did a full update to Excel 2011 for Mac and still no good. Should I delete the draft buddy file and download again?

[Mike MacGregor]

Yes, please try again. Let me know if that does it. Quit Excel and reboot too? Lets start from ground zero.

[Mike MacGregor]

8/9 update is ready. Lots of changes this time. Some downgrades for holdouts and injuries (Holmes, Wallace, Austin, T-Rich). Some upgrades from guys slowly building steam as possible fantasy contributors this season (Kev. Smith, Royster, T.O. ).

[Mike MacGregor]

Unscheduled projection update just posted! Lots has happened in the last couple days since the scheduled update. Our #4 RB got injured and our #1 LB looks like he is out for the season - although not official. Plus the ever intriguing QB battle in Miami, Julio Jones skyrocketing up his already high ranking, Cedric Benson in GB (also not official) and, and... too many to remember. Just hit Update Projections and check out all the changes. For those drafting, good luck!

[Mike MacGregor]

Unscheduled update #2 ... we haven't updated the projections since Saturday, but I wanted us to start the week with fresh ADP data and depth charts, particularly since Cedric Benson officially signed and is now the #1 in GB. Plus someone noticed the past stats were not aligning with the proper players for RB and LB positions, caused by a faulty update page for each of those positions. I've fixed that now. So, open up Draft Buddy and hit Update Projections. You'll be all set.

Our next regularly scheduled update will be up Thursday.

[JOHN 316]

Unscheduled update #2 ... we haven't updated the projections since Saturday, but I wanted us to start the week with fresh ADP data and depth charts, particularly since Cedric Benson officially signed and is now the #1 in GB. Plus someone noticed the past stats were not aligning with the proper players for RB and LB positions, caused by a faulty update page for each of those positions. I've fixed that now. So, open up Draft Buddy and hit Update Projections. You'll be all set.

Our next regularly scheduled update will be up Thursday.

Mike: Newb here. Sorry for what might seem like a stupid question. I've just purchased the DB for the 1st time and I'm just getting used to navigating all the tabs. Certainly lots of info to process there !!

My 1 concern right now is how do I know when a new update is available and how do I upload it? I've got all my league info inputted right now and I'm concerned that when a new update is available that I'll have to upload the entire DB file from scratch and input everything again !

John

[Mike FF Today]

Hi John,

Glad to have you on board and thanks for checking out the DB!

The schedule for our updates are in the first post in this thread. They are done every Thursday and un-scheduled updates are done when breaking news happens (player injuries, etc).

Next updates...
8/16
8/23
8/30
9/3
9/6

To get the updated projections, rankings, depth charts, etc, you don't have to get a new file. Simply...

1. Open up the Draft Buddy
2. Click the "action" tab
3. Click the "Update Projections" button
4. click the "Compile Cheatsheets" button

That's it!

[bluegold85]

Yes, please try again. Let me know if that does it. Quit Excel and reboot too? Lets start from ground zero.

Mike, I was finally able to delete and reboot, then downloaded again, but still receiving the same DLL error. Any other thoughts?

[Mike MacGregor]

Shoot me an email.

[Mike MacGregor]

Big drafting weekends fast approaching, and players are already dropping! Redman, Witten top the latest hit list. The projection update is ready along with updated ADP and depth charts. Go to the action tab and hit Update Projections to get the latest info.

[Mike MacGregor]

8/23 update is now ready for the upcoming big draft weekend! Good luck!

[walkingfish]

Shoot me an email.

I am also experiencing the same problem as bluegold85. I am running MS Excel 2011 on Mac OS 10.7.4. Have you figured out the problem?