Frequently Asked Questions

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Here are the questions I've been asked most often this week, with answers. If you're having any trouble with the software, then here is a good place to start.

 

Q. Where is Draft Buddy?

 

A. Draft Buddy is a separate file included in the same download file as the Cheatsheet Compiler. Buddy can be “found” a few different ways, including:

 

• If you used the Windows .exe download file, by default it installs the Compiler and Buddy in the directory /Program Files/Cheatsheet Compiler/ From Excel, choose File > Open, browse to that directory, select the Buddy file and Open.

 

• From the Compiler, find the custom top menu “Cheatsheet Compiler”. Under this menu select Setup Draft Buddy, and it will open Draft Buddy, copy over your Compiler created cheatsheets and prepare Buddy for your league draft.

 

• If you used the Mac .zip download file, open that file (folder) and you should see the individual Compiler and Buddy files. These files should be copied to a new location outside the .zip file prior to using them.

 

Q. Where is Projection Pal?

 

A. Projection Pal is a separate download from the same member access download page that the Compiler and Draft Buddy are downloaded from. The link to Pal is in a small box on the right of this page.

 

Q. Is the Cheatsheet Compiler and Draft Buddy compatible with OpenOffice?

 

A. Unfortunately, no. Neither the Compiler or Buddy work in OpenOffice due to the backend programming that is only supported by a full version of Microsoft Excel. However, you can download a trial version of Office (which includes Excel) direct from Microsoft. The trial version is fully functional and good for 60 days of use. There should be a link to the trial version from http://www.microsoft.com/office .

 

Q. Why am I getting an error message when the Compiler tries to open the first time after installing on my computer?

 

A. Make sure you downloaded the correct version for your version of Microsoft Excel. There are various files available from the member access download page. The Excel 2007 version with .xlsm on the end of the unzipped filename will not work in versions of Excel prior to 2007. The older Excel versions with .xls on the end of the file will work in all versions of Excel, including 2007.

 

Q. What version of Excel do I have?

 

A. Refer to the following images to determine which version of Excel you have.

 

 

 

Q. Why am I having trouble using the Copy League Profiles feature to copy over all my league data from the prior year?

 

A. 95% of the time this issue is due to a mistyped 2006 Cheatsheet Compiler filename. The filename specified that you want to copy league profiles from must be typed exactly, and include the “.xls” on the end. Windows does not necessarily make it easy, because in some setups it hides the .xls file extension. Also, try keeping both the 2006 and 2007 files open at the same when trying to copy league profiles.

 

Q. How do the Overall Rankings / Custom Baselines options work?

 

A. The overall rankings and custom baseline options are used to adjust the comparison player of each position from which the player values are calculated for the overall rankings. Essentially, they are two different ways to put more or less emphasis on certain positions, which will increase or decrease the positions’ value in the overall rankings.

 

Here is an example of how the comparison player is determined: In a 12 team league with 1 QB starter and 2 RB starters and using the last starter overall ranking method gives us a comparison QB of the 12th QB, and a comparison RB of the 24th RB.

 

The "recommended" methods are not as simple as last starter or last drafted, but rather apply some pre-set custom baseline adjustments to various positions to try to account for position scarcity and risk by weighting some positions more valuable (i.e. RB) and some positions less valuable (i.e. K) relative to each other.

 

For more on this, go to this page:

 

http://www.fftoday.com/compiler/hg_compiler_adv.htm

 

and scroll down to the section Overall Ranking Methods for more insight.

 

Q. What Overall Rankings Method do you recommend?

 

A. Compiler Draft Pick Recommended for most traditional fantasy football leagues, which use a draft pick style draft and teams start 1 QB.

 

Compiler Auction Recommended for similar leagues but that use an auction style draft. Note auctions, and assessing appropriate player values for auctions, are more variable from league to league based on subjective factors such as how aggressive or conservative the owners are bidding on players. If your league has some prior year auction history, review this to assess the appropriateness of the Compiler values.

 

For leagues that start 2 QB, then the Median Players Drafted tends to be a good method.

 

Q. My league is a keeper league. Where do I input the keepers?

 

A. The keepers are input in Draft Buddy. First create cheatsheets in the Compiler which include all players. This is necessary to make sure the Compiler appropriately values the players for your league. Then run the Draft Buddy Setup which will copy over the cheatsheets to it. As long as you specified back on the setup tab in the Compiler it is a keeper league, then a keepers tab should appear in Buddy where you will input those players. Then they will drop off the cheatsheets and teams rosters are updated.

 

The only exception to this is if it costs a draft pick to keep players from the prior year. In that case input keepers on the draft input tab beside the pick it costs to keep the player.

 

Q. What do the “U” and “D” mean beside the player names on the cheatsheets?

 

A. These identify the players whose projections were increased (moved up - U) or decreased (moved down - D) in the last projection update since the prior projections.

 

Q. Can I change the ranges in the Distance Scoring boxes on the scoring tab?

 

A. No. Only cells highlighted in yellow on the scoring tab are intended to be changed.

 

Q. My league uses a Team QB position. How can I incorporate that into the Compiler?

 

A. Download this file which includes formulas to create team QB projections. The formulas add all of the individual player projections by team, and puts the sum beside the QB who is #1 on the depth chart. Open the file, copy the formulas and paste them to the same spot in your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler.

 

Then, you need to change the allocation key on the QB tab in your Compiler to point the projected fantasy points calculations to the new team QB projections. Scroll to the left on the sample file and you'll see a note identifying where to do this.

 

Q. My league uses an Offensive Team position. How can I incorporate that into the Compiler?

 

A. The following steps will work for adding an Offensive Team position, an Offensive Line position, or separate Special Teams position (split off from Team Defense), but only if your league does not use one of DL, LB or DB positions:

 

1. Go to the DEF tab and copy all the team names.

 

2. Go to the DL tab and paste the team names over the top 32 DL players.

 

3. On the DL tab, delete all of the projections. Then under one of the columns (say Tackle), rank the offensive teams from 1 to 32, 32 being best and 1 being worst.

 

4. Go to the scoring tab and change the tackle scoring for DL to equal 1 point per 1 tackle.

 

5. Go to the setup tab and insert 1 starter for DL.

 

6. Hit Compile Cheatsheets.

 

Now your offensive teams should be split out separately from the DEF and ranked on the IDP cheatsheet. This should carry over to Draft Buddy. Note prior to updating projections, click the "Skip IDP Update" option on the update tab, otherwise it will overwrite the changes made to the DL tab.

[RealMenofGenius 0]

I'm having issues with the CC/DB. The macros are not working at all. I'm using Excel 2008 for Mac. I've tried it on 2 different laptops. Any recommendations?

[Mike MacGregor 20]

I'm having issues with the CC/DB. The macros are not working at all. I'm using Excel 2008 for Mac. I've tried it on 2 different laptops. Any recommendations?

 

Hi RMoG. Is it Mac Office 2008 on both machines? The problem is that the Compiler and Draft Buddy do not work in Mac Office 2008. Microsoft pulled Visual Basic support in that product, and as a result the CC/DB - requiring the macros to function and all - ceased to work. It will work on a Mac with an older version of Excel/Office, or Windows of course.

 

My apologies but that is what we are restricted with at this time. Do you have other options available from your Mac Office '08?

[RealMenofGenius 0]

Hi RMoG. Is it Mac Office 2008 on both machines? The problem is that the Compiler and Draft Buddy do not work in Mac Office 2008. Microsoft pulled Visual Basic support in that product, and as a result the CC/DB - requiring the macros to function and all - ceased to work. It will work on a Mac with an older version of Excel/Office, or Windows of course.

 

My apologies but that is what we are restricted with at this time. Do you have other options available from your Mac Office '08?

 

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, its Mac Office 2008 on both. I hated Microsoft before but when they take my awesome CC/DB away from me.....holy ###### fire, I'm pissed.

I'm gonna dig around for some ideas to make it work, otherwise, not sure if I could ask for a refund on it this year?

 

Thanks,

RMG

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, its Mac Office 2008 on both. I hated Microsoft before but when they take my awesome CC/DB away from me.....holy ###### fire, I'm pissed.

I'm gonna dig around for some ideas to make it work, otherwise, not sure if I could ask for a refund on it this year?

 

Thanks,

RMG

 

I hope you find a way to make it work. You could ask for a refund, yes, and it will be granted.

[Bombers97 0]

Where is the Copy League Profile feature found?

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Where is the Copy League Profile feature found?

 

Hi Bombers. It is on the update tab in the Compiler (first tab, far left).

[mrkman11 0]

Hi RMoG. Is it Mac Office 2008 on both machines? The problem is that the Compiler and Draft Buddy do not work in Mac Office 2008. Microsoft pulled Visual Basic support in that product, and as a result the CC/DB - requiring the macros to function and all - ceased to work. It will work on a Mac with an older version of Excel/Office, or Windows of course.

 

My apologies but that is what we are restricted with at this time. Do you have other options available from your Mac Office '08?

 

 

What versions of Office (excel) for Mac will the program work for? Assuming 2007, which is hard to find. How about 2004?

[Mike MacGregor 20]

What versions of Office (excel) for Mac will the program work for? Assuming 2007, which is hard to find. How about 2004?

 

It will absolutely work in 2004. I don't think there is a 2007, honestly. They don't roll one our every year. There was a 2007 Windows version and a 2008 Mac version. Basically, any version OLDER than 2008 it will work.

[bwillingham 0]

Mike,

 

Just a quick question on CC. How do I get more players to print out on the actual cheatsheet. For whatever reason, it is only going to 144.

 

Thanks.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Hi B. I just responded to your email about this.

[joemax_60613 0]

Hi, I'm having trouble running the draft buddy. It starts up okay, I enable macros and the xl file loads fine. But when I go to setup Draft Buddy, it thinks for a sec then I get an error: Microsoft VIsual Basic is the header on the error box, the message is:

 

"Run-time error '1004': Method 'Calculate' of object'_Global' failed.

 

Then there are buttons for continue, end, debug, and help; only end and help work.

 

Clicking the end button takes me back to the xl file, and I can click the setup button again, it gets another error, this time slightly different.

 

MacOS10.5.8, I don't know the xl version but it's def pre-2008

 

Thanks

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Hi, I'm having trouble running the draft buddy. It starts up okay, I enable macros and the xl file loads fine. But when I go to setup Draft Buddy, it thinks for a sec then I get an error: Microsoft VIsual Basic is the header on the error box, the message is:

 

"Run-time error '1004': Method 'Calculate' of object'_Global' failed.

 

Then there are buttons for continue, end, debug, and help; only end and help work.

 

Clicking the end button takes me back to the xl file, and I can click the setup button again, it gets another error, this time slightly different.

 

MacOS10.5.8, I don't know the xl version but it's def pre-2008

 

Thanks

 

Hi joemax. The error message is slightly different than I would expect, but one thing with Macs when you are trying to do Setup Draft Buddy, both the Compiler and Buddy need to be open in Excel at the same time. Have you done that? If not give it a try, and report back if you are still getting the same or similar error.

[joemax_60613 0]

Thanks Mike, that worked perfectly. Hadn't even thought of doing that.

[Pirates_Tide 0]

I set Complier for 32 teams, but when I opened and transferred my Complier to Draft Buddy I'm seeing it only will list 20 teams. How did I set this up to transfer to 32 teams? What am I doing wrong? Thanks Tommy

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Hi Tommy. Did you just buy the Compiler recently? Draft Buddy does have a limit of 20 teams, even though the Compiler will allow for many more teams to construct the cheatsheets. Are you in a draft now or have one coming up with 32 teams? If so, is each NFL player only allowed on a single fantasy team in the 32-team league?

[Pirates_Tide 0]

Hi Tommy. Did you just buy the Compiler recently? Draft Buddy does have a limit of 20 teams, even though the Compiler will allow for many more teams to construct the cheatsheets. Are you in a draft now or have one coming up with 32 teams? If so, is each NFL player only allowed on a single fantasy team in the 32-team league?

 

Mike,

I bought it back in November to play around with it, but between 8 leagues with 2 of those I commish and family I haven't had a lot of play time with your program so this is still new to me. I'm now starting to play around with it. To answer your question I'm starting a 32 team league with a friend and we will start drafting around mid April. Also that is only 1 player allowed per league unlike the usual where each player is available in each conference. I wanted to try your program with this.

[Pirates_Tide 0]

Hi Tommy. Did you just buy the Compiler recently? Draft Buddy does have a limit of 20 teams, even though the Compiler will allow for many more teams to construct the cheatsheets. Are you in a draft now or have one coming up with 32 teams? If so, is each NFL player only allowed on a single fantasy team in the 32-team league?

Hey Mike are you planning on bumping it up to 32 teams for more with your updates this off season. I know that FBG's has a import system from MFL to import their rosters directly, draft picks and such to make like easier in regards to getting the correct data in and current in a very fast manner. Are you able to do that or do you have plans for this. Just a few suggestions. Tommy

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Hi Tommy. Thanks for trying out the Compiler and I hope you like what you see. I am knee deep working on the fantasy baseball version of the Compiler & Buddy right now, but I will give these suggestions some consideration and see what we can do for 2011. I appreciate the feedback.