Posted by jds3d on 3/23/2026 12:17:00 PM (view original):
when you ran HardballDraftOptimizer.exe what did you see? It's possible you got an error on your machine that I wasn't seeing on mine.

This is where the "teach me like I'm five" comes in....I didn't even get this far because I don't know what you're talking about

I have a six year old son. And I'm afraid I won't be able to teach you like I teach him because I'd need to look over your shoulder and see exactly what's hanging you up if you cannot explain it to me. Perhaps try pasting it into chatgpt and following its instructions. Screenshots, text, anything. The instructions in the repo should be either complete enough or incomplete enough for chatgpt to figure out what you're missing.

Fair enough lol. The big thing is that the setup instructions simply start with “python 3.10”….i assume that means you need to have python 3.10 installed and open on your computer, which was my original question. From your responses it now sounds like that might not be true but I cannot figure out how else to make it work.

when I click the link in the initial post, it takes me to a page that just has a bunch of files and no buttons to press, so when you talk about there being a UI that just lets you press a couple of buttons that will do all the work for you I get confused and lost

any chance you have Discord so I can DM you screenshots of what I’m seeing?

I thought that meant you had to buy a python that was 3 feet, 10 inches long.

Thanks for setting this up, maybe I'm dense or maybe I'm drunk but I have no clue what's going on here.

Posted by bruinsfan911 on 3/26/2026 6:05:00 AM (view original):
Fair enough lol. The big thing is that the setup instructions simply start with “python 3.10”….i assume that means you need to have python 3.10 installed and open on your computer, which was my original question. From your responses it now sounds like that might not be true but I cannot figure out how else to make it work.

when I click the link in the initial post, it takes me to a page that just has a bunch of files and no buttons to press, so when you talk about there being a UI that just lets you press a couple of buttons that will do all the work for you I get confused and lost

any chance you have Discord so I can DM you screenshots of what I’m seeing?

My apologies for the delay in responding. I was on vacation in the Caribbean. I have updated the usage instructions to assume no prior knowledge of python or git. Please let me know if it's possible to follow!

Really looking forward to trying this soon.

I opened it, circumventing the anti-virus concerns. I seen the 3 button - fetch data, sort mater list, and push to HBD.
Fetch data wants me to find an excel template (not file?)
Is that something I can DL from HBD? something I design myself?

This is my 1st season HBD, but I like what you are trying to do here and I will try to make it work for me.

The excel template is this file:
https://github.com/jds3d/hardball-dynasty-draft-optimizer/blob/main/Season%20x%20amateur%20draft-template.xlsx

You don't have to make any changes to it unless you want to!