A common moment for new commissioners: the league is created, the server or website is set up, files are uploaded — and there is no obvious way to hand the league file to anyone. It feels like a missing button.
There is no button, because you do not send the file. Managers pull it themselves, and the connection details travel inside a quick-start code.
How distribution actually works
- You upload.
Online League Functions → Upload league filesputs the current file on your server. - You generate a quick-start code per manager. That code contains your host, paths, and FTP mode.
- The manager pastes the code into Online League Quick Start on the OOTP start screen. OOTP downloads the league and configures their client.
- From then on they self-serve with File → Online League → Download latest league file.
You never email a save file. You never send a download link. The code does it.
Getting the codes
In OOTP, open Add/Edit Human Managers, add each manager, and assign their
team. Select a manager and click Create quick-start email — OOTP writes
quickstart_N.txt into your league's import_export folder.
Open that file, copy the code, and send it.
If the button appears to do nothing, OOTP is refusing to overwrite an existing file — here is the fix.
"I have a website, but they still cannot get it"
Having a website does not connect it to OOTP. Two things have to line up:
The file must actually be uploaded to the location you think it is. Run Upload league files and confirm it reports success.
The League File URL must point at that exact location. OOTP ships with a
yourdomain.com placeholder, and leaving it is one of the most common setup
mistakes. It should be the real address where the file is served, for example:
https://your-league.simhosts.com/leaguefile/
If both are correct and managers still fail, work through why managers cannot download.
Generate codes last
The quick-start code freezes your current settings — host, username, and FTP mode. Change any of them afterwards and every previously issued code stops working.
So finish your setup first: FTP settings tested, League File URL set, FTP Mode on "Passive; Standard FTP" for the sections managers use. Then generate codes.
The return trip
Distribution is only half of it. Managers send teams back by exporting over
FTP into /exports, and you pull them in with Import all teams from server
before your next sim.
Full cycle: the post-sim checklist.