PBEM helper now available

[Fuerte]

The PBEM helper supports now SE4 (among many other PBEM games).

http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.gif

From the readme:

"Both Turn Based and Simultaneous modes are supported, and in Simultaneous both Host and Player modes. If you are running Host, leave the e-mail address empty, and set the host (and player) password in Edit F2. When all the player files have been received, the game status will change to Host. If you then execute Play F9, the turn will be generated automatically, and the status will change to Send (after pressing F3 or F5)."

Readme: http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm

Download: http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.zip http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.zip

Warning: The SE4 support has not been tested thoroughly. Please send me bug reports and feature wishes.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Puke]

sounds good, but i have not tried it yet. can some one tell me, can you run an unattended server with it that will generate a turn on a daily basis? if someone writes the code for a turn generator that will run unattended that people can just drop their files to, i will gladly throw up a server to run public PBEM games.

[Fuerte]

You can't use this program for unattended server, at least not yet. Unattended operation would require two things:

1) Do the Host routine automatically (generate a turn in Simultaneous mode). Now the program won't do it until all the files have been received.

2) Do the e-mail sending automatically when the turn has been generated.

Both of these are quite easy to implement. I will do it if someone requires it. But of course the full unattended operation requires some other things as well:

3) Process the incoming turn from e-mail automatically to the SAVEGAME directory (PBEM helper will do it, but not completely automatically, you have to Open the attachment).

[greghacke]

Actually, for those using OUTLOOK 2000, you can auto-save the attachments into a specified directory. It's an advanced rules option. The key is to insure the e-mails are subjected the same. For instance, if the outbound is Galactica24011, use this as the subject and have everyone reply as Re: Galactica24011 This can be matched and the files saved properly. I'll post the technique here once i get back to my Office2K machine

[Fuerte]

This is how PBEM helper works:

1) If the .PBM format is used, then the e-mail subject is always "PBEM file", and there is only one attachment called PBEM.PBM.

2) If the .ZIP format is used, then the subject is "SE4 file" and there is one attachment called SE4.ZIP.

3) If the file is sent as it is, then the subject is "SE4 file" and the attachment name is something.PLR.

In the first case, when the attachment is opened in PBEM, then it will automatically decompress it into the correct SAVEGAME directory. So the Outlook rule should just open the attachment in PBEM. There should be an option in PBEM to quit after the file has been decompressed into correct directory.

In the other cases, the Outlook rules should be used to decompress or copy the attachment into correct directory.

After that the PBEM could then be executed at regular intervals to generate the turn and send the e-mails. Yes, it could be done... the hosting and sending of ready games could be done at one hour intervals, for example, and the forced turn generation once a day, even if some client file is still missing.

The only tools that would be needed are Outlook, task scheduler and PBEM, with some added features.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[geoschmo]

If I understand this correctly you really only need outlook on the server that is hosting the game right? The players would run and execute their turns manually as always so they could use whatever email program they have.

The outlook is just needed on the server to automate the host portion?

I think this has the potential to make PBEM a LOT more common if the process can be worked out to automate the hosting portion.

Geo

[greghacke]

Geschmo:
Deda on correct. By establishing the rules in Outlook 2000, only the "server" would need outlook. When the file is recieved, a SaveAsFile custom command is run to save the attachment into a defined directory (which can be dynamic, so one host could support multiple games...) From there, the PBEM helper takes over. You could establish a Task Manager to catch it daily, but you'd get buggy if everything was received and the turn was processed early.

This will function for ALL pbem games that the PBEM Helper supports by the way...

Fuerte-
Don't know what you're coding with, but you can quickly establish a task manager feature directly into C/Perl/VBA as they stand now. Also, as the outgoing file is zipped and it's mailed through PBEM Helper, we have no dificulties there. The incoming files need to be recieved uncompressed for fasted support. Once they're saved into the appropriate directory, again PBEM takes over and you're set.

All:
I'm clarifying the SaveAsFile() for outlook 2K as I just got home. Once I can post it in text format, I will!

[Fuerte]

There is a new Version (1.0.112) available! It fixes many bugs in the previous one. I was too quick to release it I guess. I think that it works now correctly. It even has support for the forthcoming 1.33 Version, it can now start the game directly in the correct player (I have not tested it because I don't have the beta Version).

From the readme:

"Both Turn Based and Simultaneous modes are supported, and in Simultaneous both Host and Player modes.

If you are running Host, set the e-mail address empty, and set the host (and player) password in Edit F2. When all the player files have been received, the game status will change to Host. If you then execute Play F9, the turn will be generated automatically, and the status will change to Send (after pressing F3 or F5).

If you are running Player in a Simultaneous mode, then you must have the host e-mail address in the game settings. You should get it automatically when you receive the first .gam file from the host."

[Fuerte]

Anybody using this?

[Master Belisarius]

I would like to test it!
Hey Fuerte, do you want a SE4 game? We could use your program!

[This message has been edited by Master Belisarius (edited 04 April 2001).]

[Fuerte]

Well, I'm a novice on SE4, just played the tutorial and I'm now playing another small game, just to test the PBEM helper.

But I could run the host (and play as well) if you could gather the people... I could probably develop PBEM helper to do the hosting fully automatically eventually.

So if you could find 8-16 people (or if people reading this thread could "volunteer")... you probably know better what kind of quadrant to generate etc.

[Fuerte]

To the top

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Master Belisarius]

8-16 people? Hmmm Maybe here we could get some players, but I would not bet that we can find 8-16.

[Deathstalker]

Hey, I'm in for a game! (preferences:new modpack, med spiral ,not all wormhole connect and 5000 race points, high AI and low bonus, just my pref, but I'm open to anything.)

------------------
"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

[Fuerte]

Come on... we can't find 8-16 SE4 players in this forum? What's going on?

I have a friend who will certainly play, and Master Belisarius and Deathstalker, total of only 4 players yet, what's going on? http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[WW2]

I wouldnt mind trying a PBEM game. I have played a lot at home but no PBEM yet.

[Puke]

i could be in for a mon-fri game.

[javaslinger]

I would love to get in on this... Unfortunately, it's bad timing for me. I will be on vacation for a week, April 11-18.

If we can wait to start till then, and hopefully get the new, as of now unreleased, patch, I'm totally in.

Send me an email. esprcorn@bellatlantic.net

Ken

[chewy027]

I'v never done it before, but i'll give it a try. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif!

My email is chewy027@hotmail.com give me a buzz with the details.

[This message has been edited by chewy027 (edited 06 April 2001).]

[Fuerte]

We have now 8 players, if we wait until April 19, and play Mon-Fri only (of course we could play Sat-Sun too, if everyone accepts that the AI is used if the player file is missing, which would be a good thing, to speed up the game).

Me (fuerte@sci.fi), I would be the host
Tumba (tumba@sci.fi)
Master Belisarius
Deathstalker
WW2
Puke
javaslinger (esprcorn@bellatlantic.net)
chewy027 (chewy027@hotmail.com)

If would great to have as many players as possible, up to 16.

The preferences... we have one wish of using modpack (what is it?) and 5000 race points. I don't know, wouldn't it be better to use only the latest patch, not any other requirements? And the race points, isn't 2000 the default? Let me know what you think about the game preferences, post to this thread.

I will make a newer release of PBEM helper before we start the game. It would be great if everyone was using the helper for the player mode, so that we would get the most of it.

So when we start the game, everyone sends me the empire file, it must have the player e-mail address. I will then generate the game with the preferences we have agreed upon here, and send the game file, in .PBM format, if that's ok for everyone. The PBEM helper does not have an option to send in different format (.PBM, .ZIP, plain uncompressed) for different people at the moment.

[Resident Alien]

Try http://Groups.yahoo.com/group/SE4-PBEM/Messages for additional players

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fuerte:
We have now 8 players, if we wait until April 19, and play Mon-Fri only (of course we could play Sat-Sun too, if everyone accepts that the AI is used if the player file is missing, which would be a good thing, to speed up the game).

Me (fuerte@sci.fi), I would be the host
Tumba (tumba@sci.fi)
Master Belisarius
Deathstalker
WW2
Puke
javaslinger (esprcorn@bellatlantic.net)
chewy027 (chewy027@hotmail.com)

If would great to have as many players as possible, up to 16.

The preferences... we have one wish of using modpack (what is it?) and 5000 race points. I don't know, wouldn't it be better to use only the latest patch, not any other requirements? And the race points, isn't 2000 the default? Let me know what you think about the game preferences, post to this thread.

I will make a newer release of PBEM helper before we start the game. It would be great if everyone was using the helper for the player mode, so that we would get the most of it.

So when we start the game, everyone sends me the empire file, it must have the player e-mail address. I will then generate the game with the preferences we have agreed upon here, and send the game file, in .PBM format, if that's ok for everyone. The PBEM helper does not have an option to send in different format (.PBM, .ZIP, plain uncompressed) for different people at the moment.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Lupusman]

Count me in: yanrod@juno.com

[Andrés]

A mod is a copy of all game files (exept the exe and bmps) into a subdirectory inside the game directory to be able to modify files without having to change the original files. The mod being used is stored in the file Path.txt in the game directory.
Since you can have multiple Savegame dirs inside of different mod dirs it would be good if you could make your PBEM program compatible with this feature.

[Fuerte]

Thanks for the tip, I will add support for the mods.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Master Belisarius]

I have not preferences about 2000 or 5000 points.
About the game settings, I have not problems: anything will be ok to me.

[WW2]

BTW my email rwwhitney@yahoo.com. Mon-Fri works best for me also.

[Fuerte]

I tried to find the "modpack" but couldn't. Where is it?

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Deathstalker]

TDM-Modpack 1.7, goto scenario/modpack section at beginning of forums, go into seIV shiset/AI's, you will find it near the bottom.
And for the game, here is my email: I_8_BAD_GRAPES@hotmail.com

------------------
"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

[Puke]

my email is luke@frnk.com

I am in for a mon-fri, but i cant make turns for a 7 day a week game. if everyone wants to do an everydayer i will have to sit this one out.

[Kirk]

I haven't played a PBEM game before, so if you don't mind a newbie to pound on: kirk_hogenson@yahoo.com

[Sirkit]

Hope I'm not too late, if not I'm in! sirkit@home.com

[Fuerte]

We have now 11 players, if we wait until April 19, and play Mon-Fri only.

Me (fuerte@sci.fi), I would be the host
Tumba (tumba@sci.fi)
Master Belisarius
Deathstalker (I_8_BAD_GRAPES@hotmail.com)
WW2 (rwwhitney@yahoo.com)
Puke (luke@frnk.com)
javaslinger (esprcorn@bellatlantic.net)
chewy027 (chewy027@hotmail.com)
Lupusman (yanrod@juno.com)
Kirk (kirk_hogenson@yahoo.com)
Sirkit (sirkit@home.com)

The preferences... we have one wish of using the TDM-Modpack 1.7 ( http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/Forum25/HTML/000017.html ) and 5000 race points. Let me know what you think about the game preferences, post to this thread. If no-one disagrees, that will be it.

I made a new release of PBEM helper, please download it from the link in my signature.

So when we start the game, everyone sends me the empire file, it must have the player e-mail address, and it should have the password, too. I will then generate the game with the preferences we have agreed upon here, and send the game file, in .PBM format.

Hope that the new SE4 patch comes out before we start this... PBEM helper has already support for starting the game in the correct player, but it requires the patch.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[chewy027]

I too would like the 5000 racial points, but what races can we use? I've never done this before, so if we include the TDM modpack does that mean we could only use the original races and the new ones from the modpack? Only reason I ask is because I always play with my Star Wars Empire race I made from combining the 3 that are out there.

BTY Fuerte have you voted for the civil war feature yet. We would really appreciate your feedback http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif

[This message has been edited by chewy027 (edited 11 April 2001).]

[Puke]

yeah, we should decide what AI races we want in the game, and have people divy up the other race portraits so that 1) we dont have too much overlap. and 2) we get the races in there that we want.

I would actually prefer to use less racial points (like 2000) to insure more variety between people, and to help encourage people to take more negative traits to be able to afford the bonuses and racial traits. otherwise, we will be looking at 11 races with multiple racial technologies. also, will we be doing a low or medium tech start? how many homeworlds, and limited or unlimited resources? this will be simultanious, i presume?

[This message has been edited by Puke (edited 11 April 2001).]

[Master Belisarius]

Hey, but if we will be at least 11 human players, I think that we don't need AI players.

BTW, my e-mail is: jlperyr@adinet.com.uy

[Dracus]

I'll play if we can agree on this:
I work wensday, thurday and friday.... SO I would not be able to run my turn until around 10pm-11pm central standard time. (USA)
So based on this time restriction. You would have to wait until midnight my time to gen the turns.
If this is ok then I am in.

[Puke]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dracus:
I'll play if we can agree on this:
I work wensday, thurday and friday.... SO I would not be able to run my turn until around 10pm-11pm central standard time. (USA)
So based on this time restriction. You would have to wait until midnight my time to gen the turns.
If this is ok then I am in. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

since the turn will probably be on a 24 hr basis, you can just shift the days you percieve it to be on by one day in either direction and pretend the turn gets run at anytime you like.

[Deathstalker]

I've got no real objections to a 2000 point start, will make it different as I always do 5000. Med tech please, and I find that 3planets is a good start, 5 and up are too much. As for who gets what race, if you use a race and someone else dosn't have it will you see default pictures? I say this cause I have a custom shipset too, But if all these custom shipsets will cause too many problems then I will take first shot at the Phong. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

------------------
"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

[Dracus]

If we are using just standard races then I would like the jraenar.

[Lupusman]

Alright, so what's the deal? How many racial points are we using? I prefer 2000. More diversity, as was mentioned.
One thing I'd like to mention, from my experience of other PBEM games, is that it quickly becomes unfair to most players. The reason is that some people team up very quickly, and share all their techs. The rest of the players have no chance whatsoever.
So, my preference would be to remove technology sharing in the game setup. That way there are no really dominating alliances.

[Deathstalker]

2000points sounds about right. Here are the rest of my pref. Med tech. Med Resources, good planet values. Three starting planets. View OWN score only (otherwise will make alliances just to view scores to see who to 'pick off'). And add Neutrals, will act as a good 'buffer' zone so that three players who start in/around the same position don't decide for two to gang up on one. Hopefully that will stop 'death by turn ten', which could still happen. Also the 'even distribution' is a good option. Demanding, arn't I http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif. Will be eagerly awaiting this game http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif. And about tech sharing, definitly not, this goes for ship trading as well (which is tech sharing), you want a ship, go board a ship http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

------------------
"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

[dumbluck]

Take a look at the thread:

SEIV: Play by Web


I think you will find it interesting!

[Puke]

i signed up on the SE4 play by web, we should look at running this game on that service, both as a convenince and as a test of functionality. I dont think selective weekdays is an option yet, the turns are currently generateing every x time period, and we dont have the choice to skip weekends yet..

[Fuerte]

I don't see how the Play By Web is a convenience over PBEM helper. With PBEM helper the received game file is automatically extracted into correct directory, and you can run SE4 from PBEM helper, into correct player when the next patch is released. And you can send the player file zipped automatically from PBEM helper. All this is manual with Play By Web...

If Play By Web would use the .PBM format, then it would be ideal. Play By Web would generate the turn and send the files in .PBM format, and PBEM helper would then automatically extract the files into correct folder.

It would be nice to know if people are going to use Play By Web now, maybe someone more experienced could take over the game preferences deciding etc (hosting is not required in Play By Web).

[Puke]

sure, but PBW is in development, and I am sure we could get it to incorporate the features we want without too much trouble. the helper has no plans to support an automated server, and the PBW will probably soon incorporate all the features from the old VGA Planets PBW engines, which would include all the helper features, which would make it a much better long term choice. plus we get the warm fuzzy feeling of making something better.

[Fuerte]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Puke:
the helper has no plans to support an automated server, and the PBW will probably soon incorporate all the features from the old VGA Planets PBW engines, which would include all the helper features<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well if you read this thread from the beginning, I HAD plans for automated server (but now I don't, why bother). Play By Web can't ever have all PBEM helper features, unless it has it's own PBEM helper application.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Puke]

here is the Admirals response to my own smart ***, hopefully we can get everything working together, so maybe if there are new features planed for the helper, we can pool development efforts to get the most out of the game:

&gt;ah.. also, the guys in the PBEM Helper thread over on the INTEL FORUM
&gt;want the PBEM Helper functionality built into something like this.. the
&gt;way I see it, the automated host will generate and send all files
&gt;needed, players only need to send one file anyway, and the heper thing
&gt;makes you copy your own files arround, so what are we missing? a client
&gt;end .ZIP manager or something? ideas? am i not getting it?

Yes, in fact, that's exactly what would happen. I've added this to the
to-do list as well.

All I'd need to do is two things:

1) Make the server send the e-mail in the same format as the PBEM helper
2) Make the server accept e-mails from the PBEM helper in the appropriate
format

You may want to let them know that the server will grow in this fashion
anyway, and that it might be good to pool efforts.

Thanks for the criticism and suggestions,

Doug

edit&gt; of course, this would be pending cooperation between pbem helper and pbw. hopefully we can get both going together so Users on the front end could use the helper to manage the files they are sending/recieving from the server.

im sure everyone involved would benefit from cooperating and being friends...

[This message has been edited by Puke (edited 17 April 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Puke (edited 17 April 2001).]

[Fuerte]

We are ready to begin! Game will be Mon-Fri only. The first turn will probably take a few days.

Me (fuerte@sci.fi), I am the host, maybe we can switch to the Play By Web system when it supports PBEM helper
Tumba (tumba@sci.fi)
Master Belisarius (jlperyr@adinet.com.uy)
Deathstalker (I_8_BAD_GRAPES@hotmail.com)
WW2 (rwwhitney@yahoo.com)
Puke (luke@frnk.com)
javaslinger (esprcorn@bellatlantic.net)
chewy027 (chewy027@hotmail.com)
Lupusman (yanrod@juno.com)
Kirk (kirk_hogenson@yahoo.com)
Sirkit (sirkit@home.com)

I made a new release of PBEM helper, please download it from the link in my signature. It supports the new SE4 1.35. You can start SE4 directly in the correct game AND correct player, completely automatically.

Preferences... I think that the following post describes the preferences that we will use:
"2000 points sounds about right. Here are the rest of my pref. Med tech. Med Resources, good planet values. Three starting planets. View OWN score only (otherwise will make alliances just to view scores to see who to 'pick off'). And add Neutrals, will act as a good 'buffer' zone so that three players who start in/around the same position don't decide for two to gang up on one. Hopefully that will stop 'death by turn ten', which could still happen. Also the 'even distribution' is a good option. Demanding, arn't I . Will be eagerly awaiting this game . And about tech sharing, definitly not, this goes for ship trading as well (which is tech sharing), you want a ship, go board a ship"

So now everyone sends me the empire file, it MUST have the player e-mail address, and it should have the password, too. I will then generate the game with the preferences we have agreed upon here, and send the game file, in .PBM format.

I will send this message by e-mail to each player, too.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Fuerte]

Quick update: I have received already four empire files, keep them coming!

[Trachmyr]

Let me know how it goes... I want to get on the next game you guys start!

[Fuerte]

It is still not too late... it is probable that some of the people will not actually take part in the game. On the other hand there are some people outside of the list who are going to participate. So just send your empire file... it will take a few days before the game is generated.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Trachmyr]

How many turns will you be doing per day?

And a suggestion, set Events to NONE... reduce the randomness of player's success/failure. I also suggest HIGH TECH COST, it increases the diversity, as players will be forced to specialize in tech instead of getting a bit of everything. One final thing, turn off stellar manipulation. Ofcourse this is just my opinion.

I sent in a modified Version of the Xaiti for entrance into the game.

[This message has been edited by Trachmyr (edited 21 April 2001).]

[Trachmyr]

OK, I got a problem with the PBEM halper... I have 5 diffrent installations of SE4, but only one is "clean" and to be used for PBEM... how do I select the correct installation?

Never mind, I figured it out (had to rename the "SE4-PBEM" folder to "Space Empires IV").



[This message has been edited by Trachmyr (edited 21 April 2001).]

[Fuerte]

You could also define the correct directory in PBEM.INI:

[SE4]
Directory=D:\Games\SPACEE~1

[Trachmyr]

I spoke with Fuerte and was informed that we would be doing one turn per day, mon.-fri.

I was wondering if perhaps we might be able to get, say 5 turns per day... otherwise, a normal game running around 500 turns is gonna take about 2 years!!!

[Dracus]

That is the downside to a PBEM game. It will take a long time at one turn a day.

[Fuerte]

Yes, that is the downside... because there are so many players and players from different countries, we can probably only do 1 turn per day. If we are very lucky perhaps 2 turns. I proposed that we play in weekends, too, and have the AI to take over for those players that can't play in weekends, but we will play Mon-Fri only, at least for now.

Every player will do the turn when he has time... of course this is also the upside of PBEM, because players are not tied to their computers for a long time. Using the PBEM helper to receive the turn, making moves, and using PBEM helper to send the turn, it all will probably take only a couple of minutes. Of course one player could take part in several PBEM games...

I have received about 6 empires so far, keep them coming... the game will not start earlier than Monday-Tuesday.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Trachmyr]

So, how's the progress? All .emp files in yet?

[Fuerte]

I sent the game status to all players by e-mail. In short, we have 9 players at the moment, perhaps 2 more coming in a day or two. We are close...

[Fuerte]

Finally! The game in under way, we have 13 players (I hope that this number does not mean what I think), we are using Version 1.35, the hosting can't be automated in this Version because of that bug, but we are all using the PBEM helper to the max, remember to set your password in Edit F2, so that you can start the game directly in the correct player by double-clicking the game or by pressing Play F9.

[Puke]

hey guys. I have been having some problems with the helper and sending out turns. here is what I have observed:

the MAPI mail features do not seem to work when another MAPI compliant mail client is open. at first I thought that multiple profiles were throwing it off, but it seems to work only when all other MAPI mail programs are closed.

The SMTP support seems to rely on having OPEN MAIL RELAYS. for those of you who dont know, this is generally considered a BAD practice and leads to spam portals, and is the very kind of thing those stupid nazis at ORBS go around DoS'ing fortune 500 companies for. basically what i am saying, is since the software is trying to drop mail onto an smtp server instead of actually logging onto (with username / pass) a POP mailbox, any properly configured SMTP server will only accept mail for local accounts, and therefore if i logged onto MY server, and tried to send mail to somewhere else, it would be denied since open relays are 'bad' and most SMTP ports are now only good for receiving mail.

&lt;&lt;edit: admiral says puke is dumb, pop is inbound only and even though it supports authentication it will do nothing here. puke is also dumb because he forgot dialup ISPs offer internal smtp servers that will relay without being visible to the public net. puke is sorry he is so dumb, but some of those issues still stand&gt;&gt;


..so, what I should be able to do is have it log on to my smtp server, send the mail to ME, and then I could forward it off to the correct destination with a POP, WEB, MAPI, or any other client in an ordinary fashion. when I tried this, the mail was not rejected as 'unknown address' or 'address not present locally' but instead I got some long string of output from the PBEM helpers smtp client window, and it scrolled by before I could read it, and the SMTP helpers error dialog stole context from me so I could not even access the scroll bars in the smtp dialogue.. so I cant figure out why that was not working, but I can tell you that it demonstrated the same behavior when talking to an exchange 5.5 and an exchange 2000 smtp server. I have not tried a sendmail server, if anyone would care to give this a shot, it would probably be helpful.

now dont get me wrong, this isnt a gripe. this is constructive input from the beta testing squad, and I have to appologize to the PBW guys out there that I have not been able to spend enough time on that service to put together the same level of feedback as I had promised, but hopefully when everything is fine-tuned, it will all be kosher pickles.

I think the PBEM Helper SMTP support may need to be changed to POP support if people dont have a mapi compatible client, but that still wont help the web-mail guys, whom are basically f-ed and will have to do it manually. the SMTP support would be perfect in conjunction with the play by web service though, since the SMTP server could just be pointed to the central web server that is hosting everything. that would even ensure faster turnaround and no email delay, since it would be dropped directly to the destination mail server from each player.


[This message has been edited by Puke (edited 30 April 2001).]

[Fuerte]

It's getting very late here in Finland, and we has that serious spring party (Wappu) going on, but I will post here the same thing I posted in e-mail:

"In my point of view, the PBEM helper supports two things: Simple MAPI (Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, or any Simple MAPI compliant e-mail client).

And SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. You need to set up your SMTP e-mail address and the SMTP server address correctly in PBEM helper in order this to work.

These two interfaces should cover 99.9% of the e-mail clients out there.

But if you have some web based e-mail system, these do not work, I'm afraid."

[Fuerte]

Status update: We are in year 2400.6, in the beginning of long game! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif

The initial problems with e-mail systems and PBEM helper have been sorted out. We have 13 players, one player (Chewy) has not sent any turns, though.

I just made a new release of PBEM helper, 1.0.128. If you want to host (and play) a PBEM game, you should try this. Because of that bug in SE4 1.35, the hosting can't be automated fully.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[geoschmo]

Have you heard anything from malfador about the 1.35 problem with it not running turns from the command line?

Geo

[Devnullicus]

Is there any way for the PBEM helper to run a game with a mod (like mine? =) ). If not, how difficult would it be to add support for that? And if you need help to do that, I could probably offer my services as an HTML/Javascript/Java/Perl programmer.

[Puke]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Devnullicus:
Is there any way for the PBEM helper to run a game with a mod (like mine? =) ). If not, how difficult would it be to add support for that? And if you need help to do that, I could probably offer my services as an HTML/Javascript/Java/Perl programmer.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

as long as everyone has the same mod, it should not be a problem at all. it would not automatically change the path file or anything, but if you had seperate installs of the game for mod / unmod / Version 3 /Version 35 then you could even point the helper to different paths to run the game from. its pretty open-ended that way.

[Devnullicus]

Very cool. Is there documentation anywhere that tells a new user (like me) how to accomplish all this? =)

My interest is in setting up a PBEM game using my mod.

Also, Last I heard, the PBEM helper wouldn't work with Version 1.35 of SE4. Has this problem been fixed?

[This message has been edited by Devnullicus (edited 10 May 2001).]

[Puke]

actually the helper works great with any Version, the play by web host is the one that wont run the newest Version.

i have not seen any docs from the helper, but if you download it, its all fairly intuitive. be aware that you will need to edit the .ini file a little bit to get your paths working. Fuerte could probably provide some better answers

[geoschmo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Puke:
actually the helper works great with any Version, the play by web host is the one that wont run the newest Version.

i have not seen any docs from the helper, but if you download it, its all fairly intuitive. be aware that you will need to edit the .ini file a little bit to get your paths working. Fuerte could probably provide some better answers<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually the problem is not that PBW can't run the 1.35 Version, it's that the 1.35 Version has a bug. It can't run the host part of the game turn from the command line, and this prevents any auto compiler, PBW, or PBEM helper from working. That part of PBEM helper that has nothing to do with running the game from the command line still works.

Geo

[Fuerte]

Yes, the bug is in SE4 1.35. I have not contacted Malfador but I know that Admiral has. So we have to just wait...

PBEM helper supports mods, it knows about the path.txt file. And if you have several SE4 installations, you can change the folder in PBEM.INI:

[SE4]
Directory=D:\Games\SPACEE~1

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Admiral]

[This message has been edited by Admiral (edited 12 May 2001).]

[Admiral]

[This message has been edited by Admiral (edited 12 May 2001).]

[Admiral]

I have informed Malfador twice. I have not received a response one way or the other, but 1.35 definitely does not work under any circumstances from the command line, and 1.30 only works in certain circumstances (the ideal ones).

Cheers,

Admiral

[Fuerte]

The game has reached the interesting state, where alliances are being made, the first battles are fought, and there is even a rumour of stealth ships flying somewhere!

I'm eagerly waiting for each turn now.

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Fuerte]

Huh, and now we have the first victim of these stealth ships! Luke is dead in year 2401.8 ...

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Master Belisarius]

Hey Fuerte, what was the Luke's Empire?

[Fuerte]

You will know when you get the next turn... did you do it? http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Master Belisarius]

I don't know. Everybody can research the stealth armor...

Edit: Now I'm sure that I was who "destroyed" the Luke's Empire.
Sadly, Luke still had a lot of resources to fight, but he surrended their empire to other empire that I'm also attacking (this other empire was in a worst position than the Luke's Empire).

I'm considering to leave the game too (but not because I'm losing).

[This message has been edited by Master Belisarius (edited 29 May 2001).]

[Fuerte]

There is a new Version of PBEM helper available, 1.0.141. It has improved support for both hosting a simultaneous game and playing it. Click the signature.

The status with the game is that Master Belisarius decided to leave the game (because the player he was killing surrendered to another player). He is now under computer control.

We have now 10 active players (2 under computer control and 1 dead).

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)

[Fuerte]

PBEM helper 1.0.148 supports SE4 1.41. Hosting finally works! It has some other new features as well...

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PBEM (http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm)