LAN helper

[Aub]

I had an impression that TCP/IP would mostly supersede this helper in functionality.

One nice feature of the helper tho is that you can turn it off and back on, reboot a machine etc. etc. - it will just pick up where it left.

I have to admit I didn't have time to download and play with tcp/ip in the gold demo yet.
Depending on how convenient tcp/ip turns out to be (e.g. how easy it is to resume games, recover from network failures, manage the players etc.) it might make sense to do some more work on the helper, or to leave it alone.

And yes, it would be easy to adapt it for some kind of net play, e.g. for using ftp. That would be similar then to the RTC you're testing for PBW, only it could use any computer on the net to store the files, not necessarily the PBW site.

Geo, did you have any other features in mind, or maybe a concrete scenario where tcp/ip turns out to be inconvenient but a helper could save the day?

Aub

[geoschmo]

Well, specifically I was thinking of right now with PBW being down.

I am aware that no one solution is likely to be perfect in every case for all eternity. PBW was intended to make the distribution of files of PBEM more convenient. And it does a great job at that. RTC is an attempt to make PBW even more conveient by automating the player end of it.

However there might be situations where players for whatever reaason may not want to use the PBW service for their game. Or they may be limited by the RTC firewall issue, as I am at work.

If Lan Helper could be configured to use ftp, then it would have a solid niche there, as well as be available in times when PBW is down.

I haven't used the Lan helper yet because noone on my LAN plays Space Empires but me. I have been playing some PBEM games while PBW is down. I would like to be able to have a utility for a two player game that can tell when both of us are done with our turns and then run the next turn. I don't care which is the host. And then launches me back into my turn.

Does Lan helper sound like it could do the job? It does to me, but as I said, I haven't used it yet. Basically I want to eliminate moving the files around entirely.

Geoschmo

[geoschmo]

Aub,

Any thoughts?

Geo

[Aub]

quote:

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Originally posted by geoschmo:

Any thoughts?

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Sure thing. As I said, it should be easy to make the helper work with ftp. I cannot promise to make the changes today (or even this week may be problematic), but I'll start working on it asap.

Aub

[geoschmo]

Hey, no problem. No rush. I just wanted to make sure you got the message.