pbem woes

From the front lines in France and Russia to the deserts of North Africa and the airfields and convoys of Britain, the campaigns of World War II are yours to command in WW2: Time of Wrath! This turn-based grand strategy title, the highly improved and expanded sequel to WW2: Road to Victory, puts the player in charge of the political, economic and military decisions of one or more Axis or Allied nations, including minor nations.
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Manalishi
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:20 am

pbem woes

Post by Manalishi »

Hiya,

Seem to me this pbem gig is pretty straighforward. Oughta be easy, right? Well, it probably is but we cannot figure it out and are having problems.

It would be great if someone could provide specific instructions on how to load, execute, save and transfer the necessary files, as well as how and where the next player should extract the files to. Any tips, tricks, etc. Be as specific as you want.
~

This is what we did:
Player 1 created the game name WRATH for two players. He then executed his turn and hit End Turn, at which point he was instructed to send data/pbem/WRATH_directory_to_player_2. Okay. So he navigates to data/pbem and archives the newly created WRATH folder, attaches it to an email and sends it to Player 2.

All good so far?

Player 2 downloads and opens the archive, extracting it to data/pbem. The extraction creates the directory WRATH in Player 2's pbem directory. Good deal. He then boots up the game, selects pbem game and lo the game WRATH is the only game to choose. Start Game and poof! Great Britain turn 1. Fantastic! He laments the sorry state of the Tommies for awhile and hits End Turn. Instruction now reads: data/pbem/WRATH_directory_to_player_1. Makes sense. Navigate to data/pbem and archive the WRATH folder, attach and email to player 1. All good, right?

Maybe. Where does Player 1 extract the new archive to? data/pbem, thus creating another folder WRATH? Or to data/pbem/WRATH and thus creating another directory within the WRATH directory? Or does he overwrite the existing files within his current WRATH directory?

We tried it every way we could think of with the same result. Every time Player 1 tried to load his turn 2 he was told that he had already completed his turn. Every time. Didnt matter where we extracted the new archive to.
~

So, uhh... what gives? What are we doing wrong? Did Player 1 transfer the wrong data? Or did Player to extract the data incorrectly? Or what?

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.
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Tomokatu
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RE: pbem woes

Post by Tomokatu »

Maybe. Where does Player 1 extract the new archive to? data/pbem, thus creating another folder WRATH? Or to data/pbem/WRATH and thus creating another directory within the WRATH directory? Or does he overwrite the existing files within his current WRATH directory?
My routine works this way.
I exit the game, fire up the archive and compression utility (I use WinZip) - archive the directory WRATH.
Fire up the email program, write a new email (I'm Player 1 so I get to start off each GameTurn) including chat, taunts, threats, lame jokes as appropriate, attach the archive file - so far identical routine, right?
Send the email. [8D]
  • Return to the /pbem directory.
  • Rename the /pbem/WRATH directory by appending the gameturn number of the turn just completed (WRATH-GT01). At this point you may (I choose to) move that directory to a different compendium directory of completed gameturns.
  • Return to the /pbem directory. You should find WRATH.ZIP (Or RAR. or LZH ) is still there. That's if your emailer does not delete sent attachments automatically.
  • Rename THAT to the gameturn you have just sent to your opponent. (WRATH-02.ZIP) Move that elsewhere.
[X(]
When you receive the next gameturn archive, it should just be named WRATH.ZIP.
Unzip that into /pbem with the option "Use Directory Names" checked. Because the directory WRATH no longer exists, your archiving program will create it and unpack the files into it.
Before you start up the game, rename the new archive file WRATH02.ZIP and save it elsewhere.
 
I keep mine in the default directory that I told my mail proggy to create just for pbem games. I don't know whether yours can do that or whether you have to do it manually.
 
Note that the renames all have different filename structures so that the files do not get confused. [8|] Belt and braces technique, save them all in different places.
 
WRATH is the current pbem directory, with all the unzipped files, ready to play.
WRATH-GT01 is the archived, unzipped /pbem directory of your previous gameturn, moved for safety
WRATH-01.ZIP is the archived directory you sent to your opponent at the end of GT 1
WRATH02.ZIP is the archived gameturn zipfile that your opponent has sent you at the end of his gameturn 1, ready for your Gameturn 2.
The contents of that should be the same as the contents of your ready-to-play /pbem/WRATH directory.
When you start the game, you should just see WRATH as the game of choice.
 
The explanation of the routine takes longer to write than it does to do, trust me.[&:] (Hehehehee!)
For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction
Manalishi
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:20 am

RE: pbem woes

Post by Manalishi »

Thank you, Tomokatu. That clears it up, I think.
 
It appears that I need to re-create the GAMENAME directory and its contents with every file swap. At the end of every player turn, the player should archive the GAMENAME folder and ship it out as GAMENAME.zip, and then they should rename that same GAMENAME archive and folder to something else. Move as desired. This allows the incoming archive to create a new GAMENAME directory which the game looks for when loading this pbem. The incoming archive (if saved) should be renamed after extraction and prior to turn because you need to use the same name for the outgoing archive. Rinse repeat.
 
Is this a correct assessment?
~
 
 
I'll give it a whirl. Thanks again!
Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.
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Tomokatu
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RE: pbem woes

Post by Tomokatu »

By George, you've got it!
I'm sure you've got it!

For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction
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freeboy
Posts: 8969
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RE: pbem woes

Post by freeboy »

please address this
this game really cries out to be played pbem, its simple and yet offers a good deal of choices... having a system that is use rfriendly would be a big plus
"Tanks forward"
Berkut
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Joined: Thu May 16, 2002 7:48 am

RE: pbem woes

Post by Berkut »

Is this some kind of joke?

Please tell me this isn't really necessary to PBEM the game.
gwgardner
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RE: pbem woes

Post by gwgardner »

No, it's not necessary.

There is a data/PBEM folder. Within that the game creates a folder with the name of the PBEM (given by the player). All one needs to do is zip up that folder and pass it back and forth. Very, very simple.

Look at the AARs. Almost all have been played PBEM with no problems.

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Tomokatu
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RE: pbem woes

Post by Tomokatu »

Please tell me this isn't really necessary to PBEM the game.

No, it's not NECESSARY. You can just play and delete your completed turns as you finish them.
You may, however, at some time during your game, find the need to re-send a played turn or to re-build after a system crash, or help your opponent recover from a crash. A slightly obsessive technique for backing up your played and unplayed turns will prevent you running into an unrecoverable dead end.
 
Otherwise, "Game Over".
For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction
dodd1
Posts: 34
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Location: Sydney Australia

RE: pbem woes

Post by dodd1 »

For me I found hanging onto my emailed turns both sent and received for about a week works well.
PrinceBolkonsky
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Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 8:10 am

RE: pbem woes

Post by PrinceBolkonsky »

I am doing exactly what you guys are saying to do. And we still are hung up when the file is returned to the first player again. I have tried every permutation. The game goes away and only the small dialogue with the links to start the game or go to websites is left.

Also: We started out me on Vista and my opponent on XP. I switched my computer to run the program on XP in hopes that would solve the problem, no such luck.
I am using WinZip and he is using WinRAR or whatever it is called. Is this the problem?
I bought my game some time ago and have recently updated it with the most recent patch.

Do I need to run earlier patches, updates first?

First I tried overwriting it, then I tried moving the directory and creating a new one.
We are using a named sub-directory within the PBEM directory.
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Tomokatu
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RE: pbem woes

Post by Tomokatu »

Also: We started out me on Vista and my opponent on XP. I switched my computer to run the program on XP in hopes that would solve the problem, no such luck.
I have NO IDEA what effect this might have, sorry.
I am using WinZip and he is using WinRAR or whatever it is called. Is this the problem?
I shouldn't THINK so, but I cannot confirm.
 
I bought my game some time ago and have recently updated it with the most recent patch.

Do I need to run earlier patches, updates first?
This MAY be the problem. I recently installed Hotfix 1.07 expecting that this would fix all earlier updates, but found out that I had to install the patch 1.07 before the hotfix 1.07. However, I did get an onscreen error message to advise that "this game is not compatible with the saved version" (or something to that effect).
For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction
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cpdeyoung
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Location: South Carolina, USA

RE: pbem woes

Post by cpdeyoung »

There is a diagnostic file in the game folder, called consoleout.txt. What are the last lines of this file, on the player's machine where the trouble occurs.

Winzip vs. Rar is not the problem.

Chuck
PrinceBolkonsky
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Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 8:10 am

RE: pbem woes

Post by PrinceBolkonsky »

I've started following Tomokatu's well thought out system for handling the files. It is really quite easy and logical.
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