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PBEM issue?


jeep

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Trying to run my first PBEM game.

I've started the game (hosting myself) and sent the player key to the other player. He said he was able to join and submitted his turn.

In my game, I can load the game and submit my own turn. However, I can't seem to load his turn (don't receive his event). The little box at the top shows 1 event and 0 sent. The 1 event I assume is my submission, which doesn't seem to be uploaded to the server (maybe because I am host)?

Any ideas on how to debug why I don't get the other players update (so that I can process the turn)?

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Trying to run my first PBEM game.

I've started the game (hosting myself) and sent the player key to the other player. He said he was able to join and submitted his turn.

In my game, I can load the game and submit my own turn. However, I can't seem to load his turn (don't receive his event). The little box at the top shows 1 event and 0 sent. The 1 event I assume is my submission, which doesn't seem to be uploaded to the server (maybe because I am host)?

Any ideas on how to debug why I don't get the other players update (so that I can process the turn)?

What's the name of your game?

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I was able to get the first turn from the other player and process, but now we are stuck. On my side it doesn't seem to be uploading the turn data or orders. The little blue box says 17 events, 0 sent.

I don't normally have an issue with internet connection. The game updates work fine. This seems like a connection problem though...

I can see the event.out files in the PBEM directory. Doesn't seem to want to send them though. Is there a way to do this manually?

When I exit the game, it pops up a warning box that says there are still event to be uploaded, I need to be connected to the internet to do so. I am connected, but its not working...

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I'm looking at the information on the server. I can see three events on the server for that game, and two players: USA and USSR. Are you playing player 1? I'm not sure why your events are being queued up. I don't see any game events from player 2. Are they having trouble getting their stuff to upload, too? My guess at this point is that there's some sort of password mismatch, but I'll have to investigate some more.

I'm hoping to clear up some other problems with the PBEM system while I'm at it.

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This is a different PBEM system, no real email involved.

Other games would always save a file out. Which you would then manually attach to an email and send to the other player.

This one just sends your event to the server automatically. Then other player then downloads it automatically from the server when he connects. A very smooth asynchronous play method.

I would suggest a dialog box or like that you could open in game to see more details on the status of the game events (downloaded, pending, and on server). It could help debug any issues and explain some of the "magic" behind how it works.

Just for my understanding, is there any disadvantage to always playing using this method verses network connection? I assume there would be some lag for events to get uploaded and downloaded when both players are online, but the ability to easily play whenever you can is a huge plus.

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The whole process can be automated by sending each players file to a server, having it calculate the results and returning an updated file to each player. The server knows when all the players has submitted the turn so it just calculates when once that happens. This a very robust system since nothing can happen until both players files are received in good order. Plus you can stop the game while saving each players work locally so they don't lose what they've done in a new turn. This how Dominions works. Kind of a hybrid of what you want and real time.

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This is a different PBEM system, no real email involved.

Other games would always save a file out. Which you would then manually attach to an email and send to the other player.

This one just sends your event to the server automatically. Then other player then downloads it automatically from the server when he connects. A very smooth asynchronous play method.

I would suggest a dialog box or like that you could open in game to see more details on the status of the game events (downloaded, pending, and on server). It could help debug any issues and explain some of the "magic" behind how it works.

What ended up being the problem with jeep's game was that there was a bad game-event file. (The game actually writes out a file, but then removes it once everything is processed. This happens behind the scenes, so it's not something that player normally knows about.)

Just for my understanding, is there any disadvantage to always playing using this method verses network connection? I assume there would be some lag for events to get uploaded and downloaded when both players are online, but the ability to easily play whenever you can is a huge plus.

Yeah, there is a little lag. I added a button on the PBEM games so that you can have the game instantly check for updates, which helps alleviate the lag a bit. (In other words: If you know you're online at the same time as the other players, you can quickly send events back and forth and use the 'check for updates' button to reduce the lag. Some players have used this to crank through a dozen turns or so in a short amount of time.) You also can't use features like voicechat with other players. And, there's a possibility that you'll miss a trade offer with another player. (For example, if you setup your orders, submit your turn, and shut down the game. Later, another player sends you a trade offer. But, you don't bring up the game again until after the turn was processed.)

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