John Kettler Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 I'm trying to get my first PBEM game going with Black Sabot, but somehow I'm not getting the desired results. I was told to create a folder within the PBEM folder for our game. I did that. I then highlighted the entire codelike text block representing his setup and copied that to a new word processor doc. I used Apple Works 5. I then saved as to the special folder within PBEM. That done, I fired up the Gold Demo, hit the PBEM button, opened the folder, then double clicked the special folder. Pong! Somehow I offended the ever impatient computer god, but I know not how. The game simply refuses to accept the info, so I never actually get far enough to do my setup. Would you Mac PBEM wargamers please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I really need help. Many thanks! John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWorthing Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 try right clicking the representation of the file and "save as" hope that helps. good luck on your pbem. They are fun fun fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 Rather than copy & pasting into Appleworks, just save the e-mail directly into the folder. Both Netscape and Outlook allow you to save e-mails as text documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Captitalistdoginchina Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 You can also try sending all your pbem files as a zipped file, seems to be more reliable. I have also had the dreaded "pong" sound on a number of occasions - but never with pbem files that were zipped first. CDIC ------------------ "Death solves all problems - no man no problem" J.V.Stalin, 1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 Are you sure that in Appleworks you saved the file as a TEXT file, and not a "word processor" file? The difference is crucial. CM can only read plain "text" files. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: Are you sure that in Appleworks you saved the file as a TEXT file, and not a "word processor" file? The difference is crucial. CM can only read plain "text" files. Charles<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I usually can not open these files too. Although they are being saved by me as text files. I guess that they just get messed up in transmission. Stuffing or zipping seems to be the savest way. Some email clients just transform .txt files into plain text in the email body. ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelU Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 I've been doing this, copying from an email and pasting it into Appleworks, and then saving as a text file. Works just fine every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuaHaHaHa Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 Yes, Appleworks does save files in its own format. Just use simpletext. If you use simpletext you have nothing to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G4A Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>If you use simpletext you have nothing to worry about.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually, you have a lot to worry about with simpletext. I haven't used it in years, but IIRC it has a problem with large files. Use Tex-Edit, Alpha or BBEdit, and erase every copy of simpletext on your HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MuaHaHaHa: Yes, Appleworks does save files in its own format. Just use simpletext. If you use simpletext you have nothing to worry about.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> SimpleText does not support file sizes over 69k or thereabouts, IIRC. This makes it useless for 75%+ of PBEM files. I think the only time it worked for me was with SimpleText, but that is not a solution, see above. I tried MS Word 98, AppleWorks, and I saved it in text format. No go. ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuaHaHaHa Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 err, I feel retarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argie Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 I used to copy the data in Word and save it as Text without format and it works fine in my Mac. Be sure you are copying all the data in between the heading and the bottom line (both included). Ariel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by argie: I used to copy the data in Word and save it as Text without format and it works fine in my Mac. Be sure you are copying all the data in between the heading and the bottom line (both included). Ariel<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Always did that - funny it does not work for me. ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabot Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 Hello John, Has any of the advice here helped? e-mail me at work if you can, i'm curious to know. Here is my work address: SCastillo@vitalpharma.com BTW, i noticed that CDIC suggested zipping the incoming file. Did you recieve my zip file? Any luck? ------------------ "The dead only know one thing - it is better to be alive" [This message has been edited by Black Sabot (edited 06-16-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pford Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 I have to admit that I am somewhat confused that this is an issue. It sounds like your e-mail program is not handling attachments. There are several good free e-mail programs, 2 were mentioned earlier. I happen to like eudora. If your e-mail app can handle attachments, the easiest way is usually to drag the pbem.txt file to the e-mail window that your are going to send. And in reverse, drag it off when receiving to the PBEM folder. If you have to self extract the text file, be sure to save as text from the file menu without hard returns. If that doesn't work,try the hard returns. BTW how many Mac uses have a right mouse button? Was this comment ignorance or sarcasm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by John Kettler: I was told to create a folder within the PBEM folder for our game. I did that. I then highlighted the entire codelike text block representing his setup and copied that to a new word processor doc. I used Apple Works 5. I then saved as to the special folder within PBEM. That done, I fired up the Gold Demo, hit the PBEM button, opened the folder, then double clicked the special folder. Pong!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Does Sabot's email not support attachments? Does yours? When I play email, I attach the pbem file as an attachment, and when I receive one I drag it into an alias for the pbem folder. Much easier than all this copy-paste stuff, and lets you send snide little comments to your opponent in the email message body as well! One thing to be wary of when playing Mac-PC is compression and encoding. I found that when playing against a PC player I had to use Base64 encoding or he couldn't read my pbem files. He also didn't have expander so .sit compression was a Bad Thing. I eventually gave up on compressing the files -- they're not that big, and I believe Charles posted that they are already compressed anyway so savings are fairly small. ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 If you really have to do the cut and paste thing, use BBEdit or BBEdit Lite (which is Freeware). It's a text editor only and there won't be any problem with accidentally saving as a word processor file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabot Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by L.Tankersley: Does Sabot's email not support attachments? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes it does. After i rename my outgoing PBEM file i hit "Esc", go to my e-mail screen, type up a message / taunt and then attach the re-named file to the e-mail and send. ------------------ "The dead only know one thing - it is better to be alive" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Black Sabot: Yes it does. After i rename my outgoing PBEM file i hit "Esc", go to my e-mail screen, type up a message / taunt and then attach the re-named file to the e-mail and send.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hmmm ... maybe John's emailer doesn't handle the attachment properly? Or he's viewing the attachment rather than just saving it? So, what are you using for email, John? ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G4A Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 I've had to use the copy&paste method when receiving PBEM files from AOL users, but not otherwise. It could be an AOL problem, I hear those are pretty common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 16, 2000 Share Posted June 16, 2000 John, Another idea - if you're saving as text already in Appleworks and CM still can't "see" the file, try appending a ".txt" to the filename and try again. This is a "hint" to CM that it's a PBEM file. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted June 16, 2000 Author Share Posted June 16, 2000 Talk about an overwhelming response! Thank you one and all for your input. I'll now attempt a coherent reply. I have an iMac, hence no second mouse button. I'm running Netscape Communicator 4.5.1, under OS 8.6. My E-mail program is Netscape Messenger. Black Sabot's running on a PC, I believe, and his turns show up in my E-mail as long code blocks, not as draggable attachments. Will have to check the way I saved the file, but I suspect Charles is right and that I saved it as a WP file instead of text. I don't have Word, so I'm hoping the fixes for using Apple Works take care of the problem. I need to grok all this in fullness, then start trying out the fixes you've all so generously proposed. Many thanks! John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted June 20, 2000 Author Share Posted June 20, 2000 By doing a "Save as" from Netscape Messenger directly to the special folder and by putting a ".txt" tail on my file name, I finally actually got into VoT and was able to do my setup. Assuming my transmittal worked properly, I should shortly receive Black Sabot's turn 1. Thank you one and all for your help! I'd be even more excited were it not for the unexpected arrival today of a Priority Mailer from Williston, Vermont. Way to go, BTS!!! You really know how to take care of your customers. Sincerely, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GriffinCheng+ Posted June 20, 2000 Share Posted June 20, 2000 IMHO, treat yourself a real text editor like ViM, available from vim.org, and MacZip. It works wonder even with dreaded Hotmail.com. God speed. Griffin @ work - place. ------------------ "+" is just the beginning. Expect to see "GriffinCheng76", "GriffinCheng(105)" or "GriffinChengA3E8" more should Forum problems occur again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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