ColumbusOHGamer Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I"m in a VoT PBEM game on turn 9. The files have been 30-90k in size. Now it jumps to over 250k and my oppenent is telling me he has two tanks he cant give orders to. We've tried resending the email and redoing the last phase, but it's still the same result. Has anyone else, including BTS seen this? I'm not sure if it's a bug (seemed odd to jump in size so quick) or this is normal. In any event, the tanks that can't get orders isn't likely to be normal. Thanks. COG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 Yup I have two shermans that I can't issue orders to The file size may have jumped because as the american's my reinforcments have just arrived when they first arrived I could issue orders to all four of them, on the next turn after their arrival one of the new Shermans and one of the original shermans were not available to issue orders, neither tank had eitehr been shot at and both are out of enemy LOS and LOF (a little spoiler info or intel there for COG) I suspect the two tanks will be ok in the next turn but for now we are at an empasee as I'm reluctant to move on with two tanks I can move anyway thanks I/we can send the file to BTS if you want to take a look at it -tom w <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ColumbusOHGamer: I"m in a VoT PBEM game on turn 9. The files have been 30-90k in size. Now it jumps to over 250k and my oppenent is telling me he has two tanks he cant give orders to. We've tried resending the email and redoing the last phase, but it's still the same result. Has anyone else, including BTS seen this? I'm not sure if it's a bug (seemed odd to jump in size so quick) or this is normal. In any event, the tanks that can't get orders isn't likely to be normal. Thanks. COG<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> [This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 06-02-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikester Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 Guys, The only files that are generally that big are the movie files. Is that what this is? Did the two tanks all of a sudden just this turn start to not respond, or has it been going on from the start? It might be a bug, but it sounds more like might possibly be a corrupted PBEM file to me. If this just started happening you might want to go back one turn and start playing again from there and see what happens. If everything is OK after doing this my guess is that it was just a corrupted PBEM file. Mike D aka Mikester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusOHGamer Posted June 2, 2000 Author Share Posted June 2, 2000 Mike, It's not just the movies because I have two successive phases over 250k, but I had forgotten about the Ami reinforcements. I'd gues that was the size jump. As for the corrupted PBEM file, that indicates a possible program bug. I reran the phase to generate a new turn, but had the same results, so I doubt it was two files being corrupted. I believe the PBEM file was created with some anomaly in it that caused the tanks to freeze. As Tom said, we can send BTS the sequence of turns if they want to see it, but we'll just play through the problem for now. Not a big deal in a demo, but would be in a production game. Also, if the 250k size is due to the Ami reinforcements, how big will a PBEM file be if your on a much bigger map with many more units carrying out orders? Over 1M? Over 2M? This could be a difficulty for downloading PBEM files with 28.8k or 56k modems. Just a thought.... Thanks. COG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 Hi CoG thanks for re-running the turn, at this point I'll plot the orders for this turn and wait and see if they come back in the next turn, neither one of them is in any danger so it s not big deal. I have seen this exact problem before in the Beta Demo in CE and it happened twice, once it cleared up by quitting CM and reloading CM and the e-mail PBEM turn, the other time I could not get around it and let it go and the very next turn the tank was available for orders. I think others have experienced this problem, at this point it is a minor inconveince (even thougt "its only a GAME") this could be a real issue at a crucial moment in a very competitive game. -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikester Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 It does sound like it's a potentially larger problem. I still find it hard to believe that just a regular turn plot file (i.e. no movie) could be this large in the VoT scenario. Maybe though, if you had one side at +25% or +50% and you gave orders to all of your units??? I somehow still doubt it, which leads one to think that something must be wrong. Hopefully BTS will get your files and have a look at them. Mikester out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I must admit I did not look at the file size and that issue never occured to me the game is being played without any additional forces for either side. and the file in question might be the movie file, COG says its not but I'm not sure I plan to take another look at it on a different computer this morning when he sends it to my work computer it has just arrived -tom <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mikester: It does sound like it's a potentially larger problem. I still find it hard to believe that just a regular turn plot file (i.e. no movie) could be this large in the VoT scenario. Maybe though, if you had one side at +25% or +50% and you gave orders to all of your units??? I somehow still doubt it, which leads one to think that something must be wrong. Hopefully BTS will get your files and have a look at them. Mikester out.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 OK The problem has been "worked around" The problem appeared around turn 10 in VoT the turn after the American's got their reinforcements as stated two Shermans could not be issued orders to (bad english I know) But now the file works fine on a Beige G3 at work Both Computers are macs, I think the file was sent from a PC, the file was large over 250k and it did include a movie file that I watched before I could plot my turn Both are G3's the one at work that ran the file successfuly is a Biege G3 running 8.6 and it "saw" the file as an Adobe Acrobat file type when it came down from e-mail the Laptop that did not like the file last night is a G3 333 mHz running OS 9.04 and it did not "see" the file as an acrobat file. but it works now on the G3 running 8.6 where the file icon is interpreted as an Adobe Acrobat file type, even though it has the .txt extension, Macs don't know about extensions any way so it does not matter. Hope that helps someone else -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I saw a similar problem (I think also in turn 10). The amis had just gotten their reinforcements, and my opponent had plotted moves for them the previous turn. When we went to give orders, I couldn't get an orders menu for any of my pillboxes/bunkers, and he couldn't command two of the tanks. We sent BTS the files and wrote it off to the kind of stuff that happens in combat-- someone can't get the tank in gear and the PB crews won't listen to the radio... When we executed the movie, the tanks went to where they had been previously ordered and the PB brewed one of them up . I'm playing on a PB G3/300 OS 8.5, and my opponent has a PC of some sort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusOHGamer Posted June 2, 2000 Author Share Posted June 2, 2000 Maybe it's an issue of mixing Mac G3 8.x with Win98 PC files? I know it shouldn't be a problem, but I'm just throwing out ideas. COG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakko Ichiu Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I had similar problems playing CE via PBEM against an opponent using Mac. One of my Shermans would not respond to orders. i tried reloading the turn without effect. After we played out the turn, the tank was responsive again. ------------------ Ethan ----------- Das also war des Pudels Kern! -- Goethe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Galanti Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I had a similar problem with the beta demo, but it hasn't happened yet in the Gold Demo. My game was also Mac vs. PC (I'm on the Mac) Though, I was able to work around it by just aborting the game, and then reopening the file. It usually took several tries, but eventually I would be able to use my tanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 The occasional tank who you "can't give orders to" is a PBEM bug which we've fixed recently. That fix will be part of the v1.01 patch that we'll make available as soon as the game ships. For the time being, a workaround that occasionally works is to quit the scenario and reload the PBEM file. Or sometimes quitting the game and restarting it. The trouble is that the PBEM file isn't updating an internal value, so it's "random" and if it's the "wrong" random value, the tank can't get orders. But like I said it's fixed now. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusOHGamer Posted June 2, 2000 Author Share Posted June 2, 2000 Thanks for the info Charles. Please ignore the email I just sent you 3 minutes ago about this thread. Thanks. COG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFCElvis Posted June 3, 2000 Share Posted June 3, 2000 ...and about file sizes. I have seen files as small as 20k and as large as 410k. Seems to depend on how much action/orders/ect.. are contained in the turn being swapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted June 3, 2000 Share Posted June 3, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hakko Ichiu: I had similar problems playing CE via PBEM against an opponent using Mac. One of my Shermans would not respond to orders. i tried reloading the turn without effect. After we played out the turn, the tank was responsive again. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Damn you, damn you and your Shermans - doom unto you! Where were we, oh right, the file size varies a lot. Have a look at how much variation there can be in the calculation of AI turns. Obviously with lots of units/orders etc, the files can get a bit large. Which I find a bit problematic, being at the wrong end of a sh*tty 33.6k connection (our IT staff strikes again). I have seen a 246k file take ten minutes to download. Any experiences from the Beta testers, what are the largest files you saw? My personal record so far is 456k, I think. ------------------ Andreas It is amazing what you can learn from a good book... [This message has been edited by Germanboy (edited 06-02-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 3, 2000 Share Posted June 3, 2000 Elvis is correct. Depends on how many units are doing orders at one time. Usually the first couple of turns aren't very intense. Turn 10 or so is about when the infantry from both sides starts to get involved. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts