Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Hi Guys, I'm curious.I've seen many variations on the theme of naming PBEM files so that they may be saved and viewed later at your leisure,without mixup or misidentification.What method is your favorite,which do you think is the easiest and most simplistic method, in your eyes? Thanks in advance,for all replies . Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chupacabra Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 I use MynameOtherguysnameFilenumber. For example, if I was playing Bobo, the first file would be ChupBobo01. When Bobo returns the file, he'll rename it ChupBobo02. Makes things fairly simple. ------------------ Soy super bien, soy super super bien, soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ckoharik Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 I personally liked, and now use, the idea of creating subdirectories for each game and then identifying each turn uniquely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chupacabra: I use MynameOtherguysnameFilenumber. For example, if I was playing Bobo, the first file would be ChupBobo01. When Bobo returns the file, he'll rename it ChupBobo02. Makes things fairly simple. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Fair enough,but what about the movie files generated,what do you name them,the idea being to keep everything sequential? Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ckoharik: I personally liked, and now use, the idea of creating subdirectories for each game and then identifying each turn uniquely.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> How do you identify each turn uniquely,that's my question ? and thanks, Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chupacabra Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dick Reece: Fair enough,but what about the movie files generated,what do you name them,the idea being to keep everything sequential? Dick <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Doesn't matter if it's an orders file or a movie file, each successive file is just +1. ------------------ Soy super bien, soy super super bien, soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterNZer Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Gosh, this is a deeply fascinating thread. Myself I like to name them based on the starsign of the other player's paternal grandmother indexed with the position of Mars at the time the battle starts, crosslinked to a slap upside the head, Gah! PeterNZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ckoharik Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> How do you identify each turn uniquely,that's my question? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, because there is now a directory that describes the game (eg: Bob_vs_Rob) you can just label the turns by number (eg: Turn1, Turn2, etc.) Same with movie files. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> and thanks <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ya velcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediJobu Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Here's what I do I'm play say - joe my first file is: joe eric 1 turn after I move I send file to him he moves and generates a film I name this file joe eric 1 film I see film and then need to send file right back (without moving anything) I call the new file joe eric 1 film done send him this file he watches movie and then makes move for turn 2 he send me file I save it and call it: joe eric 2 turn I move and generate film to send him I call this file: joe eric 2 turn done and send to him he watches film and sends to me I call this joe eric 2 film I watch film and then take my turn I send file I call: joe eric 3 turn and so on.. what I do then is delete all files (except the last one I send that are called: joe eric (number) film that way I am left with all the film files. I know this a little confusing but hope it helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeterNZer: Gosh, this is a deeply fascinating thread. Myself I like to name them based on the starsign of the other player's paternal grandmother indexed with the position of Mars at the time the battle starts, crosslinked to a slap upside the head, Gah! PeterNZ<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well Peter old chap , I'm hoping that if I beg,cajole,plead and whine enough to the BTS powers that be, I can get some kind of file naming interface for CM2.That nis my purpose for this question,at any rate, old bean . Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterNZer Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 haha It's easiest just to type it yourself. I'd prefer to not even bother renaming 'em. Couple of people I play just use, like 'PeterNZ vs X' and we don't bother numbering em. How often do i want to watch myself loose? PeterNZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeterNZer: haha It's easiest just to type it yourself. I'd prefer to not even bother renaming 'em. Couple of people I play just use, like 'PeterNZ vs X' and we don't bother numbering em. How often do i want to watch myself loose? PeterNZ<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm with you on that one Peter , no sense punishing myself , but I know some people who review there moves to see how they can improve there game.In addition,many tournaments require you to save the turns in case there are questions. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubes Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 I agree with how chupacabra put it. I have a habit of deleting all pbem besides the last one i received & sent. This way it's easy to track who hasn't sent a pbem for awhile Besides you can go into the pbem directory and right click on a pbem and rename/call it to what you want. Geoff / Cubes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubes Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 I agree with how chupacabra put it. I have a habit of deleting all pbem besides the last one i received & sent. This way it's easy to track who hasn't sent a pbem for awhile Besides you can go into the pbem directory and right click on a pbem and rename/call it to what you want. Geoff / Cubes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshandorf Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 The system I use is pretty good for if you want to keep track of your orders and films. For example: Say I am the Axis. I do my deployment and then save the file. That file will now be called: USDeploy.txt Because that file I am now sending to my player is the file that HE loads to deploy his troops. When he is done he sends me back: AxisOrders1.txt Which represents the file that I am going to load to give my first turn orders. When I am done with my 1st turn orders I save it as: USOrders1.txt Because he will load this file for his 1st turn orders. He then sends me back: AxisMovie1.txt Because this is MY movie for the 1st turn. When I done watching it I then send him: USMovie1.txt He watches the movie and gives his 2nd round orders and sends me: AxisOrders2.txt I do my orders and then generate the movie and send him back: USMovie2.txt He watches the movie and then sends me back: AxisMovie2.txt After I am done watching it and giving my 3rd round orders I send him: USOrders3.txt Wash, rinse, repeat. With this method I can easily keep track of my past movies if I want to review them. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jshandorf: The system I use is pretty good for if you want to keep track of your orders and films. For example: Say I am the Axis. I do my deployment and then save the file. That file will now be called: USDeploy.txt Because that file I am now sending to my player is the file that HE loads to deploy his troops. When he is done he sends me back: AxisOrders1.txt Which represents the file that I am going to load to give my first turn orders. When I am done with my 1st turn orders I save it as: USOrders1.txt Because he will load this file for his 1st turn orders. He then sends me back: AxisMovie1.txt Because this is MY movie for the 1st turn. When I done watching it I then send him: USMovie1.txt He watches the movie and gives his 2nd round orders and sends me: AxisOrders2.txt I do my orders and then generate the movie and send him back: USMovie2.txt He watches the movie and then sends me back: AxisMovie2.txt After I am done watching it and giving my 3rd round orders I send him: USOrders3.txt Wash, rinse, repeat. With this method I can easily keep track of my past movies if I want to review them. Jeff<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks Jeff, that's the system I have seen used a lot myself.But how do you then keep track of who you are playing,etc.Axis and Allies is not enough,if you have several opponents.Do you just keep them in separate folders? And what about playing the same opponent in 2 different scenarios, or in a double blind scenario? What I'm hoping to find, by asking the pool of players here, is a method that works well and keeps each file unique but easily understood, and can be suggested to BTS. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jshandorf: The system I use is pretty good for if you want to keep track of your orders and films. For example: Say I am the Axis. I do my deployment and then save the file. That file will now be called: USDeploy.txt Because that file I am now sending to my player is the file that HE loads to deploy his troops. When he is done he sends me back: AxisOrders1.txt Which represents the file that I am going to load to give my first turn orders. When I am done with my 1st turn orders I save it as: USOrders1.txt Because he will load this file for his 1st turn orders. He then sends me back: AxisMovie1.txt ...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I used a scheme like this for my first few games, but I found it too unwieldy. There's a lot of typing involved, you have to think about where you are in the turn cycle, sometimes you forget....too error-prone. I like the sequential numbering much better (Name01, Name02, Name03, ...). It keeps things in order alphabetically, when you choose a filename you just backspace once or twice and increment the serial number, and if you want to find a particular turn movie later you can figure it out without too much trouble. (It helps to remember who sent the first file.) If you're really hard over about watching the movies at some far future date, you can always rename the movie files later with more descriptive names. ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshandorf Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Reece, Tank has a point. There have been times when the numbering gets hosed and it can be a real pain in the ass to get the files all straightened out, BUT if you just make sure you check which round you are on and what kind of file you are creating it is not too hard to keep things straight. I just like to be able to easily find past files since right now I am working on a AAR for a battle between Fionn and I. Thus it is VERY easy for me to find past turns to review them for the write up. If you are not concerned about this then a sequential system probably is the easiest method. i.e. <p1name><p2name><desc><file #>.txt For each person I play I create a directory and if I have multiple battles going on with him I make sub-directories. Jeff [This message has been edited by jshandorf (edited 10-11-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 Shandorf, Tank, Thanks for the input.Maybe we can get BTS to include a PBEM filenaming/saving interface feature in CM2, if it's feasible and wanted badly enough. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DesertFox Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Guys, Have you ever tried to do the following: Create two subfolders in your /PBEM folder. Call them PBEM/IN and /PBEM/OUT. Every oponent then get´s his own folder, say I play MIKE So you have /PBEM/IN/MIKE and PBEM/OUT/MIKE. This makes it pretty easy to store all *.zip files and you can easyly see if you have sent your turn already or not, etc... The textfiles themselves are named MIKE01, when I send him my turn I call it HE_MIKE01, then I get MIKE02 and send him HE_MIKE02, etc... Cheers Helge ------------------ Sbelling chequed wyth MICROSOFT SPELLCHECKER - vorgs grate! - The DesertFox - Email: desertfox1891@hotmail.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/desertfox1891 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 Another great idea Helge! Now if we could get BTS to automate this or a variation of it,if the coding isn't a huge issue...... Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Dick, What's wrong with the method we are using that simply describes what just happened in the game? Eg. First turn is named "Set-up with Dick", the second turn is named "Dick makes silly move", then "Lawyer slaughters Dick's units", then "Dick whines", and finally "Dick surrenders". This is a very logical system, as well as being descriptive of what is contained in the game file. Plus, considering your feeble stable of game moves, there won't be any need for a long list of descriptions. Just more helpful advice from... Lawyer ------------------ "One must gratefully acknowledge that the real reason for Allied victory over Germany in World War II was the superior skill of the enormous army of lawyers filing suit against Hitler in the Federal courts of the United States." Churchill -- 1945 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Reece Posted October 11, 2000 Author Share Posted October 11, 2000 Bielzijake, spawn of Satan,lover of filthy lucre,we meet yet again,eh? Is that VT that you've purchased in mass quantities and you're currently using on the US "Remnant" [not my word,our POW's told us what you began calling your troops after turn 2] to crush yourself utterly? Pah,I spit on your latest briefing, a pox on your mercedes, may all the widows and orphans you've left as destitute street urchins find your home address [which I've conveniently posted in shantytown] and rip you from your lair full of ill gotten gains. Soon you'll part with the fabled $2.29 bad war movie, and I shall be declared the vanquisher of evil and injustice referred to as "The Lawyer". Get a brain, Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 That's $2.99 plus tax. I don't deal in cheap goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 I tend to keep things even shorter... Each turn has three files related to it. A short orders file, and two large movies files. Thus my filenames will end with 'Turnnumber a/b/c' For example, I'm currently PBEMing the Elsdorf scenario. Filename is 'elsd10b.txt' I just load whichever number is the biggest! NTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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