PBEM Numbering: how do you do it?!?!

[Chad Harrison]

sorry for the silly question, but ive stepped into the PBEM ring recently, and all my opponets are asking me how i want to number them? when i set them up, i just called the first one "1a" and i got back "1b", then i sent "2a" and so on. one of my opponets asked me how i could tell which ones where the movies i could watch then. i just look to see which files are bigger

could some PBEM brainies PLEASE throw me a bone here! how do you number the files?

[Soddball]

Ask Elvis in the Peng Thread, he believes that numbers aren't necessary unless you're planning to save all your turns - which he thinks is stupid. I think he doesn't realise the real reason. I do it because I have SO MUCH hard disk space and I can't be bothered to put any more porn on it

Seriously, I used to use a 'turn 1, turn 1 film' thing but that got damn confusing so now I just send out '1' and wait for '2' to come back, then send '3' out. I have them named with mine and my player's names so I don't get my multiple games confused Other people may have different systems.

[Lars]

Try "LarsvsChad001". Now you know who you are playing and all you have to do is change the last number every turn. Also download a PBEM utility, makes life easier. See the FAQ.

{edited cuz Soddball beat me to the Elvis thingy}

[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: Lars ]

[jshandorf]

Just use random letters and numbers like Elvis does.

Or be creative. Try using short phrases like:

YouSuck2.txt

BiteMe.txt

YouAreA.Loser

Things like that. K?

jeff

[Chad Harrison]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lars:

Try "LarsvsChad001". Now you know who you are playing and all you have to do is change the last number every turn.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

thats what i do right now, with both our names and numbers. i got a lot of questions about that system, and so i was just curious if i was missing something!

[BFCElvis]

OK...now we in my area of expertise.

In my mind there are only 2 possible reasons to number PBEM files and 99% of my games they are not needed. Others may disagree but no one hs yet given me a rational other reason that can't be acomplished easier through other methods besides numbering file.

The two reasons to number files are 1) you plan on writing an AAR after the game is done and you need to save each file to do it and 2)you are playing something like CMMC where other people will need various files.

Other than that the numbering of files is useless. Just this morning I gutted out my PBEM file and it took me over a half hour and when I looked in my recyle bin it totaled over 15MBs!!! Drive space isn't the problem but clogging up my PBEM file with worthless junk is. Naming files different things as jshandorf mentioned was started as a joke and is actually worse than umbering files because it is harder to sort through them than the numbered files.

You really only need to use a name like jshandorfvsElvis and keep writting over each file.

Here are a few reasons people have given me for numbering files and I can dispell these before someone even tries to counter my comments.

1) "It's how I know whose turn it is." For the most part send my files back as soon as I see them so there isn't a question about whose turn it is because if I don't have a new email in my in box then it is my opponants turn. There are time when this gets messed up. Where perhaps I think I emailed the turn but didn't. It will usually be brought to my attention by the person I am playing and I simply open the game file I have. If it asks for my password then I play it and send it ..if it ask for my opponants password then I send them the file. There is nothing that numbering can do that will let me know that I have emailed it..all it wil tell me is that I numbered it. It takes slightly longr to check whose turn it is with this method but when weighted against the time involed with constantly cleaning out my PBEM file compared to the occational need to do this ..nonmubering wins.

2) "It helps if a filegets corrupted" There are probably very few people that have CM that have played more PBEM games than me. Going back to the beta demo I have NEVER had a corrupted file. I am taking about hundreds and hundreds of PBEM files exchanged. I have heard people say they have a corrupted file. If that happens ask your opponant to resend the file. If that is the bad one redownload the turn before from either players old email. The chances of having a corrupt file and not being able to retrieve the game another way are so close to 0 that I'll take my chances.

3) "Because that's what I do..deal wth it" That of course speaks for itself.

I currently have 7 PBEMs going and this morning deleted over NINETY files!!!!! I had only emptied it 10 days ealier. With 7 PBEM games I need 7 PBEM files.

Chad, do yousel a favor and don't even start numbering files.

I could go on all night about this because it drives me crazy. So I will stop for now and go out and grab a beer.

PS If you get a great movie file you want to save then rename it and save that one file.

[David Aitken]

Elvis, you missed 4) Because I Am Psychotic. Or was it Neurotic? PawBroon only knows...

[Chad Harrison]

good call elvis, i have found a good way of doing it also. i have created individual files for who i play (outside of my CMBO file). so if i was playing elvis, i just created a file named "elvis". i wrote a note in it with name/email address. now whenever i download files, they go straight to PBEM file under CMBO, then i move them to that persons file. just by looking at the file size, you can easily tell what it is (movie or info).

so now if i want to go back and watch a movie, all i do is go to that persons folder, and its really mindless and easy. so i agree with you elvis, its a waste to keep all those movies/files, but sometimes its a good learning experience for me to go back and watch my good moves and the bad ones. for beginners/intermidiates, i think it works out pretty good. (if anyone doesnt know how to create these folders, just ask)

[BFCElvis]

Chad,

David Aitken has said that he saves every turn of every game he plays. So you are not alone if this i something you like to do. And go back and watch the movies to learn. But why put your preference on the person you're playing. When downloading a PBEM file I can rename it anything I want. So if I was into saving every file for every game I could do that and send the person I am playing back a file that has one name and it remains that name throughout the battle. Maintaining my preference of having every file without imposing it on someone else.

[Chad Harrison]

elvis, i laughed when i saw your signature. a sense of humor and thick skin here are just as important as bread and water in life.

to what you said elvis, i would agree with you and do what you are doing, other than that i am still trying to improve the finer points of tactis and learn best from my mistakes. so the movies come in handy. i do look forward to where we can replay the entire movie, that would make that much easier. however, when ive played a lot more games, im sure ill hop onto the same named file idea. convenient and faster. not to mention less confusion.

thanks for all the posts and you for your signature elvis!

[BFCElvis]

You are welcome....and the signature is not new.

[rleete]

Elvis, what started out as what I thought was a joke has gotten me thinking. I am (soon to be was) one of those renumber every turn types. While once again cleaning out the saved files, I paused. "what if he's right?" The more you expouse on your latest crusade, the more I agree. I spent as much time cleaning out all the junk as playing turns. I shall attempt to use "The Elvis System" in my next game. A new convert is reborn.

[Lorak]

Holy Berli!

Now when I saw Elvis go on his crazy anti-number jihad in the MBT... I thought "gee, Peng must have left a bottle of scotch over at the house and Elvis got crazy while the babe was crying.

But good Berli man! I didn't think his psycotic-nuerotic behavior would actualy spread!

As a side note, Elvis's system does work if you don't plan on saving or reviewing your games. But for the life of me I don't understand the "takes so long to clean out my PBEM file" crap.

I generally save the games I thought were good. So I like to number and review where I screwed up (not that it has ever helped).

But what takes so long to delete crap?

2 windows examples(MBT numbering left out for clairity)

1) I have a folder for each PBEM game I am playing. To delete this game after it is over... right-click folder hit delete. Tada! whole game gone in umm...2 seconds or less.

2) You plan on a re-match so you want to leave the folder.

Open the folder, click on the first file, hold-down shift and click the last file, hit delete. all files from that game are gone.

again another 2 secs or so.

What the hell is the big deal here? I have right now 18 PBEM folders and games going.

I can have all of them delelted in oh... 2 min or so.

I just don't get the big time factor that the anti-number Jihad keep taking about.

As for Elvis's going crazy seeing 15megs in his trash can... thats not even a game. Hell most movie turns I get average 300-400k.

Lorak the loathed

[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: Lorak ]

[Juju]

Excuse me all over the place, but numbering files is required for a usefull utility I use called oneclick. And I don't mind cleaning out the trash once in a while. Part of life, innit?

It's amde by Kyleneet, but I don't know where I got it.

For those who don't know it, here's a part of the readme:

This utility provides an easy way to manage and play Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord play by email (PBEM) games.

Launch this application instead of Combat Mission, and you are just one click from combat! No more searching sub directories for the latest email file, no more remembering different passwords for each game in progress. This utility takes care of it.

This utility automates CMBO email games such that:

no longer do you have to search directories for the latest email file

no longer do you have to type in your password

facilitates keeping each game in a separate subdirectory

One click in this app --> launches CM, loads file and starts turn. You are then watching the movie or issuing orders

[The Codfather]

Elvis, your comment about imposing one system on another cuts both ways. If you are playing a player who wants to save movies regularly in the game, then he/she is going to be spending a lot of time renaming files. I'd rather have YOU take an extra couple seconds to clear out the files at the end of a game than ME spending 10 secs per movie that I want to save...

An average 30 turn battle probably only takes up 15 MB on the hard drive. If you don't have enough empty space to handle it, you need a new computer

[Mace]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Aitken:

Elvis, you missed 4) Because I Am Psychotic. Or was it Neurotic? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

and add

5) An*l retentive!

Mace

[WineCape]

Related issue:

If you, like me, feel the need to juggle anywhere between 8-15 PBEM gmes at a time and still want to feel sane, no other utility for email play beats PBEM HELPER by Fuerte.(Windows version only as of yet, and it supports file numbering in format = "FILENAME###", where ###=numbers and "FILENAME" = 8 or more characters)

Some related questions/answers to this excellent PBEM utility to be found here:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=019065

<LI> http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=018809

<LI> http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=019014 and here

<LI> http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=019234

Welcome to the wonderful world of playing CM:BO via e-mail Mr. Harrison!

Kind regards,

Charl Theron

[Soddball]

Speak the name of the Elvis and he appears. Well, congratulations Elvis, you clearly have a new disciple.

I'm going to keep numbering my turns, just for you. The Great Numbering Turn Schism of July 2001 has occurred! The People's Revolutionary Front of Turn Numbering are splintering from the Revolutionary Turn Numberers!

[Darwin]

The latest incarnation on naming pbems is for one person to increase file number by one each time and for the other to return file with same number but with an "x" appended to it's end. you guys are all so passe

[Lawyer]

Elvis forgot to mention my very useful observation that numbering files is useful to mark the days spent playing a game, just like a convict scratches marks on the wall. I've gotten up to 70 or so, which tells me I've wasted more than two months playing some folks.

I think Elvis just wants to screw up my numbering so I won't have a good record of billable hours to charge him for my playing time. Apparently, he believes I do this for fun instead of profit. He will see the truth when I haul his butt into court for non-payment.

[BFCElvis]

The truth shall set you all free!!!!! Stop being lemmings!!!!

15mgs isn't a dent on my hard drive and isn't the point (I don't have a huge drive, 13gigs, which is plenty)

[Dirtweasle]

unique named or numbered files are essential so you can review the battle. If you overwrite each file you cannot. In my opinion it is essential to review the movie files every now and again durring the course of a PBEM game the covers weeks or more of time. I simply cannot recall each and every nuance of where a unit came frome, etc., etc...

[CMplayer]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Elvis:

I currently have 7 PBEMs going and this morning deleted over NINETY files!!!!! I had only emptied it 10 days ealier. With 7 PBEM games I need 7 PBEM files.

Chad, do yousel a favor and don't even start numbering files.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Or you could just have two folders.

One for current games, and one for

archived games. Then, it 10000 years

some archeologists can go through

the material.

--Rett

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: CMplayer ]

[Radar]

Originally posted by Lars:

[QB]Try "LarsvsChad001". Now you know who you are playing and all you have to do is change the last number every turn. Also download a PBEM utility, makes life easier. See the FAQ.

I make a folder for every person I'm playing as this keeps my PBEM directory organized. I also make sure that the suffix number is 3 or for digits. Windows will then put the file at the end instead of in that crazy computer organization.

I don't need every turn but for every time I go back and review a turn it makes saving every one worth it. As for cleanup after a game I simply delete the file folder and Viola! All gone..

[Chad Harrison]

from what ive read, sounds like most people who number their files make a folder for each person they are playing. when i get home from work, i usually have 7+ email turns waiting for me. i download them into the main CMBO PBEM file. after i play each one, i email the new one, and put the one i recieved and the new one into that persons folder. when im done with the battle, if it was less than interesting, i just delete all the PBEM files with two clicks, and keep in the folder the persons email address and name for future games.

that way has grown on me and it works for me. it doesnt seem like their is a best way to go about doing it, just whatever works for you!!