Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Forgive me if this has been discussed but I could not find it in the archives. One of my PBEM buddies showed me a great free PBEM utility. It is at http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm and is for the PC only. It works for CMBO plus a number of other PBEM games too. It can be used even when your opponent is not using the utility, but really is great when both use it. In its native mode it sends a PBEM file that is already zipped up. It can also just send the regular text file or a zip too. One drawback is it really works best if you do NOT keep changing the current games file name as you play. I.e. do not add +1 to the name for each move. I have had a problem with it on Outlook 2000 but was able to use it in its SMTP mode. Anybody else using this gem? ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 I could be wrong... but I believe HERE: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/015896.html you will find a program similiar to the one you are describing, except with MANY more features, and built specifically for CM! ------------------ "Fear is for the enemy... Fear and Bullets." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte2 Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Huh, I have competition now! My program looks better and works with other games (SPWAW), too, but the automatic password entering in One Click is really c00l. I wonder if I could add it to PBEM as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Author Share Posted February 5, 2001 Thanks I will check it out and see how it compares! ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Author Share Posted February 5, 2001 I will play with it later tonight when I get home. I think I like it better than PBEM but am not sure yet. Advantages over PBEM I see: 1) it keeps passwords for the game 2) it works eaisier with folks not using it 3) it allows game moves to be saved by adding digits to the moves More on point 2: Instead of clicking on an attachment, you simple save the attachment in a known directory from whence the util will get the files. This is a nice advantage to trying to find the CMBO directory (I will simple create a PBEM directory under My Documents as that is where Outlook 2000 opens by default when you do a file save) and therefore also lets it to be used easier with players not using the util. Normally I have to take the .zip or .txt file they send and find the cmbo directory before using PBEM. ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMan Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Fuerte wrote: My program looks better and works with other games (SPWAW), too, but the automatic password entering in One Click is really c00l. I wonder if I could add it to PBEM as well... Fuerte, If you are interested in adding the auto-passwording feature to your program, I can offer the following: - I could add a command line interface to One Click so that you could execute One Click from your program - or you could take a look at my code (VC++) and use parts of it (the actual code isn't too bad, but it was a pain to "find" all of the required buttons at all the different resolutions I was going to make this offer when I first saw your program, but never got around to it. But, better late than never I guess. Let me know if you are interested in pursuing either of the 2 above options. -K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiram Sedai Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Now you have me wondering which one I should try. I've been manually doing 16 PBEM's and its a pain in the butt. I use MS Outlook and set up some rules to put the emails into folders, but saving the attachments is still manual for me. So is sending them out. Your work is appreciated. ------------------ Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. - Blaise Pascal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMan Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Hiram Sedai wrote: I use MS Outlook and set up some rules to put the emails into folders, but saving the attachments is still manual for me. Heh heh...I used to use MS Outlook Express, but playing CM caused me to change to a better email client (for my use). I now use pocomail, which is highly configurable, and very scriptable. And, key for CM, the attachments are automagically available as separate files. -K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Originally posted by Hiram Sedai: I use MS Outlook and set up some rules to put the emails into folders, but saving the attachments is still manual for me. So is sending them out. I don't know about One Click, but PBEM (my program) saves the e-mail files automatically into correct directories. You just have to open the attachment in Outlook. This works only if the .PBM format is used, so it requires that both players are using PBEM. PBEM can also send the files directly, either via MAPI or SMTP. PBEM also remembers the correct e-mail address for each file. It also knows if you should wait for the turn, or play, or send the files. PBEM can also start the Combat Mission, but... This is about all that my program does. One Click goes much further... it even opens the e-mail turn, enters the password, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Author Share Posted February 5, 2001 It would be neat if both programs would work with people using either client. for example if One click would accept .pbem files. And if PBEM had the feature to scan a preset directory for files like One Click does. I think both programs more fine tuning and either is currently a good choice. ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Originally posted by Scott Adams: Instead of clicking on an attachment, you simple save the attachment in a known directory from whence the util will get the files. This is a nice advantage to trying to find the CMBO directory (I will simple create a PBEM directory under My Documents as that is where Outlook 2000 opens by default when you do a file save) and therefore also lets it to be used easier with players not using the util. Normally I have to take the .zip or .txt file they send and find the cmbo directory before using PBEM. Before using PBEM I just opened the zipped attachment in WinZip and extracted the file into CombatMission\PBEM directory. WinZip remembers also the latest used directories... and makes file time comparisons when overwriting. So I think that this is about equal in these programs. Of course if the attachment is not zipped, then it is a different case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Originally posted by Scott Adams: It would be neat if both programs would work with people using either client. for example if One click would accept .pbem files. And if PBEM had the feature to scan a preset directory for files like One Click does. The .PBM file is actually a .ZIP containing the following files for example: CMBO/PBEM.txt CMBO/PBEM3.txt SENDER.TXT Here I have two games, PBEM.txt AND PBEM3.txt. SENDER.TXT contains information about the sender: fuerte@sci.fi (GMT+2) FLE Standard Time -120 1.0.80 There are my e-mail address, time zone name, time zone difference, and PBEM version number. The time zone information is not actually used anymore, because the Info-Zip routines do it automatically. I don't know about the preset directory... I will add support for subdirectories under CombatMission\PBEM, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Author Share Posted February 5, 2001 I think, for me at least, the ability to have the app scan a preselected dir for files is the most important. This feature (which I understand one click has) will allow me to play games with folks who are sending me text files from a mac much more easily. My biggest time waste is usually spent drilling up from "my documents" and then back down to program files\cmbo\pbem. Being able to quickly drop from my documents to a subdirectory below it and leave my attachemnts will be very handy. I think that for this reason I will probably end up using One click for at least the short term. Fuerte you might consider this feature? ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Originally posted by Scott Adams: I think, for me at least, the ability to have the app scan a preselected dir for files is the most important. This feature (which I understand one click has) will allow me to play games with folks who are sending me text files from a mac much more easily. I think that for this reason I will probably end up using One click for at least the short term. Fuerte you might consider this feature? Heh... ok... now I understand that Mac users probably don't have WinZip, and are using plain .txt. I might do it... but since One Click already has much more features than PBEM (doesn't it?), why not use it in any case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 5, 2001 Author Share Posted February 5, 2001 I think I will try out One Click tonight but it would be neat if PBEM also had similar features. There is room enough room for both utilties I think! ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMan Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Scott wrote: My biggest time waste is usually spent drilling up from "my documents" and then back down to program files\cmbo\pbem. Being able to quickly drop from my documents to a subdirectory below it and leave my attachemnts will be very handy. Scott, take a look at "FileBox Extender" from http://www.hyperionics.com It provides an icon in all "file open" dialog boxes and in the system tray, which allows you to quickly navigate to commonly used folders. At $25 bucks, it seems a little much, but it is money well spent. Try the shareware, see if you like it. It was very helpful managing pbem files before I started using pocomail and One Click. I still find it very useful in many other applications. And then: There is room enough room for both utilties I think! Definitely! Fuerte and I released our programs within a week of each other. If I had known he was working on PBEM, I wouldn't have added any of the zipping or emailing stuff to One Click (I would have tried to integrate with PBEM). I haven't tried PBEM, but it focuses on the zipping and email stuff, so I believe it is better/more complete than One Click in that regard. One Click started out just as an automatic email/password load for CM, and then I later added in the zipping and email facilities. The email is strictly SMTP (no MAPI support), and I'm not sure that all of the bugs have been wrung out of the zipping stuff in One Click. -K PS - Scott, you probably hear this all the time, but Thanks for the Adventures!!! I have very fond memories of my first gaming experiences on the Apple II+ and your games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 A Quick question from the E-Mail stupid... When using Outlook Express, my SENT mail is saved in a folder (unless I choose to delete it.) Is the SENT mail from ONE CLICK saved anywhere? (Basically I just don't want it sucking up more and more disk space...) Hopefully this question makes sense... as it barely makes sense to me... Thanks! And thanks for the programs! (Both of them!) ------------------ "Fear is for the enemy... Fear and Bullets." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMan Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Is the SENT mail from ONE CLICK saved anywhere? No, it is not saved anywhere. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on which you prefer. -K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuerte Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 Originally posted by KMan: No, it is not saved anywhere. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on which you prefer. Exactly. PBEM has both. MAPI is saved to Sent Items when using Outlook Express, for example, but SMTP is not saved anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 Okay, I SENT my turns using STMP in ONE CLICK, and my opponent never received them... The odd thing is that they DID send. ...must be me. ------------------ "Fear is for the enemy... Fear and Bullets." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles.Osborne Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 OK Being the original person who recommended to Scott the Fuerte utility. I was initially sceptical about one click. However after using it I am quite impressed. The features that work well: 1. The managing of whose move it currently is 2. The Game management i.e auto password 3. The simplicity 4. Linking to other players not using one click is easier. The features that I miss Mapi connection Attribituting an extension type to one-click so if both players are using it then you could just double click that and it would do the rest - now that would be lovely I also think that their is something strange with the attachments. I use an email client called turnpike. (http://www.turnpike.com). They're just in testing of a new one: news:demon.ip.support.turnpike. It is looking very nice (integrates within the explorer interface - amazing stuff) anyway I digress It follows and has always followed RFCs to the letter. When I received Scotts turn from one click it showed the attachment as "st" saving the attachment as the subject line resolved the problem but I would guess their is something not quite right in the attachment format. My guess is that Outlook handles it correctly. I'll research within the TP NG but if anyone has any thoughts then fire away. MAPI link would resolve the problem Nice utilities Guys though. Miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 6, 2001 Author Share Posted February 6, 2001 Miles I suspect the problem you are having is due to the spaces in the name. Outlook 2000 shows the file as "st annes 012.zip" and stores it with no problems. ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMan Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 Miles I suspect the problem you are having is due to the spaces in the name. Outlook 2000 shows the file as "st annes 012.zip" and stores it with no problems. That's probably the problem. I'll check tonight when I get home if I'm properly handling the filename with spaces in the outgoing SMTP stuff. Also, One Click doesn't like spaces in file names for other reasons. After doing your turn in CM, and saving the pbem file, you should automatically be popped back to One Click. I don't think this function works if there are spaces in the file name. -K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted February 6, 2001 Author Share Posted February 6, 2001 Originally posted by KMan: That's probably the problem. I'll check tonight when I get home if I'm properly handling the filename with spaces in the outgoing SMTP stuff. -K I think the problem is in his email client receiving attachements. The file he sent me via One Click had the spaces in the proper places. ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles.Osborne Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 I'm not convinced. I just sent myself an email attachment from work, outlook 2000, with spaces the filename and Turnpike handled it correctly. That doesn't prove that their is not a problem at the TP end, but their is somthing different about these attachments to say Outlook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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