PBEM - Mac Windows

[Christopher Short]

Having searched the forum, to solve Mac/Windows problems for PBEM games, a common compression program is the answer.

I was just wondering why? - they're only text files. Is it the line end character difference between the OS's (cr on Macs crlf on windows)?

cheers,

Christopher

[Schrullenhaft]

The problem is the process of sending and receiving those files. I honestly don't know what the details are and whether they involve line breaks, encoding or what. Corruption/recoding can happen with an ASCII file. With a compression program you'll be sending over a binary in a commonly accepted compression format. This should hopefully prevent any tampering of the text data that is the CM data file.

[kmead]

It isn't just a Mac to PC issue. We have seen it occur on like platforms as well. My experience has been that MS Outlook has trouble with files larger than 500k and that it drops a few 1s and 0s, rendering the file useless. I am a Mac user and have seen the problem both ways. It may also be an issue with your ISP or all the ISPs between you and your PBEM opponent.

In any case it is good practice to compress your files before sending.

[sturner]

It could also be in the encoding method used by your email program and the receiving email program. Most modern, or should I say recently made programs use MIME encoding. This is different than UUencoded or for the Mac, AppleSingle or BinHex.

If you are using a mail program other than Microsofts, like Eudora, then I know that you can set the encoding. It should be set for AppleDouble (MIME).

In Outlook, open the Attachments pane and select the encoding method. Use AppleDouble (MIME).