PBEM Helper

[easytarget]

handy little program for managing PBEM's

in case someone here hasn't heard of it, here's the link:

http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm

[easytarget]

with no response to this great little program, i must conclude that the only topics being read in the tech forum are those about video issues

[Louie the Toad]

What makes it worth the download? What will it do.

Hard to please .... Toad

[easytarget]

it keeps track of all the games you have going, automatically keeps track of each turn, deletes old turns and puts the entire series in a directory for you, zips them up for transmission automatically, and if the other side is using the program as well, you need only open the e-mail, click on open, and the program will load the turn up for you, when done, it handles sending it off as well - the display when you open it up tells you if you've got a turn you need to play, send or wait for - that in and of itself is worth the price (oh yeah, did i mention it's free)

in short, it does everything you now do manually to play a PBEM turn automatically

anyone playing multiple PBEM's ought to check it out and unburden themselves from the tedium of moving files in and out of directories, loading them up into e-mail, keeping track of turns, etc

[GreenAsJade]

Its hard to imagine how convenient it is, before you get it.

It's hard to imagine playing PBEM without it, once you have it.

CLick on the attachment in the mail, next thing you know, there is the game up in front of you, password entered and everything.

And that's just the basic functionality. In addition, it lets you do two turns per exchange of email. Once you've tried that, it will be hard going back to "plot your orders, wait for email, view the turn, wait for email..."

And finally, you can view the whole movie using it (admitedly you have to press a button and wait for a load between minutes, but better than anything you can do without).

Playing CM by mail? Get PBEMH...

[Louie the Toad]

This sounds nifty. Will it distinguish between a BB and a BO pbem? and place them accordingly?

Also, if it automatically eliminates prior turns, can this be shut off. Sometimes if a turn gets lost, it helps to reconstruct. I know, I know, if I have this utility turns won't get lost, but sometimes my apponents loose them.

Sounds too good to be true..... Toad

[Jager]

It distinguishes between a BB and a BO and places them accordingly.

At least the settings I'm using just move the old files to game directory, so they are not lost.

I'm not sure if this came out in the praise of PBEM helper but it gives you a list of your games and you just pick the one you want to play and press play. It handles everything up to giving the password. It really is too good to be true.

Sending is equally easy, as it remembers your opponents email address. Just pick the game from the list (if it's not automatically chosen) and press send. It can send multiple gamefiles per mail if you play several games against same opponent.

[GreenAsJade]

Originally posted by Louie the Toad:

Also, if it automatically eliminates prior turns, can this be shut off. Sometimes if a turn gets lost, it helps to reconstruct. I know,

It keeps all of your turns, and knows how to play back just the "movie only" turns to show you the whole movie after the game has finished.

[easytarget]

i've tried running the movie feature with no luck

is there a trick or two to making it work?

can you only run it on a finished pbem for example?

[GreenAsJade]

The only "trick" I know of is that the turns do have to have been numbered the way that PBEMH expects them to be. That is, in a pre-designed scenario (not QB), the first player's setup is 001 and the second player setup is 002 and so on.

[Thin Red Line]

It's an excellent utility, can't imagine managing my 6-10 games without it.

[dieseltaylor]

can be a bit fiddly when going into T&S mode but it can be run from the very start thta way. of course you do get messages telling you it is the wrong turn etc. I fyou just ignore these pop-ups it will work

I proved this in an on-going game with Winescape

For thos ewho have not tried it T&S gives you films and moves! with every sent file. Wondrful