Sanok Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Forgive me if BFC answered this, but I haven't been able to read every post in every thread. Will there be pbem in the CM2 games? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Ruddy Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 The short answer is maybe. They 'hope' to include it but it is too early to tell. Personally, I think they are worried about the file size. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rune Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 For the 1000th time [Not aimed at you Sanok or Ruddy who snuck in before this posted], we are not promising something till we know 100% for sure, but at this point in time, it looks like it will make it in. The reason we said it MIGHT not be in, is it if breaks something in the game. We won't know that till coding is more advanced. Steve did NOT want to promise something till he knew for sure. I guess some people would have preferred saying it was in then just not having it if it did break something. However, isn't it better to be honest and upfront about it? Rune 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 The problem is that the more accurate the map (individually modelled bullet holes in walls etc.) and modifiers for each unit in a battle (full psychological modelling of every soldier, including their childhood traumas, and such), the bigger the filesize, and if a movie file becomes 50 MB in size, it is impractical. But whether it comes to that, they'll only know once they have gone further in the coding. If it should become a choice between PBEM playability and other features, PBEM loses, said Steve, but he was wishful that it didn't come to that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanok Posted October 13, 2005 Author Share Posted October 13, 2005 Originally posted by rune: For the 1000th time [Not aimed at you Sanok or Ruddy who snuck in before this posted], we are not promising something till we know 100% for sure, but at this point in time, it looks like it will make it in. The reason we said it MIGHT not be in, is it if breaks something in the game. We won't know that till coding is more advanced. Steve did NOT want to promise something till he knew for sure. I guess some people would have preferred saying it was in then just not having it if it did break something. However, isn't it better to be honest and upfront about it? Rune I knew pbem was still up in the air, but since the game had been officially announced and more coding had been done, I wondered if there had been an official answer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Sergei, you've got a point! It hadn't even dawned on me that an exponentially more detailed map might equal an exponentially bigger file size! (slaps forehead, emits "D-uh" sound). Reminds me of the old maxim 'Be careful what you ask for because you might just get it!" :eek: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Coady Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Originally posted by Sergei: The problem is that the more accurate the map (individually modelled bullet holes in walls etc.) and modifiers for each unit in a battle (full psychological modelling of every soldier, including their childhood traumas, and such), the bigger the filesize, and if a movie file becomes 50 MB in size, it is impractical. But whether it comes to that, they'll only know once they have gone further in the coding. If it should become a choice between PBEM playability and other features, PBEM loses, said Steve, but he was wishful that it didn't come to that. Very generally speaking, and this depends on how it is being coded, all that needs to be passed around are the actions taken (give unit X command Y), the variable changes (e.g. new wind direction), and the seeds for the random numbers. Then the rest of the calculations should come out the same even if run independently on the other player's machine. The map, models, unit psychological history, etc. should already exist on both player's machine as part of the game install. So, instead of passing along the turn (replay and all), you just pass along the parameters to generate the turn again on the other player's achine. Again, this is overly-simplistic, but in theory that's how it could work. As an aside, I'm one of those who think PBEM would be a nice feature to have, but would probably never use it. The majority of my time will probably be spent playing the solo campaign and after that solo QBs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Nev Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 It is also my understanding that although there is a question whether PBEM is in but playing TCP/IP is in. From my perspective (and I understand the file size issue) not having PBEM will be a big minus for me and unless the game is very compelling on a stand alone basis that includes a dramatically improved AI I probably will not buy it. First, I find that I really like the challenge of playing another human (or space lobster). I find the play is more challenging and the game experience more rewarding. Secondly, my life is not flexible enough to be able to sit down and play a even a small scenario by linking computers. CMx1 is really very time management friendly as I can download the latest turn, watch the turn for a minute or two (including replays), make a couple of order changes and send the file back. From start to finish it is really quick maybe just 5 minutes. Having to set asides hours at a time too potentially to play a scenario from start to finish (or even a couple of turns) is just not a luxury I have. Regards, v. Nev 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Ro Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 As I am one of the players that play the CM series via PBEM only,I sure would hate for PBEM option not to make it in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Folbec Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Originally posted by Josh Coady: Very generally speaking, and this depends on how it is being coded, all that needs to be passed around are the actions taken (give unit X command Y), the variable changes (e.g. new wind direction), and the seeds for the random numbers. Then the rest of the calculations should come out the same even if run independently on the other player's machine. [/QB]It was what they believed, but even before CMx1, they were proved wrong during beta test. The game is for Mac and PC (different floating point libraries, a rounding error in floating point means a live or dead tank ) and even between various PCs the results where not the same (maybe this was at the time of the various Pentium floating point bugs). So each CMx1 movie file includes all the computations which are done on only one computer. I guess it will be the same for CMSF, or they would not worry about file size. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Coady Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Originally posted by Folbec: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Josh Coady: Very generally speaking, and this depends on how it is being coded, all that needs to be passed around are the actions taken (give unit X command Y), the variable changes (e.g. new wind direction), and the seeds for the random numbers. Then the rest of the calculations should come out the same even if run independently on the other player's machine. It was what they believed, but even before CMx1, they were proved wrong during beta test. The game is for Mac and PC (different floating point libraries, a rounding error in floating point means a live or dead tank ) and even between various PCs the results where not the same (maybe this was at the time of the various Pentium floating point bugs). So each CMx1 movie file includes all the computations which are done on only one computer. I guess it will be the same for CMSF, or they would not worry about file size. [/QB]</font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucero1148 Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Sure hope pbem makes it into cmsf as well for the same reasons. Hopefully file sizes won't be too large as well. Patrick 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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