PBEM and updates?

[Boris Balaban]

How does the game handle PBEM and updates?

Does the game not procced untill all players have updated and does the game inform players game is halted until you update?

[Brit]

How does the game handle PBEM and updates?

Does the game not procced untill all players have updated and does the game inform players game is halted until you update?

It's important to keep all players on the same version of the application. The reason for this is because sometimes I alter or add game-events. (Game events are things in the game, like messages between players, or information about a unit's location at a particular time.)

There can be problems if: player 1 updates to a new version, handles his turn (creating new game events), and then shuts down. Then, player 2 opens his game (without updating first) and he downloads and processes the game events. Player 2's application might not understand the new events written by Player 1.

This situation is okay: player 1 *doesn't* update, handles his turn, and then shuts down. Then player 2 updates, opens his game, downloads and processes the game events. The reason this situation is okay is because new versions of the game understand how to process old events. (Although, in this situation, Player 2 is running a newer version, so any events that he sends back to Player 1 could cause problems.)

One of the things I'm going to add to the PBEM system is that the game will force players to update if any game events were written by a newer version of the game. So, if player 1 is running version 1.01.9000 and he creates some game events, and then player 2 comes along using version 1.01.8000, and tries to process those events, his game will immediately stop and tell him to upgrade before continuing the game.

Not all updates include changes to the game-events, by the way. However, the latest update does include new game-events, so players should update before playing their game.

[Boris Balaban]

Thanks Brit for the quick reply.