[PB82 Tech Thread] 3-city elimination

[scooter]

If this is correct, to whom do I send the map? (I've posted the WBSave to the lurker thread so any lurker can do so.)

So here is the state of things and the current problem. Zulan is able to host, but he has not been able to figure out how to launch from a .wbsave. He has a linux setup, and that step has not been working for him. This was for awhile preventing us from launching at all. (Launching a PB with the mods we use takes a few steps more than a normal PB.)


After a bunch of trial and error, I was eventually able to figure it out on windows. Nobody else has been able to. As a result, for the last year, every PB launched here or elsewhere has been:


1) I take the .wbsave and launch a new pitboss on my windows machine locally.

2) I save the game immediately, in effect creating a T0 live PB save

3) I send the T0 save to Zulan who loads it as an existing PB rather than a new one.


It would be nice if someone other than me could get steps 1-2 down. Both for the same reasons it was bad to have Ramk as a single point of failure, but also because I'd prefer to not handle wbsaves for games I'm playing in if possible.


The challenge here is figuring it out is not super quick. I need to try to write it up, but part of the issue it there was so much trial and error that I don't totally remember how I got there. There's a lot of gotchas. It mostly involves grabbing this repo and following the steps very closely: https://github.com/civ4-mp/pbmod. But there were a few quirks along the way.


TL;DR we have two choices. Either way is fine with me.


1) Send me the wbsave and I create it for Zulan. This could be turned around reasonably quickly, though Zulan's availability to do the final step is tough to predict

2) Someone other than me volunteer to learn this process, and I'm happy to help. This would be ideal, but obviously could slow us down a few days. (Note: I may be able to speed along some steps from the above url by zipping up the local env I've gotten working?)

[Cornflakes]

I have no problem with you handling the save to get this started, and at this point it’s better than waiting for someone else to figure it out. I say go ahead with the setup and get this into Zulan’s queue.

I’ll give it a shot for redundancy myself when I have an opportunity. But that doesn’t help this particular game since I’m in it as well.

[scooter]

FWIW Ref did reach out to me regarding pitboss setup, and I sent him all I had and offered to help further in terms of getting Pitboss + mods running locally. He is going to take a stab at it, but does not have a modern windows machine right this second, so it's a bit TBD on if/when he's able to figure it out. I think he mostly uses linux which has a different script(s) for launching modded pitboss.

I also did message Zulan on discord to give him the heads-up that he'd be receiving a T0 save sometime soon and he affirmed that it should be fine, as long as the mod is named differently from base CtH.

I have no problem with you handling the save to get this started, and at this point it’s better than waiting for someone else to figure it out. I say go ahead with the setup and get this into Zulan’s queue.

It's fine with me to keep us from longer/indefinite delay, but also up to the other players involved.

[Commodore]

No, of course, you are fine to kick it off.

[Cornflakes]

@scooter, I attempted to follow the steps including copying the seed folder and renaming to PB1 and PB2, double checking the directory paths according to the instruction. When I double-click startPitboss.bat I get the CMD window with the prompt to press 1 or 2 for PB1 or PB2. But when I press either 1 or 2 the CMD window immediately closes. EDIT: I restored my backup copy of the startPitboss.bat file this morning, pasted in the directories again, and this time was able to get the script into an infinite loop of restarting, then quitting and restarting again. So that's progress at least!

[Cornflakes]

Figured it out! Two issues:
1) In editing the CivilizationIV.ini "PitbossSMTPLogin" parameter in each of the PB1 and PB2 folders, I missed the \PB1 at the end (had is as just ...\pbmod\PBs). After fixing this it was getting an error "Can't uncompress game data" popup. Reviewing the CMD printout it looked like a mod mismatch between the version of PBMod_v10 that was packaged in the Git repository, and the version of the example save file is was trying to load ...\PBs\PB1\saves\multi\Example_v10.CivBeyondSwordSave
2) On a whim I loaded up Civ4 with the PBMod_v10, created a hotseat > "scenario" game from a worldbuilder save, and saved immediately. Then copied the new save from the hotseat save folder under My Games, pasted and renamed it to ...\PBs\PB1\saves\multi\Example_v10.CivBeyondSwordSave

And it worked! The bat file started the Pitboss UI with all the players listed from the hotseat save. But I don't know how to connect as a player to test.

I don't see instructions for starting a Pitboss game from a worldbuilder save file, but it seemed to work when I started as hotseat > saved > loaded using the pitboss bat. If that is the case, then RefSteel could start the game as a Hotseat, save, and send the save file to Zulan to load.

[scooter]

No, of course, you are fine to kick it off.

Have messaged Ref, still do not actually possess the wbsave.

@scooter, I attempted to follow the steps including copying the seed folder and renaming to PB1 and PB2, double checking the directory paths according to the instruction. When I double-click startPitboss.bat I get the CMD window with the prompt to press 1 or 2 for PB1 or PB2. But when I press either 1 or 2 the CMD window immediately closes. EDIT: I restored my backup copy of the startPitboss.bat file this morning, pasted in the directories again, and this time was able to get the script into an infinite loop of restarting, then quitting and restarting again. So that's progress at least!

That part in the edit is progress! Did you edit the .bat file? Inside there are instructions for how to edit it. Primarily this is about 1) getting the directories to both Civ and the alt-root put in properly, and 2) getting the mod name in correctly as well. It sounds like one of these steps is not setup properly for you. If you're on discord, feel free to ping me next time you look at this.

[scooter]

Crosspost!

Figured it out! Two issues:
1) In editing the CivilizationIV.ini "PitbossSMTPLogin" parameter in each of the PB1 and PB2 folders, I missed the \PB1 at the end (had is as just ...\pbmod\PBs). After fixing this it was getting an error "Can't uncompress game data" popup. Reviewing the CMD printout it looked like a mod mismatch between the version of PBMod_v10 that was packaged in the Git repository, and the version of the example save file is was trying to load ...\PBs\PB1\saves\multi\Example_v10.CivBeyondSwordSave
2) On a whim I loaded up Civ4 with the PBMod_v10, created a hotseat > "scenario" game from a worldbuilder save, and saved immediately. Then copied the new save from the hotseat save folder under My Games, pasted and renamed it to ...\PBs\PB1\saves\multi\Example_v10.CivBeyondSwordSave

And it worked! The bat file started the Pitboss UI with all the players listed from the hotseat save. But I don't know how to connect as a player to test.

I don't see instructions for starting a Pitboss game from a worldbuilder save file, but it seemed to work when I started as hotseat > saved > loaded using the pitboss bat. If that is the case, then RefSteel could start the game as a Hotseat, save, and send the save file to Zulan to load.

Unfortunately, starting as hotseat will not work. You'll run into issues like missing turn timers and weird end-of-turn processing.


From the Pitboss UI you want something like:


1) Select proper mod (this should already be loaded via .bat script, but you do have to select it)

2) Direct IP

3) New Scenario

4) Name the game appropriately (RB82 or similar)

5) Leave password blank (this is the connect to game password)

6) Select appropriate wbsave

7) Choose all game settings


This part is not too hard. The main challenge is getting the actual application running with the proper mod preloaded

[Cornflakes]

Cross posted with more progress! See my post just above yours.

EDIT: I see your response. Out of time for today. I'll give this a shot next opportunity.

[scooter]

Ok I got the wbsave from Ref and passed on the t0 save to Zulan along with the mod. Will see when he's available to launch.