PBEM 8: E-mail & Technical Issues

[Shoot the Moon]

I messaged Ruff about the PBEM tracker, and here is what he said:

everyone needs to register. After that, setting up a game is pretty straight forward. The tracker is pretty tolerant but it does expect things done in a certain order (which I have now forgotten ).

It is something like ....

register
set up game (person setting up game has to watch player names)
people join game
start game

It can take a few rounds for the tracker to 'notice' that a game is going on. Just keep uploading the saves (and emailing them manually) until it catches up.

I've set up the game. It is called "RB PBEM 8" and the password to join is "rbciv". So once you join the site, you should just be able to search for the game under "join game". Once joined, you can edit some info, including turn order (I can't do it yet, as since I am the only one joined it only gives me the option of being first in the turn order at this point, which obviously doesn't work. It looks like we will have to set turn order in order, if that makes sense.) I'll update the game settings description once I get the save and can see the map settings and such.

[meatbalz]

can i just ask, did we decide on a difficulty level, barb activity, world wrap etc or did we leave everything to the mapmaker's discretion?

edit: thanks shoot, i've signed up and joined

[WarriorKnight]

can i just ask, did we decide on a difficulty level, barb activity, world wrap etc or did we leave everything to the mapmaker's discretion?

We left it to map maker's discretion. You'll find out when you play your turn.

EDIT: I've also joined the tracker, although I can't do anything yet. I guess Shoot will have to sort that out.

[SilentConfusion]

can i just ask, did we decide on a difficulty level, barb activity, world wrap etc or did we leave everything to the mapmaker's discretion?

edit: thanks shoot, i've signed up and joined

We left that in the hands of the mapmaker. We will find out soon enough. I guess those who have played already have already figured out the answer at least to difficulty and barb level.

I also registered previously and I just now joined the game. I think Shoot the Moon will have to do the adjusting, like turn order and leaders, etc. as I didn't see any options to change anything.

[Cjreynol]

Ugh, hate to put a damper on the start here but it seems I'm having some problem with the save.

I start it and a screen flashes with a window for a split second, then Civ just ends. I am playing on a Mac and have read about problems with PBEM games between the systems but never had a problem in the couple I have started (that sadly fizzled out.) Not sure exactly what does it but maybe something about setting an admin password? Don't remember the specific thread, possibly still in the Mac forums at Civfanatics

I have to go to bed for an early morning, I am so sorry for holding the game up. I'll try to get back on here and check and see what is going on if I wake up in the middle of the night

[Shoot the Moon]

I've updated the PBEM tracker for all who have joined. I can't assign Silent's turn order yet, but once Cjreynol joins I'll finish that off. I'll wait to do all the settings and in-game names until I get the save.

Don't worry at all about holding it up. I would have been very surprised if there wasn't something that popped up.

[WarriorKnight]

I start it and a screen flashes with a window for a split second, then Civ just ends. I am playing on a Mac and have read about problems with PBEM games between the systems but never had a problem in the couple I have started (that sadly fizzled out.) Not sure exactly what does it but maybe something about setting an admin password? Don't remember the specific thread, possibly still in the Mac forums at Civfanatics

The same thing was mentioned in PBEM 7 Email Thread:

As a side note, I found this at CFC:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=341652

It seems using a Mac won't work with PC PBEM if there is a password. I don't have extensive MP experience but I assume a PW is normal to prevent cheating. If someone else can review the thread and let me know if I misunderstood that'd be great.

I tried to get permission to bring a work PC laptop with me and I can get the PC but I'm not allowed to install anything. Sunrise suggested using BootCamp on the Mac to install Windows, which I would be down for doing except that I don't have a spare copy of WindowsXP lying around and very little chance of finding one before I leave Saturday.

I'm gonna keep working on this! I'll be super bummed if the Mac thing doesn't work out (at least I found out before I spent money on it!).

Did your previous games have a password? If not, then that might explain it.

[SilentConfusion]

The same thing was mentioned in PBEM 7 Email Thread:

[snip] ... [/snip]

Did your previous games have a password? If not, then that might explain it.

Thanks for catching that WarriorKnight.

I read that thread and they did say that they found that the admin password might be the problem. But then Aspyr also said the following:

Hello,

Thank you for your patience.

It appears that there are conflict problems with the patch and the Play by Email. We are looking into this issue and hopefully will have a work around for you soon.

Again, thank you for your patience.

Unfortunately there were no further posts in that thread to let us know what happened in that situation. Are there still conflict problems with the patch and have solutions been discovered.

How would not having an Admin password affect the game? If it's a matter of trusting my fellow players not to cheat, I can easily do that, but I don't know what the issues would be with not having an Admin password.

[Shoot the Moon]

How would not having an Admin password affect the game? If it's a matter of trusting my fellow players not to cheat, I can easily do that, but I don't know what the issues would be with not having an Admin password.

I don't know that much about PBEM, but I do believe the admin password could be used to reset one of our passwords if one of us goes AWOL. Of course, that could be taken care of otherwise if we all message our passwords to another community member (the same community member assumedly). There may be other reasons for an admin password (any MP vet want to chime in here) that I don't know of though.

[Tatan]

We reached a decision regarding the password yet? Should I start the game again with no admin password and email it to WarriorKnight?