[PB61 Tech Thread] New Pitboss - Greens (new player / newish)

[Tarkeel]

The map will be a modified standard sized pangea, with about 120ish tiles per player. I hope to have the starts published by thursday, they're undergoing final lurker approval now.

The pick order (when starts are published) is:

JackRB: ??? of ??? --- Up Now!
Rekenner: ??? of ??? --- On Deck!
Joshybravo963: ??? of ???
Vanrober: ??? of ???
BING_XI_LAO: ??? of ???
Bellarch: ??? of ???
JesseL: ??? of ???

[Ramkhamhaeng]

I believe I'm having issues, so I'll try the detailed instructions in a bit. (Using the Steam version, for reference). But this is how far I got:

Installed the mods, binary, and wrapper, and created the shortcut as in the instructions. This loaded fine. I then went to connect to the server. This also seemed to go fine. (During some later tinkering I discovered that the game gives me an error message during login if I'm not using the "original release - unsupported" beta, though this didn't seem to affect anything.) I selected a civ, hit okay, and went to load the game. The first sign of issues was when I got to the "finishing" screen, which appeared to hang on a black screen for a while. But it eventually sent me to the opening screen with the 'it is 4000 BC, blah blah blah'. I hit okay. I was then immediately hit with this screen:
[...]

Hello Bellarch,

thanks for this detailed error description. This is not a common issue and the logs on the server didn't show an error/a hint.

My suggestions would be:
1. Did you use WiFi? Civ4 is picky to small connection losses. If you use WiFi and it is possible to test it with a cable, please try this as first.
(Well, there is also a counter argument: If the connection loss is always at the same time during the login it is probably not an unstable connection. I wrote this mainly because this is a common problem.)

2. Maybe the connection to the server is dropped by your router or ISP?!

How are you connected to the internet?
Did you already setup a port forwarding rule in your router. Probably not, because nobody has told you

For Civ4 Pitboss MP only one rule is required: UDP packets on port 2056 and above. Are you old enough to know these ancient technique of port forwarding?!

The setup depends on your router. Example:



3. Check out if the error is related to the wrapper binary (I do not think so).
by starting the game with a shortcut to the other binary: "[…]\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword2015.exe" mod="CloseToHome_2.0.5"

[Ramkhamhaeng]

aha! Looking over the PB59 thread, should I do something like this?

Rename the CloseToHome folder to being just "CloseToHome_2.0"? Or is that not needed for this subversion of the mod / this PB server?

It has to be the same mod name as the servers uses to host the game. Normally the Zip archive is containing a directory with the correct name. Renaming is not required.
Here, you really needs to use 'CloseToHome_2.0.5'

It is common that each PB game in this site gets its own mod. This allows us to fix bugs in a game without affecting other players/games.

The mod name of the running game can be found on PBSpy, too:
   

[rekenner]

Aha. Well, worth a thought. Given that, while I get the error, I can play, I'm not too bothered? Although, I should go ahead and do the NAT Magic and see if that maybe helps (and/or heads off blocking issues at the pass).

re: Being old enough to remember port forwarding, I'll point you to the message from commodore in the site header. =P

[civac2]

There is always the issue with the <game installation folder>\Beyond the Sword\Mods vs \My Games\Beyond the Sword\MODS locations. The Mod has to be installed in the former location.

Edit: If you can play, it's not that. Do you use the Steam version?

[Ramkhamhaeng]

I reinstalled CtH 2.05 from the PBSPY link, but it still gives me Version Mismatch. And when I try to load into a player's turn it shows a message including the word "protected" before crashing.

Hello Bing Xi Lao,

could you please check the path you selected for installing the mod?

Assuming the game is installed in 'X:\games\Beyond the Sword' it has to be
'X:\games\Beyond the Sword\Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5'

Civ4 allows you to install mod on other path, too.
E.g. in 'C:\Users\{username\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Mods'
But this will produce an other checksum!
You will also got a wrong checksum if you place the mod into both folders.


Problematic are nested folders. Some unzipping programs are creating parent folders.
Wrong: Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5\CloseToHome_2.0.5\Assets\...
Correct: Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5\Assets\...

Edit: Thanks civac to helping out, too. If you're here, then I can go ahead and fix the RB59 issue

[rekenner]

There is always the issue with the <game installation folder>\Beyond the Sword\Mods vs \My Games\Beyond the Sword\MODS locations. The Mod has to be installed in the former location.

Edit: If you can play, it's not that. Do you use the Steam version?

My CtH mod is in the former location (specifically, in "G:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword\Beyond the Sword\Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5") and, yes, Steam version.

Edit: And it doesn't have the nesting issue that Ramk was talking about.

[BING_XI_LAO]

I reinstalled CtH 2.05 from the PBSPY link, but it still gives me Version Mismatch. And when I try to load into a player's turn it shows a message including the word "protected" before crashing.

Hello Bing Xi Lao,

could you please check the path you selected for installing the mod?

Assuming the game is installed in 'X:\games\Beyond the Sword' it has to be
'X:\games\Beyond the Sword\Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5'

Civ4 allows you to install mod on other path, too.
E.g. in 'C:\Users\{username\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Mods'
But this will produce an other checksum!
You will also got a wrong checksum if you place the mod into both folders.


Problematic are nested folders. Some unzipping programs are creating parent folders.
Wrong: Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5\CloseToHome_2.0.5\Assets\...
Correct: Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5\Assets\...

Edit: Thanks civac to helping out, too. If you're here, then I can go ahead and  fix the RB59 issue

I have it here:
C:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword\Beyond the Sword\Mods\CloseToHome_2.0.5
But I just noticed that at some point I'd created a duplicate of the mod, within the mod's folder. Probably when downloaded it from the second provided link, and then extracted it into the mod's folder instead of into the Downloads folder... you get the idea 
Thanks! 

Now that I've deleted the extra stuff I still get the first error message but can log into a turn. I logged in as Carthaginians and founded a city, is that ok? In a real game how do I make it upload my actions to the server, do I need to press save game or does it do it constantly and automatically.

[Mjmd]

This is purely a test game to make sure everyone can connect and we get all the tech issues out of the way before start of the game.

Everything you do is live! The only way to undo something is via server reload to auto saves that are generated when someone logs in or out. Usually these are only granted if it was a clear miss click or you accidentally hit E on y our mega stack sending it who knows where ect. Also obviously the later it gets the less likely reloading because you accidentally sent your worker the wrong direction via missclick. Again all idiot mistakes are final (don't I know it).

[Ramkhamhaeng]

[…] and then extracted it into the mod's folder instead of into the Downloads folder... you get the idea 
Thanks! 

Yeah, one of many variants to fall into the same trap. I could fill a whole list how someone accidental changed the checksum, but nobody would read this wall of text before installing a tiny mod

[…]how do I make it upload my actions to the server, do I need to press save game or does it do it constantly and automatically.

Like Mjmd said your actions will made on client & server parallel. This should be kept in mind during your moves! In dangerous situations I recommend not to move units during the first login, but made a screenshot and think about it offline.