PBEM game creates .dat file

[marc420]

To: <support@ssg.com.au>
Subject: ?subject=SSG%20Website%20Question -- BIN PBEM and a .dat file
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 18:59:12 -0600


Hi there,

I'm trying to play the opening turn, as Germans, of my game in the =
Overlord touney Run5 is sponsering. So I'm in a secure PBEM game, and I =
didn't start the game.

When I played the German turn and pressed Save and Exit, what I got in =
my SEND file was a 178 kb .dat file. No .dbn file.

I installed this on my big hard drive on a network computer. Plus I =
didn't catch during install that the silly "Matrix Games" folder was =
going to get stuck in there. So my path to the .dat file is. =20

\\Marcfast\programs\Games\Battle\Matrix<file://Marcfast/programs/Games/Ba=
ttle/Matrix> Games\Battles In Normandy\SaveEmail\Send

Does that tell you enough to know what the problem is?

And if the problem is that path and I need to uninstall, what can I do =
about this secure email game. Any way to continue from where I am? And =
anything I need to be careful about during reinstall to make sure that =
having the open secure game doesn't mess anything up?

Thanks,
Marc

[alexs]

Hi Marc,
I suspect the path is a little long - we have found a bug where the path cannot be too long. Try installing to the default path the game chooses. I dont think this will upset any secure games you have, although if it does, i will work with you to make sure you can play the secure game.

AlexS

[marc420]

OK, I'll try.

I really wish you guys would fix this.

First off, I almost never install anything in the default path. To me its always seemed silly to litter my hard drive with folders like "Matrix Games". You can probably see from the path that I'd much rather have games in a "Games" folder. Sorry my logic interferes with trying to advertise the publisher.

Second, I've got two computers at home in a network. The laptop, which since its mobile, is usually the computer I'm using around the house. But it has a small hard drive. Meanwhile, the desktop computer on the network has a 200 gb hard drive on it. So I'd much prefer to store the programs over on that drive and run them across the network.

So I can try to do the reinstall into the default path, but that's not going to be as easy as it sounds. I'll have to do some cleanup work on the laptops hard drive to even get the room to put it on there. Nice, like I needed another chore for the weekend.

Come on guys. Windows went to long file and folder names back when ...Win95, Win98? Try to catch up. Any folder or file name can be 255 char, so an 80 char buffer seems a wee bit on the small side?

I take it the moves that led to me creating the .dat file were just a waste of time?

[Bertram]

You might run in problems with the secure games with that setup. Not sure, but you might want to try it out before using it on the tournament game.

The secure games both add a scrambled number to the registry on the computer you played it on, and note some characteristics of the machine you played it on somewhere. So you can't play one turn on one machine, and the next on an other.

Not sure how that works out with your setup.

Bertram

[marc420]

Do you guys ever check the Support@ssg email address?

If so, you'll find the following ...

Hello SSG Support,

Well, the next problem is that somehow this stopped being an email game. When I finished moving my German units and pressed the red button, I got the regular game-vs-AI screen asking me if I wanted to Start Turn #3. I pressed Resume instead, and back in the game I notice that th Save Game icon is there.

Any ideas?

Just as a reference, I'm the guy who had the problem last weekend with the game installed across a network path. So I cleaned off some room on my hard drive, uninstalled the game from the network path, and reinstalled it into that Matrix Games folder. I also copied over the SaveEmail folder. As I write this, I get the feeling that's where I screwed up.

Anyways, same basic questions as last weekend. I've just left the game running in the background. Is there anyway I can save the turn I just played and recover it as my turn in the email game? Or what should I do to play Turn 2 of this tourney. (The Run5 Overlord tourney that is)

Thanks,
Marc

[marc420]

OK, so far its been about a week, and no reply to my email to support nor any reply here.

Is there some other way I'm supposed to contact support about this?

[alexs]

Marc,

We are looking into this problem. There have been some reports of similar things going on with the PBEM system, so we are hoping to spend a day in the next week to sit down and determine what the issue is. As soon as we determine what the problem is, i will make a post here with some more details.

Regards
AlexS

[marc420]

OK, thanks. Just some sort of reply so I knew you knew about this was all I needed.

Let me know if I can get you anything to help find the problem.