PBEM system needs to be updated!

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PzB74
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PBEM system needs to be updated!

Post by PzB74 »

The current pbem system in UV makes me a little frustrated!
The combat save is common for all save games, and easily overwritten.

When I receive 3-4 pbem turns a day, I have to put in one combat save at the time.
I can't load the game up and play more than 1 turn as the Jap player either, as that would force me to overwrite the combat file :mad:

Each savegame file should contain its own combat save file!

Why can't it be done as in SPWaW?
There each turn got the current turn number, and you don't have to rename each file and then delete the old one to load up the new one with T13 instead of T12 :(

It's the same story with the combat.txt file.

What I suggest is that the combat.txt file with turn number optionally can be auto saved under a genereated directory.

I've played ultiple games pbem and never been bungled with something like this before :o

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot...ok ok, but THiS you can do better!!
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Post by XPav »

Hi, my name is PzB, the save system is my pet peeve!
Hi PzB!. Welcome to Save Systems Anonymous!
I love it when a plan comes together.
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Veldor
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Post by Veldor »

Wouldn't you want to email your moves & combat results right away anyway? I mean if your playing 3-4 games and each one takes you an hour, or even half an hour... Then your opponent would have to wait 4 times as long to make his moves if you waited until you were all finished. And if you send them right away you don't need the combat save anymore.
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Post by bilbow »

I wuldn't want to save all these files, so the present system where the current turn overwrites the previous is fine. When a turn is complete, I e-mail it to my opponent, then save the next turn from whatever game from my e-mail to the UV directory then proceed. It is handy sometimes having the previous turn available , but they are always in my e-mail "sent" listing. I don't see any reason to duplicate this.
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Post by PzB74 »

When you want to play the turns asap, its would definetly be handy to play them without restarting the game 4 times.

It also takes a lot of time to start and exit UV. One thing is all the adds :rolleyes: - another thing is that my system doesn't find UV easy to exit from. The entire desktop has to be rebuilt and it rumbles for over a minute without allowing me to do anything.

Don't know how many times I've also forgotten to save the combat.txt file for an AAR....gonners.

When I heard that I had forgotten to send my opponent the combat.sav file yesterday, it had already been overwritten, so I had to find the old turn he sent me and open it so the combat.sav could be re-created.

Just being limited to such limited options isn't very user friendly!!
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Veldor
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alt-tab

Post by Veldor »

Press alt-tab to switch to your email program, email it and then alt-tab back into the game... I never exit UV, its running all the time..

Of course a faster computer always helps.. but even if its slower I imagine alt-tab is still gonna be a lot quicker then exiting and reloading...
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Post by PzB74 »

I have done some Alt Tab'ing....
My puter doesn't like UV very much, and the game gets very unstable if I do that. Has crashed once, so it's not something I do very often.

I don't have a top of the line puter, but a PIII500 with GeForce2GT 32mb and 512mb RAM should be plenty to run UV without problems.

As I said, the current system puts demands on the user and not vice versa as it should be ;)
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Veldor
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Post by Veldor »

Well I don't disagree. I imagine there is only one combat save to make it easier to select and rewatch then if you had to see double as many entries when you went to call up a saved game. I guess its really a matter of how you play UV more often, against the AI or PBEM.. If I were an AI player I would hate having to see all that stuff along with the saves... As a PBEM player it would be great.
Personally Im thinking UV is VERY stable as its never crashed on my system once.. Nor has anygame really.. Thats the beauty of Windows XP on a custom built pc with all updated XP drivers... The OS is stable, these days most games are... Its the drivers that always screw you...
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Post by PzB74 »

Personally Im thinking UV is VERY stable as its never crashed on my system once.. Nor has anygame really.. Thats the beauty of Windows XP on a custom built pc with all updated XP drivers... The OS is stable, these days most games are... Its the drivers that always screw you... [/B]


To presume and forego conclusions isn't very expansive..:p
As to your saying XP is stable :eek:
....I just have to past in a little rhyme!!

"Money for Microsoft" by Dire Warnings
Sung by Steve Ballmer, backing by Bill Gates

You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP

You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP

You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP

You must buy ...
You must buy Win-XP

Now look at them bozo's that's the way you do it
You lock them always on the Win-XP
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Money for Microsoft from Dot Net usage fees
Now that ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Lemme tell ya them guys are dumb
Maybe get a licence on your little desktop
Maybe get a licence on everyone

They gotta install Microsoft Office
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees

Look at that, look at that

See the little Win-Troll who is spreading spin we makeup
Yeah buddy thats our own fear
That little Win-Troll got them always complain'
That little Win-Troll makes us billionares

They gotta install Microsoft Office
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees

They shoulda learned to use the Linux
They shoulda learned to use them Macs
Look at that user, we got it stickin' to the customer
Man we could have some fun
And their down there, whats that? Protesting noises?
Plannin' on me dancing like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Get the money for Microsoft get our usage fee

They gotta install Microsoft Office
Passport Dot-Net deliveries
They gotta take these applications
They gotta take these subscription fees

That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
You lock them always on the Win-XP
That ain't workin' thats the way we do it
Money for Microsoft from the license fee
Money for Microsoft from subscription fee

:D
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Veldor
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Post by Veldor »

Not even Microsoft can force you to run Windows XP. You can stay with Windows 9x if you want, but nearly anyone who has tinkered with 2000/XP at all will tell you its 10 times more stable at least. And if you don't like Microsoft, run Linux... But there again, now that its finally getting all the features MS stuff has...people are beginning to realize with all that added complexity and overhead...its no more stable, and not any faster... Except that there is no company supporting it... And very few even putting out software for it.
So Windows XP is 100 bucks, so what.. If a game can be 50 or 80 why can't an OS that you run absolutely everything else on be 100?
How bout all those great API's???? People write software for Microsoft products because its so **** easy too... That's as supportive to the computing community as it gets... Whats the point in open source if it never gets used for anything?


.This post paid for by The Microsoft Corporation.
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Post by PzB74 »

This wasn't really a thread on the (un)stability of XP....)
That is an entirely other debate and would depend on what you compared it with.

This puter will soon be promoted to run Linux while a new state of the art piece will have to start at the bottom and work its way up ;)

Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows XP on my PC.

I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows XP CD. To my surprise he threw it into my microwave oven and turned it on. Instantly I got very upset, because the CD had become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.' After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold to hold and it seemed to be heavier than before.

At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, an inscription finer than anything I had ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:

12413AEB2ED4FA5E6F7D78E78BEDE820945092OF923A40EElOE5AOCC98D444AA08EA324

'I cannot understand the fiery letters,' I said in a timid voice.

'No but I can,' he said. 'The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:

"One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them, One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"

It is only two lines from a verse long known in System-lore:

"Three OS's from corporate-kings in their towers of glass,

Seven from valley-lords where orchards used to grow,

Nine from dotcoms doomed to die,

One from the Dark Lord Gates on his dark throne

In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.

One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them, One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie."
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Veldor
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Post by Veldor »

Okay, not the Windows XP forum.. And I realize it's fun to make fun of Microsoft...

But I like to compare them to a company like Matrix (Who will grow to be the best at what they do)..

Microsoft has nearly always had the most popular PC operating system. Cuz it was better. Maybe not better in all ways.. But better in the ways that mattered ultimately.

They didn't steal "right-clicking" from the MAC world, in fact context-sensitive menues have probably revolutionised the ease of use in the industry more than any other feature...

Microsoft was a victim of its own success. So easy to use were the products, that unqualified people began installing servers and operating systems everywhere... Which other products (like Unix, AS/400's, Novell, etc.) no one would ever think of such a thing... Consequentely lots of the systems were highly unstable... Novell as a server O/S didn't tank because of Microsoft's superior marketing... It died because its hard as $%# hell to make a program that runs on Novell... Microsoft's API's are so good, 75% of the programming is already done for you.. Thus MS-SQL ended up even in the most anti-ms environments and ultimately its easier to support one platform than two.. So out with Novell.. In with MS...

No different with home-based O/S products..

I know you could care less about any of this. But if your going to pick on someone, you should know about them.. Not just do it because they are bigger and richer...

Bill Gates & Microsoft have done more for computing than anyone or any company, regardless of their methods or motives...
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Post by PzB74 »

I do know a bit about programming and puters, got a degree in information science, so I'm not speaking beyond my insight.

It got it's bright sides, but it's sad that they've eaten the market and can have a monopoly. There are better solutions for a lot of things, but as long as there's not a revolution, they're not going to get a shot at it.

As for original question: (One more comment about XP and someone going to kill this thread: )

I wish that the pbem system in UV gets improved as it havn't reached its ultimate level yet, and this game is going to be played pbem for a long long time to come : )

Hopefully War in the Pacific will also get a better system....if it could be made TCP/IP as well.... :)
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Post by Caltone »

Sorry to butt into your thread :D but can you expand on what's happening when you alt-tab? If you've browsed around these forums much, then you probably know that UV is one of the most "alt-tabable" pieces of software around, to coin a phrase.

While I understand your concern, I find the pbem here a breeze, able to alt-tab between my mail program and the game with ease. I also play many pbem's and during weeknights, I have turns comming and going. Its nice to be able to flip back to email when done, grab a new turn, heck even browse the net.

Just wondering if the game crash when you switch out is limited to UV or happens with other apps. Maybe we can troubleshoot it some.
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PzB74
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Post by PzB74 »

Well, the graphics gets all tainted, looks like a load picture from the Commodore 64 : } ...then it comes back to normal.
Once it locked up as well.

The puter also have a tendency to work overtime, rebuilding the desktop. Just like it has spent all its memory on UV and has to dump it.

Usually I run the puter around the clock, but I prefer to reboot between many UV turns, as it gets laggy.

I got the latest service pack and updates from MS, gfx card got the latest driver and the BIOS is updated and flashed.
Got a recent installation of XP with a new 120GB disk that I'm defraging each week.

So it really beats me, not experiencing problems with other progs or apps. (Not more than the usual regual screw up that is ,)

I'm running in 1280*1024 res, so maybe the switch between this and 1024*768 that UV runs in messes things up!?
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OH

Post by Veldor »

Oops, now that you put it that way. I do have the same problem with UV... Just that I found it never happens if I exit to the main menu first so thats what I tend to do... In game is second best, the worst seems to be the savegame screen.. but if its all garbled you can still click the exit button (if you know about where it should be) and the game redraws...

Found a way around it long ago so forgot about it (Exiting to main menu).. seems to work for me... pretty much have to do that anyway to load up the next saved game...

I do remember having the game "lock-up" seemingly but I think its only cuz I couldnt find that exit button...

I'm not sure how TCP/IP would help.. Would you really want to wait while your oppenent enters his/her turn?

You could enable the game to use a standard mapi client (such as outlook) to send email.. so you could send email in game... This is often done with business applications but I must admit I personally have never seen it in a game before.. but then again most games wouldnt have a need for it...
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Post by Fred98 »

I am playing 2 games by PBEM concurrently.

In one game I am playing as the Japanese and in the other I am playing as the allies.

Playing as the allied player, my opponent sends me 2 files.

What it means is that I have the option to watch the replay or to not watch the replay.

However when I play the Japanese, I am forced to watch the replay whether I want to or not.

My view is that the best approach is that used in TAO2 – soon to be superseded by Korsun Pocket.

In those games you open the save game file and there is an icon on the toolbar. If you click the icon the replay runs. Which means:

- The replay forms a part of the save game file – there is only one file to mail
- You can choose to watch the replay or not watch the replay
- You can watch the replay as many times as you want
- The combat save file is never overwriten

This is the best system I have found.
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Veldor
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Space + Escape

Post by Veldor »

Alot of people don't know this, but if you press space you will go through the replay much faster, without delays... Pressing ESC goes lightning speed.. So you can keep hitting space to go fast, or press ESC a couple times to really fly!

Helps alot when having to "re-watch"...
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Post by XPav »

Originally posted by Joe 98
In those games you open the save game file and there is an icon on the toolbar. If you click the icon the replay runs. Which means:

- The replay forms a part of the save game file – there is only one file to mail
- You can choose to watch the replay or not watch the replay
- You can watch the replay as many times as you want
- The combat save file is never overwriten

This is the best system I have found.


And also, I bet each side has their own replay, rather than the dual-fogged-of-war replay like we have in UV.
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Post by PzB74 »

In SPWaW you got a VCR button, so you chose whether you want to see the replay or not.

I'm not sure why the Japs have to see the coastwatcher reports...they didn't get a copy :p

As I have to restart UV quite often to play new turns, I've done the following:

I.) Renamed the start file to uncommonvalor.exe, this skips the start menu...saves time.

II.) Moved the video files out of the uv/video dir. - saves even more time! (Thx Ken)

III.) Using a virtual cd manager, so I don't have to run UV with the cd inserted
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