PBEM Game screw up???

[MadSlob]

Hi ..I have been playing an email game over the last 3 days or so..Now on turn 20 i find that i cant access the file at all...I wonder if any admin could take a peek and maybe figure out what has gone wrong...Was a generated map..1946 soviet vs british forces plus american allies ( I'm glad that i wasnt a commander back then...judging by this game i have played ,Paris could well been renamed New Moscow or something
Ah i cant attach this file type..Is it ok to send to an admin privately???..cheers in advance...MD

[DRG]

MadSlob said:
Hi ..I have been playing an email game over the last 3 days or so..Now on turn 20 i find that i cant access the file at all...I wonder if any admin could take a peek and maybe figure out what has gone wrong...Was a generated map..1946 soviet vs british forces plus american allies ( I'm glad that i wasnt a commander back then...judging by this game i have played ,Paris could well been renamed New Moscow or something
Ah i cant attach this file type..Is it ok to send to an admin privately???..cheers in advance...MD

You can attach the file to the post if you zip it up first. Click on the "Browse" button after you press continue then find the zipped file you built ( this ZIP needs to contain the .CMT and the .DAT files ) and that attaches the file. Remember, the file may take awhile to upload

Send it along with the passwords you used and we might be able to sort out why but it's very iffy with PBEM. You may have just received a corrupted game turn

When you say you cannot access the file at all what message appears on the screen??

Don

[MadSlob]

Hi Don..Have attached a screenie of the message recieved..Took it to show my opponent before i tried to access it...Will zip the files and upload when i recieve my opponents password thanx for the quick response...best regards MD...great game btw congrats to all involved

[Pyros]

Hi,

Since I have experienced this kind of problem only in one Pbem (but on turn1).
I wish to ask you six questions:

a. Is your opponent using the same version as you are (he could use the full CD version or the patch version)?
b. Who is your opponent (I ask this to check if your opponent is a PT of the beta)
c. Has anyone of you made modifications to the OoB?
d. Has anyone of you reloaded or quitted and restarted (for any reason) during turn 19 (or 20?)?
e. Assuming that you are player1(or 2), if you send your zip file to your opponent can he play the turn?
f. How many installations of WinSPMBT have you got in your hard disc?

cheers,
Pyros

[MadSlob]

Here are the files Don including passwords...cheers MD

[Mobhack]

MadSlob said:
Hi Don..Have attached a screenie of the message recieved..Took it to show my opponent before i tried to access it...Will zip the files and upload when i recieve my opponents password thanx for the quick response...best regards MD...great game btw congrats to all involved

It thinks that player 1 has already played the turn. that is what the message says.

Are you player 1 or player 2?.

if you are player 2 - player 1 has probably sent you the wrong files. You should not be getting a player 1 message.

If you are player 1 - did you unzip the files that player 2 sent to the wrong folder perhaps, and so be trying to play your (already completed) last turn?.

Another possibility is that your opponent has exited via the "save and continue" button and NOT the "end turn" button, and has sent you the saved current turn he has yet to complete with the "end game" button.

Either way - you most likely have your turns out of synch somehow, and you will need to resolve which of you either sent the wrong files, or unzipped to the wrong folder, or (possibly) sent an unfinished in-progress turn to the other person.

Cheers
Andy

[Pyros]

Andy,

From my experience in a similar situation, the problematic zip file caused problems to both players (couldn't be opened by no one and the error message was the same for both players, but this particular game was between 2 different versions...

cheers,
Pyros

[MadSlob]

I was player 1 and files were sent unzipped...I'm sure that i sent the right files as i replace the old files with the new ones everytime...the files sent to me were smaller than what i had been seeing so maybe my opponent screwed up...NP...i was losing very very badly anyways...we thought we would highlight our problem in case there was a problem with the game...thanx for your time....best regards MD

[DRG]

MadSlob said:
I was player 1 and files were sent unzipped...I'm sure that i sent the right files as i replace the old files with the new ones everytime...the files sent to me were smaller than what i had been seeing so maybe my opponent screwed up...NP...i was losing very very badly anyways...we thought we would highlight our problem in case there was a problem with the game...thanx for your time....best regards MD

It *is* unusual for a PBEM to progress and the save files get smaller. Zipping up the files and saving the zips until the game is complete ( or at least three of four turns past where you are ) is the best way to handle file transfer

Don

[Double_Deuce]

MadSlob said:
I was player 1 and files were sent unzipped...

I have seen on occasion, in other PBeM games (Combat Mission and SPWAW) wierd things like this when sending the data files unzipped. It has been mentioned that some email programs scramble the files when they are recieved/downloaded. Unzipped files are alledgedly broken down into "data packets" by some email programs when travelling across the internet unless they are zipped. When they are received, the receiving email program attempts to put them back together correctly. Any little error in doing this could cause the file to be corrupted. No one has ever proven this to my knowledge but it seems the only real time this happens is when the files are sent unzipped.