RANT

[Gandalf Parker]

This is just me venting my frustration. In the last 2 days I have learned more about dom3 command line, pbem management, running mods, and xwindows than I ever wanted to.

some stray notes Ive taken in case it helps someone on a search in the future.

To create an ALL_Nations.dm (putting all nations into one era) requires that you rename most of them in order to allow players to select them.

The newlord/xxxxxxxx.2h file cannot be transferred directly. Transferring thru the tcp/ip connection renames the file from mid_man_0.2h to mid_man.2h (removes the number designating multiple gods created for that nation)
thats important for PbEM games I think

the player does need to have the ALL_Nations.dm in their dm directory. It doesnt have to be enabled, and does not have to be the full mod

the simplest line for forcing a hosting with no connections seems to be
dom3 -T --host gamename
also useful for PbEM management

stats file and scoredump can be turned on in midgame. master password can not

so far, --enablemod does not seem to work with mods that affect who can or cant join at the beginning of a game.

If I create 3 "games"
Holder1 --era 1 --noclientstart --port 7771
Holder2 --era 2 --noclientstart --port 7772
Holder3 --era 3 --noclientstart --port 7773
then I can let people upload their gods using the appropriate port for early, mid, or late era. But it wont allow using formoria, early machaka, slot 79, etc. Then I can gather all the .2h files into one ALL_Nations directory to start a game PbEM style. However, since --enablemod wont recognize the All_Nations.dm then all you get is era 1 pretenders added to the game.

A game created on windows with the GUI menu, using the ALL_Nations.dm will allow you to join with all 76 nations. Once its created on a windows machine it can be transfered to a linux machine for hosting.

A game created on Linux with the GUI menu might allow all 76 nations. Unfortunetly I knocked out xwindows a long time ago so now I have to figure out how to run it from a user prompt.

The old "broken" way of creating a pbem could be used. Copy all of the files to the newlords directory and then manually "join" the game as each user in order to generate the game. That would mean running 3 connector games, gathering the god files, transfering them all to my windows machine and overwriting all of MY god files (yeah I know, back them up first), turning on the mod, creating a game, "joining" as each player, generating the fatherland file, transfering everything back to the linux server and setting up the game to operate normally from that point on. If I DO end up having to do that then dont expect a lot of these mega games.

Obviously.. anyone who hosts games in a non-text mode whether its linux, mac, or windows will not have most of these problems. However, running a game with 76 nations on a map large enough to hold them all (1000 provinces? 1500 provinces) might be hard to do in a graphical environment.

Gandalf Parker
--
Nothing is impossible. Its a computer. Impossible is just a short way of saying "I could get it to work but it wouldnt be worth all the time and effort it would take."

[Gandalf Parker]

Well there was the waste of a day.
Same problem I had doing my part of the beta-testing. Everytime I figured out part of an answer, I ended up playing the answer instead of moving on.

Well, games of 76 nations on a huge map are definetly different. And fun.

[Ballbarian]

Glad to hear that you are at least making progress Gandalf.

It is rewarding (and frustrating) to work on a project, but sometimes the testing phase turns into play time. Then nothing else seems to get done.