Email from SE 4 when new turns are ready?

Dethgod74 · #1 May 2nd, 2007, 07:01 PM

Hi folks,

Does anyone know if SE 4 can send an email to each player letting them know when new turn files are ready? I noticed when I was building a empire there is a spot for an email address.

If SE 4 can't do it on it's own, is there an add on or something along those lines that will facilitate such a need?

Thanks in advance folks!

Ragnarok · #2 May 2nd, 2007, 07:08 PM

The best way is to use <a href="seiv.pbw.cc" target="_blank">PBW.</a>

Everything is automated.

It will even send the turn files to the player instead of simply notifying them.

Dethgod74 · #3 May 2nd, 2007, 07:10 PM

Hi Ragnarok,

I've been curious about that. We're running our own server, is the PBW a program we can buy?

If not, maybe we can get someone to write some thing like this for us. We'd still like to run our games on our own server.

Thanks for your time!

Ragnarok · #4 May 2nd, 2007, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Dethgod74 said:
Hi Ragnarok,

I've been curious about that. We're running our own server, is the PBW a program we can buy?

If not, maybe we can get someone to write some thing like this for us. We'd still like to run our games on our own server.

Thanks for your time!

PBW is completely free. SE fans own the server and run the site for free (unless you want to donate to support to cause) for our benefit. All you need to do is sign up at the site and follow the instructions.

The code is not for sale, AFAIK. Ruatha, a fan that posted here for a long time, made an emergency backup script for if PBW ever went down. Someone around here probably has that available. It did the job but not nearly as efficient as PBW does.

Just out of curiosity...why do you want to continue running your own server if a free service is available?

Fyron · #5 May 2nd, 2007, 08:47 PM

With just a little bit of effort learning python or PHP, you could whip up a serviceable PBW-alternative in short order...

se5a · #6 May 3rd, 2007, 02:50 AM

I've got a Play By FTP script (python) for SEV which could possibly be addapted reasonibly easly for SEIV...
I'm not interested in adapting it myself, but if you want to have a shot at it yourself, then I could upload the latest version to spaceempires5.com.

capnq · #7 May 3rd, 2007, 01:40 PM

AFAIK, SEIV doesn't actually do anything with that e-mail field.

Even if you have PBW set to send you turns, I recommend visiting the site occaisionally to check for new turns. e-mail isn't nearly as reliable as most people assume it is. I've been having to download my turns manually a lot lately, because the turn e-mails have been delayed on their way to me, if they show up at all.

One reason for running your own server is to be able to quickly fix problems. If the PBW server goes down while Geo is at work, he can't restart it until he gets home. Another reason is if you're using a mod that's still under development and frequently changing; it can take us a while to install updated mods on the server.

capnq
PBW admin

Dethgod74 · #8 May 3rd, 2007, 02:00 PM

Hi Ragnarok,

To answer your curiosity question, I have a number of answers, in no particular order of importance.

1) I've always wanted to own and run my own gameservers. I've got the boxes lying around, doing nothing, so I decided to put one to work. I've also got the UPLOAD bandwidth that I need to do other gameservers, like 2142 or MechWarrior 4.

2) I've wanted to do my own gameserver so I could play RTS, FPS and TB games with my sons, who live in Virginia

3) Networking PCs and running servers has always fascinated me. I've been doing it since 1996 using Windows 95. My job as the lead analyst at Cameron's Helpdesk has us supporting over 10,000 users. I'd like to move into a different, more challenging field, like our LAN or WAN group, and I figured creating my own server and managing it can't hurt me training wise.

4) If something goes wrong, one of us in our gaming group (Eat Flaming Death Gaming Club, est. 1984) can fix the problem pretty quick, minimizing down time. We won't have to depend on someone else to get our game up and going again.

I hope this answers your question.

I'll give PBW a look for the group's sake. It could be they might want to go that route if PBW allows users to create private games.

Thanks again for your time Ragnarok

Fyron · #9 May 3rd, 2007, 04:19 PM

All players have to be approved by the host to join a game. If you label the game as private, most people will respect your desires. You can also manually add players to a game. Thus, if you have a list of the players that you want to play with, you can simply add them after you create the game, then close it to new signups. I don't think there is a way to hide the game info page, but news and forums and such are hidden from the public by default. You can also set PBW to only display your email address to people in the same game as you, for additional privacy.

If you are interested in learning about LAN/WAN server maintenance and setup, there is no better way than to learn how to develop server applications for yourself.