Starting mod-nation MP games in text-only mode

[llamabeast]

Bit of a technical question here.

I've been working for a while on my automated PBEM system, which is called the LlamaServer. It's running fine, and has a few games going at the moment. It has the capacity to host far more though (at least 10s I should think, maybe more), and so I want to automate as much of the process of creating and running games as possible.

With a considerable amount of help from Gandalf, I was able to get it to automatically start games once all the pretender files have been received. It goes like this:
- Put all the pretender files in the game directory
- In text mode, tell it to start hosting a new game with that name. It'll then sit there waiting for people to connect and upload pretenders. Given a timeout of zero seconds, it'll immediately give up, then notice a load of pretenders are already in the correct directory, and use them.
- It'll then sit waiting for people to play their turns. Being as this is a PBEM game that isn't what we want, so just kill the process. But the game has now been successfully started.

This all works brilliantly. Thanks Gandalf!

The problem I've now run into is with mod nations. I'm a huge fan of some of the mod nations, particularly Sombre's Ulm Reborn and Vaettiheim SE. So I'd very much like players to be able to choose those nations in my games. The problem is that the above procedure doesn't work for mod nations - the pretender files just don't get noticed.

Doing tests in graphical mode, I've found the following:
- If you go straight to "Setup a dominions server", the mod nations aren't in the list.
- If you first click "Create a new game", then immediately hit Cancel, then do "Setup a dominions server", the mod nations will now be in the list.

So it seems that "Create a new game" makes dominions look at the mods and realise that there are extra nations to include.

So my question is, how can I mimic this in text-only mode? Is there any way of making dominions accept pretenders for mod nations without using the graphical interface?

If anyone has any thoughts they'll be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long and technical post! It'll be really good if I can get this working.

[llamabeast]

Anyone? Gandalf?

[Gandalf Parker]

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is that it is possible to run multiplayer games using mods such as added nation mods. The bad news is that it is not possible (as far as Ive been able to do) to do it by automated script or text mode. There is an --enablemod switch which will turn a mod on but the mod doesnt get checked in that mode until the game-creation stage.

From the tests that I have done I think you can probably use enablemod with the banners mod, the heroes mod, the balance mod, and various mods that turn off spells or equipment that people dont like. It seems to only be nations that are a problem.

The work around is an extensive setup by the game host. A combination of PbEM (the players send you their gods), hotseat game creation (you make the game and "join" as each player), and then shifting it to TCP/IP. Its the best we have come up with so far and seems to be working in the mega-game Perpetuality altho I wouldnt want to do that very often.

Check out this thread...
Single Age mod

edit: I should mention that it has been reported to Johan over in the beta-test group.

[llamabeast]

Oh, well it's good it's been reported to Johan at least. Did he make any response at all? I guess everyone has their pet issue which seems like *the* most important to fix - I think this will be mine!

[Gandalf Parker]

I got the impression that it was very much NOT an easy thing to fix. Basically, I wouldnt wait for it.

Id like to see the PbEM setup made abit easier. For a PbEM game it certainly has a difficult PbEM game setup.

[llamabeast]

Aha, now Gandalf, I think I have an improved method for you (having just read the above linked post)!

You don't need to manually join the game with each pretender (that must have been a nightmare!). Instead:

- Put all the pretenders in the game directory.
- Having enabled the appropriate mods, click "Create a New Game", then immediately cancel. This seems to make Dominions read the mods. This was a lucky discovery!
- Start a network game as usual, obviously using the correct game name. The mod nations will be listed and the appropriate pretenders will already be joined!

So, I would imagine that it would not be that hard for Johan to fix (although of course I know nothing about how the code works) - all that needs to be added is that when hosting a new game the game first automatically does whatever it does when you click "Create a new game" and then immediately cancel. It's very frustrating that this just can't _quite_ be done in text-only mode.

[Gandalf Parker]

Wow I really thought we had hacked every possible action.
Thats a fantastic discovery.

[llamabeast]

Thanks! Just a lucky stumble.

[llamabeast]

Do you reckon you could pass the info on to Johan, Gandalf, in case it makes the issue easier to resolve? It would be so great if we could fully automate creating games with mod nations.

[Gandalf Parker]

I wonder if something like that could be duplicated in a script by starting the game in a form which will bomb (Ive sure found my share of those), and then starting the game again. Worth testing.