PBEM problem

[Woodville]

Hello Folks. Not sure where im going wrong.

I start up a game and immediately make a save and send my brother a copy of the .hst file. I then make all my orders and save again; exit. He sends me back his ~CSA.ord file in which I implant into the save folder that has the .hst and ~USA.ord files. I load up the game (both presidents have the orders symbol) and process the turn. Make a save.
Now on the second turn I goto send him the next .hst file and I notice the file did not update with the start of turn 2. Further more; at this point I cannot load the game back; as it does not appear in game to load.

Any help on this would be appreciated! Love the game and Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

[Durk]

Sequencing is not as intuitive as you might think.
Try one of these:
1. Start up the game and make your move and save.
Then send the hst file
When the ord comes back play.

2. Play with shared hosting.
Start up the game make your move, save.
Send all files to your brother.
He makes his move, saves and executes the turn.
Then he makes his next move and saves.
He sends all files to you.
You make your move and save.
You execute your turn and make your next move and save.

See if this works.

[Woodville]

Thankyou for the suggestions Durk. Will give it a try at next earliest opportunity. will keep you posted.

[Woodville]

Problem solved. Putting the game aside was not an option! All attempts at PBEM were failing because the host file wasn't updating at the start of every turn starting on turn 2. long story short; It was discovered that by using the backup host file that the new host file would update fine.

Cheers!

[Captain_Orso]

What backup host file?

[Woodville]

When you process a turn the game first saves all the files into a backup folder. backup1. It is the .hst file in that backup folder that can be processed and updated. Why the original .hst file will not update is a mystery to me. Something im doing is causing that file to not update until it gets saved into the backup1 folder. So i have to process the turn twice every turn but at least we have it working.

[Captain_Orso]

There are--or will be--a series of folders below the running scenario folder which can generally range from 'Backup1' through 'Backup12'. These are not for the game to save the input files for disaster recover if there is an error processing the turn. They are there so that the player can return to a previous turn to change his moves.

With the execution of each subsequent turn after starting the game these 'saves' will be pushed into a higher BackupX folder until they are dropped.

So if you are copying the .hst file from 'X:\Users\{user name}\My Documents\My Games\{civil war-II installation-folder-name}\CW2\Saves\{scenario-name}\Saves\Backup1' to the '..\Saves' folder directly above it, then you will be playing the same turn over again.

[Woodville]

Yes; agreed. I am copying the .hst file along with both .ord files from 'X:\Users\{user name}\My Documents\My Games\{civil war-II installation-folder-name}\CW2\Saves\{scenario-name}\Saves\Backup1' to the '..\Saves' folder directly above it.
I am playing every turn twice. the first time will recreate backup1 with the files which I then use to run the turn a second time. Its the only way I can get the host file to update to the next turn every turn. Im sure this isn't a software issue. It seems like its either my computer or email service that's causing this. Regardless... we have it working well enough to enjoy the game.

[basmith]

Failing PBEM CW2. Playing by e-mail between two computers. The first (PC_DVD), CW2 was loaded from a physical DVD and has been successful play PBEM with other players. The second (PC_DLD), CW@ was loaded via download. When hosting from PC_DVD, I can load the game using the *.hst file and play my turn on PC_DLD. When I send the *.ORD file back to the host he gets a critical error. When I host a game on PC_DLD and send the *.hst file he gates a critical error right off the bat.
The enclosed is an example game I host on PC_DLD that failed on PC_DVD. The zip file contains my log file and his log file “!Main log.failed.txt as well as the game files on my CPU_DLD. Note: both are loaded to 1.06.


What is the problem?