Idiot-Proofing PBEM for the Non-Host Player
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:21 pm
I'm in a brand new, fast paced PBEM game right now, and I've gotten burned a couple of times by sending the wrong file into the host player.
It seems what I, the non-host, did wrong was either 1) forget to save before I exited; and/or 2) did not overwrite my old zipped save, and instead sent my zipped save from last turn. And what seems to happen when you do that is, the game considers your whole move a non-move...production, stance changes, movement, the works. Sieges and combats will resolve normally, for better or worse.
I suppose I can prevent idiot mistake number 2 by just making sure I delete the zipped save after every time I send it.
But idiot mistake number 2 remains a live issue, and I'm wondering if the turn number might be added in some way to the coding of the ORD file? And if there is a turn mismatch between the ORD and TRN file (or between ORD files?) an error message on the host system will generate (ie, instead of entering the idiot player's move as a null move)?
It seems what I, the non-host, did wrong was either 1) forget to save before I exited; and/or 2) did not overwrite my old zipped save, and instead sent my zipped save from last turn. And what seems to happen when you do that is, the game considers your whole move a non-move...production, stance changes, movement, the works. Sieges and combats will resolve normally, for better or worse.
I suppose I can prevent idiot mistake number 2 by just making sure I delete the zipped save after every time I send it.
But idiot mistake number 2 remains a live issue, and I'm wondering if the turn number might be added in some way to the coding of the ORD file? And if there is a turn mismatch between the ORD and TRN file (or between ORD files?) an error message on the host system will generate (ie, instead of entering the idiot player's move as a null move)?
