But I just wanted to know how a PBEM game works? Do u play it through the CIV 4 program?

Yes.

You choose the multiplayer option on the menu, then play by email, then new or load game ...depending...

At hte end of your turn the game is saved, and you send it on to the next player, for them to have their turn, and so on...

So it saves it and sends it in an e-mail and the player then goes in and opens their Civ4 to get to it. I was hoping it some how did it another way so I could play from work, lol.

Sorry to dig up an old-ish thread, but mind helping out another newbie? Or at least a gentle nudge in the right direction. How does one send the saved game to the next person? Does the game do this automatically, or does this need to be set up somehow? My only guess is to just e-mail the saved game file. Apologies if this has already been discussed a thousand times over. Thanks for your help and patience.

You can send the save yourself or the game can send it for you. Players' email addresses and your smtp server should be entered in-game.

Having the game send it for you works for a lot of people.

On the other hand, every time someone tries to send me a save from ingame, my email server bounces it every time, presumably as spam.

I find it easier just to use Outlook to send and receive the turns.