Realism Invictus Pitboss game

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 22, 2023

GAME FULL AND CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS

Original post below

Proposed start date: July 2nd.
Time: 19.30-21.30 Central European Time / 13.30-15.30 Eastern Time / 12.30-14.30 Central Time / 23.00-01.00 Indian Time (weekends only, but Pitboss server available 10-24 (european time) during working days too)

Players (7 players):

- 45°38'N-13°47'E (45degrees) - Joseph Stalin of Russia (still not sure)
- bluecivdoom - Chandragupta Maurya of Hindi Empire
- Sinocpm - Xiao of Qin of South China
- Temae - Basil II of Greece
- AspiringScholar - Theodor Roosvelt of America
- Yaldabaoth (from discord) - Hanno of Carthage
- connorbot (from discord) - Mutsuhito of Japan

MIA:
- Monsijo
- Fireblaze

Settings (still being refined)
- Giant map, Totestra Mapscript, Realistic Gamespeed
- Simultaneous Turns and Take Over AI
- All victories enabled except Time
- Holy City Migration, Protect Valuable Units, Influence Driven War, New Random Seed on Reload
- No Tech Trading / No Tech Brokering

Dedicated Discord:

Discord - A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities

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discord.gg

Required files and relevant info:
- ZeroTier virtual LAN, download here: https://www.zerotier.com/download/ Once installed you'll have to join my network, the code is 3efa5cb78a3fe1db. I'll have to approve you, just send me a message when you join so that I know it's one of you. You can set the network as public if asked by Windows. You only have to do this once. (or if you prefer, you send me your ZeroTier code and I add you to the network). This is necessary to make Pitboss/multiplayer work smoothly. You only need to start ZeroTier virtual LAN before connecting to the pitboss server.
- Realism Invictus 3.601 + fixed dll and 25% increased value for Legendary culture as per AspiringScholar suggestion; new Civ4BeyondSword2015.exe and BTS_Wrapper.exe (necessary to play multiplayer/pitboss games). The whole package can be found here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkmWNYedD6RtgRgDplRAjojU1cWA
Simply extract the zip in your "Beyond The Sword" folder (not the one under "Documents\MyGames"). It will ask you if you want to overwrite, just answer yes, it doesn't overwrite anything but it will create a "Realism Invictus PITBOSS" folder in your Beyond the Sword\mod folder. Some antivirus might detect BTS_Wrapper as a false positive; it obviously is not, the whole code can be found here if someone wants to check (https://github.com/civ4-mp/save-over-http); this program just sends the savegame over http instead of using Civ4 old transfer protocol which is limited at 10 Kb/s speed which makes joining the game almost unbearably long. You can also extract the zip in a folder you like and then cut/paste the content inside your BTS folder.
- In order to start the game properly, you have to create a desktop shortcut pointing to "[YOUR_CIV4_INSTALLATION_FOLDER]\Beyond the Sword\BTS_Wrapper.exe" mod= "Realism Invictus PITBOSS" (all quotes included).
- Once you're done with the previous points, I'll send you the server IP address if you wish to try a test connection, just let me know when you're ready.

Should you need anything, just let me know

ORIGINAL POST

Spoiler Original Post :

bluecivdoom · May 23, 2023

I'm still interested, yeah

bluecivdoom · May 23, 2023

I know @Monsijo is interested and I was talking with @AspiringScholar about a game sometime last year, dunno if he's still interested

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 23, 2023

Ok, let's see if someone else shows up then; have you ever played RI in multiplayer or have you ever tried a pitboss game? I've seen you were proposing weekends 12pm-3pm EST so I suppose you are on EST. I'm central Europe, GMT+1 but somehow your proposal might be compatible. If I can host a pitboss server, it could be up reasonably 8 - 23 GMT which makes it 3AM-6PM EST every day. As I said we could play some more "intense" sessions but then also play when we have time by just connecting to the pitboss and keep the game going. How does it sound?

bluecivdoom · May 23, 2023

45°38'N-13°47'E said:
Ok, let's see if someone else shows up then; have you ever played RI in multiplayer or have you ever tried a pitboss game? I've seen you were proposing weekends 12pm-3pm EST so I suppose you are on EST. I'm central Europe, GMT+1 but somehow your proposal might be compatible. If I can host a pitboss server, it could be up reasonably 8 - 23 GMT which makes it 3AM-6PM EST every day. As I said we could play some more "intense" sessions but then also play when we have time by just connecting to the pitboss and keep the game going. How does it sound?

I'm in India actually, its just that that timeslot works for me with Americans.

This sounds good but really depends on the timezone with other players, I find it easier to schedule games with Europeans of course.

I've never played MP or pitboss on RI but I've been really hoping to get one going yeah.

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 23, 2023

Well, I'm in Italy and your proposed time could work for me too. I'm not sure I can spend 3 hours each weekend but somehow I think we can do it. Let's see if other players want to join and what they're thinking about.
I've tested a bit RI with my wife and son on our lan and it looks like pitboss can be much better than DirectIP. I'll update the first post with the relevant information as we gather them/agree on them. There are a couple of tricks that are necessary in order to play MP since Gamespy shut down: there's a new exe that's been modified to allow more than 2 players to play at the same time, you can find it here. It's the same as the original one, it just points to Zulan's server which is a server hosted by Civ4 fans that has taken over the role of Gamespy. You just have to copy it in your BTS folder. As I said before, I strongly advise to use ZeroTier to join a virtual LAN, it makes easier for everyone to play so there's no need to fiddle with port forwarding or anything else. I have some virtual LAN already created with ZeroTier, I can add you and other players any time. I know it might sound complicated but once it's done, it saves a lot of trouble and a lot of time.

Sinocpm · May 23, 2023

I'd be interested! I'm based in Germany, so the Central European time zone suits me. However I'm usually busy during the weekends, so for the "in person" sessions I'd prefer the evenings of Monday-Thursday

Monsijo · May 23, 2023

Same for me, I made a discord group a while back. Might be easier to use for communication: https://discord.gg/RUMkXAFJ

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 23, 2023

Sinocpm said:
I'd be interested! I'm based in Germany, so the Central European time zone suits me. However I'm usually busy during the weekends, so for the "in person" sessions I'd prefer the evenings of Monday-Thursday

Hi! I'm also available during the evenings (Europe timezone), but usually very late, like 23 to midnight and I think that would be definitely too late for bluecivdoom given his geographical location. But hey, pitboss games are meant for that because people can play their turn whenever they have some free time. Then again, we could agree on a different day/time sometimes when we wish to play together. I'm in no hurry to finish a game (which hasn't started yet...), as long as we can keep it going without abandoning it.

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 23, 2023

Monsijo said:
Same for me, I made a discord group a while back. Might be easier to use for communication: https://discord.gg/RUMkXAFJ

Thanks, it might be a good idea; I'd wait a few days to see if other people are interested

AspiringScholar · May 23, 2023

Hey guys, I actually just started a let's play and got a new job, so I think I'm going to have to sit this one out! If you decide to play another in a month or two, feel free to contact me.

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 24, 2023

I also asked on RealmsBeyond, maybe someone else might be interested there too: https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=10964

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 26, 2023

Ok, I think 4 to 6 players sounds reasonable; let's see if others want to join but in the meantime, let's start thinking about the details of the game. (I will update the first post later)
Outdated instructions below, check the first post for the correct ones.

Basic requirements:
- Realism Invictus 3.6 full version, download here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/realism-invictus-full-version.28119/
- ZeroTier virtual LAN, download here: https://www.zerotier.com/download/ Once installed you'll have to join my network, the code is 3efa5cb78a3fe1db. I'll have to approve you, just send me a message when you join so that I know it's one of you. You can set the network as public if asked by Windows. You only have to do this once. (or if you prefer, you send me your code and I add you to the network)
- A fix for a bug in the dll: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkmWNYedD6RtgQY-ucaZgbJLtX1l?e=q0oRky you need to download this file and put it in the Assets folder of Realism Invictus. It's a fix for a crash in modern era, I've done it myself until it gets fixed in an official release
- New civ4BTS exe and BTSWrapper: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkmWNYedD6RtgQiuvvdbFGwZYFgE?e=gMTUft These are needed to play in multiplayer after Gamespy has been shut down. Simply download the files and put them in your BeyondTheSword folder (the one where the original exe is), they don't overwrite anything and they just sit there if you don't use them. BTS_Wrapper is just a program that speeds up the savegame transfer when joining the game. Vanilla Civ4BTS transfers files with a painful 10 kb/s speed. I don't know if any of you ever tried it, but joining a game can take 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the savegame, which increases as you progress in the game and savegames become bigger. This program developed by another forum user, Ramkhamhaeng, makes the file transfer instant
- In order to speed up the file transfer, the game must be started with an ALTROOT shortcut; if you don't know what it is, it's just a folder you have to create where CivilizationIV.ini will be stored (and savegames, but these will be handled anyway by my server). You can set this folder (see next point) so that you don't have to mess with your default installation of civ4 or other mods you might have, both for singleplayer or multiplayer.
- Create an empty folder, which will be your ALTROOT folder, wherever you think it's better for you: this ALTROOT folder must be named for every player "_http_aa.bb.cc.dd" where aa.bb.cc.dd will be the IP address of my server, I'll tell you when we setup the game.
- Create a shortcut on your desktop, which points to:
"YOUR_PATH_TO_THE_FOLDER_Beyond the Sword\BTS_Wrapper.exe" /ALTROOT="YOUR_PATH_TO_http_aa.bb.cc.dd" mod= "Realism Invictus" -P xxxx

Actually it's not necessary on the client side to use the Altroot folder; I must do it on the server but it's not necessary on clients/players side.

- Create a shortcut on your desktop, which points to:
"YOUR_PATH_TO_THE_FOLDER_Beyond the Sword\BTS_Wrapper.exe" mod= "Realism Invictus" -P xxxx
xxxx is the port used to transfer the savegame to/from the server, each player will have one, we will decide them when we start the game. Clicking on the shortcut will start the BTS_Wrapper which in turns start the exe of Civ4 and loads the mod.

Sounds complicated? Believe me, it's harder to explain it that to do it. Let me know if you have any question or if you are lost.

Temae · May 27, 2023

I'm interested, though I never tried pitboss

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 27, 2023

Temae said:
I'm interested, though I never tried pitboss

It's not that different from DirectIP, except you connect to a server hosting the game instead of another player directly. Hence, players can both play together like in DirectIP or separately (kind of what happens in PBEM). Any preference about the time? The plan is to agree from time to time to play a session together and in the meantime between sessions everyone can play anytime when the server will be up (probably 8-23 GMT).

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 27, 2023

I'd say that 5 to 7 players is ideal; more people is probably making it too difficult to agree on when to play together. So provided that everyone will join the game when we start, I'd say that's enough players. What do you all think about it? My idea is to play on a map big enough to accomodate us all and some AI players as well. My proposal is large/huge, probably Totestra mapscript but I'd like to hear what other players think. I think this way we have enough room to expand and fully enojy the game.

Temae · May 27, 2023

45°38'N-13°47'E said:
It's not that different from DirectIP, except you connect to a server hosting the game instead of another player directly. Hence, players can both play together like in DirectIP or separately (kind of what happens in PBEM). Any preference about the time? The plan is to agree from time to time to play a session together and in the meantime between sessions everyone can play anytime when the server will be up (probably 8-23 GMT).

I'm handing in my last exam on Tuesday so I can't say what my schedule will be like after that. But weekend evenings will probably be best. My time zone is Central European Time.

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 27, 2023

Temae said:
I'm handing in my last exam on Tuesday so I can't say what my schedule will be like after that. But weekend evenings will probably be best. My time zone is Central European Time.

Good luck with your exam then! Let's see what we can arrange during next month.

AspiringScholar · May 27, 2023

You know what... I wanna play. What are the expectations on frequency? I don't think I can give it more than two sessions a week, and I live in the US Central time zone. Don't bend around that if you already have enough players, but I can give it 2-4 hours a week in the evenings of my region of the earth. If that's not a good fit, I understand, but I changed my mind if it is.

45°38'N-13°47'E · May 27, 2023

AspiringScholar said:
You know what... I wanna play. What are the expectations on frequency? I don't think I can give it more than two sessions a week, and I live in the US Central time zone. Don't bend around that if you already have enough players, but I can give it 2-4 hours a week in the evenings of my region of the earth. If that's not a good fit, I understand, but I changed my mind if it is.

I expect a long game, I was thinking about one session a week if we can all agree, but then again people can play turns between sessions being a pitboss game; so the game can progress even if slowly. I'm happy if you want to join! My only hope is it doesn't get too difficult to arrange these sessions together given different timezones.

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