)Unfortunately not all of us can host and there does seem (to me anyway) to be a lack of PB games. Or perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong place? GameSpy lobby usually just has 3 or 4 and they are usually locked. Any suggetsions whereelse to look?Fosse said:Games start when people volunteer to host them. If you can leave your computer on, you can host. Hosting a game is the most reliable way to get a new one started, and it's fairly easy to do, so you shouldn't let a learning curve start you if you are really interested in starting a game.
There are a lot of people here who have learned to host, and they'd all be happy to answer questions and troubleshoot (because they want more games, too!
I think I asked this somewhere else, but what specs do you need to run the PitBoss server on a standalone machine? I have this old laptop just sitting around ....OverloadUT said:If they would release a linux client and fix it so that it doesn't idle at 4% CPU usage, I would be hosting at least a half dozen games on my colocated server.
Sadly, that's not going to happen.
Part of the problem is that a PB server takes up a lot of resources and can only be run in Windows. Most people aren't going to want to have to leave it running on their primary desktop, as it will slow down any other games you want to play, and you're not free to reboot when you need to. The few people that might have a dedicated Windows server (like me) can only run a couple games off of it because it's so resource hungry. It's also a bit of a pain to administrate, but my CivStats project is going to fix that.
Well, I gave the old laptop a try and so far so good. Able to launch PitBoss and set-up a game. Can connect and play over LAN, I guess next step is to see performance over internet .....Fosse said:I don't know that there are published Pitboss minimum requirements. My guess is that they're paltry though. If you can install Civ IV on your machine, you can host Pitboss.
I doubt that you need to actually be able to play Civ IV on the machine, since Pitboss doesn't actually start the game itself. It just runs the game files to generate turns and apply the game rules. So I'll bet even if your old laptop has a terrible GPU and isn't too fast anymore, it'll work.
Best advice though is to give it a try... install Civ IV, download and install Pitboss, then start Pitboss. Next, try to connect to the server with your PC. If it all works, download CivStats, post a recruiting thread, and you'll be ready to go!
As far as other places to look for games... I don't really know. CFC has been the best for me, since the Apolyton multiplay forums has turned into the unofficial Diplogame spot.
You can get involved with a Pitboss game called Realpolitik at any time. It's an ongoing game with several players per civ. The game's in progress, but since there are several players per civ you can join right now if you want. The main forums there is: http://evo-games.net/Home/viewforum.php?f=247&sid=b02c7e71741eebf0a8c185c1d4dda8f9
For more normal games though, the best thing to do is lurk and wait for people to host one, or host yourself. You can post in the various threads here where games are already started and ask to be an alternate, so sometimes players vanish and nobody is playing their civ. In these cases they are given to the first person who asks for them, from what I've seen.
Uuumm ... where do you download Civstats?Fosse said:Best advice though is to give it a try... install Civ IV, download and install Pitboss, then start Pitboss. Next, try to connect to the server with your PC. If it all works, download CivStats, post a recruiting thread, and you'll be ready to go!
OK, trying that out as a test game for now ...Fosse said:Glad to hear the laptop is working!
To get Civstats, go to this thread here at CFC:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=173440
Post number 84 is the one with the most recent uploader.
