Civ4 PitBoss Available

[kattana]

from what i have read so far, i take it that the pitboss server will be sending out emails when that gets implemented. cool

but does anyone know if you will be able to set email server login id's and such if needed? sometime to send email, you have to auth yourself to the server before it will let you send, and port 25 is blocked outbound unless you use the ISP's SMTP server for some people, (as it should be for all)

I hope they take that into account.

Also...they REALLY need a remote admin screen for this. i should be able to host the server up and via HTTP(S) connect to the server remotely and do all the things needed.

 

[tals]

I don't really understand To send email to another you need authorisation of your ISP's smtp server - other peoples SMTP is of zero interest because the emails will be sending from you to your players. It is NOT like pbem where emails are sent from the different players as the game progresses round robin.

Tals

 

[tals]

I think this functionality is currently available- you need to have the PTBS admin 'kick' you from the application. You can then rejoin any time you are ready by simply logging in to your old spot prior to the next turn you want to play.

The question would be, could/should the individual player be able to initiate an AI replacement without going through the admin?

If you retire then the AI will kick in - you don't need to have the server admin kick you - the reason people are requiring this at the moment is because their passwords are getting corrupted and so they can't login

The trouble with the ai taking over is that then someone can 'steal' your race. I believe this is what the question was - would it be possible to let the AI take over but keep for example a password protection on the race to stop someone else taking it over. Reasonably fair point which would cover holiday's etc.

Tals

 

[tals]

logging in gives you chatlog access to the entire history of messages sent by the PTBS admin, but only tracks players' comments past the point of log in. IMO it would be crucial to have a full log tracked by Pitboss and available to the players...

Hmm that is interesting - im wondering if the chat log records conversations occuring whilst you are not connected- ** goes to test **

Tals

 

[tals]

OK first test sucesful - whilst logged out of the game I sent a message from the server. This was recorded in the chatlog when I logged in. Now going to ask on eof my other players to see if they can see the message I typed whilst in game.

Tals

 

[Rommel2D]

From what I've seen, the PTBS app does track everything, it just doesn't relay some of it to the players for some reason. Should be a simple fix, I'd guess...

 

[Rommel2D]

If you retire then the AI will kick in - you don't need to have the server admin kick you - the reason people are requiring this at the moment is because their passwords are getting corrupted and so they can't login

The trouble with the ai taking over is that then someone can 'steal' your race. I believe this is what the question was - would it be possible to let the AI take over but keep for example a password protection on the race to stop someone else taking it over. Reasonably fair point which would cover holiday's etc.

Well, since games will predominantly be DirectIP, there isn't a chance someone will take the AI away by accident. It is a potential cheat though, so it should be taken care of. Online MPers are screaming for this already as part of the regular program because of accidental logins from the GS lobby.

 

[tals]

I'm not sure if you are thinking these responses through Directplay people will be able to take over sessions if the game has been organised through a public forum. Civ fantactics has at least 2 games currently

http://www.octopusoverlords.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4

Has 3 games, all public. Sure there are ways around it but there should be a difference between AI for looking after the player and AI because the player no longer plays the game.

Tals

 

[kattana]

I don't really understand To send email to another you need authorisation of your ISP's smtp server - other peoples SMTP is of zero interest because the emails will be sending from you to your players. It is NOT like pbem where emails are sent from the different players as the game progresses round robin.

Tals

from what i have read, it will be the pitboss server itself that will be sending emails out to other people informing them that something has happened, next turn..whatever.

now some ISP's require you to use your ISP's smtp server to send outbound emails as they block port 25 because of virus's and such.(which again all isp's should be doing)

in such cases, there will need to be able to set within pitboss the SMTP server it will use and the username/password to AUTH with to successfully send those emails or they will go ... nowhere ...

 

[Rommel2D]

It makes some sense to do that while trying to get people together for a test game, but for a real game there'd be no reason to post the IP address in a public forum. I'd email it to the players once all the settings are agreed upon for the same reason I PM or mask email addys in current PBEMs. Leaving that kind of information floating around the net is inviting hassle somewhere down the line.

Passworded AIs aren't vital, but I agree it should be in the polished release. Like I said, it will probably be covered by a fix to the regular game, as long as PTBS is updated laterally.

 

[tals]

The OO forum will likely be a place I setup my game and i'm sure the other 2 games will also be created again there. But this is not vital - getting the email issue sorted - now that is vital

 

[tals]

from what i have read, it will be the pitboss server itself that will be sending emails out to other people informing them that something has happened, next turn..whatever.

now some ISP's require you to use your ISP's smtp server to send outbound emails as they block port 25 because of virus's and such.(which again all isp's should be doing)

in such cases, there will need to be able to set within pitboss the SMTP server it will use and the username/password to AUTH with to successfully send those emails or they will go ... nowhere ...

The pitboss server is on your machine so is no different to say your email client sending an email - I think you may need to setup a quick test to appretiate this aspect.

Yes their is an area to put your smtp loging and password should you require it.

Tals

 

[tals]

OK first test sucesful - whilst logged out of the game I sent a message from the server. This was recorded in the chatlog when I logged in. Now going to ask on eof my other players to see if they can see the message I typed whilst in game.

Tals

Ok looks like it keeps track of messages sent from pitboss for example messages I may type directly but does not record other conversations - certainly on final i'd be expecting it to keep these as well.

If possible it would be useful to see how it handles diplomacy.

Tals

 

[tals]

Clock for pitboss appears to run slow. My 24 hour turns are taking around 26 1/2 hrs. I know civturtles is also taking longer.

Tals

 

[tals]

Out of interest I had thought the auto save was not working - but just checked the pitboss auto directory and the saves are all in there, so not sure why I thought that.

Tals

 

[scree]

Since the email stuff wasn't working, I decided to write a quick app that did what was expected (send an email to everyone when a new turn was ready). Check out the separate thread on the main page if you're interested.

Thanks,

~Scree

 

[sabrewolf]

that gives me an idea:
a turn notifier. everybody has a client tool (open source, so no spyware/trojan possible) that connects to the same machine the pitboss is on. and when there is a turn, you get some sort of notification, possibly using the windows messaging service or an outlook/thunderbird type right-hand-corner-popup.

it could be IRC based or just use "regular" TCP sockets and run as background service (system tray maybe?) or client application.

i presume i'd be able to write something like that in c#/vb.net after a lot of studies, but i don't currently have time for such experiments.

would this work? would anybody be willing to try something like this?

 

[scree]

Sure, I could extend the turn notifier to have a client/server component, so you don't have to use email to notify people.

~Scree

 

[Dandridge]

Clock for pitboss appears to run slow. My 24 hour turns are taking around 26 1/2 hrs. I know civturtles is also taking longer.

Tals

In addition it seems that anyone of the players can actually pause the turn timer altogether. I wonder what happens if someone accidentally pauses the timer and exits the game?

 

[tals]

Ok this one is out of interest - I installed .net 1.1 to try out the email notifier - was having different issues with that which the author was kindly assisting. However pitboss would not then restart - kept failing at stage 6 (XML). I have now uninstalled .net 1.1 and all is ok. Anyone any thoughts this pc is windows 98 se

Tals