pitboss how do you get it and use it?

[alstone]

i see with the latest update it now works with pitboss but i cant find anywhere to get this so called pitboss, for the most part im just finding stuff on pit boss the tv show and grills

also if using it are able to post games and see other games that people are hosting and starting up? or am i still going to be stuck trying to find people on my own?

 

[45°38'N-13°47'E]

Pitboss is a program that acts as a server for multiplayer games and it's included in Civ4 since Warlord expansion, if I'm not mistaken. There's a file called Civ4BeyondSword_PitBoss.exe in your BeyondTheSword folder. That's the pitboss program. The problem is that with complex mods like RAND, it does not work properly. Or better, mods like RAND don't work with pitboss. Since very few people if any were interested in it, nobody has taken care of writing some proper code to make the mod work in pitboss mode. This is what I'm trying to do now. Main problems were CTD when playing with pitboss or very frequent OOS issues (almost every turn). With the latest revision, I've partially merged another mod (Pitboss Mod v7) into RAND. This mod solves some problems caused by the original Pitboss program, for example the fact that you can't select players in the starting pitboss window when starting a game. If you want to use Pitboss for RAND, you can't use the default pitboss program anymore. You need to download the Pitboss Mod from here and follow instruction there to make it work. When I have some time I'll post a full explanation in the Multiplayer subforum.
Anyway, Pitboss is not working yet, as I've said in the changelog thread:

Pitboss is still not working but I'm fixing it; from this revision on, playing pitboss is not possible with basic BTS pitboss, but you need Pitboss Mod; you can find it here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-for-pitboss-games.533346/

But under certain conditions I've been able to test around 70 turns without problems. The fact is that those conditions are:
1. No Barbarians (it throws pitboss OOS),
2. No Terrain Damage (same as above)
3. One single player only (so, totally useless except for testing purposes)
4. Pitboss server and player are on the same computer (always for testing purposes)

So as you can see, no, pitboss is not working yet but this configuration helps me finding issues with the code.
Finally, of course you can use pitboss to play with other people, that's the idea, but you can only see those games that you are aware of. i.e. someone must tell you where the server is and so you still need to find people on your own. The purpose of pitboss is not to find other players but to create a permanent server where people can connect and play when they have time, so it's not necessary that everyone is connected at the same time.
I hope this helps clarifying the subject.

 

[alstone]

thank you for that answer, thanks for hard work and i hope your able to fix it,, i do really love this mod but no one to play with its getting old lol

 

[45°38'N-13°47'E]

Well, I'm playing with RyoHazuki since months although we still have to finish a game. The current one looks promising, we've reached 1900AD and the game is still playable. You can open a new thread in the multiplayer subforum and ask if someone wants to play with you. I suggest you follow my advices there about options/settings you can/cannot use. Giving your timezone might also help to find players next to you.
Eventually, when MP is really stable, I'd like to try a game with 4-5 players. But it might require some time.