Pitboss New Game Question

[Sarge85]

I've been lurking a bit trying to hook up with a Pitboss game...., but maybe I'll start my own, but i've never done it...

1) True of False: I would create the game on my computer and basically wouldn't ever be able to turn my computer off, or close Civ IV

2) True or False: I need to provide my IP address to everyone involved

3) True or False: I need to upload my game to civstats or civmultiplayer?

4) True or False: I'll be first out in my own game.

Sarge

 

[Elkad]

1) True of False: I would create the game on my computer and basically wouldn't ever be able to turn my computer off, or close Civ IV

True. Well, you'll have a different app running labeled "Pitboss".

2) True or False: I need to provide my IP address to everyone involved

True, and know how to open ports on your router/firewall.

3) True or False: I need to upload my game to civstats or civmultiplayer?

There is a 3rd party app that connects to Civstats. It's not absolutely required, it just monitors your game and puts turn info and such up on the website. Mighty handy.

4) True or False: I'll be first out in my own game.

Actually, some people deliberately avoid killing the host, on the theory that then he gets mad and shuts off the server. Personally I kill the host anyway. Game dies. We all complain for a couple weeks. Then Giger steps in and rehosts the game to save us. Since he's avoided the early host-rush, he usually manages to stay in the game for a long time.



So you need an always-on computer. You run the pitboss app and the app that connects to civstats all the time. Civ itself you only run when taking your turn.

 

[Sarge85]

Is the Pitboss app something I download? Is the "Uploader" Link on Civ Stats what I'd use to put my game up on the site?

 

[Munro]

Is the Pitboss app something I download?

No need to download - the pitboss app should already be in your main Firaxis Games\Civ 4\Beyond the Sword folder. It's an executable - you can just run it from there.

Is the "Uploader" Link on Civ Stats what I'd use to put my game up on the site?

Yes - download the civstats uploader app and install it on your 'host' machine (where you are going to have the pitboss app running 24x7). It just runs in the background and sends data to the civstats website. Should be pretty easy to get up and running.

Good luck!

 

[Sarge85]

@ Elkad and Munro: Care to be my guinea pig later on today or tomorrow.

I may try this all out and see if I can start a game.

It seems like the fourm needs more people to host the games....

Just a test run.

I'll try to the "normal" Pitboss with out the Hamachii stuff.

Anything else I would need to know before I attempt this?

Sarge

 

[Munro]

Sure, I'd be happy too. You're right that there seems to be a bit of a shortage of new games and pitboss hosts generally on the forum. The requirement to have a computer that's always on 24x7 for a year or more is probably a big part of it. Just set something up and send me the connection details and I'll test it out. (Probably a good idea to send me your MSN address too if you use MSN). You'll need to know your public IP address (e.g. from http://whatismyip.com/ ) and also open port 2056 inbound on your firewall.

Also, there are some game options you should be sure to turn on for pitboss.

- Simultaneous turns: on
- Turn timer: on (24 hours is normal although personally I prefer 48h)
- Take over AI: on (to allow a replacement player to take over if one of the original players goes MIA or retires to AI)

You don't generally need to bother with a game password, since everyone will password protect their civs anyway. You definitely want a secure, unique, randomly generated admin password though (e.g. from http://www.goodpassword.com/ or similar) just so there's no doubts later that anyone has cracked it in the event that someone gets unusually lucky...

Also - the SMTP email notification functionality that's built into the pitboss app doesn't seem to work with google mail. But you can probably just skip that anyway (leave it all blank) since civstats website can be configured to send out email notifications anyway.

That's the technical stuff. If you haven't played much pitboss before, it's also worth reading some of the more typical game rules that hosts tend to use (especially where you don't already know all the players). Playing turns 'in sequence' when at war with someone (i.e. no double moves) is the most fundamental one, but other rules about pre-war turn order, city gifting, XP farming, replaying turns after reloads etc may be less obvious and less standardized between games, so it's worth having a look around. The Oob's pitboss rules are a good place to start (search this forum) as are the game rules on the Tactical Gamer website or (for something with more of an RP flavour) Chaos and Civility:

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/civilization-iv-game-planning-coordination/
http://www.chaosciv.com/index.php/topic,255.0.html

 

[Elkad]

Easy way to check if you did your port forwarding correctly

http://www.canyouseeme.org/

Put in 2056 (the civ port), with your pitboss game running and hit Check!

Should get a result like this

I can see your service on 76.122.0.0 on port (2056)
Your ISP/router is not blocking port 2056

 

[Sarge85]

Thanks Fellas,

I set my computer to a static IP and I'll follow up on making sure the various ports are set correctly.

I created a game via the PitBoss application and it appears to have created the initial save game for it.

This will seem silly - but once that save is created - where do I go from there?

Do I create a new Multiplayer game, IP connection, and load that game?

Is a new save constantly created after each turn, or does the host have to save the game,

How does the host connect to the game - it seems wierd that I would connect to my own IP.

Thanks

 

[Munro]

It's probably better to use 127.0.0.1 as the hostname, rather than connecting to your own IP (which will probably route out to your firewall and back again, depending on your setup). Everyone else will connect to your public IP.

Connect by starting the main civ app, and going to Multiplayer > Direct IP connection.

Note you should have the pitboss app running in the background the whole time. (You should see the Admin window with options to kick players to AI, change the turn timer, welcome message etc).

Autosaves will be made according to the setting in your civ .ini file. Definitely a good idea to set it to autosave every turn (autosave interval = 1). In addition, the pitboss app. also generates 'recovery' autosaves everytime a player logs in, which are useful in case someone violates the rules or you need to reload from part-way through a turn. (E.g. if the game crashes, you don't have to make everyone redo their turn - just the last person to log in).

 

[Sarge85]

Sorry for being such a dolt, but you lost me here....

It's probably better to use 127.0.0.1 as the hostname, rather than connecting to your own IP (which will probably route out to your firewall and back again, depending on your setup). Everyone else will connect to your public IP.

Connect by starting the main civ app, and going to Multiplayer > Direct IP connection.

So I know my specific static IP Address for my internet connection - Is that the number I pass on to all players? But I, as host, would use the 127.0.0.1?

So I'd start Civ, Multiplayre >Direct IP > connect to 127.0.0.1

While others would start Civ, Multiplayer>Direct IP> Connect to Game at xxx.xx.xx.x

Yes?

Sarge

 

[Munro]

Yes - exactly right.

In IP terms, 127.0.0.1 always points at your own PC. If that doesn't work for any reason, the static IP should probably work for you as well, but might be a bit slower.

 

[E_Pluribus_Unum]

Does anyone know a free (or relatively cheap) server, where we can run and manage a 24/7 pitboss Civ 4 server?
(We're planning to start an MP game when Rise of Mankind 2.8 released.)

 

[Giger]

4) True or False: I'll be first out in my own game.

Actually, some people deliberately avoid killing the host, on the theory that then he gets mad and shuts off the server. Personally I kill the host anyway. Game dies. We all complain for a couple weeks. Then Giger steps in and rehosts the game to save us. Since he's avoided the early host-rush, he usually manages to stay in the game for a long time.

Darn you figured out my whole strategy...

I agree with Elkad, I don't see why the host should be treated differently. That just wouldn't be fair to other players.

 

[Giger]

Does anyone know a free (or relatively cheap) server, where we can run and manage a 24/7 pitboss Civ 4 server?
(We're planning to start an MP game when Rise of Mankind 2.8 released.)

The cheapest way is to host it yourself. I personaly use a spare box I have. I don't know of any hosting company that would spare a box and let you run a specific app server on it for less than way too much per month.

I might be interested in hosting it, if you've got room in the game for me. I am curious as to how the mod plays out in MP. Probably end up being a very long game

 

[Munro]

hardcoded (hsoft) tried using a web hosted server a few months back, for the "Angry Barbs" pitboss game. You can read about it here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300003

Not sure how much they cost - I did have a quick look into it at one point and I think it was about $20 per month but you don't need a lot of computing power so I wouldn't be surprised if you can find it cheaper than that.

Unfortunately they never managed to get it to work. There was some odd interaction between the civstats uploader client, that stopped people from connecting. They never got to the bottom of it. I've never heard of anyone else having that problem though so they probably just got unlucky..

If you have an old desktop or laptop you can dedicate to it instead, that's probably a better solution though as Giger says..

 

[E_Pluribus_Unum]

The cheapest way is to host it yourself. I personaly use a spare box I have. I don't know of any hosting company that would spare a box and let you run a specific app server on it for less than way too much per month.

I might be interested in hosting it, if you've got room in the game for me. I am curious as to how the mod plays out in MP. Probably end up being a very long game

Hi!
Currenly we are 3 of us, so there are many open spaces. We can discuss the details at the RoM multiplayer forum : http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=304930
The first RoM MP game was 8 month long : 2 player, normal game speed, standard map, not a pitboss Direct IP the opther guy was the server. We've played about 3 hours a week. With pitboss it might be much faster.

 

[Redarg]

Unfortunately they never managed to get it to work. There was some odd interaction between the civstats uploader client, that stopped people from connecting. They never got to the bottom of it. I've never heard of anyone else having that problem though so they probably just got unlucky..

I experienced the same. (debian linux (32bit lenny), wine 1.0.0-1, civstats.com uploader 1.5.1.0, Pitboss BTS 3.17 back then)
But I figured out a workaround:
When both windows (Civstats and Pitboss) are minimized. It works flawless.
I reported it in post #478 in the "View your Pitboss games on the web" thread.

Redarg