What does it take to setup a Pitboss game?

M

mickeyj

Warlord
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Messages
129
Location
London
Hi there,

I’m very keen on playing more pitboss games and was wondering what is required to setup and run a pitboss game. I’m no IT expert so some of my questions may seem basic to a lot of you. These are more about how to get a server up and running as opposed to getting the game up and running.

I and I’m sure others would appreciate it if somebody or many people could write a definitive setup guide answering some of the questions below. Once up and running us amateurs could then look into more ‘extravagant adventures’ like running two games from on server and adding mods. I’ve had a look through http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=152361&page=21 but it’s 21 pages and my eyes just glazed over at some of the jargon.

Some of the questions I have (and these are very basic):
1. Does it have to be run from a server or can it be from a windows xp PC that’s on 24/7? Another hard drive? And if so what about security of the PC.
2. If I have an old PC and want to set it up as a server do I have to have windows server or are there other ways to run a server?
3. If I’m prepared to pay are there remote servers where you can set up your own programmes, hire per gig or something similar?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers
 
I'm also no IT guy, but I am currently running a Pitboss game and can answer your questions somewhat.

1. It can run from any old Windows PC. The PC that's running the server can also be a player in the game. The Pitboss program has to be installed in Civ IV's root directory, so seperate harddrives don't really enter into it. I have no idea how it impacts the security of your PC, but if you're running it as an IP game it's probably best to directly PM or email the players what your IP is, rather than broadcast it on these forums.

2. It has to be Windows, as you have to have Civ IV installed on the computer.

3. I would love that, but I have no idea if it's possible. I am sure there's nothing like that available now for Pitboss games.

As far as what you need to do, just download the Pitboss program into your main Civ IV directory. The program comes with a pretty good readme, and the setup process is actually fairly straitforward.

Then download the pbnotify. It's a little program on these forums, and the thread is http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153509.

This program lets the Email function actually work, since it's broken for 90% of people. There are also a couple of other programs that can make the Pitboss info available to players on the web, but you need your own webservers for them, and since I don't have one I can't realy comment on them.

I hope this is marginally helpful until someone more experienced and knowledgable comes along. If you want to start a PitBoss game, consier me on board! :)
 
Thanks for that - and another IT type question - How do I know what the IP address I need to send to people is?
 
To find out your external IP address, go to http://www.whatismyip.com - nice and simple!

Also, Fosse, if you're talking about my Pitboss WebStats, I have decided to do the hosting on my own WebServer, so you don't need a webserver. Just download the beta version of the uploader listed in that thread and follow the directions to start getting your stats uploaded immediately! I will be making a new thread pretty soon, because that last one is a little confusing, what with all the talk about needing your own webserver.
 
mickeyj said:
Thanks for that - and another IT type question - How do I know what the IP address I need to send to people is?
Click to expand...

Unless you have a static IP address (ie. will have the same IP address for the entire game) I suggest using the no-ip client, so you can have a DNS address which stays the same regardless of your IP address.
 
Thanks for that, i'm still trying to learn about all this stuff, give me an excel spreadsheet and I'm fine but an IP address and its all over :D
 
Let us know if there are any other questions. I would have never gotten my Pitboss game running well without the people on these boards, so I'm happy to help out. If you're planning on starting one up, opening a recruiting thread so that all the debatable points about mapsize and all that (IF they're debatable... it's YOUR game, after all! ;) are all hashed out by the time you want to take the plunge.

I say that because once I was ready to host the most frustrating part was getting all that stuff squared away. I wanted to play right now.
 
I battled with this this weekend and couldn't get it to work, I'm going to give it one more go tonight and then write it off as a painfully annoying experience never to be repeated.
 
OverloadUT said:
What part of it couldn't you get working? Perhaps we can help. :)
Click to expand...

Seconded. Exact error messages, in particular, can help us point to the exact problem and potential solutions.
 
IglooDude said:
Seconded. Exact error messages, in particular, can help us point to the exact problem and potential solutions.
Click to expand...


Agreed that was just me having a minor fit for not getting it to work :blush: , I decided to go to the pub and watch the football instead.

Here's what I have done so far.

Enabled both port 2056 adn 2057 on my router and on my (Norton) firewall.

Installed pitboss and created a trial game.

started pitboss with the game.

then run civ ---> multiplayer and entered my IP address and password.

It then goes to the 'connecting' screen adn fails to connect. I may be wrong but the message is along the lines of 'failed to connect to host'

I'll provide more details over the weekend.

Cheers and thanks fo helping :goodjob:
 
Happy to help.

Need a bit of clarification - it's the same workstation running both your Civ4 MP game and the pitboss service?

Are you using the external or the internal IP address (the internal one probably starts with 192.168.x.x) to launch the MP game?

You might try using 127.0.0.1 to launch the game if you're just using the one workstation for both the game and pitboss, that IP is universal meaning "this machine".
 
Also, be sure your router is forwarding both TCP and UDP traffic. Most games use UDP and it doesn't hurt to open both.
 
mickeyj said:
I'd been using the IP i got from (http://www.whatismyipaddress.com/) it certainly wasn't the internal one it is also the one listed on my router. I'll give the 192..... and the 127 a go this evening.

I'm using the same workstation for both.
Click to expand...

Then that's definitely the problem - my experience with firewalls is that they don't like internal machines trying to hit external addresses that forward back to the internal network again.
 
Great news! I can finally log on myself, now to try get someone else to log on! I used 192 and i worked fine.

I will keep you all updated!
 
Fosse said:
*starts reloading page to find a recriuting thread every fifteen seconds*
Click to expand...

Fosse you will be the first I ask!

My girlfriends staying with me till the 3rd July so will experiment (with the pitboss that is ;) )till then and then devote some time to setting up and running a game.
 
mickeyj said:
Great news! I can finally log on myself, now to try get someone else to log on! I used 192 and i worked fine.

I will keep you all updated!
Click to expand...

If you need someone to test, give me a shout. And remember, the 192 is only for you, they'll need your external address.

And can you keep me on your list for when you start up a game? :)
 
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