VERY big difficulties in PBEM

Tripler

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I've played once or twice before, and have always had difficulties with the PBEM feature. The latest was tonight, where I 'picked a fight' with someone, but couldn't open his *.bms file because I didn't have the BLUFOR password.

Anyone else have this problem? What do I do?

Trip
Thanks in advance. . .
 

MajorH

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The problem is that your opponent wrongly sent you a Blue saved game file instead of sending you a Blue orders file. :)

A file that ends in .bms (blue mail save) is a Blue PBEM saved game file. This file is never shared with one's opponent.

A file that ends in .bmo (blue mail orders) is a Blue PBEM orders file. This is the file that the Blue player should zip and forward to the Red player.


Similarly ...

A file that ends in .rms (red mail save) is a Red PBEM saved game file. This file is never shared with one's opponent.

A file that ends in .rmo (red mail orders) is a Red PBEM orders file. This is the file that the Red player should zip and forward to the Blue player.
 
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Tripler

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Strangely, I'll get to the opening screen, click "Two Players - Play by Mail", then click "Red" as my team, and select "Saved Game".

It'll then ask me to open up the *.tac, *.bms, *.rms file of my choice. When I click on the *.bms file I was sent, it asks me for a password.

MajorH, according to your description, I ought to be opening up the *.bmo file (which he also sent), but it won't let me.

Am I doing something wrong?
 

Rattler

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Tripler said:
Strangely, I'll get to the opening screen, click "Two Players - Play by Mail", then click "Red" as my team, and select "Saved Game".

It'll then ask me to open up the *.tac, *.bms, *.rms file of my choice. When I click on the *.bms file I was sent, it asks me for a password.

MajorH, according to your description, I ought to be opening up the *.bmo file (which he also sent), but it won't let me.

Am I doing something wrong?
As you are playing red you will have to opent the red game file of cause (.rms ending). Into this file, once opened you load the blue orders (.bmo) by chosing "Receive orders # x" (under the file menu I think, dont have tacops open at the moment, x standing for the turn you are playing)

After you have loaded the blue orders file the engine is ready to proceed next turn (ctl-b), you give your orders and get prompted to save them (rmo) and your next game file (rms), after which you proceed loading the next bmo file (receive orders x+1) etc.

Does that clarify?
 

Tripler

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Rattler said:
As you are playing red you will have to opent the red game file of cause (.rms ending). Into this file, once opened you load the blue orders (.bmo) by chosing "Receive orders # x" (under the file menu I think, dont have tacops open at the moment, x standing for the turn you are playing)

After you have loaded the blue orders file the engine is ready to proceed next turn (ctl-b), you give your orders and get prompted to save them (rmo) and your next game file (rms), after which you proceed loading the next bmo file (receive orders x+1) etc.

Does that clarify?
I think it does. My opponent never sent me *.rms files. I see that that's what I need to open first. . .

Thanks!
Trip
 

MajorH

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I wonder if your problem with TacOps PBEM might be due to your having done PBEM before with some other game that just used a saved game file in the orders exchange process?

Read Chapter 16, "Play by Mail and Modem" in the TacOps User Guide (Guide - User.pdf). You may need to print just those few pages and refer to them step by step as you do this for the first few times. Once you get the hang of it, you will never need to think about it again.

On reflection, I probably ought to someday simplify the PBEM procedure so that only a single file is produced by the "Send Orders" menu item instead of producing both a saved game file and an orders file. I originally did it using two files because the saved game file was so much larger than the much smaller amount of info that could be transmitted as orders. Now that the program does saved game files in a compressed format there is probably no real reason to continue producing two files during PBEM.
 

MajorH

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>Strangely, I'll get to the opening screen, click "Two Players - Play by
>Mail", then click "Red" as my team, and select "Saved Game".
>It'll then ask me to open up the *.tac, *.bms, *.rms file of my choice.
>When I click on the *.bms file I was sent, it asks me for a password.

That is correct program behavior. At that point, since you are starting a new session of game play, the program wants you to load your last saved game file.

>MajorH, according to your description, I ought to be opening up the *.bmo
>file (which he also sent), but it won't let me.

You restart a new game session by loading your last saved game file (.bms or .rms) for the game in progress.

Then you select the "File/PBM Receive Orders" menu item and a window will appear that asks you to select your opponent's orders file (.bmo or .rmo).
 

MajorH

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Tripler said:
I think it does. My opponent never sent me *.rms files. I see that that's what I need to open first. . .
Your opponent should never send you a saved game file (.rms nor .bms ). Actually if he is playing Blue then it would be impossible for him to send you a .rms saved game file since his program in that state can only produce a .bms saved game file.

Your opponent should only send you orders files (.bmo or .rms), not saved game files (.bms or .rms).

If you are the Red player then you are the only one who can produce a .rms saved game file.

It really isn't as hard as it sounds once you get the hang of it.
 
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Tripler

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I took it upon myself to try to import orders to a random scenario, and I found out which one I was playing (as per an earlier post, I wanted to be blindsided). My opponent at the time never told me what I was going to be playing. So once I got the error message telling me what he was sending, I opened up a new scenario, made my unit changes, and sent him my RED Turn 1 Orders.

I haven't heard back from him yet, but I was able to import the orders he sent me.

Strange, but yes sir, MajorH, I think the PBEM could be simplified. I'm a simple man, and I had a hard time figuring things out--albeit they were complicated by the lack of communication.

Tripler
Thanks guys!
 

Tripler

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MajorH said:
That is correct program behavior. At that point, since you are starting a new session of game play, the program wants you to load your last saved game file.
I think this was half the problem. My opponent had opened up a game, gave his orders for Turn 1, and sent me his files for Turn 1. Me, never having opened up any scenario, had no idea what to open, and thus had no "last saved game file" (basically leaving me on Turn 0).

Tripler
Maybe that'll clear a few things up.
 
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