Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Very nice summary, Jimbob.

It also supports automatic execution of turns after a specified duration. Unfortunately, because of some issues with command line, unattended operation (of the se4.exe program) with v1.30 and v1.35, the system must remain in beta and without automatic turn execution enabled.

The problem is related to the fact that the se4.exe program pops up dialog boxes (there is no player file, the player file is the wrong turn, etc) to which you must click "OK" or such before the turn will be processed.

Until the program is completely hands off in [em]all[/em] circumstances, the server requires hand holding (someone must click these boxes) and is not very reliable.

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Additional changes today include several bug fixes, complete integration of message forums, the ability to have nice user names (such as on this forum but even more flexible), etc.

Still waiting on fixes to the se4.exe program to allow it to be run reliably in a server environment prior to opening it up to general use.

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

What is going on with this, it is down again.....

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

It isn't down as far as I am able to tell, nor has it gone down due to a crash or other reason. The Users were wiped, however, so you will have to re-register (as it says in big red letters on the main page).

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

All beta testers,
I have a new game set up....

[This message has been edited by Dracus (edited 29 April 2001).]

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

I have a test game open now in each Version, will be starting weds. anyone is open to join with multiple accounts, one of the ideas is to generate some RCEs so that we can develop either a way for the server to handle it or to figure out what kind of manual inervention policy we can create.

ALSO, I would really like to see the PBEM helper working with the PBW server, so here is some feedback I recently posed to the PBEM Helper thread:


hey guys. I have been having some problems with the helper and sending out turns. here is what I have observed:

the MAPI mail features do not seem to work when another MAPI compliant mail client is open. at first I thought that multiple profiles were throwing it off, but it seems to work only when all other MAPI mail programs are closed.

The SMTP support seems to rely on having OPEN MAIL RELAYS. for those of you who dont know, this is generally considered a BAD practice and leads to spam portals, and is the very kind of thing those stupid nazis at ORBS go around DoS'ing fortune 500 companies for. basically what i am saying, is since the software is trying to drop mail onto an smtp server instead of actually logging onto (with username / pass) a POP mailbox, any properly configured SMTP server will only accept mail for local accounts, and therefore if i logged onto MY server, and tried to send mail to somewhere else, it would be denied since open relays are 'bad' and most SMTP ports are now only good for receiving mail.

..so, what I should be able to do is have it log on to my smtp server, send the mail to ME, and then I could forward it off to the correct destination with a POP, WEB, MAPI, or any other client in an ordinary fashion. when I tried this, the mail was not rejected as 'unknown address' or 'address not present locally' but instead I got some long string of output from the PBEM helpers smtp client window, and it scrolled by before I could read it, and the SMTP helpers error dialog stole context from me so I could not even access the scroll bars in the smtp dialogue.. so I cant figure out why that was not working, but I can tell you that it demonstrated the same behavior when talking to an exchange 5.5 and an exchange 2000 smtp server. I have not tried a sendmail server, if anyone would care to give this a shot, it would probably be helpful.

now dont get me wrong, this isnt a gripe. this is constructive input from the beta testing squad, and I have to appologize to the PBW guys out there that I have not been able to spend enough time on that service to put together the same level of feedback as I had promised, but hopefully when everything is fine-tuned, it will all be kosher pickles.

I think the PBEM Helper SMTP support may need to be changed to POP support if people dont have a mapi compatible client, but that still wont help the web-mail guys, whom are basically f-ed and will have to do it manually. the SMTP support would be perfect in conjunction with the play by web service though, since the SMTP server could just be pointed to the central web server that is hosting everything. that would even ensure faster turnaround and no email delay, since it would be dropped directly to the destination mail server from each player.

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Hey Puke and everyone,

There is no point in starting v1.35 games. That Version of the se4.exe program does not run any games from the command line at all. I've tested it now with about a half different games with about a hundred different turns.

So, you can only test it with v1.30 games. And the v1.30 Version of se4.exe will not work if any turn is missing OR the wrong turn (because it will pop up a dialog box).

I have heard no acknowledgement about these issues from either Shrapnel or Malfador. As the PBW system is useless until these are addressed (or at least, acknowledged and planned to be addressed) I have more or less ceased to enhance it's current level of functionality. I don't want to spend another several hundred hours making a system which will never work because the underlying se4.exe doesn't properly run.

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Oh one more thing on POP, Puke...

POP does not support sending of mail (at least, not per the standard I am aware of, there may be proprietary extensions for it). IMAP does, and SMTP does. Most ISPs provide a non-open SMTP relay server for their clients.

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Admiral:
Oh one more thing on POP, Puke...

POP does not support sending of mail (at least, not per the standard I am aware of, there may be proprietary extensions for it). IMAP does, and SMTP does. Most ISPs provide a non-open SMTP relay server for their clients.

Cheers,

Admiral<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

oh thats right... dialup ISPs can have internal servers only visible to their clients, i forgot about that. i tend to use between 3 and 5 different services thru any given day, so anything i want to access needs to be visible through the public net. i guess people will need to either use an internal server, or use VPN then. and you are right, pop is incoming (to client) only - i had thought it might do something since it supports authentication, alas i was wrong.

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Looking for as many players to join a game to start next week (Monday 7th May).

Please join and play.
It will be full tech, maximum bonus and 5000 race points. If we can squeeze 20 players in, it'll be fun (a bloodbath, but fun).

Visit : http://seiv.admiral.com/index.html
To register, the interface is fairly easy to navigate. The game will be called Sardines.

Sticking with SE4 Version 1.30 for the time being until some of the 1.35 bugs are ironed out.
Thanks for your time.

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Quite a few updates to Play by Web this week.

The system is now very stable, and as long as the Users stay within the parameters of the bugs in the current 1.30 Version, works quite well (that is, don't upload corrupted .plr files or the wrong turn).

The system now has many administrative capabilities and unusual circumstances should be more easily resolved.

I would say the system is ready for primetime, but until the command line se4.exe problems are fixed, it will have to stay in beta.

I hope this is useful to the community, and I appreciate your support to date.

Thanks,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

The Play by Web server is now fully functional!

It can recover from almost all errors by the se4.exe program, a contributor (Georgig) wrote a work-around "auto-click" program, and administration is fully functional.

The system is almost ready to leave Beta stage and enter Gamma or even limited production.

Lots left to do on the "to do" list, but they're increasingly only "nice to have" rather than "must have" features.

Cheers,

Admiral

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

Does this mean it works with the 1.35 patch??
Or is it still 1.30 only??

Re: SEIV: Play by Web
 

1.35 does not work. This is not something that can be worked around; it is simply completely broken, rather than inconvenient.