Message sending bug

gwichman · #1 January 2nd, 2002, 08:25 PM

Well I definetly have a bug i'm getting regularly in SEIV though its not clear to me what to do about it. Makes it really difficult to play.

In a MP game i'm playing, my empire can't send Messages to either of my two partners, but they can send me Messages. For the past two weeks now, both of them have been trying to gift me technology every other day. Each time i get the message and click "accept" and return my msg. But then nothing happens. No tech is ever gifted.

So this Last turn i tried something different. I initiated a "trade" instead of them initiating the gifts. Neither of my trades to either of them were received. It's like Messages are only going one way. Both of them can talk to one another just fine. There is a 4th party also having difficulty trading.

Someone suggested i send a save game to the creaters to help the squish the bug but i really dont know what save game to send. Do i run a turn where i create a msg and send that to them? Or the following day when the message doesn't go through, send them the results turn?

Am i the only one having this problem? Makes the game really hard to play. It's no wonder other empires are ignoring me. They never get my Messages!

geoschmo · #2 January 2nd, 2002, 09:01 PM

Hmmm, I have heard of people having intermittant problems with this, but never with it happening consistantly like you seem to be describing. None of your Messages ever get through?

Malfador would need the .gam file and your empire password and the game master password. I don't know whether or not your .plr file would be useful to them. It wouldn't hurt to send it along too.

Is this a PBW game? If so which game and what empire are you? I'd like to take a peek at it too. I don't have the access that Malfador does to the base code, but I can help make sure it's not some weird thing like your .plr file is being ignored for some reason.

Geoschmo
PBW Admin Team

gwichman · #3 January 2nd, 2002, 09:16 PM

Yes its "TheBigOne" and my empire is "Melnibone" (player Yrrkoon).

My ships and everything else work fine. Just the Messages don't.

And it wasn't always a problem. Early on, one of the two partners i mentioned above I traded with regularly without a problem. A few weeks ago (2-3?) i noticed msgs started dissappearing. As time has progressed, I notice it seems to be only in one direction as I noted below. Also another player in the same game is having the exact same problem. Occasionally a message does seem to go through for him but it typically takes many many attempts.

capnq · #4 January 2nd, 2002, 10:33 PM

quote:
Someone suggested i send a save game to the creaters to help the squish the bug but i really dont know what save game to send. Do i run a turn where i create a msg and send that to them? Or the following day when the message doesn't go through, send them the results turn?

I'd suggest sending the .gam file from before you send the message, the .plr file in which you send the message, and the .gam file after the message should have been received.

geoschmo · #5 January 3rd, 2002, 12:35 AM

Gwichman,

Ok, I can confirm the symtoms sort of, although I cannot determine the cause for sure. I cannot decode the .plr file to determine what SE4 thinks you are clicking on or typing. All I can do is process the turns offline using your .plr file and when I do this your allies do not receive any message from you. So whatever the problem is it's reproducable to a point. It's not a glitch of the host processing or anything PBW is doing to the game. (As I suspected, but I wanted to confirm it)

What I cannot confirm though is that it's not some type of misclick on your part. Don't take this as any kind of criticism, I am merely going through all the possibilities here. I have played in a lot of games, and I can tell you that it's a very easy thing to misclick. Especially in the empire message screen because you get very little in the way of feedback if you click something incorrectly.

The "Send Message" button is right on top of the "Cancel" button, and you get no "are you sure?" prompt when you hit cancel. I have done it more than once myself. The only thing I could suggest there is to go back to the empires screen after replying to or sending a message. If you clicked "Cancel" it will still say "Gift offered" or something like that. If you click on "Send Message" that changes to "Message Sent".

When I run the turns in question controlling your empire and accepting the gift, the other empire receives a message. That's not confirmation that you misclicked, just confirming that it is possible for you to send a message to them. It could still be some kind of bug that's happening at your end and messing up the .plr file. Again, I'm just trying to cover all the possibilities.

Since it is happening so frequently to you, I would suggest running a few more turns, very carefully making sure you click on "Send Message" and not "Cancel", and double check that it changes to "Message Sent" when you do. If the problem continues, send a game file and the .plr files to Malfador to have them look at it. They may be able to decode your .plr file in some way.

Geoschmo

Puke · #6 January 3rd, 2002, 01:29 AM

i have seen a similar problem in other games, and have heard of others having the same problem. it seems to be related to pathing, or the games ability to determine who is connected to whom. in Smash TV, we got around the problem by opening wormholes directly from one home system to another, and then everyone could recieve Messages again.

Slaughtermeyer · #7 January 3rd, 2002, 01:43 AM

The bug has stricken me but I remember that replying to that trade proposal that did not get through was the very first thing that I did when doing my turn. Maybe if you want till the end of your turn and do your Messages Last it might help things.

gwichman · #8 January 3rd, 2002, 03:23 AM

geo - thanks much for looking into it. I agree it's easy to screw up a message but in fact i've been careful all to many times. It's been going on that long. I always confirm that me empire screens show the neccessary "message sent" and whatnot as I did again this time with today's turn.

One recourse I could try it uninstalling the game and reinstalling it from scratch, patching it, and running my turn. I'd be curious to see if this corrects the problem. Maybe it's some kind of degenerative thing that happens? I'll give it a shot tonight. Since it worked for you to send a message it seems likely it's something specific with my installation of SE4

If that doesn't work, the Last thing to do other then reordering when i actually click my Messages (i've probably done that anyways by now) I guess is start sending game files.

I'll keep you posted on what happens tonight after the reinstall.

geoschmo · #9 January 3rd, 2002, 05:06 AM

It could be as Slaughtermeyer said and doing the message Last makes a difference. I was pretty much just doing a message, so it would have been Last.

I don't think in your case it haad anything to do with pathing as all the systems were pretty well connected IIRC.

Geoschmo

gwichman · #10 January 3rd, 2002, 05:13 AM

true.. i removed and reinstalled SE4 and applied the latest patch. Then redid my turn and uploaded it. Guess we'll see if that helps at all when the game runs tonight. Will post results tomorrow