Dolphin - EA game - restarted

llamabeast · #1 August 29th, 2007, 11:06 AM

Oh hang on, I don't understand the bug. Presumably if you send in a turn for the wrong game (let's say you intended to send a turn for game A but sent one for game B), it just accepts it as a valid turn for B and sends you a receipt back. How is it meant to know that you intended to send it a 2h for game A? Just run it past me again, I'm probably being a bit slow.

Baalz · #2 August 29th, 2007, 11:22 AM

Here's exactly the behavior I saw.
Take a turn for Dolphin, submit it correctly.
Receive receipt for Dolphin.
Take turn for Allegiance, accidentally include Dolphin's turn in reply rather than Allegiance.
Receive no receipt or problem notice.
Dolphin hosts correctly, Allegiance stales (I didn't notice that I never received a receipt until after the stale).

So, presumably at some point my Allegiance turn submission was rejected (it was the wrong nation, wrong era, wrong turn, etc.), but I didn't get a notice. Seems like you indicated I should get a notice if the turn was rejected, but I didn't so seems like a bug. Also, my suggestion above (which may not be necessary if you catch this type of error elsewhere) was to check that the attachment name "early_sauromatia.trn" matched the subject line "Dolphin, Sauromatia turn 21".

llamabeast · #3 August 29th, 2007, 11:35 AM

Ah, now the thing is that the llamaserver doesn't look at the subject line at all. I always send my turns in with blank subject lines. It only works out what game the turn is for by looking at the file itself. So it has no way of knowing that you sent it a different file than you intended to.

As for the receipt I would be willing to bet that you received a second receipt for Dolphin, but didn't take any notice of it, assuming it was an erroneous repeat or something. Try it next time.

I'm not quite sure what change I can make to improve this situation. I don't want it to look at the e-mail's subject line you see, since that increases the faff factor for using the server significantly. Sending blank e-mails with just the attachment is very convenient.

Baalz · #4 August 29th, 2007, 12:25 PM

So I'm curious, if it doesn't look at the subject line how does it know what game I'm submitting a turn for? Its not the case now, but potentially I could be playing the same nation same era on two different games.

It's possible I got a second receipt for Dolphin and didn't notice, I'll test this out tonight when I get home.

llamabeast · #5 August 29th, 2007, 12:30 PM

So, if it finds a 2h file it sticks it in a directory called savedgames/test and gets Dominions to verify it ('dom3 --verify test'). This produces a .chk file, which gives a few lines of useful info. Crucially it gives a 'game number' which is lots of digits long and unique to a particular game, and a turn number - so that's enough information. This also has the advantage that it checks that the file isn't corrupt or anything in the process.

Baalz · #6 August 29th, 2007, 12:48 PM

Ah, cool, I misunderstood how that was working. I had thought the subject line was important, but since I don't need anything other than the .2h file I think I'll just write a script myself which launches the game then automatically emails the turn to llamaserver.net afterwards so I won't have to do (or screw up) anything manually.

llamabeast · #7 August 29th, 2007, 12:54 PM

Sounds like a cunning plan.

It's extremely convenient actually that Dominions has the 'verify' action and can recognise what games 2h files are for and so on - it reduces the possibility for errors hugely. Thanks Johan!

parcelt · #8 August 31st, 2007, 12:34 PM

Would it be possible to postphone or work with a 48hr hosting schedule over the labor day weekend?

Ubercat · #9 August 31st, 2007, 06:36 PM

Quote:

parcelt said:
Would it be possible to postphone or work with a 48hr hosting schedule over the labor day weekend?

When do you want the turn to process again?

Sensori · #10 September 1st, 2007, 10:10 AM

So now I have Abysia AND Sauromatia going to be breathing down my neck. Obviously the Abysian magmamen are too idiotic to realize that Sauromatia is a much larger threat than the Lankans, a threat that grows by every passing turn as they gain more and more lands which Abysia cannot even touch, but who has ever accused them of having brains in the first place? Indeed, I am quite sure that Abysia will succumb to Sauromatia just as Vanheim did, just as Yomi is, and just as I will. In fact, I hereby pledge that I shall fight the Abysians to the best of my ability, while letting the Sauromatians take over the heartlands of Lanka! If they wish to help Sauromatia grow even larger, I shall grant them that wish.

Well, I guess that's it for me. I'll be going AI... But not just yet.