Community challenge: Automated PBEM e-mailing

[Baalz]

Ok, here�s the script I was talking about. It includes a free lightweight sendemail.exe that I downloaded from here:
http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/

It�s set up to send your turns to the llamaserver, though that�s easy enough to change if you want to use it for a different PBEM game. It uses a free gmail account I set up for sending the mail, so no need to configure anything. New turns will still be sent to the email address you used to join the game (you won�t get confirmation emails though, those are sent to the gmail account which sends the turns). The script assumes you download your turns into the same place every time, my example below is c:\downloads, but feel free to put it wherever you like and change that path as necessary.

Unzip the zip into wherever you like, my example assumes it�s put in c:\utils, but again put it wherever you want. Now, you need to collect the following information for the game you�re playing:

(1) location of your download directory (ie c:\downloads)
(2) location of your dominions 3 directory (ie �c:\program files\dominion3�)
(3) the game name of your nation. This will be of the form <era>_<name>, so for example late_arcoscephale. If you�re unsure what this name should be, just look at the .trn file you received.
(4) The game name. If you�re unsure, just launch dominions and see what the game name is from the in-game list (it�s possible this is different than what the llamaserver game name is)
(5) The location sendEmail.exe is (ie c:\utils)

*note: if any of the directories in (1), (2), or (5) contain spaces you need to enclose them in quotes (ie �c:\program files\dominion3�)

Next, right click on your desktop and choose new -> shortcut. In the box, type in �c:\utils\domturn.bat� (or whatever place you extracted the zip) followed by (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5). For example, my shortcut for the sloth game I�m in looks like this:
C:\utils\domturn.bat c:\downloads "c:\program files\dominions" late_arcoscephale sloth c:\utils

Name your shortcut to the game name to make it easy to keep track of, and if you feel like it you can even change the icon to be the dominions one through the properties menu.

Now all you need to do to take your turn is download your turn into your default download directory, doubleclick on the shortcut you created, take the turn and close dominions. Note � the script does launch a DOS window, you can ignore it unless you don�t want the turn you�re taking to be emailed in which case just close it (hit the x in the top right) before you exit dominions (if you�re running in full screen mode, just hit alt-tab to bring up the DOS window so you can close it).

Now that you�ve got it set up, it�s super easy to configure another game. Just copy the shortcut, right click, properties, and change the nation (ie late_arcoscephale) and game name (ie sloth). That�s it.

Notes:
The script moves your trn file from your downloads directory so that you won�t have to overwrite it the next time you download your turn (this also helps if you happen to be playing the same nation in more than one game). It works fine if you rerun it without downloading a new turn, it simply uses your old turn file so you can update your orders, it�ll resend when you�re done the same way as if it was a new turn.

To anyone looking into the script and wondering why I do an excessive amount of cd�ing, it�s to resolve potential spaces in the path names, cd resolves things like ""c:\program files\dominions3"\savedgames\sloth" for you when you don�t know how many quotes to expect.

Feel free to modify and/or repost this however you like.