Does anyone know - if 2 people PBEM without exchanging the .cmt file but rather only the .dat file, will it work? It seems to have worked for one round of play. Will it eventually fail/crash?
It might work, but I wouldnt take the chance really...
What use would it be anyway? The cmt file is *tiny* compared to the dat file, and if you use for instance PBEM Helper to do the manual work in sending you wouldnt need to think about it anyway.
I have an ini file for PBEM Helper if you're interested
It would be silly not to put both in the zip you send to the opponent.
It is small, and it contains the name of the scenario which could be useful in sorting out which zipped up game is which.
Technically it would only be needed for the initial exchange to associate the save game name with the save slot, but best not to take risks for a 200 byte or so file.