SE 4: Hosting a game via internet? How To?

[Dethgod74]

Hi folks,

I could use a little help here. We are having some problems with the current way we are hosting our game, so I'd like to set up a test game and use it to test a new webserver.

I have a few questions I hope you can help me with.

1) I'd like to create a generic game with spots for FOUR human players. I think I've done this correctly, and I've saved those empires and named them for the player who owns them.

How do I get SE4 to start the game to create the game file needed for each player? I've seen a reference to 'HOST' mode, so how do you start SE4 in this HOST mode?

2) We found a free webserver that bascially published the \SAVEGAME dir in SE4 to the web. Players go to our website, click on the respective game dir, and upload or download their files.
When hosting the game in this fashion, what do I set the connection type to:

Manual File Moving
or
TCP/IP Host?

3) If all the above fails, I've seen something called PBW, which is what I will assume is Play By Web, and should be just like we are trying to do. What I'd like to know is, has someone come up with an EASY TO USE front end to host SE4 and 5 games in this fashion, and possibly, written a webserver especially for SE 4.

Thanks in advance and for all your time reading this!

Regards,

Rob aka dethgod74

[capnq]

Dethgod74 said: 1) I'd like to create a generic game with spots for FOUR human players. I think I've done this correctly, and I've saved those empires and named them for the player who owns them.

How do I get SE4 to start the game to create the game file needed for each player? I've seen a reference to 'HOST' mode, so how do you start SE4 in this HOST mode?

Create a New Game. On the Empires tab, use Add Existing to add the players' empires. IIRC, you also need to Edit each empire after the first to set them to Human Controlled (I'm not sure because I haven't done this myself in quite a long time.) If you are hosting the game via PBW, the empires MUST be added in the same order that they are listed on the Game Info page.

On the Game Mechanics tab, you need to set Different Machines and a name for the savegame file. (Do not add a file extension; SE will add .gam outmatically.) There may be other settings on that tab that I'm forgetting.

When all the other game parameters are set the way you want them, just Begin Game. SE will generate a .gam file for you to send to the players; it will be in the Savegame folder.

When you Load the .gam file into SE, you'll get a Login screen listing all the player empires plus Host. If you're doing your empire's turn, select your empire. When you finish your turn, SE will create a .plr file in the Savegame folder. Everybody sends their .plr file to the host.

Once the host has all the .plr files, Login as Host, then hit End Turn. Dialogue boxes will pop up if there are any problems. When the turn finishes processing, SE will save the resulting .gam file. Distibute that to the players, and repeat.

2) We found a free webserver that bascially published the \SAVEGAME dir in SE4 to the web. Players go to our website, click on the respective game dir, and upload or download their files.
When hosting the game in this fashion, what do I set the connection type to:

Manual File Moving
or
TCP/IP Host?

That sounds like Manual to me, but I've never done it, so I'm not sure.

3) If all the above fails, I've seen something called PBW, which is what I will assume is Play By Web, and should be just like we are trying to do. What I'd like to know is, has someone come up with an EASY TO USE front end to host SE4 and 5 games in this fashion, and possibly, written a webserver especially for SE 4.

Yes, it's called Play-By-Web. Seriously, I don't know of anything you need to do that PBW doesn't already handle. The only advantage I can see to running your own Web server is that you can do the maintenance yourself if it goes down.

capnq
PBW admin

[douglas]

Dethgod74 said:3) If all the above fails, I've seen something called PBW, which is what I will assume is Play By Web, and should be just like we are trying to do. What I'd like to know is, has someone come up with an EASY TO USE front end to host SE4 and 5 games in this fashion, and possibly, written a webserver especially for SE 4.

Play By Web is EXACTLY what you're looking for. I have never had trouble figuring out how to use it, and it was designed and created by fans specifically for SE4. It has recently been expanded to also handle SE5, but that makes no difference for people playing SE4.

How to host an SE4 game on the internet:

Step 1: Go to Play By Web and register. Use a real email address, it's required for some of PBW's functionality and will not be revealed to third parties.
Step 2: Create a new game on PBW, specifying whatever settings you want.
Step 3: Have all players register on PBW and join the game.
Step 4: Have all players create an empire file. To do so, they will have to click New Game on the main SE4 menu, set the Racial Points setting to whatever was announced, and create their empire just as if they were about to start the game then and there. No settings other than Racial Points matter for this. Once the empire is finished, select it on the list and click Save To File. This will produce a .emp file that each player should upload to PBW.
Step 5: Once all players have uploaded their empire files, the game host can download them all and start the game. In SE4, create a new game, set all the settings to whatever was announced, make sure that Play Style is Different Machines, Turn Style is Simultaneous Movement, and Connection Type is Manual File Moving. Add the player-provided empires in the order the players are listed on PBW. Click Begin Game to produce the .gam file.
Step 6: Upload the .gam file produced in step 5 to PBW. PBW will then automatically email it (in a zip archive) to all players.
Step 7: Each player opens the game file (it can be downloaded direct from PBW as well as email), logs in, and plays his turn. When he hits End Turn, a .plr file will be made. Each player has to upload this file to PBW.
Step 8: Assuming the game is set to Fully Automatic turns on PBW, PBW will automatically process the turn when all .plr files are uploaded or the time limit expires, whichever comes first, and email the new turn to all players.
Repeat Steps 7 and 8 until the game is over.

PBW can also be set to process the turn only when all .plr files are uploaded, only when the time limit expires, or only when the game host tells it to.

[Suicide Junkie]

A good tip:
When creating your empire file, be sure to put a password on it before uploading

State Secrets need to remain secret.

[capnq]

douglas said: Step 4: Have all players create an empire file. To do so, they will have to click New Game on the main SE4 menu, set the Racial Points setting to whatever was announced, and create their empire just as if they were about to start the game then and there. No settings other than Racial Points matter for this.

One other thing matters. If you're using a mod, the empires have to be created with that mod. I'm not sure an .emp from the wrong mod will even load, but if it does, all kinds of weirdness may occur.

[Fyron]

You can load an empire file in another mod so long as the mods have exactly the same number of racial traits, and you haven't spent too many points given the costs in the mod. If any traits in those slots have completely different functions, you will get a weird set of traits, but it will be predictable based on the file ordering. If you try to load a stock empire file in P&N, Proportions, etc., which have different amounts of traits, you will get an error message.