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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Decisive Battles: Korsun Pocket >> Korsun Pocket Support >> PBEM trouble

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PBEM trouble - 6/27/2004 7:55:42 PM

Dusty Rumble

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/11/2004
Status: offline

Hi, can you help me? I'm new to KP and I think I may have messed up my game totally. Someone wanted to play me a secure game, I didn't even know what that meant but I said sure and he sent me a turn. Anyway I started playing but quit after a few moves. I wanted to start a new pbem game with someone else but it wouldn't let me do it so I uninstalled the game and re-installed it. That unfortunately also wiped out the secure turn file I had previously been playing but it still wouldn't let me start a new game... and now there is no way to finish the secure turn. After a few days something must have reset because now I can start another email game, the trouble now is that the autosender will not come up and my turns don't get sent. When I try to re-install the game the installation quits half way and I get an error message that this file "C:\Matrix Games\Korsun Pocket\gmdata\Menu1.ttf" is active and can't be replaced. I assume that's the security file. I can find it on my computer but I can't shut it down or delete it. I've read all these posts and my problem is not that the file name is too long. I tried to send myself a game with the filename "test" and it didn't autosend either. Please help, I'd really like to start playing this game again.

Post #: 1

RE: PBEM trouble - 6/28/2004 12:14:42 AM

JSS

Posts: 781
Joined: 10/15/2003
Status: offline

Auto emailer is there for your convenience; you can still send turn files as attachments (yahoo, hotmail, etc... users have to do this normally).

--> To attach turn file to email go to .../korsun pocket/saveemail/send/

==> The send folder is where you'll find the .dkp file to email to your opponent.

If you still have the "resume secure email game" button being active and thus preventign new secure games from being played, send me a PM here or at the Run5 forum.

JSS

(in reply to Dusty Rumble)

Post #: 2

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/5/2004 9:12:06 PM

Dusty Rumble

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/11/2004
Status: offline

That works) Thanks for the reply. Is there any way to get the automailer to work again?

(in reply to JSS)

Post #: 3

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/10/2004 8:11:35 PM

marc420

Posts: 224
Joined: 9/23/2002
From: Terrapin Station
Status: offline

Hmmm, don't seem to be able to make a new thread here ... at least the button doesn't respond. So let me try piggybacking onto this thread.

I'm trying to start my first PBEM game. Its part of the Run5 Wolf tourney, so its a secure game.

I can start the email game, and play the first turn. Then when I end the turn, things get interesting.

I'm using MSN as my ISP (yuck, don't go there). So I'm using a strange version of Hotmail basically as my email. No Pop3 connections provided. Just a warped version of IE that seems to basically contact Hotmail for my email.

I've seen other mentions on forums that KP will save a .dkp file that can be sent to your opponent if you don't have MAPI mail.

But I can't find a .dkp file anywhere. What I'm getting in my SaveEmail\Save folder is a .eml file. If I click on it, its associated with the Outlook Express program that's on my machine and I can't use with this ISP.

I've tried several options in trying change this. I've left my opponents email addy blank, I've left both email addys blank, I've pressed Exit and Restart instead of Exit and Send. In all tests, I still get the .eml file.

I've tried seeing if I could do anything with the .eml file. If I try to take the contents of the file, and save it as a .dkp file, it shows up in the email games when I put this file in the Play folder. But if I try to restart that game by using one of those files, I immediately crash to the desktop.

Any ideas or suggestions on how to get this first turn off to my opponenent? At this point, I'm stumped.

I think I like the idea of having the game automatically send the emails, but at this point for me its really just causing a mess. Any chance of having an option to just save the turn file and let me send it on normally?

_____________________________

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ~George Washington

(in reply to Dusty Rumble)

Post #: 4

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/10/2004 8:36:09 PM

elmo3

Posts: 5820
Joined: 1/22/2002
Status: offline

The .dkp file should be in your ...\Save Email\Send folder. You should be able to zip it and manually send it to your opponent. Try sending an email to the guys at SSG support if the file isn't there:

support@ssg.com.au

(in reply to marc420)

Post #: 5

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/11/2004 2:49:51 AM

alexs

Posts: 417
Joined: 8/27/2003
From: Sydney
Status: offline

Hi Marc,
This problem is generally related to the filename length. Can you try setting all the player settings correctly, and change the filename to "A1" only (ie only 2 letters). This will tell us whether the filename is the issue here or not.
Basically the sequence is this - a raw .eml file is created (which is not an email file, only a raw data file so this is why outlook express cannot read it). Then the file is compacted and secured to form a .DKP file - and if the filename is greater than around 8 characters this will not work - so you are left with the .EML file as in your case (which there is no way to read).
The DKP file is created before the email client settings are created so this should not be the problem.
Let me know how you go with the shortened filename.

Regards
AlexS
SSG

_____________________________

AlexS
SSG
Support@ssg.com.au

(in reply to elmo3)

Post #: 6

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/11/2004 9:08:29 PM

marc420

Posts: 224
Joined: 9/23/2002
From: Terrapin Station
Status: offline

Well that worked.

You may need to stop telling people the limit is 8 char. I did four tests using filenames like

inttest1
inttest2
inttest3
inttest4

Whatever the limit is, 8 char doesn't work on my machine. So I guess I know 2 char works and 8 char doesn't. Guess I'm naming my tourney game W1.

Thanks for the help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_____________________________

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ~George Washington

(in reply to alexs)

Post #: 7

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/29/2004 12:31:42 PM

Le Saxon

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/29/2004
Status: offline

All right, this explains everything.
I started my first PBEM game of Korsun Pocket yesterday, and the program just stopped after producing the .eml file as explained earlier in this thread.

Is there a way I can make the Korsun resume the processing of that file and convert the .eml into .dkp?

Please?

I played three hours for this first turn yesterday. After it failed, I quickly did another attempt that worked. So tonight I played 2 hours on my turn, but I didn't know that the filename length was important yet. So it failed again.

Please please please, provide us a way to convert those .eml files into .dkp!!!
(And do not forget to fix the filename limitation issue, of course.)

Cheers,

Eric

(in reply to marc420)

Post #: 8

RE: PBEM trouble - 7/30/2004 11:19:39 AM

Le Saxon

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/29/2004
Status: offline

Well, it seems that my problem is NOT some 8 character limits, as an opponent of mine started a game with me with a longer filename.

Now I wonder if it was not because I used underscore '_' characters.
Korsun Pocket adds _sss_nn.dkp to the basename, where sss is the side to play (Ald or Axs), and nn is turn number.
Maybe I confused KP with the underscore characters that I used.

In all cases, I found a way to finish the processing of my move, from .eml to .dkp.

ERRATUM: This recipe is not sufficient, read my next post if you are trying to rescue your turn stored in an .eml file!

1) Go to your "Korsun Pocket\SaveEmail\Send" directory.
2) Copy the .eml file to another name that you think will work, but preserve the last part of it.
Example: from "The_Longest_Winter_Ald_01.eml" to "TLW_Ald_01.eml".
3) Open the properties for that file (push the right mouse button for the context menu)
and make it READ ONLY. That will prevent Korsun Pocket from overwritting it later.
4) Start Korsun Pocket. Start a PBEM game as before, but this time, for the above example, enter "TLW"
as the filename, instead of "The_Longest_Winter".
5) Start turn 1 and end your turn immediately. Hit "exit and send".
The program will fail to overwrite the read-only .eml file, but will succeed in reading it for the next step
that transforms it into a .dkp.

Et voil�! It's ready to be sent to your opponent!

:) Let's hope this recipe will work for you, too.

< Message edited by Le Saxon -- 8/1/2004 7:38:13 AM >

(in reply to Le Saxon)

Post #: 9

RE: PBEM trouble - 8/1/2004 9:36:11 AM

Le Saxon

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/29/2004
Status: offline

Well... I take this one back. It only partially worked.

My opponent received the .dkp file, was able to play his turn, but when he was done Korsun tried to save it under the old name and it failed as before: it stopped after generating the .eml file and could not generate the .dkp file.

There are two things to consider now:

1) To the "recipe" described in the previous post, you will have to add a step where you hack the .eml file. You need to find where the filename is, and replace it with the new name. This is not trivial, as you must not change the file size, etc. So my advice here is: RESTART THE GAME AND FIND A FILENAME THAT WORKS! I know, it sucks. I lost a lot of hours on this.

2) The other problem is that when you are in the middle of playing a PBEM turn, Korsun won't let you start another PBEM game. You have to finish it first. So here is what happened in my specific case: I managed to make Korsun convert the .eml file into a .dkp file, but because of (1) when he finished his turn Korsun failed again by stopping after the generation of the .eml file. At that point, his copy of Korsun could no longer play any PBEM game!!! Why? Because it failed to "release" the current PBEM game: it still thinks he is in the middle of playing his turn. I found that I could delete the files in my "Korsun Pocket\SaveEmail\Secure" directory to reset Korsun Pocket and play PBEM games again.

Good luck, field commanders,

Eric

(in reply to Le Saxon)

Post #: 10