PBEM System upgrade

[IainMcNeil]

Hi guys

we are going to be upgrading the PBEM system to automate any warnings for players who have download their turns multiple times. If you start to receive these mails don't worry - this is all working as intended but you'll need to fix your internet connection to avoid getting them as repeated warnings could result in you getting banned from multiplayer. We've had the system running on Battle Academy for some time and its very effective so it's time to roll it out here.

Enjoy!

[hidde]

you'll need to fix your internet connection

Fix what? How?

[IainMcNeil]

The warning occurs if you drop your connection during MP and the game fails to upload your turn.

[stockwellpete]

It is very good that you are going this, Iain.

[batesmotel]

So you 're saying that if someone has a sufficiently unreliable internet connection, they will be banned from multi player? Presumably the same could happen if a player has a system prone to crashing. My old laptop tended to overheat in warm weather and shutdown intermittently when playing FoG PC.

Chris

[TheGrayMouser]

Well, I think I have a very reliable ISP, however I dont always think the connection with Slitherine/FOGNET is always that reliable.. Once a week on average I complete a turn hit send and you get some code error with the option to cancel abort or retry, I usually pump retry 5-10 times and then it uploads the turn ....
Some amount of concern of "false positives".....

[FedeM]

That is a very good thing Ian.

But I have some questions: 1) When you make a retry after hitting send and for whatever reason the turn didn´t upload. Do you have to download it and play it again or it gets saved?
2) Wouldn´t be better to implement something that if you download your turn several times (shutting the PC or killing the game from the task manager of windows) your opponent gets the message that you are doing that and not yourself? Or maybe both? That way if someone likes can go on with the game or not.

Thanks for the help.

Federico

[stockwellpete]

I have now received the following e-mail . . .

"Dear stockwellpete,

We noticed you have downloaded some turns multiple times. If you are having any technical issues please report them to at www.slitherine.com/forum.
We'll do our best to resolve any issues and get you up and running ASAP.

Regards,

The Slitherine Team."

I am not sure why I have received it or what I need to do about it. I haven't had any problems submitting moves for some while now; occasionally I have had to re-submit a move in the past when there has been server problems of some description. Please advise.

Has anyone else received a similar e-mail?

[FedeM]

I received one. Could be about old re-downloads? Mars attack? I made some of them few weeks ago when I was checking the problem of the re-starts to submit the problem.

So this is working apparently. But as I mentioned the opponet should received an advice too. If not it's like been halfway...

Cheers!

[hidde]

I have now received the following e-mail . . .

"Dear stockwellpete,

We noticed you have downloaded some turns multiple times. If you are having any technical issues please report them to at http://www.slitherine.com/forum.
We'll do our best to resolve any issues and get you up and running ASAP.

Regards,

The Slitherine Team."

I am not sure why I have received it or what I need to do about it. I haven't had any problems submitting moves for some while now; occasionally I have had to re-submit a move in the past when there has been server problems of some description. Please advise.

Has anyone else received a similar e-mail?

Oh, yes!
But that was about Battle Academy. Like you I hadn't had any problems. Iain wrote somewhere those were some kind of test and could be ignored.
Don't know if yours is the same.
I very seldom have problems with my connection but I still is quite sceptic about this...the risk of point the finger at someone innocent.

[stockwellpete]

It is very good that Slitherine are doing this, Anders and Federico. I think that we just have to let them know how it is being experienced by the players. often there are teething troubles with new features.

[FedeM]

I agree with you Pete. In fact Ive been asking them to find a way to avoid restarts but as I say I think that both players needs to be noticed that something weird happened. Of course yu can have accidents with connections, etc, and do not do it on purpose so if that happens from time to time I guess it won't be a problem. But If this happens too often and maybe on crucial moments of the game, well yu can pick who to play and who not.

Cheers!

[Tiavals]

I've got the multiple download email too. Which is strange, since I don't generally have problems with my connection. I'll have to wait and see if it happens in the future, and if it does, I suppose I'll have to find out what's wrong.

Unless it's because I use my normal computer and my laptop both to play the game, and since I have the same account, perhaps I have downloaded the turns on both computers? Or does it download the turn only after I choose a game to make a turn for? It'd be nice if there was a window that showed the download progress, since it would be easier to know where the error happened, like if it shows when and which game you downloaded the turns multiple times.

I actually got the email twice, both of them yesterday, spaced some 10 hours apart. The first time I got it, I hadn't used my laptop during the day yet, so I received it from my main computer turns(though I'm not sure I was actually online at that point, I'll have to check my email time settings). The second time it was with the laptop, and I had played quite a few turns in between. Since it was likely that I had the same problem with different machines, it seems unlikely that they're unrelated. Then again, I guess I might have a problem with my internet connection overall. Worth investigating.

[Tiavals]

I posted my problem in more detail in the Tech Support forum. It seems there's something really wrong with my connection, or the system.

Basically I got this message:

The server tracks all actions taken by all users in the PBEM++ system and we notice that you have consistently downloaded your turns multiple times.
Please contact technical support via www.slitherine.com/forum to resolve the issue or you may find you are unable to continue to use the PBEM++ server system.

So I guess I might have been terribly wrong with my earlier assessment about it being unlikely there's anything wrong with my connection. Problem is, I have no clue what could be wrong and how to repair it. I don't drop during the turn I make, at least to my knowledge, I start my turn and end it without any problems on my end, yet I get these messages. I don't want to be banned.

[hidde]

I've had the message once when playing Battle Academy and I had no problem with connection either. I can't be absolutely sure I didn't saved the game and returned later but I don't think so.
I very seldom do.
As I mentioned earlier I think Iain wrote they were testing it and the message could be ignored. But as I understand it's official now and the oddities seems to continue.
If they can clear this I can agree with Fedem that giving a notice to both players could be fine. Then they can sort it out or the player not getting the message can decide if he thinks it's justified and chose not to play against the offender. Banning is harsh and even if this sort of problem are sorted out there can always be natural causes for a disconnection.

[FedeM]

I only had the email once on March 17th. After that I didnt received any more emails.

[FedeM]

The warning occurs if you drop your connection during MP and the game fails to upload your turn.

Now a stupid question: I assume that if you kill the process of the game from the task manager of windows it is considered a drop of the connection. Im right?

Anyway if someone wants to play a game and make a couple of restarts to check how is this working drop me a message. I suppose we wont get banned for 2 or 3 of them

Cheers!

[mikul82]

I've gotten 3 of the same emails already as well. Sometimes I open a turn and can't play it through so close it to return to later, not sure if that is the case here or not, don't think I've accepted any challenges the last several days but have issued quite a few.

I'd rather take my chances with cheaters online (also did not know this was possible) than risk being banned when I haven't done anything.

Edit: This email is what I meant above:
The server tracks all actions taken by all users in the PBEM++ system and we notice that you have consistently downloaded your turns multiple times.
Please contact technical support via www.slitherine.com/forum to resolve the issue or you may find you are unable to continue to use the PBEM++ server system.

[IainMcNeil]

Obviously this system was added to prevent any cheating by replaying turns. We expect the occaisional glitch and this is fine you will not be penalised and it's easy to tell the difference between real behaviour and cheating so don't worry. Keep playing normally and you'll be fine. Just be aware we know exactly when you've lost connection and redownloaded your turn. We can see the game, the opponent, the turn, the number of download attempts on a per turn basis etc

We've been trakcing this data for some time and in Battle Academy we found the number of people that had internet connection issues dropped to almost nothing after they were aware we were aware.

[Turk1964]

It would be very interesting to know what percentage there are of cheats out there.Honestly i cant see the point if you have to win by cheating dont bother i say. The best ones are those whom tell you" oh my tactics were better "that explains a whole turn of bad dice . I dont think so