View Full Version : How does one PBM?
Coldstream
03-15-2004, 12:22
Sorry but I couldn't find a how-to on how this all works. Looks all very interesting and I do enjoy writing from time to time and I've been having this hankering to dip my quill and have a go at it.
Cheers.
The_Emperor
03-15-2004, 12:45
Its quite simple really, one player starts off a campaign (usually the host plays the first reign).
A list of players is created, then when the player's king dies the savegame file is Zipped and uploaded to the Org's filespace. He then writes up the events of his reign for all to see.
A title is given to his king to reflect his reign A historical example of such a title is King Edward I The Hmmer of the Scots for his brutal campaigns in Scotland.
The next player on the list downloads the .ZIP file extracts it to his savegame folder, and continues the campaign for the duration of his King's lifespan... He then uploads it for the next guy when done, write up his reign, gets his own title, etc.
Sometimes the host may decide to put some rules in a game, such as: avoid excommunication these are especially common in the GA Mode games and to keep the campaign going for a long while.
Here is a link to the uploader.
The PBEM Uploader (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/pbmupload.php)
And here is a link to the Filespace containing the current savegames.
Org PMEM Files (http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm)
MODERATOR EDIT:
Further explanation of downloading and uploading saves:
One of the forum sticky's ("A file space for PBM") gives this link:
http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/pbmupload.php
Click on this and you can either:
a) download existing savegames. You do this by clicking the "view upload directory link" and then clicking on the savegame of your choice.
or
b) upload your own savegame. You do this by clicking the "browse" button, finding your file (please zip them first) and then clicking the "upload" button.
A few other pointers:
- It is good to post screenshots. These should be in jpg format. TW produces TGA format screenshots. These can be saved as jpg using packages such as Irfanview, which is available freely on the web. Reduce screenshots to 75% size so that people can view the thread easily without scrolling. Screenshots can be hosted by services such as Imageshack. If you have trouble taking screenshots in RTW (black screens etc), then you can use a package such as FRAPS, also available freely on the web. [1]
- It is bad form to sign up for a PBM and then disappear; even worse if you disappear with the savegame. Everyone understands that real life takes priority, but keep communicating while playing the PBM (e.g. post every couple of days) and pass on your turn if you just don't have time.
- To conserve space, only upload *.ZIP or *.RAR savegames to the Org uploader. Packages to zip and unzip these formats are freely available on the web.
[1] A more explicit guide to taking and hosting screenshots:
(1) I use FRAPS to take screenshots. FRAPS is a free programme you can download from the web. RTWs screenshot function should work as well, but gives me all black TGAs. FRAPS is very easy to use: download & install it, then run it before each RTW game and during the game you can press F10 whenever you want a screenshot.
(2) Screenshots are saved in TGA format and are rather big. So I edit them with Irfranview to reduce them to 75% size and save them as JPG. Irfranview is a free programme you can download from the web. Many other packages would do as well.
(3) Finally, I upload the jpgs on
http://www.imageshack.us/
Once you've browsed to your jpg and clicked "host it", imageshack will take you to a list of various links you can copy into your post. I find the one they list as "hotlink for forums (2)" works fine, so just cut and paste that link into Org post and you are done.
FURTHER MODERATOR EDIT: WotS or Will of the Senate Style Games
The type of PBM that the the Emperor describes in this post is sometimes called a "succession game". A variant which has become popular was first tried in the "Will of the Senate" (WotS) RTR PBM here in the Throne Room. It was then adopted in the "King of the Romans" (KotR) M2TW PBM.
What WotS style games add to standard succession games are:
(1) Devolved battles: Each player is represented by a general (avatar) and when that general gets into a battle, the controlling player fights the battle.
(2) Democracy: The player who runs the faction (typically for 10 or 20 turns) is elected by other players. These players can also vote on laws that dictate what the ruling player should and should not do during his time in office.
This style of play leads to more in character debate and, particularly in KotR, story-telling.
ShadesWolf
05-13-2004, 19:51
I think I will hang this on the wall, as they say http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Kongamato
06-01-2004, 20:56
I've got a question. I'm not experienced with campaigning in VI, and I am wondering if the save-between-battles option is bug-free enough to permit a PBM where people could play as generals, fighting their battles, saving, and e-mailing to the next general and so on. If played in something like the Late era with GA, this kind of PBM game might not become overly long and tedious. It would be worth a shot if, of course, there aren't any bugs in the way.
The_Emperor
06-02-2004, 14:12
Quote[/b] (Kongamato @ June 01 2004,20:56)]I've got a question. I'm not experienced with campaigning in VI, and I am wondering if the save-between-battles option is bug-free enough to permit a PBM where people could play as generals, fighting their battles, saving, and e-mailing to the next general and so on. If played in something like the Late era with GA, this kind of PBM game might not become overly long and tedious. It would be worth a shot if, of course, there aren't any bugs in the way.
You know I think there is a bug whereby when a game is loaded from a pre-battle save that you will not get any production for the year that you loaded it...
As such you may have difficulty building up an empire if your swapping the files around as much as that.
Run a few tests and see if its going to be an issue.
Divinus Arma
02-11-2006, 08:45
Just discovered this. The Org has many layers, eh?:book:
Looks interesting... I'll have to read a few first....:balloon2:
Mount Suribachi
02-11-2006, 10:45
Oh they're more than interesting. Just below is a PBEM for PBEM n00bs, feel free to go sign up and get stuck in ~:)
ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88
02-07-2007, 23:54
Is there anyones you can join now, even if they in progress or no??
You've prompted me to update the list of PBMs:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1220101&postcount=1
One problem is that PBMs are often started but then die - usually because the orignator does not follow through or let's it fizzle out. I doubt all the PBMs listed as being current will be completed or even properly started. But this does mean that there are opportunities to jump in and help finish off an established PBM.
For example, right now the Thracian PBM is one player away from being finished. If you want to, you could jump in and ask Caius if you can finish it off for him.
Alternatively, you could sign up for the King of the Romans PBM - you won't immediately get to fight a lot of big battles as you can with the Thracian one, but it is a lively PBM and I guarantee you it will not die.
ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88
02-08-2007, 00:55
You've prompted me to update the list of PBMs:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1220101&postcount=1
One problem is that PBMs are often started but then die - usually because the orignator does not follow through or let's it fizzle out. I doubt all the PBMs listed as being current will be completed or even properly started. But this does mean that there are opportunities to jump in and help finish off an established PBM.
For example, right now the Thracian PBM is one player away from being finished. If you want to, you could jump in and ask Caius if you can finish it off for him.
Alternatively, you could sign up for the King of the Romans PBM - you won't immediately get to fight a lot of big battles as you can with the Thracian one, but it is a lively PBM and I guarantee you it will not die.
Hey,
Thanks m8. There just so Many PBM's and AAR's, I didn't know what one I should do first, my own AAR or do a PBM, plus I didn't know what ones I can join..
Thanks alot Econ :2thumbsup: :yes:
The_Emperor
03-06-2007, 19:06
Glad to see this old chestnut is proving popular, the PBEM forum went dead for a while and its great to see some life brought back into it.
Interesting...so its not PBEM as I'm used to playing it, where many players play at once, but more like a relay race where the baton gets passed from one player to the next but only one player is playing at any one time.
Interesting...so its not PBEM as I'm used to playing it, where many players play at once, but more like a relay race where the baton gets passed from one player to the next but only one player is playing at any one time.
Yes, you got it. The style is sometimes termed "succession games", which is a good description. They are cooperative, whereas the PBEMs you are used to are probably competitive - essentially multi-player contests in turn-based games.
You could play RTW/M2TW in that style using Myrddraal's script or the hotseat mode, but player vs player (and AI attacking player) battles would have to be autoresolved. The competitive style has never successfully been tried in the Throne Room - the coordination problem has just overwhelmed what attempts there have been (non-responsive players can easily slow the thing to crawl or stop it in its tracks).
I've edited The Emperor's post to explain about Will of the Senate (WotS) style games. They allow more players to play at once, in that you fight "your" general's battles and can vote on how is in power and what he does. You are welcome to join the King of the Romans PBM if you want to see how it works, Didz.
Severous
05-25-2007, 20:50
Hi
Currently Im participating in ten concurrent succession games. 8 players each play a faction for 5 turns. Save it, swap it, then we play someone elses faction for 5 turns. And so on. We have two spare factions to ease swap overs.
Rather than wait ages for your turn to come around..we all play..all the time.
Is that something members on this forum would be interested in? I dont have MTW2 which is the 'in' game here on this forum. The concept would work on MTW2 as well as it does on RTW. You have some committed forum members here who could carry this off.
TruePraetorian
06-30-2007, 23:30
Hi, i just joined today so yay me!
Anyway, is this the only form of pbem that u have? I am aware (and currently TRYING to play with someone :shame: ) of a pbem mod by Mydraal, which allows more then one faction at a time to play. Does anyone else play with that mod? and if so start one up :2thumbsup:
TruePraetorian
06-30-2007, 23:41
:oops: i relize now that my question was already answered...if they have never had succes in the throne room where should i go? I have lots of ideas to solve a few of those problems (such as instead of autoresolving a fight, go online and fight it with the same amount of people,killing off excess numbers of units with a 3rd party of archers. the winner, or loser, then auto resolves. the outcome may not be the original but it works!) anyway, please direct me to the correct place, thanks:yes: :laugh4: :beam:
The Throne Room is the place for all PBMs at the Org, so this is the right place. If you want to try a starting a multi-faction version, just post a new thread and try to round up some players.
TruePraetorian
07-02-2007, 20:02
:bounce: :dancing: Thanks i owe you one! I will start one up pretty soon..but still thanks, posting here was way easier then finding people on MP!
I don't understand. How do you upload your saved game? I don't even know how to post screenshots, any help would be appreciated and I'm looking forward in participating in these games.
The Org has its own file system for uploading and downloading saved games. You can access it here (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/pbmupload.php). All saves should be compressed (zip or rar) before uploading.
For screenshots, most people use photobucket (https://photobucket.com/)or imageshack (https://imageshack.us/).
I know that, but the thing I'm confused about is how you save screenshots while you're playing the game and how you access your saved games from the desktop.
Warluster
12-25-2007, 23:52
For that, use FRAPS. Look it up on Google.
FRAPS is a in game camera, where you press a assigned button, the default is F10, and the screenshot you just took will save itself to the folder you assigned it to.
Its easy to use, takes 30sec videos. Just download it and try it out, it is VERY SIMPLE
Just downloaded it now, thanks for the help warluster. :bow:
Quirinus
01-07-2008, 16:40
What is the usual campaign and battle difficulty used for RTW PBeMs?
Also, if there is a thread for a specific PBeM, can a non-player comment on the campaign or the PBeM in general?
It varies, but generally H/VH or VH/VH, simply because most people feel that the AI is a pushover as it is and they do everything they can to create a challenge.
Pretty much every PBM will have an OOC (Out Of Character) thread for normal organizational purposes. There's nothing wrong with non-players posting in those threads. Most people like knowing that their work is being enjoyed by non-players as well.
What is the usual campaign and battle difficulty used for RTW PBeMs?
Also, if there is a thread for a specific PBeM, can a non-player comment on the campaign or the PBeM in general?
Hello, you may want to join us in our PBeM, My beloved Brittania. (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=97336)
Quirinus
01-08-2008, 13:11
It varies, but generally H/VH or VH/VH, simply because most people feel that the AI is a pushover as it is and they do everything they can to create a challenge.
Aiiee.... that's a pity. I generally play on M/M.
Pretty much every PBM will have an OOC (Out Of Character) thread for normal organizational purposes. There's nothing wrong with non-players posting in those threads. Most people like knowing that their work is being enjoyed by non-players as well.
I see. I didn't find one of these OOC threads for the Carthage one, I thought that was pretty cool, even if it died.
I have another question-- can you start a PBeM without actually participating in it? Because I enjoy reading the PBeMs, but since I would be way out of my league if I played them myself....... =(
Hello, you may want to join us in our PBeM, My beloved Brittania.
Sorry...... I play on M/M, and would only get my ass whooped.:embarassed: Besides which, Brittania is one of the two out of the original unlockable factions which I have never played before, the other being the Scipii.
Aiiee.... that's a pity. I generally play on M/M.
I have another question-- can you start a PBeM without actually participating in it? Because I enjoy reading the PBeMs, but since I would be way out of my league if I played them myself....... =(
You can do whatever you want, there are no rules on it. The only thing I would say is that it might be a bit harder to get the ball rolling if the creator of the game isn't willing to play it himself.
That said, I would encourage you to jump right in and find a Succession game to participate in. I know that you think that the higher difficulty levels are beyond you, but you might be surprised. There are not really that many differences between M/M and VH/VH and the typical 'reign' is only about 20 turns, so it's not as if the entire game is on your shoulders. In addition, most games end up with the players steamrolling the AI, and a single reign without gains or even with losses would (if anything) make it more interesting. People tend to enjoy a struggle to win much more than a cakewalk. I would very much encourage you to give it a try. At worst, you'll make the game fun and exciting for the next few players.
I felt the same way before I joined a game, I'd never played on anything more than medium but I've coped fine so far. Getting your ass whooped can actually be fun sometimes as well you know :beam: (as I found out by being annihilated in a hotseat campaign)
deguerra
01-08-2008, 22:51
and it was a bloody marvellous annihalation (as far as those things go) :beam: :thumbsup:
gibsonsg91921
01-09-2008, 00:04
I ain't that good either, and usually do M/M, but in PBMs usually the reigning players are very good and you aren't expected to do much. Plus with all of those minds working together, you can do pretty well.
I played in VH/M, and got my ass kicked. Cmon, Im going to play H/H (I use M/M), and I'm going to suffer more losses than ever! Still, I'm playing.
Quirinus
01-12-2008, 16:22
You can do whatever you want, there are no rules on it. The only thing I would say is that it might be a bit harder to get the ball rolling if the creator of the game isn't willing to play it himself.
That said, I would encourage you to jump right in and find a Succession game to participate in. I know that you think that the higher difficulty levels are beyond you, but you might be surprised. There are not really that many differences between M/M and VH/VH and the typical 'reign' is only about 20 turns, so it's not as if the entire game is on your shoulders. In addition, most games end up with the players steamrolling the AI, and a single reign without gains or even with losses would (if anything) make it more interesting. People tend to enjoy a struggle to win much more than a cakewalk. I would very much encourage you to give it a try. At worst, you'll make the game fun and exciting for the next few players.
I don't think there are any active succession games for RTW at the moment.... are there?
Also, what if I happen to use a mini-mod that isn't particularly widespread, like the MercenaryX Pack, or the VBM (as soon as I find it >.<)? Do I need a clean install of RTW to participate in one? Is v1.3 compatible with the other versions?
gibsonsg91921
01-12-2008, 23:36
if u can find other people with mods like yours, it shouldnt be a problem. like TC said, there's no rules.
I don't think there are any active succession games for RTW at the moment.... are there?
Mine needs more players in case of new family emmbers, PM me.
Quirinus
01-14-2008, 15:40
Yours isn't a succession game, right, Caius? Isn't yours a Will-of-the-Senate game?
Anyways, to start one, do I create a recruitment thread here?
gibsonsg91921
01-15-2008, 03:10
Quite.
Read: Yes, that's how it's done.
PrinceofTroy
04-23-2008, 20:59
Where exactly do we extract the savegame to?
From the FAQ (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1892231&postcount=2):
Q: Where can I upload save game files for PBMs and Hotseat Games?
A: There are two recommended places to do this. The preferred spot is the Org’s own PBM File Uploader (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/pbmupload.php). If that system is experiencing an error that prevents you from uploading, then you should use the Backup PBM File Uploader (http://www.mizus.com/files/pbmupload.php). Regardless of which one you use, make sure that you compress (.zip or .rar) your files before uploading them.
do you mean where do you put the save once downloaded?
If so it should be (default):
C:/programme files/SEGA/Medieval II Total War/saves
PrinceofTroy
04-24-2008, 00:58
The Savegame has shown up on my computer screen as an icon and when I click into it it doesn't do anything so I don't know how to get it into C:/programme files/SEGA/Medieval II Total War/saves and I'm pretty sure it isn't there already? Thanks for the help I guess I should have figured this out before:help: :beam:
_Tristan_
04-24-2008, 09:38
Depends on what the extension of the savegame file is...
If it is .sav, simply copy/paste it in the right folder (in your M2TW directory)
If it is .zip or .rar, which it should be according to Org rules, use Winzip or Winrar (freeware, you can download it anywhere...) to extract it in the same folder...
Hope that helps...
It sounds like you're either clicking on the wrong file or you don't have the proper extraction program. What extension is on the file? If you don't know what that is, it's the letters that come after the dot. If you can't see that, right click on the icon, and select properties. The full filename, with the dot, will show up at the top. Tell us what that is.
PrinceofTroy
04-24-2008, 14:11
It is .sav, so I will move it to what folder on my M2TW Directory?
The "saves" directory. It should be inside the main "Medieval II Total War" folder. You then load it by opening the save from inside M2TW, as if you were resuming an old saved game that you had made yourself.
AussieGiant
04-28-2008, 13:20
I would recommend that everyone should give playing a try in the PBM on VH/VH.
Because you're playing in a contextual setting with other players your commanders or those playing the senior positions can give you assignments based on your skill level. It's an excellent realism characteristic for the game to have players of different skill levels and be able to manage that accordingly.
Ibn-Khaldun
05-24-2008, 07:42
Now .. I know how to play hotseat cause I have done it in my pc .. altough played against myself it was still a lot of fun :yes:
But there is something I do not understand .. these hotseat campaigns that many people play .. before you send it to the next player(or upload it) when do you save your turn??:inquisitive:
I mean .. do you save it after you have moved all your troops and before you hit the end turn button??:inquisitive:
or .. you hit the end turn button and then save??:inquisitive:
If it's the first one then the next player can see your empire etc ..
If it's the second one then You can see his empire etc..
This is the one thing that is unclear to me :shame:
deguerra
05-24-2008, 08:19
if you enable passwords in the preferences.txt file or when you start a hotseat campaign, every faction gets a "password screen" before their turn starts. This is where you save :2thumbsup:
Ibn-Khaldun
05-24-2008, 08:30
Thanks ~:)
I found that out myself too after I read the thread 'how to setup the hotseat game'
Last time I played it in v1.0 .. there were no screens that said what version I have and all the other things .. did this came with the v1.3 patch ???
Anyway .. little practice and I'm ready to start my 'hotseat career' :laugh4:
vBulletin® v3.7.1, Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.