24-02-2003 11:51									#1
	Possible bad news... Put an end to popups!

I have this friend from work, who plays the game and he told me that he read on a fan site somewhere (he can't recall) that people have found a way to load a PBEM game, password protected or not, and play the game just like a SP game. He said they just keep reloading the 'save game' (after it was saved when it was originally loaded as a MP game, a non-PBEM MP game).

Anyways, he said if you keep reloading the save game, you cycle through the civs that have not had their turn that year. If you press 'end turn' you will continue play as if it were a SP game (even though you loaded/saved it as an MP game) for that civ you loaded.

I guess the 'honor' system will really have to come into play here.

BTW, to make sure he wasn't BS me, I made a PBEM game and tried what he said, and it worked; I really wish that it wouldn't of.

With this ability any of the teams (or some of the members which may or may not be as scrupolous as we) will be able to view the map in it's entirety just by playing the game through for an hour or two. How depressing is this.

	24-02-2003 12:19									#2
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

This bug has been around since PTW came out. I assume all teams know of its existence (and other annoying PBEM bugs), and will work to avoid it. All PBEM players work on the honor system, as it is all-too-easy to just look at the other player's turn without his or her password, or give yourself extra units whenever you want.

Perhaps it would be a worthwhile to present a "Idiot's Guide to PBEM" to the UN, just to make sure no team has any excuse for potential mishaps.


Dominae

	24-02-2003 12:20									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

This is just one of many game-breaking bugs. There are worse ones that allow you to build infinite units, see everyone's maps, etc. You're right though, things will have to be based upon the honors system, as it has been in the PTW DG. I mean, you could just replay a turn to get any result you wanted in a war in the same manner. But what's the fun in that kind of play?

	24-02-2003 14:24									#4
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

yep. this is why we signed the honor agreement. If they want to cheat they can.

	24-02-2003 19:15									#5
	Remove this text

quote: Originally posted by Dominae Perhaps it would be a worthwhile to present a "Idiot's Guide to PBEM" to the UN, just to make sure no team has any excuse for potential mishaps. Dominae

This is an excellent idea. I will raise it at the UN.

	25-02-2003 01:15									#6
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sh shss... you shouldn't say that
Someone might be spying!

	01-03-2003 16:19									#7
	Now for the good news.... Enter the AD-FREE zone

This problem has been fixed for the latest patch (I tested it, but not on our game). Yeah!

I guess it's another reason to lobby for a re-start since it was possible to look at the whole map and see where your opponnents are and such.

Wait, I just had a thought (yes that could be dangerous sometimes! :lol; people may still be able to cheat if they either don't apply the patch or the unistall the patch and use older versions of the game only.

Then again, maybe the game saves from a patched version of 1.21f will not load in previously patched or unpatched versions of the game?

Who wants to test this?

	01-03-2003 18:30									#8
	Put an end to popups!

IIRC once a game is continued with an updated patch you cannot have another player open the game with an older patch. This is why all MP games crash when not all players have the same patch. Another person asked if the updates in this patch would apply to this game is we updates. I believe the answer is yes. When I loaded the SPDG 1.21f saves in 1.29f. the amount of money one could get from civs for techs, etc. would be different. We would just need to make sure the game wont crash when attempting to change versions.