I have an archive game with an AI error. Is there a good place to upload this?
The latest in the classic Empire Series of games, which has spanned almost five decades. · By
Got long. Feel free to create a new thread to report or send email to mok@killerbeesoftware.com
I just started a game with at least 2 cities. Pavia, the first city, had its production set to make an army unit on turn 1. I did 6 more turns. On turn 7, the the city icon changed color. No army icon is blinking. On the turn, 8, I double clicked the city and the army unit is there but I have to activate it. Move to the 2nd city, the same thing. Later some of the cities will have armies that self-activate.
Once an archive is made, it does not show in the load panel as an active moment of the game. The archive must be restored to be reflected in the load panel. But be aware that what ever state of the game that was represented in the load panel before the archive was restored will be gone.
So in other words, when you restore the archive, that becomes the active state of the game. There is only one game state "active" at any one time. Let's say I archive at turn 108, then play on to turn 125. Load panel says turn 125. If I restore the archive I previously made, it will be at turn 108 again. If I did not archive at 125 before this, 125 is not recoverable. anymore. i will only be able to play turn 108 forward.
I think there is a write up that may better explain this in the manual.
I understand what the implications are when restoring an archive that doesn't represent the current game state, but my question (and I'm pretty sure the manual doesn't cover this) is how to restore anything other than the last archive, since the UI only shows that single file. Suppose I wanted to restore the latest archive minus 1, would deleting the latest archive work; i.e. the one I want to restore would now be the latest, or do I need to do something else.
I think there is some confusion here as you mention "the latest archive minus 1 ". Archives are not sorted by game, time, turn. They are named by you. It is up to you to choose the archive.
Saved games are displayed when you enter the loading screen from the main menu. Those are sortable by date, turn, etc. A saved game is different from an "archive". Making an archive is an intentional act on your part, not the act of saving. So when you make an archive, you are able to give it a name. Making an archive is discussed on/around page 74 of the manual.
To restore the archive, from the main menu you open to the Load Game screen, and click on the "Restore" button on the bottom. You should then see the list of all archives you have made, select the one you want and that will restore the game to that state. The archives are listed by name - there is not a date or turn information like there is in the Load Dialog, only the archive name you created. Your selection will overwrite whatever was already there.
Have you tried this and are you seeing something different?
I now understand. My confusion arose because the behaviour of the Load Game dialog was not what I expected. The initial dialog shows ONLY the latest save for a specific game and it never occurred to me that the Restore button would launch another dialog to actually select an archive to be restored. The manual, to me at least, does not make this clear.
Assuming that the framework you're using supports it, may I suggest that you follow the standard Windows and Mac convention of putting three dots/periods after the word Restore on the button to indicate that the Restore button is not an immediate action button but one which displays another dialog. This alone would have eliminated my misunderstanding.
P.S. I've been getting "not delivered" on email I've sent you recently, including for older emails that I know you received (advanced game corruption due to a spotting error) since you replied to the email and fixed the bug.
I click 'wait' button and unit shows up at end of turn; click 'last' button and unit shows up either next or little later; button actions reversed?
Is there a missile/satellite launch button?
open reports window, click on a report, finish with it and close; but reports window also closes; shouldn't it stay open and I close it with the 'close' button? also, at start of turn I read a few reports and then click 'continue' to start turn, sometimes get 'reports available'; very annoying since I just left reports.
could enemy units that are not seen anymore go 'darker', just to remind one that it is not seen by anyone.
the 'prep unload' button(s) don't seem very useful; or at least, have a 'prep to load' button, believe it would be more useful.
click on a unit and click a 'highlight' button, all same type units would highlight. useful in trying to determine distribution; (and where they currently are located).
could the mouse be setup that click left button be move command and right button be select unit?
Hi, thanks for the comments. The interface is different form EDIE/EDEE and does take some getting used to.
For some of the comments:
"Wait" moves your unit to the end of the processing queue. Activate Last will activate the unit previously active. Be aware that this includes units that may have been automatically processed, not just units you manually interacted with.
There is a Launch command button. It will be in the command button group (bottom buttons). If you do not see it, you may not have this section open all of the way.
The reports dialog does close upon choosing a report. All reports can be bound to a key, so if there is a report you frequent, I would recommend setting that up.
The extra reports message is a bug that has not yet been addressed.
If you mouse over an enemy spot, the info box in the lower right will list the age of the spot.
"Prep Unload" should be used when you have a transport you wish to move and then unload. If you need a prep load, "Load Till Full" may satisfy that, otherwise use load instant.
There is a right click menu option which can be used for activating a unit, but there is not a select via right click option.
installed build 7, immediately, got patrol routes remaining on screen when zooming in and out.
other games grey out areas' of the map that no longer can been seen. still don't understand why EDCE can't do this. would be 'easier' to see area's that are visually covered or find where satellites' are; ect....
would be nice if note tags could be set; to remember what I wanted to do in this location, ect... Or/and an art work layer or 'acetate' layer for making notes and drawing plans.......
Mark-
A suggestion-- can we segregate Mac, Linux, and Windows feedback into their own threads? Might be easier for users to share similar issues and help you isolate bugs related to one OS API but not others?
Still trying to parse the Steam link to the game-- I am successfully driving an earlier DRM download, and it looks fantastic.
Best, as always.
Loren S. Miller
You have to have the Steam Client installed. And I am assuming you have the key.
In the image, note the Games menu at the top of the Steam Client. Select that, Click on Activate, You have to click next a couple of times to pass the warnings and agreements. Then you will need to copy and paste the key where they request Product Code.
Regarding bugs, there has only been one platform specific issue thus far, and that was a Linux display startup issue. But if you have an issue you can create a new thread for it. I have been meaning to lock this thread as it is jumbled.
Success! It's not laid out as your snapshot indicates but I found the Activate command. Played for an hour and a half, and posted my first bug report, all inside Steam. I'm very proud of myself.
Game play very much as I remember it, but I have to bind those keys!! Body memory is making fingers twitch to unassigned keys.
X for Exploration mode, for example.
Pretty darn nice, Mark! Take the rest of the year off, why don't you?