MP league with multiple simmers

[QuikSand]

I'm not certain there's any bug or issue here -- just tossing this out in case there may be.


Are there any leagues out there that have more than one person running sims (i.e. on different computers) that are experiencing any weirdness? Things like gameplans not carrying over from stage to stage, and the like?


I'm thinking that at the least, it would be very good if there were something prepared to offer guidance to leagues trying to run things this way. I think because the gameplans are not included in the files that are distriubuted back to the team owners, they can get "stranded" on one computer and not used in the next sim. Might just be a matter of multiple simmers agreeing to share those central files (whatever they are) but it would be good to have some guidance here, either from leagues who have figured out a protocol, or someone with knowledge of how the program might run into troubles under this sort of setup.

[Solecismic]

I would recommend that owners submit their game plans every week, especially when there are multiple simmers. Make liberal use of the game plan loading and saving functions.

Alternatively, the commissioner should look in Windows, and count all the .fpn files he sees. When he reaches one, he should send it to his fellow simmer. He should not send that file to league owners, as game plans are not encrypted. Welcome to Canton.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

He should not send that file to league owners, as game plans are not encrypted.

Which is handy, considering gameplans are sometimes uploaded to servers accessible to the public and all.

[Subby]

I assume single simmer leagues where the simmer uses multiple computers need to do this as well.

[cuervo72]

Not that I know how to read hex or whatever those are written in (otherwise I might actually be able to parse the game logs myself, instead of relying on gstelmack and Celeval).

[Subby]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I would recommend that owners submit their game plans every week, especially when there are multiple simmers.

With four to six export opportunities per week, this just isn't realistic, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Alternatively, the commissioner should look in Windows, and count all the .fpn files he sees. When he reaches one, he should send it to his fellow simmer.

Okay - this is probably workable - but for clarification's sake:

Simmer A runs midweek file and does the following:

1. Uploads game file.
2. Sends current .FPN to simmer B.

In preparation for game day, simmer B:

1. Saves .FPN from simmer A to \Leagues\ folder
2. Imports stage files
3. Runs games
4. Uploads game file
5. Sends current .FPN to simmer A.

Does that sound right?

[Draft Dodger]

couldn't we just fix the game to do this in a more sensible manner?

is it really impossible to make it so that owners can only access their own gameplans in the game?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

couldn't we just fix the game to do this in a more sensible manner?

If I'm understanding the process from above (which, despite the unnumerated steps, just amounts to the simmers making sure they have the latest .fpn file) there's nothing that the player has to do any differently.

If you play FOF 2007 from multiple computers, you may have an issue, since gameplans are saved locally -- but past that, I don't really see how this isn't "sensible."

I wish it had been documented earlier for our league, but now that we know, the process doesn't seem burdensome to me. *shurg*

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

is it really impossible to make it so that owners can only access their own gameplans in the game?

I don't understand this concern.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I don't understand this concern.

requiring the commishes to send around a file seems like a silly extra step, as well as adding an extra degree of difficulty when running a sim. why make it harder than it needs to be?

if I understand correctly, this need for a workaround stems from the fact that gameplans aren't included in the league file to prevent cheating. just seems like there should be an easier (and more intuitive) way for this to be implemented, such as including gameplans in the league file, but restricting their viewing except by the originating team or the commish.

[gottimd]

What about an MP league where no one sims?

[PineTar]

certainly not industry best practice, but yeah, I guess now that we are aware that there are logistical complications, we as end-users can solve them.

[Passacaglia]

Good, timely info for the WAFL. Thanks.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Welcome to Canton.

How does this get overlooked?!

Jim - you really catch my by surprise sometimes, nicely played!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by wade moore

How does this get overlooked?!

Jim - you really catch my by surprise sometimes, nicely played!

Yeah, i just saw that. Funny stuff.

[cuervo72]

If you have any idea what it references anyway (which I wouldn't if someone hadn't mentioned it to me).

[MrIllini]

Originally Posted by wade moore

How does this get overlooked?!

Jim - you really catch my by surprise sometimes, nicely played!

I actually thought it would've been funnier if he had just said "fuck you, figure it out yourself".

[Icy]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I'm not certain there's any bug or issue here -- just tossing this out in case there may be.


Are there any leagues out there that have more than one person running sims (i.e. on different computers) that are experiencing any weirdness? Things like gameplans not carrying over from stage to stage, and the like?


I'm thinking that at the least, it would be very good if there were something prepared to offer guidance to leagues trying to run things this way. I think because the gameplans are not included in the files that are distriubuted back to the team owners, they can get "stranded" on one computer and not used in the next sim. Might just be a matter of multiple simmers agreeing to share those central files (whatever they are) but it would be good to have some guidance here, either from leagues who have figured out a protocol, or someone with knowledge of how the program might run into troubles under this sort of setup.

We tried it once in the WAFL with disastrous consecuences.

SirFozzie was the commish who was running all the sims. One day he was going to be away and asked me, the co-commish and webmaster to run the sim as i had also the commish password. I imported the teams, ran the sim and uploaded it...creating a huge mess, being the more noticeable that at least in three games, the QB's threw passes to themselves exclusively, like 90 passes each one. We saw lots of other weird situations so we had to go back and to have the original commish to sim again. We guessed that the problam was probably related to some files that the commish would have stored in his PC that were not in the export file but we never figured it out.

We have not tried it ever since then but i recommend against having two different commishes in one league or at least to run a lot of tests before doing it to make sure that all is ok.

[Passacaglia]

Any word on if the patch affected this? I didn't see it in the update list.

[Subby]

It isn't really bug - just a design decision. You still have to keep the updated FPN centrally available to simmers.