Preferences help page

You may set preferences in five categories:

General preferences

These preferences govern which paper size you use, how the system should send files to you by email and whether you prefer to have some files sent automatically or prefer to use the web interface to specifically request all files.

Report preferences

These preferences govern the default format of your text turn reports.

Map preferences

These preferences govern the default format of your graphical maps.

On-line turn viewing preferences

These preferences govern how you want to view your turn results when you are browsing them on-line at the pbem.dk web site.

Special (game specific) preferences

These are report and map preferences which are not necessarily available for all games. They are not used when turn results are generated and automatically sent to you after a turn has been processed; they are only used when you order maps or reports online.

Reading and setting your preferences

Preference

A short description of each preference. If you click on the text you will be taken to the corresponding entry on this page.

Scope

This has to do with advanced preferences setting and shows which scope the current setting is valid for. If you stick to one set of preferences for all games and all email adresses this will either be "system default", which shows that you have not set your own value for this particula preference, or "your default" which shows that this is a preference you have set. Preferences which have a value set for the current scope are shown in bold letters. See the section on advanced preferences setting for more information.

Current value

What the preference is currently set to.

Change to

Here will be a menu button which allows you to choose between the different valid values for the preference. The choice "--no change--" means you want to leave the value as it is while the choice "--delete--" means you want to delete a value you have previously set and fall back on the default (only preference lines shown in bold will have a delete option as only those are in your current selected scope). Note that you have to press the "Make changes!" button to actually commit any changes.

paper format

This is the paper format you would like reports and maps generated for (only relevant for hard copy formats such as PS and PDF). Current choices are A4 (the European standard) and US letter.

file compression

If you want to have your reports and maps compressed when sent to you, select a compression method here. Choices are none, ZIP and gzip (the latter is a UNIX compression format). You might want compression to speed up the download from your email provider.

mail encoding

This is how binary files (such as compressed files) should be encoded when sent to you. The default is MIME which is the current standard for email which most mail clients recognize. In the unlikely event that you do not have a MIME-compliant email client you can try your luck with the other available option: UU encoding. In this case you will need a decoder program (e.g. uudecode on a UNIX system).

send map and report when turn is processed

By default your turn reports and maps will be sent to your primary registered email address as turns are processed. You may set this option to report if you wish to only receive a turn reports but not the maps (e.g. if you exclusively use shared maps). You may also set this option to map in order to only be sent a map. If you set this preference to no you will only receive a short message stating that your results are ready when a turn has been processed. You will then have to sign in to the web site to request the reports and maps or view them on-line. The default is yes, which is the same as both map and report.

send reminder 24 hours before deadline

If this preference is set to yes, which is the default, you will receive an automatically generated reminder email message 24 hours before an order deadline if you have not submitted any orders for the turn. Reminders are mailed to your primary email address. If this preference is set to no you will not receive reminders.

send reminder if orders not completely OK

If this preference is set to yes (the default) you will receive an automatically generated reminder email message 24 hours before an order deadline if the set of orders you have submitted is either empty or did not pass the syntax checker without errors or warnings. If this preference is set to no you will only receive a reminder if you have not submitted anything at all. If the "send reminder 24 hours before deadline" preference is set to no, this preference has no effect.

report format

The file format for your text reports. Choices are PDF, either as compact 2 column text or page-consuming 1 column text, PS (PostScript), again either in 2 columns or 1 column, HTML or text file. See the page on the various file formats for a description of these. You really want PDF or PS files if you can view or print them at all.

report full forces

Normally when units are combined in forces, you get only a summary of the force composition when the force does something, e.g.:
   3101(GK*) King Gregorius with a force of 200(2) moves from 123 to 124
or, for a force you do not own yourself:
   A force of 201(3) (HE) moves from 123 to 124
If you set this option to yes you will get the full force compositions instead:
   3101(GK*) King Gregorius, 3111(GK) Light Infantry and 3112(GK) Archers move from 123 to 124
   4103(HE) Elven Captain, 4111(HE) Elven Infantry and 4112(HE) Elven Archers move from 123 to 124
(for non-owned forces you may of course not get the entire force composition as you are not necessarily seeing all the units in the force). If there are very large forces moving around your event report may become hard to read when every unit is listed every time, so by default the value of this option is no.

summarize all forces

In a very few cases, all units in a force are listed by default. This mainly occurs when a force joins another, e.g.:
   3101(GK*) King Gregorius with 3111 and 3112 joins the force of 3102
If you set this option to yes, all force compositions are given in summary form, even those which by default are listed in full, so the above becomes:
   3101(GK*) King Gregorius with a force of 200(2) joins the force of 3102

omit detailed battle reports

You can elect to only get battle summaries (who died, who fled and who survived) rather than the long, full battle reports you get by default.

map format

The file format for your graphical maps. Choices are PDF, PS (PostScript), GIF fixed size or GIF scaled. The difference between these last two is that the fixed size GIF gives you the same size GIF every time and scales your map to fit inside while the scaled GIF gives you a GIF file scaled so that each hex measures the same number of pixels across every time and thus you get larger and larger GIF images as you discover more and more land. See the resolution parameter below for further explanation of this. Consult the page on the various file formats for a description of all the formats. You really want PDF or PS files if you can view or print them at all.

colour map

Do you want a colour map or a map optimized for printing on a black and white printer?

GIF map resolution

Only used if you choose one of the GIF map formats.
For the fixed size GIF format the resolution preference is used as the dots per inch resolution of the "printer" which prints on the image "page". The GIF image represents a page of either A4 or US letter paper depending on your setting of the paper format. The resulting maximum size of the GIF image can be computed as the selected resolution multiplied by the size (in inches) of the paper (e.g. for US letter and a resolution of 300 dots per inch the maximum image size will be approximately 2550 by 3300 pixels). The actual size tends to be somewhat smaller as only the printed part of the page is converted to GIF.
For scaled GIF the resolution is the number of pixels across a hex. If for a given map this would result in an image which had a greater resolution than a 300 dots per inch fixed size GIF map then the 300 dpi fixed size map is produced instead (in order not to overload the server for very large maps).

on-line report format

Which format you want to use when you view your text turn reports on-line at the pbem.dk web site. Choose either one-column or two-column PDF if your browser has a PDF plug-in, otherwise you will have to settle for HTML.

on-line map format

Which format you want to use when you view your graphical maps on-line at the pbem.dk web site. Choose PDF if your browser has a PDF plug-in; otherwise you will have to settle for fixed resolution GIF. All on-line maps are at a system default resolution and in colour, so if you have specific needs e.g. for printing you should use the web site to order a custom map generated and sent by email.

show unit icons

(Fantasy games only) When this preference is set to no (the default), units you have seen in a hex will just generate a small marker immediately to the left of the hex number. If you select yes, icons showing the strength of your own, allied, neutral and enemy forces in the hex will be drawn, making it a lot clearer where there are units, but possibly obscuring important terrain information. For an explanation of how to read the unit icons, see the help page on map symbols not documented in the rules.

dark map

(Space games only) Set this to yes if you prefer the dark background map with bright markings (looking space-like but requiring a lot of ink to print). The default is no which will give you a white background with dark markings.

map/report type

(Fantasy games only, when ordering reports) In fantasy games you can order normal (full) maps and reports (the default) which includes all information about the game world, military mode only maps and reports, which only include locations, units and items in military (not questing) mode, or questing mode only maps and reports, which only include locations, units and items present in questing mode. A military mode or questing mode report will only consist of map notes for the corresponding map, it will not include the other usual report sections (status report, event report, et cetera).

1. specific to just one of your registered email addresses,
2. specific to a certain type of game (e.g. "War of the Dark God" or "Stellar Conflict"),
3. specific to a combination of email address and game type,
4. specific to one particular game, or
5. specific to a combination of email address and a particular game.

The scope column of the preferences table shows where the listed preference is taken from. If you are viewing/editing preferences specific to a particular game and email address the scope column may show some preferences as being taken from the system defaults, some being taken from your regular prerefences, some being taken from the game type and some from the particular game; all these last three may additionally be shown as applying only to a particular email address.

Setting and clearing preferences specific to email, game type or game

If you have specific preferences set you will at the bottom of the main preferences page find links which allow you to clear these preferences en masse rather than having to work your way through all the many specific preferences pages to clear them.