President Forever 2008 + Primaries
General
Q. Is there a Tutorial for President Forever 2008 + Primaries?
A. Yes, here.
Q. When I try to AutoUpdate in Vista, it doesn’t do anything. What’s going on?
A. AutoUpdate is no longer supported. To update, you can request an update from http://www.TheorySpark.com/interact/contact.htm . If your program is trying to AutoUpdate, it means you have an old version and should download and install the update from the link http://www.TheorySpark.com/interact/contact.htm .
Q. When I load a game file the game screen minimizes and will not restore to the desktop. The only option is to close it out.
A. If you are experiencing a problem with the game not loading from the start screen, to load a game instead start a new game, then click Options > Load Game.
Q. The game gave me an error while playing. Help! (Also see next question.)
A. With the latest version of President Forever 2008 + Primaries, there is an AutoSave feature. The best way to help us in figuring out what is causing a bug like this is to send us the AutoSave file just before an error.
To do this:
1. Make sure AutoSave is enabled. To do this, go to the Options screen during a game, and make sure that AutoSave is enabled.
2. When an error occurs, go to the savegame folder (usually, My Computer > C: > Program Files > President Forever 2008 + Primaries > savegames), and copy the autosave file to your desktop.
3. Zip the autosave file on your desktop (usually, right-click on save game file, Send To, Compressed (zipped) Folder.
4. E-mail us the zipped save game file, by going here:
http://www.theoryspark.com/interact/contact.htm
and then clicking the “Please click here if you’d rather contact us from your own email account” link. Make sure to attach the zipped autosave file!
Include a description of the error you received while playing in the text of your e-mail.
Q. I’m having trouble with clicking on the “2008 (Custom)” option in the game. Everytime I click it I keep getting this message: “Access Violation”. What’s the deal here and how do I fix it?
When using Campaigns Forever, if you “Create New Scenario,” a scenario called “United States - 2008 (Custom)” is created by default. If that new scenario isn’t completed, when you run it, it might have errors.
You can delete the custom scenario by going to C: > Program Files > President Forever 2008 + Primaries > Scenarios and deleting the “United States - 2008 (Custom)” folder. Note: Don’t delete the “United States - 2008″ folder, or this will cause an error when you start the game.
Q. When I double-click the AutoUpdate file, I get an the error saying “Invalid Parameters”. How can I AutoUpdate?
The AutoUpdater will run automatically - when the game starts, you will be notified if there are updates and be given the option to download them. It won’t work by clicking the AutoUpdate file in the game folder.
Q. I try to open the Help file by pressing F1 or clicking the Help button, and nothing happens. How do I open the help file?
A. Update your program to the latest version.
Q. Upon clicking the ‘CanEditor” button on the main screen, a new window appears with “File,” “About,” and “Edit” near the top. However, nothing appears on the screen. It almost appears as if the window never fully loaded properly. What should I do?
A. Click “File,” then “Open,” then select the campaign you want to edit.
Q. When will a Candidate Editor be released?
A. Update your program to the latest version.
Q. Where are the historical scenarios?
A. President Forever + Primaries currently comes with scenarios for 2008, 2004, 2000, and 1992. Historical scenarios (1980 and 1960) will be released as they are completed. Your AutoUpdater will be able to add them at that time.
Q. Are you going to add Ron Paul (or some other candidate who has announced they are running) to the game?
For Ron Paul, update your program to the latest version. For other candidates, probably not, but we might. You can add them yourself with the Candidate Editor (which comes with the game) or Campaigns Forever.
Game Play
Q. In 2008 in the Democratic Primaries, Michigan and Florida each have one delegate. That can’t be right?
A. The Democratic National Congress has stated that it will not recognize any delegates from a state with its primary before February 1st, making four exceptions (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina). Therefore, both Michigan and Florida have 0 delegates. The game allots them 1 for game engine compatibility.
Q. How do I move my candidate?
A. Click the Activities button on the main screen (it has a flag on it). Then click on a state. Then click the barnstorm button or the policy speech button on the Activities panel. Currently, the other activities aren’t affected by your location, so you don’t need to move when you do those activities.
Q. The help says: I can barnstorm in a constituency by clicking the blue flag under the constituency’s name, and that I can barnstorm in three constituencies at any given time. I can not find this blue flag and it is making the game very difficult … where is this blue flag?
A. This is a mistake in the Help file. To barnstorm, click the button with the flag on the lower-center part of the main screen. Then click where you would like to barnstorm on the main map. Then click the barnstorming icon in the top-right (it is a person with a bull-horn). You can also see the online Help file, here.
Q. I can’t spin the news during the primaries!
A. During the primaries, you can only spin news on the last day’s news. Click the right arrow on the top-left part of the newspaper, until you reach the last day’s news. If any articles are spinnable, there will be spin buttons on this page.
Q. I offered to be someone else’s Veep candidate, and they accepted. Then the game told me I had been removed from the game! Is this right?
A. Update your program to the latest version.
Q. I cannot get any votes with the (Libertarian or Constitution) party in (state name here) - 0 votes! What’s going on?
A. The Libertarian and Constitution parties in 2008 (and 2004) are not on all the states’ ballots. 2008 is based 2004. To view which states’ ballots they are on, click the Ballot icon (the one with the vote box) on the main map while you are that party. If you want to change this, you can with Campaigns Forever.
Q. Is it possible to affect ballot access in states for third parties?
A. Currently, not during the game. Scenario designers specify the regions for which a party has ballot access. We might add a feature to include gaining ballot access in a future version.
Q. I am interested in playing as Ross Perot in the 1992 campaign, but when I try to start a game with him, it says he has $0 in the bank. What?!
A. In 1992, Perot withdrew from the campaign until October. If you start in General Election mode with Perot, you start off with $0, but then receive a cash infusion when he re-joins the campaign in October.
Scenario Design
Q. I want to change something or other in the scenario files. How do I do that?
A. Get Campaigns Forever, here.
Canididate Editor
Q. When I click the “CanEditor” button, a screen comes up blank. If I click File > Open, all I get is a scenario. Please help!
A. After you click File > Open, select a scenario. You should now have a scenario name with a “+” sign on its left. Click the “+” sign. Keep pressing “+” signs until you can click on the party or candidate you want to edit. Then click on the party or candidate name.
Q. I am having a problem with creating a new Vice Leader in the 2008 game. I add a new Vice Leader, but when it comes time to play the game, it won’t show the new Vice Leader when I pick a Vice Leader. It shows just the ones that come with the scenario. What did I do wrong? The new Vice Leader is listed when I go into the Candidate Editor, but she’s not there when I choose a Vice Leader.
A. After you create a Vice-Leader, you must go to the Leader that you want this Vice-Leader to be available for as a pick. Then click that Leader’s Vice-Leader tab, then move the new Vice-Leader from “Other Vice Leaders” to “Selected Vice Leaders”.
Installing Scenarios
Q. I downloaded an additional scenario from the President Forever 2008 + Primaries scenarios web-page, and it appears in a separate type of folder on my desktop. How do I get it from my desktop into the game?
A. See the installation instructions, here.
I notice that when I’ve selected to play the game with candidates with higher established ratings, they established rating for them, once the game starts drops down to 2. Why does this happen?
Hi Tony,
Can you tell me if you are starting the game in primaries or general election mode?
When I am accepted as the primary victor, every state switches to the other party. When I was Howard Dean in the 04 election, after the democratic primary, I lost my lead in every state. This includes states that are heavily democratic. It says I have lost numbers like 22% in every state. What’s going on?
Hi Steve,
We’ll look into this to determine if there’s bug. I have followed up by e-mail.
I have tried the demo and I am very impressed.
However, a few key concerns.
Will the Green Party be included? I really want to manage a Cobb/LaMarche campaign, along with other independents such as Nader, John Anderson, Jerry Brown, and other famous players.
Hi Joseph,
The Green Party and Nader aren’t included for 2008 in the official scenario, but Nader and Anderson are included as Independents in historical scenarios that are included in the game.
Is David Cobb included for 2004? And is there any chance for a 1968 scenario (with the possible inclusion of Robert Kennedy)?
I will concede that the Green party had almost a nil effect in 2008, but in 2004, it was fairly reasonable, since the base was split between Cobb, the listed Green, and Nader, who ran as an independent. I just think that if you go so far as to include the Constitutional party, then there should be some Green party options. Hell, it’s older than the Constitutional party.
How about Jesse Jackson? Better yet, is there a list of the candidates included that you can give me?
Hi Joseph,
2004 does not include Cobb, but includes Nader. We do not have a full list of candidates for all the years. You can easily add your own candidates to the game, or add new parties with the add-on Campaigns Forever ( http://theoryspark.com/campaigns4e/info/index.htm ).
I have a problem. I updated my p4e and after clicking on p4e.exe it refused to run and just showed me the message saying “p4e.exe is not a Win32 application”. Why so?