Whichbot

Byeka · June 2003

Oh yeah... can someone plz explain how to make RC Bots and Whichbots work together, because myself for one has no idea how.... Oh yeah, plz include really detailed instructions because I really know almost nothing about console stuff.

Guspaz · June 2003

Noticed a bug on wild tangent today, a bot went spectator and then stayed there for 15-30 minutes. Caused stacked (4v3) teams.

clamatius · June 2003

Guspaz: noted. We'll see if we can fix this for the next build.

On getting RCBot and WhichBot to run at the same time: I still haven't got round to that yet, but here's the relevant quote from Squidget on <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=7509&st=15' target='_blank'>this thread</a>:

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
They do, if you are very careful and read all the bot readmes. In short, install WB as normal, using Metamod. Then install RCBot, but keep your current liblist.gam. Lastly, add "+localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll" to your shortcut. Voila!
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Hope that helps. If that wasn't clear enough, I can elaborate.

clamatius · June 2003

Version 0.5 beta of WhichBot is ready!

Without further ado, here's the changelog:

<ul><li> Added Onos support.
<li> Added a new feature to make it easier to play against larger numbers of bots: wb balance <number>. For example, "wb balance 2" will make the auto-balancer try to keep the alien team size 2 bigger than the marine team. This is done by adding dummy bots to the marine team, which will then leave.
<li> Fixed a bug which caused the waypoint debugger to crash if started in the ready room.
<li> Fixed a bug which caused the metamod to freak out if the map cycled to a map with no waypoints.
<li> Fixed a config bug which caused the bots to ignore turrets.
<li> Fixed a navigation bug which caused the gorge to take too long to build hives on ns_napo, amongst other problems.
<li> The bots should now go back to the ready room if they become a spectator somehow.
<li> Fixed a bug which caused the HiveMind to not get reset if a new game starts on the same map.
<li> Fixed a bug which caused the bots to keep moving in the ready room with broken body orientations.</ul>

Asraniel · June 2003

is it me or are the alien players unable to respawn?
i mixed WichBot with RCBOT. i have NS 1.0, im upgrading now to 1.04, then i will repost

edit: yes, alien bots dont respawn, even with 1.04.. is it the fault of RCBOT?

Cheeseh · June 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Asraniel @ Jun 28 2003, 08:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> is it me or are the alien players unable to respawn?
i mixed WichBot with RCBOT. i have NS 1.0, im upgrading now to 1.04, then i will repost

edit: yes, alien bots dont respawn, even with 1.04.. is it the fault of RCBOT?  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
depends what bots you have on the alien team <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

tanathos · June 2003

There is a bug ingame that if you keep pressing the forward key, you will not respawn. Maybe the dying bot keep going in the same direction when dead.

NightCrawlerz · June 2003

do skulks use paracite agianst jet packers?<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'>

Asraniel · June 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>depends what bots you have on the alien team</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

im no dumb, of course was the wich bot on the alien side.. they cannot join the marine side

Cheeseh · June 2003

you could have rcbots on the alien team if you want though <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>
just justifying my point....

Asraniel · June 2003

jea, i know that, but i wanted to play RCBOTs vs Wichbots....

between, the RCBOT waypoints of ns_napo are a "little bit" outdated, as far as i can see...
in my sig is the new version of the map

clamatius · June 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> There is a bug ingame that if you keep pressing the forward key, you will not respawn. Maybe the dying bot keep going in the same direction when dead. </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

If that's true, I could see how that could be causing the problem and conceivably why it didn't show up in testing yesterday. It might have been caused by the fix to the bots moving in the ready room. I'll see if I can duplicate the problem tonight.

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> do skulks use paracite agianst jet packers?</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Yes, WhichBot skulks use parasite against jet packers. I've been killed by parasite on top of the hive before.

Asraniel · June 2003

just that you can test it, 6vs6, newest wichbot versus newest RCBOT on ns_napo

clamatius · June 2003

The bots do seem to respawn properly in the simple test case I was using (1 vs 4 bots on tanith).

Anyone else having this problem, or is it just him? I don't see any reason why being on napo or using RCBot would make a difference.

Byeka · June 2003

<b><u>Suggestions for this thread</b></u>

1) Sticky it
2) Clamatius, update your first post to the latest version of Whichbot (if it gets stickied)

Just a question for you Clamatius, is Whichbot going to ever do marines too? And if so, do you have a guess as to how long before you start with that? (Just curious <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'> )

clamatius · June 2003

Yeah, if the post ever gets stickied, I'll probably update the first post to include the current feature list.

As for doing marines... well, ever is a long time. However, there's so many cool features I want to do for aliens that it's unlikely I'll get to it before Cheeseh finishes his rewrite.

clamatius · July 2003

The official Waypointing Guide is now <a href='http://whichbot.com/waypoints/WhichBotWaypointingGuide.pdf' target='_blank'>available</a>.

Enjoy!

clamatius · July 2003

The final version of WhichBot (v0.53) for NS 1.04 is now available.

Highlights include various bugfixes, big to small, performance improvements and support for 2 new maps (ns_bast and ns_nancy). Just another way to bid ns_nancy a fond farewell...

Here's the detailed changelog.

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><ul><li>Fixed a serious but intermittent bug causing the server to hang occasionally.
<li> Nips and tucks to improve server performance.
<li> Newly waypointed level - ns_nancy, submitted by sandmansa!
<li> Newly waypointed level - ns_bast.
<li> Minor tweak to waypoints for ns_lost.
<li> Restructured gorge build priorities so the gorge tries to build more hives if it has a lot of extra resources.
<li> Fixed a bug where 1 more dummy player was added by the auto-balancer than absolutely necessary.
<li> Only add a dummy player or a bot on a given frame, but not both.
<li> Restructured ladder code to cope with bug affecting Gorges, Fades and Onos when climbing up ladders. Still not ideal, sadly.
<li> Rewrote switch-finding code to cope with unusual door mechanisms on ns_nancy.
<li> Treat rotating doors that block a waypoint path as transparent, like normal doors.
<li> Added new waypoint command: "wb wpwalkability". This recalculates walkability for the map, which was previously
only done at level load time.
<li> Added new waypoint command: "wb wpcheck". This points out hives and resource nozzles that gorges won't be able to walk to from the command chair's location.
<li> Added new waypoint command: "wb wpforcewalkable". Any paths going to the nearest waypoint will automatically be walkable. Be very careful with this, or walking evolutions (gorge, fade and onos) will be very confused if they try to take a route that isn't actually walkable.
<li> Added new waypoint command: "wb wpjump". Bots travelling to the nearest marked waypoint will jump.
<li> Added a timeout to build mode so that gorges won't try to build unsuccessfully till their overall timer kills them (weird bug that apparently sometimes happens).
<li> Have gorges try not to build hive defense structures next to ladders, which was sometimes causing bots to get stuck at the top of the ladder.
<li> Gorges shouldn't build things underwater, they can't swim that well.
<li> Autobalance spawns bots even if there are no marines if cheats are enabled. Helps debug waypointing, since you can easily watch 8+ bots running round the map.</ul></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Enjoy!

To stave off the inevitable questions at least a little: it's unlikely this build will work properly for NS 2.0. We didn't have access to the client before release, so it'll take a while to get a version out that can support NS 2.0.

clamatius · August 2003

Version .6 of WhichBot is ready!

This release is intended to be a compatibility release - the bot should now be compatible with NS2.0. Note that this release IS NOT backwards compatible with NS1.04.

Tactics for the bots have not been updated for NS2.0 yet, and the new weapons in NS2.0 aren't being used, but the bot should still be playable.

Changes:

<ul><li> Many minor tweaks to get the bot to compile and run properly with NS2.0.
<li> Hopefully healsprayed the gorge building bug to death, so now gorges should build properly.
<li> Waypoints for ns_veil! (thanks to Squidget).
<li> ns_lost rewaypointed for NS2.0 (thanks to Squidget).
<li> Tweaked waypoints for ns_bast for NS2.0 (thanks to sandmansa).
<li> ns_eclipse rewaypointed for NS2.0 (thanks to sandmansa).
<li> ns_tanith tweaked for NS2.0.
<li> Updated bundled Metamod version for compatibility with NS 2.0 (Metamod v1.16.1).
</ul>

Monkeybonk · August 2003

Congrats on the baby, hope it evolves into something useful <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

clamatius · August 2003

I'm hoping he evolves into a lawnmower. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Monkeybonk · August 2003

Bump for those that missed this.

That_Annoying_Kid · August 2003

Congradulations on the baby!

does this version of WB lower resource utilization as it tended to lag me and everyone on the LAN we were playing

whichbots effing kick arse

Monkeybonk · August 2003

What was that other bot that would follow waypoints and build things? I'd love to have bots on bots, with me commanding. I could get some practice in without having to get a whole team **** at me.

clamatius · August 2003

RCBot is the other bot for NS, although it hasn't been updated for NS2.0.

Yes, WhichBot v0.53 and up use significantly less CPU (although still a lot, it's just the nature of the beast). I'll be doing more optimisation work.

Monkeybonk · August 2003

Actually, I can't see how making the marine bot would be harder then the alien bot. If anything it'd be easier.

Wolfpack code would keep them together.

Jetpack code would allow 'vent access'. Perhaps jetpacks would negate the wolfpack code.

Create archetypical wolfpacks (For example, a GLer would be more likely to join a squad of HMGs then a squad of other GLers).

And of course, creating squads (ctrl-1 etc) would override wolfpacks.

Code to choose one from a squad and make him 'weld monkey'.

And finally, code to have them all hump the armory and **** that the aliens are overpowered and that they need a shotgun.

I honestly hope you look into marine botting soon, it could be good <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

[edit]Pretty much, allow them to follow orders, and the commander will be the AI for them <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>[/edit]

clamatius · August 2003

Version v0.61 of WhichBot is now out.

This is a bugfix release for a range of minor and major bugs in v0.6. Here's the gritty details...

<ul><li> Fades and Onos no longer jump in combat.
<li> Onos no longer duck to attack (holdover from bug workaround in NS1.04).
<li> Fixed crash bug that occurred occasionally when bots were trying to rescue an attacked hive.
<li> If the main config file (whichbot.pot) is missing or unreadable, bots will not be added.
<li> Gorge should build all kinds of chambers if it has enough hives (several bugs combined were causing this).
<li> Gorge is now only scared of marine buildings if it only has 1 active hive.
<li> Fixed bug (hopefully) that was causing bots not to attack if they saw an enemy while spawning.
<li> Revamped waypoints for ns_veil to fix problem where gorges got stuck trying to build RTs.
<li> Bots don't attack when cloaked unless the target gets close.
<li> Added a bunch of sanity checks round HL calls in an effort to limit crash bugs.</ul>

More bugs to go, but this was a big enough list of fixes I figured I'd let it loose on the unsuspecting public.

Deathclaw · August 2003

My DOCs and POTs have no text in them...

clamatius · August 2003

The v0.61 build wasn't quite right - I pulled it and replaced it with v0.62. So far that's been running for a day or two on the test server without issues.

The only other difference from v0.61 is a fix which hopefully should kill the respawn bug where bots don't respawn on some systems.

Enjoy!

clamatius · August 2003

Sadly, it seems even v0.62 suffers from the elusive hlds hang bug. In a bid to finally find it, we have a test server set up. So far it's been up for a few days with no problems, of course (perhaps it only happens on windows?).

Anyway, we need people to go play some NS and shoot some WhichBots. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

<a href='hlmp://206.124.138.239:27015' target='_blank'>Flak's Run, 206.124.138.239:27015</a>

Whichbot

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