EQBOTS Sunset

[WildcardX]

FYI. I believe the version of BOTS I have now is beta quality and I plan to commit to the repo on Friday and remove EQBOTS. I expect to conduct a week logn beta period on the BOTS system and to address bug reports as they come in from the community.

Any help to assist in testing the BOTS system after I commit will be appreciated by myself and the community as a whole.

[gaeorn]

I'd be happy to help test. What is needed? Should the behavior be the same as the old EQBOTS code for now or are there changes I should specifically test? Has the "beta" version been committed to SVN already?

[vales]

I couldn't live without them, so I'd be more than happy to chip in any way I can.

[WildcardX]

Thank you, both for offering to help with testing. All I will need you to do is to compile and run the BOTS code when I release it as "beta" and just go through all the commands and normal things you do with bots. Then just note any crashes, errors and send them to me so I can fix them.

As of right now, I think I'll leave the EQBOTS code in for the duration of the beta period as I created a hack of sorts to allow the EQBOTS to coexist with the rest of the code for a little while longer, but I believe I'll remove the EQBOTS code within the next 2 weeks after the beta period has identified and resolved any significant issues.

I'll release more information about this beta release by Friday so check back then.

[Angelox]

FYI. I believe the version of BOTS I have now is beta quality and I plan to commit to the repo on Friday and remove EQBOTS. I expect to conduct a week logn beta period on the BOTS system and to address bug reports as they come in from the community.

Any help to assist in testing the BOTS system after I commit will be appreciated by myself and the community as a whole.

This move is very drastic, I know I have NO SAY in any of this, but
EQBOTS as they are, is very stable. I would suggest you leave it as is, tell what ever you started is finished.

[WildcardX]

Angelox,

Please re-read what has been posted.

[Yeormom]

I'm more of a pick one and go with it fan. The way it is now, the source is getting riddled with double bottage, including continued updates to both. I don't use them though so good luck!

[WildcardX]

I'm a fan of irony myself :-P

[vales]

Will the existing rules and stuff still work? Or is there going to be new sql stuff to work with?

[WildcardX]

There will be new sql but it will be similar to what you are used to.

[pfyon]

When trying to compile the BOTS code on ubuntu server 8.04 today, I ran into the following error(s):

bot.h:47: error: expected ';' before 'override'
bot.h:48: error: expected ';' before 'override'
bot.h:49: error: expected ';' before 'override'
bot.h:51: error: expected ';' before 'override'
bot.h:52: error: expected ';' before 'override'


which corresponds to


virtual void SetLevel(uint8 in_level, bool command = false) override;
virtual void FillSpawnStruct(NewSpawn_Struct* ns, Mob* ForWho) override;
virtual bool Process() override;
//virtual void AI_Process();
virtual bool Save() override;
virtual void Depop(bool StartSpawnTimer = true) override;


After asking a friend who has lots more c++ experience than me, he suggested 'override' might be a MS only keyword, so it could be a good idea to find a cross-platform equivalence. He also noted that "once override is even removed, it can add bugs anywhere where dynamic casting is used during runtime".

[WildcardX]

Yes it is. Its a habit of mine but I did catch it earlier in the week and removed the keyword.

[vales]

Where should we start reporting bugs?

I'll start. :D

r802
1.) If you group with the bots, mobs won't drop loot. They'll poof right after they die even though they do have loot.
2.) If you group with bots, they will not give you exp. Also, Leadership Exp does not work in this rev.

[Tristanlogd]

I would like to help test the bots as well :)

[WildcardX]

Not quite ready yet for beta testing. I thought I was going to be further along but I've been delayed trying to untangle the attack code.

[vales]

Ah. Was wondering why there wasn't a "heads up" yet, lol.

Well when you think it's ready, let us know. :)

[WildcardX]

If anyone is eager to test the new bot system, you can go ahead and download r814 from the bot branch in the community repository I created. Please note that as of r814, I have not integrated bot raids or bot groupraids so don't even bother trying and don't report any errors associated with them. You can however make bots and group with bots and get experience from kills with bots. Go ahead and focus testing on bots and grouping with bots. I do know about the issue that bots proc WAY TOO much, but if you find any other issues, please report them here.

[vales]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up! :)

[vales]

Can't get the zone to compile in rev 818. 439 Errors, heh.

[pfyon]

Anyone with a bit more experience using g++ and make able to create a makefile for the linux servers for this?

[pfyon]

Wow, totally spaced out when doing this post. I was actually wanting someone to make a makefile for the eqemu login server.

[WildcardX]

I am about halfway though the community beta period I am conducting for the new bot code and so far no one has reported any issues. I am planning on merging the new bot system into trunk on Tuesday August 4th, which will remove the existing EQBOTS code from the repository. Again, if you haven't tried to use the new source code in the bots branch, even if you do not use the BOTS configuration, please do so. The new code that is in branch does have the potential to impact even non-BOTS servers so it is in the whole communities interest to try this code to identify any potential issues ahead of merging those code to trunk.

[vales]

I would, but I can't get the bots migrated over to the new system. =(

I've been sitting on my hands for the past week trying to figure it out when I can. I even spent the majority of the day working on the wikki page because I can't get the bots switched over, lol.

[WildcardX]

rename your existing bot tables to other names and source thew bots script I provided in the repository and you can begin testing with new bots.

[vales]

Awesome! Thanks so much, WildcardX! :D