Bot Questions - Bot Programming Anonymous - Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:42 am Post subject: Bot Programming
I'm not a SysOp or a Mod or anything, just a user, and I was trying to figure out how to make a "Bot" (using this term loosely) while I'm playing.
I figured FindWindow/Ex(...) would do the trick nicely. When Subspace is minimized (Alt+Tab), I just spied for the classes, etc. This was in vain because none of the LB_XXXXX/WM_XXXXX messages didn't work. So then I got the class of the window when it's not minimized. This seemed to work. I could send messages using WM_CHAR (with "\r\n" at the end of the message). The only way I could figure out how to get a player's name was to do "?log somefile"; then I would just read in that file and get it.
I'm curious of how the bots work. Do you have to be a SysOp/Mod? Can you even use windows messages to do everything? If I have to use WinSock, what messages do you have to send in order to get player's name and send stuff to the chat? Could I use DirectPlay even?
At least, is there any code that just sends stuff to the chat but while I'm playing.
I know C++ and Java (don't know WinSock in Java though).
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Mr Ekted - Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:24 am Post subject:
All the bots are stand-alone clients. They do not work through Continuum. They make their own connections to the server, login, receive settings and player lists, and send/recv text as normal. Most bots run as sysops so they can use commands like *arena, *warpto, *spec, etc. Some bots do not handle security stuff, so they have to be sysops (or VIP) to avoid being booted.
Cyan~Fire - Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:16 am Post subject:
Well, all bots have to be >=smod or VIP because they use Subspace encryption, not the improved Continuum encryption. That is, unless you allow Subspace clients into your game, which is a big security risk.
Anonymous - Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject:
So how would I make a Bot to run through continuum?
Mr Ekted - Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:52 pm Post subject:
You can't.
Cerium - Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:16 pm Post subject:
Well, you can always do what he suggested in his first paragraph, but youll be very limited in functionality and reliability.