Server Help :: View topic - MERVbot help...

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Bot Questions - MERVbot help...

Assassin2684 - Sun Aug 01, 2004 5:45 pm
Post subject: MERVbot help...

Ok i just got merv bot and i mean how the **** do i set it up, sorry for my language but im mad. I have been messing with this stupid bot forever and looked everywhere. So now im going to the forums. I need help anyone please, i cant set it up and i dont kno how. Please someone help me.

CypherJF - Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:19 pm
Post subject:

Why not just read the readme.txt; if you can't understand it, then I'm sorry to say, you shouldn't operate a bot.

Assassin2684 - Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:24 pm
Post subject:

Acctually i have done some stuff in the text but im stuck on some stuff to but im trying to figure them out, i will post if i need any more help.

Bak - Sun Aug 01, 2004 10:11 pm
Post subject:

comon cypher... everything always seems easier after you've done it, doing stuff for the first time isn't nearly as easy as we'd like to believe. And this IS a bot help forum, not to mention he says he's tryied to set it up himself (which is more than most people do before coming here).

Let's follow the steps in the readme...

1: Extract all files in archive to an empty folder.

Ok that ones seems easy enough... make a folder... unzip contents of build44 from mervbot.com into the folder.
-------------

2.Double-click Spawns.txt
Read the directions.
Delete the example spawns at the very top.
Add your own spawn(s) in the proper format.

The spawns.txt file used to tell mervbot what botname and password you want to use, as well as what plugins (like duel or elim) you want the bot to start with. You don't need to have any plugins for mervbot to connect to a zone, so let's try it without any plugins first, just to see if it connects. Every line in the file starts with a #, except for one which we'll write in as:

BotName : BotPassword : StartingArena : : StaffPassword

If you want the bot to start in a public arena put 0 in for StartingArena... so an example would be:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: : vagina

where the bot name is Assassin[bot]
the bot password is iLUVvag
the bot starts in ?go 0 (public)
there are no initial plugins loaded
the staff password is vagina

------------

3. Double-click Operators.txt
Read the directions.
Delete the example operators at the very top.
Add yourself in the proper format.

Operators.txt tells mervbot who is a bot operator. These will determain who has access to what commands. For example say there is a soccer game plugin you are running. People with mod access may be able to change the score, but people with player level access may only be able to check the score and time, and not change it without scoring.

You can erase every line in operators.txt (although lines begining with # are comments, so they don't matter anyways) and put one line giving yourself bot access:

OperatorLevel:YourName:(optional password ?)

where operator level is typically 0-5 where 0 is player and 5 is owner, all players have player access by default.
0 = player access
1 = VIP access
2 = mod access
3 = smod access
4 = sysop access
5 = owner access

so for example you would put:

5:Assassin2684:

so you have owner level access to your bot, and you don't need to !login with a password because it goes just by your name.

-------------------

4. http://www.subspacehq.com/features/serverstatus.shtml

Find the zone you want to have the bot enter and write down its "IP Address" and "Port."
Your zone must be listed on one of the main directory servers for it to be listed on that
website. If it is not listed, you may also find the "IP Address" and "Port" numbers in a
SubSpace favorite.lst file or a Continuum zone.dat file (Both may be viewed in Notepad)

OH FOTHER MUCKER the website is down we can't get the IP address OH NOES!!!!!

don't panic!!!! continuum keeps a list of all you're favorite zone's ip addresses in your continuum folder. First make sure the zone you want the bot to connect to is on your favorites. Then close continuum. Open notepad. Goto to file -> open. On the bottom it'll say "Text Documents (*.txt)" or something like that. Change that to "All Files". Then go to your continuum folder and select a file called "zones.dat". Press open.

Now you'll get something like:

Code: Show/Hide

Light,24.209.40.95,3000,,0
#testing
Local Zone,127.0.0.1,5000,,1
#this is a test zone on my own computer!
NTC CT Vs. TF,69.93.253.180,1010,,0
#Well we had to change name from CounterStrike to CT Vs. TF. CT stads for Counter-Terrorist and TF stands for Terrorist Forces, Come in and have fun!
NTC Future Outpost,69.93.253.180,1030,,0
#NTC Future OutPost SUPER-CTF!-- The Future Of SubSpace FLAGGING! Game Style Never Seen Before Anywhere Else! Website: http://www.future-outpost.com
SSCC Metal Gear CTF,69.56.172.170,14000,,0
#ss://metalgearctf.com - An Infantry style Capture The Flag game with a breathtaking LVZ, and settings that will challenge even the most skillfull players. (MetalGearCTF.net)http://metalgearctf.net (League Site)http://mgleague.sscentral.com

Find the zone you want to connect to. For this example we'll connect to zone "Light" so let's look at the line:

Light,24.209.40.95,3000,,0

we grab a paper and pencil and write down "24.209.40.95:3000"

Now we have the ip and port! close notepad and go back to your mervbot folder for the next step.

----------------

5. Double-click MERVBot.INI
Where it says..
[Login]
Zone=127.0.0.1:2000
..put the zone's IP Address:Port.

we open mervbot.ini and near the top it'll say:

[Login]
// If you are hosting locally to the server, please set this to 127.0.0.1
Zone=127.0.0.1:2000

We change this line to the ip and port we wrote down from the previous step. So if out ip and power is 24.209.40.95:3000 we change it to:

[Login]
// If you are hosting locally to the server, please set this to 127.0.0.1
Zone=24.209.40.95:3000

---------------

If the zone is Continuum-only, add the bot to VIP.TXT

You have two options here. Make the zone not continuum only (bad for security, but if you're just testing not a big deal) or give the bot staff. This means that you can't just login the bot into any zone like TW and let it spam away (the bot won't have staff, and most major zones are continuum only).

Let's explore the first option. You need to go to the server directory and make sure AllowVieClients in the [misc] section is set to 1.

for example:
[misc]
AllowVIEClients=1

if it's not there subgame defaults it to 1 anyways, so you're set.

The other option is to edit VIP.txt (or moderate.txt or smod.txt or sysop.txt) and add the bot's name just like any other staff member. Most plugins will need a staff position anyways, so this is the exponentially better option. For example any bot that uses *arena messages or *warptos will need mod. Any bot that uses *zone messages will need smod. If you want your bot to be able to take as fast as she wants without spamming out she needs sysop.
After you give your bot staff you may need to wait a few minutes for the server to reload the staff files, or restart(recycle) the server.
---------------

Double-click MERVBot.EXE

double click on the mervbot.exe and cross your fingers

good luck

CypherJF - Sun Aug 01, 2004 10:23 pm
Post subject:

Merv is not that hard; I simply read the readme; and badda bing, I had merv running in no time.. :/

SuSE - Sun Aug 01, 2004 11:41 pm
Post subject:

CypherJF wrote:

Merv is not that hard; I simply read the readme; and badda bing, I had merv running in no time.. :/

ditto - I agree, if you can't understand the readme, you shouldn't bother operating a bot (unless of course some nice person like Bak wants to give you a skoolin')

Assassin2684 - Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:52 pm
Post subject:

Thank you Bak i got the bot working but now im putting a plugin on it and i no how to install it but i cant find the place its telling me to, The plugin is basewars5.0 plugin, i found it on www.mervbot.com or something like that. Thats just about all im haveing truble with, and thanks agin.

Solo Ace - Mon Aug 02, 2004 1:33 pm
Post subject:

SuSE wrote:

ditto - I agree

And so do I.

I have no idea what you mean with "i cant find the place its telling me to" so I'll just explain to you how you can load the plugin.

---
Step 1: Putting the plugin in place

Put the plugins (the .dll files) you want the MERVBot to use in the same folder as the MERVBot.exe file.
So if you want to load "basewars.dll", put the basewars.dll in the same directory as the MERVBot.exe.

Read the readme.txt file which is included with the plugin carefully, it tells you the following:

Basewars 5's author wrote:

This bot requires sysop to use the *points command.

So make sure the bot's spawn has sysop access to the server!

---
Step 2: Loading the plugin

How to initially load it - way 1 of 2 ways (recommended)
This way the bot loads the plugin every time the bot starts running.

Open the file "spawns.txt" in a text editor (notepad, etc.).

In spawns.txt you put a line, one like Bak showed you:

Bak wrote:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: : vagina

In the empty section (": :") of this line you are supposed to put the names of initial plugins you want the bot to load, so we put the name of our plugin there:

Quote:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: basewars : vagina

Now the plugin will be loaded when you start the bot program.

How to load it in game - way 2 of 2 ways
This way the plugin will be loaded while the bot is running, you have to do this every time you want the plugin to be loaded.
Type "!load basewars" to load the basewars.dll into your bot, then it's loaded.

Assassin2684 - Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:10 pm
Post subject:

Ok what i mean is when it says:

Installation:
In spawns.txt, use basewars.dll instead of blank.

Ok i went to spawn.txt but what does it mean by "Blank". I dont get that part and thats all.

CypherJF - Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:10 pm
Post subject:

Should pin this topic.

Solo Ace - Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:52 pm
Post subject:

I told you what it means.

Solo Ace wrote:

Open the file "spawns.txt" in a text editor (notepad, etc.).

In spawns.txt you put a line, one like Bak showed you:

Bak wrote:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: : vagina

In the empty section (": :") of this line you are supposed to put the names of initial plugins you want the bot to load, so we put the name of our plugin there:

Quote:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: basewars : vagina

Now the plugin will be loaded when you start the bot program.

The empty section (": :") in the line, there, is the "blank" part the author of the plugin is talking about in the readme file.

I'll show you this way to make sure you understand:

[image link removed]
Note: This is just the Dutch version of notepad.

Whenever I told you to put "basewars.dll", you can put "basewars" too, doesn't matter, both work.

Assassin2684 - Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:01 pm
Post subject:

Ok i did all that but now when ever i try to start up the bot it closes down after a few seconds, also on this:

Assassin[bot] : iLUVvag : 0: basewars : vagina

Can i chage this the iLUVvag and vagina stuff to what i want?

Solo Ace - Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:27 pm
Post subject:

Well, look, it depends on what you're connecting to.
The second section (where you put "iLUVvag") is the bot's password, if you want to change this value you'll have to make sure the password on the billing server is changed.

The last section (where you put "vagina") is the staff password, before changing this make sure it's the right staff password.

I'm not sure why it closes when it starts, maybe an outdated plugin?

Assassin2684 - Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:53 pm
Post subject:

It might be but i recycled the server and started up the bot agin, abd i still have the plugin name where you told me to put it and now it doesemt close. But im not so sure the plugin is working.i Have the plugin where you trold me to put it see:

Kill.bot : +++++ : 0 : basewars : mod

Is that how everything is sopose to look?

Solo Ace - Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:00 pm
Post subject:

Err...

Bak explained you what every setting was.

Bot name : Bot password : Arena to spawn in : Plugins : Staff password

Change those settings to what you want them to be...

Assassin2684 - Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:16 pm
Post subject:

Ok that should be abot al just one more thing, its abot commands. i looked in the command setting and couldent find it. Ok i need my bot to coe out side and not to be in spec. Like the zone Desert Sorm how they have thier bots each bot is at a base and when it sees a nme it shoots. I kno how to set it in a ship and on a team but not out side. Also is there a zone hosting site that just hosts test zones?
Thanks

Cyan~Fire - Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:18 pm
Post subject:

In spawns.txt itself are perfectly understandable instructions on doing this, as well as an example.

Bak - Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:39 pm
Post subject:

Mervbot by default will shoot any any enemy it gets near when it's not following anyone, and not in spec. I'm assuming you have the bot in spec in your server and you are an operator of the bot (message it !help and see if level 5 commands come up to check it you are an owner).

Step one, putting the bot in a ship:

Message the bot !ship # where # is the number of the ship... so for example:
!ship 1
------------------------------
Step two, setting the bot's frequency:

do you want the bot on the pub freq's like in Desert Storm, or on a private freq so everyone gets shot? find out what frequency you want the bot on and message the bot !team # where number is the freq number. For example:
!team 499
------------------------------
Step two, making the bot follow you so you can place it. (skip this step if it's already following you):

Message the bot !follow <name> where <name> is the name of the player you want it to follow... so for example:
!follow assassin2684
------------------------------
Step three, placing the bot:

Move yourself to where you want the bot to stay (the bot should be following you pretty closely).
------------------------------
Step four, making the bot stand still:

Message the bot !follow 0 and it should stop following you and shoot at any enemies that come near.

D1st0rt - Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:12 am
Post subject:

If it doesn't shoot for some reason, use !turret 0

Smong - Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:11 pm
Post subject:

Bak wrote:

4. http://www.subspacehq.com/features/serverstatus.shtml

This link is broken. Also just load up ss/ctm and right click on the zone to see the ip/port (and description).

Bak - Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:44 pm
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I know the link is broken, read the rest of step 4

Smong - Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:58 pm
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I thought that meant like how stats.tw.org is down a lot of the time, not that it is down right now

Anonymous - Sun Aug 22, 2004 3:25 am
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hey, i made a zone, set a merv bot up with it, and the bot partially worked. it was in the zone, but everytime you typed ?help to it, it would leave the arena then come back. then i made some map setting changes with the greening rate. and when i went to get the bot back in the zone, subbill denied it.

// WARNING: Do not copy deprecated SSBot.INI or MERVBot.INI contents here.
// README.TXT has a Quick Setup guide.

[Login]
Zone=24.230.59.242:1099

// Keeps a Logins.txt file to help remember passwords
RecordLogins=0
// Adjust when arena settings restrict resolution
ResX=1280
ResY=1024

[Database]
Spawns=Spawns.txt
// The following change as in-game state changes:
Commands=Commands.txt
Operators=Operators.txt
// Database automatic save interval (in seconds)
SaveInterval=300

[Misc]
// Terminal window caption
WindowCaption=MERVBot terminal
// Maximum number of in-game spawns (3 is absolute maximum)
MaxSpawns=3
// Mask ban information so it remains constant but different from your own
MaskBan=0
// Allow players to send .WAV files to the bot (not stored on disk)
PlayerVoices=0
// No terminal output. This will speed up the bot noticeably
NoTerminal=1
// Ignore commands in public chat? It gets annoying.
DisablePubCommands=0

[Security]
// Log chatter to BotName.log (slow diagnostic tool)
ChatterLog=0
// Should I listen to (possibly spoofed) remote private messages?
RemoteInterpreter=1
// If so, should I listen to remote private messages from passworded operators?
RemoteOperator=1
// Encrypt network traffic? (required sg1.34.12+)
EncryptMode=1

[Misc]
AllowNewUsers=1
SysopPassword=xxxxxx
//Change to Billing Sysop Password, usless anyways..
BillingPassword=xxxxxx
//Change this to whatever you want, also match it with the server.ini [Billing] section too
MaxQueueForLogin=50
LowPriority=0
KickOutDelay=24000
Port=185

[Custom]
ArenaMode=0
//1=Any player can create an own a new subarena
//2=Only mods+ can own newly created subarenas
//3=Smods+ own new subarenas
//4=Sysops own new subarenas
//5=New subarenas won't make new files, will just use spawn.cfg instead. If a .cfg is already created for subarena, will use that instead

[Arena]
ArenaMaxPlayers=200
ArenaDesiredPlayers=100
ArenaMinimumPlayers=25
SpawnKeepScores=1
MaxArenas=2000
MaxArenasMemory=64000

[Comms]
MaxQueueToLogin=16
PacketHistoryMax=2000
IncomingBufferSize=131072
OutgoingBufferSize=131072
EncryptMode=1
UnreliableBufferSize=128
TransportBufferSize=160
FlushTime=10
BandwithIdleTime=21600
SelectTime=10

[Misc]
DisableShareware=0
RegisterKickShareware=0
MaxSharewarePlayers=-1
MaxPlayers=200
MaxSharewareTime=90000000
DisableSharewareNames=0
DisableSharewareShips=0
DisableSharewareScores=0
MenuKickOutDelay=12000
NoAntiInSafe=0
//If 1, then if in a safty, SS will ignore that player's anti
LockFreqs=0
//If 1, then *lock doesn't allow freq change
PositionDataAccess=2
//if 0, sysops see player stats in spec. If 1, smods/sysops can. If 2, then mod/smods/sysops can
AlertCommand=cheater
//so ?cheater {text} will send to online mods
AllowPubScorereset=0
AllowPvtScorereset=0
//If 1, ?scorereset will reset player's score
TimerDropFlagTerritoryRadius=8
//If non-0, then all non-neutral droped flags X tiles away from ship. More info in FAQ at Server Help Site
ShipTypeSwitchResetPeriod=0
//If non-0, than if someone does X amount of shipchanges that is in the .cfg in this amount of time (in milliseconds), then kicks them off
CheckWeapons=1
//Leave this set to 1, so it detects more of different type of cheats.. will kick them out if in .cfg the [Security] SecurityKickoff is 1
CheckFastBombing=0
//More info on website
FastBombingThreshold=30
//More info on website
ForceObsceneCheck=0
//0 = normal, 1 = everyone has obscene checking on
NoFlagRewardLimit=0
//If set non-zero reward multiplier limit is removed in FlagRewardMode 1. Multiplier is (maximumAllowedPerTeam / numberOfTeamMembers), if NoFlagRewardLimit is set 0
multiplier is limited by 2.
LogPoints=0
PointUpdateDiff=500
JackpotBroadcastPoints=0
ServerLog=1
KeepAliveDelay=500
DefaultLevelFile=Spyderz.lvl
//Change to your map file name
Port=1099
//Make it something round, like 1000, 2000, etc. Change this if you are running more than one zone off same billing
AllowVIEClients=1
//If you wish to restrict your zone to continuum only, set to 0. If you want everyone to play, set to 1
StaffChat=
//Divide staff chat channels by commas. Only mods+ can join these local chats.
ForceContinuumOnly=1
//If set to 1, will only let continuum users enter zone
ServerIP=
//Set to the server's IP #. This is used for *einfo's proxy detection
AllowPrerelease=1
//Set to 1, people with newer continuum can enter. Set to 0, only current client will be allowed in

[CPU]
LoopDelay=0
ProcessMaxTime=4
SleepPerIteration=0
SlowIterationWarningLevel=100
SleepTime=0

[Permission]
AllowBadMachineId=1
AllowLowBandwidth=1
MinimumSecondsToLogin=0
PermissionMaxPoints=0
PermissionMode=0
AutoPermissionPoints=0
AutoPermissionIDList=0
AutoPermissionMessage=Congratulations

[Password]
SysopPassword=xxxxx
EnergyPassword=xxxxx
ModeratorPassword=xxxxxx
SuperModeratorPassword=xxxxxx
VIPPassword=
//Change all to what you want

[Billing]
LogMessages=0
IP=127.0.0.1
Password=xxxxx
//What is the billing pw in the subbill.ini
ServerName=BlackSun
//Zone name
Port=185
ServerId=1099
//Make the same as in [Misc] Port=
GroupId=1
ScoreId=1099
//Make the same as in [Misc] Port=
ReconnectTime=12000
AttemptTime=6400

[Advertise]
SendMode=0
DisplayMode=0
Duration=6000

[Validation]
CheckMod=0
CheckSMod=0
CheckSysop=0
LogPubCommands=*
LogPvtCommands=*
DisablePubCommands=
DisablePvtCommands=
//Help at http://www.shanky.com/server/ in FAQ section for Subgame2

CypherJF - Sun Aug 22, 2004 4:01 am
Post subject:

?help is not a BOT command. Ug!

50% Packetloss - Sun Aug 22, 2004 6:05 am
Post subject:

make
Zone=127.0.0.1:1099

in mervbot.ini if you are running the server off your computer. Also make NoTerminal=0 so you can see any errors that pop up in the mervbot window

Phyran - Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:33 am
Post subject:

Anonymous - Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:43 pm
Post subject:

BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin connected.
BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin connected.
BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin connected.
BS-Public Connecting host 24.230.59.242 : 1099
BS-Public Sending password for BS-Public
BS-Public Invalid password for specified user. The name you have chosen is pro
bably in use by another player, try picking a different name.
BS-Public Closing...
BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin disconnected.
BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin disconnected.
BS-Public Ext: DLL plugin disconnected.

I meant to say !help. So, should i keep the IP the same or not? And, that also means i have to change the name of my bot, right?

Solo Ace - Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:51 pm
Post subject:

Shadow-Assassin wrote:

So, should i keep the IP the same or not?

Keep the same IP, obviously your bot can connect to the server.

Shadow-Assassin wrote:

And, that also means i have to change the name of my bot, right?

Check if the name and password are correct, if not try changing name or correcting the password.

I don't want to be rude (no, this time I don't) or anything but these things are pretty obvious, is it that hard to figure it out without asking?

Anonymous - Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:13 pm
Post subject:

everything is set correctly. this is what i get from the bot and subgame2:

bot:
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Retrying connection...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Retrying connection...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Automatically reconnecting on timeout...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Retrying connection...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Retrying connection...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Automatically reconnecting on timeout...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099
BS-Public Retrying connection...
BS-Public Connecting host 127.0.0.1 : 1099

subgame2:
Sun Aug 22 11:01:06: Client connection request from billing server ignored

well, im not retarded, but i am a little slow. i get very confused, easily.

Cyan~Fire - Sun Aug 22, 2004 4:58 pm
Post subject:

Server.ini:

[Billing]
IP=localhost

Anonymous - Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:01 pm
Post subject:

Ok, thanks guys, now one more problem. every time i type !help to the bot, it leaves the re-enters and i have to sign back into it. how do i fix this?