Bot development status?

[bad_captain]

The problems with bots is that 1) many servers do not use bots, so they are not a critical server component, and 2) there's really only 1 dev who focuses on bot development, and he's away most of the time.

I have tried to put together some fixes for a few issues I've seen with bots, including the one you mentioned about the mana regen one with help from Caryatis. Besides having less than an hour every other night to work on it, I have had my server die on me last month due to faulty hardware and with the holidays, have just now got my EqEmu server running again, but on the same PC that I run EQ. The zone crash issues I was having are fixed now, so I believe I will be able to resubmit the fixes soon with a little more testing.

If you want to contribute to the development of bots, feel free! We can use the help. Just be aware that some things may not make sense when first looking at them, and that there are many things within the bot code that depend on and interact with other parts of the code outside of bots. Also, since bots are often an afterthought, any bot code that impacts other aspects of the code will be heavily scrutinized. Without someone who specifically champions the bot code, it most be shown to be bug free and be a significant improvement to get included in the base code.

If you see something that looks odd to you, spend more time researching. If you still think it looks odd, bring it up here, or test it yourself. The mana regen issue you mentioned is the result of an even bigger issue with bot mana regen that took me a couple of days to determine the scope of.. Bot mana regen is calculated on the wrong timer and is way higher than it should be. But to fix that, there are many other things that need to be fixed (such as I have in my bot fixes that I will be posting again soon).. This also helped me figure out that players were gaining too much mana regen when standing. I posted that I thought it was incorrect, posted a few examples that showed that the calculation was incorrect, and it was included in the code. Just be prepared to show / explain yourself if you find an issue rather than just say you think it looks wrong.

[trevius]

@Caryatis

Originally Posted by Caryatis

something about playing a different game that secrets removed due to it being dumb

It is the "or play a different game" part that I work so hard to prevent. We want more players, devs, and server admins in this community, not less. The more the community grows, the better, as long as we can handle support for the growing numbers.

Sure, most of the information is out there ...somewhere. But, it isn't always clear, current, or easy to find. Starting fresh into an established community like this can be a bit overwhelming. I really wish we had much better starting documentation that could get people running with many less questions and issues. I wrote the FAQ page to help with some general/common stuff, but it could definitely be expanded. It would be really nice if we had really good and consistently updated server startup guides too. It isn't an easy task to keep all documentation current, though.

I don't really classify most of your posts as flames or trolling really. I see them more as someone with little patience for people who ask questions that should be easy enough to answer if they looked around a bit more (which is how I think you see yourself). I just prefer to go easy on people as long as they don't get out of hand with asking simple questions that should be easy enough to find the answers on their own. I would rather not respond at all, than respond with something that is most likely just going to piss them off.

@Fasthand

I realize that the community here may not be what you are used to. In general, I think most people are nice and helpful. The problem is due to the small size of the people who are involved and active, a response may be very slow or may never happen at all.

Also, just posting bits of code that don't look right is most likely not going to get an in-depth explanation to why it is that way. Most stuff works as it is, so there is little reason to mess with it and risk breaking something unless there is a clear issue and solution.

Even if you have many years of experience with C++ and are familiar with the MQ2 side of EQ-related code, the source for EQEmu is completely different and has many more pieces to it and can be very complex and hard to comprehend. Your best bet would be to take a while to get more familiar with the source. Also, before posting changes, it is best to test the code out yourself and verify there is a real problem and that your solution resolves the issue. Everyone on this project is a volunteer and most have little time to look into random snippets that get posted. If you do your research and testing and can post changes with good explanation of why the change is needed and the testing that was done to verify it was needed and that the change resolves them, then you will be much more likely to get a more helpful response. Even still, since we are busy, it can take a while for devs to get to people's submissions if they are complex, or if they are out of their area of expertise. We do try to get most submissions committed as long as we have the time and as long as they look like good and needed changes.

If you feel like you are able to help out the project and community as a whole, and are willing, then feel free to. We are always glad to see new skilled developers that can really contribute to the project. But, also keep in mind that this project requires a fair amount of patience. It takes lots of time to get a good grasp on everything and also can take time to get good responses on anything.

[Secrets]

keep this on topic. I removed the offending posts. Cayartis, you should know better.