AILadder and SpringGrid

[gajop]

a VirtualBox image for a botrunner .. i would like that. a problem i see there though, is how to maintain it painlessly. redistributing a 1GB image each time a new spring version comes out is not a nice thing of course. same with new AI versions.

well, if i do that, ill probably use a distribution i'm used to, like archlinux, it would also give me greater chances of being able to build and/or maintain a spring-headless package without pulling dependencies like X, sdl, gl, alsa and similar (i'm not entirely sure if it is viable with the current spring headless though?)

but regardless of the distribution, would it be really that hard to update a package? although i would advise against it, it might be possible to include in the botrunner a part that executes system updates (or at least those limited to spring and their dependencies). since here we have the assumption that all botrunners are the same when it comes to configuration, it might even be possible to include some sort of custom code executions given from springgrid. and that should only be included for the virtualbox image botrunners, even then it might make people uneasy

as far as AI versions are concerned, they can easily be shared in binaries if we're using the same image - which implies the same architecture. hugh has also included an attempt for botrunners to download maps/mods/ais (some or all three), it would copy the AIs in spring source directory and try to compile it, although i'm not sure how that went

[gajop]

Could you allow an export feature that exported a lua XML or son format with basic stats? Nothing too much, just basic probability stats, e.g. Shard 0.4 versus 0.5 what is the probability of 0.4 winning drawing or loosing, and the 3 totals, no per battle details, that can be for another API. That way I can use the data either in a Lua AI, a website, via JavaScript, or in an app

not sure if you directed this to me or koshi,
but regarding ailadder i could make total wins/losses/draws/crashes/gametimeouts or simpler with just W/L/D
now i could give you AI vs AI stats, but i should only export fractions or totals
as far as probability is concerned, i would need a lot of data to make statistically sound assumptions - and i bet someone could do that better
well in any case, the total/fraction part could be set in stone and perhaps as far as probability is concerned one could provide assumptions that come from modified versions of ranking algos that koshi mentioned

[AF]

Any data at the moment would be a better bet than what we already have

[hoijui]

spring headless works without and X deps, took me quite some effort to get there. may already told you: configure with:

Code: Select all

cmake -DHEADLESS_SYSTEM=TRUE

(lib)DevIL needs support for jpeg and png only (concerning external deps, the rest that is needed is always included/part of its source). the binary package of DevIL comes with support for much more on most platforms, for example thumbnail support, which depends on X, so you may have to compile DevIL yourself.

yeah, that download systems sounds good, and i agree with that it should not be part of botrunner, so you can run a botrunner without it.

[gajop]

A small update on the progress:
- Botrunner is excluded from springgrid, they are now separate projects. Reason for this is justified as my assumption that most people will just want to run botrunners on some of the available springgrids, and well, they are used separately.
- All projects are using the master branch as the current revision: http://github.com/gajop/springgrid http://github.com/gajop/botrunner http://github.com/gajop/ailadder
- I've added the ability to set soft and hard timeouts, which specifies the amount of in-game and real life time respectively the game is allowed to last.
- Also added speed, the ability to choose sides(races) - with this we get the ability to play more mods and sides than just BA/ARM.
- Added some better ways of creating leagues - you can specify which races AIs should use, and which AIs will participate in the league.
- Probably made some forms easier to navigate, and cleaner in general.

Things still needs doing:
- Fix bugs and comments: I wouldn't be surprised if I introduced some bugs or code comment inconsistencies that weren't there, and at the very least, there are some obvious bugs in the code.
- Decide on roles/privileges regarding league creation/deletion, add better account support.
- Create a way of exporting stats - need to see if it should be on the league/AI level, etc.
- Add the ability to reschedule league matches that failed (crashed/timeout).
- Create a usable and small botrunner virtualbox image (This is also my current aim), also add a way of doing self updates to the image.

Things that won't happen soon:
- Add the ability for matches larger than 1v1.
- Add the ability for leagues to have more than one map (maybe this is what LeagueGroups were made for?)
- Different types of leagues.
- Usable outside API for dealing with leagues.
- Anything else I didn't mention above.

PS: I might've forgotten something, looking at the clock now I should rush to the university...

[hoijui]

niiice! :D
i am quite happy you are doing this, thanks!

tell me if i shall do something.