Spring RTS Engine

I went to a friends and stayed out.

It works right now, but I'm not happy with the performance of the build algorithm. And as always, people have not noticed that I've been making git commits as I go along. Current latest and greatest is sitting in github, and has been for weeks now.

cool story bro

AF wrote:

Looks like it should build much more units

I can't believe it's finally out!

Testing now....


Well, short lived hope. Got a crash when game started:

[ 0] SkirmishAI1: error in script.txt

Here is said script.txt

You mean just an error message?

Keep in mind I've done no testing of any kind under kernel panic

edit: also that the commander list in the uber generic config has no task orders to build assault units or builders, which might be a problem in games where the commander is a structure

AF wrote:You mean just an error message?

The game load, I have the countdown to spawning, and then:





Upon inspection, the infolog contains:

[stuff cut out]
.....
.....
[ 0] Finalizing...
[ 0] Spring 0.80.4.1 (0.80.4.1-0-g0e3491f{@}-cmake-mingw32)
[ 0] Build date/time: Sep 4 2009 19:14:31
[ 0] -> connection established (given id 0)
[ 0] Player zwzsg finished loading and is now ingame
[ 0] GameID: d504d54a6e7958bb43441ac379b8f899
[ 0] Player zwzsg (auto)-paused the game for letting Skirmish AI NTai initialize for controlling team 1. The game is auto-unpaused as soon as the AI is ready.
[ 0] SkirmishAI1: error in script.txt

Verified, it appears to be a release build only issue, debug builds work fine (not counting the kernel panic gameplay of the default config)

I have uploaded XE10a which is a debug build with one or two extra loggign statements and a minor unrelated fix. I also added in the kernel panic test config I used to use.

The 7 people who downloaded XE10 are to redownload!!!

Also note there is a bug involving feature detection that prevents NTai from acquiring a list of geothermals, so NTai cannot place sockets in kernel panic because of this problem.

On marble madness this piece of code always says there are no features of any kind on the map:
fnum is always zero therefore the loop inside the if statement caching geo positions never runs.

LULw0t?
Got 10a. BA 7.01

AF, I don't understand where'd you did it wrong, but it actually works.
Let me say that again. It doesn't crash. Doesn't do complete irrelevant bullshit. Yes, it stalls like piece of a dirty noob, yes, it builds anemones all over the place, builds 4 t2 labs simultaneously, but damn, it works. AND all of this with the default config! AND it doesn't even lag!!! Like, WTF, AF, we all know you can't really finish NTAI... you just broke my world.

So funny to post this at page *please pay attention* 88 of a thread. Liek, no, I've got cognitive dissonance now.

I'll be looking at BA config tomorrow. Ooooh I've been waiting for this since my first day of Spring (no kidding).

/me walks away into the mist shocked and disoriented...

As I said, stability release, not uber pwnage release

AF, you *really* need to test builds before you release them.

it would've taken 5 minutes to fire up a 1v1 NTAI and KAI and make sure it doesn't explode and save you the need to do a last second patch. start testing your shit!

downloading :D
ill put together a config for ba

the XTA config dosnt work anymore, could be because of mod changes or whatever. not much of a problem because nowadays nobody plays XTA.

It was one of those bugs that only shows up in release builds not debug builds. I've put out a debug build which should prevent it, though it means some optimizations won't take effect. I tested mostly in debug mode though so performance isn't horrendous.

Regarding kernel panic performance, in my tests NTai ran quite fast, I could increase game speed in zwzsg' testgame to 10x with no frame rate hit, but of course with no ability to build sockets it was never going to make a difference. Hopefully this will mean that once I can use geothermal spots again I can support kernel panic properly =]

I've a 10.1 release planned. If you can hash together a fixed XTA config, I've a few other issues to resolve, such as some minor refactors, and other common sense things, like water weapons on all land maps. I'd rather not rely on NTai's learning mechanism to learn not to build depth charge towers when I can make it more intelligent about its choices.

Just tag requests bugs or ideas in redmien as 10.1 if they're minor, else XE11

I confirm that now, NTai almost works with KP: It doesn't crash, it builds some units and even stage some attacks, and isn't as sluggish as the lastest builds from long ago. And like you said, it can't find geo which is crippling for KP.

Awwww... You know I like to post in numbered lists. So here's another one:

0) BA 7.01, XE10a, maps: cooper, comet, barren.

1) At some point during my experiments, it actually worked and beat RAI on comet (with comends, but still). So, somewhere deep in there it has some ability. Possibly. Or luck. Whutever.

2) Unclear - where is the default config (the one that is used if i just run a game for a first time - its not the empty one, since it actually does smth)? What file should I open with toolkit to start editing? If I want to work on several configs, how do i do that? What is the search order for config files on game start? Don't just answer me here, write some readme.

3) Zomg its buggy when it comes to opening configs!
[-]|3:27:20| < Frame: 0 >Junk in D:\Games\spring\AI\Skirmish\NTai\XE10\configs/BA.tdf :;
At some point, after some more editing of the config in XE10 dir, it just stopped loading (loo lazy to post the log, but its along the lines of corrupted config). So yeah, fix this first i guess.

4) In the log file it still has [-]|3:27:19| < Frame: 0 >error in script.txt on every run

5) Please, can I have a "Don't fucking ever build this unit" checkbox and not having to set min energy to 1000000 every time? (This is a test for good programmer - if you are good one, you'll do this)

6) In ARM veh lab, only builds arty, janus, samson - and not flashes and stumpies. Hm. Well thats not critical since I can write the exact config on my own, but still...

Plenty more of stuff, but i guess fix the config loading first, then we talk.

Wohoo!

I'm sure I implemented a never build this list, if not it will be in XE10.1 as I agree it is something that would be valuable. Make an issue on redmine and flag it as XE10.1 and I'll accept it and it'll be in the system. Same for any other requests.

I shall attempt to get a hold of hoijui about the geothermal issue, and I'm glad that kernel panic is finally working in a more 'performant' manner, although that remains to be seen if it continues to do so when it can build sockets.

In the XE10 directory, there are tdf files which contains filepath references to configs and learning files, it is these files that are to be opened by toolkit. The default config is in default.tdf, but if NTai cannot find a config file for a mod, it makes a copy of the default config under the new filename, so that next time there will be a config to read for that mod, even though it is exactly the same as the default config.

The script error problem can be safely ignored and I shall have to add that too to redmine and flag it for XE10.1.

As for flashes and stumpies, your best bet would be to build a huge swarm of flashes and stumpies and direct them at a vulnerable NTai base. This should raise the efficiency of flashes and stumpies and make NTai more likely to build them. It will also alter the efficiency rating of the vehicle plant, making the AI more likely to take that route.

I am dubious about doing that though as on some maps vehicles are unable to go everywhere and I don't have a means of testing this in a generic way that wouldn't be TA specific.

If anybody has modified config files, or would like their own added, and can show that their config is an improvement over the default generic config, please attach to a post!!

More UML diagram goodness

NTAI working with new Spring version in sight ?

0.80.5? That would be XE10.1, for which you can see progress here:

http://redmine.darkstars.co.uk/versions/show/10