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Rho-Bot News - Scott  Since the new version has come out, there have been over 1,000 downloads of the Rho-Bot executable and over 400 of the source. To help in the development of the Rho-Bot, you can use the Rho-Bot Open Discussion forum or the Help forum to suggest changes, bugs, or problems with the Rho-Bot. I would especially like to hear from those who have downloaded the source. On another note, I would like to thank the person who uploaded the new version of Rho-Bot to fileplanet.
Rho-Bot on SourceForge - Scott The latest executable and source code for the Rho-Bot are on SourceForge. You can get them here. This version contains all of the improvements shown below, plus a few other items.
Rho-Bot to be on SourceForge - Scott You may notice that there is a new logo at the top of the page. I am *finally* in the process of putting the Rho-Bot on SourceForge. This should allow for faster updates to the Rho-Bot executables and better access to the source. There should be some files on SourceForge for you to peruse in a couple of days. I will post a message when that happens.
Rho-Bot Improvements - Scott Well, the last few weeks have been busy. I have added some new code, received some new features from one programmer, and I am waiting on some others to deliver more new features as well. Maybe, bot chat will finally work! Starbreaker has added different blood colors to the bot. Also, he has changed the values in the rhobot.cfg file to cvars. This allows users and server admins to easily adjust the play of the bots without stopping the game. More details will be released with the next version (soon, I promise). I made some modifications to allow the user to adjust the bot speed, and have improved bot loading. Now, Rho-Bot will alway leave a slot open for another person to join the game. In addition, I have completed some minor fixes to the code, which are: I was working on some code to avoid mines. Some of it is promising, but the bots about 50% of the time walk through mines. When and if I get this feature to work, I'll include it in the released version.
Rho-Bot Status - Scott Sorry for not updating things for a while. The real world has kept me from working on the site. Also, there were some problems with the rhobot e-mail account, but those have been fixed. If you sent some mail to me in the last couple of weeks, I will answer it soon. You may want to re-send your e-mail if I do not answer soon. Anyhow, I have been slowly adding features, and have had some other people working on the code, so I hope to have a new update sometime soon. I appreciate the great e-mails that I have received in support of Rho-Bot. I would like to share some excerpts from one dedicated fan: "We usually play with 3 to 4 humans and 4 to 8 more rho-bots. Though when we have friends over we can have 10 humans and 10 rhobots sometimes. We tend to cooperate and camp and lay traps... They catch on FAST... except ode-to-logo he's dumb as a post (LOL). Sometimes I think they all have different personalities. ...RHO-Bot is the only way I play halflife :) ...we tend to hook up when we get together and have been known to commandeer the lobby of the comfort inn to plug in enough hubs to a few people together in our off time to blast our cares and stresses away :) I'm avid about the mod but not rabid - it's just the best one for playability and versatility there is - I really don't want to see it die. My wife used to think it was crazy that we always played this game when she called me at the hotel and I would be in another room playing with friends. Now she's hooked too! And she's gotten good! I like it when the robots cooperate - last night they laid some nasty traps for us.. we'd hide in the pool room under the waterfall and take up positions one with the crossbow, one with the bazooka (sitting on the ammo) and another on the far ledge over the health sitting on the rifile grenades and shoot the fish as the fell over the waterfall into the barrel. after awhile they stopped comming through and killing each other. when we went to find them the slaughtered us wholesale (crouched behind doorways with crowbars and throwing roaches once it was hard to exit) on another level we play defend the fort against them. they began to act coorperatively to get into the room we had secured. I felt like a desert storm commander baking orders to mine this and cover that and kill the yellow bastard who just lobbed roaches at me!" I hope that the other dedicated fans of Rho-Bot are having similiar experiences! However, this user has done a great job in training the Rho-Bots, since he uses a large number of people as well as bots. The additional people help the Rho-Bots learn to navigate the different maps. In the next release of the Rho-Bot, I will include some of the nav files from this user.
More Rho-Bot Progress - Scott Here are the new changes: I now have a few beta testers, but would like some more. And if you want to add features to the Rho-Bot, let me know and I'll send you the current source to tweak. I only ask that you send any mods back to me. Thanks! Finally, Eric's messages are not gone, they are in the archives section.
Rho-Bot Progress - Scott I've been working on some changes, and received a fix from Vacindak. Here are some of the changes: As I add more features to the bot, I will need some beta testers. If you are interested, please let me know! Also, now is the time to send requests for enhancements or bug fixes.
Multi-Bot Launcher (MBL) - Scott I just received a message from the maker of MBL that the Rho-Bot is supported in MBL version 9.5. You can get more info on the MBL here.
Rho-Bot is Back! - Scott The Rho-Bot is back! Eric has been gracious enough to allow me to maintain Rho-Bot. I will continue to maintain Rho-Bot as long as there is interest. Thank you for your support. Rho-Bot patch for Half-Life Version 1.1.0.4 - Scott I have updated Rho-Bot to work with HL 1.1.0.4. This is a just a port of the Rho-Bot using the old HL SDK to the new version. If you have previously installed Rho-Bot, you can get the 1.1.0.4 patch here. The patch is a self-extracting zip file and will update the necessary files. Just set the install path to C:\Sierra\Half-Life (or wherever you have installed HL). If you have not installed Rho-Bot before, download the old version, install it, and then install the patch. If there are any questions or problems, you can e-mail me. Please note that the SourceCode has not been updated yet; I'll get it out there as soon as I can. New features for Rho-Bot - Scott If you would like to see a new feature included in the Rho-Bot, please send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do. Finally, if anyone has been adding features to the Rho-Bot that they would like to have put in a future release, please send me a e-mail describing the change and the modified source code.
From the Grave - Eric Back from the grave and fixed the 'Download' and 'SourceCode' links from Rho's site. I'm vaguely aware that Rho-Bot doesn't work with the newest Half-Life patch (although this is unconfirmed I haven't tried it). Basic recap as to why Rho-Bot's development has fallen off the face of the planet: I got a job. =P
Dramatic Increase in the Quantity of Rho-Mail - Eric The amount of email I've been receiving concerning Rho-Bot and its SourceCode has tripled over the past week or so. I'm not sure why, but it's definitely a GoodThing. Someone offhandedly mentioned that Rho-Bot was featured in a magazine? If you've seen Rho-Bot in a magazine please send me an email letting me know what magazine and in what month Rho-Bot was featured, I'd love to check it out. =] Multi-Bot Launcher - Eric I received an email about the Multi-Bot Launcher, another utility program that eases the administration of Rho-Bot, Phineas Bot, and Jumbot. If you enjoy frontends, you prolly want to check this one out.
New Rho-Bot Management Utility - Eric The creator of Bot Leader, a helpful utility program for using Rho-Bot dropped me a line about his program. Check it out.
Rho-Bot v1.0 Source Code Released - Eric Real life is quickly closing in on me. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to devote full-time hours to Rho-Bot in the near future. So rather than plod slowly along on my ever-expanding plans for Rho-Bot, I've instead decided to release its source code in full. Anyone who'd like to tinker with Rho-Bot, add it to their mod, or use it as brainfood is more than welcome. Let me know what you're doing with it, I'd love to hear from you.
GamersHomePage.com Unveiled - Eric My previously "hush-hush" project has been unveiled. GamersHomePage. I personally feel it's damn useful, and recommend that you check it out if you consider yourself a gaming junkie (like me). =P
Update From the Rho-Castle - Eric I've been hired to write perl and cgi scripts for an exciting new game-centric website. I'm really looking forward to this new venture, and will post more details once I'm allowed to disclose them. =] If You're Having Problems with Rho-Bot Crashing... - Eric You are most likely running under D3D. Switch Half-Life's video mode to either OpenGL or software, and this problem will go away. I'll be posting a D3D patch once I can synthesize the time.
Rho-Bot Final v1.0 Released (Build 149) - Eric I'm quite pleased to announce that Rho-Bot Final v1.0 is now complete and available for download. Rho-Bot is a fully customizable bot for Half-Life. Rho-Bot boasts such features as experiential learning, human mimicry, fuzzy-logic tactics, and runs fast even on older machines. Thank You - Eric I'd like to thank the 2812 Beta testers for their hard work, along with Benjamin Matasar, Brian Wilson, botman, Craig W. Reynolds, William van der Sterren, Coffee, and Rich Whitehouse for their exemplary contributions in shaping the development of Rho-Bot. Thank you.
Development Status: Build 133 - Eric Further improvements are coming along nicely. I just need to wrap up some file i/o, and once that's done I'll have the first final candidate ready for exhaustive testing.
Development Status: Build 127 - Eric The Rho-Bot's new navigation system is now complete. The Rho-Bot appears to learn quite rapidly, and while I'll be doing a little bit of refinement here and there, the bulk of the work has been done. Beta Two Appears Solid - Eric The feedback I've received over Beta Two indicates that it is quite stable. I'll cross my fingers that this pattern remains consistent, because this means my time will be allocated to improvement and additions rather than upkeep (GoodThing).
Development Status: Build 125 - Eric I bear the proverbial good and bad news. The Good: I successfully completed Rho-Bot's automatic waypoint generation system. The Bad: I've decided that I don't want the Rho-Bot using waypoints. What does this mean? This means I've come up with an even better method for the Rho-Bot to navigate on any map. How? I'm going to have the Rho-Bot learn from the humans' it plays against. I'm infatuated with this solution for two reasons: (1) Rho-Bot will become increasingly realistic and versatile with experience (read learning), and (2) Rho-Bot will mimic the behavior of humans verbatim. Does this set the Final v1.0 release date back? Nope, I'll still have it finished before I complete the semester. Private Beta Two Complete (Build 125) - Eric I've contacted the Beta Two team via email. The purpose of Beta Two is to ensure I've squashed all of the bugs from Beta One. If you're curious, I invited anyone who sent me feedback over Beta One to join Beta Two. I've chosen not to make Beta Two a public release because (A)I have a personal distaste for software that is patched often, (B)Beta Two is principally a bugfix, and (C)Final v1.0 is just around the corner. If you were not invited to join Beta Two, and would like to give it a whirl despite the fact that Final v1.0 will be released shortly, drop me an email.
Development Status: Build 123 - Eric Lots of cool stuff going on with the Rho-Bot's navigation. I'm determined to release the Final before I set into Finals (Ben and I are students at the University of California at Berkeley). In short, the Final release is not far off, but I'd rather make the Rho-Bot just that much better before making the release. Automatically waypointing a level is not quite as easy as I had hoped (not surprisingly), but I believe the payoff will be worth it. ;]
Development Status: Build 119 - Eric I've wrapped up all of the bug-fixes from the Beta One release, and the Rho-Bot's navigational code is nearing completion. I anticipate making the Beta Two release (this will most likely be private) within the next five or six days, followed shortly by the Final v1.0 release.
Development Status: Build 112 - Eric Here's what I've changed:
Development Status: Build 108 - Eric Here's what's been fixed in Build 108:
Updates to FAQ, message board activity - Ben The FAQ has been updated to address the customization questions that we are getting. The short answer is that customization is possible right now, but a bit awkward. Head on over to the FAQ for the full story. Also, everyone is encouraged to visit the message boards -- we hope to help these become a valauble resource for the fledgling Rho-Bot community. Eric and I will do our best to respond to every suggestion or constructive comment. Thanks to everybody for downloading the bot. Rho-Bot's ToDo List - Eric Here's the list of what I've got in store for the Rho-Bot, based off of Beta One feedback. Wahoo go Beta Testers!
A Big Thanks Goes Out to All You Beta Testers - Eric I cannot fully express the gratitude I feel to all 843 of you who have downloaded the Beta One version of Rho-Bot. I will do my best to respond to every single email or messageboard post I receive. Also, feel free to contact me via ICQ (my UIN is 25604346). You make me happy, thank you. =]
New WebPage Design Launched - Eric As you can see, the 100% original web design is now live. Once again, I offer my humblest of apologies to DoomWorld. If anyone has any concerns or questions regarding the matter, feel free to email me. This WebPage Design Ripped from DoomWorld - Eric I apologize to the people at DoomWorld for posting a site whose design is a complete rip of their own hard work. I was completely unaware of the plagiaristic design, and will be personally changing this site's design within the next 24 hours. Once again, my humble apologies.
Beta One Released (Build 104) - Eric The Rho-Bot has improved tremendously since my last update. I just want to state that I thoroughly enjoy playing with the Rho-Bot, and hope that others will enjoy playing with the Rho-Bot as much as I do. During the next week my goal is to make fixes, tweaks, and minor additions based upon feedback from Beta One. I want to make Rho-Bot into what the public wants it to be, and look forward to working closely with the community. Goodwill and good hunting.
Development Status: Build 089 - Eric Still fixing previously added features that weren't behaving precisely how I intended. I've also implemented group steering behaviors:
Development Status: Build 083 - Eric General code cleanup. Features which were behaving out-of-sync with my design spec have been fixed. The three major additions to the code base before the initial release candidate are:
Development Status: Build 077 - Eric I've implemented the ThinkTime() function which acts as a wrapper in between the time-independent code and the time-dependent code. (This fixes bots slowing down during low framerates, and breaching tachyon during high framerates.)
Development Status: Build 073 - Eric I've overhauled the class-level structure of the Rho-Bot. Rho-Bot's equivalent of Spring cleaning. I was starting to breach essential data abstraction barriers, which was starting to cause me problems as the Rho-Bot's code base has been growing in complexity. Now the code is again back in good form, and I'll no longer be bogged down by my slovenly written code.
Development Status: Build 062 - Eric Rho-Bot now knows how to deal with weapons appropriately. They reload when they need to, they switch weapons at opportune moments, they pick weapons best suited for the situation, etc. Each individual Rho-Bot also now has their own unique set of weapon preferences. Werd out.
Development Status: Build 050 - Eric Ben and I merged our code last night. Ben has added the functionality to read bot configurations from text files. Now you can customize however many Rho-Bots you want to, and have the rest be randomly generated. Ben's got a couple more additions just around the corner, but I'll wait to let the cat out of the bag.
Development Status: Build 040 - Eric Less talk. More code. Nuff said. Here's the poop:
Development Status: Build 024 - Eric Rho-Bot is now enjoyable to play with. I've started to get really excited because Rho-Bot has now started to surprise me on occasion. AI junkies fondly call this emergent behavior, so I'm feeling real good about Rho-Bot remaining fairly unpredictable if I'm already seeing emergent behavior so early in the development process. Here's a summary of the progress I've made in the past 24 hours:
Development Status: Build 021 - Eric I've made huge leaps and bounds with the status of Rho-Bot since the last update. I'll do my best to list the major improvements that I can remember, however I will invariably overlook a large portion of the improvements as most every aspect of the bot has been majorly upgraded.
Message Boards Live - Eric The message boards are now good to go. I highly recommend UltraBoard to anyone interested in setting up their own message boards. As always, if you have suggestions or comments, let me know.
Development Status: Build 006 - Eric Our sixth alpha build of the Rho-Bot is complete. Features included so far:
Website Live - Eric The website is complete. If you experience any difficulties (e.g. bad links, strange appearance) let me know. |
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