Can I have 5 MercBots with a side of Pets, pls? To go...

[John Adams]

So here's my formal request, not that I'll ever do anything with it but it's striking my fancy to ask for stuff now that I'm just a (retired) plebe, you know...

This old topic (http://eq2emulator.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3875) was the one I remembered seeing years ago where someone wanted EQEmu-like Bots, although just having companions you can summon and run around with (Mercs) would be a great start.

I can't remember the last time Jabantiz and I discussed this, but it's been years I feel. How hard are "Mercs"? If Pets are already there, are they just another form of Pet? And, if we're extending the system, what about some macro'd control over them that exceeds EQ2Live functionality? Maybe like, building Macros that act similar to Dragon Age "Tactics". That last thing is a wishful thinking after just pal'ing around with my ol buddy Merk, of course.

Thoughts?

[Jabantiz]

Mercs are a little more complicated then pets and can't be derived from the pet class but it shouldn't be to hard to get going. In theory we could make mercs like bots and toggle the functionality so they act like eq2 mercs or they act like bots base on a rule, might be better to have bots and mercs separated though. A full bot system would take some time but honestly it is something I am interested in. Having a dragon age tactics system would be interesting, just not sure how we would present that to the users, doing everything in chat would be tedious but no way to really add a ui for it as it would be custom data, unless we hijack another ui window while doing the settings.

[xinux]

Honestly the mercs and bots in eqemu are pretty good so you may be able to build off of that.

[John Adams]

Having a dragon age tactics system would be interesting, just not sure how we would present that to the users, doing everything in chat would be tedious but no way to really add a ui for it as it would be custom data, unless we hijack another ui window while doing the settings.

Just dreaming about it while (re)playing DA:O, I thought about using the players own Macros as a way to define Tactics. I do not remember the limitations, and of course it would not be a picklist of goodies; the player would have to set up a macro for their "Companion" just as they do themselves; but the system could process a Macro set to a merc/bot on a cycle, and perform whatever is necessary.

Yeah, it's way more complicated than that (ie., if Ally->Status: Dead, /cast Resurrect, etc) but who knows... that could be figured out later once the basic buddy system is in place. You know I'm nothing if not big-sky thinker

[Jabantiz]

The result of boredom...

BotTest.png

Really not much there yet, can create a bot with a command (race, gender, class, name) then target and /invite it. Once in the group the bot will follow their owner around, if not in a group they do nothing, all handled with a custom brain (AI).

[Scribble]

The result of boredom...

BotTest.png

Really not much there yet, can create a bot with a command (race, gender, class, name) then target and /invite it. Once in the group the bot will follow their owner around, if not in a group they do nothing, all handled with a custom brain (AI).

Awesome ! I want one:) Well after a lot of other things.

[John Adams]

That sure is pretty gosh darn exciting Welcome, Bob.

[Jabantiz]

So the result of todays work is customizing the bot, saving it in the db, and spawning a saved bot.

For customizing it will use the barber shop window

BotCustomize.png

However when ever using this window it pulls the data from the player (seems to be client side) so to get around that the appearance of the bot is temporarily copied to the player, once submit or cancel is hit the player will revert back to their original appearance.

Side note, the system for barber shop is almost completely implemented now, really all it needs for it to work with the player is saving the changes.

[Scribble]

So the result of todays work is customizing the bot, saving it in the db, and spawning a saved bot.

For customizing it will use the barber shop window
BotCustomize.png
However when ever using this window it pulls the data from the player (seems to be client side) so to get around that the appearance of the bot is temporarily copied to the player, once submit or cancel is hit the player will revert back to their original appearance.

Side note, the system for barber shop is almost completely implemented now, really all it needs for it to work with the player is saving the changes.

Man this is slick !

[Jabantiz]

Todays work was giving bots gear, I was going to do a command and require the player to drop an item link in with the command to give the item to the bot though this method would be tedious to gear bots. Xinux reminded me of the trade window so I went that route.

BotTrade.png

BotPostTrade.png

As a result player trading is now completely implemented. This is not finished because adding player trading took up most of my time. Again thanks to Xinux as the trading code is heavily based off of his trading code for vgo emu, his code was so much simpler then the crap I was overthinking...

[Scribble]

wow great job Xinux and Jab!

[Cynnar]

Again thanks to Xinux as the trading code is heavily based off of his trading code for vgo emu, his code was so much simpler then the crap I was overthinking...

/bow to [mention]xinux[/mention]
Thanks for the code.
/bow to [mention]Jabantiz[/mention]
Thanks for adding the bots, and everything needed to make them work.

[Jabantiz]

There wasn't much to report yesterday or today, didn't have as much time so spent it finishing off commands and finishing the equipment. Equipment is now saved and loaded in the DB, when giving a bot an item for a slot that they have something in they will put their current item in the trade window to give back to you.

Items will always go to the first free slot it can go in, if none are found it will go into the first slot defined by the item. For stuff like rings you will need to remove the item from the second slot if that is the slot you want it to go into. When removing an item it is not actually unequipped until the trade is complete so you will need to accept the trade and start a new one to put the ring into the second slot.

Here is a list of the /bot commands so far

/bot - overview and help (this is still todo)
/bot create - creates a bot
/bot customize - opens barber shop window to customize (don't think this window is in DoV so CoE+ clients only)
/bot spawn - spawns a bot from id (id obtained in /bot list)
/bot camp - camps a bot out
/bot list - list all the bots created on this character as well as the id's used to spawn them
/bot inv give - open a trade window with the targeted bot
/bot inv list - list all the items the bot has equipped as well as the slot it is in
/bot inv remove - puts the item from the specified slot into a trade window to give back to the player
/bot settings helm - 1 = show helm, 0 = hide helm
/bot settings cloak - 1 = show cloak 0 = hide cloak

If any one can think of any more commands that will be needed let me know. I haven't started the AI yet so no commands for that yet but feel free to list ideas for that as well.

Side not, the /bot settings commands don't save yet as I am up in the air on them, not sure if more will be added and "settings" justifies its own table or if it will just be those 2 and I can put it in the bots table instead.

[Cynnar]

/bot customize - opens barber shop window to customize (don't think this window is in DoV so CoE+ clients only)

Since DoV doesn't have this, would it be better to create custom UI add-ons? If so I can start on something Sunday, hopefully.

[Jabantiz]

I do not see how that window could be recreated to be honest. So much of the info is loaded client side it seems from color palettes to tattoos to hair types all based on the race of the player. Really the only option I can see is having to set the values by hand.

I will look into seeing if the window is in DoV but I am not holding my breath on it.