2.42.4 Now Available

[EricL]

2.42.4 is now available.  The list of changes from 2.42.3b can be found here.

Of particular interest in this release is multibot tie behaviour.  Ties now stiffen after 20 cycles (they didn't in previous versions of 2.4) and multibot tie commands such as fixang and fixlen should work correctly.  Multibots such as inchworm appear to work as designed in this version though there likely remain some differences in behaviour due to the different underlying physics of the two versions.  For example, bots which are sensitvie to specific tie stiffness nuances or the specific force exerted on a bot due to fixing a tie length or angle may appear to behave differently in this version and 2.37.6 even though the underlying sysvars are working correctly.  Please bring specific examples of behavioural differences between the two versions to my attention.  In particular, the Hooke forces for stiff and elastic ties will likely still require tweaking.

Note that the stifftie sysvar has not yet been implemented in this release.

Also in this version is a "fix" for the saved sim file corruption problem experienced when long running evo sims are saved with bots that have more than 2^15 bytes worth of mutation details.  This version should be able to read those sim files and save new ones with the potential for essentially infinite mutation details in a (mostly) backward compatabile manner without causing corruption.  See the above linked topic for details.

This version also includes several bug fixes (including fixes for the impossibly long tie bug, the kinetic friction bug and the problem where trefvars only lasted a cycle).  There is also some UI cleanup and a couple of new knobs to turn such as the coeffecient of elasticity for collisions.  Gene activations have also been added back into the robot console command window.  Lastly, this version now also provides a new menu item which allows you to save sim files without mutation details, greatly reducing their size for uploading.

Enjoy.  As always, please make me aware of any issues.

Direct download link

[Griz]

thanks Eric ...
for all the work you've done and continue to do.

this is much better than writing a novel don't you think.

[Numsgil]

Awesome, I'll check it out after work today.

[Elite]

Wonderful

That new 'collision elasticity' control you added is great  

And it loads the ex nihlo sim that I lost! Yay!

 

[EricL]

thanks Eric ...
for all the work you've done and continue to do.

this is much better than writing a novel don't you think.

Thanks.  I think we are getting there.

Darwinbots and the novel have a lot in common actually.  The book is about a really nasty software virus (turns out it's an escaped NSA cyber weapon) which ultimatly starts evolving after infecting the server farm and incorporating the breeding engine of a small startup which is attempting to use evolutionary techniques to breed software.  Sound familiar?  Actually, it may end up being two books with the first being about the virus, the havoc it causes, the discovery it was built by our government, the attempts to kill it before it's timebomb goes off, etc.  and the second about it evolving and what that means as far as humans having to deal with intelligent cyberlife.  I'm 60k words down the road and only now is all hell about to break loose  (and I have a lot of character development and back story yet to add in early chapters) and my protagonists still don't have a clue, so it's looking like it will end up as 2 books.  One of my main protagonists is very involved in a hobby/game much like DB (which I first based on Microsoft's Terrarium) and the game itself appears in the plot from time to time.   I think I may add some additional characters from the game comunity as well and make the ALife hobbiest community more central than it is....

So you see, this is all just "research" and - fair warning - you are all fair game for use as potential characters...    

In a few months, I'll post some chapters and start asking for reviewers...

[PurpleYouko]

F you want to post a chapter or two, I can host them for you at my Story Sanctum website. I have a few short stories of my own up there already.
if anybody else fancies themself as an author, just let me know and I will put yours up too.

[Numsgil]

The only problem is that posting manuscripts or parts of manuscripts in any sort of public arena really messes up trying to get something published.  (Most publishers will take it as already published, even if you just post in on your personal site for family to read).

[PurpleYouko]

That depends a lot on the copyright laws in the country in which you are trying to get it published. The Story Sanctum (in its present incarnation) will not specifically retain the rights to publishing the works and if necessary, a letter to a prospective publisher can be provided in which The Story Sanctum relinquishes all rights to a specific work

Besides which, at some point I intend to take the story sanctum to a new level and actually begin to publish stuff properly as both e-books and as regular books on a print to order basis. (online sales only at this stage)
(At this point then a different set of rules will obviously apply.)

The trouble is that I am not able to start anything as an official business for at least a couple more years due to my immigration visa status. Basically I'm not allowed to work for anybody except the company that sponsored my H1-B visa application until I get my permanent residency visa.

[Numsgil]

It's not a copy right issue... I'm having a hard time explaining it.  Basically publishers don't want sloppy seconds

[Endy]

I'm kind of curious what would happen if we could combine DB's concept of behavioral mutation of simplified code, with a real virus. I think the whole system would be more self-stablizing then people believe. It'd actually probably make the net more stable, since it'd be in alife's best interest to make sure it stays up.

[EricL]

You've been peeking at my plotline!

[Endy]

   
 
Nah, just a bit of imagining on my own.  

I'd say more but I think I'll wait for the book.

[Elite]

The SingleGene SWARM works flawlessly in 2.42.4

Good demonstrator eh?

Look at them go  

Code: [Select]

' SWARM-SG
'
' Forms swarms to its tactical advantage
' Single-gene

cond
start
.tie *.robage 1 add mult inc
.deltie inc
.fixpos *.fixed mult dec
*.refaim .setaim *.refkills *.kills sub sgn 1 add sgn mult *.eye5 sgn mult *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn -1 mult 1 add mult store
10 .up *.eye5 sgn mult *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn -1 mult 1 add mult store
10 .up *.eye5 -1 mult 1 add mult store
*.eye9 2 mult *.eye8 add *.eye1 2 mult *.eye2 add sub *.eye5 1 add div .aimdx store
*.refvelup 50 add .up 45 *.eye5 sub sgn mult *.eye5 sgn mult *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn mult store
*.refxpos *.refypos angle .setaim *.robage sgn mult *.eye5 sgn mult *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn mult store
-6 .shoot *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn mult *.eye5 34 sub sgn mult store
16 .shootval *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn mult *.eye5 34 sub sgn mult store
*.refveldx .dx *.refeye *.myeye sub abs sgn mult *.eye5 34 sub sgn mult *.refveldx *.veldx sub abs 5 sub sgn mult store
30 .repro *.nrg 750 sub sgn mult store
100 .strbody *.nrg 500 sub sgn mult store
*.body 0 floor .fdbody *.body sgn mult 100 *.nrg sub sgn mult store
*.tiepres .tienum *.numties sgn mult *.robage 1 sub sgn mult store
.tieval .tieloc *.numties sgn mult *.robage 1 sub sgn mult store
1000 .tieval *.numties sgn mult *.robage 1 sub sgn mult store
.delgene inc .delgene inc
stop

end