Infinate energy

[Trilobite]

Hey, I'm new to darwinbots, and I'm having a bit of fun with an older version. Haven't got round to programming any genes or anything, and I'm only just starting to get the grasp of all the different settings, some I'm clueless about but I'm sure I'll figure out in due time.

I got the new version too (2.43?), but there's something peculiar about the new version that I can't get around. Well... any bots that aren't veggies never die (I don't know if veggies are supposed to die with age, but they don't die either). Their energy never goes down even if veggies are absent from the simulation, so the screen gets overloaded and the simulation goes too slow, and none of the 'weaker' bots are getting weeded out. It's like they have infinate energy. I've messed around with the different settings, but because I'm not very sure about them yet I don't know which would help and which wouldn't. Oh, I forgot to add, they breed like crazy.

Anybody know what I should do so that they actually die when there's no food around? Thanks.

(oh, btw, I'm running a sim now and I've noticed they've started dancing around their food before they 'eat' it. It looks so prettyful , doesn't look very practical though...)

Another edit... sorry ;

For mutation rates - I'm kind of fascinated with the evolving aspect, although I've heard people say that's the long hard way to go about it. I'm not good with coding of any kind and although I'll try to learn the DNA code, I'll probably not be very good at it. I've noticed if my global mutation rate is at default, it's too high for simple bots, because when they get good genes, sometimes they're eliminated accidentaly because bots with handicapping genes are too frequent (eg loss of ability to move) and just accidentally get bumped into the right places where food is...

So what I was meaning to ask, is what sorts of mutation rates do you use, and for what reasons?

[Numsgil]

Welcome!

You most likely have no costs set.  It's not so much infinite energy, as it is nothing being taken away.  Go to the third tab in the options panel and look for the section called costs.  Set it to F1 default, or you can play around with custom costs, though you might not now enough to pick decent ones.

[Trilobite]

I've tried it set at F1 default, but that doesn't work, they still never lose energy. I tried clicking on custom costs, but a message pops up saying:

Run-time error '713':

Class not registered
You need the following file to be installed on your machine. MSSTDFMT.DLL.

[Numsgil]

Post your settings file and we'll take a look at it.  There's a save settings button you can click.  Upload it to a post here.

[Trilobite]

I'm sorry, I can't find a save settings button, where abouts is it? I had a look in the settings folder, but there's many files in there.

Oops found it, just a sec.

Just as an attachment?

[Numsgil]

Seemed to work fine for me.  They never reproduced and died out after 5000 cycles.  So it doesn't look like it's your settings that are the problem.

[Trilobite]

I started a new sim, and I only loaded T_Preservans, no veggies. I loaded 5, and eventually after about 5 minutes there was next to 80 of them, some had started attacking each other. They had started to evolve, with no apparent food.

It's like they were getting energy from nowhere... And I checked and it's not set as a veg.

[Trafalgar]

I started a new sim, and I only loaded T_Preservans, no veggies. I loaded 5, and eventually after about 5 minutes there was next to 80 of them, some had started attacking each other. They had started to evolve, with no apparent food.

It's like they were getting energy from nowhere... And I checked and it's not set as a veg.

Try going to Physics and Costs, then clicking Custom Simulation Costs, and then in the dialog that appears, click  the "F1 default" button (Instead of selecting "F1 default" in Physics and Costs). There seems to be a bug with Physics and Costs' F1 default, but the one in Custom Simulation Costs works fine.

[Trilobite]

As I said, whenever I click on custom simulation costs, I get this message:

Run-time error '713':

Class not registered
You need the following file to be installed on your machine. MSSTDFMT.DLL.

and then it closes.

[Trafalgar]

As I said, whenever I click on custom simulation costs, I get this message:

Run-time error '713':

Class not registered
You need the following file to be installed on your machine. MSSTDFMT.DLL.

and then it closes.

Oh yeah. I originally had that error too, but a google search on it found sites with the DLL and instructions on properly installing and registering it.

[Trilobite]

Thanks that worked