Alright, I'm done for now
The new version of the hack is here:
http://www.darwinbots.com/FTP/DarwinbotsIM.exeThere is a subversion repository of the source here:
http://www.darwinbots.com/svn/Darwinbots2IM/You set it up the same way as the old version.
However if you are running Windows 7 or Vista, you must use the "Run as Administrator" option or it will not collect your sim information. You might be able to avoid that if you have UAC off, but I'm not sure and wouldn't count on it. From now on you will be prompted when a new version is available online.
A few technical things people might wonder about:
This version no longer uses a text file for your settings, there are some pros and cons to this, but it makes it easier in general.
The program flips back and forth between uploading and downloading. It tries to upload 4 bots, then it tries to download 4. The server now tracks who uploaded each bot and tries to make it so you don't download your own bots. However, if your bots are the only ones online... you will be downloading them.
The files are now compressed with LZMA before they are uploaded and decompressed after downloading. When I was testing I never saw a dbo go over 1KB (most are ~650-700B) after compression.
Also, there are several commands you can run in the IRC channel that list some stats about what is going on.
- !online - Displays the sim names that are online
- !im - Displays the total population with a breakdown of the connected sims
- !info <simname> - Displays the number of bots and the cycles per second a sim is running at
- !siminfo <simname> - Displays more detailed information on the specified sim
- !bots - Displays the current number of bots on the server
I will get most of this stuff into a web page, possibly with stats tracking, at some point.