I want to program bots for AC. The only language I know is PHP, but I'm pretty good at it, and can learn something else easy enough, I think.


What are the differences in learning curve, coding time for a similar project, reliability/lifespan of code, possibilities/ease of doing complex stuff, and documentation (which kind of goes with learning curve) between writing Skunkworks and just straight Decal apps?


Also, I realize that this might be kind of polishing the brass on the Titanic, so... any idea how long until we sink?

You would need some coding ability to make a descent bot. Actool would probably be the easiest to learn because its just basic scripting. As far as sinking goes, the decal devs are in the process of updating decal which hasn't been done since ToD was released. They wouldn't be doing that if they thought it was about to "sink".

 

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If you have never used a non-scripting programming language, ACTool is most likely your best choice to start with.

As for the sinking ship, I don't see Decal going away soon. There might not be many active Decal devs left, but the ones we got seem to have more than enough interest to keep it alive. And it seems to me that the total number of actively maintained decal plugins actually went up again during the last year or so - I could imagine that helps keeping the Decal devs motivated too

I agree, AC Tools is the easiest to learn. In order, it's AC Tools, Skunkworks, Visual BASIC, Some variation of C (C# or C++) for straight decal plugin making. Reverse the order of ease, and generally, that will also be the order of power you'll have. Most things can be done in AC Tools or Skunkworks. If you want to build a HUD however, you'll have to go with something like VB or C#/C++ to achieve that, just note that taking on a project like making a Decal Plugin is not an easy overnight task, and unless you already know the language pretty well, I would recommend against a Decal Plugin as your first project.

Good luck.

Ok, thanks, that answers most of my questions. I'm experienced at object oriented programming in a c based language, so I'm leaning toward a c++ or c# plugin. Also, I've written some complex (combat) ACTool bots. It would work ok for my purposes, but I really want to get around the one-instance-per-pc thing and have more power than ACTool has, because I want to write a combat bot that coordinates a group of characters, and am doing this to challenge myself and learn.


That leaves this one: how well is the Decal development process documented, and where? I found this excellent guide on the decal sourceforge page, quoted here in its entirety: "$DataHere$". I was wondering if there was something a bit more in depth, though, and maybe geared toward C# (I heard there was a C# "template" - what is that?).


Aside from that, just... decal documentation... where is it?


*edit*

Reading and searching through decal dev forums right now.

Writing a C++ plugin will break you.

C# plugins are pretty easy, the documentation is the object browser + decaldev forum archives.

 

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I just started back playing after a seven year break. I remember using ACTool to improve upon a script that someone else created. I only had a PASCAL and C++ class, and was able to figure it out, and the changes I was able to make improved the script about 20 fold.

I would think that you might want to start small with an ACtool script, and then try something more ambitious. Have fun!