B O T  -  H A N D L E R

Description

Second public beta of my Bot Handler program, the purpose of this Java application is to easily manage and randomize the properties of the Bots of an Unreal Tournament game.
UT has lots of different skins and variations, but the in-game menus to change the Bot configuration are clunky and slow to use. Since I got tired of always playing against the same bots, I decided to write a Java program to handle quickly the properties of the bots.


First of all a reminder, MAKE A BACK UP of any file you intend to load or overwrite with this program. I tested this program myself on both Linux and Windows and I think that it is fairly stable and functional, but it is still incomplete so I am not responsible for any kind of data loss. When using the "Save", "Save As" and "Export to user.ini File" functions double check the files you choose, since they will be overwritten without any warning.


This version is quite a leap from the previous beta, now the program has most of its functions implemented and is definitely more polished and complete.
The main differences are the inclusion of a proper Properties tab, the complete overhaul of the Graphical User Interface, the polishing of the generator (implemented the missing Fav. Weapon and Voice generation (the latter still being incomplete, it doesn't take in account the class of the bot), fixed some bugs) and the inclusion of an extra file (BotHandlerSettingsExtra.utbh) which contains the information for some custom models, skins and weapons.
Check the Change Log for a more or less complete list of the changes from the previous version.


Overall this version is quite solid, some bits and pieces are still missing but it does its job.
Enjoy

Installation

Unzip BotHandlerV072, then copy the files in a folder of your choice.

Then either double click the BotHandler.jar file, or right-click on it and select "Open with Java Runtime Environment".

You will need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to open this program, you probably have it already installed but if that's not the case you can download it at www.java.com.

If you have Java installed but the program is not starting up make sure that the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file is located in the same folder as the BotHandler.jar file.


If you are running it from an Ubuntu installation be aware that starting the JRE from the normal explorer interface (Nautilus) will cause the Java root directory to be set to your Home folder, so you would need to place the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file into your Home folder for this program to run.
To overcome this you can open a Terminal, browse to the directory where you unzipped Bot Handler and then run the program using the command:
   java -jar "BotHandler.jar"

How To Use

When started, the program will not have any predefined Bot list. You can either:
- Create a new one from scratch (File -> New, or Generator Tab -> Generate)
- Load it from a previously saved Bot list (File -> Load)
- Import it from you Unreal Tournament install (File -> Import user.ini File, then select the user.ini file located in your Unreal Tournament System folder).

The names of the bots will then appear in the list on the left side of the window.
You can then modify the properties of the bots, either from modifying the desired parameter in the Properties Tab or by changing the parameters in the Generator Tab and using the Generate button again.


The Generator will get its values from the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file (loaded only once at the start of the program, not updated in real time) placed in the folder of the program. You can open the file with a text editor and modify the values (I especially recommend adding some names to each skin), but be careful to preserve the file structure or the program may not work correctly.

In the settings file there are only the properties for the default skins, weapons and voices (including the Bonus Pack ones), but I included the BotHandler entries for some popular custom models/skins/voicepacks in the BotHandlerSettingsExtra.utbh file. Open the latter in a text editor and copy-paste the entries for the content you have installed in UT into the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file to make them available into the program.


The buttons with the name of the parameter in the Generator Tab can be toggled, to specify wheter the relative property should be modified or not. When you start up the program all the options are active by default.

Other than the toggle buttons there are also several spinners, labeled "Chance", which define the probability of the relative property being different than the default value (i.e. a 0.5 Chance for the Team property means that about half of the selected bots will get a Team different than None. A Chance of 0.2 for the Accuracy means that about one out of five bots will get an Accuracy stat different than 0).
The Min and Max spinners define instead the limits of the possible random values for the relative property.
The Gen. All and Gen. Selection buttons allow you to choose between modifying the whole Bot list or only the Bots selected in the list on the left of the Frame. The list allows multiple selections when holding Ctrl and/or Shift when clicking.

When using a Specified name in the Generator or you are modifying from the Properties tab you can a wildcard in the name string to have it replaced with a varying value. The wildcards are %aL, %c(T), %dN(T), %i, %rN. Open the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file with a text editor to see how to use them. If you are modifying the names through Properties Tab you will have to process the names using the relative menu item under Edit.


You can save the current Bot list at any time. MAKE A BACKUP OF ANY FILE YOU WANT TO OVERWRITE, and double check the files you choose in the File Dialogs since there aren't file type checks in the program yet.
Remember that Save and Save As are intented to write on empty files and will overwrite the whole file. USE ONLY EXPORT TO USER.INI FILE when you want to write the bot list into your Unreal Tournament, since this is the only function that will preserve the content of the rest of the user.ini file.
I will reinstate this for clarity, if you want to export the current list of bots available into the Bot Handler program to your Unreal Tournament install you will have to use the "Export to user.ini File" menu item and then select the user.ini file in your Unreal Tournament System folder to update it with the new values.

Since file overwriting checks aren't yet in place, I RECOMMEND NOT USING THE SAVE MENU ITEM since you will not be able to see what file you are overwriting. Again, I recommend making a backup at least of your user.ini file before attempting to export to it.


Being this still a beta, most of the main actions are written in an easily accessible Log. Use the View -> Log menu item or press Ctrl+L to display it.

Details

Change Log

- Implemented Weapon and Voice Type generation (still incomplete)
- Overhaul of the generator interface, now it is included in one tab (with scroll bar)
- The Properties Tab now has a proper interface
- Properties update correctly when more than one bot is selected in the list
- Added Advanced Tab, with two generator parameters
- Added VoiceType information to Settings file
- Improved safety checks in the program (still incomplete, needs file overwrite checks)
- Increased number limit of skins, weapons etc. to 128
- Improved the Log window, you can now clear/restore it or export it to a file
- Added some more information to the BotHandlerSettings.utbh file (some of it is not supported yet)
- Added some custom Models and Voices in the BotHandlerSettingsExtra.utbh file: OldModels Unreal skins (Skaarj Trooper excluded), Arumi, Bang Doll, Binky, Binky UGrrl voice, Chreks, Chreks' voices, ONP Chico Marine, RX-93 HiNu, Jester, WH40K Ork, Sabbath Cat, Shibuki, Space Marine 40K v2, Warp Spider.
- Added more wildcards for name generation: %aL, %c(L), %dN(L).
- Added more menu functions and key shortcuts

- Fixed gen. selected not working after importing a file without generating a bot list first
- Fixed Skin not being printed into the ini file when the Face was an empty string
- Fixed Skin not choosen correctly when the same Face was shared between different skins
- Fixed Chance not being taken in consideration by the Team property when generating with a specific Team chosen
- Fixed some logs appearing at the wrong time (i.e. Bot Sector not found when loading a file)

Credits

Thanks to all the developers behind Java for this wonderful language, and behind NetBeans IDE for this great powerful free program.

Copyright

This software is copyright 2011, by DeathoX 8.
I am not responsible for any loss of data or any kind of damage resulting from the use of this software. This is an experimental build, and you are using it at you own risk. This software is freeware and does not have any kind of warranty.
You may NOT decompile this software or use it as a base for any other additional software.
You are NOT allowed to commercially exploit this software, i.e. put it on a CD or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without my explicit permission!
You MAY distribute this software through any electronic network (internet (web/ftp), FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you include this file and leave the archive intact.
Unreal® Tournament (c)1999 Epic Megagames, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by GT Interactive Software, Inc. under license. Unreal Tournament and the Unreal Tournament logo are registered trademarks of Epic Megagames, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.