Simulate players

[ItsMonoXD]

Hey everyone,

i want to try something for my server that might seem odd. You know how there are a lot of pserver that don't have many players and just feel empty? I think a good population is important for the success of a server. However it's hard to achieve and if your server can't impress people you might not even get a lot of players in the first place.

What I saw on another server (i think it was TalonRo) were "Guardians" that stood at the entrance of dungeons and attacked mobs that walked near them. They were archers and seemed like normal player characters even tho they didn't walk. No blue name, no way of interaction. They looked like normal characters. How is this achieved?

Could it be possible to simulate players? They would be more like bots that walk around and kill stuff to give the impression of a lively server "in some way". I know it's not as good as a real population but it just wouldn't feel as empty as it does with a server population of about 50 people?

Has anyone ever made some experience with such an idea? Is that even possible? How could those Guardians have been created on the server?

I hope I can get some information and maybe discuss this topic with some of you. I feel like this sounds like an interesting project to work on well, atleast if it seems somewhat possible in the first place?

[WhiteEagle]

It is possible via mob_avail.txt. 

MobID,SpriteID,Sex,Hair_Style,Hair_Color,Weapon,Shield,Head_Top,Head_Middle,Head_Bottom,Option,Dye_Color

After this:

<map name>,<x>,<y>{,<xs>{,<ys>}}%TAB%monster%TAB%<monster name>{,<monster level>}%TAB%<mob id>,<amount>{,<delay1>{,<delay2>{,<event>{,<mob size>{,<mob ai>}}}}}

Set the AI Mode  to " (1)"   (attack/friendly)

This will as excample your novice(or whatever) run over the map and attack porings or something.

[Oceanid]

From what you described it sounds like they used custom mobs with a sprite that looks like a normal player. http://herc.ws/wiki/Custom_Mobs I know this is the hercules format for custom mobs but it doesn't look like rAthena has put the custom mobs in the wiki since they transferred to git. For what you want to do it's definitely doable. You just have to decide what you want them to look like, skills, hair, clothes, etc.

[ItsMonoXD]

14 minutes ago, WhiteEagle said:

It is possible via mob_avail.txt. 

MobID,SpriteID,Sex,Hair_Style,Hair_Color,Weapon,Shield,Head_Top,Head_Middle,Head_Bottom,Option,Dye_Color

After this:

<map name>,<x>,<y>{,<xs>{,<ys>}}%TAB%monster%TAB%<monster name>{,<monster level>}%TAB%<mob id>,<amount>{,<delay1>{,<delay2>{,<event>{,<mob size>{,<mob ai>}}}}}

Set the AI Mode  to " (1)"   (attack/friendly)

This will as excample your novice(or whatever) run over the map and attack porings or something.

But it sounds like this is still considered a mob that actual players could attack, right? If i could make those in a way they can't be attacked by normal players but monsters, that would be great

 

16 minutes ago, Oceanid said:

From what you described it sounds like they used custom mobs with a sprite that looks like a normal player. http://herc.ws/wiki/Custom_Mobs I know this is the hercules format for custom mobs but it doesn't look like rAthena has put the custom mobs in the wiki since they transferred to git. For what you want to do it's definitely doable. You just have to decide what you want them to look like, skills, hair, clothes, etc.

This is a nice guide for what WhiteEagle said but i still think those custom mobs could be attacked by normal players and would retaliate right?

[WhiteEagle]

Nope, players can't 'attack/kill' the fake players and the fake players have a normal name (white color) like normal players.

And you can give your fake playes some skills via mob_skill_db.txt to make it a bit "real".

Used it too for my server at novice ground.

Edited October 6, 2017 by WhiteEagle

[ItsMonoXD]

1 hour ago, WhiteEagle said:

Nope, players can't 'attack/kill' the fake players and the fake players have a normal name (white color) like normal players.

And you can give your fake playes some skills via mob_skill_db.txt to make it a bit "real".

Used it too for my server at novice ground.

I'm actually trying it right now, but i don't know what to write for the <event> part in the mob spawn script if i don't want to have an event. Can i leave it empty or what do i have to use if i don't want to have an event triggered?

[WhiteEagle]

1 hour ago, ItsMonoXD said:

I'm actually trying it right now, but i don't know what to write for the <event> part in the mob spawn script if i don't want to have an event. Can i leave it empty or what do i have to use if i don't want to have an event triggered?

Insert 0 if you don't want set an event.

prontera,207,290    monster    FAKENAME    customMOBID,AMOUNT,Delay,RandomDelay,0,0,1

Edited October 6, 2017 by WhiteEagle

[ItsMonoXD]

7 minutes ago, WhiteEagle said:

Insert 0 if you don't want set an event.

prontera,207,290    monster    FAKENAME    customMOBID,AMOUNT,Delay,RandomDelay,0,0,1

Thanks! I've added a custom mob Thief and added double attack as a mob skill and set the mob ai to 1 (friendly/attack) with this

pay_dun00,0,0    monster    Thief   4000,2,4000,5000,0,0,1

They do spawn but don't move or attack any hostile mobs. They do act like normal players though with the white name and i can right-click them like normal players too.

Do you know why they don't attack mobs though?

 

[WhiteEagle]

The problem is (for sure) you choose a mobid which isnt aggressiv like zombie.

Change in mob_db the mode or change the mob id to an aggressiv mob. :DD

[WhiteEagle]

Well, I am sleeping now. Hope I helped you.

Test it with the zombie ID 1015 and it will work.

(Change the Id in mob_avail.txt and in your monster spawn.txt)

 

Good Night

[ItsMonoXD]

Yeah... I've set a passive mode 

You helped me a lot! Thank you very much!

[WhiteEagle]

You're welcome. ^^

[ItsMonoXD]

Do you know why my custom mob can't hit other monsters? It's trying to attack but always misses. I made it have 30 dex and fight it some zombies in pay_dun00

It just always misses on every attack :/

[WhiteEagle]

Well, depending on whether you use pre or renewal, the monsterlevel plays a role like normal players. 

[FXFreitas]

2 reasons:

Custom Mob Level is too low

Custom Mob (attacker) Stats are too lower than normal mob (attacked)

A Fake Player must be Demi-Human (or Player) and Neutral 1, you can define it on mob_db.

I was testing My Dark Knight Sprites Making Mob Versions of them, you can see here how they are:

3989,DARK_KNIGHT_F,Dark Knight,Dark Knight,99,72300,1,100000,300000,2,700,1300,78,40,99,80,40,40,80,70,12,14,1,10,20,0x3195,150,110,400,550,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,5482,500,2780,1000,2779,1000,0,0

In doc/mob_db.txt you can see a detailed explanation about mob_db.

he got level 99, 72300 hp but 1 sp because mobs desn't have sp, gives 100000 base and 300000 job exp, attack range is 2 cells, the attack varies 700 to 1300, def is 78 and mdef is 40, his status are str 99, agi 80, vit 40, int 40, dex 80 and luk 70, sight ranger is 12 cells, skill range is 14, size is 1 (medium), race and element are player and neutral 1, mode is agressive, cast detector, can change target on attack and chase, walk speed is 150, attack delay is 110 (aka aspd but not like player's), attack motion is 400 (how fastest attack animation plays) and damage motion is 550 (same but when he get hit), he is not a boss so have no mvp exp or mvp drops, normal drops are part of dark knight armor set.

My Dark Knight is Race Player (10) and Element Neutral 1 (20), you can set other element if you want (like put fire 1 to simulate a pasana card) If race 10 don't work, you can put race 7 (demi-human)

[ItsMonoXD]

(4000,'THIEF','Thief','Thief',20,648,0,0,0,1,90,0,20,10,15,30,5,1,25,1,10,12,1,7,20,0x3885,200,1500,1000,300,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0);

It's a level 20 mob that i spawn with a friendly mob ai to simulate players. It's demi-human with 30 dex. Shouldn't that be enough to hit a lvl 17 zombie?

[FXFreitas]

?

ID = 4000

SPRName = THIEF

kRO Name = Thief

jRO Name = Thief

Level = 20

HP = 648

SP = 0

EXP = 0

JEXP = 0

Range = 1

MinAttack = 90

MaxAttack = 0 ----> add a number here, need a second attack value

DEF = 20

MDEF = 10

STR = 15

AGI = 30

VIT = 5

INT = 1

DEX = 25

LUK = 1

Sight Range = 10

Spell Range = 12

Size = 1

Race = Demi-Human

Element = Neutral 1

Mode = 0x3885

MoveSpeed = 200

AttackSpeed = 1500

aMotion = 1000

dMotion = 300

Drops = 0

[Hidan]

I find it interesting to try here too.

[ItsMonoXD]

4 hours ago, FXFreitas said:

MinAttack = 90

MaxAttack = 0 ----> add a number here, need a second attack value

Yeah i used the doc/mob_db.txt file to see what all the variables are. It said that i could leave MaxAttack at 0 so it would just use MinAttack as an absolute attack value. Seems like this is wrong. I already tried that yesterday by setting MaxAttack to 130 and it worked afterwards Thank you for your help though!

[saiexe]

Uhm, Can i have a fully working script. Cant seem to make it work on mo_avail.txt