Before you can hack on this project, you'll need to be able to build it from source so that you can make modifications and see their impact in-game.
Linux is strongly recommended for development. Everything should work on other platforms, but I only regularly test this on Linux.
- node.js
- GNU Make
- Python 2.7 32 bit. This particular version is required to be able to interact with storm.dll using ctypes.
Run make bins to build aiscript.bin or make mpq to build patch_rt.mpq with aiscript.bin included.
- Make sure that your SCPATH environment variable is set appropriately e.g.
export SCPATH={path to SC}. - Execute
make patchto compile the AIs, build an MPQ, and replace the default in your SC directory. You can usemake runormake run-wineinstead to start the game using Wine.
You could also manually overwrite aiscript.bin in patch_rt.mpq using an MPQ editor or inject aiscript.bin to a running Starcraft instance.
There is also work-in-progress support for injecting scripts into UMS maps using EUD triggers. These triggers make use of a buffer overflow in the SetDeaths trigger to overwrite the entire contents of aiscript.bin once a UMS map has loaded. This process is implemented by tools/eud_gen_trigs.py.
Currently, the scripts load properly, but there appear to be several differences between the AI environment between UMS and Melee modes that make the AI itself buggy in UMS mode.
This section is most useful once you're familiar with PyAI scripting. It describes new AI preprocessor commands that you can use when contributing.
When designing build orders, you can use simple supply count syntax just like you would when writing down builds for human usage. This makes it fairly easy to add or modify builds without a deep knowledge of the AI engine.
9 Depot
11 Rax
14 Marine
16 Expand
16 Depot
16 Marine
18 Barracks
18 Marine
20 Marine
21 Refinery
Many _jump commands can be accessed using a new Pythonic if structure. Here's how you would normally create a block that executes 50% of the time:
random_jump(128, maybe)
goto(always)
--maybe--
# sometimes do this
--always--
# always do this
If blocks allow you to write the same code like this:
if random(128):
# sometimes do this
# always do this
Else is not yet supported.
Blocks of code can be looped indefinitely as follows:
loop:
do_morph(36, Terran Marine)
Blocks of code can be run asyncronously as follows:
multirun:
upgrade(1, Protoss Ground Weapons)
wait(5000)
upgrade(2, Protoss Ground Weopons)
train(5, Zealot)
A stop command is added at the end of the block automatically.
Loops can be run asyncronously as follows:
multirun_loop:
if enemyowns(Dark Templar):
build_finish(1, Forge)
build_start(2, Photon Cannon)
The block will automatically repeat after a wait of 75.
Displays the string as a message from the AI. This does not require a block to jump to like debug() does.
Waits until the ai has the corresponding amount of minerals and gas in the bank.
Waits until {minutes} normal games minutes have elapsed.
Spawns a new thread to attack and continues execution of calling thread immediately.
Prepares, attacks with, and clears the current attacking parting.
Builds {amount} of {building} at {priority} and waits for construction to start. Priority defaults to 80.
Builds {amount} of {building} at {priority} and waits for construction to complete. Priority defaults to 80.
Builds {amount} of {building} at {priority} one at a time and waits for construction to complete. Priority defaults to 80.
Jumps to block if enemy has Starport, Stargate, or Spire
Jumps to block if enemy has units that can cloak
Jumps to the beginning of the current file
Skips this build if nearest race is not in the list of races
Skips this midgame if nearest race is not in the list of races
Includes the text of the selected file in place of this command. This is similar to the #include C preprocessor macro.