Developing a bot for the community, need a little help.

[Geminix86]

What compile error are you getting? I'll try to help, but I can't make any guarantees.

1>h:\projects\healbot ai\healbot 2.0\healbot ai\ProcessFunctions.h(59) : error C2228: left of '.c_str' must have class/struct/union
1>        type is 'System::String ^'
1>        did you intend to use '->' instead?
1>h:\projects\healbot ai\healbot 2.0\healbot ai\ProcessFunctions.h(64) : error C2440: 'return' : cannot convert from 'const char *' to 'System::String ^'
1>        No user-defined-conversion operator available, or
1>        Cannot convert an unmanaged type to a managed type

[cloud_wizard]

1>h:\projects\healbot ai\healbot 2.0\healbot ai\ProcessFunctions.h(59) : error C2228: left of '.c_str' must have class/struct/union
1>        type is 'System::String ^'
1>        did you intend to use '->' instead?
1>h:\projects\healbot ai\healbot 2.0\healbot ai\ProcessFunctions.h(64) : error C2440: 'return' : cannot convert from 'const char *' to 'System::String ^'
1>        No user-defined-conversion operator available, or
1>        Cannot convert an unmanaged type to a managed type

You're missing an include file. Look through the include files in the WoWXHack source and find the one that defines sDescriptor.

I don't think you can return a String. Did you mean string (lower case?). Include <string.h> and try changing String to string.

Hope this helps.

[Geminix86]

Wow, that did it. Thanks. But now I'm getting a bunch of linking errors. Unresolved Token, etc. How do I fix those?

[Cypher]

You're missing an include file. Look through the include files in the WoWXHack source and find the one that defines sDescriptor.

I don't think you can return a String. Did you mean string (lower case?). Include <string.h> and try changing String to string.

Hope this helps.

If he's using C++ then you DONT want to #include <string.h> you want to #include <string>. The difference seems subtle but is actually quite important. In the first C++ standard the 'h' suffix was used, this was dropped in the revised C++ standard though so compilers could tell which version of the STL the code was aimed at (to provide backwards compatibility where appliciable). Although nowadays the use of the initial C++ STL is scarce and most compilers will redirect requests with the 'h' suffix to the latest STL anyway, there are some compilers that will honor your request so its best to just drop the 'h' for consistencies sake. Remember, computers do what you tell them to, not what you want them to.

Upon glancing at the code though I noticed the use of System::string. Is he using C++ .NET? If so disregard everything I said above, I have no idea how C++ .NET works (I use C++ or C#, I won't touch C++/CLR with a 10 foot clown pole).

Then again, that may be the problem, he's trying to compile native code (WoWX) as C++/CLR code??

Wow, that did it. Thanks. But now I'm getting a bunch of linking errors. Unresolved Token, etc. How do I fix those?

So I can diagnose if my guess above is correct can you please post your error log in full. Compiler/linker errors are usually really easy to fix, but only if I have the full error.

Ty.

[Geminix86]

If he's using C++ then you DONT want to #include <string.h> you want to #include <string>. The difference seems subtle but is actually quite important. In the first C++ standard the 'h' suffix was used, this was dropped in the revised C++ standard though so compilers could tell which version of the STL the code was aimed at (to provide backwards compatibility where appliciable). Although nowadays the use of the initial C++ STL is scarce and most compilers will redirect requests with the 'h' suffix to the latest STL anyway, there are some compilers that will honor your request so its best to just drop the 'h' for consistencies sake. Remember, computers do what you tell them to, not what you want them to.

Upon glancing at the code though I noticed the use of System::string. Is he using C++ .NET? If so disregard everything I said above, I have no idea how C++ .NET works (I use C++ or C#, I won't touch C++/CLR with a 10 foot clown pole).

Then again, that may be the problem, he's trying to compile native code (WoWX) as C++/CLR code??



So I can diagnose if my guess above is correct can you please post your error log in full. Compiler/linker errors are usually really easy to fix, but only if I have the full error.

Ty.

And now I get to confess my stupidity... The code I'm trying to work with is written in native C++. My Application is C++/CLR. I didn't realize the two were not interchangable. Now I start to understand some of the other problems I've been having with some of the other pieces of code I've been working with. I thought making it a CLR application was the only way to get it to have Windows Forms. (which is the only part of this new stuff I'm working with that I'm a little familiar with... from my time working with Visual Basic). Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That's not even the point I'm getting at here. I knew I wanted a windows form application because setting all of the options I'd need to set via console would be a little too difficult.

I took the source code from WoWXHack and attempted to turn it into a .lib file (and succeeded, much to my amazment) because I didn't know how to properly load a .dll file into my application. Come to find out, my success gave me a false sense of security because later on I discovered that laoding .lib file did *nothing* for me, because now my problems are worse. It asked for a header file from the WoWXHack solution. I gave it to it. That one, unfortunately, referenced a file in WOWXBase solution. I gave it that one, too. It asked for another... and another... Finally I got tired of hunting down the files it was looking for, I searched for headers and cpp files, took all of them from the WoWX Source code and dumped the whole drawer full into c:\documents\healbot\include

It finally stopped asking, and just kept failing on some undeclared identifiers in the detours.cpp file. I didn't make any progress past that. I figured at this point it would probably be better if I didn't try to work around my inability to load dll files into a program, and just give it the dll file it wanted. I had to do some research to find out how to load a dll file into my program. My research lead me to what seemed like a simple solution. Just use the LoadLibrary function... Which apprently doesn't exist in any form on my computer. I tried to use it, and it just doesn't exist. If I need to include something to use that function, I wouldn't know what it was. I'm so lost. I shouldn't be doing this. I'm wasting everyone's time. While all your efforts are appreciated, they are in vain. I'm not going to be able to finish this project. I got banned from Game Deception forums until Dec 26 2009 for asking why I couldn't get bobbysing's LUA functions to work. I posted a piece of source code, which gave him the same compile errors I told him I was getting. I got banned. Reason "Compile Errors".

Now even if I did somehow manage to finish this project, I wouldn't be able to update it if a new patch were to come out because I can't update the WoWX portion that it relies on to work. I'd have to leech it from someone else, and frankly I don't want to have that reminder again that all I've done *so far* is leech. Now I'm faced with abandoning the last 3 weeks work because I can't get the help I need to finish it. All this because I can't figure out how to read WoW's memory. I'm afraid to ask the questions I really need to ask because I'd be told that I don't know enough to ask the questions I'm asking. I'd get reminded of how very little I actually do know, and why I'm not going to be able to get this done because I can't stop looking like an idiot in front of the only people that know how to help me finish my project. The more I look like an idiot, they more they'd like to remind me of how I shouldn't be trying to do this with what little I know. ... The more I feel like I'm wasting everyone's time, and the more I feel guilty for doing so.

I think my first mistake was setting myself up for this, by starting the project and then not realizing I was in over my head. I should stick with something I can understand, like finger painting.

Sorry I wasted your time, everyone.

Could someone please delete this thread? It's nothing but a tribute to my failure.

[Cypher]

Epic win .

[Cursed]

Epic win .

I cant say... anything else!

[lanman92]

Damn, bro. Don't go cut your wrists or anything.

[cloud_wizard]

Jeez, what happened here? So the project is dead? Did he send his source code to any of you guys, too?

[Shynd]

You just have to go about it in a way that you CAN accomplish. It wouldn't be too hard to write an injected DLL that hijacks WoW's main thread and executes a lua stub via DoString once a frame (or every other frame, or whatever) and sends information to whatever window or process you want (including an AutoIt window, by the way). You could have the lua stub figure out which party/raid member to heal and send either that person's unitid or player name to your AutoIt program, then deal with the healing from there. If it's the information gathering that didn't do too well with AutoIt, then write ONLY that bit in a language you're uncomfortable with.

[cloud_wizard]

Well this is an interesting situation, heh. I'm assuming he's given up on this? He sent me a link via PM on the forums to a mediafire download containing the source to his original auto it bot, and the source to the new one he was working on.

I guess he intended for me to carry on the project o.0

I don't feel uncomfortable writing an AI in C++. Having his original source helps me understand how he intended the logic to flow. I've looked it over and it's pretty in depth. Lots of thinking. It was no wonder he had speed issues with code execution. All too interesting, though, I'm in the same boat as far as reading WoW's memory goes. I'll do some research, see what I can figure out. If you'd like to volunteer some suggestions, please feel free.

[Cypher]

Based on his posts most of his code is just copypasted from WoWX. Theres nothing really original in it.

More vaporware, move along people, nothing to see here.

[cloud_wizard]

It's actually not. He had started porting over his auto it AI to C++. There's a lot of code here that's definitely original. It seems he got stuck while trying to get the variables he needed from WoW's memory. Ironically, something I also know nothing about, heh.

He commented out the WoWX stuff, presumably because he couldn't get it to work. Also his GUI looks very nice. I'll post a screen of it in a little bit.

He was so close, it was unbelievable. Must have been truly frustrating to have all that code written and no way to tie the two ends together.

So how's about helping me get started with reading some memory? I need a function that will work with WoWX to get the return values of the functions he listed. Either that, or another method for getting the return values of the functions.

[Cypher]

It's actually not. He had started porting over his auto it AI to C++. There's a lot of code here that's definitely original. It seems he got stuck while trying to get the variables he needed from WoW's memory. Ironically, something I also know nothing about, heh.

He commented out the WoWX stuff, presumably because he couldn't get it to work. Also his GUI looks very nice. I'll post a screen of it in a little bit.

He was so close, it was unbelievable. Must have been truly frustrating to have all that code written and no way to tie the two ends together.

So how's about helping me get started with reading some memory? I need a function that will work with WoWX to get the return values of the functions he listed. Either that, or another method for getting the return values of the functions.

1. GUI? Big whoop, dragging and dropping in .NET isn't hard.
2. Given he was trying to compile native C++ code as managed C++ code I'm gonna assume he isn't a fluent programmer in a C based language, and from that I can make the assumption that he probably isn't fluent at IA-32 ASM either, and hence he's not going to be able to reverse engineer well (if at all). If you can't reverse engineer you probably shouldn't be trying to write a bot, you're just going to be stuck with copy pasting whats supplied by others, then when they don't produce updates for you you're screwed.
3. You don't know how to read memory? Sorry, start with the basics. You need to learn to crawl before you can walk.
4. Lastly, just because there was a "lot of original code" doesn't actually mean it was anything substantial, the fact that he was having trouble with using copy-paste code doesn't exactly instill confidence in me that he is capable of writing the code necessary to bot (ie to move, enumerate objects, cast spells, interact with npcs, etc etc). I'd gladly be proven wrong though.

[cloud_wizard]

1. GUI? Big whoop, dragging and dropping in .NET isn't hard.
2. Given he was trying to compile native C++ code as managed C++ code I'm gonna assume he isn't a fluent programmer in a C based language, and from that I can make the assumption that he probably isn't fluent at IA-32 ASM either, and hence he's not going to be able to reverse engineer well (if at all). If you can't reverse engineer you probably shouldn't be trying to write a bot, you're just going to be stuck with copy pasting whats supplied by others, then when they don't produce updates for you you're screwed.
3. You don't know how to read memory? Sorry, start with the basics. You need to learn to crawl before you can walk.
4. Lastly, just because there was a "lot of original code" doesn't actually mean it was anything substantial, the fact that he was having trouble with using copy-paste code doesn't exactly instill confidence in me that he is capable of writing the code necessary to bot (ie to move, enumerate objects, cast spells, interact with npcs, etc etc). I'd gladly be proven wrong though.

Nevermind what he is or isn't good at, I'm working on this now.

I know how to use ReadProcessMemory() to get information from a specified address of any given process. What I'm not familiar with is code injection / ASM.

I'm saying the code he had was actually quite substantial. He nearly had all of the healing logic completed, too.

I can see where he might have gotten confused about the copy pasted code. When I first started learning C++, there was no such thing as managed / unmanaged. Now there is a dividing line, and it's almost two totally different languages.