Bnet Bots

[titan0060]

Hey, im tryin to make my first bot, i have Visual basic 6... i pretty much know my way arround VB, but i dont know what to do next.

I've got the main form laid out, but now i dont know what to do.

Please reach me at:
[ this forum ]

Removed contact info.  Ask your questions here so everyone can conveniently help you and others can benefit from the information.
- Spht

[Kp]

Hey, im tryin to make my first bot, i have Visual basic 6... i pretty much know my way arround VB, but i dont know what to do next.
I've got the main form laid out, but now i dont know what to do.
Please reach me at:
[ this forum ]

Open a TCP socket to port 6112 on any of the active BNCS.  Send your connection select byte, then go into a net loop on the received data.  Beware of partial receipts as well as receiving multiple bncs messages in a single receive operation.  Consult BnetDocs for details of the individual packet formats.

[TangoFour]

Beware of partial receipts

Ummm - you mean packets getting scrambled? Didn't ever think of that as a possibility...

Ok, that means I gotta rewrite a part of my bot's connection code

[Newby]

I think he meant a packet that doesn't contain all the information it should, almost as if it had been cut off.

[MyndFyre]

Beware of partial receipts

Ummm - you mean packets getting scrambled? Didn't ever think of that as a possibility...

Ok, that means I gotta rewrite a part of my bot's connection code

No -- what he means that, Battle.net will sometimes put more than one packet together:

Example: extremely unlikely, but it illustrates the point.

Code Select Expand


ff 00 04 00 ff 00 04 00


It will also sometimes not send an entire packet with one Receive callback:

Code Select Expand


ff 0b 4c 00 (P) (u) (b) (l) (i) (c) ( ) (C) (h) (a) (t) ( )
(U) (S) (A) (-) (1) 00 (O) (p) (e) (n) ( )


If you look at the length specifier (sorry, I was too lazy to look up hex codes for all the ASCII chars), you can see that the specified packet is supposed to be *much longer* than the data that was received (0x4c vs 0x1b).

That's what it means.  There's no "scrambling" of packet info.

[TangoFour]

So, more like: I receive a SID_PING, which should be 8 bytes long (1 for FF, 1 for Packet ID, 2 for length, 4 for Ping value), but I only receive 4 bytes - in that case I should wait for the other 4 bytes...

Is it possible then, that I receive 4 bytes for SID_PING, then receive a SID_AUTH_INFO, and then the rest of SID_PING?

My code already properly deals with packets that are "concatenated"

[ChR0NiC]

Hey, im tryin to make my first bot, i have Visual basic 6... i pretty much know my way arround VB, but i dont know what to do next.

This has to stop, you mods should make a sticky saying before asking this question use the search button and look in the Battle.net Bot Development References before you ask questions.

Thanks if any mods decide to do this.

[Kp]

So, more like: I receive a SID_PING, which should be 8 bytes long (1 for FF, 1 for Packet ID, 2 for length, 4 for Ping value), but I only receive 4 bytes - in that case I should wait for the other 4 bytes...
Is it possible then, that I receive 4 bytes for SID_PING, then receive a SID_AUTH_INFO, and then the rest of SID_PING?

Yes.  No.  Therefore, you're ok.

[Zakath]

Indeed. You may get part of a packet, a whole packet, or multiple packets clumped together. Those are the situations you have to handle.

[TangoFour]

Alright, thank you very much

[tA-Kane]

So just to make sure it's clear, you should NEVER receive a partial packet, then another packet before receiving the rest of the partial packet.