Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:56 pm  by: jesper  Post subject: Split-chat GUI / new chatsocket :: Q&A » [ETA April 5th]
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Command 37 is a replacement for command 36 (message_system). The format is IIID (clientid, windowid, messageid, packedargs).
Clientid and windowid is used by the new chat to keep track of what window a message should be shown in. messageid is the id of the message (the client has a database where it looks up the correct string). Packedargs is a list of args for the messageid messagestring.

This command is properly not that interesting for the bots, as its mostly used for /cc feedback to the players.


Command 35 (message_anon_vicinity, format:SSD, args:sendername, messageboddy, blob) is actually the same message you get when NPCS talk to you ingame, so its not something new
Sendername is often an empty string.

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:22 pm  by: jesper  Post subject:  Split-chat GUI / new chatsocket :: Q&A » [ETA April 5th]   
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Quote

Amona. wrote:
Then there's also the question of the practical limit VS technical/theoretical limit, ex as of now the technical limit for tells is 8801 characters, but actually beeing able to send a blob that size today is a luckystroke due to other incoming packets of all sorts of types all the time, that + lag sometimes making 2 packets coming simultaniously, this the practical 100% safe limit for tells is 5500 characters with a minimum of 1.7 seconds between them. (actually 1.2, but anything lower than 1.7 might make the server invoke the spam-filter in when its lagged).

The limit is 64k (due to the 16bit size in the header), and there should not be any other limits as fas as I remember.

There has been a lot of speculation on how the chatserver tries to protect itself from floods of messages (its written in python, and has to juggle quite a few connections at once  ). Here is how it works:

There are two limits, one on the size of data, and one on the numer of commands.

The numer of commands you can send is set to 1/sec, and it allow bursts of 10. It works like this: the server has a counter for each connecten, each sec it adds 1 to this counter, and makes sure it never gets above 10. Whenever the server recieves a message it will decrese the counter by 1. It will not check the connected for new messages when the counter is 0.

The datasize limit works in much the same way, the limits here are 1k raw data/sec, and a burst size of 4k. When the server is flodded with data on a socket it will put that socked into a waiting que, and not read any data for a sec or two. After that delay the server will again read data from the socket. A message can be 64k even if it will trigger the flood protection quite a few times (it will take a whole minute to push 64k to the chatserver, but it will happily send those 64k out to 1000+ clients without any delays).


Maybe it would be an idear to change the chatserver to have a higher limit on tells than on group messages...


Edit: the messages/sec limit was wrong, updated.

Last edited by Jesper on Sat Apr 03, 2004 6:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

You're receiving what we call "scrambled text" (for lack of a better name) and you need to "descramble" it.
Basically the message is formatted in a certain way, firstly containing 2 ID's (encoded base 85) which match a certain entry in text.mdb (file that ships with AO) followed by a series of arguments.
A string argument looks somthing like "s" followed by 2 characters that together define the length of the string (encoded base 85) followed by the actual string.
An int argument looks something like "i" followed by 4 characters that represent a number encoded in base 85.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:43 pm by: vhab   Post subject: List of scrambled messages bots receive   

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Since about everyone has a decent parser for the new messages it's nice to have a list of which messages the bots should look for.
Here's a list of all 'scrambled' messages I know the bot receives (If it has the right rank and is guilded)

Notum Wars Messages

Message: The %s organization %s just entered a state of war! %s attacked the %s organization %s's tower in %s at location (%d,%d).
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 12753364
Format: Reference, String, String, Reference, String, String, Integer, Integer
Note: This message uses references from Category: 2005

Message: %s just initiated an attack on playfield %i at location (%d,%d). That area is controlled by %s. All districts controlled by your organization are open to attack! You are in a state of war. Leader chat informed.
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 24174231
Format: String, Integer, Integer, Integer, String

Message: The tower %s in %s was just reduced to %d %% health by %s from the %s organization!
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 94492169
Format: String, String, Integer, String, String

Message: The tower %s in %s was just reduced to %d %% health by %s!
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 224009576
Format: String, String, Integer, String

Message: The tower %s in %s was just reduced to %d %% health!
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 265658836
Format: String, String, Integer

Message: Notum Wars Update: The %s organization %s lost their base in %s.
CategoryID: 506
EntryID: 147506468
Format: Reference, String, String
Note: This message uses references from Category: 2005


Organization Messages

Message: %s kicked from organization (alignment changed).
CategoryID: 501
EntryID: 181448347
Format: String

Message: %s joined the organization.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 5146599
Format: String

Message: %s kicked %s from your organization.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 37093479
Format: String, String

Message: %s left the orginisation.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 45978487
Format: String

Message: GM removed character %s from your organization.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 147071208
Format: String

Message: %s changed governing form to '%s'.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 138965334
Format: String, String

Message: Your leader, %s has disbanded your organization.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 143442663
Format: String

Message: Voting notice for "%s"...\n\nDuration: %d minutes\n\nCandidates: %s\n\nVoting can begin in a few seconds. Use '/org vote ' to cast your vote.
CategoryID: 508
EntryID: 206008469
Format: String, Unsigned Integer, String


Alien Invasion Messages

Message: %s turned the cloaking device in your city %s.
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 1
Format: String, String

Message: Your radar station is picking up alien activity in the area surrounding your city.
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 2
Format:

Message: Your city in %s has been targeted by hostile forces.
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 3
Format: String

Message: %s removed the organization headquarters in %s! All personal belongings or houses in the city were instantly destroyed!
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 4
Format: String, String

Message: %s has initiated removal of a %s in %s! The house and all belongings in the house will be destroyed in 2 minutes.
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 5
Format: String, Reference, String
Note: This message uses references from Category: 509

Message: %s removed a %s in %s! All benefits from this house and all belongings in the house were instantly destroyed!
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 6
Format: String, Reference, String
Note: This message uses references from Category: 509

Message: %s has initiated removal of the HQ in %s! The house and all belongings in the house will be destroyed in 2 minutes. This will also cause the other houses in the city to be deleted!
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 7
Format: String, String

Message: ICC planet-wide announcement: %s has been awarded the highest honorary rank for outstanding dedication to the defence of Rubi-Ka.
CategoryID: 1001
EntryID: 254018580
Format: String


Category 509

0: Normal House
1: HQ
2: Market
3: Grid
4: Guard House
5: Radar Station
6: Cloaking Device
7: Mini Cloaking Device
1000: undefined house type


Category 2005

0: neutral
1: clan
2: omni
3: monster
4: advisor
5: guardian
6: gm
7: mixed