NPC/Farming Questions

Why won't my bot farm npc5s?

There are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. To get a correct answer you may need to enable verbose + npc farming debugging, copy the log after it tries and fails to farm, and paste it to us on the forum. Here are the 3 most common culprits:

Your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, and you have config NpcLimit:xx set. This goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.
You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2+ higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7+. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.
You're missing some troops to farm. This is also common on new accounts/servers. If you do not set npctroops in your goals, the default is 550 ballista + enough transports to carry all the loot based on your current Logistics research.. this could be over 500 transports. Either set the goal to use less, or build more troops.

Why won't my bot farm npc10s?

Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing NpcLimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:xxx goal. They're different goals. In order for the bot to hit 6-10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: npclimits 10 a:200k.

Debug says it can't find a npc field to attack, is it blind?!

No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" Debugging as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.

Setup Questions

Where do I download the bot?

The bot will be available in the Downloads & Announcements section on the forum. You must register a forum account first to see this section.
You can find that section here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=12. If you're a VIP member you can download it near the top of the VIP forum here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=9

The bot keeps losing my goals or settings, why?

Your flash storage limit is probably reached. When flash gets full it starts randomly losing stuff. Right click anywhere in the bot, go to Settings, then slide the bar right to Unlimited. If you're unable to click "ok" in this popup, make sure your font size in Windows is set to 100% and try again. Other settings can make it impossible to select or click on things.

If you're on a Mac or Win8 and still unable to click inside this popup after adjusting your font size, then go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html and scroll down to "local" in the list, select it, and then slide the bar above to Unlimited.

Another common culprit for losing goals (especially on Windows 8) is IE. Internet Explorer 10 and later is set by default to delete cache on exit. This unfortunately clears out the flash storage folders too. Go to your Control Panel -> Internet Options -> General tab -> uncheck the box to "delete cache on exit".

Yet another common culprit for losing goals is running "cleaners" on your computer. Programs like CCleaner that promise to get rid of the junk on your computer also get rid of the flash storage. Stop running them. A lot of that "junk" on your computer is there for a reason. Unless your harddrive is nearing full you don't need to clean anything up.

How do I find the password stored in the bot?

In the script window of any city, type this: echo Config.password, then hit run. You will need to disable "Safe Scripts" mode first in Global Settings. Don't forget to re-enable Safe Scripts after you're done. It can help protect your account when you run scripts from someone else. You can additionally get the username the same way... echo Config.username.

Bot/Director won't work on Windows 8?

You need to set the bot and Director both to Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode. Some folks on Windows 8.1 have reported Windows 7 compatibility mode works better. You can learn how to set compatibility mode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kawSjcHD5I

Connection Errors/Problems

Security Error, reconnect in ...

Usually security errors are due to IP limits. Evony has limited you to a certain number of connections per IP. The "standard" on most servers is 20, it's as low as 2-3 on other servers, and somewhere in between on still other servers. You have a few choices here:

Start using proxies for some or all of your accounts. They will make it appear you're connecting from a different IP address.
Start using an IP hider program, such as Easy-Hide-IP. This is the same as proxies, only uses their software.
Run less alts.
Offload some of your accounts to other locations, such as a paid VPS service.

Unable to Load Config

Usually this is your firewall blocking the bot. It could also mean your internet or evony's internet just ain't working. The bot cannot find the server to open up the config.xml that the server has. Software firewalls are not overly helpful, and in many cases they're overly UNhelpful. Tell your firewall to play nice with the bot. Remember that everytime you upgrade your bot, you must tell the firewall to be nice to it also. Many virus scanners come with firewalls included, so you could be running one and not even know it.

Waiting to prevent IP ban

This is not usually a problem when you see it. The bot tries to keep too many bots from hitting evony's login server too fast, so that evony doesn't IP ban you. If you reconnect or startup many bots at once, you'll see this message. It works by updating a file in flash storage with the date & time the last bot logged in. If this time is too recent it makes the next bot wait. When that bot waits enough and connects, the file is updated again. Rinse and repeat till they're all in.

If you see this message for too long, and nothing seems to be able to log in, then it's possible the date/time on that file has gotten skewed with the computer time. Normally this is because you changed your clock on your computer. Change it back or delete the Connections.sol in the flash storage folder. You can delete it manually or use the Director tools menu.

Feel free to suggest more commonly asked questions for here

FAQ (last edited 2015-07-11 20:53:55 by Inanna)

-  ⇤ ← Revision 5 as of 2013-04-18 04:28:19 → 
  Size: 2890
  Editor: Inanna
  Comment:
+   ← Revision 22 as of 2014-10-21 15:36:40 → ⇥
  Size: 7134
  Editor: Inanna
  Comment:
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 3:
+<<TableOfContents>>
-Line 4:
+Line 6:
-'''Why won't my bot farm npc5s?'''
+= NPC/Farming Questions =

== Why won't my bot farm npc5s? ==
-Line 8:
+Line 12:
- * You have config npclimit:9999 (give or take a few 9's) in your goals. If your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, this goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.
 * You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2 higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.
+ * Your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, and you have config [[NpcLimit]]:xx set. This goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.<<BR>><<BR>>

 * You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2+ higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7+. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.<<BR>><<BR>>
-Line 11:
+Line 17:
-<<BR>><<BR>>
'''Why won't my bot farm npc10s?'''
+<<BR>>
-Line 14:
+Line 19:
-Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing npclimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:9999 goal. They're seperate. In order for the bot to hit 10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: ''npclimits 10 a:200k''.
<<BR>><<BR>>
'''I turned on debugging to find the problem. My bot says it can't find a npc field to attack, it must be blind! I have dozens of npcs around my city.'''
+== Why won't my bot farm npc10s? ==
-Line 18:
+Line 21:
-No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" debugging as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.
<<BR>><<BR>>
'''I have the password stored in my bot, but I want to log on for real. I can't remember it, how can I find it?'''
+Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing NpcLimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:xxx goal. They're different goals. In order for the bot to hit 6-10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: ''npclimits 10 a:200k''.
-Line 22:
+Line 23:
-In the script window of any city, type this:'' echo Config.password'', then hit run.
<<BR>><<BR>>
'''I've just bought a new computer and it has Windows 8 on it. My bot and/or Director are broken, what do I do?'''
+== Debug says it can't find a npc field to attack, is it blind?! ==
-Line 26:
+Line 25:
-Go to SRG's website for a good answer to this: http://sumrandomguy.com/the-director-faq/windows-8-the-director-and-the-bots
+No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" [[Debugging]] as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.

= Setup Questions =

== Where do I download the bot? ==

The bot will be available in the Downloads & Announcements section on the forum. You must register a forum account first to see this section.<<BR>> You can find that section here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=12. If you're a VIP member you can download it near the top of the VIP forum here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=9

== The bot keeps losing my goals or settings, why? ==

Your flash storage limit is probably reached. When flash gets full it starts randomly losing stuff. Right click anywhere in the bot, go to Settings, then slide the bar right to Unlimited. If you're unable to click "ok" in this popup, make sure your font size in Windows is set to 100% and try again. Other settings can make it impossible to select or click on things.

If you're on a Mac or Win8 and still unable to click inside this popup after adjusting your font size, then go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html and scroll down to "local" in the list, select it, and then slide the bar above to Unlimited.

Another common culprit for losing goals (especially on Windows 8) is IE. Internet Explorer 10 and later is set by default to delete cache on exit. This unfortunately clears out the flash storage folders too. Go to your Control Panel -> Internet Options -> General tab -> uncheck the box to "delete cache on exit".

Yet another common culprit for losing goals is running "cleaners" on your computer. Programs like CCleaner that promise to get rid of the junk on your computer also get rid of the flash storage. Stop running them. A lot of that "junk" on your computer is there for a reason. Unless your harddrive is nearing full you don't need to clean anything up.

== How do I find the password stored in the bot? ==

In the script window of any city, type this: ''echo Config.password'', then hit run. You will need to disable "Safe Scripts" mode first in Global Settings. Don't forget to re-enable Safe Scripts after you're done. It can help protect your account when you run scripts from someone else. You can additionally get the username the same way... ''echo Config.username''.

== Bot/Director won't work on Windows 8? ==

You need to set the bot and Director both to Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode. Some folks on Windows 8.1 have reported Windows 7 compatibility mode works better. You can learn how to set compatibility mode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kawSjcHD5I

= Connection Errors/Problems =

== Security Error, reconnect in ... ==

Usually security errors are due to IP limits. Evony has limited you to a certain number of connections per IP. The "standard" on most servers is 20, it's as low as 2-3 on other servers, and somewhere in between on still other servers. You have a few choices here:
 * Start using  proxies for some or all of your accounts. They will make it appear you're connecting from a different IP address.
 * Start using an IP hider program, such as Easy-Hide-IP. This is the same as proxies, only uses their software.
 * Run less alts.
 * Offload some of your accounts to other locations, such as a paid VPS service.

== Unable to Load Config ==

Usually this is your firewall blocking the bot. It could also mean your internet or evony's internet just ain't working. The bot cannot find the server to open up the config.xml that the server has. Software firewalls are not overly helpful, and in many cases they're overly UNhelpful. Tell your firewall to play nice with the bot. Remember that everytime you upgrade your bot, you must tell the firewall to be nice to it also. Many virus scanners come with firewalls included, so you could be running one and not even know it.

== Waiting to prevent IP ban ==

This is not usually a problem when you see it. The bot tries to keep too many bots from hitting evony's login server too fast, so that evony doesn't IP ban you. If you reconnect or startup many bots at once, you'll see this message. It works by updating a file in flash storage with the date & time the last bot logged in. If this time is too recent it makes the next bot wait. When that bot waits enough and connects, the file is updated again. Rinse and repeat till they're all in. 

If you see this message for too long, and nothing seems to be able to log in, then it's possible the date/time on that file has gotten skewed with the computer time. Normally this is because you changed your clock on your computer. Change it back or delete the Connections.sol in the flash storage folder. You can delete it manually or use the Director tools menu.


Feel free to suggest more commonly asked questions for here :)