SmashBot

The AI that beats you at Melee

FAQ

1. What character does SmashBot play?

   Fox, of course!

2. Does SmashBot work with Slippi?

   It does! To run SmashBot, you can just use your regular Slippi Dolphin install.

3. Can I Run SmashBot online?

   No and don't try. It won't work for you and it will just mess up a lot, making both you and SmashBot look bad. You can play it locally in VS mode.

4. Does SmashBot cheat?

   The short answer is: No.

   The long answer is that SmashBot only interfaces with the game by pressing buttons on a virtual controller. There isn't anything it does that you couldn't do in principle. It just so happens, however, that a computer is much faster and more reliable than you, so it's able to do things that a human realistically can't.

5. How is SmashBot designed?

   SmashBot makes decisions on a tiered hierarchy of objectives: Strategies, Tactics, and Chains. Each objective inspects the current game state and decides which lower level objective will be best to achieve it.

   Strategies are the highest level means that the AI will use to accomplish the overall goal. For instance, the SmashBot will typically take the strategy of baiting the opponent into a poor move.

   Tactics are lowish level series of predictable circumstances that we can realistically flowchart our way through. For instance, if the enemy is off the stage we may choose to edge guard them to keep them from getting back on.

   Chains are the lowest level of objective that consists of a "chain" of button presses that Smashers will recognize, such as Wavedash, Jump-canceled Upsmash, etc...

6. Can I play SmashBot on a regular GameCube or hacked Wii?

   For right now, SmashBot only runs on a PC as a normal computer program. (Meaning that Melee has to be in an emulator)

7. What Operating Systems does it play on?

   SmashBot runs on Linux, OSX, and Windows!

8. I found a bug. How can I help?

   Hey thanks, that's awesome! For starters, make sure you can reliably reproduce the bug. Then go ahead and make an Issue on GitHub at https://github.com/altf4/SmashBot/issues. If you want to be even MORE awesome, run the AI with the "--debug" flag and upload the CSV file it gives you along with the issue. That CSV contains a full breakdown of the AI's state at each frame, so we can easily pinpoint what went wrong and where.

Setup Steps:

1. Install libmelee, a Python 3 API for interacting with Dolphin and Melee. pip3 install melee Also make sure to stay updated on libmelee with pip3 install --upgrade melee

2. Install and configure Slippi, just like you would for rollback netplay. Full instructions here: https://slippi.gg

3. You'll probably want a GameCube Adapter, available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Smash-GameCube-Adapter-Wii-U/dp/B00L3LQ1FI. Or alternatively the HitBox adapter works well too: https://www.hitboxarcade.com/products/gamecube-controller-adapter

4. Install some custom Slippi Gecko Codes. You can find them here: https://github.com/altf4/slippi-ssbm-asm/blob/libmelee/Output/Netplay/GALE01r2.ini Simply replace your existing GALE01r2.ini file with this one.

5. Make sure you have all the Required and Recommended Gecko Codes enabled.

6. Disable the Apply Delay to all In-Game Screens Gecko Code.

7. Run smashbot.py -e PATH_TO_SLIPPI_FOLDER (Not the actual exe itself, just the directory where it is)

8. By default, SmashBot takes controller 2, and assumes you're on controller 1. You can change this with the --port N option to change SmashBot's port, and --opponent N to change the human player's port.