Installation (Windows)

Cloning the repo

git clone https://github.com/NihilistBrew/boxevo.git

Using get_simulation.bat

This will wipe an already existing ``simulation`` directory!

  • Create a .txt file and paste the following into it:

REM from tools\get_simulation.bat

@echo off

rd /s /q simulation

curl -L -O https://codeload.github.com/NihilistBrew/boxevo/zip/master
tar xf master

xcopy boxevo-master\simulation simulation /i /s
rd /s /q boxevo-master
del master

  • Save as...

  • It can be named whatever, but it must have .bat in the end. Example: download.bat.

  • Run the .bat file.

The simulation directoy will be created in the same directory that he .bat file is in.

The temporary files (master, boxevo-master) will be deleted when the process is done, subsequently closing the command prompt.

Using build_simulation.bat

This will wipe an already existing ``simulation`` directory!

If you want to, you can compile the simulation directory and its content straight from source. A new simulation directory will be created.

After having cloned or downloaded the repository, run build_simulation.

Usage

Tweaking

The installation process will either result in either the whole repository directory or just simulation. This does not matter, since that directory is the only thing you need for running the program.

Where ever the directory may exists, open it. There are a few optional things you can tweak before running the simulation:

  • Open simulation\bundle\config.py with any text editor. The variables here will all modify the simulation to one degree or another. After making a change, press ctrl+s to save it.

    • Tip: For convenience of future simulations, you can keep it open and changing/saving it multiple times without having to re-open it.

  • To change the images of the sprites:

    • Copy and paste an image of either an entity or a food sprite, or an image to be used as both.

    • Change the relevant config variables (cfg.entity_image and/or food_image) to match the file name of the new images.

    • Done!

Running

After you’re finished tweaking and want to try it out, you have two options:

  1. Run simulation\bundle\startworld.exe.

    • This will create a single world populated by sprites that run for as long as the program is opened.

    • The run will create a single text file with evolutionary data, named val.txt.

    • Beyond the val.txt, no statistics/graphing will be generated.

  2. Run simulation\simulate.exe.

    • This will run startworld.exe for as many times (cfg.runs) and as long (cfg.duration) as specified in the config.

    • Each execution creates a dated directory which contains all of the runs spawned by one execution of simulate.exe.

    • Each run will generate a text file with evolutionary data, named val(run).txt.

    • These val.txt files are in turn read by a graphing tool, which generates several things.

      • Each run gets a graph of the averages of the different evolutionary traits. This graph is by default (cfg.run_fname_format) saved as RUN, KEY.png, where RUN = run number and KEY = evolutionary trait.

      • Each evolutionary trait also gets a graph describing its average progression across all runs, in essence being “an average of an average”. This graph is by default (cfg.avg_fname_format) saved as KEY, medelvärde.png.

      • If cfg.avg_tables == True, text files corresponding to the “average of the average” graphs are created, containing all of the data points. These files are saved by default (cfg.avg_table_fname) as KEY, text.txt.

      • Additionally, if cfg.enable_spreadsheet == True, a spreadsheet is created from the values of all traits selected in cfg.spreadsheet_vars, fetched from .txt files in cfg.to_queue. val files and “average of average” files are supported.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see LICENSE.md for details.