[simspark-devel] SimSpark 0.2.2 and RCSSServer3D 0.6.5 are available now!

[Hedayat V. <hed...@gm...>]

Dear all,
Finally, simspark 0.2.2 and rcssserver3d 0.6.5 are released! You can
download them from [1]. These packages include a number of bug fixes and
improvements since the pre-release versions. Most notably, simspark
includes some bug fixes for log playback and a small fix in network
communication. The latter can affect teams which spend too much time
when thinking. Previously, such agents could slow down the simulator;
but in this release such agents will lose some cycles if they don't
receive simulator's messages on time.

RCSSServer3D includes some changes too: thanks to the initial patch by
Luis (FC Portugal), and the code to geometrically calculate where the
ball has crossed the goal line by Mehdi (Zigorat/Halcyon), rcssserver3d
should be able to count all goals correctly now. Hopefully, it should
not miss any goals any longer (However, it seems that rcssmonitor might
sometimes fail to update the goal count on the screen). Another patch
was submitted by Mehdi (IIRC) from Nexus3D. With this change, when too
much players are in touch with each other and the number of opponents in
the group are more than the number of teammates of the last player to
joint the group; a member of the opponent team is relocated outside the
field instead of him. Thanks to all for their contribution.

Like most simultaneous releases, please note that rcssserver3d 0.6.5
requires simspark 0.2.2 and will *not* work with previous versions of
simspark. Therefore, you should install simspark 0.2.2 and then
rcssserver3d 0.6.5. It is highly recommended to remove previous versions
of simspark and rcssserver3d before installing the latest versions.
Also, remove your ~/.simspark directory before running the latest
version. Notice that, since simspark 0.2.2, spark.rb is copied to
~/.simspark in the first run, and ~/.simspark/spark.rb is used in
subsequent runs. So, if you want to change anything in spark.rb you
should apply it to ~/.simspark/spark.rb rather than what is installed
along the simulator (It is highly recommended to limit our your changes
to ~/.simspark anyway: e.g.  if you want to modify rcssserver3d.rb, copy
it to ~/.simspark and apply your changes there).

More detailed release notes of rcssserver3d and simspark follows:

SimSpark 0.2.2
=========
This release features many small enhancements which will benefit users.
It contains many bug fixes and performance improvements, in addition to
fixing some compilation issues. The behavior of ACC perceptor has been
slightly
changed, and the multi-threaded mode should work without any known bugs.
Support for the camera sensor is improved too. More details are as follows:

- ACC sensor provides raw data without any pre-processing
 -- You can apply the following filter to 'RawACC' value received from the
    simulator to get ACC value as what you'd receive in previous versions:
    ACC = 0.9 * ACC + (0.1) * RawACC
- Using base64 encoding for camera perceptor
- Fixed bugs in multi-threaded mode.
- Compilation fixes
- HingePerceptor can report torque
- Better Performance
- New timing system result in more cleaner code and prevent wasting CPU time
- Do not block on sending data to clients. Previously, simulator would
block on
  send() until it can send all data to clients.

RCSSServer3D 0.6.5
============
This release comes with a number of enhancements and some bug fixes. Most
notably, the automated referee is improved to prevent many agents to collide
with each other which is required for running games with more players.
Also, to
better suite the field for running 9 vs 9 games, the field size is increased
and it is 21x14 now. There are some visual improvements and minor
enhancements
to improve the general experience with the simulator. Finally,
simspark.rb is
renamed to rcssserver3d.rb for more consistency. 

* New touch rules:
The automated referee now enforces two new rules to better prevent
crowding and
a high number of collisions in 9 vs 9 games:
- If an agent is in touch with more than 2 agents (including himself),
and he
  wasn't in such a situation in the previous time step - which means he
is the
  last to join the group - he is relocated outside of the field. However, if
  the number of opponents in the group are more than teammates, an
unspecified
  opponent will be relocated instead.
- If it is not clear which agent joined the group last, e.g. when 3 players
  were all separate at time t, but were all touching each other in time
t + 1,
  an agent is chosen at random for relocation.

* Other Enhancements:
- Visual improvements in rcssmonitor3d: new field texture, colored team
names
  and scores
- Set different agent and monitor ports with --agent-port and --server-port
- Bigger field size: 21x14
- Updated PDF documentation
- Bug fixes, specially in the automated referee
- New Trainer command (killsim) to terminate the simulator
- Compilation fixes
- Nao robots now sense visual information about field lines by default
- Now you should change the value of enableRealTimeMode variable in
  rcssserver3d.rb if you want to turn off using real time mode

Thanks to all MC members who contributed to this release,
Hedayat Vatankhah
RCSServer3D Maintenance Committee

[1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/simspark/files