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I am attempting to begin working as a developer for forge, but I am having trouble setting up Maven within the Eclipse environment. I followed the steps listed at the following wiki article:
Forge:How_to_Get_Started_Developing_Forge

However, I am having troubles with the installation of Maven and the m2e plugin. I have the most recent versions of Eclipse and Subclipse, and I was able to import the most recent version of the source code at the svn slightlymagic address. However, every time I turn on eclipse and open the forge project, I get the following error:
Errors occurred during the build.
Errors running builder 'Maven Project Builder' on project 'ForgeLocal'.
Could not calculate build plan: Failed to parse plugin descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.5.1 (maven-compiler-plugin-2.5.1.jar): invalid LOC header (bad signature)
Failed to parse plugin descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.5.1 (maven-compiler-plugin-2.5.1.jar): invalid LOC header (bad signature)
Could not calculate build plan: Failed to parse plugin descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.5.1 (maven-compiler-plugin-2.5.1.jar): invalid LOC header (bad signature)
Failed to parse plugin descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.5.1 (maven-compiler-plugin-2.5.1.jar): invalid LOC header (bad signature)

I think the problem might have something to do with the fact that I am using the most recent version of Maven, which is 3.0.4, while the project seems to be looking for a maven plugin version 2.5.1, but I have no idea what I could do to alleviate this problem if this is the cause of my troubles.

If anyone could provide any insight into this issue, it would be very much appreciated. Also, if there is any additional information that you would need from me, please let me know so I can provide it.

There's two possible solutions that immediately spring to mind. Try uninstalling the Maven 3.0.4 plugin and see if you can find the 2.5.1 plugin after that. Alternatively, if you can't uninstall the plugin, just uninstall Eclipse and reinstall it, then get the Maven 2.5.1 plugin.

Apparently the problem was that my maven-compiler-plugin-2.5.1 was corrupted, so reinstalling fixed the problem. I believe it is all working now. Thank you very much.

Hi ZakBlade. Glad you're up and running!

Is there any particular area that you're looking at developing, or are you just having a look 'round the codebase?

If you have any questions, just ask around and one of the guru's will be able to point you in the right direction.

Hello Marc,

I'm hoping to create an improved AI based on artificial neural networks for my senior project. As such, I'm currently looking into how exactly the AI works, and something I recently found interested me. Is the smoothComputerManaCurve() function in the GameNew file actually being used to sort the deck so the AI never gets mana screwed?

Edit: Nevermind about the smoothComputerManaCurve(), I just noticed that it is an option that the player chooses and not something that happens every time.

ZakBlade wrote:Hello Marc,

I'm hoping to create an improved AI based on artificial neural networks for my senior project. As such, I'm currently looking into how exactly the AI works, and something I recently found interested me. Is the smoothComputerManaCurve() function in the GameNew file actually being used to sort the deck so the AI never gets mana screwed?

I think there's an option in the preferences to allow it to be used "Stack AI Land". It's a remnant from before the AI could Mulligan, but some people like to try to give the AI some extra advantages since it's not very smart.

Thanks Sol. At first, I was afraid that the computer was always cheating, but I can understand why some people would want the option of not having to worry about free wins because their opponent has mana issues.

ZakBlade wrote:Hello Marc,

I'm hoping to create an improved AI based on artificial neural networks for my senior project. As such, I'm currently looking into how exactly the AI works, and something I recently found interested me.

Unfortunately the AI of Forge is not cleanly separated from the rest of the code and scattered all over. Other people failed to even get close to implement a Minimax AI because of that.

Maybe you can restrict yourself to attacking/blocking decissions only? ComputerUtilAttack and ComputerUtilBlock handle that.

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping to use a variant of a minimax AI in which the heuristic function retrieves its values from an artificial neural network (ANN). I'm planning on creating a separate EMenu titled "AI Mode" where I hope to contain all of my changes so I can still compare my AI to the one that is already in place. In order to get this to work, I will first need to make an AI vs AI mode, and then, I will need to make an AI training mode so that the ANN can repeatedly play matches against another AI. Let me know what you think of the possibility of me achieving these plans. I'm going to see what progress I can make in separating the AI from the rest of the code, but if it doesn't work, I will probably end up using my AI just for the battle phase as you suggested.

Thanks everyone for all the input. You've helped me to realize that I will not be able to create this AI as I had hoped. Sloth was right. The AI code is far too spread out to be able to create such an AI in just one semester, and as a result, I do not think I will be able to work on the forge project any time soon. Thank you all so much for helping me realize that this quickly though. Without your help, I would be in serious trouble having spent too much time on a dead end for my project.

ZakBlade wrote:Thanks everyone for all the input. You've helped me to realize that I will not be able to create this AI as I had hoped. Sloth was right. The AI code is far too spread out to be able to create such an AI in just one semester, and as a result, I do not think I will be able to work on the forge project any time soon. Thank you all so much for helping me realize that this quickly though. Without your help, I would be in serious trouble having spent too much time on a dead end for my project.

You might want to look at Magarena. It already has an AI vs AI mode. Its biggest limitation is that certain types of cards are not supported.