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AzerothCore Playerbots on ToCloud9 (cluster mode)

This branch runs mod-playerbots inside ToCloud9 clustered worldservers: random bots live on every shard, are visible cluster-wide (/who, name queries, group frames) and real players can group with them across shards.

Status: experimental, tested on a 3-shard setup (Eastern Kingdoms / Kalimdor / Outland+Northrend). Discussion: #playerbots-integration on the ToCloud9 Discord.

Repositories

Repo Branch Contains
this repo Playerbot-cluster-nav5 AC core: mod-playerbots core patches merged with walkline cluster-mode patches, plus sidecar wrappers used by the module (NATS publish/subscribe, group service client)
3kynox/mod-playerbots integration/kp-nav5 cluster awareness for bots: per-shard bot pool partition, cross-shard handoff, group invite accept, follow when grouped with a real player
3kynox/ToCloud9 integration/kp-20260708 ToCloud9 with the playerbots-specific parts not (yet) upstreamed: in-process session events in libsidecar, event envelope fix. Generic fixes and features are submitted upstream (merged so far: #39, #40, #41, #42, #44)

The long-term goal is to shrink the ToCloud9 fork to zero as pieces get upstreamed. The AC and mod-playerbots forks are permanent: upstream mod-playerbots targets a standalone worldserver by design.

Note on the base: the mod-playerbots branch sits on top of the navigation/RPG overhaul from mod-playerbots feature/new_rpg_and_nav_5_bash (work by bash/hermensbas, not merged upstream yet), and the AC branch includes the matching mmaps core changes (PR #204). This is the combination we actually run and test. Once that work lands upstream, the branches will rebase onto plain master.

How it works

  • Bots are in-process world sessions, exactly like vanilla mod-playerbots. No extra service.
  • libsidecar (native C++, ToCloud9 #38) gives the module NATS pub/sub and a group service client, so bot logins/logouts and character updates reach the cluster like real players do.
  • Each shard only spawns bots for the maps it serves (partition follows the standard ToCloud9 availableMaps assignment). Teleporting a bot to a map served by another shard hands it off cleanly.
  • Group invites from real players are accepted by the shard owning the bot (the invite event travels over NATS); grouped bots switch to follow like vanilla playerbots.

Build

Build libsidecar first (from the ToCloud9 fork checkout):

cmake -S game-server/libsidecar-cpp -B build-sidecar \
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF \
    -DUSE_SYSTEM_GRPC=OFF -DUSE_SYSTEM_PROTOBUF=OFF
cmake --build build-sidecar -j $(nproc)

Then AzerothCore (this repo), with the module cloned into modules/ and the freshly built libsidecar.so dropped into deps/libsidecar/ (headers are already vendored):

git clone -b integration/kp-nav5 https://github.com/3kynox/mod-playerbots.git modules/mod-playerbots
cp <tocloud9>/build-sidecar/libsidecar.so deps/libsidecar/libsidecar.so
cd bin
cmake .. -DUSE_REAL_LIBSIDECAR=ON <your usual AC flags>
make -j$(nproc)

Notes:

  • the C++ libsidecar has SONAME libsidecar.so.0 — install it under that name where the loader finds it (/usr/lib/libsidecar.so.0).
  • without -DUSE_REAL_LIBSIDECAR=ON you get stubs: playerbots work, cluster mode off (plain vertical server).
  • Go services: build them from the ToCloud9 fork branch (one source tree for services and libsidecar, no mixing).

Setup

Follow the upstream ToCloud9 setup (docker-compose or manual) with these additions:

  1. Run the worldservers built from this repo.
  2. dbimport needs the acore_playerbots database (module SQL is under modules/mod-playerbots/data/sql); all shards share it, like the other AC databases.
  3. Give each worldserver its map set through the usual ToCloud9 config (availableMaps, comma-separated). The bot pool partition follows it, nothing else to declare.
  4. In playerbots.conf, on every playerbots-enabled shard, set the union of the maps served by those shards:
AiPlayerbot.ClusterBotMaps = "0,1"

(Example: bots enabled on the two continent shards only. A shard bench-logs-out any bot standing on a map outside its own assignment, so keep this list consistent with the per-shard availableMaps.)

  1. Everything else in playerbots.conf is standard mod-playerbots (bot count, levels, etc.).
  2. Standard extracted client data works; regenerating mmaps with this branch's generator (steep-slope marking, see PR #204) improves bot navigation but is optional.

Known limitations

  • Guild features are not supported yet (ToCloud9 itself doesn't implement guild creation; bot guilds are disabled territory for now).
  • Dungeons, battlegrounds and raids with bots: untested in cluster mode.
  • A grouped bot can only follow its master while both are on the same shard.
  • Group member stats for bots don't flow through the gateway pipeline yet (bots have no gateway session).

Reporting

  • Bot behaviour in cluster mode → issues on 3kynox/mod-playerbots
  • Core merge / build issues → issues here
  • Anything ToCloud9-generic → upstream
  • Or just ask in #playerbots-integration on the ToCloud9 Discord.

License

AGPL v3, inherited from AzerothCore and mod-playerbots.