Create-A-Pokemon Battle Server

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DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Moderator
The Create-A-Pokemon Project has customized a Shoddy Battle server to implement all of the pokemon created by the project. The primary purpose is for playtesting CAP Project pokemon, but it is used by many for regular pokemon battles as well.

If you cannot connect to the server, or if you need to install the CAP pokemon sprites, go to the next post. Or you can use this link: Connecting to Doug's Create-A-Pokemon Server

Server Moderators (aka The Blue Team)
DougJustDoug
eric the espeon
Elevator Music
tennisace
Magmortified
Captain
Bass
darkie
KoA
Plus
Beej
sot​
Click here if you have a question about moderating the server.

Code of Conduct

The following rules will be strictly enforced on the server:
  1. Use English in the main chat. If you wish to speak in non-English to other users, then use PM.
  2. Do not ask for battles in the main chat. If you want to find someone to battle, please use the Find Tab located near the top right-hand side of the main Shoddy screen.
  3. Blatant rudeness, hate, or offensive comments are not allowed. There is no rule against cursing, but do not be lewd. All forms of racist or bigoted commentary and slang is forbidden.
  4. No Smogon bashing. In case you haven't noticed, this project is sponsored by Smogon. If you have negative things to say about Smogon, then keep it to yourself.
  5. No Shoddy bashing. Some people have issues with the Shoddy Battle program and/or the Shoddy Battle programming team -- but that doesn't mean you can bitch about it on our server. Colin wrote Shoddy Battle and had the generosity to make it open-source. Without it, we'd still be playing theorymon with our pokemon. Out of respect for that extraordinary contribution to competitive pokemon, hateful statements about Shoddy Battle or its programmers are not tolerated.
  6. In general, all forms of discussion of sex, flirting, or otherwise suggestive commentary is discouraged. A common technique for pedophiles and other sexual predators to find victims, is to lead online chat conversations into the sexual arena. This is a pokemon server, so it's best to avoid sexual conversations altogether. A certain amount of bawdy "guy talk" is inevitable, but comments will be moderated if it gets out of hand.
  7. Linking or advertising other websites is generally not a good idea. Smogon links and refs are totally cool, obviously. If it's purely for a pokemon reference, a link to Serebii or similar, that's OK. But, blatantly referring or linking people to other servers and other forums is not acceptable.
  8. No chat flooding. Intentionally flooding the chat with excessive posts and/or excessively long posts will be immediately regarded as an attack on the server and will be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
  9. Chat scrolling is discouraged. Please make one decent post instead of several little posts, each containing a fragment of a sentence or thought. It's annoying to read, and it scrolls the chat unnecessarily.
  10. Chat stretching is discouraged. Maybe you think it's cool to type the same letters over and over like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss!!!! Well, it isn't. It's annoying as hell to everyone else. So don't do it.
  11. Excessive use of capital letters is discouraged. For the same reason as the previous two moronic posting behaviors listed above.
  12. Please use one username on the server. Preferably use the same name as your Smogon username. For users that really feel the need to have alternate usernames (aka alts), keep them to a minimum. We'd like to develop a sense of community on the server. It's hard to do that if people log in under different alts all the time.
  13. Do not make offensive usernames. If you do so, you will be asked to log in under a new name. If you continue to use the offensive name, then you will be banned.
  14. No noob talk on the server. This is not a "Welcome to Pokemon" server. This a server for competitive pokemon players. Asking noob questions about the game is not allowed. It makes the server look bad to advanced players. Ingame discussions are allowed, but not basic stuff. "How do I beat the Elite Four?" is a noob question. "Here's how I beat the Elite Four with a single level 40 Starly" -- that's worth talking about. Basic questions about the CAP project and pokemon are expected and encouraged.
  15. Cut the nonsense. It's amazing how much unintelligible crap people post in the chat. No one likes to read idiotic non-discussions of pure stupidity. Long strings of smileys, l33t speak, random utterances unrelated to the current chat -- keep all that to yourself. Also, dumb back-and-forths are really unnecessary. "I pwned you that battle!", "No u didnt", "U suck", "No u suck", "lol", "lol back atcha", ":-P" "o_O" --- chat streams like that are ridiculous and will be moderated.
  16. Abusing or insulting a moderator is a really bad idea. Questioning a moderator's decision is fine. But, once the moderator has explained a decision, then let it go.
  17. Children under age 13 are not allowed. Because of COPPA, we strictly enforce our age policy. If we somehow determine, or if you announce that you are under the age of 13, you will be banned immediately. No exceptions.
Punishment

If you break the rules, punishment is meted out at the discretion of the moderators and will depend on the severity and circumstances of the offense. The general procedure for punishment is the first offense gets a verbal warning from the moderator, second offense will get you kicked (forcibly logged off) from the server, a third offense will get you banned. The length of the ban is variable at the discretion of the moderator. If the offense is serious, you may be straight kicked or banned with no warning.

A permaban is a ban that lasts forever.

Chat logs are reviewed by server administration. A retro-ban is a ban that is put in place long after an offense occurred, usually as a result of chat log review.
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Moderator
Connecting to Doug's Create-A-Pokemon Server

If you have never connected to Shoddy, then go install it and connect to a server. Maybe watch a battle or something. But don't follow these steps until you've actually USED Shoddy. Otherwise, the CAP sprites might not load.

Since the CAP server has new pokemon added to the pokedex, you have to add CAP sprites to your Shoddy Battle installation. There is a CAP Sprite Update program that can be reused repeatedly in the future, whenever new pokemon are created.

Updating Sprites

Click this link: http://cap.smogon.com/Sprites/CAPSpriteUpdate.jar

Hopefully, your computer will allow you to run the program right there. Most browsers will ask you if you want to Open the file using Java. You should see a dialog something like this:



If so, then press "Open" and run the program with Java. You will immediately see this:



Press "Yes" and there should be a short pause, then you should see this:



Press "OK" and you now have all the sprites you need to use our cool new pokemon!

Connecting to the Server

Now that you have sprites, you can connect to my server. Start the Shoddy Battle client. You should see "Doug's Create-A-Pokemon Server" in the list. If for some reason you don't see it, press the "Advanced" button, and use this address and port:

address: cap.servegame.com
port: 8888

(FYI - "cap.servegame.com" currently resolves to 98.195.195.196)

From there, you should see a welcome screen to register and login. Please use your Smogon name for this server.

IMPORTANT -- You might not be able to use existing teams. If you can use an existing team, you most likely will not be able to add the new pokemon to them. Just make a new team and you can use the new pokemon. You can add pokemon from the Box to a team that has CAP pokemon on them.

All the CAP pokemon are at the very bottom of the list, after Arceus. Have fun!


Troubleshooting

If it didn't go as easy as described above, there's still hope!

From the link, instead of trying to open the jar, just save it to your computer's hard drive. Save it to your desktop (or anywhere else really) and then double-click the file. If you have a recent version of Java installed, it should run the jar automatically, since it is an executable jar. You will see the message windows diplayed above, and you are done.

If that doesn't work, you are going to have to do it the hardest way, which isn't too bad, but not as easy as above. Make sure you do each step described below:

From the link, save the file to your computer's hard drive. Put the downloaded jar file in a directory you can access from a command prompt. The simplest place is "C:\" for any "technically-challenged" folks out there. I would not advise saving it to your desktop. It's very hard to get to the desktop directory from the command line.

Open a Command Prompt window. It should be under Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt. Or you can do "Run..." from the Start menu and type "cmd". Either way, it'll open a command window. If you are on a MacIntosh, use the Terminal, which is the Mac equivalent to the Windows Command Prompt.

Go to the directory where you saved CAPSpriteUpdate.jar The easiest way to do that is to type "cd c:\thedirectory\youused". Substitute the directories accordingly, and don't type those words literally. For example, if you saved it in C:\, then type "cd c:\" and press enter.

That file you downloaded is a java program. That means you have to run it with a special command. Now type "java -jar CAPSpriteUpdate.jar" and press enter. You should see the message windows shown above. You should also see several messages in the command prompt saying it stored a bunch of sprites. If not, then something went wrong.

If none of this works, then you might have something wrong with your installation of Java. Go to www.java.com and update your computer with the latest version of Java. Then try to update the sprites as described above.

If that doesn't work, then I'm all out of advice. Please don't PM me or ask me what's wrong. If you've tried everything listed above and it didn't work, then I really can't help you without physically sitting down in front of your computer and figuring it out. That isn't going to happen.

The worst case scenario is that you have to play without sprites. It's OK, the game will just show a big "question mark" when you switch in a CAP pokemon.
 

DougJustDoug

Knows the great enthusiasms
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Artistis a Programmeris a Forum Moderatoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Moderator
Moderator FAQ

1) What is a mod?

Moderators control the battle server. For all intents and purposes, they are the boss. They answer questions and ensure people follow the rules. If people don't follow the rules, mods administer punishments.

2) Can I be a mod?

No, you can't. Don't ask about it. If you ask to be a mod, you are only demonstrating that you are not the type of person that should be a mod. If you really think you'd like to be a mod someday, here's a few things you should do:

  • Never, ever, ever ask the server admin if you can be a mod. You just look like a dumb-ass when you do that.
  • Connect to the server frequently and participate in discussion and battles
  • Don't pick fights, don't flame users, and don't be a jerk in general.
  • Help answer questions.
  • Stay calm when other people are being unreasonable.
  • Don't make stupid comments
  • Learn about the CAP project and pokemon
  • Participate in the CAP forum
  • Be knowledgeable about the game of Pokemon
  • Demonstrate good judgement and maturity
  • Gain the respect of other users

If you do all the above consistently over time, you won't need to ask to be mod. I will ask you. Heck, I'll probably beg you.

3) Is there really a modbot?

Yes. Currently the bot is logged in under the name "HAL9000", which is the name of a famous artificially-intelligent computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Technically, I could log it under any name. Perhaps I will do so in the future. I've reserved the names PorygonZ, RoboCop, Tron, and Terminator. So, if you see those names logged in as a mod, then you know it's a modbot.

4) What can the modbot do?

It does lots of stuff. The main thing it does is monitors the chat for flooding and scrolling abuse. If HAL warns you about anything, it is highly advisable to stop whatever you were doing. You will get kicked or banned, if you keep it up. And HAL has a hair-trigger when it comes to punishment. HAL does not listen to any protests or questions about violations. HAL can also provide information to the moderators, particularly rules. HAL can implement certain technical functions for the server administrator.

5) How does the modbot receive commands?

Since HAL is constantly monitoring the chat and PM, server moderators can issue commands by typing in the main chat, or sending HAL a PM.

6) Are mods the only ones that can command the modbot?

No. HAL also answers questions and follows commands of certain other server users. These users have been granted a special license to "drive" the robot. Therefore, we call them "Drivers". When moderators are not logged on, these Drivers are authorized to instruct HAL to kick users that break the rules. In this way, the bot drivers serve as pseudo-moderators during the periods when the server appears to be unmoderated.

7) How do I get a leaderboard from the modbot?

HAL is programmed to give leaderboards to all users that send it a PM command of "leaderboard". Also, you can specify the exact ladder name (e.g. "leaderboard cap"), and the bot will answer with a longer leaderboard for that ladder. Do not ask HAL for leaderboards repeatedly in a short period of time. If you do so, the bot will interpret it as a spam attack, and it will kick or ban you.

8) Can I command the modbot?

No. HAL ignores everyone other than mods and drivers. If you try to send personal messages to HAL (other than leaderboards mentioned above), he will kick or ban you. If you challenge HAL to battle, he will reject it every time. If logs show that you continually attempt to command the bot, you will likely be permabanned from the server. Just leave the bot alone.

9) Can I be a driver?

No, you can't. Don't ask about it. If you ask to be a driver, you are only demonstrating that you are not the type of person that should be... waitaminnit. I've already been through this. Read #2 above. It's pretty much the same kind of thing.
 
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