george.gillan@gmail.com
Intel Monkey is a program for WITP-AE players to help facilitate digesting Intel provided in the various reports (SigInt, Combat, Operations, Events). In reality there would be loads of staff types who would be collating the Intel from all over the place to try and make sense of the enemy's intentons and dispositions. As a single person you don't have the time to do this yourself so maybe you would like to enlist the help of IntelMonkey.
So, here is the choice...... do you want to just get this going, or do you want to know all about the way its done?
I just want to get this going.....
OK follow these steps.....
Download the Installer.
Run the Installer - it will suggest the logical folder to install into. A good place to install is the tools directory of your AE directory. The installer will make an IntelMonkey directory there. [If you have more than one game running in more than one folder then simply run the installer and each time put it inside the relevant game folder]
Start up IntelMonkey. It is IntelMonkey.exe in your new IntelMonkey directory above (which you created in Step 2).
Ok this is a new install so first click the Configuration button on the bottom of the window. Set up where things are on your system - its just a case of clicking each and then pointing to the right directory/file location - some of it will be done for you. The scenario number MUST be entered as a three digit number.. so if its Scenario 1 this would be 001. witploadAE.exe can be found in your Beta2 directory if running the current Beta release (do make sure it is version 9.0).
Ok now you need to get IntelMonkey to set up your databases. Click the Database Maintenance button along the bottom of the window. In the new window that pops up, press the 'Create/Replace All' button.
Ok now you need to tell it get the scenario information you are playing, click the 'Get Scenario Data' button
Once it has done this you need to press the 'Load Info' button
Now the 'Process New Files' button will become click-able. Click it. Now just wait. If this is your first time it could take a while to read in all the material from every turn you have done.... just wait. Eventually it will finish and will tell you it has.
Steps 1 through to 7 need only be done once. Step 8 is lightning fast processing new turns as the game progresses.
Once you have the above done, dive in and play with what the IntelMonkeys can provide for you...
By the way, this is a well tested Pre-Beta so some parts have not yet been completed, you will see some buttons do not become active. Buttons for features that are included become active when it is possible to use them (e.g. after creating databases, loading info, etc.). A few buttons are for features whcih will be programmed shortly and will not become active until this is further developed.
At this time Intel Monkey processes the SigInt and Combat reports. The Operations and Combat Events reports will be implemented after Pre-Beta as will other reports. Data from the AE SigInt reports are presented in the SigInt Report. Data from the AE Combat reports are presented in a series of reports: Aircraft Report, Air Group Report, Battle Reports, Casualty Reports, Ground Assault Reports, LCU Reports, Ship Reports, Troop Reports. All Intel Monkey reports have sophisticated user selectable filtering and sorting options. Every field can be filtered and/or sorted on. Data from any report can be exported to a CSV file, obeying the filters and sorts in place at the time, by clicking a button.
To take advantage of IntelMonkey's you need to be using the "-archive" switch in your game shortcut. This will save all SigInt, Combat Reports, etc. in the SAVE\archive sub-folder. If these are saved from the beginning of your game, you can process all information from your previous turns. The archive sub-folder is the only place Intel Monkey can get the AE reports, so be sure to use that -archive switch in your game shortcut.
I want to know all about the way this is done....
Intel Monkey is written in Python and packaged into an executable by the utility PyInstaller. That executable is then combined with necessary configuration and documentation files into an executable installer by NSIS. The installer will ask you where you wish to install Intel Monkey, and in that place will create a folder called "IntelMonkey" with all the needed files and sub-folders. The installation process does not make or change entries in your Windows Registry. If you wish to "uninstall" Intel Monkey you need only delete it; there is no special uninstall process. Furthermore if you wish to you can have multiple copies of Intel Monkey on your system, say one for each PBM or AI game you have in progress. In case you have more than one open at a time there is an optional "Game Tag" configuration item you can define so that screens will show the difference between your game with "Alice" and your game with "Bob".
Intel Monkey comes with its own copy of Python inside the executable. You do not need to install Python on your system to use Intel Monkey, but if you do have Python installed on your system Intel Monkey will not use it and there will be no conflicts over it.
Intel Monkey keeps several databases: a database each for scenario data, information extracted from the scenario data, report data from turns loaded, and user generated items (future). This results in reports being available very fast, and additional turns load into the database in a few seconds. Intel Monkey uses SQLite3, the most widely used database in the world. You are already using a number of copies of SQLite3 even if you don't know it, embedded in many electronic devices and computer operating systems and other software. You can access the data in Intel Monkey's databases without Intel Monkey by using the utilities freely available from the SQLite3 web site.
Your AE game must be running using the "-archive" switch. That switch tells the game to save the reports from every turn into the "archive" sub-folder. Without that Intel Monkey will have no reports to work with! If you do not know how to deal with AE's switches go to the user forums for help.
At this time Intel Monkey processes the SigInt and Combat reports. The Operations and Combat Events reports will be implemented after Pre-Beta as will other reports. Data from the AE SigInt reports are presented in the SigInt Report. Data from the AE Combat reports are presented in a series of reports: Aircraft Report, Air Group Report, Battle Reports, Casualty Reports, Ground Assault Reports, LCU Reports, Ship Reports, Troop Reports. All Intel Monkey reports have sophisticated user selectable filtering and sorting options. Every field can be filtered and/or sorted on. Data from any report can be exported to a CSV file, obeying the filters and sorts in place at the time, by clicking a button.
The information extracted from the Scenario DB and stored in the Info DB is available through reports in the same format and with the same options as the Main DB reports just described.
At any time you can 'start over' without deleting your installation of Intel Monkey simply by creating new databases. The Database Maintenance screen allows you to do that by clicking a button for the database you wish to re-create, or for all databases at once. Don't worry about making a mistake because the old database is renamed rather than deleted. You can go into the "db" sub-folder later and delete the "-old" db files any time you wish. Also on the Database Maintenance screen are options to check each database against current standards and upgrade to those standards. In many cases where features have been added to a new version of Intel Monkey those options will make it possible to upgrade an existing database without needing to reload all the data.
The first time you run Intel Monkey it will create a new user configuration file in the IntelMonkey folder and call it "userconfig.ini". While you can edit that file directly you might find it easier to use the Configuration screen.
The first thing you should do after you install Intel Monkey is select "Configuration" and properly set all the configuration items. Note the scenario number must be entered as 3 digits. Note also you must point to "witploadAE.exe", and it must be version 9.0. See the AE forums if you have questions about that.
After setting your configuration items, click on "Database Maintenance" and you will see a screen where you can carry out actions on one database at a time or on all at once. The easiest thing to do now is is click on "Create/Replace ALL" to create all 4 databases. Exit the Database Maintenance screen when that is done.
After you create new databases you will need to "Get Scenario Data". That process relies on finding a proper version of witploadAE.exe, so make sure you correctly set that configuration item first.
When that is finished, click on "Load Info" to read certain data from the Scenario database and populate the Info database as needed.
At this point you are ready to "Process New Files", provided that you have already started your game.
Intel Monkey makes log files in the "debug" folder in case you run into an issue that you need help resolving. At the moment there is no automated cleanup routine to delete old log files but one will be implemented soon.
Known Limitations:
• So as to allow Intel Monkey to run on old hardware running 32-bit Windows, Intel Monkey uses 32-bit Python. That imposes a much smaller memory limit on each process than the 64-bit version. In practical terms this limits Intel Monkey in only one way. "Battle Reports" shows what are in fact the original AE Combat reports but broken into the individual battles and able to be filtered and sorted. Players almost always look at only one AE Combat report at a time, and perhaps rarely at a couple or a few at a time. Intel Monkey makes it easy to look at much more than that all at once. But it is best to be conservative in how you use that power. If, for example, you display more than a few hundred days' of battles without filtering on something to reduce the volume, that report will consume all computer memory in the known universe and your friends will not like you anymore.
The other Combat reports (Aircraft Report, Air Group Report, Casualty Reports, Ground Assault Reports, LCU Reports, Ship Reports, Troop Reports) and the SigInt report are much smaller than the Battle Reports and will not run into this limitation.
• Some very old AE Combat reports have some malformed battle reports. The developers of AE fixed almost all of those issues long ago. Intel Monkey handles most malformed battle reports well, but there are some that lack much of the basic data and Intel Monkey skips them. They are reported in the log files in the "debug" sub-folder and the omissions are very minor. The vast majority of players will never run into this issue.
Current version: 1.0 Pre-Beta
As this is a pre-Beta documentation is a work in progress. There is some documentation in the "doc" sub-folder (which you will see after installation). That documentation will be particularly helpful in understanding how to use the filter mechanisms in the reports.
sha256 hash for IntelMonkeyInstaller.exe
3e2494744533986309196db2c52b622766c89d591e283d917c0ab7a53fdb364d
sha256 hash for IntelMonkey.exe
1e81d2e54f206611f2f68690db38babdcdbbea0b6ea846a51880694a9ebb612e
The download link for the installer is below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11SFdryIU2Jmww__IXt1vCY8u2XCxq5SG/view?usp=sharing