When Dofus updates

What Asterobot does by itself after an Ankama patch, how your bots move to the new version, what to do with automatic updates off, and what you see when Asterobot doesn't support the new version yet.

Each Ankama patch is a new game version. While Keep DOFUS up to date is on, which it is until you turn it off, Asterobot gets each new version ready by itself and moves your bots to it. You step in when the switch is off, for a bot you keep on a fixed version, and when your release of Asterobot doesn't support the new version yet.

What Asterobot does after a patch

Every minute, Asterobot asks Ankama's download servers which Dofus version they serve. Its log shows DOFUS version served by Ankama, with the version, when it starts and each time the answer changes. When a new version comes out and Keep DOFUS up to date is on:

1. Asterobot downloads it, with the same files Download a game fetches by default, then extracts its game data. The new row goes through Queued, Downloading and Extracting in Game Manager like a download you start yourself, and ends Ready for bot. Chunks Asterobot already stored for the previous version aren't downloaded again, and Asteroboard doesn't need to stay open.
2. Every bot set to Latest that is disconnected moves to the new version as soon as it's ready, and its console says "Now using the game data of DOFUS" followed by the version. A bot that is connected, waiting for your game or still running a script moves at its next connection instead.
3. The other versions no bot uses any more are deleted, with their game data: the older ones, and a newer one Ankama withdrew. A version a bot is set to is never deleted, and neither is one still downloading or extracting.

When the download or the extraction fails, the log shows Couldn't get the new DOFUS version ready for bots with the reason, and Asterobot tries again 10 minutes later. Turning the switch off and on again tries at once. When an old version can't be deleted, for example because one of its files is still in use, the log shows Couldn't delete a DOFUS version no bot uses, it is tried again at the next start, and the version goes the next time Asterobot starts.

Keep DOFUS up to date sits above the table in Game Manager, next to Download a game. It's the gamemanager.autoUpdate setting (Settings reference). While it's off, Asterobot still checks which version Ankama serves, but downloads and deletes nothing by itself.

Latest or a fixed version

A bot's Game version is either Latest or one installed version.

• Latest follows the version Ankama serves once it's ready for bots, and the newest ready version until then. If Ankama withdraws a version for the previous one, bots on Latest go back with it. Add a bot selects it for you, and every bot added before this choice existed became Latest the first time Asterobot started with it. In Bot Manager, the Game version column shows Latest followed by the version the bot reads.
• A fixed version keeps the bot on that version until you change it on its Settings tab. Asterobot never deletes a version a bot is set to.

Whatever game data it reads, a bot that signs in on its own tells Ankama it runs the version Ankama serves, the only one the login server accepts. So right after a patch, a bot on Latest connects at once with the previous version's game data while the new version downloads, and reads the new game data from its next connection. Many patches leave the game data as it was, but some change items, maps or texts, and until it reconnects the bot uses the previous ones. A bot on a fixed version connects too, with the game data of its version.

A bot only waits on a first start, when no version is ready at all. Its console then says "Waiting for DOFUS to be downloaded and extracted before connecting", and it goes on once the first version is ready.

In MITM mode

The Ankama Launcher updates your Dofus as soon as a patch is out. A bot can still wait for your game, because Asterobot accepts your Dofus when it's the version Asterobot has, and also when it's the version Ankama serves, even while Asterobot is still getting that one ready. Any other version is refused: see MITM mode.

Look at the compatibility

Check the Compatibility column of the new row:

• Compatible: your release of Asterobot was tested with this version.
• Different version: it wasn't. The info icon next to the badge names the version Asterobot is tested with.

Different version doesn't block anything, but your bots may not work on that version yet. When Asterobot doesn't support the new version yet describes what you may see.

With automatic updates off

With Keep DOFUS up to date off, go through these steps after a patch, in this order. Bots on Latest still move by themselves to the newest version ready for bots, so step 3 only concerns bots on a fixed version.

1. Check for a new version

1. In Game Manager, open the menu of the version you use.
2. Click Check for latest version.

Asteroboard answers Up to date or A newer version is available, followed in both cases by "Ankama's latest version is" and the version number. The same button is on the Information tab of the version's Game page.

In MITM mode, the Ankama Launcher updates your Dofus. MITM mode shows where to read the version you play.

2. Download and extract the new version

1. Click Download a game.
2. Keep the defaults, with latest in Version and Extract data after downloading checked. If the new version is missing from the suggestions, click Check for updates first.
3. Click Download.
4. Keep Asteroboard open until the new row shows Ready for bot, so the extraction starts on its own.

The new version gets its own row, next to the old one. Chunks Asterobot already stored for the old version aren't downloaded again. Download a game version covers every field of the dialog.

3. Move your bots on a fixed version

Repeat this for each bot set to the old version.

1. Open the bot's page. If the bot is connected, connecting or waiting for your game, click Disconnect. Its game version can't change while it's online: the Settings tab says "Disconnect this bot to change its account or its game version." and greys out the fields until you do.
2. Open the Settings tab.
3. Under Game version, choose Latest for the bot to follow every new version from now on, or the new version to keep it on that one.
4. Click Save settings. Asteroboard shows Settings saved.
5. Bring the bot back online with Connect or Start waiting.

In MITM mode, click Start waiting once your Dofus is up to date. Bot settings describes the rest of the Settings tab.

4. Remove the old version

Once no bot uses the old version, open its menu in Game Manager:

• Delete frees the most space: the files, the extracted game data and the row go.
• Uninstall deletes the files and keeps the row with its extracted game data.

Neither checks whether a bot still uses the version, so finish the previous step first. Manage game versions compares the two.

When Asterobot doesn't support the new version yet

Asterobot reads and writes the messages Dofus exchanges with its servers, and those messages change from one version to the next. Right after a patch, your release of Asterobot may not know the new version's messages yet. Here is what you can meet:

• Different version in the Compatibility column, on the Information tab of the Game page and under Game version in a bot's settings.
• A bot that signs in on its own doesn't connect. An alert titled Couldn't connect this bot appears at the top of its page, with the reason.
• In MITM mode, your game is disconnected when it reaches the bot, and Asterobot's log shows Failed to relay a game session followed by the reason.
• A script can't start, and its error begins with the game engine is not available:.

When your release of Asterobot is too old for the version the Asterobot team currently supports, the reason tells you to update Asterobot. In that case:

1. Download the new release of Asterobot. When one is published, Asteroboard shows Asterobot update available with a View on asterobot.net button when Asterobot starts, and the terminal prints An Asterobot update is available.
2. Update it as Updating Asterobot explains.
3. Look at the Compatibility column again.

When the reason is only the game engine is not available, Asterobot couldn't get what it needs to read the game's messages at all, whatever the game version. Check that Asterobot is signed in to asterobot.net and can reach the internet, then try again. If it keeps happening, Getting help lists where to ask.

Script authors will find how to keep their scripts working through patches in After a game update.

Where to go next

• MITM mode
• Bot settings
• Game and updates in the FAQ

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