Your first bot

This walkthrough gets a first bot running in MITM mode, short for man-in-the-middle: you play Dofus as usual, and the bot joins your game session through Asterobot. It needs no Ankama account in Asterobot and no package, so it's the quickest way to see Asterobot at work. Plan for the game download to take a while the first time.

Before you start, you need:

• Dofus 3 installed with the Ankama Launcher on the computer where Asterobot runs, and up to date.
• Asterobot running and signed in to asterobot.net. See First launch and Sign in with asterobot.net.

1. Download the same Dofus version

Asterobot doesn't use the Dofus you play for game files: it only reads the version number in its version file and changes one line there, as What Asterobot just changed explains. It needs its own copy of the same version, downloaded from Ankama.

1. In the sidebar, open Game Manager and click Download a game.
2. Leave the fields as they are: Game dofus, Platform windows, Environment dofus3 and Version latest, which means the newest version Ankama publishes. When your Dofus is up to date, that's the version you play.
3. Leave File filter (regex) as it is. It limits the download to the files a bot needs.
4. Make sure Extract data after downloading is checked.
5. Click Download.

The version appears in the table. Its Status goes from Queued to Downloading, then Installed. The Extracted column then goes from Extracting to Extracted, and Ready turns to Ready for bot.

The Dofus you play states its version in the file Dofus_Data/StreamingAssets/version of its folder, on the Version= line. It must be exactly the version in Game Manager: when Dofus updates, download the new version too, as When Dofus updates explains.

2. Add the bot

1. Open Bot Manager and click Add a bot.
2. On Identity, type a name in lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, or leave it empty and Asterobot picks one. Leave Account empty: without an account, the bot can only relay a game you play yourself, which is exactly what you want here.
3. On Game, choose the version you downloaded under Game version. Its badges should read Ready and Extracted. Leave Language as it is: the dialog only sends it when you choose a library package on Behavior / Script, so a bot added with no package is saved in French whatever you pick. The language sets the game texts a package reads and the server names shown for the bot, and you can change it later on the bot's Settings tab. Add a bot explains every field of this dialog.
4. On Connection, under Once the bot is added, choose Wait for my game client. Sign in now is selected at first, but it needs an account, and Add bot stays greyed out until you choose another option. Leave Server selection and Device identifier (HWID) as they are: they matter when a bot signs in on its own, and a relaying bot takes the device identifier of your game.
5. On Behavior / Script, leave None selected.
6. Click Add bot.

The dialog closes, and the bot appears in the table with Waiting for your game client in its Network column. Click its name to open its page.

If Asteroboard shows Bot added, but it couldn't be connected, the bot exists but isn't waiting. That happens when the Dofus you play isn't the version you downloaded, when Asterobot can't read the version file of your Dofus folder, or when another program already uses port 5555 or 5556. Fix the cause, then click Start waiting on the bot's page.

What Asterobot just changed

To send your game through Asterobot, Asterobot edited one line of Dofus_Data/StreamingAssets/version in your Dofus folder: the ConfigUrl line, which tells Dofus where to sign in. It now points at Asterobot. The rest of the file is untouched, and Asterobot puts the original line back once no bot is waiting any more, or when it stops normally. Asterobot's terminal, and the Console tab of the Server page, show Pointed the played game at Asterobot when it makes the change.

Asterobot looks for your Dofus folder in the Ankama Launcher's usual place: %AppData%\Ankama\Dofus-dofus3 on Windows and ~/.config/Ankama/Dofus-dofus3 on Linux. On macOS, or when your game is installed somewhere else, enter the folder yourself in the botmanager.mitmGamePath setting on Server > Config, then click Disconnect and Start waiting on the bot's page.

3. Start Dofus and play

1. Start Dofus from the Ankama Launcher, now that the bot is waiting. If Dofus was already open, close it and start it again.
2. Sign in, choose your server and your character as you always do.

Once your game joins its server, the bot's status changes to Connected to game server. Its Console tab shows the steps, among them Attached to Ankama account, A client is being sent to us and Relaying a game session. Your game plays exactly as usual.

The bot remembers the Ankama account it attached to. From now on it only takes game sessions from that account, and a game signed in with another account plays normally without going through this bot.

The Information tab now shows your account's details and the server you're on.

4. Read your chat and your inventory

Messages from your game only reach Asteroboard when you ask for them. Two switches do that for the most useful ones:

1. On the bot's Console tab, turn on Live chat. From now on, chat messages your game receives appear in the console with the speaker's name.
2. On the Inventory tab, turn on Live inventory.

The game sends the full inventory once, when your character enters the game, so the Inventory tab can stay on Waiting for the inventory at first. Go back to character selection in Dofus and enter the game again: your kamas, pods and items appear. Next time, turn Live inventory on while the bot is waiting, before you choose your character. Both switches are saved with the bot.

5. Look at your game's messages

1. On the bot's page, open Tools. The Network tool opens on its Traffic panel.
2. Switch to Settings. The list holds every message Asterobot can name. The ones behind your two switches are already checked.
3. Type a word in Filter messages... to narrow the list, check the messages you want to follow, then click Apply.
4. Go back to Traffic and play a little.

Messages appear as they pass: green for events the server announces, red for requests, blue for responses. Click a message to see its fields. Pause freezes the list: messages that arrive while it's paused are dropped, not kept for later, even though the notice on screen says they're still recorded. Clear empties the list. Network traffic explains every part of the panel.

6. Stop

When you quit Dofus, the bot goes back to Waiting for your game client, ready for the next time you play. It keeps the line in your Dofus folder pointed at Asterobot while it waits.

To stop the bot for good, click Disconnect on its page. The bot stops waiting, Asterobot puts the original line back in your Dofus folder and prints Pointed the played game back at Ankama. If you're still in game at that moment, your game is disconnected: the bot was carrying its session.

Next time, open the bot's page, click Start waiting, then start Dofus. Bots never start waiting on their own when Asterobot starts.

If something goes wrong

• The bot never leaves "Waiting for your game client" while you play: check botmanager.mitmGamePath, make sure you started Dofus after the bot was waiting, and play with the Ankama account the bot attached to the first time.
• Couldn't put the bot into waiting: the causes are the same as for Bot added, but it couldn't be connected in step 2. Start by comparing the Version= line of your Dofus with Game Manager.
• Dofus won't sign in after Asterobot stopped abruptly: start Asterobot again. It puts the line back as it starts, as long as your bot comes back with it. If it doesn't, put the line back by hand.

MITM problems covers every error in detail.

What next

• Give your bot something to do: Run a package, or follow the tutorial Run a marketplace package.
• Learn everything about this mode in MITM mode.
• Run a bot without a game client with Full socket mode.