Messages

1141

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / How do I make Hal NOT sleep??

« on: November 10, 2002, 10:52:37 pm »

Unfortunetely, the code that controls the animation is hard coded into the Ultra Hal executable and it is not customizable by the script. There is no way around this that I can think of.

I'll write this down as a feature request and in the next release of Hal I'll add this as an option and possibly move the animation control into the script file.

quote:
Ok, so I have Hal and Cyber Buddy running, I am talking to Hal and Cyber Buddy kicks in and starts to tell me a joke or a story, I am listening intently and then Hal kicks in midway and my character goes to sleep. I am left with no punch line, or ending to the story initiated by Cyber Buddy. I looked within the script of the Hal brain and after a LONG while I will probably figure it out. I just thought I'd ask some of you people out there in the KNOW, how do I do this? Turn OFF the sleep function within Hal?


TM

Robert Medeksza

1142

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Advertises or What's the Reason for Hi I am a Bot

« on: October 31, 2002, 08:29:00 pm »

The Ultra Hal AIM bot is mainly included in Ultra Hal Assistant just for fun, to show off your bot to your friends. Before Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 the Ultra HAL AIM bot was offered as a plugin to Ultra Hal Assistant 4.0. In Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 we decided to bundle it for convenience.

A couple years ago when we released version 1.0 of the AIM bot we did not include this message. A small group of people used the AIM bot to harass people. When asked Hal would sometimes provide Zabaware's address. People thought that Zabaware was going out and delibertly harrasing them. They did not understand that it was a customer of Zabaware, not Zabaware, that initiated the IM conversations. People would write and sometimes threaten Zabaware with litigation. In order to stop the confusion we have decided to put this message in version 2.0 of the AIM Bot. This is not a nag screen used to entice you to purchase Hal. It is there to explain that they are talking to a bot, the origin of the bot, and to explain who is in control of the particular bot.

A new version of our business version of Hal, Ultra Hal Representative, will be released in about a month. Ultra Hal Representative will include a more powerful version of the AIM Bot and the full version will not include this message.

Robert Medeksza

1143

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Sending Instant Messages by Hal's own?

« on: October 31, 2002, 08:08:59 pm »

Unfortunetely, the Hal AIM bot does not currently have this capability and it does not give the power for scripts to do so either.

A new version of our business version of Hal, Ultra Hal Representative, will be released in about a month. Ultra Hal Representative will now be offered as shareware in a similar way to Ultra Hal Assistant. The Ultra Hal Representative software will give the programatic ability to do what you require, but such a feature will not be built in.

Robert Medeksza

1144

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Invalid Frame: 5

« on: October 31, 2002, 08:05:17 pm »

AOL has made changes to their instant messaging system since the release of Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5. AOL is sending to all clients some additional information that it wasn't before. Hal is unable to recognize it and prints this error message. However, having this information is not required to be able to chat on the AIM network, so Hal will work fine regardless.

Robert Medeksza

1145

Ultra Hal 7.0 / learning by reading

« on: October 31, 2002, 07:55:35 pm »

Don Ferguson wrote a very detailed explanation of Hal's learning and it can be read here http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=&TOPIC_ID=362

Robert Medeksza

1146

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Upgrade price?

« on: October 31, 2002, 07:53:53 pm »

An email was sent out a couple months ago about the free upgrade to version 4.5 All version 4.0 customers can get version 4.5 for free. You can go to http://www.zabaware.com/assistant/redownload.html and type in the same address you used when you ordered version 4.0. Or, you may also order a cd for $4 shipping by filling out the order for http://www.zabaware.com/assistant/hal4cdupdate.html  Your name and mailing address will be cross referenced in our database and we will only send the free CDs to people who purchased version 4.0.

Robert Medeksza

1147

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Using Msagents

« on: October 31, 2002, 07:46:36 pm »

A new feature has been added to Ultra Hal Assistant version 4.5. Version 4.5 is capable of automatically writing the required UHP file for accessing an acs file. All that it needs is for the file to be in the default MSAgent character folder, which is usually C:/Windows/MSAgent/Chars or C:/WinNT/MSAgent/Chars  As long as the acs file is there Hal will be able to find it and it should appear as on option under Hal's character options.

Robert Medeksza

1148

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / interactive graphics

« on: September 22, 2002, 07:43:18 pm »

I'm not sure I completely understand your question. Do you wish to design your own characters for Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5?

Robert Medeksza

1149

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Speaking to hal

« on: September 22, 2002, 07:36:10 pm »

Do any of you have Office XP by any chance? Both Office XP and Ultra Hal Assistant use the Microsoft SAPI 5.1 speech recognition engine. If you use Office XP do you get the same bad results? Its possible that other speech recognition systems such as IBM ViaVoice might work better for you. Hal is compatible with all SAPI/SMAPI compliant speech recognition systems available on the market today. Have all of you upgraded to Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5? Previous versions of Ultra Hal Assistant have had issues with loading the correct training profile.

Robert Medeksza

1150

Ultra Hal 7.0 / myUltraHal (or whatever it is) news

« on: September 22, 2002, 07:32:46 pm »

You are right, the myWebHal service is currently USA centered. This service will be upgraded in the next month or 2 to include the rest of the world as well as add several new features. Since the myWebHal service is completely run on our web server, it will require no software upgrades on your part.

Robert Medeksza

1151

Ultra Hal 7.0 / apigid32.dll error 53... cannot find file.

« on: September 22, 2002, 07:28:29 pm »

Is this Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 reporting this error? Does this happen all the time or only when you are asking Hal to help you use a different program?

Download this file ftp://ftp.desaware.com/SampleCode/Updates/apigid32.dll and copy it to your windows system folder (usually c:winntsystem32 or c:windowssystem) That should solve the problem.

Robert Medeksza

1152

Ultra Hal 7.0 / free version of 4.5 still coming today (monday)

« on: September 22, 2002, 07:22:45 pm »

Is there a particular question that you would like answered about Ultra Hal Assistant? I would be more than happy to reply.

Robert Medeksza

1153

Ultra Hal 7.0 / is there gonna be an IRC bot plug-in?

« on: September 22, 2002, 06:49:40 pm »

We are considering making a bot plug-in for IRC, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger. It might even be made as a plug-in for the Trillian program ( http://www.ceruleanstudios.com ) However, if we decide to do work on it, it probably won't be available for at least 6 months.

Robert Medeksza

1154

Ultra Hal 7.0 / improper shutdown error that the free version

« on: September 22, 2002, 06:43:59 pm »

The first thing we need to determine is if this problem is caused by Hal or by Windows shutdown sequence. In order to find out, close Hal manually by right clicking on Hal's icon and click on "Exit Hal" Now run Hal again by finding Hal in your start menu. If the error does not appear now then it must be a problem in the way Windows shuts down Hal.

If you are using Windows 98 you should disable a feature called fast shutdown. Fast shutdown will force close any program that takes more then a couple seconds to shut down properly. Although it does not damage Hal, it will cause Hal to produce that improper shutdown message. This fast shutdown "feature" does not exist in Windows 95, NT, 2000, or XP.  Please visit http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q187607& to find how to disable this feature in Windows 98.

Robert Medeksza

1155

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Zabaware's AIM Bot on UltraHal screen name

« on: September 19, 2002, 12:54:41 am »

Zabaware has an AIM Bot running the Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 brain under the AOL screen name UltraHal. It should be online most of the time. Feel free to instant message it. The AIM bot is now included as part of Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 http://www.zabaware.com/assistant/download.html , so anyone can run their own AIM bot if they wish.

Robert Medeksza