Manual and Frequently Asked Questions
Manual
Index
Setting up your computer
Your computer must be in Windows XP mode, and your colour
depth must be set to 32-bit. If you wish to play one
table then your monitor resolution must be minimum 1280x768
and for more than one table it must be 1600x1200 minimum.
However there is now a new 'table-positioning'
feature in Frogbot for those with low-res monitors,
which is explained below.
Your desktop appearance must be Windows XP (not Classic),
and you must use Standard font-smoothing, not ClearType.
NOTE: FBOT WILL NOT WORK UNDER WINDOWS VISTA
Installing Frogbot
After downloading, save to your desktop and double-click the install icon. Frogbot will now install itself on your system, adding a desktop item, a readme file, and a link in your start menu. Several proprietary .dll files will also be installed on your system. Due to certain software conflicts, some users may experience the following error during installation:
HRESULT -2147024770
If this happens to you, please contact troubleshooting@frogbot.co.uk
and a solution will be provided, or see the Troubleshooting
forum.
Anti-detection: it is up to you to take sensible precautions before running Fbot, as it is used at your own risk on any poker site. One basic thing to do is to rename the .exe file in C:/Program Files/Frogbot to something suitably innocuous.
Setting up Frogbot
Once you start Frogbot for the first time, you will need to specify several settings before running. Remember to save your settings when making changes!
The site tab
Here you should choose the site you wish to play at, and specify the location of your OPI executable file.
You should also locate the executable file for each poker site. These are usually found in C:/Program Files/[poker site]. Note that for PokerRoom, Hollywood, and Eurobet the executable files have the prefix 'Start'. For example, you should select 'StartHollywoodPoker.exe' and not 'HollywoodPoker.exe' from your Hollywood Poker folder.
You need to specify the executable files if you intend on taking comfort breaks or using the scheduling feature. Also, if FBot breaks and needs to go into recovery mode, it WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS if you have not specified the site exe.
Also, if you want Fbot to play for a certain amount of time, click 'Session Timer enabled' and enter the playing time in minutes in the box to the right. You must specify session times for each site if you intend on using the scheduling feature. It is highly recommended that you make use of session times as it is the key to using many of the other features in FBot such as scheduling.
The dat file option is perhaps more complicated, but can be vital to your successful use of FBot. It relates to your OPI .dat file, which you can find in your OPI install folder - it will be called ohi2.dat. ohi2.dat stores all your setup information for OPI. To use the dat option in FBot, what you need to do is copy ohi2.dat to another folder and rename it, then point FBot to this new file. This way, every time FBot starts it will copy the .dat to the OPI folder, overwrite the existing ohi2.dat file, and start OPI. The advantage of doing this is that it means you can create an OPI setup for each site, and ensure that FBot uses the correct OPI settings for the site it is currently running at. Which is great when scheduling! For example, create a folder called 'setups' on your desktop. Now set OPI to run as you like as FullTilt. Copy ohi2.dat from the OPI folder, paste it into the setups folder, and call it 'myFTsetup.dat'. Now point FBot to this file.
Note: If you have renamed your OPI folder or OPI executables, this feature may not work!
The table tab
Choose the number of tables you wish to play at, and specify the minimum number of players you require at each table. For the 'table size' option, select the maximum number of players you require at the table. Most players will choose either 10 for a full-ring game, or 6 for short-handed tables. Remember that some sites such as FullTilt use tables with 9 max players, not 10! The table size must be greater than the minimum number of players.
If the number of players at a table drops below the minimum amount, FBot will sit-out for a specified time which you should enter into the 'Sitout for' box. For instance, if you want a minimum of 7 players in a full-ring game and the number of players drops to 6, you might want FBot to sit out for 2 minutes waiting for players to return before leaving. Or if you would like Fbot to leave the table immediately, set the value here to 0.
For the limit box, enter the limit exactly as it appears in your poker room lobby. The reason this is a free text box rather than a drop-down box is because in some countries the limits appear differently. For example, at PokerRoom you might wish to enter $0.25-$0.50 or for UltimateBet you might enter $.05/$.10. If this value is not exactly as it appears in the lobby, then Fbot will not find tables. Also, entering these values manually allows you to play any limit you like.
Finally, enter the buy-in for each table. Make sure you have enough bankroll to sustain this buy-in over the number of tables you wish to play!
The profit/loss tab
If you have PokerTracker on your computer then you can specify stoploss limits per table for Fbot. Select 'Poker Tracker enabled' and select your PokerTracker database file using the 'Browse' button.
Note: your PT database must be Access. FBot will not work if you have converted your PT database to Postgres.
Now enter your username for the site. If you have aliases enabled in PT, then you must configure the username in Frogbot to point to your 'main site ID' for OnGame, and NOT your specific username for a particular PokerRoom skin. For example, if your main site ID is 'john' then even if your username at Hollywood is 'bob' you will need to set your username for Hollywood in Frogbot as 'john'. This is because PT 'translates' all bob's hands into john's hands as it imports. For other sites, you can just enter your usual screen name and FBot will automatically detect its 'alias' in PT.
Note: to prevent massive computer slow-downs and possible time-outs when your database grows large, ensure that 'auto-rate this player' for YOUR stats is switched OFF. Also, if you own an NVIDIA graphics card, ensure that NVIDIA Desktop Manager is switched OFF as this causes a potential software conflict with PT.
Now enter your profit limit and your loss limit per table in dollars. Note that for the loss limit there is no need to enter a minus sign.
If you set these values as 'absolute' then Fbot will leave a table when either a) you reach your profit limit or b) you reach your loss limit. There may be a delay of a minute or two when hitting these limits due to the lag in PT reading your chipstacks, and in turn Fbot reading PT.
If you set these values as 'sliding' then Fbot will stay at a table whenever a profit limit is reached, and add the profit limit to your new chipstack. So if you start with $10 and your profit limit is $5, then when you reach $15 it will set your new profit limit as $20. Similarly, your loss limit will readjust to the new chipstack minus the loss limit. So if your loss limit is $3 then when you reach $15 your new loss limit will be $12. Fbot will leave the table when your loss limit is reached.
The advanced tab
Here you can specify a 'comfort break' every x hours for y minutes. When a comfort break is run remaining hands will be played out, and the poker site closed. A message will be displayed on your desktop indicating that a comfort break is taking place. You can use decimal places in your timings, so a comfort break every 3.6 hours, for example, is acceptable.
Note: to run comfort breaks you must have the site executables specified under the site tab.
Under the advanced tab you can also specify a random mouse click delay to prevent FBot from acting instantly each turn.
The advanced tab also contains timer randomisers. You need to ensure that you have a timer set and enabled before you can randomise it! So don't enter a session time randomiser if you haven't set a session time, for instance.
Session rand. is the amount of time in minutes you want to randomise your session time by. So a value of 120 in the session time box under the 'site' tab and a value of 30 here would mean your session will last anything between 1.5 hours and 2.5 hours (120mins +/- 30mins = 2 hours +/- 0.5 hours = 1.5 to 2.5 hours).
CI rand. means 'comfort interval randomiser'. This is the amount of time in minutes that you wish to randomise the intervals between comfort breaks.
CB rand. means 'comfort break randomiser'. This is the amount of time in minutes that you wish to randomise the length of the comfort break itself. If you take multiple comfort breaks in one session, this means each comfort break will be of a different length.
Note: please ensure that your randomisers do not exceed your timers! For example, DO NOT set CB rand. to 30 when you have the comfort break timer set to only 20 minutes!
Scheduling
The scheduling tab is where you specify the information that allows Frogbot to play poker 24/7! In order to enable this feature, you will need to create a text file on your computer and browse to it here. The scheduling file is not editable within FBot itself. The contents of this file must be in the following format:
Poker site 1
Wait time in minutes
Poker site 2
Wait time in minutes
Poker site 3
[... and so on]
The names of the poker sites must be exactly as they appear in the Frogbot site list. So for example, if you want to play at UltimateBet, wait twenty minutes, followed by Paradise, wait twenty minutes, followed by Eurobet, wait twenty minutes, followed by Hollywood - you would create the text file schedule.txt (or whatever you want to call it) and enter the following:
UltimateBet
20
Absolute
20
Eurobet
20
Hollywood
The length of time Frogbot plays at these sites will be determined by the session times you have defined for each. Your scheduling file can be as long as you like, so theoretically there is no limit to the length of time you can have Frogbot running. You must, of course, ensure that if you are using PokerTracker then you have auto-imports running for every site that will be played as part of the schedule before you start.
To start a scheduled session, click the 'run scheduled session' button under the scheduling tab and not the usual 'Start session' button. You will be asked to check the schedule before continuing.
Note: for scheduling you must have the site executables specified under the site tab, and session times for each site.
Setting up your poker site
It is very important that you have
all the correct settings set up in your poker site preferences
menu before running Fbot. You must, of course, also
set up the site for OPI as described on the Online Poker
Inspector website.
PokerRoom, Hollywood, and Eurobet
- Turn 'Show Avatars' to ON
- HIDE full tables
- Turn 'Show Lobby Chat' to OFF
- Auto-login should be enabled
- Ensure that by default the table stakes you requre
have been selected from the drop-down menus. The site
will remember these settings each time, so provided
you set them once, you will not need to set them again.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: there are two downloadable
versions of Hollywood poker. If FBot opens and then
quickly closes tables without taking a seat, it is
likely that you have a different installation of Hollywood
to that developed for FBot. If so, please see the
Troubleshooting forum for info on how to rectify this
(it takes about ten seconds!).
UltimateBet
- HIDE full tables
- 'Must Click Window to Chat' should be switched ON
- 'Force Table to Front' should be switched OFF
- Table Background scheme should be set to ARUBA
- 'Launch Extended Chat When Opening Table' should be switched OFF
- 'Classic button layout' must be OFF
- UltimateBet should be set to remember your username and password
In addition to this, if you are intending on running PokerTracker alongside Frogbot and making use of the profit/loss features, you must:
Special note for KILL tables: by default, FBot will avoid 'Kill' tables at UB. If you wish to play Kill tables, please locate your settings.txt file in your FBot install folder and find the section heading [UltimateBet]. Under this, enter the line $u_kill = True
FBot will now find and play Kill tables.
Full Tilt
- Ensure table background is DEFAULT (this is the VEGAS SKYLINE background).
- Table size should be DEFAULT.
- HIDE high stakes (and if required, medium stakes) games in the lobby.
- Avatars should be ON.
Absolute
- No special requirements for Absolute, but ensure
that all tables you are running are default size.
Note also that you need the 'Top View' for tables
in order for OPI to read the cards correctly, and
Dealer Chat set to 'Everything'.
Running Frogbot
All set? Then it's time to get going! If you are running PokerTracker make sure the auto-import is running before starting Fbot.
Now once you click 'Start Session' Fbot is HANDS-FREE from here on in. Moving the mouse by hand may cause Fbot to click in the wrong place and all sorts of things can go wrong.
It doesn't matter whether you have already opened the poker site or not - if FBot cannot find the site and you have specified the executable file, FBot will open the site automatically and log in.
A session log will be generated in C:/Program Files/Frogbot. Please send a copy of your session log to troubleshooting@frogbot.co.uk should you encounter any problems, with a screenshot if possible. No session log = no fix!
HotKeys
There are three pre-defined HotKeys that you may use whilst Frogbot runs. These are:
- Pause: If at any point to wish to 'take control', then hit the Pause button on your keyboard. You can then play manually and a dialog box will appear so that you can un-pause at any point.
- Escape: terminate a Frogbot session prematurely.
- End: run a comfort break at any time.
Table positioning feature
This new feature allows those of you with low-resolution monitors to play more than one table. The number of tables you can play will depend on your specific resolution, although with two medium-res monitors you should be able to run four. This is an advanced feature that requires a little work on your part.
a) Go to C:/Program Files/Frogbot/includes and open casino_vars.inc
b) Find your poker site in this file. It will look something like [UltimateBet].
c) Underneath this heading, you must enter the following lines:
table_pos0_x = 0
table_pos0_y = 0
table_pos1_x = 0
table_pos1_y = 0
table_pos2_x = 0
table_pos2_y = 0
table_pos3_x = 0
table_pos3_y = 0
Here, table_pos0 refers to the x,y coordinates of the first table on your screen, table_pos1 the second table and so on. What you need to do is replace the zeroes with the coordinates where the tables will fit on your screen. The first pair of coordinates will usually be 0,0. The important thing to remember is that any tables on your screen must be fully visible, otherwise OPI will not be able to read your cards correctly.
Example: If you want to run two tables at UB with a monitor resolution 1680x1050, then you could set the lines as follows:
table_pos0_x = 0
table_pos0_y = 0
table_pos1_x = 792
table_pos1_y = 0
d) Now save casino_vars.inc and start Fbot, selecting two tables.
FAQ
NOTE FIRST!
This FAQ is very limited compared to the information found on the Frogbot forums. If you have any questions or have discovered a problem, please search the forum first for a resolution before emailing support. There are many fixes for common problems found in the Troubleshooting section of the forum.
FBot records a 'session log' every time it runs, and this can be found in your usual FBot install folder. If you do need to email support, PLEASE attach the session log as it is invaluable when attempting to analyse and rectify a problem.
Q. Frogbot starts correctly but does not find any
new tables in the lobby
A. You probably don't have your desktop settings configured
correctly. Windows XP only. Your desktop MUST be in
'Windows XP Style' and not 'Classic Style'. Under the
'Appearance' tab on desktop properties, style should
be set as 'Windows XP Style'. If you look in the session
log and it is full of LINE_ARR errors, then it could
be that FBot is not able to read the poker lobby at
all. Check the Troubleshooting forum for more details.
Also note that your Desktop>Properties>Appearance>Effects
should use standard font-smoothing
and NOT ClearType.
Q. Frogbot times out!
There are a variety of reasons as to why FBot is timing out on your PC. Often this comes down to something as simple as CPU power. Some sites are more CPU-intensive than others, and if you find that you are regularly timing out playing four tables, for instance, then try moving down to three tables. Another reason people find themselves timing out is due to OPI and PokerTracker. If you have OPI linked under the 'players' tab to PT, you will find this can cause massive slowdowns whenever OPI accesses PT, leading to timeouts at the tables. Switch this off and you will find it makes a huge difference. Also, in PT itself make sure that it does not 'auto-rate' your own player stats. Finally, if you have an Nvidia graphics card and are running PT, there is a known conflict between these two pieces of software if you have NVidia desktop manager running in the background. So switch this off.
Q. I have loads of questions regarding anti-detection and security but can't find anything on the site!
A. FBot support is no expert on these matters and would advise searching the forums where there are plenty of posts regarding security and anti-detection, including some technical solutions. But one thing you will want to do is rename your FBot folder and .exe file after you have installed the software as the most basic precaution. And don't run at the same site every day, all day!
Q. Poker Tracker won't import my hand history
A. You need to have Poker Tracker up and running and 'auto-importing' in order for Frogbot's
profit/loss features to work correctly. To ensure this, create a stats file from the poker room
lobby on your hard drive and 'select' this file from the options menu in the lobby. Now on the
auto-import box in Poker Tracker, include this file in the auto-import from PokerRoom skins.
Q. Frogbot records no profit/loss information even though I have PT set up correctly
A. This is probably due to the player name you have defined in Frogbot. If you have aliases set
up in PT, then you must configure the username in Frogbot to point to your 'main site ID', and
NOT your specific username for a particular PokerRoom skin. For example, if your main site ID is 'john' then even if your username at Carnaval is 'bob' you will need to set your username for
Carnaval in Frogbot as 'john'. This is because PT 'translates' all bob's hands into john's hands
as it imports.
Q. I just reached my loss limit, PT is working, and Frogbot didn't leave the table!
A. Frogbot checks the PT database every minute or two, and the most recent hands must have been
imported into PT before Frogbot can read the profit/loss amount. If you have set PT to auto-import
every three minutes then it potentially could take another four minutes before Frogbot recognises
that you have reached the loss limit. The way around this is to increase the auto-import times,
although your ability to do this will depend on your system's capabilities. If Frogbot NEVER leaves
the table after you reach a loss limit, then please contact troubleshooting@frogbot.co.uk with
full details
Q. I found the error "POKER TRACKER ERROR" in my Session Log. What does it mean?
A. This occurs when Frogbot attempts to read the PT database during an auto-import, and should
not be a problem as it will simply attempt to read the database again in a minute or so.
Q. Frogbot crashes!
A. If you can, please send troubleshooting@frogbot.co.uk a screenshot at the time of crash and a copy of the relevant session log. Session logs can be found as text files in C:/Program Files/Frogbot. We will
do all we can to work out what the problem is and get it fixed as soon as possible.
|
