⚽ RoboCup Soccer Simulator Server

The RoboCup Soccer Simulator Server (rcssserver) is a research and educational tool for multi-agent systems and artificial intelligence. It allows 11 simulated autonomous robotic players to play soccer (football).

For further reading, please check the user's manual.

There are three different solutions to run the RoboCup Soccer Simulator Server.

• Download the AppImage release and run (Linux, Windows WSL)
• Build from source and run (Linux, Windows WSL)
• Use Docker Image

💝 AppImage

Download AppImage

Download "rcssserver-x86_64-?.?.?.AppImage" from the (release page)[https://github.com/CLSFramework/rcssserver/releases] / latest version or use the below command to download the latest version of AppImage:

wget $(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/clsframework/rcssserver/releases/latest | grep -oP '"browser_download_url": "\K(.*rcssserver-x86_64-.*\.AppImage)' | head -n 1)

Install dependency and update permission

then you need to update the permission of the AppImage and install fuse:

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install fuse
chmod +x rcssserver-x86_64-*.AppImage

Run

to run the AppImage:

./rcssserver-x86_64-?.?.?.AppImage

🔧 Build From Source

rcssserver is implemented by C++14 and depends some libraries. Make sure you have the required dependencies installed on your system:

• g++ (which supports C++17)
• autoconf
• automake
• libtool
• flex
• bison
• boost >= 1.44

In the case of Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04, the following commands will resolve all dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential automake autoconf libtool flex bison libboost-all-dev

Then, download the latest rcssserver tarball from the releases section. Extract it and from the rcssserver directory execute:

tar xzvfp rcssserver-x.x.x.tar.gz
cd rcssserver-x.x.x
./configure
make

This will build the necessary binaries to get you up and running. rcssserver/src/rcssserver is the binary for the simulator server.

The simulator server manages the actual simulation and comunicates with client programs that control the simulated robots. To be able to run, the binary needs to find shared libraries which are created when you build rcssserver. This means you must either install the server (make install) or run it from rcssserver/src.

A sample client can be found at rcssserver/src/rcssclient.

To see what is actually happening in the simulator, you will need to start a simulator monitor, which needs to be installed separately (rcssmonitor, or any other third party monitor).

To playback games that you have recorded or downloaded, you will need to start the log player. rcssmonitor can be used for this purpose.

The version 17.0.0 or later support CMake. If CMake is prefered or problems with the above procedure, try the following commands at the top of the project directory:

cd rcssserver-x.x.x
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

⚙️ Configuring

Before building rcssserver, you will need to run the configure script located in the root of the distribution directory. The default configuration will set up to install the server components in the following location:

/usr/local/bin for the executables

You may need administrator privileges to install the server into the default location. This locations can be modified by using configure's --prefix=DIR and related options. See configure --help for more details.

./configure --prefix=YOUR_INSTALLATION_DIR

The server has several features that can be enabled or disabled at configure time by using the --enable-FEATURE[=ARG] or --disable-FEATURE parameters to configure. --disable-FEATURE is equivalent to --enable-FEATURE=no and --enable-FEATURE is equivalent to --enable-FEATURE=yes. The only valid values for ARG are yes and no.

--enable-fast_scanner=yes will enable a fast building but (very) large scanner for the coach language. You will need to have flex installed and you will need to manually remove the coach_lang_tok.cpp file in the rcssserver/rcss/clang directory. This is disabled by default. I found the actual speed of the parser show only minimal improvement when using this option on my system, but this may not be true on your system. All I can suggest is to test it on your system and decide for yourself if the speed increase justifies the increase in size of the executable.

--enable-rcssclient=yes will enable the building of rcssclient, a sample client program. This is enabled by default.

--enable-debug=yes will enable the building of the modules with debugging information. This is disabled by default.

Once you have successfully configured the monitor, simply run make to build the sources.

If CMake is chosen, ccmake command is available for the configuration:

cd build
ccmake ..

🛠️ Building

Once you have successfully configured the server, simply run make to build the sources.

📦 Installing

When you have completed building the server, its components can be installed into their default locations or the locations specified during configuring by running

make install

Depending on where you are installing the server, you may need special permissions.

If you install the server under the location you specified, you may need to set the environment variable PATH. Otherwise, you have to enter the full path to the executable when you execute the server. In the case of Linux system, the recommended way is to add the following line at the bottom of ~/.profile:

PATH="YOUR_INSTALLATION_DIR/bin:$PATH"

Then, log out and log in again.

You may also need to set the library path before executing the server. In most Linux systems, you can modify the library path by editing /etc/ld.so.conf or the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH. The recommended way is to use LD_LIBRARY_PATH because all users can edit this variable without extra privileges. Add the following line at the bottom of ~/.bashrc:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH="YOUR_INSTALLATION_DIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Then, open a new terminal.

🗑️ Uninstalling

The server can also be easily removed by entering the distribution directory and running

make uninstall

This will remove all the files that where installed, but not any directories that were created during the installation process.

In the case of CMake, find install_manifest.txt under the build directory, then execute:

xargs rm < install_manifest.txt

▶️ Using the Server

To start only the server either type ./rcssserver from the directory containing the executable or rcssserver if you installed the executables in your PATH.

rcssserver

rcssserver will look in your home directory for the configuration files:

• ~/.rcssserver/server.conf
• ~/.rcssserver/player.conf
• ~/.rcssserver/CSVSaver.conf
• ~/.rcssserver-landmark.xml (optional)

If these files do not exist they will be created and populated with default values.

To start the sample client, type ./rcssclient or rcssclient as above. Then type (init sample). This will connect the sample client to the server. You can then type in client command to move the client around the field. You will also need a monitor to be able to see whats happening on the field.

If you installed the server and the monitor successfully, you can use the rcsoccersim script. To start the simulator (server and monitor) either type:

rcsoccersim

📨 Contributing

For bug reports, feature requests and latest updates, please goto https://github.com/rcsoccersim/rcssserver and open an issue or a pull request.

The RoboCup Soccer Server Maintainance Group