DP Crosschat+DiscordBot — Windows
=================================

A Discord bot for ARK: Survival Evolved clusters: live server status,
in-game <-> Discord cross-chat, and player join/leave logs.
Nothing needs to be installed — the bot runs from this folder.


INSTALL
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1. Copy this whole folder anywhere you like, e.g.:

     C:\DPCrosschatBot\

   Keep DPCrosschatBot.exe and the renderer folder together — the bot
   reads its control panel UI from renderer\.

2. That's it. There is no installer.


RUN
---
1. Double-click DPCrosschatBot.exe.

   > Windows SmartScreen may warn because the exe is unsigned.
     Click "More info" -> "Run anyway". This only happens the first time.

2. A console window opens showing the bot's log. Leave it open — closing
   it stops the bot.

3. Open the control panel in your browser:

     http://localhost:8770


FIRST-TIME SETUP
----------------
In the control panel:
1. Paste your Discord bot token and channel IDs.
2. Enter the RCON host and admin password of your ARK servers.
3. Click "Generate" next to Bridge API key (copies the key — paste it
   into ApiKey in the DiscordBridge plugin's config.json on your servers).
4. Add each map and its RCON port under Maps.
5. Save Settings, then Start Bot.

Settings are stored in a "config" folder created next to the exe.
Already have a config.json from a previous install? Create the folder
config\ next to the exe and drop the file in BEFORE the first start —
the bot picks it up and starts automatically from then on.


AUTO-START ON BOOT
------------------
Use Task Scheduler (survives reboots, no login needed):
1. Open Task Scheduler -> Create Task.
2. Trigger: "At startup".
3. Action: Start a program -> browse to DPCrosschatBot.exe.
   Set "Start in" to the folder containing the exe.
4. Tick "Run whether user is logged on or not" and enable
   "Restart on failure" under Settings.

With a completed config the bot starts on its own — no button click.


FIREWALL
--------
- The control panel (port 8770) is reachable from this machine only.
- The plugin bridge listens on port 8765. If the ARK servers run on a
  DIFFERENT machine, allow inbound TCP 8765 in Windows Firewall and use
  this machine's LAN IP in the plugin's BridgeUrl.


UPDATE / UNINSTALL
------------------
Update:    replace DPCrosschatBot.exe and renderer\ with the new
           versions. Keep your config folder.
Uninstall: stop the bot and delete the folder. Nothing else is touched.
