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
-------
1. Copy DPCrosschatBot.exe anywhere you like, e.g.:

     C:\DPCrosschatBot\

   The exe is fully self-contained — the control panel UI is built into
   it, so there are no other files to keep alongside it.

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
----------------
The first run walks you through everything step by step — creating the
Discord bot, inviting it, choosing channels, RCON, and your maps. It
checks your token with Discord and can test each map's RCON connection
before anything is saved.

  - The console window that opens IS the wizard — just follow it.
  - Or open http://localhost:8770 and use the same wizard in your
    browser. (Started by Task Scheduler with no console? The wizard is
    skipped so nothing blocks; use the control panel instead.)

Prefer the plain settings form? Click "Skip to advanced settings", or
open http://localhost:8770/panel directly. Re-run the wizard any time
from "Re-run setup wizard" on the panel.

You will need a Discord bot token, the RCON admin password for your ARK
servers, and each map's RCON port.

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 with the new version.
           Keep your config folder.
Uninstall: stop the bot and delete the folder. Nothing else is touched.
