PyTorch - Training a NN Pong agent with Policy Gradients from raw pixels

pgRL-pong.py

import pickle

import numpy as np
import torch
import gym

import torch.nn as nn
import torch.nn.functional as F
import torch.optim as optim

batch_size = 10 # every how many episodes to do a param update?
learning_rate = 1e-3
gamma = 0.95 # discount factor for reward
resume = False # resume from previous checkpoint?
render = False

device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"

class MLP(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self):
        super(MLP, self).__init__()

        self.fc1 = nn.Linear(80 * 80 * 1, 200)
        self.fc2 = nn.Linear(200, 1)

    def forward(self, x):
        # Ensure the input is in float format
        x = x.float()
        x = F.relu(self.fc1(x))  # Hidden layer (200)
        x = torch.sigmoid(self.fc2(x))  # Single output with sigmoid
        return x

def prepro_mlp(I):
  """ prepro 210x160x3 uint8 frame into 6400 (80x80) 1D float vector """
  I = I[35:195] # crop
  I = I[::2,::2,0] # downsample by factor of 2 --- (80, 80)
  I[I == 144] = 0 # erase background (background type 1)
  I[I == 109] = 0 # erase background (background type 2)
  I[I != 0] = 1 # everything else (paddles, ball) just set to 1 -- still of shape (80, 80)
  return torch.tensor(I.astype(float).ravel()).unsqueeze(0)

def preprocess_CNN(I): # if you want to create a CNN for policy network use this preprocessing
  """ prepro 210x160x3 uint8 frame into torch (80x80) vector """
  I = I[35:195] # crop
  I = I[:,:,0] # Only take first channel
  I[I == 144] = 0 # erase background (background type 1)
  I[I == 109] = 0 # erase background (background type 2)
  I[I != 0] = 1 # everything else (paddles, ball) just set to 1
  I = torch.tensor(I.astype(float)).unsqueeze(0).unsqueeze(0) # (1, 1, 160, 160) shape
  return I

def discount_rewards_v1(r):
    """ take torch tensor of shape (batch, reward) and compute discounted reward """
    discounted_r = torch.zeros_like(r).to(device)
    running_add = 0.0
    for t in reversed(range(0, r.size(0))):
        if r[t] != 0.0: running_add = 0.0 # reset the sum, since this was a game boundary (pong specific!)
        running_add = running_add * gamma + r[t]
        discounted_r[t] = running_add
    return discounted_r

# starting environment
env = gym.make("ALE/Pong-v5")
observation = env.reset()
prev_x = None # used in computing the difference frame
running_reward = None
reward_sum = 0
episode_number = 0

# defining model
if resume: model = pickle.load(open('./saveMLP_v1.p', 'rb'))
else: model = MLP()
model.to(device)
bce_loss = nn.BCELoss(reduction='none') # reduction='none' will calculate BCE loss element-wise
# optimizer = optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate)
optimizer = optim.RMSprop(model.parameters(), lr=learning_rate, alpha=0.99, eps=1e-08)

total_params = sum(p.numel() for p in model.parameters())
print(f"Total number of parameters: {total_params}") # calculate total parameters

cnt_matches = 0
while True:
    if render: env.render()

    # preprocess the observation, set input to network to be difference image
    cur_x = prepro_mlp(observation)
    x = cur_x - prev_x if prev_x is not None else torch.zeros_like(cur_x) # (1, 1, 160, 160)
    if prev_x is None: xs = x
    else: xs = torch.cat((xs, x), dim=0) # creating batch of input of a each match # if our AI looses all matches then 1 episode = 21 match. why ??

    # forward the model to get the probability of y = 1
    x = x.to(device)
    aprob = model(x)
    action = 2 if np.random.uniform() < aprob.item() else 3 # roll the dice!
    # store model output
    if prev_x is None: batch_probs = aprob
    else: batch_probs = torch.cat((batch_probs, aprob), dim=0).to(device) # (batch, probs)

    # y is "fake label" -- considering this as a label for this observation --- to move "UP" y = 1
    y = 1 if action == 2 else 0
    y = torch.tensor([y], dtype=torch.float).unsqueeze(0).to(device) # (batch, target)
    if prev_x is None: ys = y
    else: ys = torch.cat((ys, y), dim=0).to(device) # creating batch of target of a each match -- (batch, target)

    # step the environment and get new measurements
    observation, reward, done, info = env.step(action) # done=True when episode will end, an episode equals to a full game played until one wins 21 matches.
    reward_sum += reward

    # storing reward of each match
    if reward != 0: cnt_matches += 1
    reward = torch.tensor([reward], dtype=torch.float).unsqueeze(0).to(device) # (batch, reward)
    if prev_x is None: rs = reward
    else: rs = torch.cat((rs, reward), dim=0).to(device) # creating batch of rewards of a each match -- (batch, target)

    prev_x = cur_x

    if done: # one episode i.e. one game is finished
        episode_number += 1

        discounted_rs = discount_rewards_v1(rs) # rs -- torch.size((batch, rewards))
        discounted_rs -= torch.mean(discounted_rs)
        discounted_rs /= torch.std(discounted_rs) # discounted_rs like weights for loss of each batch

        # Compute the loss for each element
        loss_per_element = bce_loss(batch_probs, ys) # e.g. batch_probs - shape: (30, 1), ys - shape: (30, 1), loss_per_element - (30, 1)
        weighted_loss = loss_per_element * discounted_rs.to(device) # e.g. discounted_rs - shape: (30, 1), weighted_loss - (30, 1)
        loss = weighted_loss.mean()

        # Backward pass
        loss.backward() # store the calculated gradient of each parameter

        if episode_number % batch_size == 0: # update parameters of model when episode is multiple of batch_size
            # update weights of the model
            optimizer.step()  # Update weights
            optimizer.zero_grad()  # Reset gradients, as for batch_size (e.g. 10), gradient of each episode was accumulating.
            print("loss :", loss.item())

        # boring book-keeping
        running_reward = reward_sum if running_reward is None else running_reward * 0.99 + reward_sum * 0.01
        print('resetting env. episode reward total was %f. running mean: %f' % (reward_sum, running_reward))
        print(f'total matches played in this episode: {cnt_matches}, Note: To change episode, one player should win 21 matches.')


        if episode_number % 5 == 0: pickle.dump(model, open('./saveMLP_v2.p', 'wb'))

        if episode_number  == 200:
            break

        reward_sum = 0
        cnt_matches = 0
        observation = env.reset() # reset env
        prev_x = None
        xs = None
        rs = None
        ys = None
        batch_probs = None


    if reward != 0: # Pong has either +1 or -1 reward exactly when game ends.
        print('ep %d: (match %d) game finished, reward: %f' % (episode_number, cnt_matches, reward) + ('' if reward == -1 else ' !!!!!!!!'))

h[h < 0] = 0 # ReLU nonlinearity

Worked immediately out of the box.
How did you perform against the default OpenAI Pong agent?

@morawi
https://github.com/xanderex-sid/reinforcement_learning/blob/main/pong_rl/myagent_vs_openAIagent.py
Use this code, with following steps:-

1. first create same custom MLP/CNN model that you used for training in class MLP.
2. Then load the weights of trained model
3. run the code, it should work.

My performance -
It didn’t perform well; out of 19 games, I won only 3. The main reason for this was that I didn’t train it long enough, but I’m confident it could beat the default OpenAI agent with extended training.

@eabase
If you are asking for dependencies, other than standard pip installation for torch, numpy, pickle library, you need to also do -
pip install "gym[accept-rom-license, atari]".
Also,
I am also thinking of creating a blog on this, in detail, and will comment the link here.

@eabase If you are asking for dependencies, other than standard pip installation for torch, numpy, pickle library, you need to also do - pip install "gym[accept-rom-license, atari]". Also, I am also thinking of creating a blog on this, in detail, and will comment the link here.

I think gym has removed atari/pong in its latest versions. Hence, perhaps one must rely on earlier releases, as in:
pip install gym[atari,accept-rom-license]==0.21.0

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69442971/error-in-importing-environment-openai-gym

@morawi
From another project I learned that gym is outdated, and need to be replaced by gymnasium, like this:

# pip install -U gymnasium
# The in your code, use:

import gymnasium as gym
from gym import wrappers

So not sure what would happen with the additional arguments shown above.

@morawi From another project I learned that gym is outdated, and need to be replaced by gymnasium, like this:

# pip install -U gymnasium
# The in your code, use:

import gymnasium as gym
from gym import wrappers

So not sure what would happen with the additional arguments shown above.

Yes, interesting. I asked ChatGPT,

Does OpenAi gym last version (0.26) contain pong game environment?

ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
As of version 0.26, OpenAI Gym does not include Atari games like Pong by default. Atari environments were previously part of Gym but were moved to a separate package, gymnasium[atari] (under the Gymnasium library) or can be accessed via ale-py, the Arcade Learning Environment for Python.

If you want to use Pong or other Atari games, you need to install these additional packages:

bash
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pip install gymnasium[atari]

Then, you can load Pong using Gymnasium's API:

python
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import gymnasium as gym

env = gym.make("ALE/Pong-v5")  # Make sure to use the correct environment ID

This setup will allow you to work with Atari environments in the latest Gymnasium versions.

You said:
So, I need to pip install ale-py too?

ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
Yes, you'll need to install ale-py alongside gymnasium[atari] to run Atari environments like Pong. The ale-py package provides the backend for the Arcade Learning Environment, which is required for these games.

Here's how to install both:

bash
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pip install gymnasium[atari] ale-py

This should give you access to Atari games through Gymnasium, and you'll be able to load the Pong environment with:

python
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import gymnasium as gym

env = gym.make("ALE/Pong-v5")

This should set everything up to use Pong and other Atari games in Gymnasium.

I'm already confused. So what exactly are the steps to get this running. And how to use the 2 programs above?

Hi @eabase @morawi ,
Here is the link to the Colab notebook I used for training, it is still working, and I ran it today to check. -
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1OYYd_-yVAon8gEcgsTB8bq0IPdycwm00?usp=sharing
See if it helps !