Title	Gladiator Bot for Quake2
Filename	Gladq208.ZIP
Version	Demo version 0.8
Date	1998-12-08
Authors	Mr. Elusive (concept, design & programming)
	Squatt (concept, design)
	Mr. Freeze (gladiator page)
Email	mrelusive@botepidemic.com
Bot Homepage	http://www.botepidemic.com/gladiator

 

Contents
 
 

Credits

Description of the addon

System and other requirements

Installing the addon

BSPC Tool

New console commands

New console variables

Administrator menu

The Bot Characters

Known problems/bugs

Troubleshooting

Copyright and distribution permissions

Availability

Version changes

 

Credits
 
 

ID Software		Quake2
Allan (Strider) Kivlin		Stimulating conversations
Philip Niewold		ideas on AI
Info-Zip Team		zip/unzip tools (http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/)
Dominic (Cube) Rutter		beta testing
Timm (Mr?) Stokke		beta testing

 

Description of the addon
 

• State of the art Artificial Intelligence. The add-on simulates one or more artificial players. Designed for everyone who wants to become a better player in Quake2 or to experience the multiplayer feel without having a fast network and/or Internet connection.
• Menu in order to easily add bots to and remove bots from the game.
• Several different bot characters included for the real multiplayer experience.
• The bot understands all the game rules, weapons and items.
• Adjustable bot chats.
• Ability to order bots on your team to do things by chatting with them.
• Observer modes to observe the playing bots.
• Autocam in order to get the best view of all the action in the game.
• Easy extendable AI network.
• Advanced goal evaluation AI.
• Bot uses fuzzy logic which gives it an amount of flexibility when making decisions and allows those decisions to appear much more intelligent.
• Advanced routing and navigation.
• A tool (BSPC.exe) is included that needs to be run before the bots are played (The tool can run from the game as well, but it is better to do this before running the game). This tool creates a file (name.aas) that contains all the information the bot needs in order to navigate the given map. This tool operates without any human intervention, and it does not create waypoints. The AAS removes the whole business of messing around with (often?) badly placed waypoints. Waypoints are oldfashioned anyway. Comparing the waypoint system with AAS, and we came up with this:All other bots navigate a map with a rope (with knots at intervals) that has been put there painstakingly, and the bot has a stick to "feel" his surroundings. We enabled the Gladiator to lose the rope, to throw away the blind stick, to achieve a higher and more accurate awareness of his surroundings. Yeah that's the ticket!
• The bots are fully adjustable. From adjusting simple characteristics to what items or weapons the bot likes best.
• The bot's AI is created in a separated dynamic link library which allows other mod authors to link the bot into their own patch.
• The highest layer of the AI is separately stored. Everyone will be able to create their own AI for their own game at a high level of abstraction.

System and other requirements
 

• a computer that runs Quake2 with a minimum of 32 MB, recommended: Pentium 166 MHz with 64 MB or comparable computer. Also, although we hate to say this, this only runs with the Microsoft virus called Windows (9x/NT).
• Quake2 version 3.14 or higher. Version 3.20 recommended.
• newbies to computers: we assume that the typical user knows such things as "command line", "parameters", "directory" ,and all that..if you don't, go out there and familiarize yourself with it...we do not want to be your teachers.
• newbies to Quake2: read the quake manual on what and how Quake2 specific settings work out. You need to know what a multiplayer game is, the console, how to activate it..etc.. We simply don't want any mail on this subject. You (presumably) bought the game, we assume it is your duty to read all it's manuals...or we will put you on "the Black List".
• a sense of humor, alternatively, if you haven't got it (humor that is), don't complain about "stupid chats" we made the damn thing...go play another bot.

• create a subdirectory in your Quake2 directory. (if E:\QUAKE2 is your Quake2 directory you could create E:\QUAKE2\GLADIATOR)
• copy the contents of the zip file (including the subdirectories) into the created directory.
• start Quake2 with the command-line parameter '+set game' followed by the name of the directory where the Gladiator bot is located (for example: e:\quake2\quake2 +set game gladiator) Remember that you need to start a server to enable the bots. This can be accomplished by adding the parameters '+set deathmatch 1' the line would become 'e:\quake2\quake2 +set game gladiator +set deathmatch 1'. Since Quake2 screws up the game directory setting after playing the demos it's a good idea to prevent the demos from being played. You can accomplish this by adding the command-line parameter '+disconnect'. The full command-line will look like this: 'e:\quake2\quake2 +set game gladiator +set deathmatch 1 +disconnect'. Quake2 will launch and the console will be down. Just use the 'map' console command to start the map you want.
• type 'menu' on the console and you can add bots, see the administrator menu

The BSPC tool creates data which the bot uses to navigate a map.

You can launch the tool from the command-line:  bspc.exe [-<switch> [-<switch> ...]]
Example: bspc -bsp2aas base2.bsp base2.aas

The tool can be used with several different command-line switches:
 

map2aas <filename.map> [filename.aas]		convert the MAP file to an AAS file
bsp2map <filename.bsp> [filename.map]		convert the BSP file to a MAP file
bsp2bsp <filename.bsp>		convert the BSP file to a better BSP file
bsp2aas <filename.bsp> [filename.aas]		convert the BSP file to an AAS file
pak2map <filename.pak> [output path]		convert all the BSP files from pak to MAP files
pak2aas <filename.pak> [output path]		convert all the BSP files from pak to AAS files
noverbose		disable verbose output
threads		number of threads to use *
breath		breath first bsp building (default depth first) *
firstentry		first entry in the .PAK file to process
lastentry		last entry in the .PAK file to process
freetree		free the bsp tree memory *

 

* parameter only usefull when creating a BSP or AAS file.
 

New console commands
 
 

menu	show administrator menu *
addbot <botlib> <name> <skin> <charfile> <charname>	add one bot  <botlib> name of the bot library  <name> name of the bot  <skin> skin of the bot  <charfile> file with the bot character  <charname> name of the charactert *
removebot [name]	remove a bot or the bot with the given name *
observer	toggles observer mode
observerhelp	displays observer mode help
cyclecam	cycle the camera to the next bot or player
setcam <name>	set the camera to player with name
autocam	enter Automatic Camera mode
teamhelp [name]	ask for help in teamplay
teamaccompany [name]	ask for company in teamplay

 

* only the administrator can utilize this command with success.

Note: the 'addbot' and 'removebot' commands can also be used on the console of a dedicated server. However you need to add 'sv ' in front of the command. For instance: 'sv addbot gladiator.dll Pinky male/viper bots/chardemo.c hunk'.
 

New console variables
 
 

botfile <filename>	sets the file with bots to use in the menu
nochat <0|1>	disables or enables bot chatting

 

Administrator menu

Using the menu

The move forward and backward keys (usually the arrow up and arrow down keys) are used to go to the next or previous menu item. The keys normally used to scroll through your inventory can also be used to move through the menu. Activating a menu item is done with the 'use inventory' key (usually the Enter key). It's also possible to use strafe right and left keys to enter and leave a sub-menu. To exit the menu at any time press the [Esc] key.

Gladiator menu:
 

Bots		bot menu
Help		menu help
Exit		leave the menu

 

Bots menu:
 

add bot		add a bot from the list
add random		add a random bot from the list
remove bot		remove a bot from the game
remove all		remove all bots from the game
back		back to the gladiator menu

 

The Bot Characters

The bot characters available in this demo come in 6 flavors, 3 boyz and 3 girlz.
 
 

Adrenaline Hunk		Compared to Babe, the Hunk is a wuss. But still, he might be more than you can handle. Like Babe, he favors the rocketlauncher (RL) and the railgun (RG).
Maxine		Maxine can aim better than Hunk, worse than Babe, but het attack skill is extreme crap. You should try to track her with autocam and see her moves, or rather, her lack of them. Still, she may come out on top in the rankings.
Shotgun Messiah		Although her attack skill is superior to that of Babe, Messiah's aim skill is not as good. That does not mean that she's worse...only different. Her favorite weapons are the super shotgun(SS)..of course.
Silicon Babe		The Silicon Babe is back. And this time, she's got a chip on her shoulder. She's the revenge for all women I guess (haha, to quote John M Clancy). I've made her especially challenging, although I know of one who even outshines this girl. She likes the RL over the RG....just.  For all of you who have a failing grade in the English language; it's Silicon Babe, not Silicone Babe (my guess is that Pamela Anderson falls into this category). Silicon is the stuff your CPU is made out of, not the stuff used for lubrication or breast implants.
Spartacus		Spartacus' attack skill is superior to everybody, save one (not included in this demo), but he lacks a bit in his aiming and accuracy skills. He also favors the RL over the RG (kinda boring, dont you think? Just wait until you're on the business end of the damn gun!)
Steroid Stud		This character is the opposite of the Silicone Babe. His DM skill is the pits. A drunken sailor with only one hand tied behind his back could easily beat Stud. There, if you need to really learn how to DM in Q2, use this boy for target practice.

 

Known problems/bugs

No bugs known at this point. You could always report them to us, if you dare to take the trouble and mail us. Of course, you have to make sure that it is a bug and not an undocumented feature.
 

Troubleshooting
 

• When I type menu on the console I just see an echoed 'menu': make sure you've installed the bot correctly and make sure no demos are played before loading a map. note the menu only works when a map is loaded.

By using this product you agree to exempt, without reservation, the authors and owners of this production or components thereof from any responsibility for liability, damage caused, or loss, directly or indirectly, by this software, including but not limited to, any interruptions of service, loss of business, or any other consequential damages resulting from the use of or operation of this product or components thereof. No warranties are made, expressed or implied, regarding the usage, functionality, or implied operability of this product. All elements are available solely on an "as-is" basis. Usage is subject to the user's own risk.
 

Note: The Gladiator bot incorporates compression code from the Info-ZIP group. There are no extra charges or costs due to the use of this code, and the original compression sources are freely available from http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ or ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ on the Internet.
 

Availability

You are reading this, so you must have it, so why would you need another one? Ah well... you can find the latest version at http://www.botepidemic.com/gladiator.
 

Version changes