Inside Mac Games Volume 5 #8

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Text File | 1997-06-03 | 30KB | 733 lines

========================= Title : ZEUSbot 2.05 ========================= Filename : ZEUS205.ZIP Version : 2.05 Date : 6/03/97 Author : Jonathan E. Wright aka Nelno the Amoeba Email : nelno@resurrection.com, nelno@ionstorm.com Quake DM Name : Nelno [ION] Home Page: http://trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno Check here for the latest updates to all my Quake mods: Zeus, Cujo, plasma gun, BFG, blaze gun and more. If you didn't get this mod from my site, it's likely that you don't have the latest version. Go to the official Zeus bot page at Quake C Archive at: http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus Credits : ID Software for designing Quake with Quake C! Otherwise, this bot was built from scratch. Special Thanks : My select group of hardworking beta testers: Gary McMillin, "JumpA" <psyche@hitech.net.au> for all the excellent testing and bug reporting he's done for Zeus since version 2.03. Jeff Blaine, jblaine@shore.net for catching all the easily missable bugs in 2.041. And the other beta guys who's names and email address I don't have here at work, but who were also diligent in their desire to see the Zeus bot be the best bot. Yowza the All-Knowing for the billions of suggestions he's given me (usually reminding me of the nose on my face). Everyone who's sent me mail with suggestions, praises, complaints and ummm... well, that's all. ============ Type of Mod ============ Quake C : yes Sound : yes MDL : yes ================== Format of Quake C ================== unified diff : no (I don't even know what this means) context diff : no (this either) .qc files : no (not for the moment) progs.dat : yes ================================ Description of the Modification ================================ This is a *MAJOR* update to the original ZEUSbot. The old code, based on the TMBot, was *completely* done away with. The ultimate goal is to provide an intelligent deathmatch opponent\helper bot. The ZEUSbot is both a helper bot and a deathmatch bot. In single play he will effectively annihilate just about anything that get's in his way, and you'll be lucky if you can pick anything up before he does. The ZEUSbot's death match capabilities are currently under development, but it's still probably the most intelligent bot available, excepting Steven Polge's excellent Reaper bot. Please see the list of future enhancements for an idea of features that will be added to the ZEUSbot. Originally I had planned to release the entire source for the Zeus bot, but my employment with ION Storm has made that an impossibility, since Zeus contains a basic blueprint of some of the technology that will be used in our games. Please don't ask for the source. If I could release it I truly would, and I'm very sorry that I can't. Please don't think I'm being stingy with my code. I don't believe in holding things back when others can learn from them, but in this case I have little choice. ================= Zeusbot Features ================= Besides being _at least_ as smart as any of the standard Quake enemies, the ZEUSbot also has a few enhancements: . maps out levels and finds best paths to known items. . can pick up any item a player can pick up. . knows how to jump intelligently across obstacles, down from ledges and into water. . can fire all of the standard weapons, plus the plasma gun (included in this mod). . knows when an object is unreachable, and will not keep trying for an unreachable object. . based on the player model -- uses all player frames. . multiskin support for up to 16 skins. . can swim -- follows and attacks under water. . can jump out of water onto ledges. . can navigate broken ground as easily as a human client. . strafes and circle strafes while attacking. . chooses its best weapon based on available weapons/distance. . can use platforms, open secrets, shoot switches and push buttons. . Has *totally new* movement code which makes it the smoothest and fastest bot ever made -- just as smooth as a player character, no jumpiness or blitting. . can roam levels by itself, or follow the player. . Advances or retreats based on distance from target. . has all the off-color and corny comments expected from Zeus 1.0, which can be enabled/disabled with an impulse. . can spawn up to 15 opponent and helper bots. . opponent bots respawn when in deathmatch. . can be told to attack with only an axe (and he's mighty dangerous with it, too). . can be told to stay or follow, glow, attack or not, teleport to owner, and report on his status. . view toggle between bot's and player's view. . opponent bots get their own unique name in a deathmatch. . will not fire when owner or teamate is in between bot and enemy. . helper bot automatically respawns after each level if he was active when the last level ended. He retains all his weapons, ammo, health and armor. . bot leads target based on skill level. . bot has a chance to miss with shotguns based on skill level. . bot's cannot see invisible players until fired upon. . if teamplay is set, opponent bot's will all be on the same team, verses the player. . has a Holographic Heads Up Display system. . is generally a badass. I'm sure I've left a number of things out... But you should get the picture -- this bot ain't no wuss. ==================== Future Enhancements ==================== These are just a few of the features currently being added to the ZEUSbot: . nothing. Zeus is as done as I will ever have time to make him. PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT! ===================================== How to use the Zeus bot Modification ===================================== Helper bot commands: -------------------- Impulse 100 Activates a helper bot Impulse 101 Deactivates the last activated helper bot Impulse 102 Teleports the bot to your current location as long as there is room. Impulse 103 Toggles the bot's glow on and off. Impulse 104 Reports the bot's status. Impulse 105 Toggles bot attack mode on and off. Impulse 106 Toggles between player's and bot's view. Impulse 107 Toggles the bot's stay status. When staying, the bot will remain where he is until an enemy is sighted or he is told to follow again. Impulse 108 Tell the last created bot to use only his axe as a weapon (this is very entertaining, and they happen to be pretty good with it). Impulse 109 Toggle Zeus comments on and off. This also toggles enforcer sounds on and off. Impulse 110 Toggle bot roaming on and off. Impulse 111 Make bot throw backpak (useful if the bot has been picking everything up before you can). The bot will throw the back pack to you. If you are too far away, the bot will pick the backpack back up (unless he is staying). Impulse 112 Toggle holographic HUD display on and off. Default is on for single-play games and disabled for deathmatch games. Impulse 113 Toggle shortest pathing on/off. Pathing may cause Quake to crash with an "Infinite loop error" on large levels, or may cause Quake to give and "Out of edicts" error when lots of bots are active. If you have any problems, turn off pathing with this impulse. Bot's will still map levels and move from node to node, but they will not generate shortest paths to items. Debugging Commands: ------------------- Impulse 125 Toggle bot verbose mode on and off. Turn it on if you want to know what the bots are doing and "thinking". Impulse 126 Kill all monsters on current map. (Gib's some, and may cause an "no free edicts" error on maps with lots of creatures). Impulse 127 Toggle player damage. This is a better cheat than god mode since the player does not experience any impact from weapons or twitch when hurt. If you use this in deathmatch while playing with another human you are a low-life and you'd better stop or Nelno will find you on the net and spank you down so hard that you'll be crying for mommy. Impulse 128 Debug toggle. Allows printing of some specific messages. Impulse 129 Show unreachable items. For debugging use. Impulse 130 Show opponent distance toggle. When on, the distance to the last-created opponent bot will be displayed. Impulse 131 Toggle observer mode. Currently, you can still fire in observer mode, but it's only for debugging purposes right now. Deathmatch Bot Impulses: ------------------------ Impulse 150 Spawn an opponent ZEUSbot. Impulse 151 Show scores -- shows all player and bot frags (including helper bots). Currently not sorted and not space padded, but that will change at some point. Impulse 152 Spawn 4 bots, at skills 0, 1, 2 and 3, using skins 1, 2, 3 and 4. Multiskin Impulses: ------------------- Impulse 200 Previous skin. Impulse 201 Next skin. impulse 202 Multiskin on/off. Bind these impulses to keys to make commanding the bot easy. For example, to make the Q key activate the bot bring down the Quake console by pressing the ~ key and then type: BIND Q "IMPULSE 100" Now, every time you press Q the bot will be toggled between his active and inactive state. You can bind the other impulses in the same manner. When you exit Quake, the configuration will be saved and you won'y have to do it again. Setting Bot Skill Levels: ------------------------- To set the skill level of the next opponent bot to be spawned, pull down the Quake console with the ` key and type SKILL X, where X can be a value from 0 to 3. The default skill is 1. Setting Bot Skins: ------------------ Deathmatch Bots With Multiskin ON: When a bot is spawned, it will use the skin the spawner is currently using. After that, the bot will use that skin until it is deactivated (for helper bots) or the game is ended. Deathmatch Bots With Multiskin OFF: Each bot will choose a particular skin. For instance, Lord Brutish will always choose skin 7. With the default player.mdl file, however, all bots will be skin 0, except for bot's named "Zeus" who will be the Zeus bot skin. This is because the default player.mdl has only skins 0 and 1. Using Multiskin OFF with a 16 skin player.mdl will allow you to recognize certain bots by their skins each time you play against them. I recommend getting the Reaper skins file that has 15 skins with different colors that look like real players. This may enhance the feeling of being in a deathmatch against humans. I regret I couldn't make the bots change colors like players, but that is sadly based on Quake's client/server protocol and will only work with clients. Multiskin and Helper Bots: Multiskin ON or OFF has no effect on helper bots, they will always use the skin of the player who spawned them. There is one exception, however. Helper bots will default to skin 1 (the Zeus skin) if the player is using the default player skin (skin 0). If the player is using skin 1, the helper Zeus will use skin 0. Otherwise, the bot will use the same skin as the player when it is spawned. Using the ZeusBot Camera: ------------------------- The ZeusBot Camera gives you a helper bot's view of the action. You can use the camera in either deathmatch or single play. IMPULSE 106 will switch you to the view of the last helper bot that you spawned. There is currently no way to see the view from any other bot. You can use IMPULSE 106 to switch back and forth between your view and the bot's view, in single play you will automatically be switched to your view after the bot dies. In deathmatch, you will remain in the bot's view while it respawns. DeathCam: If the bot dies while you are seeing from its viewpoint, you will be treated to the Zeusbot DeathCam. The camera will move quickly away from the bot as it dies, spinning around it in circles. This is usually quite cool to watch, especially when your bot is gibbed. Using the Holographic HUD: -------------------------- The Holographic HUD (Heads Up Display) is automatically enabled in single player and co-op games. As long as you do not have a Zeus bot helper, the HUD bars will display your own status. Once you spawn a bot, the HUD will track the bot's status. If your bot dies, the status bar will show your status again. The red status bar represents health and the yellow status bar represents armor. The yellow status bar is always based on the max for the type of armor being used. If the bot has 150 yellow armor, then the bar will be all the way to the top. Likewise, if your bot has 200 red armor, the bar will also be all the way to the top. You can turn the H-HUD on and off with IMPULSE 112. Since the HUD actually projects "holograms" in front of the player displaying status and targeting info, other clients can see the HUD in a co-op game. There is also only one HUD per server, so the last person to activate the HUD in multiplay would be the only one able to use it, though the other players could see bot targetting info and the armor/health status floating in front of that player. If you get too close to a wall or object, your HUD will be projected beyond the wall, and you will be unable to see it. Playing Teams in Deathmatch: ---------------------------- To play against a team of Zeus bots, simply set teamplay to on when you start your multiplayer game. All opponent bots you spawn during that game will team against you. If you would like to have bots on your own team, you can spawn a helper bot with IMPULSE 100. This is great, but now the bot will just follow you around as a helper. To make the bot play on his own, use IMPULSE 110 to turn on his roaming mode. Now he will no longer follow you. Repeat these steps for each team member you want to create. You will always be able to command the last bot helper bot you create. When you remove the last one, you will be able to command the bot that was created before it was. Dynamic Level Mapping --------------------- Version 2.05 of Zeus bots can dynamically map out levels and find paths to items that they have seen from any spot on a level (if a known path does indeed exist). This works for any and all Quake levels and is thus termed dynamic. It may, however, cause Quake to run noticably slower on some computers and/or cause Quake to run out of resources on very large and/or complex maps. If you experience any problems, try using IMPULSE 113 to turn of pathing while using the Zeus bot. ================================ How to Install the Modification ================================ READ THIS SECTION IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE, BEFORE EMAILING ME! If you still can't figure it out, please email me and try to be specific about at what point you are having trouble, and what error messages, if any, you are recieving. 1) Create a directory within the Quake directory called ZEUS. 2) Unzip the files from this archive into that directory, using the -d option with PKUNZIP. Winzip will create the correct directories automatically. WARNING: if you do not use the -d option with PKUNZIP or "Use directory names" with WinZip, then you will not see helper Zeus's with their correct skin. Everything else will work, so if everything seems find except you're not seeing the nifty skin I made, this is without a doubt your problem. 3) Start Quake by typing: quake -game zeus Make SURE that you type the "-game" in lowercase, or Quake will not recognize it and will not load the Zeus mod. This is most likely your problem if you run the patch and the impulses don't seem to work. 4) Play with the god of the lightning bolt. ================== Technical Details ================== Code: 9500 lines Time: ~80 hours (getting up there) Known bugs and peculiarities: ----------------------------- . bots can become confused if more than 3 unreachable items are within view. This is an arbitrary value and can be increased if needed (at the cost of more memory, of course). PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY BUGS YOU FIND. When you email me, please try to be specific about the nature of the bug and under what circumstances it occurred. If I cannot reproduce the bug, it is very unlikely that I will be able to fix it. ==================== Version Information ==================== Changes in version 2.05: . bots now map out the level as they go. They can follow the paths they have found, or break off randomly to search for new ones. This makes them *much* faster at getting around. They will kill you. . faster screen updates for the holo-HUD when running on faster machines. Reduces jerkiness. . bots now wait for platforms to stop moving before they get off. . better code to avoid roaming off of ledges/catwalks. . targetting routines were greatly optimized. Now more bots can be spawned without Quake slowing down (but then, pathing takes up lots more CPU time now...) . bots now avoid missiles and grenades. Skill 0 bots avoid nothing, skill 1 bots will avoid stationary grenades and skill 2 and 3 bots will avoid both stationary grenades and moving grenades and rockets. Skill 3 bots have a greater detection range for missiles and grenades than skill 2 bots. . deathmatch bots now respawn automatically after changing levels. The first 10 bots will keep their names. The first 4 bots will keep their armor, ammo and weapons. All other bots must start from scratch again. I wish it could be different, but I've packed about as much as I can into the 16 float variables that Quake C can keep between level changes. I ran into a rounding problem while trying to pack the information into so few variables, so every once in a while a bot name or skill may change between levels or someone (perhaps even the humans) may respawn without the correct gear. . new code for computing velocity from weapon hits when a creature, bot or player is killed. Bodies now twist and spin and bounce off of walls. It simply looks totally cool and should have been in Quake from the start. . bots will try not to back up against a wall in combat. This makes them much less susceptable to rocket attacks as they are less likely to take area damage from a rocket that hits behind them. . bots will now intentionally strafe to pick up an item while engaging an enemy. . implemented peripheral vision based on skill level. Bots can no longer see 360 degrees around. . implemented reaction times for bots based on skill level. . spawning bots now telefrag correctly. . bots now glow when they pick up quad and pentagrams, and turn into eyes when they pick up a ring of shadows. I just kept forgetting to do this... . bug that caused player to be thrown out of bot view when taking damage squashed. . splashing noises due to bots jumping up and down greatly reduced and for the most part gone. . added impulse to enable/disable special features such as the plasma gun. . bots get stuck a lot less often than they used to. Specifically fixed some problems with bots getting stuck on inward slanting walls. This is due to floating point inaccuracies in Quake's clipping and because Zeus bots move entirely different from any other bot or Quake creature, it's really beyond the scope of Quake C to fix entirely (ie. needs engine changes). . level now changes when a bot reaches the fraglimit, however, you won't be able to see bots on the frag screen. Don't ask me to fix this, because it is hard coded in the Quake engine. Trust me, I know. . bots now cease all activities during the intermission. No more bots running around wildly as you hover above looking at frag counts. . fixed some minor bugs with the Zeusbot camera. Changes in version 2.042 . this is an alternate version of 2.042 which doesn't have player.mdl included in the PAK0.PAK file. This allows multiskin support to work without having to unpack Zeus's PAK0.PAK. There were no other changes. . bots are no longer solid right after dying and until respawning. . bots don't keep going after weapons they already have when deathmatch is set to 2. . removed the debugging message that was popping up each time a bot died. It said "Damnit!" and fit well with what the bot might be thinking if it were capable of such. Changes in version 2.041 . Fixed bot view. It was the llamas again. Changes in version 2.04 . NO MORE SPLASHING! . MAJOR changes to the roaming AI. Bot is now a lot better at getting out of rooms and finding new items. . Various bug fixes to the running frames, follow code, etc., that were causing dm bot's to stutter-step and look a bit jerky. . bots will shoot switches and secret doors that require it. . bots will follow owner and enemies through teleports. . bots now go for teleports, platforms, switches and doors. . bots choose appropriate weapons to shoot switches/doors. . NEW BOT VIEW with BOT DEATH-CAM. This is just totally cool. There's simply other way to describe it... just plain bad. . unreachable items at a high pitch should no longer confuse the bot. . Modifications to the Zeus skin. Still not finished, but I get bored working on it... . fixed a potential problem with bots spawning at the same angle the player was looking. If the player was tilted down in water while spawning a bot, the bot would be stuck looking down. This potentially affected movement and all sorts of things, but no more. . HUD updates are twice as smooth and do not lag annoyingly anymore. . bots no longer get their heads stuck in low ceilings. . bots will not run into shallow lava or slime (except when strafing or backing away in battle - much like humans). . bots no longer float when killed under water. They sink like bricks. . removed the "thud" sound that bots made when they landed. This sound is not made by players, so it's gone. The only side effect is that fiends will not make the sound either when they land. Too bad. Quake was making this sound without my help, so I just turned it into a null .wav file. . bots swim better and go for air better. . roaming bots can jump into the water sometimes for the hell of it. . helper bot's can go rogue. If you're helper Zeus gets upset with you, well, you had better run, or have a big gun. Once he's rogue, if you kill him in deathmatch he will keep respawning on his own as an opponent, but he'll go after everything with an axe. The bot will warn you when he's sick of your crap. . fixed the stupid "stand up" bug when a helper bot died. It was so lame I can't believe I left it in there. Some llama must have been grazing on my code. (thanks to JumpA for mentioning this, as I had somehow completely missed it!) . bot's now make pain sounds when in lava, slime, etc. . adjustments to aiming code to make bots miss more, especially on lower skill levels. . multiskin support. . disabled H-HUD in deathmatch. . fix a bug with the plasma gun that would not allow you to select the plasma gun when you were out of nails. . Increased plasma gun's velocity by 1/3 to make it more effective. Bolts now travel at the same rate as nails. . Players and bots now spawn with 25 cells, to make up for the lack of cells on most of the standard levels. . if you are killed by an opponent bot in death match, you may be lucky enough to be treated to the Zeus bot taunt cam. You'll know when it happens... Changes in version 2.03 . added the holographic HUD. . removed some of the water movement code. It was getting Zeus stuck in places he used to do fine. The end result is that he will get stuck more often when going for air. Changes in version 2.02 . helper bots no longer spawn on top of one another if the player doesn't move before spawning. . bots now drown and will go for air when they need it. . added the "throw backpack" command in an attempt to head off the email complaining about Zeus being an item hog. I'd say he's just damn efficient. . fixed bot jumping. Jumps are now more accurate, and bot's find ledges when they should. . bots can no longer jump amazing distances (it was cool, but it wasn't quite fair). . fixed ChanceToHit with shotguns so that non-moving entities always recieve the highest chance for that skill. Monsters that use MOVETYPE_STEP will always get highest chance, unless jumping or falling because they don't use actual velocity factors to move -- no big deal only affects helper bots. . fixed helper bot levels (they were not having their levels set, resulting in skill 0 helper bots, which is lame!) . implemented ledge detection. YES! This one REALLY SUCKED. Bot's are now much less likely to run off a ledge. But they may still jump into lava like the fools they are... =) . start-up info message added. . fixed a bug with unreachable items that was the result of my absentmindedness... . bot will now search for items above and below for up to 2 seconds before deciding they are unreachable. The bot used to check the pitch to the item, but this changes to much as the bot moves and was not doing the job. . modified bot's swim routines. Bot no longer sinks too fast. In fact, the bot is a damn good swimmer and will just barely sink at all. Changes in version 2.01 . Skill levels implemented. . Target leading implemented. . Target missing and chance to hit implemented (for line-tracing weapons such as the shotgun). . bots will no longer see invisible players unless they are attacked by one. . enhanced ability to chase player out of sight . fixed weapon ranges so bot will fire from greater distances Changes in version 2.0 . While this is the second version of the Zeus bot this was truly the first version of this code. Seeing as Zeus 1.0 was based on the TM bot and was my first attempt at doing anything with Quake C, it doesn't really count as the same bot -- it just has the same name. =================== Author Information =================== I'm a 25 year old who's been programming computers for the last 15 years. I studied computer science at Clemson University but I hated school and dropped out (got kicked out once or twice, too, now that I think about it). I now work for ION Storm programming the AI and effects for the Quake enging-based game Daikatana. Besides being proficient in several programming languages I also draw and write music in my spare time. ============================ Answers to Common Questions ============================ Here are answers to some of the most common questions I recieve about my Quake C mods: Q: How can I use your mod when I'm playing internet deathmatch games? A: You must find a server that is already running the mod. That is the only way, besides starting your own server. Q: Help! How come I can't get your mod to work?!?!? A: You are doing something wrong. =) They work for everyone else. Please read the instructions very carefully and do everything exactly like they say. If something is still unclear, then email me, and please be clear about exactly the problem you're having -- "Cujo won't work" doesn't give me any clue as to what the real problem might be. For example: "I installed the file into C:\GAMES\QUAKE\CUJO and ran the game with quake -game cujo but nothing happens when I use IMPULSE 100." Makes a lot more sense and lets me know almost exactly what the problem is. If you recieve any error messages, be sure to include those in your mail also. Q: Can you add so and so or change so and so in the next release? A: Probably so. Please email any suggestions or complaints that you have. The whole point is to make something that other people enjoy using, so I've got to have other people's input! Q: Can I use your mod in a compilation mod I am creating? A: Read the copyright and distribution permissions, then please email me and tell me about it. If you use any of my mods as a base or addition to any other project, you must credit me and include an address\location where my original mod can be found. Also, I will try to help you if I can, but please do not expect me to bug hunt for you. If you modify my source code, the bugs that crop up are your ultimate responsibility. ======================================= Copyright and Distribution Permissions ======================================= The modifications included in this archive are Copyright (C) 1996 by Jonathan E. Wright and Quake C is Copyright (C) id Software. You MAY NOT use the modifications as a basis for other publicly available work without the written permission of the author. You may distribute this Quake modification in any electronic format as long as this description file remains intact and unmodified and is retained along with all of the files in the archive. ============= Availability ============= You can find this archive at the following URLs: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com http://www.trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus NOTE: if you downloaded this bot from somewhere other than http://trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno, then it is likely that you do not have the most current version. Please check the above site if you would like the latest version of the Zeus bot.