New for This Release

Installation

Information

Known Bugs

About the Author

Copyright and Distribution Permissions

Type of Mod
Quake C

Format of QuakeC
progs.dat

Description of the Modification
DarkBOT trys to simulate a "clan ring" or normal deathmatch, with bots as player like as I've got around to coding so far. So that you can pratice the art that is deathmatch... now you'll always have even teams on your clan server.

New for This Release

• SRP alpha 7
• Greatly improved client emulation...
• better attacking and roaming
• Bot's firing methods and frames have been fixed so there 90% player-like
• Toggles for beta testing and game options
• Norse movement is off by default
• Frame think reduction is off by default
• Cleaned up SBLE a little, and it's loading messages
• Coop play removed unless enough people want it back
• Cleaned up observer respawning

How to Install the Modification
make a subdirectory darkbot in your quake directory copy progs.dat into the directory darkbot you just made

How to Use the Modification
Single Player / Listen Server:
Quake -game darkbot -listen 16 +temp1 34 +skill 1 -deathmatch 1

Dedicated Server:
Quake -game darkbot -dedicated 16 +temp1 34 +deathmatch 1 +map dm6 +skill 1

For more information refer to the section ITEMS OF NOTE below. If you'd like new a 4 impulse password and MOTD email me i'll code it in and mail you back the new progs.dat. Please mail me if you run a dedicated DarkBOT server, because I'd like more net testing.

ITEMS OF NOTE

Skill
Skill sets the Frame Reduction Rate (FRR) and activates some packages. Skill 0 will activate the beta tester package. Skill 1 doesn't do anything, and is the default setting. Skill 2 will load the female player package. Skill 3 will set FRR to 500. Skill 4 will set FRR to 800.

Female Player Package
The female player package will allow you to become a male or female player, when enabled. You'll need female WAV sound files for: Axhit1, Death1, Death2, Death3, Death4, Death5, Drown2, Gasp1, Gasp2, Gib, Land, Land2, Lburn1, Lburn2, Pain1, Pain2. Pain3, Pain4, Pain5, Pain6, Plyrjmp8, Teledth1, and Tornoff2. You'll also need to add a female skin to skin #1 Player.mdl. (Remember the first skin is Skin #0.) Try http://www.slip.net/~boom/Rox.htm for the sounds, just download the Rox patch. The WAV sound files must be placed into the directory <darkbot dir>/sound/fplayer, if you need help email me. I've included a new player.mdl with a female skin in my pak0.pak. Please mail me a better skin if you have one, and I'll add it to the next release.

FRR
If you'd like to lag or speed up the bots reset FRR thinking time speed. FRR is the number of thousands of seconds the bot will change frames and execute a "think", so FRR 500 is like the bot were at 500 ping.

Temp1
The first digit spawns 0 to 6 red bots. The second digit spawns 0 to 6 blue bots. Temp1 can be any number from 0 (no bots) to 66 (6 red, 6 bule).

No humans needed
When you run a dedicated server the bots can play without any humans and change levels themselves.

Admin
Impulse 255 makes you an observer if you are a player. Now enter Impulse 250, Impulse 251, Impulse 252, and Impulse 253 to change from observer to admin. Once you are an admin, the admin menu will pop up and will allow you to use advanced functions. Most releases include a admin.cfg file. If you have it enter exec admin in the consoule.

Features

• Can use all weapons, doors, elevators, switches, and model frames
• Client emulation: has scoreboard names and client colors
• Clan Ring type play (The reason I made this bot to practice Clan Ring matches.)
• Deathmatch rules 1, 2, 4, 5
• Teamplay rules 1, 2, 3
• Bots now tilt when strafing and running most of the time
• Passive Norse Bot movement package
• Skill settings to toggle packages: Female Player/ Beta Tester/ FRR
• Static routing using DarkBOT waypoints
• Shiva Routing Protocol for Dynamic routing *still in alpha
• Combat AI that makes bots randomly miss, and lead targets
• Dark Bot Talk Package
• Menu driven interface, Dark Menu Package
• roams, swims, jumps, and does a lot of other things too
• Pretty good AI overall, considering I'm still in beta with it

Future

• Unreachable functions
• Better routing
• True desicsion making
• Personality differences
• Optimize code, so all the bots can run at once like they used to

Known Bugs:

Frequent

• In certian levels the norse movement package will fail to work, so bot won't move at all (that's why norse is off by default except on the map "start")
• When FRR is < 100 bot may get it's frames and thinks REALLY SCREWED (100 is normal FRR for Quake bots and monsters, so don't set it lower than 100 unless you just want to see what it does)
• The "more human" functions which make the bots miss and jump off legdes cause several rarely seen bugs eventually, as time progresses in the game
• The movement methods are so poor that the bot can't reach it's goal, even if it's like a step away, this it what causes camping and makes the bot stop or run in circles (New movement methods needed)
• A lot of bugs that wern't in there before (I redid a lot of the code recently)

Rare

• SRP does too many comparisions too quickly and causes a crash
• If the movement method fails the bot will appear to camp, yet he just can't get to his next goal.

About the author
I coded in ADA 83, Fortran 77, and some basics and serveral script languages but now I'm mostly coding in QuakeC, C++, and using OOP. Yes, I also do Scrap Heap.

Follow this link for more contact information and support via wwwboard:
http://www.westga.edu/~stu7440

I tend to check my Mindspring email weeky (long distance), so try to contact me from the wwwboard or stu7440@westga.edu. Unless you like waiting. :6

Copyright and Distribution Permissions
The original QuakeC source is Copyright 1996, id software.
Scorebroad frag, name, and color client emulation based on code by Alan Kivlin.
Roscoe Sincero's norsebot "botmove" package is passively used in DarkBOT.
Aiming and waterlevel checking based on code by Drew Davidson.
Terry Hendrix II did the rest, including the female skin. Damnit Jamey do something!! Hehehe.

Authors MAY NOT use these modifications as a basis for other publicly or commercially available work without the permission of the author. You may distribute this Quake modification in any free electronic format as long as this description file remains intact and unmodified and is retained along with all of the files in the archive. You may not publish or distribute this Quake modification in a non-free form without the permission of the author, like CDs.

Availability
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/quake/quakec/bots (mostly old beta releases)
http://www.mindspring.com/~darkskye/ds.htm (latest public beta)