Help with bots

[acs]

Does anybody know of any tutorials which can teach me about how to make bots perform the way I want them too im my maps?
Thanks.

[Johnny Law]

I'm not sure what the "canonical reference" is these days, but I found this useful recently: http://www.shadowspawn.net/content/game ... ot_dev.htm

It's written by a developer for the WFA mod, but it looks like it is generically applicable to Q3 bots.

Edit: as another FYI, I believe that if your bsp was compiled with q3map2 then you must use the -forcesidesvisible flag with bspc. I'm sure someone will correct me if that's an urban legend...

[AEon]

Off the bat I could give you a list of things to remember, I am not really aware of any tutorial on the matter, these are usually a list of tips. Here a few of my own tips:

1. Don't expect the bots to do specifically what you want, there are no entities to tell bots to jump from here to there, or perform a RJ right here or take a certain path! This ain't UT.
2. The bot-behavior is defined by the geometry of your map and the item placement. Whereas certain bots prefer certain weapons and items. E.g. Anarki will prefer the RG, and Doom will actively go after the Quad.
3. Use clip (player clip) and botclip to simplify the geometry of your map, the simpler the clip hull is the better bots will navigate it (also saves some CPU cycles).
4. Do not expect the bots to do fancy stuff... i.e. jumping across a gap will usually not happen, same is true with jumping up on boxes... the trick here is to provide a botclip ramp. Or add plausible geometry that bridges those gaps, i.e. wooden planks, or tubes.
5. Simplify patches with clip/botclip... the rounded off surfaces only needlessly complicate/confuse the bot AI.
6. The bots prefer the RL, and the PG... so placing the weapons already defines were the bots will want to go for the most part.
7. Cleverly place ammo and health and powerups... these are also bot attraction points. E.g. placing health outside a main arena, will actually make the bots go for the health.
8. Avoid placing items/weapons were the bots will have trouble reaching them - anything not accessible via ramps/stairs/JPs etc. Because the bots will then simply ignore these items, marking them "unreachable".
9. ...

There are probably many more tips I presently cannot think of

[obsidian]

Also use clusterportals.

[AEon]

Yo, about compiling, I always use this in a batch file:

• call D:\Games\Quake3\Radiant\bspc.exe -bsp2aas "D:\Games\Quake3\baseq3\maps\%1.bsp" -forcesidesvisible -optimize

[Johnny Law]

This is nice: http://web.archive.org/web/200408110840 ... otopt.html

[acs]

Lots of helpful stuff here, thank you everyone!

[AEon]

This is nice: http://web.archive.org/web/200408110840 ... otopt.html

Yes, this is the standard reference for bot navigation... started to re-read the bit on cluster portals since I normally do not add/use them.

[Bliccer]

I've also used that one for my bots:

-fixaas

[Noruen]

I have one question too. Is better to use only weaponclip instead of playerclip, or I need to use both? Simply - Is for bots WeapClip same as Playerclip?

[AEon]

Short answer, you will often need to use all three types of clip...

Up until recently I was not actually completely aware what weapclip could do:

• botclip only clips bots.
• clip (playerclip) clips players *and* bots.
• weapclip clips players *and* bots *and* rockets/bullets.

To create a simplified clip hull for bots, you will be using botclip a lot - additionally to your clip that you will want to use to keep the player to getting snagged on architecture. If you have models in your map, or windows (glass) or grates, then you will need/want to use weapclip to keep bullets/rockets from passing through these.

[Pat Howard]

Right, and playclip AND botclip seem to block bot "vision". I couldn't get my bots to shoot through the fences/grates in Q because of this.

[dONKEY]

This is true bots will not shoot through clips. Some observations I have made over time:
A map that comprises of a single cluster will lend itself to good bot navigation. However in large maps can result in 'bot stutter'. Very small clusters cause real issues. Bots running half way down a corridor or room then turning around right in front of an item. That kind of thing. I wrote an article building on Cardigan's tutorial that covered this. It is some times necessary 'bust' clusters. This can be done in several ways using targeted entities or complex cluster portals.
For some reason I don't understand in my map for the NoGhost comp bots will actually rocket jump. I'm guess conditions were accidentally spot on for them to act in this way, because I have not managed to achieve that before.

[Quack]

playerclip does block bot "vision" and the bot's ability to shoot you. However, bots can see and shoot through botclips. The problem occurs when you have to use playerclip for something like a grate. It might be possible to make an alternative map file that replaces all grate surfaces with botclip. Then attach the alternative aas file to your original bsp. You can also use botclips to isolate and divide areas/clusters for aas optimization. A good use of botclip would be a large open area where a bot can shoot across, but the bot would never be able to physically occupy the open space in between. If you place a huge botclip in between, the bot will still be able to see & shoot everything the same way a human would. This will greatly reduce the file size of the aas and improve the bot's playing ability.

[Pat Howard]

Hmm.... you're probably right, but I could've swore I tried to do this with my fixaas in Q and got nothin'. Maybe a test is in order.

[dave-0]

+1 this thread, helped