Many simple questions, or are they? (auto-adding bots...)

[coffeenet]

I am new to modding Quake 3 Arena. My requirements are simple. I would like to create a map with all bots, having them battle it out. For that, here are my needs:
1- I would like to launch Quake 3 Arena with bot automatically loaded.
2- As a player, I want to be a spectator. (I want the bots to fight amongst themselves, I don't want any players to be included)

Several questions related to this requirement:
1- Can I choose the skill level of the going-to-be-added bots?
2- How many bots am I allowed to add? What is the maximum number of bots in the map?
3- Is there a way to increase that maximum number?

Any additional info from you guys would be highly appreciated!!!

[Noruen]

Welcome
Everything is possible:
1) You need to create .arena file for your map
2) This is easily available from menu (ESC > Join game > spectator)

1) ESC > ADD BOTS > select bot with define skill
2) I think it is naturally possible to add about 8 bots, but maximum is 16 (?)
3) Somebody els would know

[coffeenet]

Thank you for the quick reply!
What is the name of the ".arena" file? For what do I use the .arena file?
btw, I am using the q3dm1 map.

I would like the bots and their skill level and me being a spectator to be all made automatic, which means, when I launch Q3A, the map with the bots loaded and me a spectator without me needing to do anything.
How can I make that possible.

[Eraser]

Open notepad and paste the following line in there:

quake3.exe +map q3dm1 +bot_minplayers 6 +g_spskill 4

you can replace "q3dm1" with any map name you like, replace "6" with any value to determine how many bots will be spawned into the game (note that a value of 6 means there will be 5 bots) and replace "4" with the difficulty level, where 1 is the easiest and 5 is the hardest.

Now save this text file as "botsonly.bat" in your quake 3 folder (the botsonly part can be any name you like actually). Double click the file to open it.

Now Quake 3 will be started, q3dm1 will be loaded and it will slowly fill up the game with bots up to the specified number. Note that joining the spectators still requires manual action. Either use the menu or type
\team spectator
in the console.


edit:
maybe this should be moved to Quake III discussion, since it has little to do with level/model editing?

[coffeenet]

It worked. But, unfortunately, I need the bots to be added instantaneously. As soon as the map is loaded the bots should already be there in it, and not added in gradually.
Do you know a way to do that?
I read something about scripting, but couldn't make it happen the way I want.

[Eraser]

Ok I played a bit around with CFG files and it can be done like this.

Again, open notepad and paste this inside:

Code: Select all

sv_maxclients 16
map q3dm1
addbot sarge 4
addbot keel 4
addbot major 4
addbot ranger 4
wait 1000
team spectator

you can add as much addbot commands in there as you like, as long as you don't exceed the maximum number of clients allowed (specified by the sv_maxclients command). The first argument after the addbot command is the name of the bot, the second is the bot's skill level.

The script then waits for a bit (I think 1000 means 10 seconds) and makes you join the spectators team.

Save the file as "something.cfg" (where something can be any name) into your baseq3 folder (this folder is located inside the folder to where quake 3 is installed).

Now change that onlybots.bat file you had into this:

quake3.exe +exec something.cfg

ofcourse, something.cfg should refer to the filename you gave your script file. Double click the file to start quake 3, make it load q3dm1, add 4 bots and make you join the spectators.

Important note: you may have to tweak that value after "wait". 1000 might be too long, causing your character to stand around for a bit before joining the spectators. Lower the value to join the spectators sooner, but if the value is too low, you won't join the spectators at all because Q3 is still busy loading the map.

If you have a slow PC, 1000 might even be too low a value, but I doubt that's the case. So play around with the value and see what works.

[coffeenet]

It worked! Thank you Eraser!!!

[obsidian]

This doesn't really have anything to do with modding at all. All you are doing is punching in a few commands into the console or creating a script to load bots in your map.

Modding means actually making a new map, textures, models, etc. Moving to Quake 3 Discussions.

[VolumetricSteve]

coffeenet, I'm kinda curious, what's your end-game in all this? I often attempt to test maps of mine by flooding them with bots, and I kinda treat quake 3 like a fish tank, and I just sit back and watch what they do, what areas they focus on, what weapons they seem to prefer, etc, but I also openly admit that I'm nuts. What are you trying to do? Don't misunderstand, I think it's a cool idea, I just don't know why you think it's a cool idea.

[coffeenet]

Sorry for the late reply, didn't notice anyone was following up :P
obsidian: One gotta start somewhere, no? I like to start somewhere I have most interest in, which is bots. Nice icon blinking mate
VolumetricSteve: My intent is identical to yours! actually it is with a minor addition. I love watch bots fight in swarms, I enjoy watching what humans built into those bots.
The additional thing I want achieve is learn the inner mechanisms of quake. I watch the bots, and toss in some breakpoints here and there, and try and understand the flow of the program.

However, I have reached a roadblock.....!!!! I cannot build in debug mode anymore....!!! I don't know why. I posted the problem in another thread, and would really appreciate any help offered.

[Eraser]

I'm afraid the only person still active on these forums that can help you with that is ^misantropia^ but he can't be on 24/7 eh

[VolumetricSteve]

I'm working on the problems too, I'm no misantropia by any means, but ....I have kinda dedicated the rest of my life to the study of code and...I'm gounna focus almost entirely on Quake 3. So if you can hold tight for a few months, I'm gounna blow the lid off this joint. (I leave "this joint" open to individual interpretation)

[coffeenet]

VolumetricSteve: Do you have a blog I can follow?

[VolumetricSteve]

Quake 3 World is kinda about as close to a blog as I'm at right now. My madness is spread far and wide across this place. Oh, yeah, also I have a horrible website filled with cool shit I made.

http://sirventolin.webs.com

Sometime in the next two weeks or so I should update it with all of the little quake3 things I've done, and I have done....so many things. People seem to like CorePanic a lot...more than I expected.

Also, when I was on a 4 year break from mapping, I made this little gem:

http://jifrocket.ytmnd.com/

Enjoy.

[coffeenet]

It took you for years to make that website?!?!?!?

[VolumetricSteve]

no no no, nothing took 4 years, I just happened to make one thing while I was in college.

Interestingly enough, jifrocket did take me 4 hours to make in MSPaint and a GIFanimator. Best 4 hours I ever spent.

[SoM]

shoulda stayed in college