stoogebot.txt

The Stanford StoogeBot, v1.00         [readme.txt]                 20-FEB-1997


NOTE: TO USE THE BOT EFFECTIVELY, YOU WILL NEED TO READ THE "LATENCY" SECTION.


FILES

  README.TXT   -- this file
  COPYING.TXT  -- copyright and redistribution information
  FAQ.TXT      -- answers to some frequently asked questions
  stoogek.cfg  -- StoogeBot config file for keyboard-bound users
  stoogem.cfg  -- StoogeBot config file for mousers

  stooge.exe   -- StoogeBot executable
  or
  stooge       -- StoogeBot executable

INSTALLATION:

  The stooge must be able to find the Quake data files to operate.
  You can either:

     1. place the StoogeBot executable in your Quake directory (in the
        same directory as quake.exe)

     2. or, place the executable wherever you'd like, and set
        the PAKDIR environment variable to point to your data files:

        Win95:
           set PAKDIR=c:\quake\ctf;c:\quake\id1

        Irix/Linux:
           setenv PAKDIR /tmp/quake/ctf:/tmp/quake/id1

  The StoogeBot also has a menuing system for controlling the bot via
  your Quake client.  See the MENU SYSTEM section for the details.

RUNNING THE STOOGEBOT:

  The StoogeBot is a command line program, invoked as:

        stooge [options] <server[:port]>

  The StoogeBot acts as a proxy between your local Quake client and
  the server, so when you run Quake, connect to the machine the stooge
  is running on, not to the remote server you'll eventually play on.

  For example, to start a game on our bot-friendly server, type:

        stooge kitty1.stanford.edu:26003

  in a command shell and then start Quake as you normally would.
  Bring up the Quake console (press ` to expose it) and type:

        connect localhost

  or whatever the name is of the machine on which you are running
  the StoogeBot.

  When choosing a machine to run the StoogeBot on, try to choose a
  machine which has a fast internet connection, regardless of whether
  or not you will be connecting to this machine through a fast
  connection or a slow connection.  If your ISP will let you run the
  StoogeBot on their server (on the "fast" side of the modem), do it.
  If the StoogeBot must go through a slow connection to reach the internet,
  try to place the bot as close to the internet as possible.  Usually, this
  means running the StoogeBot on the machine which has the modem.

  The StoogeBot requires a couple of megabytes of RAM and a small
  amount of CPU power while running.  If your machine has enough memory
  and a fast enough processor, you should be able to run Quake and
  the StoogeBot on the same machine.

  Note that the StoogeBot tries to be polite, and will honor the request
  of any server that says "no bots please" by disconnecting.  In
  addition, the StoogeBot is only compatible with the registered
  version of Quake.  If you want to play with the StoogeBot and don't
  own the registered version of Quake, buy it.

USING THE STOOGEBOT:

  After successfully connecting to the StoogeBot, you may begin
  playing.  In order to do this effectively, however, it helps to
  understand a few of the principles which guide the StoogeBot.

  First and foremost, the StoogeBot splits the work of playing Quake
  between the StoogeBot and its human driver.  The StoogeBot controls
  almost all aspects of aiming and firing, while its human driver
  controls most of the other aspects of the game, including
  navigation, projectile avoidance, goal completion, and communication
  with other players.  Secondly, the StoogeBot decouples movement from
  aiming and firing.  This allows the StoogeBot to provide its human
  driver with the illusion that the bot is facing and moving in one
  direction, while in reality, the StoogeBot is facing in some other
  direction, aiming and shooting at various targets.

  Once you enter the game, it is your responsibility to navigate the
  level, gather items, hunt enemies, dodge shots, and so on, while the
  StoogeBot works somewhat independently to track and shoot at
  targets.  Often when the bot fires, you'll see your weapon animate
  but nothing emerge.  This is just because the bot is shooting in
  another direction.

  Although the StoogeBot tracks and shoots targets, it will never
  switch weapons unless you tell it to do so by hitting one of the
  number keys.  In addition, the StoogeBot will never fire if it
  detects that you are wielding either the axe or the grappling hook,
  or if it detects that you are have the lightning gun underwater.  In
  order to fire any of these weapons, you must aim and shoot them
  yourself.  When the StoogeBot detects that you are trying to shoot a
  weapon, it will give the you priority, shooting the weapon
  immediately after reorienting itself to face in the direction you've
  specified.

MENU SYSTEM:

  The menu system is operated by 5 impulses, which can be configured
  by either stoogem.cfg, for mouse players, or stoogek.cfg for
  keyboarders:

                                      key bindings 
      impulse function          stoogem.cfg   stoogek.cfg
      ------- ---------------   -----------   ----------- 
        128   open/close menu   insert        F8
        129   previous item     up arrow      F9 
        130   next item         down arrow    F10
        131   prev value        left arrow    F11
        132   next value        right arrow   F12

  Copy the .cfg files to your id1 directory to use them, and exec them
  from the console, for example:

    exec stoogem.cfg  

MENU ITEMS:

  STOOGE MODE:

    The stooge has 5 modes:

       LARRY: Larry is ruthless; he takes a look at all the players he
         can see, and shoots at whoever has the highest number of
         frags.  If that player runs behind a wall for a split second,
         Larry immediately starts shooting at the next most highly
         ranked player, etc.  Larry is always looking for a better
         target.

       CURLY: Curly is a numbskull.  He spins around like a maniac,
         taking turns shooting at everyone he can see.  It may take
         him a while to kill everyone, but he sure is impressive.

       MOE: Moe is the determined ringleader.  When he doesn't have a
         target he selects the player with the most frags that he can
         currently see, and will stubbornly only fire at them.  Moe
         will only choose a new target if he hasn't been able to see
         his chosen target for more than second or so.  Moe is pretty
         good at approximating human behavior.

       SHEMP: Shemp is the Dark Stooge.  Shemp is completely inert,
         and won't do anything until you shoot at somebody manually.
         That player then becomes Shemp's mortal enemy, and he will
         hunt no other until you fire at somebody else.

       STOOGELESS: The StoogeBot is disabled and won't do any firing.
         Now why would you want to do that?

  LATENCY:

    In order for the StoogeBot to work effectively, YOU MUST SET THE
    BOT-TO-SERVER LATENCY, especially if you are on a slow connection.

    Your latency is the delay between when the StoogeBot asks the
    server to fire a shot and when the server actually takes the shot.
    Your latency is generally about half of your ping.  If your
    latency is set too low, your shots will tend to fall behind your
    target; if your latency is set too high your shots will lead your
    target.  When you start the StoogeBot it assumes a latency of 0
    milliseconds, which is definitely too low.

    Latency is adjustable in 5 millisecond increments, up to half a
    second.  If the StoogeBot is trying to predict that far ahead it
    probably won't help you much.

  TEAM PLAY:

    By default team play is ON and the StoogeBot won't fire at players
    with the same color pants as you.  Turn it off to go hog wild.

  SPLASH THRESHOLD:

    The StoogeBot trys to use the rocket launcher with some savvy.
    The splash threshold tries to prevent the StoogeBot from using the
    rocket launcher when the splash damage would reduce your health
    below the threshold.  The StoogeBot doesn't completely understand
    splash damage, and you should be wary of teammates running between
    you and your target when you are low on health...

  UNDERWATER LIGHTNING:

    The StoogeBot knows when you are underwater, and by default won't
    won't discharge into the water.  If you want to convince it
    otherwise, turn underwater lightning 'ON'.

COMMAND LINE:

  In addition to the menu system, the StoogeBot also has a number of
  optional command-line arguments:

    -port X : Specifies that the StoogeBot should listen for a
       connection from the Quake client on port number X.  If you are
       running the bot and a Quake server on the same machine, you may
       have to change the port from the default 26000.  If you do so,
       be sure to also set the port number in Quake by using the
       "port" console command.

    -noteam : Starts the bot in non-teammode.  Can also be toggled in
       the menu.  By default, the StoogeBot will not fire at players
       whose pants are the same color as yours.

    -grapple X : Specify that the grappling hook is selected by
       impulse X. The default value is 22.   Why the StoogeBot needs to
       know this is a long, boring story.

    -game dir : Specifies an additional directory to be searched for
       pak files.

    -latency X : Sets the initial latency estimate to X milliseconds.

    -splash n : Sets the initial "minimum splash damage health" to X.
       The default value is 50.

FINDING A GAME:

  Currently there aren't a whole lot of servers that explicitly
  welcome bots. However, we'll always have a bot-friendly server up on
  port 26003 (the 3 is for The Three Stooges, of course!) of
  kitty1.stanford.edu, which can be reached with:

      stooge kitty1.stanford.edu:26003

  and of course, you can always play on any server which doesn't
  explicitly forbid bots.

  You can also check out

      http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~quake/servers.html

  for a somewhat larger list of bot-friendly servers.

FAQ:

  The StoogeBot is complicated, full of subtleties, and positively
  strange at times.  Please read the FAQ (faq.txt) if you have any
  questions.

  You can always get the most up to date and complete documentation
  from the StoogeBot web site:

       http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~quake

  The most current version of the FAQ is at:

       http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~quake/faq.html

CREDITS:

  Kekoa Proudfoot  - networking and proxy development
  Matthew Eldridge - primary stooge AI (prediction, targeting, fire control)
  Craig Kolb       - secondary AI, feature mongering, StoogeBot release
  Joel Baxter      - Quake C deconstruction, brainstorming, Server Diety

  Playtesting and invaluable suggestions by Matt Pharr, John Owens,
  and Gordon Stoll.

  Thanks to id Software for Quake, Nat Friedman ("Suck") for allowing
  and encouraging us to test on his server (linux.mit.edu), our good
  friends at Clan9 (oppressive alien infiltrators though they may be),
  everybody at the Stanford Graphics Laboratory, the many authors who
  contributed to the Quake Developer's Pages, and all the players who
  good-naturedly (?) played against the StoogeBot as it was being
  tested on public servers.  Hearty thanks and a big "Nyuk!" from
  Moe.3S, Larry.3S, Curly.3S, and Shemp.3S.

Copyright (C) 1996,1997, Kekoa Proudfoot, Matthew Eldridge, Craig Kolb
All Rights Reserved.

See the file "COPYING.TXT" for detailed Copyright information.