zeus202b.txt

=============================
Title    : ZEUSbot 2.02 beta
=============================

Filename : ZEUS202B.ZIP
Version  : 2.02
Date     : 12/19/96
Author   : Jonathan E. Wright aka Nelno the Amoeba
Email    : nelno@resurrection.com - please read this *entire* file before
                                    emailing pleas for help to me.  Most
                                    questions that I get asked are already
                                    answered here! I like to get email, I just
                                    don't like to have to say the same thing
                                    100 times. =)

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.

Credits  : ID Software for designing Quake with Quake C!

           Otherwise, this bot was built from scratch.

============
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

See the included file PROGS.SRC for a list of which files have been
modified and which were added.

================================
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.  Eventually, the
source WILL BE RELEASED, but until then, you'll have to get your tidbits
from the next release of Cujo.

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.

=================
Zeusbot Features
=================

Besides being _at least_ as smart as any of the standard Quake enemies, the
ZEUSbot also has a few enhancements:

. 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.
. has his own cool *ANIMATED* skin -- facial expressions change while
  attacking/firing/standing.
. 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.
. Has *totally new* movement code which makes it the smoothest 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.
. 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:

. still need to do a head model for the bot.  Just haven't gotten around
  to it.
. smarter tracking of enemies -- for example: enemies on catwalks above
  currently confuse bots.
. ability to find and open secret doors -- as soon as I figure out why he's
  not seeing them...
. the helper bot will be made a powerup for deathmatch games -- currently
  15 can be spawned per client (don't try it with more than one client!)
. go for platforms, doors, etc.
. dynamic level mapping.
. just about anything else that makes the bot better.

PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT!


========================
How to use 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).


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 with low memory).

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 -- this
             won't be here in future versions.

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.

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.


================================
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.

3) Start Quake by typing: QUAKE -GAME ZEUS

4) Play with the god of the lightning bolt.


==================
Technical Details
==================

Code: 6480 lines
Time: ~60 hours

Known bugs and peculiarities:
-----------------------------

. bots sometimes appear to stare at a wall for a little while
  when roaming.  Haven't messed with this one yet, since I
  will probably be enhancing the roaming AI at some point
  anyway.

. bot's can get confused by backpacks that fall on a ledge above
  them and a barely hanging on the to edge of the ledge (ie, they
  look like they should fall).  Kind of rare.  I haven't bothered
  with this yet.

. 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).

. a horrendous splashing sound when the bot is in shallow water (such
  as in E1M3 by the rocket launcher/gold key).  This is apparently
  because the Quake engine is confused about whether or not the bot
  is in or out of the water, and I have not thought of a way to fix
  it yet.  Please email me if you know Quake C and have any good
  ideas -- this is a REALLY ANNOYING bug.  This may be a result of
  the way I'm moving the bot, since I have to kind of fool the
  Quake engine at points.  Hopefully it is fixable in code, or I'll
  have to start modifying sounds.

. occasionally the bot may become "paralyzed".  If you encounter this,
  please email me and describe the circumstances under which it occurred,
  along with whether or not the bot became mobile again by itself, through
  teleportation, if it reacted to pain (ie. flinched) while paralyzed, and
  what weapon it was using.  This bug happens so seldom that I'm having
  trouble locating it.

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 2.02

. 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 and am currently designing
web pages for corporations in the Western North Carolina area.  Besides being
proficient in several programming languages -- 80x86 assembly, C and Pascal
being the most notable -- 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

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.