JoeBOT Frequently Asked Questions

1. Everybody talks about the console ... how do I get there ?

First you should start Halflife with the parameter "-console". If you have a shortcut for halflife, counterstrike or DoD, just right click on it and select properties. There you'll find an edit box containing the name of the executable. ( for example : "c:\sierra\half-life\hl.exe" ) Now you just add "-console" there, that you get "c:\sierra\half-life\hl.exe -console ". If you have a shortcut for Counterstrike for example it should then look like "c:\sierra\half-life\hl.exe -game cstrike -console". When all this is done, you can access the console from within the game with the '^'-key, i.e. left of the "1".

2. When I start a Multiplayer game all slots are filled up one after the other by bots. But I want to have a free slot and they'll even come "back" when I kick one !

Just look in your cstrike/joebot/bot.cfg file. There you'll find an entry called "max_bots". Set this value to 0 and no bot will appear automatically.

3. I started a multiplayer game, but there are no other players ... what's wrong ?

When no bots are added automatically, you have to add them manually by typing "addbot" in the console. Then a bot will be added. For further information take a look at the readme.

4. I already tried addbot, but then I always get the message that this is an unknown command ?!

This looks like the installation hasn't been really successful. Have you really selected your halflife directory for installing JoeBOT ?

5. The bots are running through the maps, but they seem to fly, the legs are funny spread to the sides ! What did JoeBOT do to my beloved halflife ?

JoeBOT did nothing to your halflife. Just make sure you have the newest version of Halflife, at least 1.1.0.4, for CS1.1 at least 1.1.0.6

6. I like to play as a counterterrorist against a whole team of terrorists. I already managed it to add only terrorist bots ("addbot 1") , but after some rounds, some of them change to my team. What do I have to do to avoid this ?

Just open your console and type "mp_autoteambalance 0" and "mp_limitteams 0". Now you won't have this problem anymore. If you want to change this variables in every game, you can also just add this 2 commands to ur cstrike/autoexec.cfg

7. Do Flashbangs and Smokegrenades affect the bots ? ... and how ?

Yes, the bots are affected by both types of grenades, flashbangs and smokegrenades. After a flashbang attack they won't see anything for some time, this is very similar to the effect on human players. Higher skilled bots will try to shoot where they have heard or seen an enemy before being blinded.
The effect of smokegrenades is faked. It's _really_ difficult to detect all the single smoke puffs, therefore it's seen as a plane of smoke in which the grenade lies. If the enemy bot is behind a smoke grenade, it won't be able to detect you instantly, you have appr. 4 seconds to run in the sight of an enemy behind a smokegrenade without being detected. But of course the radius of the grenade is limited and you'll be detected almost instantly by muzzle flashs, i.e. when you shoot yourself, no matter what direction. ( btw, this is the same with being prone in DoD, but the time of not being detectable is configurable in bot_skill.txt )

Why is this bot called JoeBOT ? That name doesn't sound very creative !

LOL, no it's not at all creative. When I began writing my bot, I wanted to call it NNBot, but then some weeks later I realized that there was already a bot called NNBot. So I decided to name it temporarily JoeBOT, derived from my real name, Johannes. And till now it hasn't been changed ....