PodBot v1.0 to v2.6

How To Play with Podbot:

Playing with the Bots:

The Bots will automatically know the goals of the map. Counter might go for hostages, Terrorists may want to plant the bomb. VIP Bots will try to reach the Rescue Points. The goal selection is done dynamically and will be affected by several factors like Personality, Health, Team-mates near & Items the Bot is carrying. The Bots will also try to support team-mates and take cover when they think it's needed.

The Podbot User Menu:

Since v1.4 of PodBot a helpful User Menu is available for performing the most used actions.
It's bound by default (you can change it in podbot.cfg) to the "=" key. So if you're pressing the "=" key a Menu with the following options should appear on your Screen:

  1. Quick Add Bot - This does what it says. It quickly adds a Bot giving him a random name, team, skill and model. Skill will be chosen randomly between your minbotskill/maxbotskill values specified in podbot.cfg..
  2. Add specific Bot - Allows you specify all things for adding a single Bot.
  3. Kill all Bots - Kills all Bots in all Teams.You can use this to end Rounds faster if there aren't any humans alive and you don't like watching Bots playing better than you :)
  4. Newround - Same as above, but kills every Client including human players.
  5. Fill Server with Bots - Fills all free Server Entries with Bots. After selecting this option you can specify the team or to auto-assign them. If you especially select a team for the Bots the Server Variables "mp_autoteambalance" and "mp_limitteams" will be set to 0 (thus not caring about balancing teams anymore) and all Bots will only join 1 Team. You can use for example this to play alone or with your friends against all Bots.
  6. Kick Random Bot - Kicks the first Bot in the List.
  7. Remove all Bots - Kicks all Bots off the Server.
  8. Select Weapon Mode - Opens another Sub-Menu where you can select the Weapons Bots will buy (and use in combat). Selecting Knife Mode will also turn on Jason-Mode. Selecting Standard Weapons will turn it off again.

Using Commands besides the in-game menu (using the console):

If a map has loaded, press the key below "Esc" ( or the ~ key) and the console screen scrolls down. Now you're able to type in commands like the ones used to control POD-Bot.

Some examples:
Just type "addbot" and a new Bot will be connected... If the Bots are stuck or you just want to start a new round type in "killbots" which will force all bots to be dead instantly. If you're sick of playing with Bots type "removebots" which will kick all Bots from the Server. NOTE that this will also set the min_bots & max_bots settings from the podbot.cfg to zero, so you have to add Bots manually if you want them back in your game. Of course you can always use "kick" to remove single bots. To manually change maps, use the substitution for the map command. Type "newmap mapname" to change to another map. So for example to load the map "de_dust" you type "newmap de_dust ". Bots present will join the Game if the map is loaded. For all console commands please read the summary below...

Summary of Console Commands:

Most of the time you will only need the POD-Bot User Menu which is by default bound to the "=" key. You can change this easily with any text-editor in 'podbot.cfg'.
All commands in square [] brackets are optional and don't need to be specified. Most of these commands will also work in podbot.cfg.

FunModes:

These are just leftovers of my HL Engine tests and were left in to give you (hopefully) a good laugh.
These Fun Modes weren't fully tested out by me and it might be that this or that isn't working properly with them.
If something doesn't work with them I honestly don't care that much.

Ordering Bots through Radio Commands:

You can use some of the Radio Commands to get more support from your Bots
Note: When you issue a 'Follow me' Command Bots won't follow you in 3 cases:

A Terrorist Bot carrying the C4 or picking it up, will also issue a "Follow Me" sometimes to have some assistance with him.

Note thatthey have problems following on ladders at the moment because the movement is unwaypointed. They also do some other Radio Commands like "Need Backup","Enemy down", "Enemy spotted","I'm in Position" (to tell you he's camping) but not very often, otherwise it would surely get on your nerves...

Summary of Bot Reactions to Radio Commands:

Bot Skill differences:

There is a file called botskill.cfg were you can tweak most skill parameters of the bots by editing the file 'botskill.cfg' with any text-editor.
Also take a look into 'podbot.cfg' to adjust some more things to your liking...settings for the Bots if you find them too easy/too hard,
First, Bots with low skills will pause/camp longer and more often.
Bots with low skills have a bigger surprise time and they shoot slower and are lucky if they hit something..
Then there are minor behaviour differences.For example Bots with a skill above 80 use the Knife more often if you're near them.
If you want to get headshots all the time and attack really fast add some Bots with a skill of 100.

Bot Personalities:

There are 3 different Personalities in POD now, if you have 'detailnames' turned on they can are shown through the Prefixes like this:

  1. [P*D] = Agressive Bot
  2. [POD] = Normal Bot
  3. [P0D] = Defensive Bot

Right now the Personality is randomly chosen if a new Bot gets created. I want to extend a lot of stuff around Personalities so there's no sense in a specific selection and it can't be done.

BotChats:

The botchats are files which store what the bot can say during the game and when it's spectating.
They are located in the Podbot\Botchats Folder where you installed the Bot.
The translated versions (except the German and English ones) don't use the new Text replacements and the dynamic keyword chat is still in English language.
Rename and copy one of these to "botchat.txt" in the main podbot folder to have your localized Bot Talk...

These translated versions of the Botchat are available: