Checking back in here, I noticed that Sourceforge helpfully ate the original FAQ. I have an ancient copy which I'm copy-n-pasting here.
WhichBot FAQ
Initial version by clamatius.
Contents
What is Natural Selection?
What is WhichBot?
Why only the alien team?
I downloaded it. Now what?
What can the bot do?
Why can't the bot find its way around/doesn't work?
Why is it called WhichBot?
Does it have skill levels? It just kills me.
This is cool! How can I help?
Can I use RCBot and WhichBot at the same time?
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but some of them just stay in the readyroom. Why is that?
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but the game ends immediately. Why is that?
I start seeing Onos and Fades, etc, as soon as I start playing. Why is that?
Q&A
What is Natural Selection?
It's a Half-Life mod that blends some aspects of first-person shooter games, and some of real-time strategy. Players play in 2 teams, marines and aliens.
For more information, see the official Natural Selection website.
What is WhichBot?
WhichBot is an AI (a bot) for Natural Selection that's intended to provide players for the alien team. It uses Metamod: see the Metamod homepage and the Metamod SourceForge site.
Why only the alien team?
Restricting the scope of the project allows us to focus more on providing the most challenging AI possible. In particular, providing a good AI for the marine team is considerably harder, since the marine team focuses much more on teamwork. Cooperation between bots is certainly possible, but cooperation between bots and humans is a difficult problem.
I downloaded it. Now what?
Take a look at the README.txt and INSTALL.txt files included in the downloaded .zip file for operating and installation instructions.
What can the bot do?
Right now (as of 6/13/2003), WhichBot is in development. More features will be added, and this document won't necessarily be updated. What this means as a player, is that:
it can play as a Skulk, Gorge, Lerk, Fade or Onos
it can get upgrades
it can remember where marine buildings are
it can scout the map and check up on alien hives
it can attack marines and marine buildings
it can navigate over and around alien buildings
it can tell alien players when it finds new marine buildings and when it destroys them
it can navigate up walls and through vents
it can respond to attacks on alien hives
it can form attack/scouting packs
it can try to remotely detonate mines (as a Fade or Gorge)
it can work out that a route is impassable or slower than it expected and choose better routes as appropriate
Gorges can build alien resource towers
Gorges can build alien hives
Gorges can build rudimentary hive defense (offense and defense towers)
it can be configured to automatically balance team sizes
it can play NS: Combat and pick appropriate upgrades and evolutions
it has limited ambushing capabilities
it can form packs (squads) for more concentrated offense
There are a bunch more features we'd like to add, obviously.
Why can't the bot find its way around/doesn't work?
The most likely answer is that the current version doesn't have waypoints for the map you're playing on. If you are playing on a supported map, you likely have an installation problem or there is a bug in the bot. Please see the bugs page for the project.
Why is it called WhichBot?
All the bots are called "Who", "WhichOne", etc., which makes for a lot of bad puns ("Who killed me?"). Sadly, that's the only reason.
Does it have skill levels? It just kills me.
Not yet, that's coming later. If you can't beat it with no human players on the alien team, you need more practice. :)
This is cool! How can I help?
Firstly, give us feedback, good or bad. Tell us what's working/cool and what's not. What features would you like to see in new versions of the bot?
Secondly, we're looking for cool demos of play against/with the bots.
Thirdly, let's get the word out about WhichBot in the NS community - if you like it, let other people know. Post on the NS boards about it. Whatever takes your fancy.
I want to use RCBot and WhichBot at the same time.
Yes, that's possible. The latest versions of RCBot (1.0+) use Metamod like WhichBot, which makes it much easier for them to run at the same time. Simply install both according to their instructions and they should both function normally.
Here's instructions on how to do that for RCBot version 0.29 or 0.3, which doesn't use Metamod.
Install RCBot as per the RCBot installation instructions.
Install WhichBot as per the WhichBot installation instructions given in INSTALL.txt, except that the line you are replacing in liblist.gam will look like:
gamedll "dlls\rcbot.dll"
instead of
gamedll "dlls\ns.dll".
If you are unsure of what you are doing, you should probably install whichbot-metamod.zip rather than whichbot-nometamod.zip. That version will install Metamod as well as WhichBot.
At this point, if you run Natural Selection, WhichBot should work but RCBot won't. If it doesn't, go back and check you followed the installation instructions.
Now, add the following to the command line you use to run Natural Selection:
+localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll
As an example of the full command line, it will look something like this:
hl.exe -game ns -console +localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll
If you run NS from the command prompt, just add the +localinfo parameter above to the command you use. If you run it by using the desktop shortcut, right click the shortcut, select "Properties" and you should see one entry that includes "-game ns" as part of the dialog screen that pops up (Exactly where depends on which version of Windows you are using). Add "+localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll" (without quotes) to that entry and now both bots should work together.
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but some of them just stay in the readyroom. Why is that?
You need to set the server variable mp_limitteams to zero or a higher number.
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but the game ends immediately. Why is that?
You need to set the server variable mp_autoconcede to zero or a higher number (4 is the default value).
I start seeing Onos and Fades, etc, as soon as I start playing. Why is that?
You have cheats enabled on your server. Note that in Steam LAN games, cheats are enabled by default. To find out if cheats are enabled, you can type sv_cheats in the console. If sv_cheats is set to 1, cheats are enabled. To fix the problem, turn off cheats when you start the server.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Checking back in here, I noticed that Sourceforge helpfully ate the original FAQ. I have an ancient copy which I'm copy-n-pasting here.
WhichBot FAQ
Initial version by clamatius.
Contents
What is Natural Selection?
What is WhichBot?
Why only the alien team?
I downloaded it. Now what?
What can the bot do?
Why can't the bot find its way around/doesn't work?
Why is it called WhichBot?
Does it have skill levels? It just kills me.
This is cool! How can I help?
Can I use RCBot and WhichBot at the same time?
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but some of them just stay in the readyroom. Why is that?
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but the game ends immediately. Why is that?
I start seeing Onos and Fades, etc, as soon as I start playing. Why is that?
Q&A
What is Natural Selection?
It's a Half-Life mod that blends some aspects of first-person shooter games, and some of real-time strategy. Players play in 2 teams, marines and aliens.
For more information, see the official Natural Selection website.
What is WhichBot?
WhichBot is an AI (a bot) for Natural Selection that's intended to provide players for the alien team. It uses Metamod: see the Metamod homepage and the Metamod SourceForge site.
Why only the alien team?
Restricting the scope of the project allows us to focus more on providing the most challenging AI possible. In particular, providing a good AI for the marine team is considerably harder, since the marine team focuses much more on teamwork. Cooperation between bots is certainly possible, but cooperation between bots and humans is a difficult problem.
I downloaded it. Now what?
Take a look at the README.txt and INSTALL.txt files included in the downloaded .zip file for operating and installation instructions.
What can the bot do?
Right now (as of 6/13/2003), WhichBot is in development. More features will be added, and this document won't necessarily be updated. What this means as a player, is that:
it can play as a Skulk, Gorge, Lerk, Fade or Onos
it can get upgrades
it can remember where marine buildings are
it can scout the map and check up on alien hives
it can attack marines and marine buildings
it can navigate over and around alien buildings
it can tell alien players when it finds new marine buildings and when it destroys them
it can navigate up walls and through vents
it can respond to attacks on alien hives
it can form attack/scouting packs
it can try to remotely detonate mines (as a Fade or Gorge)
it can work out that a route is impassable or slower than it expected and choose better routes as appropriate
Gorges can build alien resource towers
Gorges can build alien hives
Gorges can build rudimentary hive defense (offense and defense towers)
it can be configured to automatically balance team sizes
it can play NS: Combat and pick appropriate upgrades and evolutions
it has limited ambushing capabilities
it can form packs (squads) for more concentrated offense
There are a bunch more features we'd like to add, obviously.
Why can't the bot find its way around/doesn't work?
The most likely answer is that the current version doesn't have waypoints for the map you're playing on. If you are playing on a supported map, you likely have an installation problem or there is a bug in the bot. Please see the bugs page for the project.
Why is it called WhichBot?
All the bots are called "Who", "WhichOne", etc., which makes for a lot of bad puns ("Who killed me?"). Sadly, that's the only reason.
Does it have skill levels? It just kills me.
Not yet, that's coming later. If you can't beat it with no human players on the alien team, you need more practice. :)
This is cool! How can I help?
Firstly, give us feedback, good or bad. Tell us what's working/cool and what's not. What features would you like to see in new versions of the bot?
Secondly, we're looking for cool demos of play against/with the bots.
Thirdly, let's get the word out about WhichBot in the NS community - if you like it, let other people know. Post on the NS boards about it. Whatever takes your fancy.
I want to use RCBot and WhichBot at the same time.
Yes, that's possible. The latest versions of RCBot (1.0+) use Metamod like WhichBot, which makes it much easier for them to run at the same time. Simply install both according to their instructions and they should both function normally.
Here's instructions on how to do that for RCBot version 0.29 or 0.3, which doesn't use Metamod.
Install RCBot as per the RCBot installation instructions.
Install WhichBot as per the WhichBot installation instructions given in INSTALL.txt, except that the line you are replacing in liblist.gam will look like:
gamedll "dlls\rcbot.dll"
instead of
gamedll "dlls\ns.dll".
If you are unsure of what you are doing, you should probably install whichbot-metamod.zip rather than whichbot-nometamod.zip. That version will install Metamod as well as WhichBot.
At this point, if you run Natural Selection, WhichBot should work but RCBot won't. If it doesn't, go back and check you followed the installation instructions.
Now, add the following to the command line you use to run Natural Selection:
+localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll
As an example of the full command line, it will look something like this:
hl.exe -game ns -console +localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll
If you run NS from the command prompt, just add the +localinfo parameter above to the command you use. If you run it by using the desktop shortcut, right click the shortcut, select "Properties" and you should see one entry that includes "-game ns" as part of the dialog screen that pops up (Exactly where depends on which version of Windows you are using). Add "+localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/rcbot.dll" (without quotes) to that entry and now both bots should work together.
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but some of them just stay in the readyroom. Why is that?
You need to set the server variable mp_limitteams to zero or a higher number.
I'm adding a bunch of bots, but the game ends immediately. Why is that?
You need to set the server variable mp_autoconcede to zero or a higher number (4 is the default value).
I start seeing Onos and Fades, etc, as soon as I start playing. Why is that?
You have cheats enabled on your server. Note that in Steam LAN games, cheats are enabled by default. To find out if cheats are enabled, you can type sv_cheats in the console. If sv_cheats is set to 1, cheats are enabled. To fix the problem, turn off cheats when you start the server.