Sept 12th, 2005
Due to the steam update a lot of users had problems running the bots, since they stayed in spectator mode. Check this link for update for the windows version, a linux version will follow.

note : files have been updated again

/@$3.1415rin

May 25th, 2005
Found again little time to work on JoeBOT XP. I finally fixed a weird bug in the squad system. So the basic squad behaviours are already working, i.e. they try to avoid to run all the exact same paths within one squad, so that they hopefully won't come around a corner in one line providing the perfect target for an evil human being exploiting bot behaviour using a sniper rifle ;-) They also have a basic cohesion behaviour which results in a squad where the first might wait for his fellow teammembers, also taking a look at the current weapons, so that a bot with a sniper weapon running in front of the squad is less probable than a squad member running there with a shotgun.
The bots themselves have quite little navigational intelligence. This has all been moved to the squad level. And that's exactly the problem I'm currently working on : The squads should fulfill certain tasks, also depending on the type of the map. I'm currently evaluating a blackboard architecture on team level, that means, there would be a 'blackboard' on team level containing possible tasks. Once a squad sees a suitable task there, it might take it from the board and execute it - while other squads shouldn't be able to execute it any more. The decision if a task is suitable should be done on the basis of the availability of certain types of weapons, items and time. For example the squad with a bot carrying the bomb should start going to a bomb spot, maybe some 10 seconds after the beginning of a round. Currently the squads have a random navigation behaviour, which commands the squadmembers to go to random locations on the map together. Interestingly this produces a pretty intelligent looking behaviour of the squad, although you won't yet find a Counter-Terrorist squad defending a bomb spot, yet.
Btw, the bot is currently still only running under cs1.6, because I havnt yet had the time to port it to CS:S, additionally, on that platform, not all bot related problems seem to be solved. But the subjects in JoeBOT XP I'm currently working on are pretty much above the engine independant layer, so that a port won't affect this stuff.

Enough said, you can watch a little demo video of the squad behaviour here ( ~10MB ) . The white lines connect the bots inside one squad.

Note: right click on the link for the video and then select 'save target as' to download the video. simple left clicking might cause problems, no idea why.

/@$3.1415rin

January 9th, 2005

Happy new year everyone. Currently most of the bot developers here at bots united are working on bots for HL2 based mods. If you wanna see what's currently been worked on look here.

And I have a little christmas present for you. Since some of us are working on engine indep parts of the bot code, and it's often not published, I decided to upload the source for those who are interested. you can download it here. But this code isnt by far finished :)

/@$3.1415rin

November 29th, 2004

Once again the christmas time has begun, and I'd like to present one of my favourite christmas maps, for all of those who are still playing good ol' CS. Some of you might know that map, it's cs_snowflake by XTender.

Download the map
Download JoeBOT Waypoints for cs_snowflake ( which are already included in the current release )

I hope i can get my hands on the HL2SDK when I finally get my copy of HL2 and then we'll see how good the system of JoeBOT XP is portable to another engine ...

/@$3.1415rin

July 25th, 2004

JoeBOT 1.6.5.3 has been released.

You can download the full version or just the update, for windows or linux, via the download page.

JoeBOT 1.6.5.3
- fixed : chat message crash caused by recent steam update
- fixed : game radio message trapping caused by recent steam update

/cruft

June 22nd, 2004

There have been problems with 1.6.5.2 not running on Steam, but the old 1.6.5.1 does. You can download the old files still from our bots-united filebase : download

Edit : The problem has been fixed, just two dlls where named in a wrong way, so 1.6.5.2 should work :)

/@$3.1415rin

June 18th, 2004

JoeBOT 1.6.5.2 has been released.

You can download the full version or just the update, for windows or linux, via the download page.

JoeBOT 1.6.5.2
- Added : preliminary shield support
- fixed : awp weapon select conflict with waypoint command
- fixed : entity indexing
- fixed : index range errors with max players/bots
- fixed : more round start/end initialization bugs
- fixed : removed FL_THIRDPARTYBOT fix (no longer needed)
- fixed : updated engine funcs to match hlsdk

/cruft

Note by @$3.1415rin : I uploaded a little demo to the filebase, mainly showing some teamwork of JoeBOT XP. Murphy's law is also applicable here, so I somehow didnt manage to record suppressive fire and grenade usage, but I'm still trying ... Due to my internet connection I only have CS1.5, therefore you won't be able to replay it on Steam I suppose.

March 16th, 2004

JoeBOT 1.6.5.1 has been released. Most of the work done is this time by cruft, so thanks to him.

You can download the current version 1.6.5.1 for windows and linux, for the "traditional" installation and metamod, via the download page.

JoeBOT 1.6.5.1
- Metamod plugin dll released
- CS 1.6 compatible (shield use not implemented yet)
- CS 1.5 backward compatible (set cvar jb_cstrike 1)
- Added jb_* cvars to control all global settings
- Added joebot.cfg cvar config file as alternative to bot.cfg
- fixed : joebot server command no longer needs '|' delimiter
- fixed : bots don't jump during freezetime
- fixed : crash with waypoint unreachable unsigned int range
- fixed : camping bug related to round start/end initialization

/@$3.1415rin

January 22nd, 2004
Cruft, a developer working on JoeBOT on sourceforge just converted JoeBOT for metamod. I don't know how well it is tested already, but it should run :) If you have the time you are welcome to download the sources from sourceforge, compile them and test them.
I have some exams in the following weeks, but maybe we can even publish an official release soon.
A related thread in the forums : click

/@$3.1415rin

January 6th, 2004
mymtw.de published an interview with me, which I wrote in august or september. Unfortunately it is only german, you can read it @ http://www.mymtw.de/mtw2/news/showdetail.aspx?news_id=8128

/@$3.1415rin

January 1st, 2004
A happy new year and welcome to the new website of JoeBOT on bots-united.org.

Check out the forums at http://forums.bots-united.org.
And if you havn't seen the JoeBOT XP thread on the old page, look here.

/@$3.1415rin