BF Botinator v0.5

For both Battlefield:1942 and Battlefield:Vietnam

[Summary]

The BF Botinator will add simple bots to your Battlefield:1942 or Battlefield:Vietnam map in just a few clicks of the mouse. No knowledge of Battlefield AI is required. It also lets you edit more advanced settings, such as pathmaps and strategies.

[New for version 0.4 and 0.5]

I'm using Botinator with Battlefield 1942 and it keeps crashing. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?

Seems I stuffed up the AIPathfinding.con file in Botinator 0.5. Check out the following discussions to get it working (unitl a version 0.6 is out)

http://dynamic6.gamespy.com/~bf42players/index.php?showtopic=728

http://dynamic6.gamespy.com/~bf42players/index.php?showtopic=719

Version 0.5
* Fixed significant issue that was preventing BF1942 support from working

Version 0.4
* Full support for Battlefield 1942 maps
* Wizard - skip the generation of pathmaps (step 3) and it still works
* Wizard - reduced step 3 "pack, run, copy, repack, run, copy" to just one "pack, run, copy"
* Advanced tweaker - added a new strategy generator, a really simple way to create advanced strategies

[Background]

It's much too hard to add co-op and single player to Battlefield. I've read the tutorials, the wiki and tried the tools (good work everyone). But it was all still too hard. So I wrote my own wizard - the BF Botinator.

BF Botinator has two modes - Bot Wizard and Advanced Tweaking.

The BF Botinator Bot Wizard is not intended to give you perfect bot support right out of the box. It will however, put bots in your map and make them run around. If you want professional bot support - this is a great spot to start, but you need to edit the pathmaps and strategies by hand (if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry, you don't need to).

The Bot Wizard interface should be self explanatory.

Advanced Tweaking is where you can start to turn the bots into a real fighting force. It allows you to edit pathmaps, strategies and the bot names. Make sure you know what you are doing before editing strategies - small changes can stop your bots from working or make battlefield crash.

The Pathmap editor is easy to use, but this document isn't the place to learn advanced Battlefield AI editing. For most people, knowing that "Black is where bots can go, White is where bots can't go" is probably enough. Remember to repack your map each time before you test it.

The Strategy editor is a simple way of generating custom strategies, hopefully in a way that will save a lot of hassle.

[How to]

Unzip BF Botinator to a directory and run it.

[Downloads]

If you like this software, let me know, or even better, make a donation (of any amount).

BF Botinator v0.5 [download]

[Other requirements]

.NET framework [download]

winRFA (Its on your BFV CD - gets installed as part of the mod development toolkit. You need to know how to use winRFA)

[HELP ME MAKE IT BETTER]

Tell me what you think. If you know Battlefield AI, let me know if there are better ways to do what I'm doing.

No flashy graphics yet. Sorry.

Copyright Ben Lehman 2004.

ALWAYS work on a copy of your map. This program *could* destroy all your hard work. You may not redistribute BF Botinator without my express consent. Always ask.