Swimbot

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Swimbot or Swimming Bot is a modification for Quake made on October 10, 1996 by Greg Fukui. This modification was made as an enhancement to the earlier BG Bot.

Included with this modification is the shell eject mechanic from Bort's QuakeC Mod. Note that none of the required files for this modification are included with it beyond the PROGS.DAT, meaning it will crash if the player does not have shell.mdl from Bort's QuakeC Mod (which must be renamed to "shelcase.mdl"). It also is intended to be used with "shellhit.wav" from the same modification. It is also intended to be used with MultiSkin, meaning it is recommended to acquire a "player.mdl".

The player can also call a hologram identical to the one found in Bort's QuakeC Mod by pressing impulse 50. Note that this is almost entirely worthless for bot play, especially since the bots cannot see the holograph.

Unlike the Enforcers found in the original BG Bot, Swimbot uses Monsters that look like Ranger and behave relatively similar to him. This means he will mostly run instead of slowly walking, plus will also jump frequently to be an even harder target to hit. They can continue attacking whilst moving as well. They can get injured by Lava and Slime, plus can also drown from being under the Water too long. While the original BG Bot had a tendency to get stuck in various dead ends, the Swimbot is able to navigate a bit more reliably, though they still often will be found getting stuck in corners. Obituaries are similar to what would be used for the player, meaning it is based on Weapon.

As the name suggests, these bots can also swim, though they are far more likely to run along the bottom of a pool of Water with the rare jump to the surface. The Swimbot can jump as well, but will only drop off a ledge if they are shot off a platform.

This modification supports MultiSkin choices, meaning each bot can appear different and have a corresponding name. Bots with the same skin will work together and can "communicate" through their AI to team up on an opponent. Note however that the Swimbot will still sound like an Enforcer.

Single Player mechanics have been changed around somewhat from the original BG Bot. Swimbot spawns on top of the player, wherever they spawn it in the level. It is recommended not to be jumping when spawning a bot, since that can Telefrag the player. By setting teamplay to 1, they can be made nonhostile. They will also be made nonsolid to the player when in teamplay 1, meaning they do not get in the way of normal gameplay. Four bots can be spawned at maximum, using Impulse 100 after that will begin removing the bots in a reverse order to what was spawned (meaning the newest is removed first). They will continually rely on the Shotgun, picking up another gun will remove it from play but will not be swapped to. Picking up more Shells displays a message that they "got more bang for their buck".

In Deathmatch, Impulse 100 now will spawn 4 Swimbots per use. The amount of frags the Swimbot has will be displayed every time they get a frag. They will also send random messages, complaining about lag or bragging about the number of frags they have.

An unlimited number of bots can be spawned into the levels, though this will result in Quake eventually being unable to handle the amount of models and having frequent packet overflows, lag, or even crashes. This modification is intended for 8 bots maximum; 2 in a team of Terminator, 2 in a team of Toad, 2 in a team of JudgeDredd, and a rogue Duke Nukem.

While improved from the earlier BG Bot, the BotSkin still has some disadvantages over a normal player. There are cases where they can get stuck in their spawn location, for example, or just are unable to properly navigate a certain room and so endlessly run around a small section. They also will avoid more complicated areas, meaning the Thunderbolt in DM6: The Dark Zone or the Rocket Launcher in DM5: The Cistern will never be reached by these bots. The bots, while being able to swim, just do not do it reliably enough to be used.