The game Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force features computer controlled opponents, usually referred to as »bots«. Technically these bots are always the same, but may be configured differently to exhibit different traits or behaviors. The game comes with a number of bots available already. However, it is also possible to add new bots to the game.

A bot consists essentially of files inside a PK3 file, just like other game assets. The entry definitions for bots are placed in folder scripts. The exact name of the bot definition source is not fixed. One file can contain one or more bots. File bots.txt inside this folder would be used for bots or also files with the extension .bot. A usual bot definition for one bot inside these files looks like this:

{
name		1_of_12
funname		"1 of 12"
model		1_of_12
aifile	bots/1of729_c.c
}

The attributes here have the following meaning:

• aifile: The behavior definitions file of the bot (required). References another file in the folder structure inside botfiles.
• funname: The displayed (in-game) name of the bot (optional). Only used if the bot's name includes spaces or special characters, such as quotes. If not given, the technical name is used for display.
• model: The model name used by the bot (required). References a folder inside models/players2/. A model can also be more specific, if more than one model is available with that name for the different teams, by appending the team with a slash (e.g. chakotay/red).
• name: The technical name of the bot (required).

The aifile file is the main entry for the bot's trait definitions. Within folder botfiles you find at least that file, maybe accompanied by other files as well. The usual naming conventions for these files are as follows:

• *_c.c file: This file controls the traits of a bot and possibly references other files controlling more specific aspects of their traits. This is what is referenced by aifile.
• *_i.c file: Usually used for attribute CHARACTERISTIC_ITEMWEIGHTS inside the aifile. It controls what items this bot prefers to collect.
• *_t.c file: Usually used for attribute CHARACTERISTIC_CHAT_FILE inside the aifile. It controls what chat messages this bot uses in different situations.
• *_w.c file: Usually used for attribute CHARACTERISTIC_WEAPONWEIGHTS inside the aifile. It controls what the weapons preferences of that bot are.

The asterisk-part is usually again the technical name of the bot. But in principle the file names can be chosen freely (avoiding of course collisions with other bot file names).

A bot's model is placed in folder models/players2/, as a folder fitting the name defined by model in the bot definition. This is the model automatically used for that bot. So technically speaking a bot and a model are two completely different components. Bots must have a model, but not necessarily one exclusively assigned to them. Different bots may use the very same models or their own. But models do not have to be used by a bot.

See Setting Up Game Servers on the matter.

• Setting Up Game Servers With Bots

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