zbotinfo

ZBOT INFO

This page is not going to tell you where to download Zbot, so go look elsewhere. Be warned, some people openly admit posting trojan and infected files under the Zbot title to "punish" Zbot wannabies.
This page will explain what Zbot is and what it is not, to aid in the proper identification of players using
Zbot. Know your enemy.

First of all, Zbot detection is supposed to be implemented in most versions of Quake 2, W.O.D. , Lithium, etc. The version I tested was detected under WOD and Lithium as soon as the auto aim feature was turned on, and I was promptly booted. The Zbot program can however work undetected under the standard quake 2 program probably up to the final version (3.20). The Zbots radar feature (looks the same as the WOD scanner) does not seem to trigger the auto booting feature. This does not really impart much of an advantage to the user but could skew the results in a one on one game.

Ok, so what is this Zbot thing? How does it work?
Well, if you have ever used a "bot" (like eraser, the bots that come with unreal, havoc, whatever) forget what you know. Zbot is not an AI (Artificial Intelligence) bot. I repeat, NOT an AI bot.
If you don't know what I am talking about, AI bots are computer controlled characters that run around like players but don't make mistakes. Some of these bots were designed to run on a server to provide additional players for the humans to fight. More players = more fun. These bots even have pre determined trash talk files programmed into them that can call you by name and appear very real. I haven't seen anyone claiming that they can log in to a server and run one of these bots from the client side. I don't say its impossible, but I haven't seen it yet.

Zbot is a different animal. It is a 'proxy'. It is a separate program loaded through a dos box which connects to the server and passes the information through to the Quake game. By intercepting the raw data from the server, it can determine the exact location of every other player in all three axis and use the info to override the player's input and aim for him. This can allow the proxy to immediately fire in any direction, just like you had eyes in back of your head. The proxy works from a menu or through key bindings, and can be activated or deactivated on the fly. The players movement is not affected by Zbot except for turning to aim, after which the player snaps back to his original orientation. The FOV of the Zbot proxy is adjustable from 360 degrees down to a narrow field (5-10 degrees). By narrowing the FOV, the user can attempt to hide the workings of the bot. This is one of the main ways you will notice that a bot is in use. If the FOV is set wide, the player will immediately fire on any enemy player that walks into range. The user may be two stories down, under water, facing the other way, and you peek out over a ledge that you just got to and you know he cant see you, and suddenly, before you can even look, bulls eye. You get rallied by the ol railgun. (The rail is the favorite weapon of the Zbot user). Then just as fast as the re-fire rate of the rail will allow, another shot is fired in the opposite direction and bulls eye again.

When the proxy is working at peak performance, without lag, it is virtually unstoppable as far as aim. A player could set up in the middle of a courtyard with a dozen entrances holding the railgun and kill anyone as soon as they stuck their little finger out from around a corner. Alternately, the player can run full tilt, jumping, swinging on hooks etc. and still maintain perfect aim. The proxy only fires directly at the enemy's current position, so it cannot "lead" to compensate for motion. (Although I read something about predicting motion as far as when the player will appear from behind a wall and firing in advance to meet the player.) Since it fires at the current location, the rocket launcher is a poor choice. Rockets need to be fired ahead of moving players or into the ground at their feet. The railgun has an immediate effect on its target so no leading is necessary. Anyway, if you see a player shooting perfect rails at targets he should not be able to see, be suspicious.

So you say you have seen plenty of people shooting perfect rails. Are they all using Zbot? NO! No. no. The railgun takes a lot of practice. You may not be able to hit anything with it, but others can use it well. The railgun is lag sensitive. LPB's can use it more effectively. People have sniper mode FOV aliases (scripts/macros) that change the FOV (Field of Vision). This works just like a high power scope on a rifle, they CAN and DO see you from a mile away and can fire that rail gun from anywhere on the board. All this without any Zbot help. So you cant tell just because he is good with the rail that he is using Zbot.

The other problem with detecting the Zbot comes from the on/off feature. Players can snap the thing on for a second, and let the proxy take one shot, then turn it off. You will not be able to detect a player doing this. The only real evidence (although not proof positive) is when the proxy is left on. It will continue to fire at the maximum re-fire rate of the weapon as long as a living enemy is in direct LOS (Line of Sight). It will not fire at dead players, or walls, or empty areas, although the player can still override and fire himself at these areas. But he cannot fire if there are legitimate targets in LOS, because the proxy will already be firing. If the proxy is active, the player cannot avoid firing at a legitimate target. Unfortunately, this looks like a player who is holding down the fire key. The difference will be the incredibly good aim.

So what does it all mean? Not much. Don't accuse a good player of using Zbot just because he is good. If he can duel with you in an open area and he does not fire continuously with very good aim, (especially if you can fool him by running behind a box, and he fires at either side trying to anticipate your next move, then he is NOT using a Zbot proxy. If he does not fire at you immediately as soon as you break into LOS, then its not Zbot. If he picks you off from a rooftop with the railgun as soon as you come into the room,--still not Zbot, just a practiced camper. If he can pick off targets with one shot even if they are behind him, then you should start to wonder.

You are suspicious? What to do? Well see if he has a history. Check out the CLQ (Champions League for Quake) They don't post zbot users, but they can tell you if a player is ranked. You see a player join a game and go from zero to 40 frags in like 4 minutes. get his name, go to the CLQ, see if he is ranked. Good players don't change their names often (unless they are trying to hide) so any good player will probably show up. It will tell you how many hours he has been playing over the last 6 months or so, and how well he is doing. Now of course he may not play on ranked servers, maybe he only plays on private networks, but you saw him on a public server didn't you? So if he is that good he should be ranked.

Again, what Zbot is not, is an AI bot. If the player moves too fast for you to hit and has fabulous aim, maybe its an AI bot running on the server. If it seems that the player has unlimited health or too much armor, its not Zbot. Zbot only helps you aim. (Actually it controls the aiming AND firing). The Zbot can be made active and inactive on the fly. It does not control motion (except turning to fire) so don't expect a Zbot user to be able to run around and type messages at the same time. (If you see movement and typing at the same time, its probably some type of server side bot, or something other than Zbot)

If you ever see accidental commands using "impulse" being entered by a player, be wary. Impulse commands are how the zbot is accessed.

The other feature of Zbot which does not affect aim or anything else is a radar scanner. It is an overlay which is very similar to the one in WOD. It will give you relative distance and direction to any other players. They appear as dots on a screen like you see in a space sim. For more on this see my WOD page and look at the scanner section This feature does NOT seem to trip the Zbot detection as implemented under WOD or Lithium. So dont be surprised if someone seems to have "radar" and keeps tracking you down. Maybe he does.

more to come

Update Apr:26, I just got version 6.04 of WOD for Q2 and there was an update to ZBOT detection which the author says came from an update to Lithium zbot detection, so things are getting fairer for the rest of us. Anyway, I had a key bound from the last time I tested zbot on WOD (It didn't work then) and I was able to get the scanner in Zbot to activate without getting booted. I never unbound the key (it was an impulse command) and I hit it by accident under ver 6.04 of WOD and it immediately booted me. So good work to everyone who are helping to keep online games fair. I assume that the same feature is probably active under lithium now, but I don't think anything can be done to an unmodified Quake 3.20 server, so If you do play regular Quake 2 games be careful and suspicious.

uptde: may 7, 99
I just did a little look around and found the ZORbot wich is a proxy for zbot. You either run it and let it load zbot and q2 for you or you run zorbot which waits for you to run zbot wich waits for you to run q2 then makes the connection to the server specified to zorbot. (I can't believe the bullshit people come up with)

I havent tried this on a wod server yet, (its a pain for me because i have to change my name and make sure that they dont ban me from the server for using a bot) but i did try it with a couple of lithium servers and had mixed results. The zorbot seems to capture any unwanted commands from the server (like disconnect) and calls it stuffed text from server. this did not however prevent the server from noticing me and trying to kick me off. The lithium server did fail to kick me. a different lithium server failed to let me connect. the standard q2 server was oblivious to my presence. Since the lithium server failed to kick me, this piece of crap may actually work in wod. Just more for you to deal with. The thing is though, i did see the message "kicking playerX for using zbot auto aim" even though it failed to kick me so maybe this thing will only prevent the kicking but will still allow detection.

.... and by the way, the zbot still sucked for me with my high ping. I got a couple of kills but it was not unstoppable. I am sure that a lpb would do better though.