Reapbot (Reaper Bot reboot)

We are rebooting the classic Reaper Bot from the original source and fixing the community-reported issues first. The goal is a stable, fair, and readable baseline that we can extend in small, testable steps.

Active code (do not edit legacy)

All active, working code lives in mre/ only: https://github.com/saworbit/mre/tree/master/mre Everything under archive/ is legacy reference material. Do not edit or build from archive/.

Status

28+ community issues addressed + expanded navigation features - see CHANGELOG.md for details.

Fixed

• Crashes: SP edict overflow, MP route recursion, scoreboard overflow
• Movement: Jumpy strafing, water flashing, stuck in place, lift/door handling
• Hazards: Lava/slime avoidance, explosive self-damage, LG water discharge
• Fairness: Target selection, vacuum pickup, camping, skill-based aim jitter, observer targeting
• Powerups: Line-of-sight required for pickups (prevents through-wall grabs)
• Physics: Explosion knockback, backpack spawning
• Compatibility: sv_aim warning spam
• Aiming: Predictive lead capping

New Features

• High skill levels unlocked (skill 0-10, was 0-3) - skill 4+ = "god mode" bots
• Impulse 100 quick-add bot (standard convention from Frogbot)
• Velocity-based 3D swimming (oxygen-aware surfacing and pitch steering)
• Feeler steering + breadcrumbs (escape scans and dropped BotPath waypoints)
• Navigation learning (link types, usage weighting, danger/decay, rocket jumps)
• Retrospective learning + path optimization (trail rewards and shortcut links)
• Teacher Mode debug impulses (102 show / 103 hide bot learning nodes)
• Speed Demon update (bunny hopping on straight runs and reflex projectile dodging)
• Predator Update: Strategic intelligence upgrade
  • Map Control: Bots time powerups (Quad/Pent/Ring) and rush to spawns before they appear
  • Sound Navigation: Bots hear combat, item pickups, water splashes, and footsteps (with occlusion) and investigate
  • Curiosity: Bots shoot shootable buttons/doors/walls to discover secrets
• Smooth Steering: 3-frame angle averaging prevents jitter from pathfinder/whisker oscillation
• Sixth Sense: 360-degree awareness for items within 300 units (no facing check needed)
• High-Value Item Focus: Direct drive to powerups when close (<200 units) prevents strafing past
• Mastermind Update: Proactive tactical combat
  • Pre-Fire: Bots shoot rockets at corners where you just disappeared
  • The Trap: Low-health bots stop running and ambush chasers with SSG/RL
  • Displacement: Bots knock enemies into lava/slime using splash damage
• Episodic Learning: Teach bots by demonstration
  • Teleport detection: >500 unit instant travel creates LINK_TELE shortcuts
  • Golden paths: Routes to powerups (Quad/Pent/Ring) and weapons (RL/LG) are marked and prioritized
  • Path locking: Player trail nodes get boosted priority when picking up high-value items
• Darwin Update: Adaptive self-learning through reinforcement
  • Natural Selection: Bots mark death locations as dangerous (avoided) and kill locations as glorious (attractive)
  • Weapon Specialization: Bots develop personal weapon preferences based on success/failure history
  • Stuck Learning: Navigation failures mark problematic nodes as difficult
  • Decay System: Danger fades fast (courage) while glory fades slow (nostalgia)

Investigated (Likely Fixed / Not Found)

• "Bot frags not shown" - MSG_UPDATEFRAGS sent correctly, likely fixed by 0-index fix
• "Extra SNG ammo" - bots use same ammo as players
• "Firing faster" - bots use identical attack timings
• "Respawn splash sound" - spawn uses correct teleport sounds
• "Floating after respawn" - spawn already uses MOVETYPE_STEP

Non-Issues (Engine/Content)

• Score display at intermission - standard Quake behavior
• Scoreboard colors - engine limitation, modern ports handle correctly
• MultiSkin unreliable - code works, requires player.mdl with 16 skins

Build

.\ci\build_mre.ps1

This compiles mre/, writes progs.dat into ci/mre/progs.dat, and deploys the same copy to launch/quake-spasm/mre/progs.dat so the runtime directory stays in-sync with the build. Manual build (fteqcc) + deploy:

cd c:\reaperai\mre
..\tools\fteqcc_win64\fteqcc64.exe -O3 progs.src
copy c:\reaperai\progs.dat c:\reaperai\launch\quake-spasm\mre\progs.dat /Y

Run

cd launch\quake-spasm
launch_reapbot_v2.bat 8 dm4

Manual command with logging:

quakespasm.exe -game mre -condebug +developer 1 -listen 8 +maxplayers 8 +deathmatch 1 +map dm4

Test

# Full stability regression tests (~4 minutes)
.\ci\test_stability.bat

# Quick tests (~2 minutes)
.\ci\test_stability.bat --quick

Command to run stability regression tests: .\ci\test_stability.bat (add --quick for shorter runs).

Automated tests check for: edict overflow, runaway loops, route recursion, scoreboard overflow.

Docs

• ARCHITECTURE_CURRENT.md - Control flow and call graph
• mre/README.md - Quick start and testing checklist
• mre/COMMUNITY_ISSUES.md - Issue tracker
• mre/CHANGELOG.md - Detailed changes
• mre/SOURCES.md - Research sources
• KNOWN_ISSUES.md - Current regressions (bots clipping, logging gaps) and reproduction notes