Using bots

ReGameDLL_CS includes the zBot code used by Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Dedicated servers must enable it explicitly, and CS 1.6 servers also need the separate bot profiles and resources.

:::warning Old command-line option

Do not use the old -bots HLDS command-line option. It was removed upstream in favor of the bot_enable CVar.

:::

Enable bots on CS 1.6

1. Install a current ReGameDLL_CS release.
2. Download the official bot_profiles.zip.
3. Extract the archive into the server root so its cstrike files merge into <server>/cstrike.
4. Create or edit <server>/cstrike/game_init.cfg and set:

bot_enable "1"

5. Fully restart the server.

The regular regamedll-bin-*.zip release does not include the CS 1.6 bot profile archive, so installing only the GameDLL is not enough.

Enable bots on Condition Zero

Condition Zero already supplies the normal zBot profiles and resources. On a dedicated server, edit <server>/czero/game_init.cfg and set:

bot_enable "1"

Then fully restart the server. Listen servers enable zBot regardless of this CVar.

Add and remove bots

Run these commands in the server console or through RCON:

Command	Result
bot_add	Adds a random bot, using bot_join_team as the team preference.
bot_add <profile>	Adds the named profile from BotProfile.db.
bot_add_t [profile]	Adds a random or named Terrorist bot.
bot_add_ct [profile]	Adds a random or named Counter-Terrorist bot.
bot_kill or bot_kill all	Kills all living bots without removing them.
bot_kill <name>	Kills one bot. Quote names that contain spaces.
bot_kick or bot_kick all	Removes all bots and resets the quota so they are not immediately re-added.
bot_kick <name>	Removes one bot and reduces the quota.
bot_about	Prints information about the bot implementation.

Manually adding a bot increases bot_quota; manually kicking one reduces it.

Configure bot count

bot_quota_mode controls how bot_quota is interpreted.

Keep exactly six bots

bot_quota_mode "normal"
bot_quota "6"
bot_join_after_player "0"

Keep ten total active players

In fill mode, humans plus bots are kept near the quota:

bot_quota_mode "fill"
bot_quota "10"

Keep two bots per human

In match mode, the quota is a human-to-bot ratio:

bot_quota_mode "match"
bot_quota "2"

Useful quota settings:

CVar	Values	Meaning
bot_join_after_player	0, 1, 2	0: bots may join an empty server. 1: wait for a human on T/CT. 2: wait for any connected human, including spectators.
bot_join_delay	seconds	Delays bot joining after a map change.
bot_auto_vacate	0 or 1	When enabled, keeps a free slot available for a human player.
bot_join_team	any, T, CT	Preferred team for automatically added bots.

Difficulty, chatter, and objectives

bot_difficulty "2"
bot_chatter "minimal"
bot_defer_to_human "0"

• bot_difficulty: 0 easy, 1 normal, 2 hard, 3 expert.
• bot_chatter: commonly off, radio, minimal, or normal.
• bot_defer_to_human 0: bots may perform scenario objectives.
• bot_deathmatch 1: bots use deathmatch behavior and do not perform the normal scenario.
• bot_freeze 1: prevents bots from moving, which is useful for testing.

Weapon presets are also available:

bot_knives_only
bot_pistols_only
bot_snipers_only
bot_all_weapons

Navigation for custom maps

Bots need a navigation file at <mod>/maps/<map>.nav. If a custom map does not provide one, run:

bot_nav_analyze

Navigation analysis can take time and writes a new .nav file. Current ReGameDLL_CS builds reload the generated navigation data after analysis without requiring a separate map restart.

Back up hand-edited .nav files before re-running analysis. The additional bot_nav_* commands are advanced editing tools and should be used on a test server.

Example bot configuration

After enabling bots in game_init.cfg, place everyday bot behavior in game.cfg or a separate file executed by your server configuration:

bot_quota_mode "fill"
bot_quota "12"
bot_join_after_player "2"
bot_join_delay "5"
bot_auto_vacate "1"
bot_difficulty "2"
bot_chatter "minimal"
bot_defer_to_human "0"

See Troubleshooting if the bot_* commands are unknown or bots do not join.