fun-bots

As enticing and dynamic as multiplayer battles are in first-person shooters, the high number of players present at a game’s launch usually tends to fade throughout the years, with many of the populated servers being filled with either insufficient people to make use of the gameplay mechanics or skilled veterans that raise the difficulty for beginners, which is where fun-bots comes into play.

When it first released in 2011, DICE’s flagship Battlefield 3 title brought forth a series of outstanding improvements to the engine, raising the bar in terms of graphical fidelity, immersion and massive maps fit for vehicle warfare. Once its successors hit the market in the following years, many players migrated to enjoy the new content and setting offered by the next installments in the series.

More than a decade later, the numbers continue to dwindle, motivating members of the modding community to implement AI-based enemies and teammates into the game in servers powered by the flexible Venice Unleashed system, thus allowing both beginners and less skilled players to get a taste of what the game has to offer before diving into the multiplayer scene.

By default, bots are able to make use of the available land vehicles and aircraft to simulate the sandbox experience that Battlefield is known for. Players who wish to improve upon the existing movement tracks the AI normally goes through for recording videos or devising new strategies within combat can also create new paths using the trace feature for both infantry and vehicle-equipped units.

Finally, apart from the bundled lua-based configuration file that lets you adapt the mod according to your server’s settings, those with programming expertise can fork the openly available source code to implement new functions or add compatibility with other maps.

Whether you wish to sharpen your aiming skills without jeopardizing the rest of the team filled with online players or you want to experience a game mode that cannot function on the vanilla Battlefield 3 client without having to gather your friends to do so, fun-bots may be one of the best additions to the modding platforms so far, letting the game live on beyond the player-base’s willingness to stay loyal to this older title.