SturmBot.org

This bot is very important for dod 1.3 along with Sturmbot and ShrikeBot. So...what is it doing on a "Sturmbot" site? 

This site was always about "single player bots for day of defeat", the only reason this site was named Sturmbot is it was (in 2013) the most popular bot for dod and the site is a memorial dedication for Johan Linde.

Popular does not mean best and it depends on your needs too.

Sturmbot - popular, over 1,000 levels supported with 300 reworked waypoints in 2019, no Linux support (past ver 1.6) development stopped in 2004, very hard to manage on dedicated servers, limited features.

ShrikeBot - popular around 400 levels supported, limited Linux support , development stopped. Like above hard to manage on a dedicated server.

Sandbot for dod - Made for other mods as well by Team Sandpit. Very low general dod support files only one waypoint (dod_avalanche), has Linux/admin mod support, looks like development has stopped. 

Marine Bot - Low waypoint numbers is the only negative. Bot is the better bot of the four in performance and features. It only lacks waypoints.It has support for Linux for dedicated servers and Listen servers, negates the need for a lot of admin plugins due to in built features other bots don't have. 

Marine Bot is still in development, Frank McNeil is still active and from January 2024 this bot had greater dod support. Since then Martee has made some waypoints and Frank has some YouTube Guides.

That could end up critical if Valve updates Half-Life or Day of Defeat and affects third party addons. That actually happened to Day of Defeat Source early in 2025 and it broke not only MetaMod:Source and SourceMod but also RCBot2, the bot of DoD:S and required a rebuild that is still not 100% recovered for the Linux dedicated servers.

Sturmbot (no source code or bot author) and ShrikeBot (mostly the same) would be at a dead end. Marine Bot has a released Source code and... the author is still active.

INDEX

1. How to get the Official files

Note: Since I wrote this waypoints for the official site are tricky to find... make sure you visit the Marine Bot downloads sections here for waypoints and note I do have more waypoints than the official site now on this page list.

In saying that... Sturmbot.org is a mirror for Frank's site (in case his goes down) and for goodness sake make sure you read his News topics often as you may miss out some updates just reading my pages.

You may strike a issue with the official website as its landing page is non English, and the site is non HTTPS (insecure web page) that newer browsers don't like and get into a hissy fit.

Just press the text only link "Pokračovat na nezabezpečený web" (Translation = "Continue to the Unsecured Website") beside the larger button (its a login button so will not work for you).

• Go to the Files link... http://marinebot.xf.cz/files.html 
• Scroll down to "Marine Bot ports for different Half-Life 1 mods"
• Just under the "Day of Defeat 1.3" title you will see the latest download, grab that.
• Updated 30 Dec 2025: Waypoints issue, grab the waypoints from this site please, the ones on the Marine bot site are outdated. The Day of Defeat 1.3 waypoints by Martee" download has two maps, dod_charlie and dod_escape that have been updated.
• Install the "marinebot" folder in the zip to Half-Life\dod folder
• Visit the page on this site for many other waypoints.You can put these waypoint files in Half-Life\dod\marinebot\defaultwpts folder or the "customwpts" folder, it does not really matter so long as its one of the two folders.

It is nice to have two folders for waypoints, you can split up the folders to have a set from others in the defaultwpts folder and use the "customwpts" folder for ones you may move out of the defaultwpts folder and adjust them so they are separated.

There is a .exe (liblist_install_mb.exe) to edit your liblist.gam file (a normal part of install for any HL1 bot) but it didn't work for me (win 11)

If the bot does not load it may be that issue, don't worry a quick manual edit will fix that, (click to open a new window) see lower down in this article how to fix that.

For now, read a bit more about this bot as there is a fair amount this differs (in a good way) to other bots you are used to.

2. The Bot skills

One thing that strikes you first is the bot itself is... more skilled than Sturmbot and Shikebot, and I mean wayyyy more skilled.

That is important for me as... getting scores of 23 kills  - 5 deaths and being the top flag capper in the game may be what others like, but for me I need bots closer to good Human player levels.

Marine Bot does give you a real test of your skills. In saying that, if you find them too powerful... you can adjust them down to a level I call "drunk" that is slow and easy to dominate.

That is the strength of this bot, it is highly configurable, a solid and stable bot program.  

3. Support and features - Dedicated and Listen servers - Windows and Linux.

Linux is slowly rising in the Steam Hardware survey. In previous years Linux users have been very low, Oct 2025 it's at 3.05%. In August 2023 it was 1.82%.

Windows 10 is dropping but Windows as a whole isn't seeing a positive rise, Mac OS (+0.20%) and Linux (+ 0.37%) are. We will see but seeing a lot of Win 10 Gaming PC's /laptops cant run win 11 AND are still a valid PC for gaming, we may see Linux rise further in 2025/2026.

One place that Sturmbot and ShirkeBot completely fails is the lack of Linux support. That is important for Linux seeing Valve's push with Steam OS and Windows 10 demise some players may be migrating to Linux OS.

This bot plays as well on my Linux test rig ON NATIVE (no proton required) as well as windows. That means no additional layer taxing your older PC performance.

Do make a bind to the in game menu for this bot as it is very handy, the default is... bind "END" "marinebotmenu"  Just put that in console and pick a key you want.

The only issue I had on the install was getting the liblist.gam file (find that file in the "Half-Life\dod" folder) to edit correctly using the application supplied (liblist_install_mb.exe) in the download.

However, a quick manual edit of that file with notepad fixed my issue quick.

Open the liblist.gam file in the "Half-Life\dod" folder with Notepad.

Here are the edits you need to do marked in yellow highlight for Windows or Linux.... save the file after changing it.

game "Day of Defeat"  
url_info "http://www.dayofdefeat.net"  
url_dl ""  
version "1.3"  
size "5"  
svonly "0"  
cldll "1"  
secure "1"
hlversion "1110"  
type "multiplayer_only" 
nomodels "1" 
nohimodel "1"
mpentity "info_player_allies"
//gamedll "dlls\dod.dll"
//gamedll_linux "dlls/dod.so"
//gamedll_osx "dlls/dod.dylib"
detailed_textures "1"
gamedll "marinebot\marine_bot.dll"
gamedll_linux "marinebot/marinebot.so" 

Past that the default official download has no waypoints.

You need to download and install them separately, that is an easy task they are on Martee's web page here.

Just download that, install them to ....\Half-Life\dod\marinebot\customwpts and you are ready to play. All official maps are done, only one other map dod_overlord2_b1 has waypoints to date (Oct 2025)

4. Explore the marine.cfg file

Do look at the marine.cfg file in the "Half-Life\dod\marinebot" folder as outlined in the Video, especially the Custom Recruiting section if you are particular like I am on the bots team size, skill and class limits.

Unlike others I don't enjoy a server of 31 bots with Bazooka, MG's on small Orange maps or even large maps, but hey, you do you :)

My preference is high skill, don't care about the names, but like a 6X6 match settings that you find in League games...

Per side: 3 rifles 2 support and a sniper, yellow highlighted text is what I changed.

recruit
  addmarine team "allies" class "1"
  addmarine team "axis" class "1"
  addmarine team "allies" class "1"
  addmarine team "axis" class "1"
  addmarine team "allies" class "2"
  addmarine team "axis" class "2"
  addmarine team "allies" class "5"
  addmarine team "axis" class "5"
  addmarine team "allies" class "6"
  addmarine team "axis" class "4"
  addmarine team "allies" class "6"
  addmarine team "axis" class "4"
# If you would prefer the extra bot to join the allied team to
# begin with, then change the above line to:
#	addmarine team "allies"
# Either way around bots will move to balance the teams after
# a few seconds, as set by the auto balancing section above.
recruit-end

Now the above looks simple enough but I have to show something there about dod and weapon classes when used in numeral code like this.

I think the best way to visualize that is on the class selection team panels, the numbers are there and... don't forget dod has differences for British troops and para maps.The class / weapons amounts and naming is complex in dod.

You may note in the code above the last two highlighted lines... addmarine team "allies" class "6" and addmarine team "axis" class "4"

Allied class number "6" = "Support Infantry" (BAR weapon) However, the Axis side class number "6" is a MG. Class "4" is the "Sturmtruppe" (MP-44 weapon)

Just take care with these numbers and it gets complex when you play on a Para map or a British map the class numbers differ on those maps!

So its OK to just have that in the marine.cfg file, considering that loads and most maps will be non-british or non-para maps... sure.

But what about those other maps, para and British?

Well, Marine Bot has it's special map.cfg file system. That's right, you can have a special "marine.cfg" for every map.

This is great for server operators, each map has it's own settings, the file is the last to load on map loading so that is very cool.

Now, in other bot programs you would have to use a special plugin to get that capability. Read the "mapcfgs.txt" file in the folder Half-Life\dod\marinebot\mapcfgs it explains that you...

1. Copy the marine.cfg to the "mapcfgs" folder.
2. Rename it e.g.: for dod_anzio you would rename it "dod_anzio_marine.cfg"
3. Then edit the file to suit that map... like your class preferences and default skills.
4. If confused of what the class numbers are... look at the number on the Class selection panel in game for that map!

Read the text in each section of the file

The same goes for all the other items, this file is well documented so just reading the information in there makes editing easy.

UPDATE 19th Oct 2025: In an upcoming version Frank has introduced another bot class loading system for the next version. Soon to be released and it is even easier to get the class selection you need. More on that soon.

5. Other information in the marinebot folder

If you need more info... make sure you go to "Half-Life\dod\marinebot" folder and read up the HTML manuals Frank has included... click on...

• "console_commands.html" and...
• "marinebot/faq.html"

There is a huge amount of information there you really need to read if you want to get more out of this bot.

The "mapcfgs" folder

This is a powerful set of features you will not see in many other bots, its a Marine Bot specialty.

The folder "mapcfgs" can contain specialty named .cfg files to change the map configurations as the map loads when Marine Bot is used.

That is important to note, this differs from a map you may play on a dedicated server, the .cfg files ONLY function when Marine Bot is active. It will not change your "dod" folder map files.

Here are two examples of use...

Adjusting classes and server size

For example, lets say you want different classes or server size on certain maps, then read the FAQ (marinebot/faq.htm) and find this...

Can I arrange it so that bots automatically join the game instead of having to add them one by one?

If you are starting from a fresh installation, 15 bots should join automatically.
If you only want a certain number of bots to join the game, you can use the console command 'fillserver #' (doesn't work on HLDS) where # is the number of bots you wish to add (e.g. fillserver 15).
If you don't want to fill the server, or want more control, you can add bots using your 'marine.cfg' file. See that file for details.

If you want different numbers or configurations of bots for each map, you can create a separate file for this. Simply copy the 'marine.cfg' file into your marinebot\mapcfgs folder, and rename it to the same name as the map plus '_marine.cfg' e.g. for dod_anzio map you would rename it to 'dod_anzio_marine.cfg' or for dod_caen map it would be 'dod_caen_marine.cfg' and so on. Then edit it in the same way.

Did you catch that? Like we have just explored above.

Each map can have it's own marine.cfg file... just by copying it to a special folder and filename... no fooling around with AMX Mod X special plugins or other methods, Marine Bot does this for you.

You can visualize now why I say this bot has more "features" the others lack.

Read those files if you are after a specific set up and just note there are features that the other bots do not have.

Just remember to name the .cfg file correctly and place that in the mapcfgs folder e.g.: for a special dod_anzio configuration name the file dod_anzio_marine.cfg and after loading Marine Bot can change the map configuration.

Adjusting the actual .bsp file, spawn points, mapper errors.

This goes deeper than just the control of the server size, class and other commands you may put in a configuration file to start a map. 

This specially named configuration file can change settings in the .bsp file.

Note this isn't something a "normal user" (a player) needs to do, it's more a waypointer's task to configure the files and ship them with the waypoints. A player just needs to know what these are and install them.

Adjusting a .BSP file case 1. dod_belgium issue... bots were not capping certain flags.

Let's look at a usage example, Vas was waypointing dod_belgium, all was going OK and he made some great waypoints.

However, this map had a mistake in the capture points, the second flag from the Axis spawn had naming errors in the .bsp file.The result for any bots (in this case the allied team) are they cannot "read" the index of that capture zone...they just sit on it and it will not capture.

The solution was to make a file that corrects this error in the .bsp, name it dod_belgium_captureareas.cfg and configure the text in it to correct the entities, here is whats in it.

#
# Marine Bot capture areas configuration file
#
# The data in this file can be used to modify the capture areas values.
# The code phrase on left side is critical variable. DON'T MESS WITH IT!
# The values in double quotes are allowed to be modified.
# Keep the rest entries as they are.
#
# The name is NOT being processed. It's here to give you an idea what area it is.
#
AREA0
	axis_to_capture "0"
	allies_to_capture "0"
	name "point3"
AREA1
	axis_to_capture "2"
	allies_to_capture "2"
	name "point5"

After finding the issue (a complex issue in itself) and this file has been edited correctly... this mistake in the map can be corrected.

Now it is complex to fault find and configure but it is better than making a entire new .bsp when this one has been like this for 18+ Years and it really... only affects bots.

So it is like the functions of Botmans Stripper2 (a metamod plugin), editing a map's .bsp without editing the actual .bsp and without the need for Metamod to run it. It's built-in to Marine Bot.

Will a normal player have to use this... even once? No, unlike the aforementioned configuration file to adjust map settings in server numbers, class and other basic tasks you just have to know what the file is and why a waypointer placed it in the download.

Adjusting a .BSP file case 2... adjusting spawn points (in Firearms 3.0 but same for dod)

In this case Frank shows in a couple of videos, the first is a Firearms 3.0 map (ps_coldwar) that has a parachute jump to enter the map, this doesn't work in dod.

Frank wants you to look the first video "MB WIP Alternative spawnpoints and converting waypoints from Firearms" (only 13.25 minutes long).

What he does here is takes a (converted) Firearms map and it is used under day of defeat (dod_coldwar), however the map has a parachute drop as a spawn start, dod does not have that function.

Also, dod_coldwar does not have waypoints but the Firearms mod does have Marine Bot waypoints that can be pasted into the marine bot dod install and imported, changed a little and quickly used in dod.

So, this is a two part video on converting waypoints from map to map (maps with a similar structure, importing waypoints sets) but also how to adjust map entities inside the .bsp.

The solution for the "bad" spawn points is to change the spawn points to the ground using this Marine Bot feature.

Frank shows the technique and commands to use and gain the X Y Z coordinates and how to make the file...

Next video, a continuation of the above.

First half is Firearms info'. The last half is the same map above and for usage in dod.

In this case he is changing the capture areas. This is what happened in the dod_belgium map Vas had issues with... he was going to remake the map but used this Marine Bot feature instead.

Look how Frank adjusts the spawn points in dod_coldwar ("hard coded" into the .BSP file) and like Botmans Stripper2 utility and the game loads it changes the information as the maps loads... without actually changing the .BSP file.

Frank shows the entire process in this video so it's important for waypointers (and maybe server owners) to note this if they use Marine Bot and don't like a particular map entity issue.

In the first video he changed the spawn points location for dod_coldwar, now in this second video he has changed the capture points in the .BSP... 

 As you can see in the video this task is a matter of ..

1. knowing what's wrong,
2. finding the entity inside the .BSP file and
3. ultimately knowing a fair bit about map entities and
4. finally making a file to adjust the change when Marine Bot is loading the map.

A very clever solution and a feature/s you will find in Marine Bot that fixes problems other bots...cannot deal with.  

6. Dedicated servers 

For Dedicated servers we also see some improvements, myself and others like to play a traditional 6x6 competitive match setup and keep the teams even when bots and humans are on the same server.

Now in Sturmbot you can do that in the bot.cfg file and they are OK... more skilled and harder to beat, not as skilled as I like just... acceptable.

The problem is when you have players coming in and getting a bot to leave and then balancing the teams and...ensuring the class types selected is respected.

Sturmbot and ShrikeBot cannot do that correctly like marine Bot does and you have to manually sort that out. AMX Mod X plugins cannot help either.

Marine Bot has a "Custom Recruiting" section in the dod\marinebot\marine.cfg file where you can set the amount of bots,team, skill, class and name.

Further, the Auto Team Balancing feature removes the need to manually balance the teams, the command setting "auto_balance "30" will scan and fix that for you every 30 seconds.

There are many other settings in marine.cfg to get the server you want, skill / reaction time level, talk and chat.

7. The issue of lack of waypoints.

The only drawback I can find is waypoints, that is this bot for dod 1.3 hasn't many waypoints and... they are a lot different than other bots to make.

They are more complex but more to the point very different from Shrikebot and Sturmbot that are complex in their own way.

I am trying that now (October 2025) and finding it difficult at first and while they are more complex but that is more due to the difference of what I am used to... Sturmbot, ShirkeBot and RCBot2 and other NavMesh types in Source games.

I hope to address that with some support articles soon... as I get my head around it.

I also provide a download mirror for the official files and custom waypoints will follow... soon.

Waypointing this bot is hard?

After going through most of the learning curve, not really.

Once you are set up with some special tools (you can download my set and adjust it) you start reading instructions and after that, a small dev (orange) map you can make a set of waypoints in 30 minutes, add 1 hour for testing/adjusting that can lead to another hour if you are fussy.

That timeline is similar to Sturmbot and other bots, so the large amount features just makes it technically superior but the total time is about the same.

The learning curve is steep but once you have a few dev maps sorted, using the documents provided and solving problems, then you pick up speed.

I recommend you start with very basic maps and build your way up to more complex maps.

I will do my own guide soon like Frank has, just a very simple overview on what you need specifically for dod... a how to guide  "Your first Marine Bot dod Waypointing guide" soon.

Reason for that is while Franks guides are good... there is a lot of theory to absorb and that may put of some that just want to "dip your toe" into the bathwater before you step in.

I read for hours (not kidding) before I decided... OK enough, lets just start now and make mistakes. Sometimes it's the best way, dive in and make a mess, fix as you go.

 A quick overview of that process (I will do this in more detail in a separate article)...

1. Download my Marine Bot dod waypoint menu support files
2. Read the readme.
3. Print out the bind guide
4. Learn the differences of a cross waypoint and a normal waypoint are.
5. Learn what and where to place special "tags" on certain normal waypoints.
6. Learn how to lay down the paths, direction, class, team and why you only connect paths to normal waypoints and not cross waypoints.
7. Do a very simple map. Very basic.
8. Learn how to check the map with the various commands that check paths and waypoints for errors before saving.

That is a fair amount to absorb, however after that you can get into more complex items.

Frank does have a "easy mode" video in a Firearms small map, I would advise you start like that...with my menu and build up from there.