We cannot talk about quake mods without talking about cdrom.com.
It is an old friend with a terrible name. Even as a teenager newly on the internet, I thought the website name was dumb.
Many Quake files were uploaded and distributed publicly on the FTP server ftp.cdrom.com.
As such, it is an important part of the history of quake, quake modifications, and quake bots.
Walnut Creek CDROM was a business in the 1990s.
The business was operated out of Walnut Creek, California, USA and they sold CDROMs of software, mostly collections of freeware and shareware.
The company was founded in August 1991 by Bob Bruce and was one of the first commercial distributors of free software on CD-ROMs. The company produced hundreds of titles on CD-ROMs, and ran the busiest FTP site on the Internet, ftp.cdrom.com, for many years.
-- Walnut Creek CDROM, Wikipedia.
The Walnut Creek CDROM business owned and operated the website cdrom.com and FTP server ftp.cdrom.com.
They maintained an FTP archive for many fields of free and shareware software.
Importantly, one of the archives they maintained was the Quake archive.
The Quake archive initially was an FTP mirror for the files released on ftp.idsoftware.com.
It expanded to include third-party modifications, applications, and much later files for games that were built upon the Quake engine such as half-life and quake2.
An archive of quake files was maintained on ftp.cdrom.com and had the home cdrom.com/pub/idgames2. The cdrom.com/pub/idgames directory (without the 2 on the end) was already used as an archive for doom files and files games that were built using the doom engine.
Like the doom archive, the quake archive was then mirrored to a suite of FTP servers around the world.
A message was displayed when accessing the directory, listing mirrors and encouraging the user to connect to a more local server if possible.
An example of this message archived on Christmas day in 1996 looks as follows:
Welcome to the idgames2 archives at this ftp site
Games using the Quake engine by id Software are covered here
*** ATTENTION: To reduce the load on this machine and ***
*** provide faster access for all users, ***
*** please check the following list for a ***
*** mirroring site closer to you and use it. ***
*** ***
*** Minnesota ftp.stomped.com/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** Illinois ftp.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/games/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.lib.siu.edu/pub/mirrors/idsoftware/ ***
*** New York ftp.gamers.org/pub/games/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.pioneer.wnyric.org/pub/quake/ ***
*** Costa Rica simula.efis.ucr.ac.cr/pub/games/quake/ ***
*** England sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.compulink.co.uk/pub/games/id/quake/ ***
*** ftp.ftech.net/mirrors/quake/ ***
*** Germany ftp.tu-clausthal.de/pub/msdos/games/quake-mirror/ ***
*** Denmark ftp.intercity.dk/pub/mirrors/idgames2/ ***
*** Sweden ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.rbk.sollentuna.se/pub/games/quake-stuff/ ***
*** Austria flinux.tu-graz.ac.at/pub/idsoftware2/ ***
*** Portugal ftp.telepac.pt/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** Greece ftp.hol.gr/games/idsoftware/quake/ ***
*** S. Africa ftp.ee.techpta.ac.za/pub/games/idgames2/ ***
*** Taiwan ftp.thu.edu.tw/Games/idgames2/ ***
*** Japan ftp.exa.co.jp/pub/quake/ ***
*** Australia ftp.powerup.com.au/pub/games/quake/ ***
*** ftp.pnc.com.au/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.ram.net.au/pub/quake/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.squirrel.com.au/pub/quake/ ***
Look carefully first and remember to turn on binary mode ('bin')
before transfering a file. if problems still arise, contact
[email protected] and start your subject line with
'QUAKE-FTP:'.
For more information on Quake check out some of the fine web sites
listed at:
http://www.nuqneH.org/slipgates/
-- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/ (archived, 25 December 1996)
Joost Schuur may have been responsible for this archive, at least in the early days. Joost played an important role in the doom community before quake and became the FTP administrator for id software at the time of Quake's release.
His email address is mentioned in the message, and his name in later versions of the message.
This message later changed to include more mirrors and reference to an alternate web interface.
Welcome to the idgames2 archives at this ftp site
Games using the Quake engine by id Software are covered here
*** ATTENTION: To reduce the load on this machine and ***
*** provide faster access for all users, ***
*** please check the following list for a ***
*** mirroring site closer to you and use it. ***
*** ***
*** Ohio ftp.lame.org/mirrors/quake_stuff/ ***
*** Pennsylvania ftp.epix.net/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** New York ftp.gamers.org/pub/games/idgames2/ ***
*** UK sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.compulink.co.uk/pub/games/id/quake/ ***
*** Sweden ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/idgames2/ ***
*** ftp.edu.sollentuna.se/pub/games/quake-stuff/ ***
*** Finland ftp.sci.fi/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** Austria flinux.tu-graz.ac.at/pub/idsoftware2/ ***
*** Poland ftp.task.gda.pl/pub/games/idgames2/ ***
*** Portugal ftp.telepac.pt/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** S. Africa ftp.global.co.za/pub/quake/ ***
*** ftp.is.co.za/games/id2/ **
*** Australia ftp.powerup.com.au/pub/games/quake/ Brisbane ***
*** ftp.livewire.com.au/pub/idgames2/ Brisbane ***
*** ftp.pnc.com.au/pub/idgames2/ Sydney ***
*** ftp.questnet.net.au/idgames2/ Brisbane ***
*** ftp.bf.rmit.edu.au/pub/quake/cdrom/ Melbourne ***
*** Brazil ftp.iis.com.br/pub/mirror/Quake/ ***
For more information on Quake check out some of the fine web
sites listed at
http://www.slipgatecentral.com/
An excellent web interface to the files available here can be found
at
http://www.gameaholic.com/idgames2/
Look carefully first and remember to turn on binary mode ('bin')
before transfering a file. if problems still arise, contact
Joost Schuur - [email protected].
-- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/ (archived, 10 February 1997)
The updated message now mentioned the important website slipgatecentral.com that became a hub for links on Quake. It also mentions the www.gameaholic.com/idgames2/ mirror that became a common and preferred way to download quake files via the web browser.
The archive may have initially been maintained in the directory "/pub/quake/" or this may have been a symbolic link. Nevertheless, this directory structure was reference in many releases, for example:
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/quake/quakec/bots/
-- ctfbot13b1.txt
The official archive was /pub/idgames2/.
It was also common to see the use of numbers in some referenced URLs on usenet and in readme files. This may have been
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.5/idgames2/quakec/bots/
-- tmbot11.txt
And more typical example links found on archived websites:
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.1/idgames2/quakec/bots/zeus205s.zip
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.1/idgames2/levels/deathmatch/a-c/cmania.zip
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.3/planetquake/lm/escape.exe
A mod developer could upload new files to /pub/idgames2/incoming/ from which administrators could moderate and move into the appropriate directory on the server, such /pub/idgames2/quakec/. This directory contained many subdirectories for specific types of Quake modifications, most notably /pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/.
For example:
admin/ 31-Aug-96 09:45 -
bots/ 20-Dec-96 14:25 -
code_examples/ 22-Sep-96 11:26 -
compilations/ 18-Dec-96 15:48 -
deathmatch/ 07-Dec-96 18:11 -
gore/ 19-Dec-96 16:45 -
howpatch.txt 30-Sep-96 02:24 7k
level_enhancements/ 20-Nov-96 11:43 -
misc/ 20-Dec-96 14:26 -
monsters/ 19-Dec-96 16:45 -
rpg/ 26-Nov-96 17:18 -
server/ 12-Dec-96 05:30 -
skins/ 18-Oct-96 04:49 -
sound/ 13-Dec-96 18:15 -
teamplay/ 17-Dec-96 17:32 -
utils/ 19-Dec-96 16:52 -
vehicles/ 07-Dec-96 18:22 -
weapons/ 18-Dec-96 15:55 -
At some point in 1997, a message was added to the top of some file directories on the server, such as the bots/ directory.
For example:
-= quakec/bots =-
Quake C patches dealing with automated 'bots'. Bots
are automated players that fight with or against you in
single or multi player games.
Non Quake C related bots are available from the
'utils/network_serial/client_bot' directory.
-- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/quakec/bot (archived)
This is called a ".message" file, a hidden file placed in an FTP directory and interpreted by FTP clients to be show to the user.
The message makes it clear that the directory is for quakec-based bots, and not client-side bots that interact with the game via the network protocol.
Thankfully, the FTP archive was accessible via the web with HTTP so it could be explored in a web browser instead of an FTP client.
Because of this clever bit of usability, it meant that many files were captured by the internet archive, which started o archive publicly accessible websites like http://www.cdrom.com/ starting in December 1996, 4-5 months after Quake had been released and mods were being distributed.
This means that webpages were archived that list the state of the quake archive at different points of time in 1996 and 1997, allowing us to see what files were present and what their timestamps were.
For example, archive.org has three useful archives of the website "http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/" at the dates
The timestamps can be taken as a good proxy for the date of release of a given file, as sharing a mod on ftp.cdrom.com was typically the main way files were distributed.
Nevertheless, small discrepancies may exist between release date and file timestamp, such as the local time for the developer being different to the server time, and the time needed for a server administrator or moderate to move a file from /incoming to /quakec/bots/, potentially copying it instead of moving it creating a new timestamp.
There are a few very sources of useful information about bots captured in archive.org about cdrom.com pertaining to bots.
They are:
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/ directory that lists bots.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/incoming/ directory that lists newly uploaded but not yet moderated files.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/newstuff/ directory that lists newly uploaded and moderated files.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/00alltxt.tar.gz file that contains all .txt files in the archive.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/00find.gz file that contains a list of all .txt files in the archive.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/CHANGES that contains a changelog for the structure of the archive.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/LAST.24hours for a list of files added or changed in the last 24 hours.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/LAST.7days for a list of files added or changed in the last 24 hours.
- cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/ls-laR.gz for a list of all files in the tree.
Most importantly, these directories and files helped in identifying the existence of intermediate and older versions of bots.
These files and directories, in these locations were also an invaluable resource on mirrors of the archive on other servers that also had a web interface that was archived by archive.org in late 1996 and 1997.
Of note in the structure of the archive is when the idgames2/quakec/bots/ subdirectory was created.
This is an interesting question for many reasons. Before it existed, bots would have been placed elsewhere in the archive, such as misc/ or monsters/.
The bot/ subdirectory was either created preemptively, in anticipation of the development of quake bots, or shortly after the development of the first quake bots.
The "cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/CHANGES" does not explicitly mention the creation of the bot/ subdirectory, but it does mention subdirectories of the bot/ subdirectory,
For example, the relevant parts of the file are listed below:
Major changes made to the directory structure of
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2:
...
11/22/96 'quakec/bots/reaper' created.
...
10/18/96 'utils/network_serial/client_bots' created. California mirror added.
...
10/04/96 'quakec/skins' directory created. Symlink to 'quakec/bots/eliminator'
in the levels directory added.
...
09/20/96 'quakec/bots/eliminator' directory created.
-- http://cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/CHANGES (archived December 25 1996)
This changelog shows specialty subdirectories created for the eliminator bot in mid September 1996 and for the reaper in mid November 1996.
These subdirectories are required given the addition of customized levels for the eliminator bot and customized bot skins for the reaper bot.
Interestingly Micheal Polucha and his brother Tim Polucha, authors of one of the very first bots called TMBot mention a "quakec/bot" subdirectory in the readme file for their bot.
The bot was released on August 22 1996 and a corroborating announcement was made on usenet containing the readme file for the bot.
The TM Bot mod can hopefully be found at the following locations:
ftp.cdrom.com/.5/idgames2/*
* (check incoming, newstuff or quakec/bot or quakec/monster)
The Quake Stomping Grounds - http://204.73.178.27/ (check files area)
-- tmbot1.txt
They do not come right out and say the bot can be downloaded from /quakec/bot as it had only just been uploaded, but it looks like the directory already exists.
Their subsequent release 4 days later on August 26 1996 does specify this quakec/bot subdirectory directly.
The TM Bot mod can be found at the following locations:
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.5/idgames2/quakec/bots/
http://www.stomped.com/files.htm
-- tmbot11.txt
At worst, the subdirectory was created sometime after the release of the TMBot 1.0 on the 22nd and before the release of the TMBot 1.1 on the 26th.
My guess is that the directory already existed and probably contained or anticipated client-side bots.
Walnut Creek CDROM created and released a CD with a copy of the quake archive called the "Toolkit for Quake.
The first version was released in October 1996 and cost $19.95.
It contained a copy of the archive captured before October in 1996, including levels, programs, and mods.
Included on this CDROM are programs that will let you get the most out of Quake. You'll find files such as 66 add-on levels, add-on graphics files and over 111 utility programs, documentation on playing and editing Quake, and Frequently Asked Questions are also included on this disc.
-- The Toolkit for Quake Archive (archived December 21, 1996)
A copy of the CD can be acquired easily today as it has seemingly been abandoned.
The timestamps of files and content of the CD suggest that the archive was copied late August 1996 in order to create the CD. The oldest date I can find is August 30th.
The first bots started appearing at or before this time in the archive, e.g. TMBot and DMBot, but do not appear on the CD. In fact the quakec/bots/ directory does not appear on the CD at all.
A second toolkit CD was released in early 1997, likely provoked the popularity of modding for Quake over the Christmas period.
The second CD was called "Toolkit for Quake (2nd Edition)" and was released in January 1997 for the same price as the first CD.
Welcome to the Toolkit For Quake 2nd Edition CDROM! Included on this CDROM are programs that will let you get the most out of Quake. On this disc you+ll find files such as 240 add-on levels, add-on graphics files, 47 recorded demos from the actual game and over 140 utility programs!
-- Toolkit for Quake (2nd Edition) (archived June 05, 1997)
By my estimation, the CD contains a copy of the Quake archive captured late November 1996, perhaps November 22nd according to the old timestamped files I could locate.
This CD does contain Quake bots.
Specifically, the QUAKEC/BOTS/00_INDEX.TXT file lists them all with presumably timestamps from the FTP archive.
bgadm101.txt 4466 09-01-96 Description for bgadm101.zip
bgadm101.zip 117830 09-01-96 See description above.
bgbot16.txt 5406 09-29-96 Description for bgbot16.zip
bgbot16.zip 245835 09-29-96 See description above.
bgbot20a.txt 4004 09-29-96 Description for bgbot20a.zip
bgbot20a.zip 368937 09-29-96 See description above.
botskn18.txt 6672 10-19-96 Description for botskn18.zip
botskn18.zip 376980 10-19-96 See description above.
botskn20.txt 7478 10-27-96 Description for botskn20.zip
botskn20.zip 391428 10-27-96 See description above.
bplayer2.txt 2623 09-21-96 Description for bplayer2.zip
bplayer2.zip 267199 09-21-96 See description above.
bthnt10.txt 2361 09-19-96 Description for bthnt10.zip
bthnt10.zip 133864 09-19-96 See description above.
dmbot1.txt 4604 08-25-96 Description for dmbot1.zip
dmbot1.zip 179816 08-25-96 See description above.
eliminat\ Eliminator bot files.
iwbot21.txt 9701 09-30-96 Description for iwbot21.zip
iwbot21.zip 130461 09-30-96 See description above.
mybot16.txt 1942 09-02-96 Description for mybot16.zip
mybot16.zip 142877 09-02-96 See description above.
reaprb07.txt 9930 10-25-96 Description for reaprb07.zip
reaprb07.zip 157750 10-25-96 See description above.
roambot1.txt 4035 09-03-96 Description for roambot1.zip
roambot1.zip 257891 09-03-96 See description above.
sambot.txt 4395 09-08-96 Description for sambot.zip
sambot.zip 738055 09-08-96 See description above.
swbot104.txt 3525 10-10-96 Description for swbot104.zip
swbot104.zip 150124 10-10-96 See description above.
tlgbot.txt 7782 09-03-96 Description for tlgbot.zip
tlgbot.zip 374803 09-03-96 See description above.
tmbot11.txt 4881 08-26-96 Description for tmbot11.zip
tmbot11.zip 181238 08-26-96 See description above.
vbot11.txt 3229 10-27-96 Description for vbot11.zip
vbot11.zip 379364 10-27-96 See description above.
wisp.txt 2417 08-31-96 Description for wisp.zip
wisp.zip 15905 08-31-96 See description above.
zeus10.txt 5849 09-28-96 Description for zeus10.zip
zeus10.zip 186963 09-28-96 See description above.
We don't see the reaper subdirectory which was claimed to have been added to the /bots subdirectory on November 22nd, according to cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/CHANGES.
Therefore, it is likely that the files from the archive were copied for the CD prior to this date, or prior to the directory being added on this date.
The last bots were added to the quakec/bots/ subdirectory in 1999.
Specifically the cronobot.zip and cronobot.txt on July 24th 1999. By this time, quake 2 mods and bots had been popular for a year and Quake 3 was about to be released.
The final state of the bots/ directory was then preserved in the following form, taken from a modern mirror on quaddicted.com.
Name↓ Last Modified: Size: Type:
../ - Directory
eliminator/ 2016-Jan-11 16:58:20 - Directory
reaper/ 2000-Jun-23 16:10:39 - Directory
attacker.txt 1997-Feb-15 00:00:00 0.3K text/plain
attacker.zip 1997-Feb-15 00:00:00 187.1K application/zip
bgadm101.txt 1996-Sep-01 00:00:00 4.3K text/plain
bgadm101.zip 1996-Sep-01 00:00:00 115.0K application/zip
bgbot16.txt 1996-Sep-29 00:00:00 5.2K text/plain
bgbot16.zip 1996-Sep-29 00:00:00 240.0K application/zip
bgbot20a.txt 1996-Sep-29 00:00:00 3.9K text/plain
bgbot20a.zip 1996-Sep-29 00:00:00 360.2K application/zip
borg12.txt 1997-Jan-28 00:00:00 1.6K text/plain
borg12.zip 1997-Jan-28 00:00:00 1.6M application/zip
bplayer2.txt 1996-Sep-21 00:00:00 2.5K text/plain
bplayer2.zip 1996-Sep-21 00:00:00 260.9K application/zip
bthnt10.txt 1996-Sep-19 00:00:00 2.4K text/plain
bthnt10.zip 1996-Sep-19 00:00:00 130.7K application/zip
btmv31.txt 1997-Jul-04 00:00:00 16.6K text/plain
btmv31.zip 1997-Jul-04 00:00:00 483.6K application/zip
btsk23.txt 1997-Jul-23 00:00:00 16.7K text/plain
btsk23.zip 1997-Jul-23 00:00:00 823.5K application/zip
btskn22.txt 1996-Nov-05 00:00:00 7.6K text/plain
btskn22.zip 1996-Nov-05 00:00:00 383.5K application/zip
cronobot.txt 1999-Jul-25 00:00:00 3.5K text/plain
cronobot.zip 1999-Jul-25 00:00:00 169.4K application/zip
ctfbot12.txt 1997-Nov-18 00:00:00 58.6K text/plain
ctfbot12.zip 1997-Nov-18 00:00:00 691.8K application/zip
cujo14.txt 1997-Feb-13 00:00:00 17.4K text/plain
cujo14.zip 1997-Feb-13 00:00:00 524.0K application/zip
death-64.txt 1997-Feb-18 00:00:00 2.9K text/plain
death-64.zip 1997-Feb-18 00:00:00 235.0K application/zip
dm4reaper.txt 1997-Aug-12 00:00:00 1.2K text/plain
dm4reaper.zip 1997-Aug-12 00:00:00 163.6K application/zip
dmbot1.txt 1996-Aug-25 00:00:00 4.5K text/plain
dmbot1.zip 1996-Aug-25 00:00:00 175.6K application/zip
dmbt21b3.txt 1997-Jun-14 00:00:00 30.9K text/plain
dmbt21b3.zip 1997-Jun-14 00:00:00 376.7K application/zip
dreaper.txt 1999-Feb-03 00:00:00 3.9K text/plain
dreaper.zip 1999-Feb-03 00:00:00 1.3M application/zip
drkbt11b.txt 1997-Jun-24 00:00:00 4.3K text/plain
drkbt11b.zip 1997-Jun-24 00:00:00 152.0K application/zip
estepbot2eng.txt 1998-Mar-18 00:00:00 0.2K text/plain
estepbot2eng.zip 1998-Mar-18 00:00:00 686.2K application/zip
fbedit18.txt 1999-Feb-24 00:00:00 13.4K text/plain
fbedit18.zip 1999-Feb-24 00:00:00 131.9K application/zip
fragbot.txt 1997-Feb-06 00:00:00 2.0K text/plain
fragbot.zip 1997-Feb-06 00:00:00 353.0K application/zip
gidbot.txt 1997-Sep-23 00:00:00 6.1K text/plain
gidbot.zip 1997-Sep-23 00:00:00 155.3K application/zip
grdbot23.txt 1997-Nov-22 00:00:00 12.0K text/plain
grdbot23.zip 1997-Nov-22 00:00:00 408.9K application/zip
gyrobot.txt 1997-Aug-05 00:00:00 15.0K text/plain
gyrobot.zip 1997-Aug-05 00:00:00 185.2K application/zip
hipreap3.txt 1997-Aug-17 00:00:00 1.1K text/plain
hipreap3.zip 1997-Aug-17 00:00:00 615.2K application/zip
iwbot21.txt 1996-Sep-30 00:00:00 9.4K text/plain
iwbot21.zip 1996-Sep-30 00:00:00 127.4K application/zip
knbot45.txt 1997-Apr-19 00:00:00 4.6K text/plain
knbot45.zip 1997-Apr-19 00:00:00 581.8K application/zip
kqcbots095b.txt 1997-Dec-21 00:00:00 7.4K text/plain
kqcbots095b.zip 1997-Dec-21 00:00:00 167.6K application/zip
maniacbt.txt 1999-Jun-27 00:00:00 13.8K text/plain
maniacbt.zip 1999-Jun-27 00:00:00 221.3K application/zip
mybot16.txt 1996-Sep-02 00:00:00 1.9K text/plain
mybot16.zip 1996-Sep-02 00:00:00 139.5K application/zip
newctf12.txt 1997-Apr-24 00:00:00 31.8K text/plain
newctf12.zip 1997-Apr-24 00:00:00 895.5K application/zip
oak0405.txt 1997-May-04 00:00:00 5.0K text/plain
oak0405.zip 1997-May-04 00:00:00 1.0M application/zip
ogrebot.txt 1997-Aug-05 00:00:00 3.3K text/plain
ogrebot.zip 1997-Aug-05 00:00:00 343.3K application/zip
pbot_src.txt 1997-Jan-27 00:00:00 1.1K text/plain
pbot_src.zip 1997-Jan-27 00:00:00 107.3K application/zip
pkbot.txt 1998-Jul-26 00:00:00 3.2K text/plain
pkbot.zip 1998-Jul-26 00:00:00 221.6K application/zip
place2.txt 1997-Feb-09 00:00:00 2.8K text/plain
place2.zip 1997-Feb-09 00:00:00 282.9K application/zip
qbot11.txt 1998-Feb-17 00:00:00 1.3K text/plain
qbot11.zip 1998-Feb-17 00:00:00 634.6K application/zip
qcbot003.txt 1997-Jun-07 00:00:00 0.2K text/plain
qcbot003.zip 1997-Jun-07 00:00:00 846.7K application/zip
rbot20.txt 1997-Jul-14 00:00:00 8.1K text/plain
rbot20.zip 1997-Jul-14 00:00:00 2.6M application/zip
rbot70.txt 1997-Aug-21 00:00:00 5.2K text/plain
rbot70.zip 1997-Aug-21 00:00:00 1.5M application/zip
roambot1.txt 1996-Sep-03 00:00:00 3.9K text/plain
roambot1.zip 1996-Sep-03 00:00:00 251.8K application/zip
sambot.txt 1996-Sep-08 00:00:00 4.2K text/plain
sambot.zip 1996-Sep-08 00:00:00 720.7K application/zip
shooter.txt 1998-Feb-21 00:00:00 2.7K text/plain
shooter.zip 1998-Feb-21 00:00:00 305.3K application/zip
sk_4reap.txt 1996-Nov-16 00:00:00 2.4K text/plain
sk_4reap.zip 1996-Nov-16 00:00:00 73.9K application/zip
swbot104.txt 1996-Oct-10 00:00:00 3.4K text/plain
swbot104.zip 1996-Oct-10 00:00:00 146.6K application/zip
tballman.txt 1998-Jul-09 00:00:00 2.9K text/plain
tballman.zip 1998-Jul-09 00:00:00 160.8K application/zip
tlgbot.txt 1996-Sep-03 00:00:00 7.6K text/plain
tlgbot.zip 1996-Sep-03 00:00:00 366.0K application/zip
tmbot11.txt 1996-Aug-26 00:00:00 4.7K text/plain
tmbot11.zip 1996-Aug-26 00:00:00 176.9K application/zip
trevbot.txt 1997-Mar-26 00:00:00 1.6K text/plain
trevbot.zip 1997-Mar-26 00:00:00 317.0K application/zip
vbot11.txt 1996-Oct-27 00:00:00 3.1K text/plain
vbot11.zip 1996-Oct-27 00:00:00 370.4K application/zip
wisp.txt 1996-Aug-31 00:00:00 2.3K text/plain
wisp.zip 1996-Aug-31 00:00:00 15.5K application/zip
zeus_src.txt 1997-Sep-15 00:00:00 6.7K text/plain
zeus_src.zip 1997-Sep-15 00:00:00 187.5K application/zip
zeus205.txt 1997-Jun-04 00:00:00 0.1K text/plain
zeus205.zip 1997-Jun-04 00:00:00 369.9K application/zip
zeus205s.txt 1997-Jun-04 00:00:00 0.2K text/plain
zeus205s.zip 1997-Jun-04 00:00:00 213.2K application/zip
The timestamps differ by one day, e.g. one day earlier on some other modern copies of the archive, such as https://www.gamers.org/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/.
This may be because of where the servers are hosted and the choice to interpret timestamps using local server time. I believe the above timestamps are correct and match those listed in archived versions of the directory on cdrom.com from archive.org.
Most causal quake players often believe that this is the extent of quake bots available for quake.
In fact, it is only a subset of bots available. There are 55 zip files for "bots" in this final representation of the archive. I mention "bots" in quotes, because not all mods in the directory are quake bots (some are code snippets or related mods) and there are multiple versions listed for for many bots (like zeus, rbot, bgbot and more).
The Quake Bot ARchive has over 210 bots at the time of writing, listing nearly 4 times more bots.
Some of the most popular bots do not even appear in this archive, such as the Frikbot, Frogbot and Omicron bot. I don't know why the authors of those bots chose not upload them to the archive and instead chose to host them elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the quake/bots/ archive was not to last. In fact the days for the ftp.cdrom.com file archive were numbered.
The archive was closed in 2001, shortly after the parent company was acquired.
At first, the maintainers of the archive were locked out.
...
As of about the 21st of September, 2001, Digital River (the owners of the cdrom.com server) denied public access to the idgames/ (DOOM-engine games) and idgames2/ (Quake-engine games) archive file trees. This was, according to notes reflected on Doomworld (but not sent to us, the maintainers) a temporary condition due to unusual bandwidth needs. The expectation was that by early the following week, things would be back to normal.
Since then, we have been informed by Bill Dickson, Senior Manager, Download Technologies, Digital River that our maintenance accounts on cdrom.com are locked and will not be restored, and that the future of the archives (if any) will be handled by people who work for Digital River, outside the DOOM/Quake community. Unfortunately, he only told us this after several days of lockout and in response to email queries from us. Until that response, we had absolutely no idea what was going on.
...
-- Archive situation at cdrom.com, October 1, 2001, by Ty Halderman & Frans P. de Vries.
Later, the archive was shutdown and hosted and mirrored elsewhere.
As many of you may be aware, the master DOOM, Quake and Unreal community archives at ftp.cdrom.com were closed last month.
...
Our thanks go out to Walnut Creek and Digital River for hosting the archives on ftp.cdrom.com since late 1994, to all those who offered assistance during the transition (in particular IHETS), and further to all of you in the community who are making this all worth doing.
3D Gamers is now hosting the Community Archives for the DOOM-, Quake-, and Unreal-engine games.
...
-- DOOM, Quake, Unreal archives re-opened, October 11, 2001, Ty Halderman & Frans P. de Vries.
Although present for a time, these archive too were eventually shutdown.
Modern day (at the time of writing) mirrors exist at:
- https://www.gamers.org/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/
- https://www.quaddicted.com/files/idgames2/quakec/bots
- https://ftpmirror1.infania.net/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/
- https://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames2/quakec/bots/
An updated and modern welcome message is also provided.
For example:
Welcome to the idgames2 archives at this ftp site
a Community Service of Gamers.Org - https://www.gamers.org
Games using the Quake engine by id Software are covered here
*** ATTENTION: To reduce the load on this machine and ***
*** provide faster access for all users, ***
*** please check the following list for a ***
*** mirroring site closer to you and USE it. ***
*** ***
*** Germany (*) ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames2/ ***
*** Germany https://www.quaddicted.com/files/idgames2/ ***
*** Sweden https://ftpmirror1.infania.net/pub/idgames2/ ***
*** ***
*** (*) Primary download server - please use this instead ***
*** of the master server ***
*** For more info: https://www.gamers.org/ftp/archives.html ***
Look carefully first and remember to turn on binary mode ('bin')
before transfering a file. If problems still arise, contact
Xymph - [email protected]
-- https://www.gamers.org/pub/idgames2/
- Walnut Creek CDROM, Wikipedia.
- Quake Archive, http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/ (archived)
- Joost Schuur, Doom Wiki.
- The Toolkit for Quake Archive (archived December 21, 1996)
- Toolkit for Quake CD.
- Toolkit for Quake (2nd Edition) (archived June 05, 1997)
- Toolkit for Quake (2nd Edition) CD
- Quake Archive on gamers.org