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Cujo

Cujo or Cujobot is a helper bot in the form of a rottweiler dog monster from the singleplayer game, created by Jonathan E. Wright.

It is a seemingly simple mod that us a lot of fun and was added to many other quake mods that were amalgams of other mods.

Not all releases survive, and perhaps not all public release are know. But we do have the first, the last, and a few in between.

The incorporation of Cujo into other mods also means that parts survive in those mods, including the occasional readme file.

Cujo v1.0

The first version of the CujoBot was released as cujo10.zip.

Filename : CUJO10.ZIP
Version  : 1.00
Date     : 96/9/04
Author(s): Jonathan E. Wright

-- cujo10.txt

An unpacked copy of the bot can be found on the "Power Tools for Quake" CDROM in the directory MAIN_WPN/BOTS/CUJO10/.

It was not announced on Usenet.

The release contains a readme, compiled game code, two bat files and the source code.

  35374  4 Aug  1996 SOURCE.ZIP
   6837  4 Aug  1996 CUJO10.TXT
    587  4 Aug  1996 INSTALL.BAT
     20  4 Aug  1996 CUJO.BAT
 433048  4 Aug  1996 PROGS.DAT

The files in the release are dated August 4th, at least those distributed on the "Power Tools for Quake" CD.

The readme file dates the release as the 4th of September, which is probably accurate.

Cujo is based on the DMBot released on August 25th 1996 and provides an attack dog for attacking enemies in the singleplayer game.

This mod creates a personal attack dog which will follow the
player and attack his enemies, even drawing fire in the process.

The dog will not attack zombies, since it cannot gib them.

This bot is based on original dog code and some code from
DM Bot 1.0.  The dog does not have any manual control functions
like those bots do.  He's all auto or he's dead.

-- cujo10.txt

Cujo offers some fun additional capabilities.

Issuing commands, the player can choose to active (spawn) and decorative (remove) the dog, teleport the dog to their current location and turn Cujo's collar into a lamp.

The readme file is full of whimsy, painting the picture of cujo as part of the game.

Cujo is a special, genetically enhanced breed of Rottweiler with 8 times
the endurance of other dogs his size.  He can cause up to twice as much
damage per attack as his piddly cousins, too.  And to top it all off,
Cujo is wearing a special suit of armor designed specifically with him
in mind.  Cujo is one *bad* dog.

-- cujo10.txt

Cujo is only for singleplayer at this stage, no deathmatch support exists in this first version.

Historical Links:

Cujo v1.1

The second version was released as cujo11.zip.

An unpacked copy of the bot was also found on the "Power Tools for Quake" CDROM in the directory "MAIN_PAT/QC_PATCH/DOG/".

This release included the same files as the first release, with the addition of a custom model for the dog.

  37449 13 Aug  1996 SOURCE.ZIP
 440876 13 Aug  1996 PROGS.DAT
    155 13 Aug  1996 CUJO11.BAT
    875 13 Aug  1996 INSTALL.BAT
  24436 13 Aug  1996 H_CUJO.MDL
 146056 12 Aug  1996 CUJO.MDL
   8923 21 Jun  1996 CUJO11.TXT

The files are timestamped August 13th which I suspect is somehow an artifact of how they were added to the CD.

The release date in the readme is listed as the 4th of September, the same date as the first release. This may be correct, or may have been left unchanged accidentally. For lack of a better date, this is taken as the release date for this version.

Filename : CUJO11.ZIP
Version  : 1.1
Date     : 96/9/04
Author(s): Jonathan E. Wright
Email    : [email protected]
Home Page: http://trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno
           Check here first for the latest updates to CUJO!

This release also lists a homepage for the author, although this page was not captured by archive.org until 1998, two years later. Nothing of use was captured.

The readme includes a changelog, highlighting the addition of a new model file for the dog to make him look like a Saint Bernard.

Cujo now *looks* like a Saint Bernard!  Okay, he looks like a white
rottweiler with brown spots.  The dog skin doesn't seem to map quite
as regularly as the player skin (the dog skin is drawn at a weird angle)
so a 3 of the triangles that make up the dog were mapping wierdly and
I couldn't seem to change them completely.  Also, St. Bernards have
floppy ears and long tails, but Cujo doesn't, cause he's still made
from a rottweiler model.  If you think the new skin sucks, let me know,
because I'm not completely satisfied with it.  Your feedback will be
appreciated.

-- cujo11.zip

Historical Links:

  • ftp://ftp.stomped.com/pub/quake/quakec/misc/cujo11.zip

Cujo v1.2

The next release of the bot was in the file cujo12.zip.

A copy of this release cannot be located, but evidence of exists because this version of the mod was incorporated into two other mods and the authors decided to also include the readme file for this release, cujo12.txt, in their release as well.

The cujo12.txt file appears in the "killer" mod version 0.85 released in the archive killer85.zip by Howard Roy.

This release appears on the "NightOwl 023" CDROM released in 1997, in the directory "022A" for the "Games - Quake Add-Ons". A copy of this CD is archived at retroarchive.org.

The killer mod combines at least 7 other mods into one mod, including Cujo version 1.2.

The release date is mentioned as "11/8/96", which is probably the 8th of November 1996, using the American date format.

Filename : Killer.ZIP
Version  : 0.85
Date     : 11/8/96
Author(s): Howard Roy

-- killer.txt

The release date listed forv1.2 of cujo in the readme is the 20th of October 1996, which we will take as the release date. If correct, this is more than a month and half since the suspected date of the previous v1.1 release.

Filename : CUJO12.ZIP
Version  : 1.2
Date     : 10/20/96

-- cujo12.txt

This version of Cujo supports deathmatch.

The dog is provided as a powerup in the game, rather than being available to all players all the time.

New rules for Cujo in a deathmatch:
  1) You must pick up a yellow armor to get Cujo.  You will still get the
     yellow armor, but Cujo will be made available to you for ONE USE.  If
     you don't need the armor because yours is better or the same IT STILL
     GETS PICKED UP.  This is to prevent the Cujo powerup from staying around
     for other people to pick up.  If your armor is better, you will still
     keep the better armor, but the armor powerup will disappear.
  2) You can only spawn one Cujo at a time.
  3) You can only keep one Cujo powerup at a time.  You CAN spawn a Cujo
     and then pick up another Cujo powerup, but if you pick up a second
     powerup, you will still only have one other use.  There is no counter
     for how many Cujo powerups you can have.  You either have one or you
     don't!
  4) Instead of 200 health and 200 red armor, Cujo gets 100 health and
     150 yellow armor in deathmatch.

-- cujo12.txt

A suggestion from Gary Mcmillin, credited in the readme, resulted in Cujo being able to eat gibs for health in the game. A clever idea indeed.

Cujo will eat gibs and heads for health.  Eating either will heal him 15
points.  If there are no enemies around and Cujo's health is 90% or less
he will eat any gibs he sees.  If Cujo's health is 25% or less he will
go after any visible gibs even if enemies are visible to him.  Cujo will
not go after gibs if he has been told not to attack.  Thanks to Gary
Mcmillin" <[email protected]> for this idea!

-- cujo12.txt

A number of other people are called out for ideas and contributors in this release.

This highlights both the growing popularity of the mod and the active development the mod is seeing at this time.

This release was then followed by a flurry of smaller bug fix releases.

Historical Links:

Cujo v1.2a

The next release was cujo12a.zip.

A copy of this release cannot be located.

We know the details of this release because the "cujgrap" mod incorporated this version of the Cujo mod and included the readme for this release in its own distribution.

CUJGRAP was released in CUJGRAP.ZIP by Xavier Javornicki. The release date for the release was 11th of November 1996.

It is simple mod that combines cujo and the grappling hook.

I have decided to combine two of my favorite quake addons: Cujo1.2a and the
grapple1.11. This makes for a great team, when in trouble you can just hang
from the ceiling and let Cujo go wild.

-- cujgrap.txt

The CUJGRAP distribution included the file cujo12a.txt.

The file has the release date 20th of October 1996 and lists the version as 1.2, but the filename for the release was updated to CUJO12A.ZIP.

Filename : CUJO12A.ZIP
Version  : 1.2
Date     : 10/20/96
Author(s): Jonathan E. Wright

-- cujo12a.txt

This is the same claimed release date as version 1.2, which may be correct, indicating this is a small bug fix release made on the same day. Alternately, it is possible that the release was made without updating the release date in the readme file.

No corroborating release on Usenet of archives of ftp.cdrom.com confirm the release.

Indeed, the release is described two small changes. The fixing of a command to toggle between the player and dog view position and improvement over the dog turning speed.

Changes in version 1.2a

þ Impulse 103 - toggle to and from Cujo's viewpoint is now working correctly
  (it was purposely disabled in version 1.2).

þ Cujo runs a bit smoother because he is updated more frequently and his yaw
  rate is 20 degrees instead of 30 (which is the turn rate of normal dogs).

-- cujo12a.txt

It is interesting that Xavier chose this version of Cujo for his CUJGRAP. It may suggest that this was the primary version of the bot available perhaps between 20th of October and sometime before the 11th of November.

Historical Links:

  • n/a

Cujo v1.2b

The next release was cujo12b.zip.

No copy of the zip file or readme can be located.

We know of its existence because it appears in the readme file for version 1.3.

As such, we cannot confirm that the release was public or when the release was made, other than prior to version 1.3 and after 1.2a.

It was probably released shortly before, or perhaps after 11th of November, when the CUJGRAP mod was released. We can take the 11th as perhaps the last possible release date.

The release appears another bug fix release, likely fixing issues pointed out by avid an growing user base for the bot.

Changes in version 1.2b

þ Fixed the bug which was screwing up the players vectors and causing some
  of the weapons to malfunction -- most notably the lightning gun would
  not follow the player when he turned!

þ Fixed bug that allowed weapon changing while seeing from Cujo's point of
  view.  This was reseting the weapon model and making it look as if Cujo
  was carrying a weapon.  You can change weapons and even shoot while seeing
  from Cujo's viewpoint, but the weapon model will not be displayed as if
  Cujo were holding it.

-- cujo13.txt

Historical Links:

  • n/a

Cujo v1.2c

The next release was cujo12c.zip.

No copy of the zip file or readme can be located.

We know of the release's existence because it is mentioned in the changelog for the v1.3 release.

It is mentioned both in the readme for the mod, cujo13.txt, but also in a new file in the release "WHATSNEW.TXT" that contains the changelog for the release.

This too is a bug fix release.

It fixes issues with the dog in deathmatch games.

Changes in version 1.2c

þ Fixed some bugs with Cujo in deathmatch:

    Cujo was not being removed when his owner died.

    If the owner died while in Cujo's view he was stuck.

    KILLing oneself did not remove Cujo (this bug was not actually related
    to being killed).

þ Fixed INSTALL.BAT and CUJO12B.BAT.  CUJO12B.BAT would actually try to run
  from the directory QUAKE\CUJO12A, causing an error if version 1.2a was not
  installed, and running the older version if it was installed, thus it might
  appear that there were no changes.

-- cujo13.txt

There is good reason to believe that this release was public.

Although not announced on Usenet, there is evidence of at least one person claiming to have run the mod. In this case, via quake running on Linux on November 26, 1996.

I have been experimenting with various patches. I can run xf86quake
successfully with these installed:

bombs9.zip
cujo12c.zip
hook23.zip

-- Linux Quake with Killer Patch: Error: Cache_TryAlloc, rec.games.computer.quake.editingm Larry Mulcahy, 26 Nov 1996.

This suggests that this version was probably released sometime in November 1996, probably before the 26th.

Additionally, Jonathan Wright had released other mods at this time.

Specifically, two weapons mods blaze gun and bfg.

Importantly, blaze version 1.0 was released as blaze10.zip and blaze10.txt on November 22, 1996.

The readme of this mod explicitly references the cujo version 12c released in the filename CUJO12C.ZIP.

Filename  : BLAZE10.ZIP
Version   : 1.0
Date      : 11/21/96
Author    : Jonathan E. Wright
Other mods: Cujo (CUJO12C.ZIP)
Email     : [email protected]
Web Page  : Go to my web page for the latest Blaze Gun and Cujo updates
            http://www.trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno/
Credits   : id for designing the most innovative and customizable game
            the world has ever seen.

-- blaze10.txt

This suggests that cujo12c.zip was probably released between 11th of November and the 21st or 22nd of November, we can take the 22nd as perhaps the last possible date.

Historical Links:

  • n/a

Cujo v1.3

The never version of cujo was released as cujo13.zip.

The distributed readme file was archived in cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/00alltxt.tar.gz archived December 25 1996 in the directory "pub/idgames2/quakec/monsters/". Note, not in the bots/ subdirectory.

This is confirmed with an archive of this folder.

cujo13.txt             26-Nov-96 20:01    14k
cujo13.zip             26-Nov-96 20:18   402k

-- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/quakec/monsters/ (archived December 25 1996)

An unpacked copy of the mod was distributed on the commercial CDROM called "Tremor: Over 1000 Quake Levels, Maps and Patches" in the "/quakec/cujo13/" directory.

This CD was released sometime in 1997. An archive of this CD is available on http://cd.textfiles.com/.

The archive contains the compiled game code, text file as well as a changelog text file and text files for the weapons mods that were incorporated.

Subdirectories contain the source code for the mod, as well as sound effects and models for the weapons and cujo.

   544  4 Feb  1997 SRC
   256  4 Feb  1997 PROGS
   160  4 Feb  1997 SOUND
  6091 10 Jan  1997 CONFIG.CFG
487512 27 Nov  1996 PROGS.DAT
  5263 27 Nov  1996 BLAZEGUN.TXT
 15105 27 Nov  1996 CUJO13.TXT
  5598 27 Nov  1996 WHATSNEW.TXT
  8243 27 Nov  1996 BFG.TXT

The release date in the readme is November 27th 1996.

Filename : CUJO13.ZIP
Version  : 1.3
Date     : 11/27/96
Author   : Jonathan E. Wright
Web Page : http://www.trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno/
           Check here for the latest updates to Cujo.

-- cujo13.txt

The FTP timestamp is a day before on the 26th of November, although differences may be due to differences between the local server time and the authors local machine time.

It is not just a bot mod any longer, including the authors weapon mods released early in the month.

There are three new weapons in the mod:  a laser blaster, selectable by
selecting the shotgun twice, the blaze gun which replaces the normal nailgun,
and the BFG, selectable by selecting the Thunderbolt twice.  Picking up
a Thunderbolt automatically gives the player the BFG along with the
Thunderbolt.  For more info about these weapons, especially the BFG-9000,
see the separate text files BLAZEGUN.TXT and BFG-9000.TXT.

-- cujo13.txt

Nevertheless, many changes were made to the bot AI, including better following and attacking and bug fixing.

Changes in version 1.3

þ Major following/attacking AI enhancements.

þ Streamlined target acquisition code, now twice as fast.

þ Fixed lots and lots of minor bugs:

  Cujo no longer teleports to the owner during the intermission view.

  Cujo always goes after the closest enemy/food in his view.  If another
  was closer but not visible to Cujo, he still goes after the one he saw
  first.

  Fixed "tried to sprint to a non-client" message.

  Cujo no longer eats gibs during deathmatches unless he is hurt.

  Cujo no longer tries to eat "phantom-gibs".  This problem has been
  ruthlessly tracked down and crushed :)

  Cujo's body was not always being removed correctly.

  Probably a lot more than these that I can remember.

  Cujo doesn't "stand up" for a frame after dying, as he would sometimes
  do before.

þ Cujo's body is now copied to the bodyque (yeah, I know, it's queue) along
  with the player bodies.

þ Lots of other stuff I forgot to write down.

A "what's new" section lists the capabilities introduced in this version.

þ Cujo can now be hit by all of his owner's weapons fire, including the axe.
  So, for Cujo's sake, aim carefully.

þ Cujo can activate and use platforms.

þ Cujo can follow the player by jumping across water and from ledge to ledge.
  He gets lost a _lot_ less now.

þ Cujo can follow the player into water.

þ Cujo will jump into water if he becomes engulfed in flames.

þ Cujo can now be activated in and under water.

þ Cujo knows when to jump across water or gaps to attack an enemy.

þ Both player corpses and Cujo corpses are solid and gibbable.

-- cujo13.txt

Historical Links:

Cujo v1.4

The next and last major release of cujo was made in the following year as cujo14.zip.

This version was uploaded to the bots/ subdirectory, where it remained.

cujo14.txt             12-Feb-97 18:32    17k
cujo14.zip             12-Feb-97 16:03   524k

-- http://www.cdrom.com:80/pub/idgames2/quakec/bots/ (archived June 09 1997)

This release is more sophisticated.

The zip contains the readme files for the mod and the weapon modes included, whereas the game code, models and weapons are sored in a pack file. The source code is still distributed with the mod.

  979422 12 Feb  1997 PAK0.PAK
   17852 12 Feb  1997 CUJO14.TXT
    1728 12 Feb  1997 SRC
    5685  7 Feb  1997 BLAZEGUN.TXT
    8243 26 Nov  1996 BFG.TXT

The release date in the readme file is February 12th 1997.

This matches the FTP timestamp

Filename : CUJO14.ZIP
Version  : 1.4
Date     : 2/12/97
Author   : Jonathan E. Wright
Web Page : http://www.trailerpark.com/phase1/nelno/
           http://www.planetquake.com/zeus

-- cujo14.txt

Version 1.4 was a another large release with may changes to the bot, leveraging what the author was discovering while developing his other bot

...
Cujo is much faster and uses the movement code from the Zeus bot.
This means he can just cruise over broken ground without a hitch.

-- cujo14.txt

The readme describes "cujo server", when presumably refers to a server running the cujo mod, although it is described as though it were a different mod.

þ In Cujo Server: clients no longer need to be running the Cujo
  patch.  Everything in Cujo Server uses standard files from the
  *registered* version of Quake.

þ Also in Cujo Server: bodies are not solid, but will still gib by burning
  if they are on fire when they die.

-- cujo14.txt

About two years later, Ben Giltay wrote a very large review of the mod on Usenet, listing various bugs identified and suggestions for improvement.

Here is a list of bug reports and suggestions my friend and I came up with
whilst playing Cujo 1.4 in single player mode, with reg Quake 1.06. I know
theres a lot, but we thought we better make it a definitive list. If anyone
programmes with QuakeC and wants something to do, perhaps you could
look at the bugs Ive mentioned and try to fix them. Thanks.

-- cujo bugs, rec.games.computer.quake.quake-c, Ben Giltay, 5 May 1998.

Ben posted the same message to a few groups at this time.

His feedback was detailed and extensive, separated into sections like "MONSTER RELATED", WEAPON/ITEM RELATED, GENERAL A.I ENHANCEMENTS, and MISC. THINGS.

It's a very impressive list and sad that it could not have been developed and set earlier.

By this time, Quake 2 was out and mod development had shifted away from quake 1.

I know tons of people will be asking this, but hey... Is there a plan for
Cujo in Quake 2? (Maybe Jonathon will be good enough to give us the basic
source, if hes even considering it. From there, we could import all of the
stuff from Quake 1 Cujo into it ourselves.)

-- cujo bugs, rec.games.computer.quake.quake-c, Ben Giltay, 5 May 1998.

The readme file lists an alternate and new home for the bot at planetquake.com/zeus, named for the authors other bot project, the Zeus Bot.

Sadly, it seems that this site was also not captured by archive.org.

This site did later become "planetquake.com/qca/zeus", mentioned in the zeus bot readme files, and this website was captured by archive.org.

This website is a subset of the "QCA" website, or "QuakeC Archive" and is called "Nelno's Quake Mods" with te tag line "Home of the Zeus and Cujo mods". "Nelno" and "Nelno the Amoeba" is Jonathan's handle.

A dedicated cujo webpage was hosted at http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus/cujo.htm and linked to local copies of the cujo14.zip release.

You've seen those wussy rottweilers that come with Quake. This is not one of those mutts. This dog kills. He'll follow you around, pouncing on anything and everything that might threaten his master. Uh, that's you, his master. If you've gotten bored with single player Quake, Cujo will liven things up considerably. He's one cool dog.

-- http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus/cujo.htm (archived June 07 1997)

Historical Links:

Cujo Server

Jonathan's website hosted on planetquake.com also mentioned a server version of the mod with a download link.

The file was released as cujosrvr.zip and does not appear to have been released elsewhere.

For those of you interested in running a Cujo server, Cujo Server is now available

-- http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus/cujo.htm (archived June 07 1997)

The release contains the compiled game code and source code. File timestamps suggest that the release was made days after the version 1.4 release, perhaps on February 22nd 1997.

  509108 22 Feb  1997 PROGS.DAT
    1664  6 Feb  1997 SRC

This appears to be the server version mentioned in the readme for version 1.4.

Cujo Server allows players to log on to a server that is running Cujo even if they are not, at the expense of custom graphics and skins

-- http://www.planetquake.com/qca/zeus/cujo.htm (archived June 07 1997)

The difference in dates may suggest that the release of a server version was in progress and was anticipated, or that it had been released and that the version now available is an update released 10 days after the 1.4 release.

This is not the last we'll hear about Jonathan E. Wright. His Zeus bot made a much bigger splash and perhaps changed the course of his life.

Historical Links:

Release Timeline

  • Cujo v1.0, cujo10.zip, September 04 1996.
  • Cujo v1.1, cujo11.zip, September 04 1996.
  • Cujo v1.2, cujo12.zip, October 20 1996.
  • Cujo v1.2a, cujo12a.zip, October 20 1996.
  • Cujo v1.2b, cujo12b.zip, November 11 1996.
  • Cujo v1.2c, cujo12c.zip, November 22 1996.
  • Cujo v1.3, cujo13.zip, November 26 1996.
  • Cujo v1.4, cujo14.zip, February 12 1997.
  • Cujo Server, cujosrvr.zip, February 22 1996.

References