I have spent a disgusting amount of time cataloging the BOBs of Winter Contingency. Here is what I have learned about the BOBs
on Winter Contingency only.
1. BOBs spawn immediately when the area that contains them loads into memory. They spawn with the scenery, not when other enemies spawn! Perhaps this is due to the fact that its class is "Elite Light Vehicle". Maybe this was intentional in order to aid the theater mode hide-and-seek game.
2. Contrary to some popular beliefs I've heard espoused- a clock does not start ticking to make BOBs disappear once they spawn. The truth is: they do nothing when they spawn except look at the nearest wall. That is to say, until you walk across their scripting trigger.
This film clip in my file share illustrates the process. If you don't touch anything when the clip plays in Theater Mode, you'll be treated to an emotionally moving tour-de-force of a BOB staring at a broken wall for two whole minutes.
Suddenly, at exactly 2:00 into the clip, the BOB begins to run like hell. Does this mean that BOBs have a two minute timer until they begin running? No. If you were to load an area containing a BOB but not activate its trigger, you could keep it sitting there for 17 minutes if you wanted to. If you doubt me, I have another video on my hard drive to prove it! (But the best proof is for you to easily test yourself on Winter Contingency's Rally Point Alpha.)
If you switch to my player just before the 2:00 mark, you'll see that I receive a checkpoint when the clock strikes 2:00. This indicates that the trigger has been hit and the BOB clock is now ticking!
3. Each BOB responds to one or more scripting triggers. These are simply locations in the game world: when you enter the location, you will receive a "checkpoint" notification. When a corresponding trigger is hit, the BOB begins its script: it will run away from its spawn location, seemingly searching for enemy players. The path it takes is not exactly predefined: it seems that the AI is working to control the path of the BOB naturally, as opposed it acting as if it were "on rails".
4. The BOBs appear on every difficulty level.
5. Every BOB on the island in Rally Point Alpha (i.e. CM_WC.A) spawns with a plasma repeater on non-Legendary difficulties. I have only tested twice on Legendary, and both times the BOB spawned with a concussion rifle. So more testing needed there.
6. Every BOB is golden. (Halopedia reports that BOBs are white on the ONI mission, but I have not confirmed this yet.)
7. There are at least seven BOB spawning locations! I have video clips following each of these seven BOB spawns from beginning to end
here in my file share. To understand the way I have named the seven BOBs, you need to understand the layout of the island you fight on during Rally Point Alpha. The island is roughly circular, with settlement complexes on the north, west, and east sides. Therefore, I refer to "N", "W", and "E" to refer to these areas. Each complex contains buildings which usually have a number painted near their entrance, I assume to indicate its "address". These numbers, however, are only unique within a given village. (There is a building 7 at both the west and north complexes, for example.) As it turns out, six of the seven BOB spawn locations occur in a building with a number. The other one spawns in what looks like a small storeroom in the back of the northern complex. Thus, I constructed the seven following BOB IDs where the first number indicates the mission (Winter Contingency = Mission 2), the second letter indicates the complex, and the last two characters indicate the building/room:
| BOB ID | Location Description | Map Coordinates (X,Y,Z) |
| 2-W-02 | (Western Complex, Building labeled "2") | |
| 2-W-B5 | (Western Complex, Building labeled "B5") | 395.865, 166.261, -18.944 |
| 2-W-07 | (Western Complex, Building labeled "7") | 414.259, 171.520, -19.611 |
| 2-E-B5 | (Eastern Complex, Building labeled "B5") | 483.180 100.828, -24.100 |
| 2-E-06 | (Eastern Complex, Building labeled "6") | 485.087, 94.664, -24.575 |
| 2-N-07 | (Northern Complex, Building labeled "7") | 513.407, 223.890, -35.359 |
| 2-N-ST | (Northern Complex, "storeroom" area behind broken wall in northwest corner) |
8. Killing Moas does not prevent BOBs from spawning.
Theater Mode proof is here which shows me killing Moas before and after the BOB spawns, then moving the camera up to the northern complex to confirm that the BOB still spawned.
9. Once a BOB begins its script, it has about 37 seconds to be in the level before it "phases out" (aka "disappears".) So there is a clock, but it doesn't start until you hit the trigger boundary.
10. There is a script trigger at the southern end of the island, just west of the large broken bridge overhead. This trigger affects all BOBs in all complexes. There is another trigger just south of the western complex. This trigger only sets BOBs which have spawned in the western complex into motion.
11. You can assassinate a BOB before it phases out, if you're fast enough.
12. Restarting the level from the pause menu causes the BOB to spawn point to be randomized again. Selecting "revert to save" will not change the spawning location if the BOB has already spawned.
[EDIT 2011.04.19 10:18]13. Now that I am armed with the knowledge of these seven spawn points, I have been able to confirm the existence of a BOB in every single game I've played on this rally point. I have yet to see a BOB fail to spawn here.
[/EDIT]I have many more files, but I look forward to seeing more of your finds! Are the seven spawns I have found the only ones?
Onward to ONI Site!
