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Quake III Arena Tips & Resources

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Files

Download the Quake III Demo
The latest versions of the Quake III demo, featuring both singleplayer and deathmatch levels.

Win32 Quake III Demo (FINAL)

Full Installer (50 MB)

Macintosh Q3Demo Test

Full Installer (50 MB)

MacOS X Q3Test 1.08

Available from: The Omni Group.

Linux Q3Demo Test

Linux tar.gz (50 MB)
Linux RPM (50 MB)

Linux Quake III Dedicated Server (Retail version required)

Linux tar.gz (218 K)

Drivers
Quake III Arena requires a 3D accelerator. In most cases you'll need the latest drivers for your video card to get the best results from the test, or in some cases, to even play it at all. Here are some resources:

id Software's Brian Hook updated his .plan warning against exotic driver tricks:

Okay, I'm getting support mails from people that are doing some pretty damn stupid things, including using Q3CONFIG files from the IHVTEST; editing the Q3CONFIG file directly; copying system drivers into the Quake3 directory; and similar types of things.

STOP IT.

When you install a set of drivers, just run the installer, and do NOT move things around. You're not going to get any benefit by copying 3DFXVGL into your Quake3 directory. What you WILL get is complete hell when newer drivers come out and Q3TEST is still looking at the old one in the local directory. We do NOT load 3DFXOGL directly, we load 3DFXVGL. If we are loading 3DFXOGL, then you are either screwing with something you shouldn't be, or Q3TEST is doing something very wrong.

Install the drivers, then leave them alone

Server Browsers
A server browser is a program that lets you find multiplayer games in progress. Files marked with an asterisk (*) are shareware. Registration may be required for some features.

Linux Server Browsers
These may require additional library files, such as GTK.

Mac Server Browsers

Win32 Server Browsers

Server Browser Filter Tabs

Tips & Workarounds

Save Your Game in Q3A
If more than one person is playing singleplayer on your version of Quake III Arena and you want to keep your game intact, simply rename the "q3config.cfg" file to something else. When you start the game, you'll have to re-enter your CD-Key, but the singleplayer settings will be reset. To restore your game, simply change the name of the file back.

Q3A Models
HK Developments has posted their HK-001 Mecha player model for Quake III Arena. The file is available as both a Windows installer, as well as just the "raw" model. Also, Polycount (formerly the Q2PMP) has posted a cool new Harley Quinn model for Q3A. One warning about these models sent in by a couple of readers is that using a custom model seems to result in being kicked at the end of the match when the map cycles, we'll post more info on this situation when we find out what's up.

Bullfrog Productions has released the Horny model for Quake III Arena. This new model (which only works with the retail version of the game) was made by Bullfrog's Darren Pattenden and animated by id's Paul Steed, and depicts the Horned Demon from Dungeon Keeper II - and it's really cool looking, if I do say so myself. You can check out a profile of the character here.

Q3A SpaceOrb Support
As is their way, Birdman's Lair has posted new support files for Space Orb users to use while playing the full retail version of Quake III Arena (the demo support files only needed a minor tweak to get registered support going).

More on Q3A CD Keys
id Software's Graeme Devine updated his .plan again about the problems that some people are having when entering their CD key for Quake III Arena. Here's the not-so-silent hint:

IMPORTANT!!!!!

You MUST enter your CD key in lower case letters. If you do this through the menu it's automatic, but if you set it from the console, upper case letters will not work.

IMPORTANT!!!!!

GameSpy Q3A Tabs
The Shugashack has a pair of Q3A tabs for GameSpy3D, one for deathmatch, and the other for CTF. Also, FilePlanet has two new tabs for GameSpy to separate Quake III Arena servers running the new version of the demo from the newly-released retail version of the game, both of which report being version 1.11. Also, the GameSpy folks pass along the following info on using their server browser with the retail Q3A until a new GameSpy is released:

Simply changing the directory (GameSpy -> Games and Filters -> Q3Test) to reflect which version you have (demo in /q3demo by default and retail in /program files/quake3/) will get you going until a "retail compliant" GameSpy3D is released.

Quake III Easter Eggs
A number of people have e-mailed us reporting that they have found an easter egg in Quake III Arena. Rather than spoil the suprise, I'll just tell you this much: look around on Q3DM19 for something odd.

A positive flood of email points out more easter eggs in Quake III Arena. Again, we won't spoil the surprise, but look around in Q3DM15 for something odd (a ton of people got this one), and according to D34thM0ng3r there is another oddity in Q3DM11.

Another Easter Egg and More Q3A Stuff
Another Easter Egg in the Q3A demo. Again, no spoilers, but you might want to keep an eye peeled for something unusual on Q3DM16 (this one is hard to spot in normal play), thanks Ash and all the others who sent this in. In other assorted Q3A stuff, Quake.de has posted German translations of the Quake III Arena character profiles, and this demo (direct link) by Robert 'Dirk' Hengel showing off a victory over Quake III Arena's Xaero at the nightmare skill level. Durandal's Config has a cfg for Q3A said to probably provide "the most fps you can ream" out of the game. They say the cfg is "now used by people in 5 countries, 2 deathrow members, and countless professional players." Finally, <@>ReDEyE<@> sends word of a hidden map on Quake III Arena, saying: "Just bring the console down and type /map test_bigbox and check it out. It's only good for a boxing (gauntlet) match."

CD Key Warnings
id Software's Graeme Devine made another addition to his .plan to warn about possible CD key problems when authorizing Quake III Arena. Here's the deal:

If you get a CD Key error, please check to make sure you have the CD Key correctly entered. I've seen a few people go by and be denied on what looks like a valid key that's just been typed in wrong.

A related issue was brought up in Christian Antkow's .plan update reported below, which seems important enough to be quoted here as yet:

On another note, I thought it important to address a security issue with your Quake 3 config files for the commercial release.

When you enter your CD Key, we store it in q3config.cfg in the cl_cdkey cvar. Unencrypted. Please treat your retail config files as you would the alarm code to your house, or the PIN number on your bank card. If you must send your configs to someone, please make sure to edit out the "set cl_cdkey xxx..." line.

It was brought to my attention that there was a scam with Half-Life CD Keys a while back where people were asked to e-mail their configs to HLSupport@hotmail.com or something to that effect, and I'd hate to see an innocent customer unknowingly succumb to a similar scam with Q3A.

On Demo Distribution
id Software's Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan with the official word on the status of the demo that was just released, which is indeed allowed to be cover-mounted. Here's the deal:

The demo that goes live today is The Demo. That means that magazines can put it on coverdisks (please do!), and that physical media distribution is now generally permitted. Please note that if you want to put the Demo on a CD (or other physical media) and _sell_ it to someone or otherwise commerically exploit the demo, you will need to enter into a separate agreement with us. All of this is detailed in the EULA, of course.

I look forward to seeing a bunch of you online today playing FULL VERSION Q3A maps in all their glory =)

Aliases
Resources for help with scripts, aliases, and binding keys:

Console
To access the console, hit the tilde key ("~", or technically "`" without the shift). There are many commands without menu options that must be entered from the console.

Cheats
To enable cheats in Q3Test, you must start the map with the devmap command:

Mikel Blanchard writes in to point out that you can check out the current effects and sounds (all mostly placeholders) of the Q3ATest grappling hook and the weapons not included in the current maps, simply by enabling the cheats. Start a map from the console using the "devmap" command (e.g., "devmap q3test1") and then grabbing the items using the command "give all," (or "give hook" for just the grapple) to check them out. Again, most of this stuff is clearly just placeholders for the real deal, with temporary and missing graphics, effects, and sounds, but some of the stuff works, and you can grapple around the levels like Spider-Man if you so desire.

Console Commands and Variables
Getting under the hood of Q3Test:

Dedicated Server Problems After 1.07 Upgrade
Dr. Chmod of the 5 Assed Monkey server sends along a solution to a problem reported by Daniel Kinney, who was unable to run a Win32 Q3Test dedicated server after upgrading to version 1.07 from 1.06. If you experience a similar problem, try deleting the "q3config.cfg" file. Q3Test will create a new version of the file when you start the dedicated server, and it should solve the problem.

Footsteps Missing (Under NT)
Team Abuse sends word that if you can't hear your opponent's footsteps when running Q3Test under Windows NT, to use the following command at the console:

s_mixprestep 0.1

Framerate Display
To display your framerate at any time, bring down the console with the tilde key and type:

cg_drawFPS 1

Framerate Display Part II
The way framerates are benchmarked in Q3Test has changed from version 1.07. Here's the new procedure (thanks Redwood). Again, bring down the console with the tilde key and type:

timedemo 1
demo q3demo1

-or -

timedemo 1
demo q3demo2

Fun Name Builders
Fun names are players names made up of offbeat characters, often colored for even further fun when (or if) they show up on the leader board.

Log File Analyzer
The Console Stats Web Page Offers a Q3A compatible log file analyzer.

 

Server Operator Resources

SOCKS Support
id's John"Hellrot" Cash updated his .plan with word on Q3ATest SOCKS support for folks tucked behind firewalls:

Stuck behind a firewall and think you can't play Q3ATEST?

Q3ATEST has support for SOCKS5 (RFC-1928). Well, at least the wintel version does... I'm not certain it has been picked up for the Mac and Linux code yet; I'll have to check on that and take care of it. There are three cvars that control it. They are only settable from the at init time (from the command line).

+set net_socksEnabled 1
+set net_socksServer
+set net_socksPort

Please note that you use the address (name or IP number) of the SOCKS server (firewall machine), NOT a Q3ATEST server. The port number defaults to 1080, you should not need to change this.

Currently it does not do any authentication. It would be pretty easy to add the username/password authentication method (RFC-1929); I will do so if there are people who need it. The odds of us doing the GSS-API method (RFC-1961), however, are not very good. I am only supporting IPv4 addresses; I mention this just to satisfy the curiosity of people who know SOCKS and would have asked.

This piece of code has not been beaten on very much. If you have/need/want to try it out, please let me know how it works out for you. Thanks!

SOCKS Support Part II
Following up on the above update, id's Graeme Devine made the following update on SOCKS support on July 19, 1999:

SOCKS Proxy Support

There are five cvars that control it. They are only settable from the at init
time (from the OS command line).

+set net_socksEnabled 1
+set net_socksServer
+set net_socksPort
+set net_socksUsername
+set net_socksPassword

Please note that you use the address (name or IP number) of the SOCKS server
(firewall machine), NOT a Q3ATEST server. The port number defaults to 1080,
you should not need to change this.

It supports no authentication and username/password authentication method
(RFC-1929); it does NOT support GSS-API method (RFC-1961) authentication.

Strategy Tips

TeamPlay
Yarn sends word on how to enable teamplay on a server:

1.Start a Q3 server
2.set teamflags 3
3.set dmflags 1
4.type map <mapname>

Now players can team red/blue and use messagemode2 and say_team for teamtalk.

Teamplay Again
id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with how to enable further teamplay modes using the "g_gametype" variable:

Some variable things we missed or are hard to find in the readme:

g_gametype

A value of 0 here indicates classic “Free For All”, a value of 1 indicates “Tournament Play” and a value of 2 indicates “Team Deathmatch”.

So, to start a dedicated server in tournament mode, you would use:

quake3 +set dedicated 2 +set zone tournaments +set g_gametype 1 +map q3tourney

The warmup time for tournament play is set with g_warmup. A tournament game is implicitly a one on one match, and further players are automatically entered as spectators (note, when the game starts, all clients, including the spectators respawn). You can follow the players by using “team follow1”, “team follow2”, and you can be a scoreboard by using “team scoreboard”.

Third-Person Perspective
Paul Baucom sends word of the console command to access a third-person perspective:

cg_thirdPerson 1

Paul points out you can also set the range and angle of the view like so:

cg_thirdPersonRange xxx
cg_thirdPersonAngle xxx

Viewing Deathmatch Demos
There are a pair of deathmatch demos stuffed into the Q3ATest files. Tony Fabris sends along word of how to view them. Simply type: "demo q3test1" or "demo q3test2" from the console. Co-ords points out a simpler method: type "exec democycle" from the console (access the console with the tilde ("~") key).

Video Tips

32 Bit Color
If you're having trouble getting Q3Test to run in 32-bit color, switching your desktop to 32-bit color should work. Note that this only works on cards that actually support 32-bit color (the ATI Rage 128, RIVA TNT, TNT2, S3 Savage 3, and Matrox G200/G400 based cards).

GLSetup Compatibility
Some 3Dfx Chips Not Supported is a page on the GLSetup site with word on what chipsets are supported by this utility released with the Win32 Q3ATest that can hook up your accelerator with the proper drivers automatically (thanks Ant). Here's the poop:

Unfortunately, the initial GLSetup Public Beta v0.99 does not support all 3Dfx chipsets. Only Voodoo 3 is supported in the GLSetup.exe archive. OpenGL drivers for the other 3Dfx chipsets are available on the web at the link below.

We are working on this problem with 3Dfx and are planning to integrate OpenGL drivers for the other chipsets in the very near future. Check this page for updates.

Performance Tweaks
John Carmack posted a couple of performance tweaks in his .plan:

You can bias the level of detail lower than allowed in the menu with "r_lodbias 2", which will force all models to the lowest
lod. The view weapon will look very ugly.

Another little speedup option that isn't offered in the menus is:
"cg_simpleitems 1" this removes the extra rings and spheres around some items.

You can also turn off all the gibs with "cg_gibs 0".

Performance Tweaks Again
A few sites devoted to helping tweak Q3Test for visual quality and performance

Stencil Buffer Shadows
Brian Hook posted the following in his .plan on how to enable shadows using the stencil buffer on cards that have one:

To enable stencil buffer shadows (which are available only TNT, TNT2, and Rage128 I think), you must be in 32-bit mode. Then do the following at the console:

r_stencilbits 8
vid_restart
cg_shadows 2

Using a Voodoo Card on a Mac
Make Your Voodoo Card Work With Q3Test is an article on how Mac G3 owners with Voodoo cards can get the MacQ3ATest running (the only cards with out-of-the-"box" support are the ATI Rage line)."

Video Issues (Assorted)
Some Brian Hook .plan updates:

Also, Graeme Devine updated his .plan with word on some more reported issues:

3Dfx drivers seem to be pretty darn difficult. About 50% of the emails comprise of 3Dfx issues including BSOD on NT, crashing during level changes, and crashing due to in game mode changes. We're working with 3Dfx on this.

The next biggest problem is that people run the game without running GLSETUP to update their drivers. Arrgh. Arrgh.

People claim that the TNT slows to a crawl when you in-game change the video color depth to 32bpp, but it's fine after a restart.

There's a "lag trap" quirk of firing the plasma gun 12 times at a wall, as people approach it the overdraw slows their systems and makes them vulnerable to hits.

There's a lot of people trying to run the game with 32mb of RAM.

Setting everything to "highest" (highest resolution, color depth, etc.) causes artifacts on the TNT.

Alt-TAB on a Matrox G200 causes the system to crash.

Voodoo2 Tweaks
The Onipotent has posted a Q3A video tweak guide for Voodoo2 owners by Dritzen.

Just for Fun

Fun with Fake Physics
Judas sends along the following:

On the second Quake 3 map (q3test2?), at the two acceleration platforms which face each other (the yellow armor bridge).  Fire a rocket toward the bottom of the opposite ramp just as you are being launched over... you will overtake your own rocket and, if you're really clever, you can fire the rocket right up your own ass!

I Can Fly!
L810C and Chris Kane both send the same tip along. Here's L810C's explanation:

I was trying the Devmap and the Give All mentioned in an earlier post when I found this wierd bug. Use Grapple and grapple to something and hang there by pressing another weapon. Then use Lightning Gun and you will be propelled anywhere you aim it, you will be tethered to your original grapple spot, but can go anywhere. You can fly to the upper limits of Q3Test2 and you can fly into other rooms in the other levels. You can fly through tele's, but bounce pads will break it.

Lightning Light Switch
This from Ale:

Just a quick bit of fun you can have playing the new map in the 1.07 version of the Q3A Test.

Trying shooting the lamps/flames that line the walls with the lightening gun. Light goes off, light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off.

See the BFG, Hook, & GL in 1.08
Daniel sends along the following goodie:

First, give yourself all weapons. (Using devmap and give all) Second, kill yourself with grenades or the BFG 10k. (To see the grappling hook, drop a grenade and change to the grappling hook before the grenade explodes). Third, respawn and go to where you killed yourself. YouŽll find the grappling hook / grenade launcher / BFG 10k there!