OK.. how do I get started (again)?

[koji K.]

Hi all,

Forgive me if this is a n00b question, first off let me say I a.) searched the web, b.) read the "Quake Guides" on this site, and c.) searched these forums, and I still can't find something understandable on how to get re-started with Quake. No, I'm not an idiot, so please don't flame me. I just can't find a simple how-to given the state of Quake playing today for someone who wants something close to the original experience.

I played Quake since the day it came out back in 96, up till about 98 or so. I loved it, of course, and I want to relive those fun times, ideally in multiplayer but also to replay the original levels.

How do I do this today, with an XP box? I notice there are "quake clients" now, which is supremely confusing, although I can understand the necessity. These clients don't seem to come with maps, or be everything you need to play.

Do I need to go digging through my old stuff and find my original Quake CD to play the old game? Or is it publically available now, as I've heard the original map files were released last year? What do people do who want to play the game?

Many many thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[Canadian*Sniper]

I'd dig up your Quake CD. On your Computer, make a folder somewhere (I suggest in Program Files) for your quake directory. Then inside that directory, make another folder called id1. So:
c:\program files\quake\
c:\program files\quake\id1\

Now grab the pak0.pak and pak1.pak files from your quake cd and put them into your id1 folder. Then download any quake client (I suggest Proquake) and put it in your quake directory. So:
c:\program files\quake\id1\pak0.pak
c:\program files\quake\id1\pak1.pak
c:\program files\quake\winpro.exe

Simple as that.

Here's a link to the proquake version I recommend:
http://www.quakeone.com/proquake/pro...80320_0414.zip

[koji K.]

OK, sounds easy enough (aside from actually finding my CD). Thanks! :d

[R00k]

Damn well said, if you cant find your CD get a shareware copy, atleast u can play the episode 1 maps, but if u get newest proquake you can play online and it will download missing maps for you i!! none are id maps btw.



the biggest complaint i hear in quake is :"omg i cant see muh feet!"

[Canadian*Sniper]

Worst case scenario, you can download the Darkplaces quake client and use SYNQ. SYNQ is really bizarre but at least you'll be able to play on the quake servers

SYNQ looks and sounds like this


edit:

I'm never going to hear the end of it from Baker for calling SYNQ a worst case scenario

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Hi all,

Forgive me if this is a n00b question, first off let me say I a.) searched the web, b.) read the "Quake Guides" on this site, and c.) searched these forums, and I still can't find something understandable on how to get re-started with Quake. No, I'm not an idiot, so please don't flame me. I just can't find a simple how-to given the state of Quake playing today for someone who wants something close to the original experience.

I played Quake since the day it came out back in 96, up till about 98 or so. I loved it, of course, and I want to relive those fun times, ideally in multiplayer but also to replay the original levels.

How do I do this today, with an XP box? I notice there are "quake clients" now, which is supremely confusing, although I can understand the necessity. These clients don't seem to come with maps, or be everything you need to play.

Do I need to go digging through my old stuff and find my original Quake CD to play the old game? Or is it publically available now, as I've heard the original map files were released last year? What do people do who want to play the game?

Many many thanks for any help anyone can provide.

On note ~ Check your PM's in User Menu
Off note ~ Did anyone notice how he said "dont flame me?" Looks like damage has been done to newcomers by the drama o_O

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Damn well said, if you cant find your CD get a shareware copy, atleast u can play the episode 1 maps, but if u get newest proquake you can play online and it will download missing maps for you i!! none are id maps btw.



the biggest complaint i hear in quake is :"omg i cant see muh feet!"

how does the newest proquake download maps,but not ID1 maps? Hrmmm

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Damn well said, if you cant find your CD get a shareware copy, atleast u can play the episode 1 maps, but if u get newest proquake you can play online and it will download missing maps for you i!! none are id maps btw.



the biggest complaint i hear in quake is :"omg i cant see muh feet!"

how does the newest proquake download maps,but not ID1 maps? I thought the days of it matters about ID maps was over with,since that one homeboy released their source and like,GPL'd them???....

[MH]

Your original Quake CD is probably the DOS version, so you won't be just able to copy and paste the files. Also, the maps can be freely distributed now, but the other game content still can't.

You'll need to run the original DOS installer, and when it gets to "press any key to enter Quake" (or whatever it was), cancel out of the installer (as DOS Quake will crash if you try to run it on an XP box).

At that point, grab an alternative Quake engine and copy that into your Quake folder. You could use WinQuake, the original GLQuake or a custom engine.

WinQuake is pretty rock solid and will run on just about anything, but it's software only. Depending on your 3D card, it may be the only option.

GLQuake is flaky, and generally not recommended. It looks wrong, skies and water are horrible in it, it bucks like an ornery mule on some 3D cards, you'll have very variable mileage with stuff like multitexturing, and so on. (Reason why: it was primarily written to work well on old 3DFX cards... )

Custom engines tend to come in 2 distinct flavours: those that are bare bones faithful look and feel, and those that add eye candy. I recommend giving both types a spin and seeing what your preference is. Some amazing stuff has been done in updating the look of Quake, but sometimes the gritty gothic feel is lost.

On engine options:

ProQuake, FitzQuake and a few others are the traditionalists. You'll end up with something that looks very similar to the original, but with a lot of the wrinkles ironed out, and with much better playability and stability.

JoeQuake and QRack seem to be the current eye candy kings, and will give you support for 32 bit textures, enhanced particle effects, better lighting, fog, and other goodies.

DarkPlaces is the Gold Standard - almost a total rewrite of Quake that can be configured either way, and with some very enhanced effects. You'll need a 3D card with serious muscle to run it well with everything turned on, though.

Most Quake engines will run by default at 640 x 480 and 16 bit colour. You'll need to tweak the command line to change this, and there should be instructions on how to do that on this site. Some will automatically detect your desktop resolution and colour depth and use that. Check the engine's readme.

Once you get up and running with the basics, you'll probably want to download some 32 bit texture packs (well worth it) and LIT files (for coloured light in the world) if your chosen engine supports them. You can rip the music from your Quake CD to MP3 (using something like EAC or CDex) if you choose an engine that supports MP3 playback.

[koji K.]

So I found my CD, installed the original game, dl'd and installed proquake, all as instructed and am up and running (with single player at least). Thanks!

I guess my next steps will be to try the multiplayer and some of the other clients like JoeQuake and Darkplaces. It's been a long time and I'm looking forward to seeing all the developments (and no doubt getting my ass handed to me). Thanks everyone for all the help.