"SynQ" Pre-Release Testing Version

[Baker]

I will certainly be playing around with this. Here's what I can say so far:
1. No monsters in single player mode

Intentional, not in the scope of the project.

3. I vispatched it.

All the maps have been vis'd for transparent water already so there isn't a need to do this.

An idea - Would it be legal to use the Quake Retexturing Project textures in this game instead of the generic olive green walls? That would certainly attract the attention of 99% of America's teenagers who say: Wow, look at those grahpics!!

Legal to use with Quake Retexturing Project = no. Many of the Quake Retexturing Project textures very much resemble original Quake textures.

As a result of this, I intentionally made the maps absolutely incompatible with existing replacement textures to shield this project from that possible situation or criticism that this project could, with a simple download, be turned into something that infringes on id Software's intellectual property.

So, no -- there are no existing replacement texture sets that work with these maps.



HOWEVER, when this is done, the goal is that neither you nor anyone else would have any desire to use ANY textures except the ones that come with this.

[Alc]

I'm aware id released the source for their maps last year (presumably architecture only), is there a known reason why they didn't sling the textures in with that?

[Baker]

I'm aware id released the source for their maps last year (presumably architecture only), is there a known reason why they didn't sling the textures in with that?

I would suspect it is because artwork is not viewed in the same context as code, but I don't know.

None of the other Quake media, like the sounds, models, the soundtrack or graphical elements were released either.

I view it as unlikely that id Software will ever release than they have released so far. The sounds, for instance, are not theirs to give away -- they were licensed. Some of the other things have 3rd party trademarks, like the Nine Inch Nails logo on the nail boxes.

Needless to say, I think many are very thankful that id Software has done things like release their engine sources to Quake and Quake III Arena and the Quake 1 maps sources. I am not aware of another signficant game producer that has done this. Because of actions like these, I think many fans of the Quake series feel a stronger connection to the game and the makers than perhaps fans of other games feel.

[scar3crow]

It is of note that though it is id's property, id didnt release the map files and GPL them. They approved this and said it was fine to do so, so John Romero zipped up the .map files in his old Quake folder on an old hard drive, put in the license, and uploaded them.

I can tell you, he has more in that folder, but its a matter of figuring out what he can release, and organizing it for such.

It was cool of id to approve the release, but they did take their time (over 2 weeks), but nonetheless they let it go through and it is consistent with their attitude towards engine code, which is cool. And yeah, a fair number of stock sounds, the NIN logo and other such anomalies are there complicating the matter.

[Phenom]

Would it help if I could make some soundtracks for Quake? I got people who would love to make music scores

[Baker]

It is of note that though it is id's property, id didnt release the map files and GPL them.

Yeah, the maps are were not GPL'd. The map sources were GPL'd.

Would it help if I could make some soundtracks for Quake? I got people who would love to make music scores

Sure, but on a scale of 1 to 10 of the things I spend my time thinking about, that one ranks really low.

I think about -- in this order -- these:

1. Sounds (many are bad!)
2. View Weapon models
3. Ground weapon models
4. Item models -- particularly the pent, quad, ring
5. Brush models (aka ammo boxes/health boxes)
6. Textures
7. Player model - the OpenQuartz one isn't that bad.
8. "SynQ" Frontend

1. Sounds. Quality replacement sounds are the biggest problem by far. Especially the player sounds.

2. View Weapon models: these are what they look like when you are using them. Eventually, I'd like these to look high-tech like a new game and are VERY difficult to make because they are animated.

3. Ground weapon models. Not so hard because they are not animated, just a real time consumer. Eventually want them to look high-tech like a new game.

4. Quad, Pent, Ring: Medium level. Not animated and don't have to be anything complicated.

5. Brush models. Not so hard unless you want to go the .md3 route and make them fancy (eventually, not now).

6. Textures. Always a lot of work involved in that, but any GPL or bonafided public domain textures can be used. Eventually I want to split the brushes in the maps in a lot of places allowing for them to be more decorated, while physically compatible with the id Software maps.

7. Player model. The OpenQuartz one isn't bad. Mega, mega difficult to make. Someday maybe, not worried about this now.

8. "SynQ" Front End. Something similar to the ProQuake Launcher, but better looking with a built-in server browser (that addresses the very few complaints about the ProQuake Launcher).

[foq]

I want to comment on performence... I was playing on my uncle's computer (AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 1GB DDR400, nVidia GeForce 5200 Ultra) and I was getting bad FPS on low quality settings... 800x600 with effects set to "Quake" and lighting set to "flares" and anisotropic filtering set at 1x.

[Baker]

I want to comment on performence... I was playing on my uncle's computer (AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 1GB DDR400, nVidia GeForce 5200 Ultra) and I was getting bad FPS on low quality settings... 800x600 with effects set to "Quake" and lighting set to "flares" and anisotropic filtering set at 1x.

Multiple engines will be included. I played online with JoeQuake 0.15 using this prototype download and was playing as well at Rage as my best game I've ever got with ProQuake -- and my PC and video card are hardly anything special.

LordHavoc knows about some of the multiplayer issues with DarkPlaces and I'm pretty confident that they'll be fixed.

I might add that in DarkPlaces, setting "flares" as the lighting level is not the lowest quality lighting setting possible.

JoeQuake 0.15 has a SOFTWARE RENDERER too --- winquake style -- to ensure broad accessibility regardless of video card. This project will end up working with software renderers.

[Canadian*Sniper]

LordHavoc knows about some of the multiplayer issues with DarkPlaces and I'm pretty confident that they'll be fixed.

Which issues are these?

[Baker]

Which issues are these?

Most notably:

known bugs and workarounds:
If your cl_maxfps is near your rendering framerate it can be very jerky, if this happens please enter this in the console: cl_nettimesyncmode 1 (a better fix is in the works)

http://planetquake.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=119002

But also:

The main complaints I get about DP on the slow/bloated front are slow rendering ([there is] something about it the drivers don't like, I'm determined to track this down once and for all... as the renderer design is more advanced than Quake3 but it frequently loses to Quake3 by a factor of 2x)

http://www.linuxquake.org/interview_with_lordhavoc.html

[foq]

I forgot to mention this... If you are using Darkplaces, which lets you use the .pk3 format, why didn't you use the .pk3 format to decrease the amount of bandwidth used from downloading this thing?

[Baker]

I forgot to mention this... If you are using Darkplaces, which lets you use the .pk3 format, why didn't you use the .pk3 format to decrease the amount of bandwidth used from downloading this thing?

This is geared towards any engine and the .pk3 format is supported only by DarkPlaces. Believe me, I wish every engine supported .pk3

Secondly (is that a word?), the format the pak files are in don't affect the download size (well -- actually, pk3 files might compress even worse than pak files).

The reason: The installer version uses 7-Zip maximum compression and the zip version was made using 7-Zip's superior zip-compatible compression. Both of those compress far better than the .pk3 format does -- a .pk3 file is basically just a zip file anyway.

For example: the Dredd Map Pack Zip [16.9 MB] (created with 7-Zip's even better compression) is a full 2 MB smaller than the Dredd Map Pack PK3 version [18.9 MB].

[foq]

Baker knows everything -_-

[kaeser]

then why doesn't he know that secondly IS a word...?
mwahahahha....

[Canadian*Sniper]

zingggggg