discuss: Thread: Quake how-to

Hello,

Linux is quite a solid platform for playing Quake...
but the LDP Quake is fairly outdated. I'm attaching an
unformatted draft of  my quake how-to with the hope
of taking over this project.

The reason I am doing so is
1. Linux can be quite daunting for new users, and
finding help on the internet frustrating because of
the wealth of outdated material
2. The url:
  http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Quake-HOWTO.html
is the number 1 google hit for the search 
  linux quake

I'm certainly no Quake uber-guru (I do help with the
Linux Hexen II project, Hammer of Thyrion) , or a
great 
prose author, and would be open to criticism of the
document's content. Keeping the "unofficial"
quake-esqe tempo would be nice.

Further, I would be glad to learn some html/docbook
and format the document if I had approval to take over
the above URL and it was preferable/easier than
waiting on volunteer conversion.

Reguards, Steven A

http://freshmeat.net/~stevenaaus/
http://sourceforge.net/users/stevenaaus/
http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/
(attached file also available at-)
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/uhexen2/linux-quake-howto-0.02.txt?download

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			       Linux Quake How-to
			       ==================


				    Contents
				    --------
				     Intro
				    GlQuake
				   Darkplaces
				   QuakeForge
			      Command Line Options
                                Console commands
			     Hardware Acceleration
				      Bugs
				     General 
				      Mods
				Commercial Mods
				    Hexen II
				  Other Links
				     Author


				     Intro
				     -----

Linux Quake sits at the crossroads of two digital revolutions - GNU/Linux, the
free OS which threatens one of the world's largest companies, and GlQuake - the
first game to use the inspiring 3D graphics library OpenGL.  Quake has a loyal
community still making games almost 10 years  after it's release by ID
Software. And thanks to John Carmack releasing the software under the GPL,
people are able to enjoy it on free operating systems.  Does all this mean
our game is important ? No... It's just fun ;>

This document is not an exhaustive how-to of setting up any one quake program,
but a modern guide to GLQuake, a collecton of the most useful tips,
and a pointer to the best resources still available on the web concentrating on
the many engine re-writes and incredible mods which make quake a true gaming
phenomenon.

				    GlQuake
				    -------

The first place for linux noobs to go is J�n's no frills site. It is a basic
version of GL Quake for Linux, and has some relevant up to date documentation.
Fairly pain free by linux standards, it looks and works great, and supports
virtually all Quake mods ;>

			  http://mfcn.ilo.de/glxquake


				   Darkplaces
				   ----------

Darkplaces is an amazing quake engine with a great range of visual enhancements
and control over colours, textures and sound. It also supports many
otherwise incompatible mods, including the awesome Nehahra, and improved support
for the official mission packs.  Thank-you Havoc.

http://www.icculus.org/twilight/darkplaces/

				   QuakeForge
				   ----------

I have to say, because GlQuake is so easy to use, and ID's game so beautiful,
I've never given much of a look at Quake Forge - a huge Linux Quake project.
If you want help, and/or something not covered on J�n's GlQuake site, try
here.

			   http://www.quakeforge.net/



			      Command Line Options
			      --------------------

Quake has an incredible amount of command line options, unfortunately, with
very little structure or formality. The most useful and common ones are:

-window
-width WIDTH
-height HEIGHT
-nosound
-cddev DEVICE
-listen N
-heapsize N
	

				Console commands
				----------------

The console is and in-game command line window at which you can issue commands
, change variables and cheat. It is toggled by pressing the tilda "~" key when
in a game. The main commands include -

god			invulnerabilty
noclip			walk through walls
notarget		enemies won't attack player
impulse N		issue "impulse" or command N
bind key "command"	bind a key to perform this command
map MAP			load "MAP"
changelevel MAP		load "MAP" without resetting player defaults
quit			exit to system

playerskill	VALUE	0 | 1 | 2 | 3	difficulty: 0 (easy) - 3 (impossible)
					Level must be restarted to take effect
r_wateralpha	VALUE	0.0 - 1.0	opacity of water 
_snd_mixahead 	VALUE	0.1 - 1.0	Raising this value is a good way to
					speed up the game at the expensive of
					some sound lag. I use 0.3
r_shadows	FLAG	0 | 1	display model shadows
vid_wait	FLAG	0 | 1	sync video output with screen refresh
chase_active	FLAG	0 | 1	show player from third person perspective


http://www.planetquake.com/console/commands/quake.html


			     Hardware Acceleration
			     ---------------------

Setting up hardware OpenGL acceleration under Linux used to be a big deal in
the past. Modern distros should now handle this automatically.

Nvidia's drivers for all of their modern video cards are not open source, and
because of this many distributions do not include them. If your Nvidia card is
running slowly, this is probably the cause, you should visit Nvidia.com to
download the linux installer. In my experience these drivers are great, but not
all versions work 100% with all cards. If you have a misbehaving Nvidia video
card, try a different (older) driver.

While new version of XFree and Xorg has great support for Voodoo 3, 4 and 5,
early 3dfx hardware such as Voodoo1, Voodoo2 and Voodoo Rush are no longer
hardware accelerated. To get OpenGL working for these cards, you'll need to
download, install and/or compile the software libraries called Glide and Mesa.
For more info visit the Linux Hexen II project 
&&& https://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/README.3dfx????


				      Bugs
				      ----

Mouse look.
		"This crazy game won't let me look around properly. %$!$@"
		- Bring down the console with the '~' key and enter "+mlook".

Mods and Crazy Polygons.

		Some mission-packs/mods for Quake can cause
		existing player/monster models to be drawn with lines all over
		the place. To fix this, delete the directory
		.../quake/id1/glquake. When you next run the game, it will
		remake this directory and everything should be fine.

Lines on Screen.
		A common problem with 3dfx cards is flickering lines across
		the screen. From the console enter "gl_ztrick 0".

Files not Lowercased.
		Linux quake requires most files to be lowercased.
		- visit https://sourceforge.net/projects/filerenameutils &&&URL
		for a solid lowercase rename utility.


				    General
				    -------

	You can jump further when strafing than when going forward or back

	"At this time (march '97), the only standard opengl hardware that can
	play glquake reasonably is an intergraph realizm, which is a VERY
	expensive card" - John Carmack


				      Mods
				      ----

Contract Revoked	        A modern, short mod which made my jaw drop.
		2 URLS &&&	Just too beautiful. Sequel under development.
http://kell.spawnpoint.org/convoked.html

Zerst�	zerstorer.zip	Dark and bloody, with doom's
				paranoiac atmosphere. A classic.

Nehahra		www.planetquake.com/nehahra
				Hugely impressive mod only supported in linux
				by Havoc's Darkplaces engine.
				
Neil Manke	alba01.zip	Neil wrote the amazing Half-life mod
		alba02.zip	"They Hunger". The quality and fun is in
		sofsp1.zip	these maps too.
		sofsp2.zip
		starshp2.zip

Operation: Urth Majik		Incredible production values and one of my
		oum.zip		favorites.
http://www.planetquake.com/fatty/oum/


Fantasy Quake	fantasy.zip	The first level is tough. The game has plenty
				of raw edges, and some beautiful levels.

Scourge Done Slick		Scourge done Slick (SdS) is a speed run through
		&&& URL &&&	Mission Pack 1, Scourge of Armagon.
http://www.planetquake.com/QdQ/sds.html
				Hilarious and amazing.

Insomnia	czg07.zip	Cracking game-play. Rivers of blood.

Gib Factory	gibfact.zip	Fun and very innovative models. Ikka's
				plasma gun. Doom cyberdemon.
Vigil		vigil.zip
Museum		museum.zip	Little mods with great game-play!

Navy Seals	Navy3.zip	Great models and quite innovative.


				Commercial Mods
				---------------

Mission Pack 1		Scourge of Armagon by Ritual Entertainment
			(formerly known as Hipnotic Interactive).

Mission Pack 2		Dissolution of Eternity
			by Rogue Entertainment.

			Both official mission packs are generally
			acknowledged as better than the original game.

Malice			Very original Quake total conversion, with the greatest
			(make believe) machine gun I've ever unleashed.
			Worth paying for.

Abyss of Pandemonium	Commercial mod now freely available:
			http://www.planetquake.com/impel/

Ravages of Apocalypse	Xmen mod! Great Models. Shame about the game-play.
			What happens when good mods turn bad.


			  Hexen II - Hammer of Thyrion
			  ---------------------------

Well, can Quake get any better ? We humbly think so - Hexen II.

Raven software made this colourful adaption of ID Software's Quake engine, but
the game was released with many rough edges.  So beautiful, yet so cruel.

While it is not as widely distributed as Quake, the demo includes some of the
games best levels and is available from the Sourceforge web site.
Ozkan Sezer has plundered the open source world and added his own touches to
bring Dan Olson's original Hexen II port screaming into the Antarctic sunshine.

			 http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net


				  Other Links
				  -----------

	   www.idsoftware.com                          Quake creators
	   www.fuhquake.net                      Fuhquake game engine
	   www.quaketerminus.com                           Great site
	   www.planetquake.com/quake1              Thanks Planetquake
	   www.happypenguin.org                   The Linux Game Tome
	   www.celephais.net/board            Message board from Hell
	                                            ... No, I mean it


				    Glossary
				    --------

Mod	Modification. Quake was designed to allow for ease of platform
	portability, with it's own computer langage called "Quake C".


				     Author
				     ------

			Steven A. ####@####.####


				     ------

			     Last updated June 2005

Todo

?? software game
?? tools
?? terminology - client/server
?? basics
?? gl_picmip
?? fitzquake && other mods

steven aatkinson wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Linux is quite a solid platform for playing Quake...
>but the LDP Quake is fairly outdated. I'm attaching an
>unformatted draft of  my quake how-to with the hope
>of taking over this project.
>
can you contact the author and let him know that you are willing to take 
over *maintainance* of this document. The SGML version of the document 
is available here: 
http://cvs.tldp.org/index.cgi/LDP/howto/linuxdoc/Quake-HOWTO.sgml
You can incorporate existing  content into your HOWTO if its still 
applicable. Have you worked with docbook or linuxdoc before?.

regards
Rahul