Server info and current statusServer has been terminated, but we're looking into alternatives. I may host us myself, but I have some testing to do beforehand.
We have a scheduled weekly play date of Thursdays at 10:30PM ET. If you can only make one night to play, this is the night to make. New map rotations will debut then as well.
Thank you to everyone that showed up for the first PA Quake night! It was a much bigger success than I was expecting and am looking forward to doing it again.
I'll add more stuff to the OP as I discover it or is brought up in the thread, but what's here will get people up and running quickly should people want to quickly jump back into Quake 1 and 2. Additionally, the
stickied Quake threads on the Steam forums are actually helpful and include some of the info I've included here (though I made sure the links I have to stuff in here are working and current) while going into better detail about other stuff I've neglected to mention.
PA Quake Steam group!
The one that started it all. Roughly based on D&D campaigns that Carmack DM'ed for the rest of the id crew, Quake starts each episode out in a military installation before travelling through "slipgates" to a Lovecraftian, medieval-Gothic fantasy land. You play as the sole survivor of the outfit tasked with carrying out "Operation Counterstrike", whose goal is to stop an enemy code-named "Quake" from opening portals to the monster/demon realm. The game is a unique entry into the series in that it is the only game in the series with this setting. A truly pioneering game, the industry and cultural impact this game unleashed still reverberates throughout the gaming community 15 years after it was released. The game received two official "mission packs" that were developed by outside studios and published by id: Scourge of Armagon developed by Hipnotic Entertainment (now Ritual Entertainment, I guess?) and Dissolution of Eternity developed by Rogue Entertainment.
Source Ports (If you want a screenshot comparison of a host of the more popular souce ports, check
here.)
Source ports work with the shareware version of Quake. So if you want to get online with us and not pay, grab a source port (nQuake is ideal) and the
shareware version of Quake. Note that you will not get any of the id created MP maps and only episode one of the single player doing this. However, Quake is some of the best
$10 you'll ever spend, so consider the purchase.
Darkplaces is my current source port of choice for single player because it's easy to retain the original look and feel of the graphics, yet offers some improvements like widescreen support and improved shadows (
example). It also includes full support for the mission packs. You can mess with it to make it look super (like, nQuake) pretty if you want. Includes a built-in server browser and Quake soundtrack, thus doesn't require another file or the CD for the NIN music. Not recommended for multi as it does not use QuakeWorld physics.
nQuake is
ezQuake with a bunch of extra content like maps and super pretty graphics support packed in. If you just want to jump right into multi and/or have really great-looking high-res textures, and not have to mess around with stuff too much, get this. Built on QuakeWorld, and thus uses QW physics. Haven't figured out a way to get this to work with the mission packs. If you want to be able to launch nQuake from Steam copies of Quake, use the source ports trick below.
Fitzquake appears to be quite traditional in look with a focus on fixing rendering bugs in GLQuake. Perhaps the most "traditional" of the source ports I've discovered thus far.
Mods (mods are typically installed in the root, or /quake, folder)
Team Fortress, the version that started it all.
Threewave CTF is a take on CTF that requires external files to install, which can be found at the link. Regular CTF requires no external files.
Rocket Arena maps installer for the original RA, although you should be able to download stuff from servers themselves (this may depend on the source port you're using). RA is a style of deathmatch where players spawn with the same stats and weapons, and there are no power-ups on the map.
X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse was the first commercial, big property total conversion for Quake. I never understood what the hell this was as a 10-11 year old kid and spent lots of time trying to figure it out. Full version now made free from the creator's website. Has singleplayer and multiplayer.
AGRIP allows blind people to kick your ass at Quake. Probably not all that helpful for people reading these forums, but very interesting nonetheless!
ARQuake is an augmented reality version of Quake. Not available for public consumption, but is another entry in the "unique" category of Quake mods.
ResourcesUltimate Quake patch is a file that patches the soundtrack into Steam versions of Quake and the mission packs. Enjoy your NIN. (Not required for Darkplaces.)
Quake Revitalization Project is a high-res, surprisingly faithful texture set for Quake that is compatible with (I believe) most, if not all, source ports. I
think nQuake has this included, but I'm not certain.
Quake Injector is a program that lets you easily download, install, and play custom singleplayer maps.
For a crap ton of Quake 1 maps, check
here.
A somewhat odd sequel. It's the next game in the franchise, but the first to utilize the Strogg/human plot. "Quake II" was the project name of the title while it was under development at id, but id could not secure the rights to the name they wanted to use for the game so they fell back to the game's project title for the official title of the game. You play as a marine named Bitterman who, as part of "Operation Alien Overlord", is tasked with protecting Earth from Strogg invasion by blasting into the Strogg capital and assassinating the Strogg leader. However, most of the other marines are either captured or killed almost immediately, so it's ultimately up to you to get the job done. The singleplayer deviated from Q1 somewhat in that "units" are composed of objective based missions that guide your progress around big, open levels. A lot of Q2's improvements were under the hood, with improvements and refinements to online code, mod support, and OpenGL support out of the box. Quake II received two official mission packs (The Reckoning by Xatrix Entertainment and Ground Zero by Rogue Entertainment) and a "netpack" (Netpack I: Extremities, which is "a collection of some of the best custom maps, models, and mods developed by the online community" compiled by id). All of these were published by Activision.
Source PortsKMQuake II is my current Q2 source port of choice for single player because it does for Quake 2+mission packs all (or extremely close to it, no built-in browser of course) of the non-graphical stuff that Darkplaces does for Quake 1, though the graphical improvements are greater out of the box than what Darkplaces does. Kind of annoying for getting online with as it defaults to KMQ2's protocol that is only compatible with KMQ2 and requires (rather easily) switching to normal protocol in-game (esc to main menu and change it to default protocol in the MP menu).
R1Q2 seems to be the standard source port for getting online with little fuss. Does some graphical improvement stuff, but the focus is definitely on getting online easily and full mod support. Also has an anti-cheat mod that you can choose to install during installation. If online is the objective, grab this.
Quake 2 Evolved makes Q2 look pretty. Very pretty. It appears to use a combination of Doom 3 lighting (the D3 UI is also here), new textures (guns and some terrain have brand new textures), and bump mapping to make the game look much more modern than any other source port I've found. Do yourself a favor and turn off screen blends under performance options unless you like having double vision every time you get hit.
Mods (mods are typically installed in the root, or /quake2, folder)
Action Quake 2 is a multiplayer mod that turns the game into something out of a fast-paced action movie with real world environments, new weapons. and a semi-realistic damage system. This link actually goes to a bot for AQ2, but AQ2 is included in the download (feel free to rename the folder "action" if you wish). Someone also made a
singleplayer, campaign version of AQ2, but I have no idea if it's any good.
Threewave CTF for Quake II.
Rocket Arena for Quake II. The .exe seems to not work with modern OS's, so grab the .zip.
Rail Arena is a rail gun-only multiplayer mod. The mod is server-side only, so you don't need to actually download anything to play it. However, the "all maps" pack from tastyspleen.net has some Rail Arena maps packed in (see resources section of OP).
Weapons Factory is basically Team Fortress for Quake II. 10 classes to choose from with CTF and point-capture gameplay.
Gloom is a class-based aliens vs. humans mod. The objective is to eliminate the other team and all of their spawn points (which can be setup by each side's respective class). More powerful classes can purchased with frags, so you gotta make with the kills to get the skills! A
map pack with all of the Gloom maps is available
here (other link goes to planetgloom, the homepage for the mod).
Warsow isn't so much a mod as it is a standalone game built on the Quake II engine. Movement plays a big part in the gameplay. People seem to be interested in it, so I'm including it here.
DDay Normandy is another standalone built on the Quake II engine. It's a WWII mod that has iron sights (in
my Q2's?!) aiming. The next map loaded depends on which side wins the current round, and sides have various classes to play as.
ResourcesQtracker is an external server browser that works with many games, including all Quakes. You can set whichever .exe file you want to associate with each game when it launches when you connect to a server, which is highly helpful if you're using a source port. If you want to play online, get this. It's very handy for all of the Quakes, as well as many other games that are not Quake/id related, but pretty much essential for Q2 since neither Q2 nor any of the source ports have a built-in server browser.
QuakeServers is a website that tracks the status of Quake II servers. Includes filters for mods like AQ2, CTF, and Rocket Arena.
Ultimate Quake 2 patch is the Q2+mission packs version of the UQ1patch. Not required for KMQ2 or Q2E.
The Quake 2 beta
Q2Test is still out there if you want to play the public beta version of Quake II that id released.
tastyspleen.net has
lots of custom content for download, including a handy 1.4gb (zipped, unzipped is closer to 4gb's) map pack with maps for base Q2 and some more popular mods like Rocket Arena and Rails Arena.
If you want to install high resolution texture packs, go
here to find said packs and installation instructions for your source port of choice.
The multiplayer-only entry into the series. There's no plot to speak of, but the setting is a sort of alternate reality where a collection of new and previous id characters battle each other. An official expansion, titled Team Arena, was developed by id and officially brought team based modes into the mix as well as new maps, weapons, and models.
Not planning on focusing on this too much (primarily because I was a
corrupt UT-loving dog), but if you want to play with no fuss and for free then head over to the excellent
QuakeLive service. The Steam version should suffice otherwise, though source ports do exist.
Quake Live player list (forum name: QL username, PM to be added to the list)
Source Portsioquake3 is pretty much
the source port to get. Full support for Arena, TA, and mods. Maintains the original graphics with improvements like widescreen and high resolutions support, surround sound, and IPv6 among other things.
ModsGenerations Arena is a class-based mod. Players choose from 1 of 5 classes (or "generations") that have unique powers and weapons, then fight it out with new and old power-ups. A Quake II version also exists...somewhere (try tastyspleen.net, they have fragging everything for Q2).
A general tip about source ports and Steam
If you want to launch them from Steam copy links, go into the game folder and rename the source port .exe to quake2.exe, glqwcl.exe, Winquake.exe, or whatever you want to launch from the respective menu item. Very helpful if you want to have multiple source ports launch out of Steam and have the overlay and game time tracked. So for example, say I want to launch ezQuake from my "Launch GLQuakeWorld" menu shortcut.
1) Make sure you have everything installed in the root Quake folder correctly (if using a default nQuake install, move everything in the nQuake folder up a folder level to the root Quake folder)
2) Make a copy of glqwcl.exe (this is the GL QuakeWorld .exe)
3) Rename the ezQuake .exe (I forget what it's called, probably ezQuake.exe) to glqwcl.exe.
4) Double click Quake in Steam, this will bring up the familiar menu with 4 shortcut launching options.
5) Click "Launch GLQuakeWorld". If everything is setup correctly, you'll be greeted by ezQuake's console.
For handy reference, here is the .exe that each shortcut menu item corresponds to.
Winquake.exe - Play Quake
qwcl.exe - Launch QuakeWorld
glquake.exe Launch GLQuake
glqwcl.exe - Launch GLQuakeWorld
This works with the other Quakes (and theoretically any game purchased through Steam), but the others don't have multiple menu options so renaming their .exe's will just launch the game through the source port.
Posts
I miss the days when mods were allowed to even exist, these days you don't get anything from companies. They could of Saved Duke Forever by just releasing tools and says "hey, you guys fix it"...because we would of!
I do have a minor bug with the Darkplaces source port where if I alt+tab out, I completely lose mouselook until I restart the game. Anyone seen this or know a fix? Well, besides just not alt+tab'ing out while playing.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
I'd be down for that at some point. I never played Quake co-op, or online for that matter.
Not sure what to tell you about the mouse thing. I've never had that happen, but I'm also not sure if I've ever alt tabbed out while using it. Have you tried opening the console and typing +mlook?
The original Quake is probably my favorite as well. It pretty much perfected the Doom gameplay style while making it look damn nice to boot. There really hasn't been another game like it. A Lovecraft-style medieval/Gothic FPS? Awesome. I can see how going from Quake to Quake 2 could be strange. It was a little jarring for me considering there's nothing in common between them. Carmack's mentioned that there are factions at id that would really love to see Quake go back to the style of Quake 1, which I'm taking as a sign of hope that we may see a new entry in the series in Q1's setting someday.
My connection is pure ass right now, so I don't play Quake very often (except to run around maps and burn off stress), but I'd play QuakeLive or Threewave or something with anyone who's interested.
Here is my obligatory Quake 3 content. One of my old demos, and a terrible frag video I made 6 or 7 years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA_4cSfwHkw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH_YM_hxG9c
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Very first thing I tried. No dice.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
This is what needs to be said about Quake 1 single player.
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You can get ioquake3, CPMA, cnq3.exe (better client exe) and play some CPMA. CPMA is some good stuff.
Here are some videos for warsow. Warsow is quake, but control and trick jumping are weighted more heavily than most of the other titles. Positioning is still very important but takes a back seat to being able to be anywhere from anywhere in under 5 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEgfGsicIiE
There is another video I can't find that I wish I could.
The weapon set is basically a quake 3 weaponset with tweaks and a strong / weak ammo system. (not secondary primary)
Except the basic weapon is a combination of blaster (q2), gaunlet and rocketlauncher (it has some splash)
The weapons are terrible.
Though it's been nearly a year since I played it last, so maybe they're finally improved.
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If they put in similar bounce to the CPMA rockets, and reduced PG ammo, especially storng it would be pretty decent. The Australian community pretty much died because of the rocket bounce being shit.
It's not even that they're bad in a balance sense (though they are, when balanced against Warsow's maps and movement), but they're not fun to use. That's what got me to stop playing Warsow; I had a lot of fun running around the maps, but almost no fun fighting people.
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The PG is really effective in the right situation but it shouldn't ever be a go to weapon.
And do yuo mean too large on the rocket radius? You kind of need it with people moving at 800+ so easily.
While pg is and always has been a situational weapon, Warsow doesn't present the types of situations where it's useful often enough to justify how poor it is. I'd rather they replaced it with something else, like a hyperblaster.
Overall, I find that Warsow's biggest strengths are also it's biggest weaknesses. Movement should never be as dominant as it is. Even in cpma it's a means to an end. It starts to cut down on the strategy and thought involved in individual fights, even in CA games (it also makes CA's biggest problem -- idiots running around in circles -- even worse). There is simply too much focus on the movement right now (or then, when I was playing). I like defrag as much as the next guy, but not when I'm trying to have a fight.
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I've never tried Darkplaces but I think Idolninja has convinced me to give it a look. It'll have a tough time replacing ezQuake for me though, I've really grown attached to that port.
As far as the eternal debate of Quake or Quake 2, I love them both dearly for different reasons. The techno/industrial grittiness of Quake 2 along with its metallic, industrial soundtrack will always grip me, as well as the theme of a lone soldier on an alien world who rises to become an unstoppable force. Quake has excellent atmosphere, and I prefer the gameplay of it online over Quake 2, but the single player gameplay is outpaced by Quake 2 in my opinion. That said, I can play both online or off, happily for many hours to this day.
Really though, Doom and Doom II is where it's at.
And I sat in the community's IRC channel in its dying days here, which was people basically bitching about how it is a shit game and they'd go back to CPMA if it had a community (they're back playing CPMA now and I guess I'm sort of there sometimes)
I feel the view on movement is mostly personal preference. Movement being a massive skill on its own is sort of the selling point of the game. The game is about trick jumping.
The opposite of your weapon complaints were pretty common. Rockets are too good in most situations due to the ease with which you can juggle people compared with other quake games and that plasma gives far too much area denial because of how powerful it can be were pretty common, it isn't really there to kill people so much as it is to stop people +forwarding you to death and area denial. It was a much stronger weapon before, and was toned back with reason.
anyway, how dated is quake 4? i was thinking of replaying it
also, im pissed we got no doom 4 taste this year. everything ive been hearing about it makes it sound like it will be a masterpiece.
I'd rank it above Quake 3, I feel theo nyl thing VQ3 got right was the weapon set.
I'd never really judge a Quake game on its single player though.
Doom 2 duels are cooler than most people think.
This and the Tribes Ascend footage coming out of Quakecon reminds me how awesome it was ten years ago when we were all flying through the air bristling with implausibly powerful weapons. Reloading? Cover? What are those?
Racesow.
Seriously. If you'd told me back then that the future of FPS would abandon the grapel and the jetpack, and restrict the arsenal we would be carrying I would have laughed in your face.
Neanderthals.
I probably would've jumped ship to RTS sooner.
I still play warsow when it has a community and CPMA when I can be bothered. Which is unfortunately not that often because I don't feel like investing the same amount of time to perfect a new movement system.
That and I can't aim as well as I could 10 years ago.
Quake Injector - For the first Quake, a catalog of all the Quake singleplayer maps ever released, that you can download and play easily. Very nice thing.
I remember the last time I was playing Warsow seriously the rl was a big letdown. The splash radius was terrible. The weapons were too weak in general, making it feasible for most players to simply turn and run for it if any confrontation started to go south for them. Even if you could chase, hitting them became so much more difficult, and you lost positioning and everything else. Rockets needed to be buffed: rockets should be the strongest weapon in the game.
I love the movement, and I don't mind that it's dominant in play, but I think it's too strong within individual encounters, making positioning feel less important, and letting players get away with shit they never should have.
For general defrag and the occasional CA nonsense, though, Warsow is wonderful. I don't like to duel anyway, so that's not a big deal to me.
It's also possible that all this stuff has been addressed since I last played; it's been a while.
The most criminally under appreciated mod has got to be cctf. Threewave cctf was the most fun I ever had with that mod, and I played ctfs competitively. Too bad cctf was too difficult for most, and took too much team work. But a good grapple monkey could make Warsow movement look tame.
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I know I keep talking about this, but this is the only mod I've ever used with Quake and it's pretty cool. It allows people who are blind to play Quake
I think my impression of each game is slightly coloured by how I played it. Almost all of my Q2 experience was lans, mostly ffa, with some cctf and ra2, and mostly with players much better than myself. A lot of my Q3 experience was lan, but far less ffas (that was all Q3test), but more of it was was online, and I played Quake 3 competitively, while I only played Q2 with friends.
Still, Q2DM3 will always have a special place in my heart. And boss2, I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAVsJI2PCiM
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http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
Having not played pre-0.6, I can't possibly agree with Page on the weapons. The RL is still the most versatile weapon and easily the most used, but everything else has its place, and each weapon is satisfying and good in exactly the situations it should be. It's definitely better than the VQ3/QL Rocket/LG/Rail snorefest, though I can't comment on CPMA balance having never played it.
Also, I like the style of Quake, but I much prefer Quake II's gameplay. Quake II feels like a true-3D Doom.
I made a Warsow thread once and it got flamed and trolled into oblivion. Going unnoticed is a minor victory.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Repeatedly, when Carmack mentioned that Doom 4 is going to be locked at 30fps in singleplayer (on consoles, obviously) so they can have "have 30 demons crawling all over you," my brows raise in interest a bit.
There appear to be lots of empty servers available for Quake and Quake II, so if people are interested in getting some games going we shouldn't have any problems with getting someone to host.
@IdolNinja: those SR2 shirts are pretty rad. I'll have to check out that mod whenever I finally check out SR2.
EDIT: Made a Steam group for those interested.
Hopefully a lot of people start playing again, I've tried a couple times to get old games going on PA, but it usually doesn't kick off. I hope this does.