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* by Tom Wheeley
Table of Contents. (Some changed sections prefixed with '|')
Intro
1 - What is Quake?
1.1 Overview of Quake.
1.2 Playability issues
1.3 What platforms will Quake run on?
1.4 Hardware requirements.
1.5 How well do network games run
2 - Where can I get Quake?
3 - FAQs regarding the Quake Shareware (temporary Quake FAQ)
4 - Further Information on Quake.
4.1 Documents with Quake information.
4.2 Newsgroups and IRC.
4.3 A full Quake FAQ.
4.4 Running a Quake server.
5 - Popular Quake Internet sites.
5.1 FTP sites
5.2 WWW sites
* Intro *
The purpose of this document is to inform people about the game Quake
and to reduce the amount of frequently asked questions to the relevant
Usenet newsgroups. It is *not* a source of information on Quake itself,
for that see the Quake FAQ (section 4.3)
This FAQ may be distributed freely, provided it remains unaltered,
and the original author is mentioned. It is forbidden to redistribute
this FAQ commercially in the form of magazines, books, CDs or other pay
services without prior permission of the author, Tom Wheeley
This mini FAQ will be reposted weekly to relevant gaming Usenet news
groups and it's latest version can be retrieved from:
ftp://ftp.mantis.co.uk/pub/quake/periodic/mini_faq
Thank you to joost schuur (jschuur@globalnews.com), who originally
wrote the mini FAQ.
* 1 * What is Quake? *
1.1 Overview of Quake
Quake is a 3D 'point of view' action orientated game with
certain role playing elements from id Software. It is the successor
to DOOM and features an engine with many enhancements, such as:
. full six degrees of freedom. no more 4.5 degrees as in DOOM
. polygon based, texture mapped items
. environmental sound effects
. jumping and looking keys but no use key
. several different death scenes
| . blood trails and decapitations
. highly advanced networking capabilities:
+ Quake servers that can be linked among each other
| (Maybe only in QuakeWorld - id's next project)
+ Up to 16 players in one game (over network)
+ leave/join games in progress
+ source code availability for the server. make your
own modifications and recompile on other platforms.
. Quake comes with its own C like programming language, allowing you
to create add-ons to the game never before possible
Quake is centred round a medieval / sci-fi theme, with `slip gates',
teleportation machines being used for malignant purposes by the evil
Quake from another dimension.
All the sounds for Quake are being done by Trent Reznor, of Nine
| Inch Nails fame. The Registered Quake CD contains music by Trent Reznor
| for Quake as standard CD Audio tracks, but you can use any audio CD.
The specification for Quake has changed many times and this has drawn
criticism to id for 'lying'. Remember it is often very difficult to
implement all the great ideas that you may have for a game. To quote:
"We're often wrong about what we think is going to happen". ddt on IRC
1.2 Playability issues
o Control
. JUMP control. Jump over knee high obstacles at last (unlike DOOM)
. LOOK control. Hold down the look control, and you can effectively
turn your head with the direction keys / mouse
. No USE control. Switches are `switched' by walking/shooting.
o Movement
. No Strafe-Running bug (It may feel slow when you run diagonally)
. In general, the speed is slower
. Always-run menu opion
o Weapons
Quake uses DOOM-like military style weapons instead of Medieval ones:
. Shotgun Super Shotgun
. Nailgun Super Nailgun (Ammo has NiN logo on it)
. Rocket Launcher Grenade Launcher
| . Thunderbolt/Lightning Gun/Rosebush Waterer
| The hand to hand weapon is an Axe, and is quite effective
o Deathmatch
. Quake Deathmatch is far superior to DOOM Deathmatch due to the
enhanced control system and the gallons of blood which fly everywhere.
The registered version of Quake also comes with 6 special DM levels!
| (The first three of which are the three maps in the Quake Test version)
| . Standard deathmatch is '-altdeath'
o Tricks and Traps
. With the enhanced engine that Quake offers, there are a greater
range of devious traps, mainly involving spikes, lava and crushing
ceilings.
. Secret areas are designed to be either hard to find or to be behind
shootable doors.
. No longer are doors and moving items restricted to up and down
movements. For example, one door is designed from four triangles,
which open out from the centre.
o Miscellaneous
. Lava is much more dangerous than before
. Armour is much more useful
. There is now water and realistic swimming. It is now possible to
`run out of breath' whilst underwater.
1.3 What platforms will Quake run on?
There has been great debate on which platform Quake will arrive
first. Due to the larger market, this is DOS.
Dos + Windows95:
Quake is designed to run in DOS, but will run in Windows95 if you
have 16Mb of Memory. A native Windows 95 version of Quake should be
| released sometime after the DOS release. Quake has been designed to be
| able to use Windows95's Winsock (in a DOS box) for internet play.
OS/2:
Quake will run in an OS/2 Dos box if you give it at least 8Mb of DPMI
memory. One warning : Quake takes all DPMI memory that is given. So
don't give it 512MB of DPMI, since your swapfile will grow until that
512MB is full or your harddrive goes berserk (read full).
Linux:
A port by ddt for the X Window System has been done. Note that you
need a recent kernel to run Quake, but you should really think about
| getting Linux 2 anyway. For best results, you need a recent version of
| XFree86 with the new DGA extensions.
id intend to release the source code for the low level parts of the
game, so that 3rd parties may write their own device drivers. (This
enables hardware manufacturers to enable Quake support for their
devices).
1.4 Hardware Requirements
This is probably the question that's going through everyone's minds
the most. 'How will Quake perform on my system?' and 'Will I need a
pentium system?'.
| The minimum system for Quake is really a 60MHz Pentium. Quake is
| not a Pentium only game, but comparisons of Quake on a 486 have been
made to Doom on a 386. A P-75 will yield a reasonable frame rate, and a
P-100 was stated as a _good_ system to play Quake on.
Quake *requires* a floating point unit, and so people with 486sx
systems or NexGen Pentium class systems will not be able to run Quake.
Note that although a 486DX4/100 sounds faster than a Pentium 60, the
latter has a far superior FPU, so is faster than the 486!
As far as RAM is concerned, 8 megs is the minimum specification for
Quake. 12 or more megs certainly helps make playing Quake *much* more
enjoyable. Quake is very memory hungry, and you won't get as good a game
if playing with 8Mb.
Quake will support the new 3D accelerator cards, but no concrete
information is available at the moment regarding which ones. id
have said that it will be easy for manufacturers of any product to
write drivers for Quake.
Hints have been made that a 3D accelerator card will greatly affect the
performance of Quake. It is uncertain whether an accelerator card will
make Quake on a 486 as good as Quake on a Pentium.
1.5 How well do network games run
For some weeks now, people have been envisioning huge interconnected
worlds with 'Bands of roving Quake Gods' in them. Unfortunately, real
life has to intervene somewhere.
Quake will be able to support unlimited numbers of players in theory,
but bandwidth considerations are paramount here. Network Quake games
can have between 2 and 16 people in them. Team games are possible via
colour co-ordinated pants (`trousers' for wondering Brits ;)
Over modems, id say that they are aiming for 3 players over a 14,400bps
connection, and 5 players over a 28,800bps connection.
Quake is no longer expected to have the live voice system into the
world, even over ethernet.
* 2 * Where can I get Quake? *
Quake is available in 7 disk sized .zip files:
qsw101_1.zip, qsw101_2.zip, ..., qsw101_7.zip
or alternatively one big file:
quake101.zip
Version 1.01 is the current release proper of Quake. Note that you
*cannot* play your own maps with this version, as you could with v0.9x
| You should get (ie pay for) the registered version to run your own maps.
|
| You can now also get a beta of Quake v1.05, which among other things
| enables Quake to be played with CWSDPMI r3 (Quake is shipped with r2).
Quake is available from the following FTP sites; please choose the
site closest to you:
ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/ (California, USA) *
ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/quake/ (California, USA) *
quake.best.com/mirrors/idsoftware/ (California, USA) *
ftp.gamesdomain.com/pub/companies/id/quake/ (Tennessee, USA) *
ftp.cssweb.com/pub/games/idstuff/quake/ (Kentucky, USA) *
sparky.bright.net/quake/ (Ohio, USA) *
ftp.stomped.com/pub/idstuff/quake/ (Minnesota, USA) *
www.pht.com/pub/gamehead/id/ (USA) *
ftp.technomancer.com/pub/idstuff/quake/ (Virginia, USA) *
ftp.infomagic.com/pub/mirrors/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Arizona, USA) *
ftp.feist.com/pub/pc/games/quake/ (Kansas, USA) *
ftp.ameritel.net/idsoftware/quake/ (Maryland, USA) *
ftp.getquake.com/pub/quake/ (Kansas, USA) *
quake.osiriscorp.com/pub/idstuff/quake/ (New York, USA) *
iclass.com/pub/quake/ (Utah, USA) *
ftp.islandnet.com/mirrors/idsoftware/ (Victoria, Canada)
ftp.orst.edu/pub/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Oregon, USA)
ftp.ais.net/pub/idgames/idstuff/quake/ (Illinois, USA)
ftp.gamers.org/pub/games/idgames/idstuff/quake/ (New York, USA)
mirrors.aol.com/pub/pc_games/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Virginia, USA)
garfield.sch.bme.hu/pub/idstuff/quake/ (Budapest, Hungary)
idmirror.netvision.be/idstuff/quake/ (Heverlee, Belgium)
ftp.flexnet.net/pub/quake/ (England)
ftp.passagen.se/pub/idstuff/ (Sweden)
ftp.pk.edu.pl/pub/games/id/idstuff/quake/ (Cracow, Poland)
camel.frtk-campus.mipt.ru/pub/idstuss/quake/ (Moscow, Russia)
rulhmpc49.LeidenUniv.nl/pub/mirrors/idsoft/ (Leiden, Holland)
ftp.gig.nl/pub/idstuff/quake/ (Amsterdam, Holland)
ftp.volftp.vol.it/pub2/idstuff/quake/ (Cagliari, Italy)
ftp.origo.telenor.no/pub/quake/ (Oslo, Norway)
ftp.spel.postnet.se/pub/games/id/ (Sweden)
ftp.bnd.de/pub/quake/ (Berlin, Germany)
ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/pc/msdos/games/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Berlin, Germany)
ftp.luth.se/pub/games/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Sweden)
ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/idgames/idstuff/quake/ (Sweden)
flinux.tu-graz.ac.at/pub/idsoftware/idstuff/quake/ (Austria)
ftp.calvacom.fr/pub/pc/doom/idstuff/quake/ (France)
nctuccca.edu.tw/PC/games/DOOM/idstuff/quake/ (Taiwan)
hyperactive.com.au/pub/games/idstuff/quake/ (Sydney, Australia)
ftp.powerup.com.au/pub/games/doom/idstuff/quake/ (Australia)
ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/msdos/idgames/idstuff/quake/ (South Africa)
(sites marked with a * will get quake uploaded directly by idsoftware.
others are mirroring sites)
[thanks to joost schuur for this list]
Make sure you read the documentation before playing. Especially the
README.TXT and MANUAL.TXT
| The Linux version is now at 1.01, and can be found at:
|
| ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/unsup/intel_linux_quake101.tgz
* 3 * FAQs regarding Quake *
Q. There is no music!
A. The shareware version of Quake downloadable from the 'net does not
have any music. This is because the music, done by Trent Reznor and
Nine inch Nails, is on CD only. This results in far better quality
music.
If you put any music CD in your CD-ROM drive, then Quake will play
that CD for you, changing tracks when you change levels.
Q. Is there a zoom key?
A. Yes. Hitting F11 will zoom the display tremendously. Try this when
looking at a far away monster or power-up.
Q. Why doesn't my joystick work?
A. Do you have version >= 0.92 yet? If not, see section 2. Note also
that your joystick must be plugged in when Quake launches.
Q. How do I kill Chthon?
A. Some hints:
. Don't waste your ammo
. Take a look round the mechanics (and more) of the level first.
* 4 * Further Information on Quake *
4.1 Documents with Quake information
You can get up-to-date information from the horses mouth, so to
speak, by accessing John Carmack's (lead programmer at id) work logs. You
can do this using finger:
finger johnc@idsoftware.com
Also on display is John Cash's (network programmer at id) work logs.
finger jcash@idsoftware.com
4.2 Newsgroups and IRC
A new rec.games.computer.quake newsgroup hierarchy consisting of
three groups (rgcq.announce, rcgq.editing, rgcq.misc) successfully
passed the Usenet Call for Votes procedure on 16th November 1995.
These newsgroups were finally created on January 8th 1996, despite
uncertainty regarding the final name of Quake.
Should your newsserver not carry these groups, ask your newsadmin to
add them. Until then, Quake can also be discussed on the groups
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action and rec.games.computer.doom.misc.
Please note that alt.games.quake (a.g.q) is now obsolete, and all
Quake discussion should be within the rec.games.computer.quake
hierarchy. For some of the more general discussion typical of a.g.q,
a new newsgroup, alt.games.upcoming-3d has been created.
For more information on why alt.games.quake is obsolete (and why
alt.games.quake cannot just be left alone), read:
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/docs/faqs/agqr_faq.html
The main groups for Quake discussion are now the 'rec groups':
news:rec.games.computer.quake.announce (moderated)
news:rec.games.computer.quake.misc
news:rec.games.computer.quake.editing
news:rec.games.computer.quake.playing
news:rec.games.computer.quake.servers
On IRC (the Internet Relay Chat), Quake enthusiasts already meet on
the #quake channel.
| For a taster of the old alt.games.quake, see:
|
| http://www.tsys.demon.co.uk/games/quake.html
4.3 A full Quake FAQ
Toby Goldstone is currently maintaining
the full Quake FAQ. He currently posts it in:
rec.games.computer.quake.announce
and there should be a WWW address for it shortly.
4.4 Running a Quake server
There is not much information regarding Quake Servers at the moment,
but id may be releasing the source code for the Quake Server. This
should mean that you will be able to compile it for many platforms, as
well as adjust it to suit your means.
The Quake Servers mailing list has restarted at a new location. The
address is now quake-servers@premier.net. To subscribe, send mail to
mailto:quake-servers-request@premier.net with `subscribe' in the body
of the mail.
Both http://www.stomped.com and http://ironman.planetquake.com/servers.html
have frequently updated databases of servers, and can give you information
on currently running games.
* 5 * Popular Quake Internet sites. *
5.1 FTP sites
There are two main FTP sites with all the latest utilites and maps.
- ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/
(or ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/quake/)
- ftp://ftp.stomped.com
The best of what is here is available at http://www.stomped.com
5.2 WWW sites
Here is a list of some of the larger and more famous sites dedicated
to Quake. There are many links to other pages from both Aftershock
and The Quake Stomping Grounds.
- id Software's site:
http://www.idsoftware.com
If you have problems accessing this site, then try:
http://206.61.48.163
- The Quake MiniFAQ on the Web
http://doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu/docs/FAQ/djmfaq/dj-quakefaq
http://home.pages.de/~helmberg/Quake-Mini-FAQ.html
- Aftershock, where Quake awoke - Sadly, this site was closed down for
all but the files section :(
http://www.nuqneH.org/aftershock
- The Quake Stomping Grounds
Screenshots, Maps, Utilities, Benchmarks, Hacks, Monsters, Console cmds
http://www.stomped.com
- The Quake Development support pages. (For people *writing* Quake utils)
http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/quake
****************************************************************************
Please send suggestions for the FAQ to the maintainer: tomw@tsys.demon.co.uk
Mail regarding the HTML-izing of the FAQ should go to the respective author
Don't forget to sign my guestbook and check out my links page
Updated Sep-19-96 16:02 by Greg Taylor
