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quake/WinQuake/data/TECHINFO.TXT
archive 829e79ec52 as released 1999-12-21
1999-12-21 00:00:00 +00:00

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Welcome to the Quake Technical Information file!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
Introduction to the Console..............
Video Subsystem Documentation............
Sound Subsystem Documentation............
CD Audio Subsystem Documentation.........
Network Subsystem Documentation..........
Modem Strings............................
Win95 Documentation......................
Key Binding and Aliases..................
Quake Keys and Common Commands...........
Making a Config File.....................
Demos....................................
Reporting Quake Bugs.....................
==========================================
== Introduction to the Console ==
==========================================
Throughout this document, examples of commands are given, all of which
are typed in at the console. To bring up the console, press the tilde ('~')
key or press ESC to bring up the menu, select Options, and select Console...
from the options menu. To exit the console, press ESC.
The console provides a way to change console variables and also accepts
commands that change game settings such as movement keys, video mode, as
well as providing an interface for key binding and command aliasing (more
on that later).
The console also has a command history with which you can browse through
previous commands. Use the up and down arrows to navigate through the
command history and press <enter> to re-issue a command.
Partially typing a command and then pressing the TAB key will complete the
currently typed text with the first matching console variable or command.
(Yes, this is a good way to look for console commands.)
To review previous actions by page, use the PGUP and PGDN keys.
==========================================
== Video Subsystem Documentation ==
==========================================
The Video Modes menu
--------------------
Video modes can most easily be selected from the the Video Modes menu, which
is brought up by selecting the Video Options choice in the Options menu.
All the resolutions that Quake can support on the current computer are
displayed.
Please note that higher-resolution modes require correspondingly more
system memory in order for Quake to run, and that some high-resolution
modes may not be available when running Quake on 8 Mb machines. Such
modes are not listed in the Video Modes menu. Please do not report
video modes that do not appear in the Video Modes menu as bugs; either
those modes are not supported by your video adapter, or there is not
enough system memory for Quake to support those modes.
The video modes listed in the Video Modes menu can be tested, set, and made
the default mode for Quake from the Video menu, as follows:
* The arrow keys can be used to move the blinking indicator to any of the
modes listed in the Video menu.
* Pressing the 'T' key tests the mode the blinking indicator points to, by
setting the mode, leaving it set for 5 seconds, and returning to the previous
mode. This lets you verify that your computer does in fact support that
mode. We highly recommend that you always test modes with 'T' before setting
them
permanently by pressing the Enter key, in case some sort of hardware or
software glitch causes a mode to function incorrectly and produce a garbled
screen. It is unlikely but possible that testing or setting a mode will
cause your computer to hang or crash; if this happens, there is a serious
hardware or software bug, and you should not attempt to select that mode
again.
* Pressing the Enter key sets the mode the blinking indicator points to,
leaving it set so Quake will then run in that mode. We suggest that you
test a mode by pressing the 'T' key before setting it by pressing the Enter
key. Note that a selection made with the Enter key remains in effect only
until Quake is exited (or a new mode is set). You must explictly make a mode
the default mode by pressing the 'D' key in order to automatically set that
mode when you start Quake up in the future.
* Pressing the 'D' key makes the current mode the default mode that Quake
starts up with. Note that the current mode is the mode that's displayed in
white in the mode list, not necessarily the mode that the blinking indicator
points to. The current default mode is listed in the description of the 'D'
key at the bottom of the Video Modes menu.
* Pressing Esc exits the Video Modes menu.
Please see "Bug Reporting," below, for information on how to report any
problems you encounter.
Video modes from the console: Quick start
------------------------------------------
More comprehensive but more complex video control is available through the
Quake console. This section describes the commands necessary to perform
basic mode setting through the console (this is similar to what can be
accomplished through the Video Modes menu), and following sections describe
console video control in detail.
To see all the video modes that are available, bring up the console (either
press tilde ('~'), or press Esc to bring up the menu, select Options, and
select Console... from the Options menu).
From the console, type vid_describemodes<enter> to see all available modes.
Type vid_mode <mode #> to set a mode, where <mode #> is the mode number
listed for the desired mode by vid_describemodes. Higher-resolution modes
generally require more extra system memory in order to run, and many are
not available in 8 Mb systems; modes that are supported by the video
adapter but are currently unavailable due to system memory limitations
will still show up in
the mode list from vid_describemodes, but will
have "**" in place of a mode number. (Such modes will not show up at
all in the Video Modes menu.) If you try to set a mode for which
there is insufficient system memory, you will receive a message to that
effect, and the video mode will remain unchanged.
More detail
-----------
This version of Quake supports software drawing in a variety of
video modes. It does not support any 3-D hardware accelerators.
Video modes that are built into Quake are:
320x200, 360x200, 320x240, 360x240, 320x350, 360x350, 320x400,
360x400, 320x480, 360x480
However, the higher-resolution modes on this list require additional
memory, and may not be available in 8 Mb systems.
In addition, all VESA 2.0 256-color linear framebuffer modes
supported by the video adapter are supported. Further information
about VESA 2.0 is provided below.
Video mode reporting and selection
----------------------------------
Quake assigns each available video mode a mode number, which can
then be used to query information about the mode or to select the
mode. The first 11 mode numbers are always as follows:
0: 320x200
1: 320x200
2: 360x200
3: 320x240
4: 360x240
5: 320x350
6: 360x350
7: 320x400
8: 360x400
9: 320x480
10: 360x480
You will notice that modes 0 and 1 are both 320x200; mode 1 is a
Mode X-style version, which may someday allow support of page
flipping for cleaner graphics, but right now it's just slower with
no advantages, so use mode 0 for 320x200 resolution. Modes 2-10
are all higher resolution than mode 0, and look very nice, but are
also all slower than mode 0. Mode 0 is the fastest of the 11
built-in modes.
In addition to the built-in modes, Quake checks for the presence
of a VESA version 2.0 driver. If such a driver is detected, the
driver is queried for all 8-bit-per-pixel linear framebuffer (LFB)
modes that are supported; also, if no LFB 320x200 mode is available,
a banked 320x200 VESA mode is queried for. All such modes are added
to the mode list starting at mode 11. The available modes will vary
depending on adapter, graphics chipset, amount of video memory, and VESA
2.0
driver. The higher the resolution, the lower the performance, and
the
higher-resolution modes will often be too slow for good gameplay
on most machines. (Also, higher-resolution modes often need more memory
than is available in an 8 Mb system.) The screen can be sized down to
improve performance in higher-resolution modes, but then of course the
effective resolution of Quake is reduced.
At the same resolution, VESA LFB modes are often faster than the non-VESA
modes 0-10, because adapters often have faster memory access in LFB modes.
If a given VESA mode can support page flipping, then it defaults to page-
flipped operation. A VESA mode can be forced to non-page-flipped operation
by setting the vid_nopageflip console variable to 1, then setting the mode
(note that vid_nopageflip takes operation on the next, not the current, mode
set, and note that it then stays in effect permanently, even when Quake is
exited and restarted, unless it is manually set back to 0). If there is not
enough memory for two pages in a VESA mode, or if the
adapter doesn't support page flipping, then the mode will automatically
be non-page-flipped. Page flipping can have higher visual quality, but may
be either faster or slower, depending on the graphics adapter and other
hardware. (See the discussion of the Pentium Pro, below, for a
discussion of why page flipping can be faster but is sometimes much slower
on that processor.) Page-flipped modes use less system memory than non-
page-flipped modes.
Quake's VESA support, including VESA driver detection, can be disabled by
using the -stdvid command-line switch, and can also be disabled, along with
sound, network, and other hardware support, by the -safe command-line switch.
The maximum resolution supported by Quake is 1280x1024. Modes with higher
resolutions will not be reported by vid_describemodes, and cannot be set.
There is no support for any 3-D accelerator boards in this version of Quake.
Coming soon.
Quake always starts up in mode 0, and modes 0-10 are always available, given
enough system memory.
A note on modes reported in the Video Modes menu
------------------------------------------------
The vid_describemodes console command lists all modes with
resolution less than or equal to 1280x1024 that are
supported by the video adapter, although modes for which there
is not enough system memory have "**" for the mode number. VGA,
Mode X-style, and VESA 2.0 modes are listed separately, so a
single resolution can be listed as many as three times, once for
each hardware mode that supports it. For example, mode 0 is
VGA mode 0x13, which supports 320x200 resolution, and mode 1 is
320x200 Mode X-style mode. Quake looks identical in both
modes, although it usually runs faster in mode 0.
The Video Modes menu is much simpler. Only modes with resolution
less than or equal to 1280x1024 that are both supported by the
hardware and for which there is sufficient system memory are
listed. Further, a given resolution is listed only once. If a
given resolution is available in multiple hardware modes, then
selecting that resolution will select the appropriate hardware mode
as follows:
If the mode is 320x200, then VGA mode 0x13 is selected, and
equivalent Mode X and VESA modes are ignored;
Otherwise, the VESA version of the mode is used.
You can always see what video mode is selected from the console by typing
the command:
vid_mode<enter>
command.
None of this has any effect on selecting modes through the
console, where all the different versions of each mode are
listed, and the desired version can be selected by using the
appropriate mode number.
How to get VESA 2.0 support
---------------------------
Some video adapters have VESA 2.0 support in ROM. Other video
adapters come with loadable VESA 2.0 TSRs. In the absence of either
of these, UniVBE, a shareware product from SciTech, provides VESA 2.0
support for most video adapters. The latest version of UniVBE can be
obtained from the following locations:
www: http://www.scitechsoft.com
ftp: ftp.scitechsoft.com
CIS: GO SCITECH
AOL: Keyword SciTech
SciTech can be contacted at:
email: sales@scitechsoft.com
SciTech Software
5 Governors Lane, Suite D
Chico, CA
95926-1989
The current version at this writing is UniVBE 5.2. This version
supports many more adapters than previous versions, and adds
a number of useful low- and medium-resolution modes, such as 400x300
and 512x384.
Video-related commands
----------------------
vid_describecurrentmode
lists the description for the current video mode.
vid_describemode <mode #>
lists the description for the specified video mode, where <mode #> is as
reported by vid_describemodes.
vid_describemodes
lists descriptions for all available video modes.
vid_mode <mode #>
sets the display to the specified mode, where <mode #> is as reported by
vid_describemodes.
vid_nopageflip <1|0>
when set to 1, VESA mode sets will always select non-page-flipped
operation. When set to 0, VESA mode sets will select page-flipped
operation whenever possible. All non-VESA modes are always
non-page-flipped. The setting of vid_nopageflip is remembered
when Quake is exited (by being saved in config.cfg), and is reloaded
when Quake is restarted, so once vid_nopageflip is set to 1, all
VESA modes set in all Quake sessions after that point be will non-page-
flipped until vid_nopageflip is set to 0. Note that setting this
variable doesn't affect whether the current video mode is page-flipped,
but rather whether page-flipping can be used by future mode sets.
vid_nummodes
reports the total number of modes available.
vid_testmode <mode #>
tries to switch Quake to the specified mode, then returns to the current
mode after 5 seconds. This allows you to try an untested mode without
ending up with a black screen if, for example, the monitor can't display
the mode properly. There may still be instances in which, due to VESA
driver or hardware bugs, the machine will hang in certain modes;
vid_testmode can't recover from these situations, but it can recover
from a blank or scrambled screen.
vid_wait <wait type>
sets the type of waiting that the video adapter should do, as follows:
0: no waiting
1: wait for vertical sync active
2: wait for display enable active
The default state of vid_wait depends on the video mode selected.
(_vid_wait_override can force vid_wait to 1, wait for vertical
sync; see the description of _vid_wait_override below.)
In built-in modes 0-10, the default is always 0, no waiting. You
can set vid_wait to 1 (wait for vertical sync) to eliminate shear
and tearing in these modes (so partially-completed frames are never
drawn, resulting in a rock-solid image). However, waiting for
vertical sync can result in substantial performance loss.
In VESA modes, if the adapter is VGA compatible and there's enough
memory for three video pages, then triple-buffering is enabled and
vid_wait is set to 2, wait for display enable. There is little
performance loss to this sort of waiting. If the adapter is not
VGA compatible, or if there's only enough memory for double-buffering,
then vid_wait is set to 1 (wait for vertical sync). This can cause
significant loss of performance, but some sort of wait is generally
necessary to avoid occasional glitching of the screen when
page-flipping; we always choose the lowest-cost wait option that
seems to be safe to use. If there's only enough memory for one
page, or if vid_nopageflip 1 is in effect, then vid_wait is set to 0
(no wait). As with modes 0-10, vid_wait 1 can be used to eliminate
shear, but at a performance cost.
We have encountered problems with a few adapters in VESA modes when
vid_wait is set to 2 (wait for display enable). Apparently some adapters
just toggle display enable all the time, rather than only when pixels
are being sent to the screen; this can cause occasional glitches in
which the screen image jumps for one frame. You can fix this by
setting vid_wait to 1 (wait for vertical sync). We would have made
vid_wait 1 the default, but it's slower, and vid_wait 2 works on most
machines.
The default setting for vid_wait can be changed from the console
at any time. If you are in a VESA mode that waits for vertical
sync and want to turn it off to get a speed-up, you can do so.
However, changing a vid_wait 1 default in a VESA mode may result
in problems. If vid_wait defaults to 1 (wait for vertical sync)
in a mode, and you force it to 2 (wait for display enable), the
machine may hang, because some VGA-incompatible adapters, such as
some ATI Mach64s, don't support the display enable status. If you
force vid_wait to 0 (no wait), then the screen may glitch periodically
if the page flips at a time that results in a bad flip address,
although some adapters work fine with no wait at all.
If you force a new setting for vid_wait and encounter problems, DO
NOT send us a bug report!
_vid_wait_override <1|0>
can be used to force wait for vertical sync in all modes. When
_vid_wait_override is set to 0, the type of waiting, if any, for
each video mode that's set thereafter is automatically set to
what appears to be the fastest safe state. However, it is
possible in some cases that automatic setting may result in some
screen glitching, and it is also true that shear can be
eliminated by waiting for vertical sync (although at a cost in
performance), so it may be desirable in some cases to override
the automatic wait selection and always wait for vertical sync.
This can be done by setting _vid_wait_override to 1. Once set,
this remains in effect through all succeeding mode sets, even
when Quake is exited and re-entered; the only way to keep Quake
from waiting for vertical sync once _vid_wait_override is set to
1 is to set _vid_wait_override to 0. Note that changing
_vid_wait_override doesn't affect the current mode, but rather
takes effect on the next mode set. _vid_wait_override is initially
set to 0.
_vid_default_mode <mode #>
can be used to force Quake to start up in a particular mode.
The easiest way to select a default mode is by pressing the
'D' key in the Video Modes menu, but you can alternatively
use _vid_default_mode to specify the mode in which you want
Quake to start up in future Quake sessions. _vid_default_mode
is initially set to 0.
Higher-quality perspective texture mapping
------------------------------------------
For maximum speed, perspective correction is performed only every 16
pixels. This is normally fine, but it is possible to see texture ripples
in surfaces that are viewed at sharp angles. For more precise texture
mapping, set the console variable d_subdiv16 to 0. Doing this will result
in somewhat slower performance, however, and the difference in visual
quality will not normally be noticeable.
Known video problems and workarounds
------------------------------------
If you think you've encountered a bug, see "Bug Reporting," below.
As a general rule, go back to mode 0 if you have problems; mode 0
should work properly in all cases.
On some ATI Mach64 adapters, the palette is sometimes too dark in
some VESA modes, and is tinted oddly (too red, for example) in other
modes. The workaround is to use different modes, or modes 0-10.
In modes 0-10, shear and tearing can occur as partially finished
frames are displayed. Workaround: set vid_wait to 1 (wait for
vertical sync); this can result in a substantial performance loss,
however. An alternative is to use a page-flipped VESA mode.
In page-flipped VESA modes, occasional glitched frames may occur with some
VESA driver-hardware combinations. Workaround: set vid_wait to 1 (wait
for vertical sync) (you can set _vid_wait_override to 1 to make waiting
for vertical sync permanent for future Quake sessions), or use a different
mode.
The VESA video drivers that come with some video adapters don't
support low-resolution modes such as 320x200; often,
nothing lower than 640x400 is supported. For example,
this is the case with some ATI adapters. There's nothing
Quake can do to provide low-resolution VESA modes in these
cases, because Quake simply supports whatever modes the VESA
driver chooses to report as supported. Unfortunately, 640x400
is too high a resolution for really good performance unless you
have a very fast Pentium or a Pentium Pro, so on machines with
this sort of adapter, the VESA modes aren't very usable.
Workaround: Use UniVBE 5.2, which supports low-resolution modes
on a wide variety of adapters. Note that a few adapters simply can't
support low-resolution modes, in which case you'll have to stick with
the low-resolution VGA and Mode X modes that are built into Quake,
which run fine but may be somewhat slower than VESA modes.
A few video adapters are almost but not fully VGA compatible, because
they don't support some unusual VGA video modes. In particular, a few
adapters don't support the 360-wide Mode X-style video modes that are
build into Quake (modes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10), and display garbage in those
modes. Workaround: use different modes, such as 0, 3, 5, 7, 9, or any
VESA modes that are available.
Under Win 95, the palette occasionally gets messed up when switching from
Quake to the desktop and back again. You can restore the palette by
bringing down the console (either press tilde ('~'), or press Esc to bring
up the menu, select Options, and select Console... from the Options menu),
and typing bf and pressing the enter key, to generate a background flash,
which sets the palette. Press Esc to exit the console. Alternatively,
setting the screen brightness, either from the Options menu or via the
gamma console variable, sets the palette.
Under Win 95, if the system key (the key with the Win 95 flag on it) is
pressed while Quake is running fullscreen in a VESA mode, Win 95 may be
unable to switch back from the desktop to Quake, in which case it will
notify you of this, then terminate the Quake session. This is a quirk
of Win 95, and normally there is no workaround other than not to press
that key or not to use VESA modes. (Some people go so far as to remove
the system key from their keyboard.) However, you can
disable the system key for Quake with the following utility:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/doswinky.exe
Switching away from Quake with Alt-Enter, Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Tab, or
Alt-Spacebar all work fine (except that if you disable the system key
with doswinky.exe, Ctrl-Esc will also be disabled).
Performance
-----------
Quake's graphics should be adequately fast in mode 0 (320x200) on all
Pentium-class machines. If you feel Quake is running slowly, set the
showturtle console variable to 1; you will then see a turtle icon
appear in the upper left corner of the screen if the frame rate drops
below 10 frame/second. If you are getting the turtle, you are probably
not getting great gameplay. Performance can be improved in several ways:
* size down the screen with the minus key
* select a lower-resolution mode, if possible
* use a VESA mode
* if you're using a VESA mode and vid_wait is set to 1 (wait for
vertical sync) by default (you can check by typing vid_wait<enter>
in the console), you can try setting vid_wait to 0 or 2, as detailed
in the discussion of the vid_wait command above. Be aware that
risks of screen glitching or hung machines are associated with
overriding a default vid_wait 1 setting in VESA modes.
To see how exactly fast Quake is running, bring up the console and type
host_speeds 1<enter>
You will see a display at the top indicating total frame time in
milliseconds, and also server, graphics, and sound frame time in
milliseconds. (Note, though, that unless you also do
snd_noextraupdate 1<enter>
sound time will actually show up as graphics time. However,
snd_noextraupdate 1 can cause sound to get choppy, so it's not
generally recommended.)
Lower numbers are better.
Type
host_speeds 0<enter>
to turn off the frame time display.
Pentium Pro Performance
-----------------------
The Pentium Pro is a very fast Quake platform, but has one weak spot; it is
by default very slow on writes to video memory. This means that in default
hardware configurations, you are usually much better off setting
vid_nopageflip to 1 if you use VESA modes, so drawing is done to system
memory instead of to video memory. Remember that you must set the mode
after setting vid_nopageflip to 1 in order to get vid_nopageflip to take
effect. (vid_nopageflip can sometimes be faster on a Pentium, too, but
not by nearly as much in general, and it's often slower.)
The Pentium Pro has some special features that are not turned on by default,
but which can help Quake performance a LOT. These features can be enabled
by John Hinkley's program FASTVID, which can be obtained from
ftp://members.aol.com/JHinkley/fastvid.zip. Performance in 640x480
mode on a Pentium Pro/150 nearly doubled after FASTVID was run; Quake
was very playable (and looked great!) at this resolution.
There's the usual caution with FASTVID: It could conceivably make your
system run goofily, or who knows what. FASTVID is not a product of
id Software, and id makes no guarantees regarding FASTVID. In other words,
use FASTVID at your own risk.
************************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTE: FASTVID works only on Pentium Pros!!! Please do NOT
contact either John Hinkley or id with problems concerning FASTVID on
Pentium or 486 machines.
************************************************************************
Video Bug Reporting
-------------------
If you encounter a video-related bug, please fill out the form found at the
end of this file and e-mail it to support@idsoftware.com. There are several
problems that are not bugs, and shouldn't be reported, including:
* unavailability of some VESA modes; VESA modes are only supported by
Quake if they are 8-bpp, are LFB modes (except for 320x200), and are
no greater than 1280x1024 in resolution. If you have a VESA mode
that doesn't seem to be working properly, please contact the
manufacturer; we just use the information that the VESA driver
provides us with.
* problems that occur when you change vid_wait from a default value
of 1 (wait for vertical sync) in VESA modes
* sluggish performance on 486s
* the known palette problem on some Mach64s.
* the known palette problems switching from fullscreen to the desktop and
back under Win95.
* the known problems switching back from the desktop in VESA modes after the
system (Windows flag) key has switched from fullscreen to the desktop.
* video modes that are not listed in the Video Modes menu, or that are not
listed or are listed with "**" in the output from vid_describemodes; such
modes are either not supported by your video adapter, or cannot be supported
by Quake in the amount of memory your system has. High-resolution modes will
often not be available in 8 Mb systems.
* 360-wide video modes that don't work although other resolutions do work
* lack of low-resolution VESA modes; the availability of low-resolution modes
is the responsibility of the VESA driver. UniVBE 5.2 provides low-resolution
modes on most adapters.
Apart from these, we would very much like to hear about any video
problems you encounter.
==========================================
== Sound Subsystem Documentation ==
==========================================
Quake's sound subsystem works only with Sound Blaster compatible sound
cards. For Quake to get the correct settings for DMA channel and PORT
address, you must set your BLASTER environment variable (or have it set for
you with the DIAGNOSE utility in your SB16 directory). If you do not have
the BLASTER environment variable set, your sound will not work. If your
sound card supports Sound Blaster compatibility, Windows 95 should set this
variable for you.
Note: some sound cards do not have 100% Sound Blaster compatible
hardware, but emulate the Sound Blaster interface. Such cards may
display some inconsistencies relative to an actual sound blaster.
In particular, sound may be delayed on some cards.
Note: it is possible for sound to get choppy if the frame rate
drops to a very low level, below 5 frames a second. A frame rate
that low will not provide a good gameplay experience, so if you
do experience choppy sound, your machine is almost certainly not
fast enough to run Quake satisfactorily in general.
If (when) you see bugs, please use the form attached to the end
of these docs to submit a bug report.
Sound Card Command Line Options, Commands, and Variables
==================================================================
The commands and variables below work under any operating system.
Command-Line options are typed on the command line in most any place
but only in operating systems which support command line interfaces,
like DOS's COMMAND.COM, or NEXTSTEP's or Linux's csh, sh, or bash.
For example, under DOS, the NOSOUND option would be used like this:
"C:> quake -nosound".
Command-Line Options
--------------------
NOSOUND
Syntax: -nosound
Description: This will prevent *any* sound code from being executed. If
you are having technical difficulty with the game and then try
running the game with this option and the problem goes away, then
the problem is probably somewhere in the sound code.
SSPEED
Syntax: -sspeed <speed>
Description: This will ask the sound code to set the playback speed
within the constraints of the capabilities of the card. This is
11025 Hz by default and usually from 8000 to 44100. Making this
faster requires more CPU horsepower, and has no actual benefits,
because the sounds only contain 11 KHz data. Making this slower
degrades sound quality, but improves performance and saves memory.
Commands
--------
SOUNDINFO
Syntax: soundinfo
Description: This prints the "portable" information on your current
audio hardware setting in the game. It specifies whether there is
stereo output (0 or 1), the number of samples in the DMA buffer, the
current sample position (changes each time you run SOUNDINFO and
ranges from 0 to the number of samples), the number of sample bits,
the submission chunk (1 in DOS or Linux w/ mmaped sound, larger in
Linux w/o mmaped sound), playback speed in Hz, the DMA buffer address
in hexadecimal (usually 8 digits after the 0x, starting with 0xf00..
in DOS, starting with 0x400.. in Linux, and less than 8 digits if the
hardware was not initialized successfully), and the number of
channels mixed in software (8 by default, changeable w/NUMCHANNELS
command).
STOPSOUNDS
Syntax: stopsounds
Description: Stops any current looping sounds.
Sound Blaster Sound Card Command-Line Options and Commands
==========================================================
The following applies to Sound Blaster cards or compatibles under DOS
or a DOS box.
Commands
--------
SBINFO
Syntax: sbinfo
Description: This will print information on the Sound Blaster card
in the system. If the version is 4 or greater, then it is some
kind of Sound Blaster 16 or compatible. Version 2 is an 8 bit mono
sound blaster, Version 3 is an 8 bit stereo sound blaster pro.
The port is the I/O port
sensed from the A variable in the BLASTER
environment variable.
The DMA is the DMA channel and is confirmed in
hardware if the
card is version 4 or higher. The mixer port can be
ignored.
==========================================
== CD Audio Subsystem Documentation ==
==========================================
Overview
========
Quake is designed to play background music off of a CD-ROM. The Quake CD has
music tracks on it and each level has been assigned a track that will be
played.
Win95 Users: Putting a CD other than the Quake CD into the drive when Quake
is already running will sometimes cause another Windows application to start
and switch you back to Windows with Quake running in the background. You
will probably want to stop whatever was started and switch back to Quake as
quickly as possible... especially if you are playing deathmatch.
Command Line Parameters
=======================
-nocdaudio
This will prevent the CD audio system from even attempting to initialize.
No CD commands or functions will be available. The game will just run
with no music.
-cdmediacheck
This causes the game to periodically check to see if the CD has been
removed and a new one placed in the player. It is off by default since
this operation is very slow on some CD players and is not needed under
Win95. There is normally no reason to enable this option; it would
only be useful if you were going to be changing the CD from within the
game on a regular basis.
Commands
========
There is normally no reason you would need to use any of these commands. If
you are playing Quake with the Quake CD in your CD-ROM drive, the appropriate
music track will be played automatically.
cd on
Re-enables the CD audio system after a "cd off" command.
cd off
Shuts down the CD audio system. No more music will be played unless it
is re-enabled.
cd reset
Causes the CD audio to re-initialize. This is useful if you change
CDs or insert the CD after you've already run Quake.
cd play <track number>
Plays the specified track one time.
cd loop <track number>
Plays the specified track. It will be repeated until either it is
manually stopped or another track is started.
cd stop
Stops the currently playing track.
cd resume
Will resume playback of a stopped track.
cd eject
This is for CD players that do not have a manual eject button.
cd remap <track1> <track2> <track3> ...
Allows you to switch what tracks are played. This is especially useful
if you want to play music other than that on the Quake CD. If the CD
audio system is told to play track 1, it will instead play the 1st
track you specified. For example: assuming a CD with 1 data track and
8 music tracks, the command "cd remap 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2" would leave
the data alone and play the audio tracks as if they had been placed on
the CD in the opposite order.
cd info
Reports information such as the number and types of tracks on the current
CD, what track (if any) is currently playing, and the playback volume.
Variables
=========
bgmvolume
The background music volume. Valid values are 0.0 though 1.0. Changes
will normally be made using the options menu.
Not all CD-ROM players support variable volume. The 0.0 to 1.0 value
translated to a value from 0 to 255 before it is passed to MSCDEX. How
this value is interpreted varies from drive to drive. The only thing
required by the MSCDEX specification is that 0 is off and anything else
is on. Some CD-ROM drives only have on and off so change to bgmvolume
will have have no effect on volume once it is on.
Messages
========
CDAudio_Init: MSCDEX version 2.00 or later required.
MSCDEX was either not loaded, or is a version earlier than 2.00.
CDAudio_Init: First CD-ROM drive will be used
MSCDEX reported that the system has more than one CD-ROM drive.
Quake will always use the first drive in this case.
CDAudio_Init: Unable to allocate low memory.
We were unable to allocate the memory needed to communicate with MSCDEX.
Although the game can still run, this indicates a severe low memory
condition.
CD Audio Initialized
Indicates that the CD audio system has successfully initialized.
CDAudio_Play: Bad track number N.
We attempted to play a track number that that is outside the range of
tracks recorded on the CD currently in the CD-ROM drive. Probable causes
are that a CD other than Quake is in the player, or a custom level has
specified an invalid track number.
CDAudio_Play: Can not play data.
A valid track was requested to be played, but it was a not an audio track.
The probable causes are the same as for a bad track number.
CDAudio_Play: track N failed
A valid audio track was going to be played, but the play command to MSCDEX
returned an error.
CDAudio: media changed
This is simply a notification. It can only occur if the "-cdmediacheck"
option was specified on the command line.
CDAudio: Error - playback stopped N
An error occurred while the CD was playing audio. Playback has been
stopped and no further automatic play will be attempted; the game will
proceed without music.
CDAudio_Init: No CD in player.
MSCDEX reported an error while Quake was attempting to get information
about the current CD. There is either no CD in the player, or it was
unable to get the track information. No automatic CD play will be
attempted; the game will proceed without music.
==========================================
== Network Subsystem Documentation ==
==========================================
Overview
========
Quake is a client/server game. You are always running over some type of
network. In a standalone game, you are using a loopback network; it just
passes messages back and forth in memory buffers. This readme is talking
about real networks and multiplayer deathmatches. There are three main
sections: commands, LANs, and Serial.
Most normal configuration can be done via the game menus.
There are two types of Quake servers: dedicated and listen. A listen server
is a machine that is used to play the game and also hosts the game for other
players. A dedicated server only hosts the game; it runs in text mode and
does not let anyone play on that machine. A single player game is really
just a 1 player listen server that doesn't listen for network connections.
Dedicated vs Listen. I'll try to make this simple: it is always better to
use a dedicated server. Why? Fairness and playability. With a listen
server, the person on the server always has advantages. They will always be
the first person into a level, they will always have zero latency, and they
will get a server update on each and every frame. On a dedicated server
everyone gets equal treatment. Getting into the server is a first come,
first served proposition; latency is determined by each player's connection;
and everyone is sent the same number of updates. It's about as fair as life
gets. By the way, a good 486 machine works nicely as dedicated server.
Another suggestion. Until there is a native Win95 version of Quake, IPX will
usually provide better gameplay on a local area network. This is due to the
delicate balancing act that is required to let a DOS program use the Win95
TCP/IP stack.
To start a Dedicated Server, you invoke Quake with the "-dedicated"
command-line parameter. When the server starts, you can type any command
that you would normally type in the Quake Console, such as "map e1m1" to
start the server on a specific map. This can be done from the command-
line as well by typing "quake -dedicated +map e1m1". If a value is entered
after "-dedicated", that is the amount of players allowed to connect, up
to a maximum of 16 players. A dedicated server will quit to the OS whenever
a fraglimit or timelimit is reached. Example: "quake -dedicated 16" will
start a 16-player dedicated server.
To start a Listen Server, you invoke Quake with the "-listen" command-
line parameter, or use the Multiplayer menu in the game. Starting a listen
server from the command-line will allow you to handle more than 4 players,
as 4 is the limit when starting a game from the Multiplayer menu. If a
value is used after the "-listen", that is the maximum amount of players
allowed, up to 16 players.
Command Line Parameters, Commands, and Variables
================================================
Command line parameters
-----------------------
-nolan
Disables IPX, TCP/IP, and serial support.
-noudp
Disables support for TCP/IP.
-udpport <port#>
Specifies a UDP port to be used other than the default of 26000.
-noipx
Disables support for IPX.
-ipxport <port#>
Specifies a IPX port to be used other than the default of 26000.
-noserial
Disable serial support.
-mpath
Enables support for code to use Win95's TCP/IP stack. Do NOT use this
under DOS!
-listen [n]
Starts Quake ready to be a non-dedicated server for up to <n>
players. If you do not specify a number <n> after -listen it will
default to 8. The maximum allowed value is 16.
-dedicated [n]
Starts Quake ready to be a dedicated server for up to <n> players.
If you do not specify a number <n> after -listen it will default to 8.
The maximum allowed value is 16. A dedicated Quake server stays in
text mode. This is the Quake console with most commands still
available; those that make no sense (like vid_mode) are ommitted.
Console Variables
-----------------
net_messagetimeout
Specifies how long Quake should wait for a message to arrive before
deciding the connection has died. The default is 3 minutes. For
reference, messages usually arrive at the rate of about 20 per second.
hostname
This is the name for your server that will show up on an slist
(see below). The default value is "unnamed".
sys_ticrate
Only used by dedicated servers. This determines the rate at which the
server will send out updates to the clients. The default value is 0.05
(20 updatesper second). For servers where bandwidth is limited, using
modems or the internet for example, it is advisable to lower this value
to 0.1 (10 updates per second). This will have a very minor effect on
responsiveness, but will half to outbound bandwitdh required making the
modem players a lot happier.
Console commands
----------------
net_stats
This is for debugging. It displays various network statistics.
slist
Looks for Quake servers on a local LAN (or over a null modem
cable). This will NOT go outside the local LAN (will not cross
routers).
LANs
====
Here are the LANs that are supported by the Quake test
release. For each one, you'll be told how to connect to a server
*if it is not on your local network*. If it is, you can use the
"slist" command and connect by hostname. See the main readme for
a discussion of the connect command.
IPX
---
Quake has been run with Novell's ODI IPX stack under DOS, PDIPX with packet
drivers under DOS, and the Microsoft IPX stack in a Win95 DOS box. When
connecting to a server using IPX, you specify its network:nodeaddress (like
12345678:1234567890AB). If you are on the same network, you can just specify
the node address. If you are doing a connect command from the console, a
full IPX address must be enclosed in quotes.
For example, the server's IPX address is "00FADE23:00aa00b9b5b2", you would
enter: connect "00FADE23:00aa00b9b5b2"
Win95 TCP/IP
------------
Please see the Win95 section of this file for details about playing using
TCP/IP under Win95.
Kali
----
To Quake, Kali appears to be IPX. Once you've got Kali up and running, run
Quake as if it was on an IPX network.
Beame & Whiteside TCP/IP
------------------------
This is the only DOS TCP/IP stack supported in the test release.
It is not shareware...it's what we use on our network (in case you
were wondering why this particular stack). This has been "tested"
extensively over ethernet and you should encounter no problems
with it. Their SLIP and PPP have not been tested. When connecting
to a server using TCP/IP (UDP actually), you specifiy it's "dot notation"
address (like 123.45.67.89). You only need to specify the unique portion
of the adress. For example, if your IP address is 123.45.12.34
and the server's is 123.45.56.78, you could use "connect 56.78".
Playing over the Internet
-------------------------
Yes, you can play Quake over the Internet. How many people can be in
the game? That depends. How smooth will the game be? That depends.
There are just too many variables (bandwidth, latency, current load,
etc...) for us to make any kind of promises about Internet play.
Serial/Modem
============
The Quake serial driver supports two COM ports. Although they are referred
to as COM1 and COM2, you can configure them to use any normal hardware
COM port (1 thru 4 on most PCs). The com ports are used with interrupts,
so their IRQ may not be used for another purpose (such as a LAN adapter
or sound card). The IRQ may not be shared with another device either;
not even another COM port. A client can only be connected to one server
at a time, so multiple ports are really only useful on a server.
When using modems, the client must originate the call and the server
must answer. This holds true even for a two player, non-dedicated
server configuration.
In the Multiplayer menu, the default modem string is "ATZ". If your modem
games are too slow, you can change this string to the appropriate one for
your modem as listed below in the "Modem Strings" section.
The COMx commands
-----------------
Use the menus for serial play whenever possible. The console
interface is only for unusual configurations. It is much more
difficult to understand and use correctly.
Those of you who do use the console commands for serial play need to
know that the menus always use the first Quake COM line (COM1); yes,
even for COM2. The names COM1 and COM2 here mean the first and second
serial ports, not necessarily the PC COM1 and COM2 ports (although those
are the default configurations).
There are two commands to support serial/modem play for Quake. They
are: COM1 and COM2. Entering one of these commands with no arguments
will display the status of that serial port, similar to this:
Settings for COM1
enabled: true
connected: false
uart: 16550
port: 3f8
irq: 4
baud: 57600
CTS: ignored
DSR: ignored
CD: ignored
clear: ATZ
startup:
shutdown: ATH
When used with arguments, these commands change the settings and
status of the COM ports. The possible arguments are listed below;
examples follow.
enable | disable
"enable" means that your configuration is complete and you want to use
the COM port. "disable" is used to turn off a COM port, usually to
change its settings. The default (initial) state is disabled.
modem | direct
Use one of these two to let Quake know if you are using a modem or a
direct connection (also called a null modem). Quake uses this to know
if it needs to handles modem initialization strings, dialing sequences,
and hangup procedures.
reset
This will reset the COM port to its default settings and state.
port <n>
irq <n>
These are used to set the I/O Port and IRQ that your serial port uses.
The default values are: port=3f8 irq=4 for COM1 and port=2f8 irq=3 for
COM2. Note that the port number is displayed in hexadecimal; to enter
it you would use something like "COM2 port 0x2f8"; the "0x" preceding
the "2f8" indicates that you are giving the value in hexadecimal
otherwise decimal is assumed.
baud <n>
Sets the baud rate. Valid values for <n> are: 9600, 14400,
28800, 57600, and 115200. 57600 is the default. Please note that
this is the baud rate used for the uart, not your modem. It is
perfectly valid to use 57600 on a COM port that is connected to a
28.8 modem.
8250 | 16550
Specifies the type of uart chip in your system. Normally this is
automatically detected, one of these need only be used if your chip
is incorrectly detected.
clear
startup
shutdown
This allows you to specify the clear, startup, and shutdown strings
needed for
a modem for playing Quake. If you've found values that
previously worked
with Doom, use them here. If you are playing over
a null modem cable,
leave these blank.
-cts | +cts
-dsr | +dsr
-cd | +cd
These determine if certain serial control lines should be honored or
ignored. The "-" means you want that line ignored, the "+" means to honor
it. "cts" is an abbreviation for "clear to send", "dsr" for
"data set ready", and "cd" for "carrier detect". Do not
change these
values unless you are absolutely positive you need to. The default is to
ignore all 3 lines.
Quake always uses no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit; these
values can not be changed. The baud, port, irq, and uart type can
not be changed on an enabled port, you must disable it first.
Configuration examples
----------------------
Example1: You have a machine with two serial ports you are going
to use as a Quake server. COM1 will be using a null modem cable and
COM2 will be connected to a 14.4 modem. You would use commands similar
(the startup string would almost certainly be different) to these:
COM1 baud 57600 enable
COM2 baud 14400 modem startup AT\N0%C0B8 enable
Example2: You are going to use your machine to connect to a dial-up
Quake server with your 28.8 modem connected to COM2. You would
use a command something like this:
COM2 baud 57600 modem startup AT\N0%C0B8 enable
Note the baud rate is not the same as the modem speed. This allows
the modem-to-uart communications to occur at a higher rate than
the modem-to-modem communications.
Connecting to a serial Quake server
-----------------------------------
Connecting to a Quake server over a serial/modem connection is done
using the "connect" command. The command "connect 5551212" would try to
connect to a Quake server at the phone number 555-1212. Note: your local
phone company would probably appreciate it if you didn't try this number!
If you are using a null modem cable, you can type "connect #".
Quake will then attempt to connect to the server.
Known problems / workarounds
============================
Packet drivers with PDIPX - there is a bug that stops a server running on
this combination from responding to the slist command. Use the patched
version of PDIPX included with Quake to correct this problem.
SLIST sees no servers - Some PCMCIA ethernet cards and PPP drivers will
not do the UDP broadcasts needed for the SLIST command (search for local
games from the menu) to function correctly. In these cases you must
connect to a Quake game using either its IP address or hostname
(DNS resolvable hostname, not the hostname variable in Quake).
"BW_OpenSocket failed: 5" - This error is specific to the Beame and
Whitesdie TCP/IP stack. This stack uses DOS file handles as it's
socket handles. This error occurs when DOS runs out of file handles.
You need to increase the number specified by "FILES=" in the DOS
config.sys file.
Severe lag using TCP/IP under Win95:
- Occasionaly when you first connect in to a Quake game using Win95
TCP/IP you will experience severe lag and not be able to control your
player's actions. This usually clears up in 10 to 15 seconds.
- There is apparently a strange limbo state for Microsoft's File and
Print sharing. This has been seen when it was installed and then later
removed, but it still appears on the menus. For some unknown reason
this causes severe lag for a Quake game. You need to go back and make
sure that it is either completely installed or removed.
==========================================
== Modem Strings ==
==========================================
Boca M1440i (internal):
ATS48=0S37=9S46=136%C0%E0%M0&K0&Q0&R1&C1&D2\G0\N1N0
Boca 14.4k (internal):
AT&C0N0S37=9&K0W0&Q0S36=3S48=128%C0
Boca 14.4 Fax/Modem
AT S46=0 S37=9 N0 &Q0 &D2 &K4
Boca 14.4k (external):
AT &F S0=1 S36=0 &K0 &Q6N0S37=9 &D2
Boca 14.4k:
AT S46=0 S37=9 N0 &Q0 &D2 &K0 %C0
Cardinal 14.4k v.32bis, v.42bis Fax/Modem:
AT &F N0 S37=9 &Q0 &D2 \N1
Digicom Systems (DSI) (softmodem):
AT Z \N0 &D2 &K0 S48=48
Digicom Systems Scout Plus:
ATZ*E0*N3*M0*S0*F0&D2
Gateway Telepath:
AT &F S37=9 %C0 &K0 &Q6 \G0
Gateway Telepath 14.4k:
AT S46=0 S37=9 N0 &Q0 &D2 &K0 %C0
Gateway Telepath I:
AT S0=1 &N6 &K0 &M0
Gateway Telepath II:
AT S0=1 S37=9 %C0 &Q0 &K0
Generic v.32bis 14.4k Fax/Modem:
AT \N0 %C0 B8
Generic 14.4k Fax/Modem:
AT S46=0 S37=9 N0 &Q0 &D2 %C0 \G0 &K0
GVC 14.4k (internal):
AT &F B8 \Q0
Hayes 28.8k V.FAST Modem:
AT &Q6 &K S37=9 N %C0 \N0
Infotel 144I:
AT&Q0 S37=9 N0 &D2
Infotel 14.4:
&F0 \N1 &D2 S37=F8
Intel 14.4k:
AT \N0 %C0 \Q0 B8
Intel 14.4k (internal):
AT Z B8 Q1 \C0 \N1 %C0 \V "H
Linelink 144e:
AT &F &D1 &K0 &Q6 S36=3 S46=136 %C0
19200
Microcom AX:
&F \N1 \Q0 &D2
Microcom QX/4232bis:
AT %C0 \N0
Netcomm M7F:
AT &E &K0 B0 \V0 X4 &D2 \N1 \Q0 #J0 #Q9 %C0
Nokia ECM 4896M Trellis V.32:
AT Z %C0 /N0
Nuvotel IFX 14.4 (internal):
&F \N1 &D2
Practical Peripherals 14400FX v.32bis:
AT Z S46=0 &Q0 &D2
Practical Peripherals 14400FX v.32bis:
AT S46=0 &Q0 &K0 &D2
Supra:
AT &F0 S46=136 %C0
Supra (external):
AT &K &Q &D \N1
Supra 14.4k v.32bis:
AT &F S46=136 &Q0 &D2
Supra 14.4k v.32bis:
AT &K &Q &D \N1
Supra Fax Modem 14.4K v.32 bis
AT &F %C0 S48=7 Q0 V1 W1
Telepath 14.4k:
AT &F&M0&K0&N6&H0 S0=1
Twincomm DFi 14.4:
AT&F &Q0 %C0 S37=9 &D2
UDS V.3223:
&F \N1 \Q &D2
UDS Fastalk 32BX:
&F0 \N1 &D2
USR Courier v.32bis:
ATS0=1 S7=60 E1 Q0 V1 &C1 &D2 &H0 &K0 &M0 &N6 &A3
USR Courier HST/DS 16.8k:
First reset the modem in a communication program with AT&F&W
AT X4 B0 &A0 &B0 &H2 &I0 &K0 &M0 &N6a
USR DS v.32bis v.42bis (external):
AT&m0&n6&a0&r1&h0&k0&i0&s0&b1x1
USR Sporster 9600:
AT&M0&K0&N6
USR Sportster V.34 28.8 (note: works best at 19200 baud):
AT &F &M0 &I0 &K0 &B0 &N0
USR Sportster 14.4k Fax/Modem USING ERROR CORRECTION:
AT S0=1 S7=60 E1 QO V1 &C1 &D2 &K0 &N6 &A3
USR Sportster 14.4k Fax/Modem (internal):
AT &F&M0&K0&N6&H0
USR Sportster 14.4k (internal):
AT &F &B1 &H0 &I0 &K0 &M0 &N6 &R1
USR Sportster 14.4k:
ATS0=1S7=60E1Q0V1&C1&D2&K0&N6&A3
USR Sportster 14.4k:
AT &F0 &K0 &M0 &N6 &H0 &I0 &B1 &R1
USR Sportster 14,000 Fax Modem:
AT S0=2 &N6 &K0 &M0 &I0 &H0 &R1 &A0 V1 X4
USR 14.4k:
AT &F&A0&K0&M0
USR 14.4k
AT &K0 &H0 &D0 &I0 &R1
USR 14.4k Dual Standard
ATB0&R1&B1&N6Q0X4&A0&D2&H0&I0&K0&M0M1
USR (model?):
&F E1 V1 X4 &C1 &D2 &N0
ViVa 14.4k:
AT&F&Q6\N0%C0&D2N0S37=9
ViVa modem (internal):
&F&Q6\N0%C0&D2N0S37=9
Zoltrix model 14/14 VE:
AT S0=Q0 V1 &C1 &D2 W2 &Q0
Zoom 14.4k VFX:
AT&Q6S37=9N0%C\N0
Zoom 14.4k VFX:
AT&Q6S37=11N0%C&K0
Zoom OEM Modem:
AT&Q6S37=9N0&K0
Zyxel U-1496E:
AT Z &N4 &K0
==========================================
== Win95 Documentation ==
==========================================
Quake is a DOS application. However, it runs fine from the MS-DOS prompt
under Win95, so long as the Properties for the MS-DOS prompt are set up so
that Quake can run. (See "Set the MS-DOS Prompt Properties", below, for
information about setting MS-DOS Prompt Properties.) Quake will NOT run
under Windows NT. Following are some steps that can help Quake run better
under Win95.
Have enough memory
------------------
Quake requires at least 16 Mb of installed memory in order to run under
Win95.
Set the MS-DOS Prompt Properties
--------------------------------
If Quake won't run, the MS-DOS Prompt Properties may not be set correctly.
To set the Properties for the MS-DOS prompt, bring up a DOS session, and
either click on the MS-DOS icon in the upper left corner or press
Alt-Spacebar, then select Properties from the menu that comes up, and make
sure the following settings are correct.
In the Program sheet of MS-DOS Prompt Properties, make sure the "Suggest
MS-DOS mode as necessary" is checked.
In the Memory sheet of MS-DOS Prompt Properties, make sure all five fields
are "Auto".
In the Screen sheet of MS-DOS Prompt Properties, set "Usage" to Full-screen.
In the Misc sheet of MS-DOS Prompt Properties, uncheck the "Allow screen
saver" box, and check the "Always suspend" box.
Make sure there's enough free disk space
----------------------------------------
If you get error messages like "can't lock memory" under Win 95, or if you
get other weird, inexplicable errors, make sure you haven't run out of disk
space; delete some files if necessary. You can see how much disk space is
free by bringing up "My Computer" and clicking on the disk icon; the free
disk space will be shown at the bottom of the window.
Run fullscreen
--------------
Quake can run in a window under Win95--but it will run very slowly. You are
unlikely to get satisfactory performance unless you run Quake fullscreen.
Quake normally comes up fullscreen under Win95; if you have switched it back
to windowed mode, you can get that window back to fullscreen by clicking on
it and then pressing Alt-Enter.
Shut down other applications
----------------------------
Many Win95 apps and DOS apps run even when they're not the foreground
application. Such applications contend for system resources such as memory,
processor cycles, and sound hardware. If Quake seems to be running choppily,
if sound is garbled, or if the disk is going all the time, try shutting down
whatever other applications you have running. For example, some players
have reported that Quake does not run as well when the Office shortcut bar
is running.
Restore the palette if it gets garbled
--------------------------------------
Under Win 95, the palette occasionally gets messed up when switching from
Quake to the desktop and back again. You can restore the palette by
bringing down the console (either press tilde ('~'), or press Esc to bring
up the menu, select Options, and select Console... from the Options menu),
and typing bf and pressing the enter key, to generate a background flash,
which sets the palette. Press Esc to exit the console. Alternatively,
setting the screen brightness, either from the Options menu or via the
gamma console command, sets the palette.
Avoid the system key
--------------------
Under Win 95, if the system key (the key with the Win 95 flag on it) is
pressed while Quake is running fullscreen in a VESA mode, Win 95 may be
unable to switch back from the desktop to Quake, in which case it will
notify you of this, then terminate the Quake session. This is a quirk
of Win 95, and there is no workaround other than not to press that key
or not to use VESA modes. (Some people go so far as to remove the system
key from their keyboard.) Switching away from Quake with Alt-Enter,
Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Tab, or Alt-Spacebar all work fine.
Give Quake more and/or locked memory
------------------------------------
By default, Quake tries to allocate 8 Mb of unlocked memory for heap space
under Win 95. More memory helps Quake run faster; you can allocate more
memory for Quake under Win95 by setting the command-line switch
-winmem x
where x is the number of megabytes to allocate for Quake. If there's enough
memory in the system, the larger the number, up to about 16, the better the
performance. If, however, there isn't enough memory in the system, or many
other applications are running, the larger number can just cause Quake to
page to disk a lot, and can actually slow performance considerably. Also,
higher numbers can also cause Win 95 to take longer to start Quake and take
longer to return to the desktop afterward. If you have 32 Mb or more in your
machine, -winmem 16 should provide the best performance for Quake. If you
have less than 32 Mb, or a lot of applications running, then you will have
to experiment to find the best amount of memory to allocate for Quake.
You may optionally instruct Quake to lock itself in memory by using the
command-line switch
-winlock
so it won't get paged out by other applications. This can avoid hitches when
parts of Quake get paged into and out of memory, and thus provide a smoother
playing experience. On the other hand, it can cause Quake to take longer to
start, and can make the return to the desktop take longer when Quake ends,
because Quake has been hogging a lot of memory. It is even possible, if most
of the memory in the system is locked by Quake, that it will take many
minutes to switch back to the desktop while Quake is running, so the system
will effectively be nearly frozen. Therefore, use -winlock with caution;
Quake is not as well-behaved a Win95 citizen when -winlock is specified, and
does not share resources particularly well.
-winmem can be used in conjunction with -winlock; if -winmem specifies more
memory than is available to be locked, then Quake will lock as much memory
as possible. Being too aggressive about how much memory is locked can
actually slow Quake performance, because unlocked parts of the system like
system CD and sound code and data can then be forced to page, so if you do
lock memory, you will have to experiment to find the sweet spot, unless you
have 32 Mb or more of memory.
-winlockunlock can be specified as an alternative to -winlock, to tell Quake
to lock its memory when it starts, then immediately unlock it. The
advantages of doing this are: 1) it forces all of Quake's pages into memory,
so no pages should need to be brought in as Quake runs, making for smoother
running at the start, and 2) it enables Quake to determine whether the
specified amount of memory (if -winmem is also specified) is available in the
machine, so you can be sure Quake won't try to allocate more heap space than
the the amount of physical memory that's actually available. Like -winlock,
-winlockunlock causes Quake to take quite a bit longer to start up, but it
has the advantage of making Quake a good Win95 citizen if you need to switch
back to the desktop, or have other apps running.
In general, Quake will run fine without any of the -winxxx switches, but you
may find that one or more of them--particularly -winmem if you have more than
16 Mb--helps Quake performance on your machine.
None of this is an issue under DOS itself (as oppsed to a DOS box under
Win95), because Quake just uses all the memory in the machine under DOS.
By default, Quake tries to allocate 8 Mb of unlocked memory for heap space
Watch out for limbo subsystems
------------------------------
Microsoft's File and Print sharing and IPX protocol stack have both been
known to cause strange problems when they are in a limbo state. The limbo
state is seems to be an uninstall that did not complete succesfully. Both
of these cause poor network play performance. If you are experiencing
severe lag, check the File and Print services. If you the warning "IPX
driver send failue: 04", check the IPX protocol stack. They need to be
either completely installed or removed; the problems only occur when they
get into this strange semi-installed state.
==========================================
== Key Binding and Aliases ==
==========================================
Pressing the tilde key ("~") will bring down the console (pressing the
tilde key or ESC while in the console will close the console). From the
console you can adjust your player controls, this is done by "binding"
keys to commands. The format for binding keys is as follows:
bind <key> <command>
Where <key> is a valid key control and <command> is a valid quake command.
Example:
To bind the j key to the 'jump' command, you would type:
bind j +jump
and press enter.
Non-printable keys such as 'page up' and buttons from the mouse/joystick are
bound in the same manner as printable characters. A list of bindable keys can
be found at the end of this file.
Example:
To bind the page up key to the 'jump' command, you would type:
bind pageup +jump
and press enter.
To bind the right mouse button to the attack command, you would type:
bind mouse2 +attack
and press enter.
The alias command is used to create a reference to a command or list of
commands. When aliasing multiple commands, or commands that contain
multiple words (such as "fraglimit 50"), you must enclose all the commands
in quotation marks and separate each command with a semi-colon.
Example of an alias that changes some Deathmatch server parameters:
alias net_game "hostname my_server ; fraglimit 15 ; timelimit 15"
bind INS net_game
Once the server is spawned (you must be the one running the -listen server),
you just push the Insert key to set the hostname, frag limit and time limit
of the server. So now the first person to 15 frags, or with the one with the
most frags in 15 minutes, wins.
Another example would be to change to the Rocket Launcher, fire one rocket,
and change back to the Double Barrel Shotgun, when you press the "," key:
alias rl_dbsg "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait ; -attack ; impulse 3"
bind , rl_dbsg
Aliasing is very powerful, allowing you great flexibility, so you should
experiment by aliasing different commands in various ways.
A list of common commands can be found in the next section.
==========================================
== Quake Keys and Common Commands ==
==========================================
The following keys can be bound:
A-Z 0-9
*F1-F12 *TAB
ENTER SPACE
BACKSPACE UPARROW
DOWNARROW LEFTARROW
RIGHTARROW ALT
CTRL SHIFT
INS DEL
PGDN PGUP
HOME END
PAUSE SEMICOLON
MOUSE1 (mouse button 1)
MOUSE2 (mouse button 2)
MOUSE3 (mouse button 3)
*~ (tilde)
* Can only be bound on the command line or in a .cfg file.
The ESC key cannot be bound.
==========================================
== Making a Config File ==
==========================================
The commands (bindings and aliases) discussed above can be included into a
file containing all of your personal configurations, known as a "config"
file. This file can then be loaded during game play to enable all your
personal bindings and settings.
To do this, use your favorite editor to create a new file, such as
"fragmstr.cfg". Your .cfg file MUST be located in the quake\id1 directory
or quake won't find it. Then after launching Quake, you would type "exec
fragmstr.cfg" and press enter, from the console. You can also exec you .cfg
file from the DOS command prompt by typing "quake +exec fragmstr.cfg".
When you exec a config file, it is the same as typing all the lines in your
config file into the console, only Quake does it for you. Here is an
example config file (c:\quake\id1\bear.cfg) and the meaning of all the
bindings, aliases and settings:
-------------------------------cut here-------------------------------------
name player1 // Sets player name to player1 (lets your opponent
// know who fragged them)
sensitivity 4 // Sets the mouse sensitivity to 4
scr_conspeed 5000 // Sets the console raise/lower speed
lookspring 0 // Sets Mouse Look Spring to 0 (0=keep looking,
// 1=spring back, when mouse button is released)
vid_mode 10 // Sets Video Mode to mode 10 (360X480 resolution)
gamma .8 // Sets Gamma Correction to .8 (<1=Lighter, 1=normal
// and >1=darker)
viewsize 70 // Sets the Screen View size to 70 degrees
bind mouse1 +forward // Binds the left mouse button to Move Forward
bind mouse3 +attack // Binds the middle mouse button to Fire
bind mouse2 +mlook // Binds the right mouse button to Mouse Look
bind HOME "save bear1" // Binds the Home Key to quick save, saves to
// bear1.sav
bind ENTER +showscores // Binds the Enter key to show Deathmatch Scores
bind SHIFT +speed // Binds the Shift key to Run
bind CTRL +jump // Binds the Control key to Jump
bind ; +mlook // Binds the ; key to Mouse Look also
bind . +moveleft // Binds the . key to Strafe Left
bind / +moveright // Binds the / key to Strafe Right
color 3 4 // Makes Uniform Top green and Pants Red for Net play
alias rl_dbsg "impulse 7 ; +attack ; wait ; -attack ; impulse 3"
bind , rl_dbsg // Aliases single rocket attack command and binds
// it to the ',' key.
-------------------------------cut here-------------------------------------
==========================================
== Demos ==
==========================================
The standard Demos
------------------
Quake has 3 standard demos that start playing when you first run the game.
It will cycle through these demos until you start or join a game.
Recording a Demo
----------------
"record <demoname> <map> [track]" This starts up level <map> and begins
recording a demo into a file name <demoname>.dem. You can specify the
optional <track> to choose a background music from the CD, otherwise the
default selection for that map will be played.
Playing a Demo
--------------
"playdemo <demoname>" This command will open the file <demoname>.dem and
play the demo.
How to not play the standard demos at startup
---------------------------------------------
So you've seen the Necropolis demo 10 billion times now and really don't
ever want to see it again? Here's how.
The easy way is to start Quake with a "+map" command. You could do
"quake +map start" and you'll start on the single player start level.
Or you could do "quake +map nonsense" and you'll wind up at the Quake
console since there is no map named nonsense. You can accomplish the
same thing with a "+connect" too. "+connect" by itself will look for
Quake servers on the local network, "+connect 192.12.34.56" or
"+connect host.timbuktu.edu" will try to connect the the specified
Quake server.
There is another way to not show the demos; one that also keeps your
customizations in a seperate directory from the data files in the
Quake distribution.
Do this in the quake directory (the directory where you installed Quake;
where you find "quake.exe" and "the id1" directory). Create a file named
"quake.rc". Its contents should be:
exec default.cfg
exec config.cfg
exec autoexec.cfg
stuffcmds
menu_main
Create a batch file to run Quake in the quake directory. "Q.BAT" is a good
name. It's contents should be:
quake -game . %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
If you normally use the Q95 batch file, just add the "-game ." part to
that file.
Now you can run "q" and quake will start off with the main menu displayed
instead of running the demos.
You can also make a seperate subdirectory for this if you'd like. For
example, make a directory named "mine" in the quake directory. Create
the "quake.rc" file as specified above in this directory. Use
"-game mine" instead of "-game ." in your batch file.
Important note: The directory specified by "-game" is where Quake will
look for config.cfg, load and save games, and record and play
demos.
==========================================
== Reporting Quake Bugs ==
==========================================
How to use the bug report:
Where to send bug reports:
E-mail : support@idsoftware.com
FAX : 214-686-9288
There are two sections of information - primary and secondary.
Primary information contains information such as date, your name, e-mail
address, etc. Secondary information is actual bug information. There are
a few different sections depending on what type of bug you revieced
(sound, video, etc). Only fill out and include information from the section
related to the type of bug you received.
If possible, start Quake with the "-condebug" command line parameter
and try to reproduce the bug. Attach the "qconsole.log" file found in the
"id1" directory to the end of the bug report. If the bug is sound related,
while in Quake, execute the SOUNDINFO and SBINFO (DOS only) commands from
the console.
Please attach a copy of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT file to the end of
the report.
Bugs submitted properly with this form will get attention.
Unformatted ones sent to personal accounts will be ignored.
If you see problems, please take the time to do this.
If you do not have all of the information requested in the form,
don't worry. Send what you do have.
Please include the version #. THe version # for Quake can be found in the
lower right hand corner of the console. To bring up the console, press the
tilde ('~') key. Press tilde ('~') again or ESC to exit.
-------------------------------cut here-------------------------------------
============================================================================
== Quake Bug Report - Primary information ==
============================================================================
Date:
Name:
Phone number:
E-mail address: (please include this, we redirect tons of mail)
Game Title:
Version #:
Operating system (i.e., DOS 6.0 or Windows 95):
Computer type:
BIOS date:
BIOS version:
Processor type:
Processor speed:
Do you program at school/work?
Do you provide tech. support at school/work?
Please state the problem you encountered:
Please state how to reproduce the problem:
If program crashed with nasty undecipherable techno-garbage, please
look for the eight-digit hex number which comes after "eip="
and write it down here:
============================================================================
== Quake Bug Report - Secondary information ==
============================================================================
------------------------------ Video Related ------------------------------
Video Card Manufacturer:
Video Card Model:
Chipset Used:
BIOS Date:
(If using UniVBE, The above information can be found by running uvconfig)
Did the problem occur while in a VESA mode?
If so, what is the VESA driver and version? (eg., UniVBE 5.1a,
built into board BIOS, or manufacturer provided TSR)
------------------------------ Sound Related ------------------------------
Audio card brand and model:
If DOS or a DOS box, please run the command "set > set.txt" then
attach "set.txt" to the end of the report.
----------------------------- Network Related -----------------------------
What type of network connection was established when the error occurred?
(modem, nullmodem, or network)
If modem, Modem brand and model:
If network, Network card brand and model:
Network protocol/configuration:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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