quakeforge-old/README

QuakeForge - Release Notes
Copyright (C) 1996-1997  Id Software, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1999,2000  contributors of the QuakeForge Project
Please see the file "AUTHORS" for a list of contributors

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to:

	Free Software Foundation, Inc.
	59 Temple Place, Suite 330
	Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

See file COPYING for license details.

Quake(R) and QuakeWorld(R) are registered trademarks of Id Software,
Inc. The NIN logo is a registered trademark licensed to Nothing
Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners


Table of Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1	Special Thanks
2	System Requirements
3	Compiling and Running QuakeForge
4	Platform-Specific Issues
5	Errata and Known Bugs
6	Troubleshooting
7	Technical Support
8	Joystick Notes
9	Tested Systems


1	Special Thanks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The QuakeForge Project would like to thank Id Software, Inc. for writing
and releasing Quake under the GNU GPL.  We'd like to thank John Carmack
and Dave Kirsch in particular for the support they have provided to us
and to the Free Software community as a whole.

We would also like to thank the following organizations for their
contributions to QuakeForge:

   VA Linux Systems, Inc.
   3Dfx Interactive, Inc.

And last but certainly not least, we would like to thank every single
person who has contributed even one line of code, documentation, or
other support to the QuakeForge project.

Without all of you, we would not be where we are right now.

Id Software, Inc. thanks MPath Interactive and Gandalf Technology for
their help and support.

If you'd like to contribute in any way to the QuakeForge project, please
contact our mailing list at quake-devel@lists.sourceforge.net.


2	System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* A Raster capable display. ;-)
* 8 megabytes of memory beyond operating system footprint. 16 megabytes
  are required for the QuakeWorld-compatible network client and all
  executables running on Win32-based systems)
* A Floating-point processor. While not strictly required, QuakeForge
  uses a lot of floating-point math, so a FPU is highly recommended.
* 10MB of free hard disk space to build all targets. In addition to the
  base system, you will require game data files. For the default game
  ("Quake"), you will need either the shareware or registered version of
  Quake.


3	Compiling and Running QuakeForge
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please read the INSTALL file for more information on compiling.

Autoconf 2.13 or later and automake 1.3 or later are required to use
the bootstrap script, which creates the "configure" script.

After you have compiled successfully, you must download the shareware
version of Quake 1 to play. Insert the proper binaries in the same
directory as the unpacked shareware files, and run.

We are currently working on a free replacement for the Quake game data
files.


4	Platform-Specific Issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This section discusses issues that affect only certain operating
platforms.

4.1	DOS

If you experience page faults while running Quarterdeck's QDPMI DPMI
server, this is caused by a bug in QDPMI.  Workarounds:  Remove QDPMI
from CONFIG.SYS, issue the command QDPMI OFF before running QuakeForge,
or get the update patch for QDPMI from Quarterdeck.  You may be running
QDPMI without knowing it if you have QEMM installed, because it can be
installed as part of the QEMM installation.

4.2	Linux

Some 3Dfx Voodoo-based 3D accelerators may have issues with the way
QuakeForge uses the "3dfxgl" minidriver to interface to the Glide
library.

Video boards based on the Riva
128/128ZX/TNT/TNT2/TNT2 Ultra/Vanta/GeForce 256 chipsets from nVidia
Corp. using the latest (as of 13 Jan 2000) nVidia OpenGL drivers may
have problems with transparency. Under some conditions, these drivers
may lock the X Window System server, possibly rendering the system
unusable. The currently-recommended drivers for video cards with Riva
128/128ZX/TNT/TNT2/TNT2 Ultra chipsets are those from the Utah GLX
project, located at http://glx.on.openprojects.net/ -- for the Vanta
and GeForce 256 chipsets, there is no suggested hardware-accelerated
OpenGL alternative at this time. We believe the bug to be in nVidia's
drivers, because our code seems to work under other OpenGL
implementations.

4.4	Windows 95/98/Millennium

Currently, we are unable to determine the status of the Windows-based
targets of QuakeForge. Because of our move to GNU Autoconf and the
dearth of "proper" GNU tools available on the Windows platform, our
build system may not work properly on Windows. We are working on
solutions for this problem.

4.5	Windows NT/2000

For the most part, issues for Windows 9x-based operating environments
will be similar. However, because of numerous differences in the way
Windows NT and Windows 9x operate, these systems may have specific
issues.

5	Errata and Known Bugs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Problem:  The screen flickers once about every other frame when using GL
Solution: Not all GL implementations support a performance hack used to
          which is used by the GL renderer allowing it to avoid clearing
	  the Z buffer.  The console command "gl_ztrick 0" fixes this
	  problem.

Problem:  Zombies can sometimes get "stuck" in the ground.  They can be
          heard but not killed making it impossible to get 100% on the
	  current level.
Solution: None found yet.

Problem:  It is possible for players to sometimes get stuck in a room or
          wall, much like the zombies mentioned above.
Solution: The "kill" console command will un-stick you, but it has the
          unfortunate side effect of killing you in the process (hence
	  the command's name.)  It is a good idea to save your games
	  often.

Problem:  Sometimes during a game the player's view will not center
          properly.  The end result is that the player view is looking
	  up toward the ceiling while walking.
Solution: Use of freelook (mouse or keyboard) may solve this problem, as
          will exiting the level or the "kill" console command.


6	Troubleshooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If QuakeForge fails to start up, or has problems not addressed elsewhere
in the documentation, try the -safe command line switch, which disables
a number of parts of QuakeForge that can be problems if there are
hardware or configuration problems.  The -safe command line switch is
equivalent to -stdvid, -nosound, -nonet, and -nocdaudio together.  Those
four switches do the following:

  -stdvid	disables VESA video modes
  -nosound	disables sound card support
  -nonet	disables network card support
  -nocdaudio	disables CD audio support

If -safe makes the problem go away, try using each of the switches
individually to isolate the area in which you're experiencing the
problem, then either correct the configuration or hardware problem or
play QuakeForge with that functionality disabled.


7	Technical Support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please do not contact Id Software, Inc. regarding technical support
issues related to QuakeForge. QuakeForge is heavily modified from the
original Quake source release and Id Software does not support these
modifications.

Visit the QuakeForge project's webpage for more information on technical
support, bugs reports, and help at: http://www.quakeforge.net/

Thank you.


8	Joystick notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your joystick must be plugged in when QuakeForge is launched.

If you have a joystick plugged in, but do not wish QuakeForge to try to
use it, just add the -nojoy option to the QuakeForge command line.

You may disable joystick reads from the QuakeForge console with the 
"joystick 0" command.

There are default configuration bindings for joystick buttons.

If your joystick or interface card reports three or four buttons and you
only have two, use the QuakeForge console command "joybuttons 2".

The "mlook" and "sidestep" commands work with a joystick exactly as they
do for a mouse, as does the "invert mouse up/down" menu option.


9	Tested Systems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Processors tested:
   AMD Athlon
   AMD K6-2
   Apple/IBM/Motorola PowerPC
   Compaq/Digital Alpha 21x64
   IBM Power3
   Intel Pentium
   Intel Pentium II
   Intel Pentium III
   Sun UltraSPARC
   SGI Indigo 2
   MIPS R10000

Operating systems tested:
   Linux 2.x
   FreeBSD
   Solaris
   SGI Irix
   IBM AIX 4.x
   Compaq/Digital Tru64 Unix

Video cards tested (On Intel-based systems):
   Matrox G200 (Linux)
   Matrox G400 (Linux)
   Voodoo2 (Linux)

See file "TESTIFY" for user testimonials on what works, where, and why.

Please send user testimonials via e-mail to:
	"Nelson Rush" <palisade@quakeforge.net>

Visit http://www.quakeforge.net/ to find out more about subscribing to our
mailing list and for more information.