Compiled and written by Brett "3 Fingers" Jacobs

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• English Language Version of Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0 with 100% compatible computer system
• Pentium 90 MHz processor (133 MHz recommended)

• Win 95: - 16 MB RAM Required (96 MB recommended)
• Win NT 4.0 - 24 MB RAM Required
• 100% Sound Blaster-compatible sound card
• Joystick and mouse-supported (3-button mouse recommended)
• Supports LAN and Internet play using the TCP/IP protocol

• Quad-Speed CD-ROM drive (600k/sec. sustained transfer rate)
• Hard disk drive with at least 25 MB of uncompressed space available

• Quad-Speed CD-ROM drive (600k/sec. sustained transfer rate)
• Hard disk drive with at least 250 MB of uncompressed space available

• Dual-Speed CD-ROM drive (300k/sec. sustained transfer rate)
• Hard disk drive with at least 400 MB of uncompressed space available

DO NOT install Quake 2 over the Q2test. This will cause many problems. If you did install Quake 2 over the Q2Test. Delete your Quake2 folder and reinstall Quake 2. The Q2Test was the first beta release of Quake 2. It was a 3 level demo.

Before attempting to run Quake 2 in the 3DFX Open GL Mode, you must set your color palette to: "16bit" To set: Go to "control panel", then "display", then "settings" tab. Change the color palette to "16bit", hit "apply", then "OK" and restart.

Note: Pure3D users adjust the screenrefresh, Gamma (brightness) and Clock Mhz speed from your Pure3D control panel/display tab.

set gl_swapinterval "1"

set gl_triplebuffer "1"

* Then to disable v sync see below instructions

For a definition of the function of disabling V synch see the SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0 under "Batch File Command Variables".

If for some reason you want to use the "SST" environment variables for your Voodoo II, they are changed to have "V2". So all the "SET SST" variables are now "SET SSTV2". The "SET FX" variables are unchanged from the Voodoo 1. Also the default clock speed of the Voodoo II is 90MHz vs. 50 MHz on the Voodoo I. See Batch File Command Variables section for Voodoo II overclocking instructions.

"+set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2"

You can't have "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" and "+set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2" both in the command line box. Only type "Q2start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" in the command line box and delete the rest. If you find you need the "+set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2" because Quake2 can't locate the CD-ROM or your Quake 2 folder, add it to your Q2start.bat or Q2V2Start.bat command line. So your command line in the "Q2start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" would look like this:

quake2.exe +set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

*This example sets the CD-ROM directory as "E drive" and the Quake2 directory as c:\QUAKE2

Additional Note: Gamespy 2.0 beta 2 seems to have a problem when the batch file name is placed in the Quake2 Gamespy command line box. If you experience this, then copy the command line from the Q2Start.bat or Q2V2Start.bat to the Gamespy Quake2 command line box. It should look like this:

The Quake 2 brightness slider MAY not work in the 3fdx opengl mode. It depends on which 3DFX card you are using. If the Quake 2 or 3DFX card's control panel brightness slider has no effect on brightness. You must adjust brightness in your batch file (Q2Start.bat) with the: SET SST_GAMMA=(1 to 2.5 in .1 increments).

This line SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1 also has to be in the batch file for gamma to work on some Voodoo 1 cards. Don't use it if you don't have to. If you have a Pure3D, adjust the gamma from the Pure3d control panel/display tab. Voodoo II users adjust brightness from the Quake 2 video options menu.

You have a choice of low quality sound (11khz) or high quality sound (22khz). Selecting low quality sound in the options menu will give you 1 or 2 fps more. High quality sound is recommended only for systems with 64MB or more. Serious Net Players should always use LOW sound quality for maximum FPS.

If you are experiencing garbled sound go to the Quake 2 OPTIONS menu. Under "Sound Compatibility" select "Max Compatibility". If your sound still stutters sometimes add this line to your autoexec.cfg:

*the above setting is in the included autoexec.cfg

Note: For Multi-player, all players and servers must be using the 3.17 update. In other words, if a server is using 3.17, you must have 3.17 to connect to that server. If you upgrade you will lose all your saved games.

The new minigl supports triple buffering and gives a slight boost in performance. All Voodoo 1 and Voodoo II users should install this mini gl for the best performance. If you did not select "install the mini gl" during the upgrade to 3.15 and up, you won't have this mini gl. Replace the 3dfxgl.dll in the Quake 2 folder with the new file if there is any doubt.

Currently the Mini Gl that comes with Quake 2 will outperform the 3DFX Beta Open GL. There is no need to install this Beta Open GL. The Beta Open GL is designed for game developers using the Open GL format and in it's current form is not intended for end users of Quake2. If you just want to experiment with it, you can get it here:

quake2.exe +set game ctf +set in_initjoy 0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

You must have a copy of your autoexec.cfg in the CTF folder as well as the baseq2 folder. With this setup you can customize your CTF autoexec.cfg for your CTF games and customize your baseq2 autoexec.cfg for your single player games. You should put any binds, commands and aliases in your autoexec.cfg if you want them to be saved for the next game. If you put commands, binds and aliases in your config.cfg or type them at the console, Quake 2 will delete them the next time you start a game. Whatever you place in your autoexec.cfg will be loaded automatically each time you start a game. Virtually every option you have in your Quake 2 options menu can be placed in your autoexec.cfg with a command. For example: If you set all the Quake 2 options in your autoexec.cfg with commands and you went to the Quake2 options menu and changed all settings, when you start a new game the autoexec.cfg will change all the options back to the settings in the autoexec.cfg

For your single player games, make a copy of your "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" without the " +set game ctf " in the command line and rename the single player batch file something else. Place this single player batch file in the Quake2 folder and right click to make a shortcut and drag it to your desktop. Use this to start your single player games.

When connecting to a server you can choose your team by typing at the console after connecting:

team red

team blue

You can bind these to a key by placing the below in your CTF Folder autoexec.cfg

bind "F11" "team red"

bind "F12" "team blue"

Its best to hit "F1" prior to selecting your team so you can view which team needs players. If you ever want to change teams later just type "team red or blue" or hit one of the above binds.

This is the command so you may bind keys to talk to your teammates only. The enemy will not see these team talk messages. See below example of a team bind. Put the below in your CTF autoexec.cfg

bind "b" "say_team I need help at base now!!!"

If you want to make messages that all players (enemy and your team) will see, use the "say" command as below:

bind "d" "say Prepare to be slapped silly!!!!"

When bound to a key you will be able to type out messages to your teammates only. The enemy won't see these messages. This works just like your "t" key but for your teammates only. Bind to a key as in the below example:

bind "y" "messagemode2"

The above commands can only be used with the "say " and "say_team" commands. They will not work from the console. You can use them like this:

bind "a " "say_team I'm kicking some asses %l"

When you press "a" your team will see this on the screen:

(3 Fingers): I'm kicking some asses near the red flag

Or you could put several of them in a bind like this:

bind "f" "say_team I'm attacking enemy base. %w %1 %t"

When you press "f" your team will see on the screen:

(3 Fingers): I'm attacking enemy base. blaster, near blue rail gun, power amplifier

The command to use the grapple in Zoid's CTF II is: "use grapple"

I have the below alias in my autoexec.cfg to select the grapple and fire it with one press of a key:

bind "g" "+hook"

alias +hook "use grapple;wait;+attack"

alias -hook "-attack"

*Substitute "g" for whatever key you wish to bind it to. There seems to be a problem with the grapple hook wave file being played over and over. When this happens just fire your hook again and the noise will stop.

In Zoid's CTF there are 4 "Techs". You will see them at random positions through out a level.

• The Power Amplifier is signified by the large nail and increases your attack power.(2X damage to enemy)
• The Disrupter Shield is signified by the large gear. It increases your resistance to enemy attacks. (1/2 damage to you)
• The Time Accelerator has wings spinning inside of it, and greatly increases your firing speed. (2X firing rate )
• The Auto Doc bears a spinning red cross. This tech regenerates your health constantly. If your armor gets totally depleted to "0" then you must grab some armor before it will begin to generate armor again.

If a player has the 2X Damage TECH and has Quad, he has 8X damage power. Ouchie!!! Stay away from him. An excellent strategy in CTF is to let the players with TECHS defend the base. That way if a player dies with a TECH, the tech will be in your base to hopefully be picked up by your teammates. If the enemy defense gets the 2X Damage TECH and 2X Firing Speed TECH it will be nearly impossible to get into their base unless you have Quad. TECHS win the game with experienced player. I always drop my tech in my base if I'm going on a attack.

The command "drop tech" at the console will cause you to drop the tech you are currently carrying, to pass it to a teammate or to pick up another one. You cannot pick up the tech that you have just dropped. You could also bind this to a key as below:

Below is an example of a Best Weapon bind I use in Multiplayer DM and CTF. I have the below in my autoexec.cfg:

bind "DEL" "use Blaster;use Shotgun;use Super Shotgun;use Machinegun;use Chaingun;use HyperBlaster"

By hitting the "DEL" key it will select the best weapon which you have of the weapons listed in the above bind. Blaster being the worst and Hyperblaster being the best. This is just an example, set it up however you want. Be careful as all weapons are case sensitive. Check your config.cfg in the quake2/baseq2 folder for the correct caps for all weapons. A maximum of 6 weapons are allowed in this bind. If you have anymore than 6, it will miss one of the weapons.

Type "id" in the console to turn it on. Then whoever you are looking at will be displayed on the HUD. The display is <name>\<model>/<skin>. This must be typed at the beginning of each level or you could bind it to a key as below:

bind "a" "id"

Anything you put in your Quake2 batch file or autoexec.bat starting with the "SET " statement is a variable. There's only a finite amount of space available for these variables in DOS called Environment Space. You can make this space larger by adding this line to your C:\CONFIG.SYS file:

For Win95:

shell=c:\command.com /e:512 /p

For Win98:

Shell=Command.com /p /e:4096

Open the "config.sys" file (its on your C drive) with your notepad to add the line, after adding the line, click "file" and "save". Then restart the computer for the new setting to take effect.

If you need more space in the future for Win95, increase the number from 512 to 1024

*If you have a shortcut to the "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" file, then delete it prior to performing the below steps. Then create your shortcut again after you finish. It will not create the MSDOS .pif file in the Quake2 folder if you have a short cut to the batch file at the time you perform the below steps.

If when executing your "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" file you get a gray screen or you are kicked back to the desk top and the "Q2Start.BAT" or "Q2V2Start.bat" MS Dos window is there. Or if Quake 2 gives a blank screen on exit. Try this:

1. Right click on your "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" file in your Quake 2 folder and select properties.

2. Select "program" tab.

3. In the space next to "run", select "minimized".

4. Put a check next to "close on exit".

5. Hit "apply" then "OK"

* If you ever move the "Q2start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" to another folder you will have to repeat the above.

1. Right click on your "Q2Start.bat' or "Q2V2Start.bat" file in your Quake2 folder and select properties.

2. Select "program" tab.

3. Hit the "advanced button" and uncheck all the boxes then hit "OK" all the way out.

DOS won't accept a command line longer than 127 characters. This error is caused by having empty space at the end of the command line which is represented as characters. Delete all the empty space at the end of the command line and then copy the little black block from the end of the command line in your old q95.bat file in the Quake folder or the included Q2Start.Bat to the end of the command line in your Quake2 Batch file. This little black block tells DOS that it is the end of the command line. The included "Q2Start.bat "and "Q2V2Start.bat" have the little black block at the end of the command line.

If your Quake2 Game tells you must have the Quake 2 CD in the drive to play and you have the CD in the drive. Add the below to your "Q2Start.Bat' or "Q2V2Start.bat" command line. This example sets the CD-ROM directory as "E drive" and the Quake2 directory as c:\QUAKE2

+set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2

So your command line would look like this:

quake2.exe +set cddir e:\install\data +set basedir c:\QUAKE2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

You can have Quake2 start in any available video mode by adding the below to the "Q2Start.bat" or "Q2V2Start.bat" command line. Some of the video modes won't hold the settings for the next game. So put it in the command line of the "Q2Start.bat "or "Q2V2Start.bat" file. Example Below for 512x384 (+set gl_mode 2)

Example:quake2.exe +set gl_mode 2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

Or you can put it in the autoexec.cfg like this: set gl_mode 2

set cl_particles "1"

quake2.exe +set cl_particles 1 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

cl_particles 1

You can move the weapon position around on the screen with the gun x,y,z values. Try settings between "-10" and "10". You will notice the weapon is closer to your players body with my autoexec.cfg settings. This gives a slight boost in FPS as drawing more of the weapon on the screen takes some horsepower. If you want to set the gun position to the defaults use the below values:

This value holds the vertical position of the gun model. A negative number will bring the gun upward. A positive number will bring the gun downward.

This value controls the left/right position of the gun model. A negative number will move the gun left. A positive number will move right.

This will set the distance of the gun model. A negative number will bring the gun closer. A positive number will move it away.

Note: when you sign onto a multi-player server. Your weapon will appear with the default "0" settings as the server won't allow changes to the gun_x,y,z variables. Changes to the gun x,y,x variables only work in Single Player.

set hand "0" Gives right handed weapon. (default)

set hand "1" Gives left handed weapon.

set hand "2" Gives projectiles firing from center of screen, but no weapon is drawn on the screen. This setting will give a 2-3 FPS boost on the timedemo test because it does not have to draw the weapon model on the screen. A weapon Icon will appear in the middle to tell you which weapon you have selected.

Currently there is no way to make the weapon appear with the hand 2 setting. These "hand" settings CAN be used in Multiplayer.

Default: none

Values: Command

This command will bring up the previous available weapon that the player carries in reverse cycle. You could bind this to a key by placing the below bind the autoexec.cfg:

bind p "weapprev"

Default: none

Values: command

This command will bring up the last weapon that the player had selected.

0 turns off all particles that are drawn on the screen. What this means is, you won't see blood splatter from players, smoke trails and sparks when you fire rockets etc. This setting gives quite a boost in FPS during Multi-player battles. The drawback to this setting is the railgun's blue coil projectile won't be drawn on the screen. It will still kill someone, you just won't see the blue coil.

I use the below alias in my autoexec.cfg as a 1-button toggle to turn particles on and off.

bind "INS" "smoke1"

alias "smoke1" "cl_particles 0;echo PARTICLES OFF...;wait;bind INS smoke2"

alias "smoke2" "cl_particles 1;echo PARTICLES ON....;wait;bind INS smoke1"

Default: 1

Values:0/1

bind "HOME" "light1"

alias "light1" "gl_dynamic 0;echo LIGHTING OFF...;wait;bind HOME light2"

alias "light2" "gl_dynamic 1;echo LIGHTING ON....;wait;bind HOME light1"

Default: 1

Values:0/1

This also toggles the display of dynamic lighting. It performs the same function as gl_dynamic, but in addition will cancel the flash from weapons (yours and the enemies). Using cl_lights 0 will give a slight boost in FPS over using gl_dynamic 0 as the flash from weapons create a small amount of dynamic lighting. To clarify: gl_dynamic 0 cancels all dynamic lighting EXCEPT the flash from weapons. cl_lights 0 cancels all dynamic lighting including the flash from weapons. I prefer using gl_dynamic 0 as the flash from weapons helps to identify the location of the enemy.

Default: 2.0

Values:0-10 in decimal. Examples: 2.5 or 2.9 or 3.0 etc.

This adjusts the brightness of the open gl display. By setting the intensity to 3 or 4 the Quake 2 world will be much brighter. Using a setting of 5 will eliminate most of the dark corners. Using settings higher than 5 will make the Quake 2 world so bright it will make most of the textures look muddy. If entered at the console you must issue a vid_restart for the setting to take effect.

With the default value of 1.0 you will have dark areas and shadowed areas which you may not be able to see an enemy lurking in wait to ambush you. As you raise the value higher, the darkness will decrease and be replaced by lighting. Setting the value to "2.5" is in my opinion, the best compromise to allow you to see any enemy that may be hiding in dark areas, and still have the feel of realistic lighting. Setting the value to "5.0" will remove ALL darkness and shadows and make all areas equally bright. As an added bonus, raising the value higher than the default will give the enemy and any pickup items an internal glow that can be seen much easier.

The gl_modulate command is best used in your autoexec.cfg. If it is entered at the console, it must be followed by a "vid_restart" command. So if you decide that the value of "2.5" suits your preferences, then you would add the below line to your Quake2 autoexec.cfg:

set gl_modulate "2.5"

Note: After raising the gl_modulate value you should lower your brightness slider in the Quake2 video options menu 1 or 2 notches.

Adjustable in .1 increments from .5 to 1.3

Minimum brightness is a setting of 1.3 and will position the brightness slider in the extreme left (darkest position) .5 will position the brightness slider in the extreme right position (brightest position). If entered at the console, a "vid_restart" must be issued.

Default: 0

values: 0/1

1 will turn on shadows under rotating weapons, projectiles etc., but will take a big performance hit. It will reduce your framerate 10% or more enabling shadows. Also the shadows are not at all realistic and can cause buggy operation on some systems, especially NT.

Default: 1

Values: 0/1

0 is a higher quality image and will take a hit in FPS.

1 is 8 bit textures and will give better performance.

There is really not that much difference in the image quality between the two settings. I recommend using "1" (8 bit) for multi-player games. Disabling 8 bit textures in the video option menu won't hold the setting the next time you start the game. So put the command in your autoexec.cfg if you want to keep the setting for each game.

Description: This command will reinitialize the video system. This is required to change most of the video settings if they are entered at the console. Type it at the console and hit <enter>.

Setting this to "1" will enable the stereoscopic mode for 3D glasses.

Setting this to "1" may help some users that experience problems trying to run their desktop color palette higher than "16 bit High Color". A setting of "1" will prevent Quake2 from running full screen.

By default, texture dimensions that are not a power of two will be converted to the next smaller power of two to comply with OpenGL. Setting this to "0" will convert these texture dimensions to the next larger power of two. This effects mostly monster skin textures and pick up items and will make these items appear slightly more in-focus with the cost of performance. This setting does not affect multiplayer skins but does affect multi-player pick up items.

Default: 0

Values: 0 - 2

Changing this setting to "1" will disable multiple player skins. This may be helpful for 3D graphics cards with limited texture memory, as each different skin is stored in memory during multi-player gameplay. Setting this to "2" will show only the skins that are available in the Quake2\baseq2\players\ directory and will not transfer new skins from the server.

*included autoexec.cfg has gl_playermip set to "2"

This variable drops the resolution of each player's texture to save on total texture memory. The player's skin will be blurrier with higher values. Important variable for cards with only 2 MB of texture memory in multiplayer games. This setting has no effect on monster skins. Setting this to "0" or "1" on video cards with only 2mb of texture memory (Orchid R3D or Monster 3D etc.) can cause some buggy wierd texture effects or game crashing. Pure 3D owners can use any gl_playermip setting without fear, as the Pure3D has 4mb of texture memory. If you are a Voodoo1 user and serious about your multiplayer game I would use gl_playermip 2 regardless of your texture memory. Voodoo II users can use any playermip setting w/o a loss in performance.

Default: 0

Values 0/1

* gl_ztrick 0 will cost you a few FPS

If your 3D hardware is having problems displaying the images properly on time, set this to "1". By default the game is not sending out finish calls to the GL driver which may result in problems for some systems. Using gl_finish 1 is not normally needed on any Voodoo cards.

These above five levels of texturemodes sets the picture quality from almost raw DOS-quake picture quality to the default Quake 2 quality. The last (5th) can only be used/seen on very high-end 3D hardware (NOT Monster3D/Righteous3D/Pure3D). If you think the 3D card is softening the picture too much, then try a lower texture quality - it might also improve speed. This setting goes in your autoexec.cfg

There are a few objects that emit light from the object itself. By default, this light affects the lighting upon the other entities and walls around it. If this becomes a speed problem, you can set this to "1" to have the game create a glowing ball around the object instead of affecting other surfaces. This flashball halo is very annoying and blocks out your view during battle. If you have dynamic lighting turned off, you will not see a boost in FPS by using gl_flashblend 1.

Default: 1

Values: 0/1

"0 " turns off palette shifting.. This means your screen color doesn't change underwater or when you have quad or take damage etc..(water will be crystal clear when your in it.) Setting of "0" gives a few extra FPS. Set it to '1" and everything looks normal. (water will be cloudy when your in it, and your screen will change color when your being shot, get quad, and pentagram).

Description: Load up all the necessary information before entering a map.

Note: This is an internal command used to load up all the necessary models, sounds, sprites, and images before starting a level. This command is send by the server to the client right before the server is ready to accept the client into the game. This command checks what level the server is running, and using that information compiles a list of all necessary games files that should be loaded up for that specific map, and loads them.

Something you can do with Quake 2 on the Internet is tweak your connection a bit, like QuakeWorld. You can adjust the rate and also get a network graph. The only thing missing is pushlatency unfortunately. Modem players may want to adjust their rate down from the default of 25000. To change your rate, go to the console while connected to the server and type: rate xxxx where xxxx is the number of bytes per sec you want the server to send you. People on 28.8 may want to try somewhere between 2500 and 2800. 56K may want to try 4000 and ISDN, 5000-10000. So, for a 28.8 player to set their rate to 2500, they would type: rate 2500. To view how your connection is, type: netgraph 1 to show a nice little graph at the bottom of your screen. The green is the amount of lag, the red is dropped packets (bad), the white means the packet was choked off by a lower rate (I believe). To turn the graph off, type /netgraph 0.

When set to "1" will display a graph of net usage. Or you can type "netgraph 1" at the console. I use the below alias in my autoexec.cfg as a 1 button toggle to turn "Netgraph" on and off.

bind "x" "net1"

alias "net1" "netgraph 1;echo Graph ON...;wait;bind x net2"

alias "net2" "netgraph 0;echo Graph OFF..;wait;bind x net1"

This setting holds the maximum amount of bytes that will be transmitted between client and server each second during Internet Play. Default value is fine for single player . See above for detailed instructions on Rate adjustment. Typing Rate xxxx at the console won't hold the setting the next time you start the game. After you find a "Rate" setting you are comfortable with, you can add it to your autoexec.cfg by adding the line or select it in the multiplayer menu as described above:

set rate xxxx

Default: 90 (default of 90 is fine for single player mode)

The included autoexec.cfg has cl_maxfps set to "31".

*The timedemo 1 mode overrides the cl_maxfps setting when doing a timedemo test.

*If you experience high ping, packet loss and freezing gameplay only in the 3dfx opengl mode and the software mode runs fine on a server. This is a positive indicator that your FPS are to high in the 3dfx opengl mode. The 3dfx opengl mode will increase your FPS about 50% or more over the software mode FPS. Just for your information, by default all versions of Quake World had the FPS capped at 30FPS.

Default: 0

Values: 0/1

Toggles delta compression on and off, related to the U_REMOVE warning.

0 - Allows delta compression to take place (preferred).

1 - Does not allow delta compression to take place (eliminates U_REMOVE warnings).

If you have to use the cl_nodelta 1 to get rid of the "U_Remove On Update" error messages. Your ISP sucks. Get a better ISP.

Default: 1

1 turns on player prediction

0 turns off player prediction

You should always enable player prediction.

When this is set to "1" it will display latency times between server and client.

This command will attempt to reconnect to the previous server. Use this if you are accidentally disconnected.

This command allows you to make helpful gestures to your teammates or to piss off the enemy.

You can also include the "wave" commands in your other binds. The below example would say "hello" and salute.

There are new commands for key binding on the keypad located at the (number lock, /, *, +. - ) pad area . You know, over on the right side of the key board. These keys can be bound separately from their corresponding duplicates elsewhere on the keyboard. . So this gives us 15 more available keys for binding commands. Here is an example:

For faster performance you can try "1", but if the sound becomes garbled set it back to "0". This must be followed by a snd_restart if entered at the console. "0" will change the setting to "max compatibility" in the options menu. "1" will change the setting to "max performance" in the options menu. Systems with PCI sound cards can most likely use "1" (max performance).

To disable sound in Quake 2 for benchmarking, type at the console:

For Benchmarking Tests add the below to your autoexec.cfg. This will initialize "No Sound" so you don't have to type it at the console each time you start the game during testing.

If you want to listen to music as you play. Change this line in the autoexec.cfg to read as follows:

set cd_nocd "0"

This will disable the mouse as an input device when this is set to "0".

When this is set to "1" it will smooth out the mouse movement slightly.

3 BUTTON MOUSE:

To use a three button mouse with Quake2, your Windows mouse driver must support three buttons. Use the Logitech PS/2, Serial or Bus driver instead of the Microsoft or Standard PS/2, Serial or Bus driver. Also, make certain that your Mouse control panel sets the middle button to "middle" and not "double click".

*I had to use the Logitech drivers that came with my mouse to get my 3 button Logitech to work correctly. The 3 button drivers on the Win95 CD-ROM would not work.

If you want mouse look on all the time, add this line to the autoexec.cfg:

Default: 0

To invert the mouse, go to the options menu.

This variable is write protected. If this variable is set upon startup to "0", the game will completely disable the mouse. Some systems may see a performance increase. Keyboarders or Joystick users should disable the mouse for better performance. This setting must be used in the command line as below since it is write protected:

quake2.exe +set in_initmouse 0 +map base1 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

quake2.exe +set in_initjoy 0 +map base1 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

The below setting to disable joysticks goes in your autoexec.cfg and is the same as joystick 0 in Quake.

This variable is write protected. If this variable is set upon startup to "0", the game will completely disable the joystick. Some systems may see a performance increase. Must be used in command line.

This will enable the joystick as an input device when this is set to "1".

Setting this value to "1" will enable the advanced controller support. This is required for the use of an advanced controller such as the SpaceOrb 360, Cyberman 2, Wingman Warrior, or the Assassin 3D. The advaxis? commands can be set to the following axes:

0 - Axis not used

1 - Forward axis (forward and backward movement)

2 - Pitch axis (looking up and down)

3 - Side axis (strafing left and right)

4 - Yaw axis (turning left and right)

5 - Up axis (jumping, crouching, and swimming up and down)

These are absolute axis setting (non-proportional movements like a joystick). To assign a relative axis setting (proportional movements like a mouse), add 16 to the value.

This command will update all advanced controller axis settings if the values were previously changed.

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis R (typically joystick rudder.)

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis U (custom axis - Assassin 3D trackball left and right, Wingman Warrior SpinControl and SpaceOrb roll.)

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis V (custom axis - Assassin 3D trackball forward and backward and SpaceOrb yaw.)

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis X (typically joystick left and right.)

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis Y (typically joystick forward and backward.)

This setting controls mapping of DirectInput axis Z (typically joystick throttle.)

This value controls the dead-zone for moving forward and backward.

This controls the speed that you look up and down.

This controls the dead-zone for looking up and down.

This controls the ramp-up speed for moving side to side.

This controls the dead-zone for moving side to side.

This controls the dead-zone for moving up and down.

This controls the speed that you turn left and right.

The TIMEDEMO TEST will run Quake 2 as fast as your system allows. To perform a timedemo:

Start the game and then type "disconnect" then <enter> at the console.

Then type:

Wait for the test to complete and then look for the number with "FPS" beside it. This is your Frames Per Second. The higher the FPS the better.

After you finish your timedemo testing, type at the console:

This will clear the timedemo mode. If you don't type timedemo 0 and then start a game. The game will run very fast. Like a timedemo.

640x480- 34.6 FPS

512x384- 40.4FPS

PPro200 w/ 128MB

Canopus Pure3D

Using included Q2Start.bat and Autoexec.cfg (I have my Pure3d Clock MHz Speed set on 60mhz.)

Quake2 Version 3.14

Low Quality Sound

640x480- 98.7 FPS

800x600- 97.9 FPS

1024x768- 84.4 FPS

Dual Creative Labs Voodoo II 12MB (SLI)

Low Quality Sound

Quake2 Version 3.14 (3/23/98 mini gl update)

Using included Q2V2Start.bat and Autoexec.cfg (Voodoo II overclocked to 95MHz)

The "Massive1 Benchmark Demo Test" for Quake 2 is a 12 player Death Match Demo to 50 frags. It is an action packed total horrific shoot out with at least 2 frags per second for 4 minutes. Guaranteed to test your system and 3D card to its limits. The "Massive1" is a much more accurate test to simulate online multi-player Quake 2 gaming than the demo1.dm2. You must be using Quake 2 versions 3.10 or higher to run the Massive1 demo. Instructions included in zip. "Massive1" is 637KB. Download it here:

NOTE: 32MB systems seem to really suffer on the timedemo tests. Quake 2 is a RAM hog. If you really want the best performance you should have a minimum of 64MB. But 96MB or more will give the absolute best performance. Hard drive thrashing is a symptom of not enough system RAM. 32MB systems will get severe hard drive thrashing sometimes.64MB systems will get very little hard thrashing. 96MB or more systems will get NO hard drive thrashing at all. With a Voodoo 1, Cyrix system owners will get about 60% in FPS of an equivalent Intel Pentium. K-6 systems should expect about 85% in FPS of an equivalent Intel Pentium. Pentium II systems will give the best performance running Quake 2. Using the new Voodoo II the Cyrix will run about 55% as fast in FPS as an equivalent Intel Pentium and the K-6 will run about 65% as fast in FPS as a equivalent Intel Pentium. Intel Pentium II systems absolutely scream using a Voodoo II.

The "Crusher Benchmark Demo Test" is a 34 player Deathmatch Demo to 75 Frags on the Final Showdown (Boss2 Map that comes w/ Quake2). This demo will present the absolute worst conditions that you would likely encounter in multi-player Quake2 gaming. The purpose of this demo is to test your system under the worst conditions so you will know how your system will perform when the shit hits the fan in multi-player. Maximum FPU and Particles are presented through most of the demo. So, whatever result you get on the Crusher Timedemo, will likely be about the lowest framerate you would ever see under the worst conditions in multi-player. If you think the Massive1.dm2 was tough on your system, you ain't seen nothing yet. J

*Commands are case sensitive. Use caps where indicated.

*Canopus Pure3D and Voodoo II users adjust the screenrefresh in the your control panel/display properties.

If you use the default screenrefresh settings on your 3DFX card, then in general, raising the vertical refresh will adversely affect your frame rate in GLQuake2. You'll have to decide if the performance hit is worth the improvement in the image quality. Generally, there's no noticeable frame rate penalty between running at 75 Hz as opposed to 60 Hz. As a matter of fact, the 3DFX Card won't even run at 60 Hz in 512 x 384 resolution - 75 is the lowest. I know some people get eyestrain when staring at a monitor with a 60 Hz refresh for long periods of time, but 75 Hz is usually sufficient to eliminate the problem. Setting it higher will start to bring your frame rate down a bit.

There is a way you can run the refresh up to 120 Hz without much of a performance hit: by disabling the vertical refresh sync on the 3DFX card by adding these lines to your Quake2.bat file: SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0, SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0

Voodoo II users must set the monitor refresh rate for each video mode resolution with the below variables if you do not wish to set it in your Voodoo II control panel:

With "0" setting, the 3DFX Card will ignore the refresh rate and always redraw the screen as soon as it can. As a bonus, this setting will usually gain you 5 -7 fps, however it can cause some image tearing which some people may find unacceptable. It will be very subtle and look as though the image is folding slightly when you spin around. With my Pure3D, "0" setting raised the speed a whopping 7FPS for me, over a setting of "1"(default). Nice!!! To use SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL "0" you must also use:

SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0

If you don't like the tearing associated with not waiting for Vsync, increase your monitor vertical refresh rate.

Voodoo II users go to your Voodoo II control panel (control panel/display/voodoo II/advanced) and place a check mark in the "Don't synch buffer swaps to monitor refresh rate for glide" and hit "OK". This is the same as using "0" on the swapinterval. Voodoo II users will get a huge increase in FPS.

"0" Turns off syncing to the monitors vertical refresh rate so the screen gets refreshed before its fully written on the monitor.

Normally your Voodoo will wait for the electron gun to finish sweeping the screen before switching between the visible data and the in work data. Setting to "0" this means that the voodoo will not waste any time waiting, it will switch immediately.

The Orchid voodoo defaults to 50. You can gain approximately a 15% speed increase by overclocking to 55. Do not go beyond 57. In any event keep an eye out for corruption artifacts - flat shaded polygons, texture map corruption etc. You will see little flickering triangle shaped tears in the screen if you set the clock speed to high. This setting will almost certainly make the Voodoo Chip run hotter so beware! How high you can go on the setting is solely dependent on how much cool air circulation you have in your computer case. When picking a PCI slot for your Voodoo Card , choose a slot that will give maximum air circulation to the Voodoo chips.

With my Orchid (no fan) my screen started slight tearing at "57". "60" gave extreme tearing. Also note that the Monster 3d's default performance setting is "57", so that can be taken as a safe setting. Be forewarned, any setting over "57 "will certainly shorten the life of your card. If your image locks and the sound is looping, your overheating the chip. Turn down the clock speed if this happens.

*Get a cooling fan to increase performance and card life.

*After installing a fan on my Orchid Voodoo Card. I could go to "60" w/o tearing. But I still leave mine at "54"

** The Pure3D needs to have the clock speed adjusted from the Pure3D control panel in display properties. The Pure3D uses 35ns RAM and can be successfully over-clocked to higher numbers than the 45-50ns RAM on the Monster and Orchid. I have been running my Pure3D at 60mhz for months and hundreds of hours of Online Quake play with no problems at all. I also have 2 extra fans on the Pure3D. See below taken from the Pure3D help guide:

-------------------------------------END PURE 3D HELP GUIDE INFO------------------------------------------

One important note. The Monster Voodoo II allows overclocking in the Monster Voodoo II control panel to 95 MHz. Since the Creative Labs Voodoo II and the Monster 3D Voodoo II are identical, this can be taken as a safe speed to overclock your Creative Labs Voodoo II. Anything higher and your sailing into uncharted waters. Your success in overclocking depends highly on how much cool air you have circulating around in your computer case. If you plan on exceeding 95 MHz, get a cooling fan on your Voodoo II. If you see corruption in your game image or your game image locks up, turn the clock speed back down a notch or 2 until it disappears.

Start the Registry Editor by going to "start/run" and type "regedit" in the box and hit "OK". Once into the registry, choose "Edit", "Find" and do a search for "SSTV2". This will lead you directly to where you want to be: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\3Dfx Interactive\Voodoo2\". This key has 2 subkeys, by the name of:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\3DfxInteractive\Voodoo2\D3D" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\3Dfx Interactive\Voodoo2\Glide".

You will have to add the new string to both folders (D3D & Glide) if you want to change the clock speed of the Voodoo2 for Direct3D as well as Glide games. Quake 2 is a "glide" game. Now right click on either the "D3D" folder or "glide" folder and select "New" and then "String Value". Then type the new variable "SSTV2_GRXCLK" (caps & no quotes) in the box. Then double click on the new variable you just added and enter the clock speed you want the Voodoo2 to run at. Default is "90'" for 90 MHz, so you obviously want to go higher than 90. So if you want to set it at "97" just type in the box "97" w/o quotation marks and hit "OK" and then hit the "X" in the top right corner. All done. If you want to set it back to the default just change the value back to "90".

"1" Removes the 3DFX logo on startup.

"1" tells the Voodoo you have EDO RAM and to access the RAM on your board faster. This may or may not have any perceptible difference.

"1" Fast PCI read. 1 or 2 more FPS.

This may not have any perceptible effect.

* This line must also be in your batch file on some Voodoo 1 boards to adjust the gamma (brightness): SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1

*Canopus Pure3D and Voodoo II users adjust the "RGB" gamma in the control panel display properties. If the screen refresh rate is set higher than 75 on the Pure3D, your gamma may not work.

*Adjustable in .1 increments. "1" is the default

*Canopus Pure3D users adjust the color gamma in the Pure3D control panel/display properties.

"1" sets the bits per pixel to 24. Which does nothing. READ ON!!!! If you want to adjust gamma on some Voodoo 1 boards, you must have it set to "1" in the batch file or autoexec.bat. Don't use it unless you have to.

I also added a 3 1/4" fan in an empty fan slot in the front of my computer case behind the 1" speaker.

I just finished playing a 1 hour online Quake World CTF game with the Dual Voodoo IIs overclocked to 105 MHz and then I ran 5 Massive1 timedemos in a row. No problems at all. This fan is the shit. And inexpensive too. Total cost to cool (2) Voodoo II boards: $13.48.

•Right click on "My Computer", click on "Properties", click on the "Performance" tab, then click on the "Virtual Memory" button.

•Click on "Let Me Specify MY Own Virtual Memory" then click "Disable virtual memory" then click "OK". The computer will reboot.

•When it reboots run the Disk Defragmenter and do a Full Defragmentation of your drive. At this point do not reboot after defrag.

•Go back into the Virtual Memory settings window and uncheck "Disable Virtual Memory" then select "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings". Set the "Minimum" to 150 (200 if you play Unreal) and the "Maximum" to 150 (200 if you play Unreal). Windows will reboot again to allow the settings to take effect.

If you have more than one drive on your system, you should select the fastest drive for your swap file.

*When you set the minimum and maximum values, be aware of your free hard drive space. It stands to reason that you cannot set the values higher than your unused free hard drive space. Duh!

The setting labeled "Typical Role of This Machine "determines how much space is set aside in main memory to handle path and filename caching. The default "Desktop Computer" choice allocates space for a paltry 32 paths and 677 filenames, whereas the "Network Server" choice bumps those settings up to 64 paths and 2,729 filenames.

If you have 32 mb or more of ram, you can improve performance by increasing your disk cache size:

•Right click on "My Computer", click on "Properties", click on the "Performance" tab, then click on the "File System" button.

•Select the "Hard Disk" tab and in the box labeled "Typical role of this machine:" select "Network Server". The click on "OK" and Win95 will reboot to allow this setting to take effect.

*This works fine on the new Win95B OSR2 (ver. 4.00.950 B). To check your Win95 version, go to "control panel/system". Older versions of Win95 will need to modify their registry as instructed below before changing the "typical role of this machine" setting.

For the best performance when playing Quake 2, always disable any applications you have running in the background like Anti Virus programs, IE 4.0 active desktop and Microsoft Office 97 active desktop etc. If you have less than 64MB of RAM, go to the Gamespy options menu and set Gamespy to "close Gamespy after launching Quake".

*Article from 3 Fingers' Ultimate Tweak Guide For GL Quake & GL QW.

I'm going to stray off of the GL Quake/QW topic for a minute and discuss what is probably the most important issue to online gamers there is. So lets get to the meat of the matter. Why does my NET Quake game have fluctuating pings and high packet loss?

First of all I want to say I have tried every trick, lag fix, Max Mtu, delagger, gadget, setting, special phone line wire, different modems and any other supposed fix for lag known under the sun. The bottom line is, if your poor connection is a result of any problem which happens AFTER your signal gets to your ISP. Nothing that you do on your end will help. It is absolutely impossible for your computer to some how magically create a packet(s) of information that were lost or held up. Lost packets cause freezing gameplay, held up packets cause high ping. You can spray all the perfume on a pile of doodoo you want, and you will still have a pile of doodoo. Quake World does an excellent job of filling in small packet loss (1-7%) with its movement prediction. But higher packet loss than 7% is beyond the ability of Quake World's prediction to keep the game smooth. Quake World predicts the games progression in the event of packet loss/delayed packets and then corrects it to the true state when the packets catch up. This is what causes you or other players to appear and reappear in 15ft. jumps or gaps. To someone looking at a webpage while surfing the net. Packet loss/held packets translates into a webpage loading in slightly more time.

So lets do a little INTERNET 101. The Internet began in the 50's as a source for the military to send top secret information broken up into packets so they could split up classified information into separate parts along separate routes. So some of the equipment is getting very old now. The whole Internet revolves around sending a stream of small packets of information from your computer to other computers and back to you. When your computer sends a packet, which it sends and receive many packets a minute. The packets travel through a series of Hops. Usually about 8 to 40 hops before it reaches its final destination. The first hop is from your computer to your ISP. The packet then hits a router and will hit 1 or 2 more routers within your ISP. This would be hop 2 and 3. Your ISP leases a T1or T3 (equivalent to 30 T-1 lines) line from a company like Bellsouth.net, MCI.NET or Sprint.NET etc.. A T1 line can transfer about 12 MegaBytes per minute and a T-3 line about 360 MegaBytes per minute to another T-3. The packet is then sent to a Backbone Hub from your ISP's T1 or T3 line. This is hop 4 and would be the Backbone Hub which your ISP uses. A Backbone is a major transfer station for packets. Everything your ISP sends and receives is going to pass through this Backbone Hub. A few hundred ISPs may send and receive packets from this backbone. Within each Backbone there are usually 2 or 3 routers. These are more hops. After your packets leave the Backbone Hub which your ISP uses, your signal will branch out to any number of Backbones to get to its destination. There are many Backbones though out the world. Most of them are in major cities. The packet could then be sent on to another Backbone and even another before it reaches its final destination. In Quake Net Play, most servers that give you a decent ping are about 8-15 hops from you. So the bottom line is, if any of these hops are overloaded or has equipment problems, you will see packet loss and fluctuating ping. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

If you can't find it, Email me and I'll send it to you. It is about 35kb. What UO Trace does, is trace all the hops from your computer to the IP Number you enter. For our purposes it would be the Quake server IP. It will then continuously display each hop and tell you what the packet loss is and the current ping/lowest ping/highest ping values on each hop. UO Trace is much superior to the DOS tracert/ping method, as DOS Tracert only pings 3 times. And with DOS Ping, you would have to ping each HOP IP separately. With UO Trace constantly pinging all hops simultaneously, you will be able to quickly identify which hop or hops are causing your bad connection. You can even save the UO Trace info by clicking on "edit" then "copy" and paste it to Notepad.

For Example: If your favorite server is 12 hops away and you see hop number 4 has pings constantly fluctuating from 125 to 800. This would have a serious affect on your gameplay. If you get wildly fluctuating pings and packet loss on all quake servers, the problem will most likely lie between you and the end of the first backbone hub that your ISP uses. So this means its one of these factors:

[1] Your phone line or an overloaded ISP router (hop 1)

[2] Your ISP is overloaded (probably hop 2 and 3 or could be hop 4).

[3] Or the Backbone that your ISP uses is overloaded (probably hop 5,6 and 7).

If you see that the problem lies on the 1st hop (your phone line to your ISP), and you connect at 28.8 or higher all the time. Its not your phone line and the problem lies in your ISP's overloaded or piece of crap router. If you cannot connect any higher than 21.6-26.4bps. Bug the hell out of your Phone Company and make them install a new phone line to your house from the box at the street. Tell them your are sending sensitive computer data/faxes and you are getting many errors and failed transmissions. Also tell them that you hear occasional static on your line. Trust me, the Phone Company Techs do not understand anything about computers/internet or how it works. The Phone Companies mentality is, if you can talk on your phone the line is OK. Tell them what ever you need to say to get a new phone line so you can connect at 28.8 or 31.2. Also if you determine your phone line is a problem. You can request that the Phone Company " put your phone line on another pair". What this means is, your phone line to the main Telephone Office will just take a different route. It is worth a try sometimes.

So what can be done to fix the fluctuating pings and packet loss? Sadly your ISP won't care and will most likely just tell you what you want to hear to get you off the phone. Most ISP's owners are happy if a webpage loads in 45 seconds or less and considers this acceptable. Online gamers are an extremely small percentage of their customer base. And they won't spend the large sums of money to upgrade their equipment or take the time to try to sort out the problem with their Backbone that they use, just to help out less than 1% of their customers. Even if an ISP system administrator is willing to try to solve the problem. The facts are 99% of ISP system administrators lack technical knowledge beyond setting up new accounts, Dial Up Networking settings and resetting modems.

OK, on to solving this dilemma. For Example: If you saw while using UO Trace, that hop 4 with wildly fluctuating pings was MCI.NET in Greensboro, N.C. Then you must try another ISP that does not use MCI.NET Greensboro, N.C. as their Backbone. Ask the prospective new ISP who their Backbone hub is. Don't think getting ISDN service from your current ISP that gives you a poor connection on a 33.6 modem will improve anything. Your signal will still travel the same route after it gets to the ISP as your 33.6 dial up service. You will just get a lower ping with a shitty connection. If the ISP you are talking to about new service does not have their own in-house T1 or T3 line, don't even consider them. This means that they are routing your dial in phone call to some other place that has a T1 line, maybe another city. This is very bad. AOL, IBM.Net, Bellsouth.Net and other large ISPs handle it this way to keep from installing T1s in every small town they provide Internet service to. Some small ISP's do this also if they can't afford to pay for their own T1 or if they have a satellite office in a nearby town. I even spoke to an ISP owner that when asked if he had a T1 line in-house. He responded he uses an ISDN (128k) line to run his ISP. This would yield pathetic results for his customers that play Net Quake, unless he only has 2 customers.

You will have to dig for info on what ISPs are available in your town, as they pop up monthly and are not listed in the phone book yet or choose not to list themselves. Keep trying new ISPs till you find one that gives you a good stable connection. I tried 9 ISPs in my town before I finally found one that gave me excellent net gameplay. The general rule of thumb with ISPs is: the smaller they are, the better they will be for Net Quake . But this is not always true. One other point. People are signing up with ISPs like crazy to get on the Internet. An ISP that is good today may not be good for Net Quake in 2 months if they double their customers or take on more customers than their equipment can handle. One thing I have learned from dealing with many ISPs, is they all lie and tell you their service is wonderful and never admit they have a problem. Always negotiate a free trial period to test them out.

Netstat is an excellent source to view the current up to the minute conditions of most of the Backbones in the US. It reports their packet loss and ping times. This is an excellent way to check out your ISP's backbone conditions.

This webpage has all the latest tips for USR X2 users to help you stabilize and lower your ping during Quake 2 Internet play.

Here is another trick for USR X2 users to eliminate the fluctuating pings associated with X2 connections. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Modem->Properties->Connection->Advanced and in the "extra settings" box, add this: S32.5=1

56K connections have been proven to cause high fluctuating pings with some users. This disables X2 connections and makes your modem connect at only 33.6. Or if your ISP has a 33.6 dial in number. You can just dial into your ISP's 33.6 modem bank when you want to play online Quake 2 instead of adding the extra setting.

A very comprehensive page with all the tricks to get good pings in Quake. This page comes highly recommended by my good friend "The Flying Penguin".

clear <enter>

cmdlist <enter>

condump cmd <enter>

clear <enter>

cvarlist <enter>

condump cvar <enter>

rem SET SST_VSYNC

*You will need to reboot for this to take effect

This will enable 16-bit palettes at refresh rates greater than 75Hz.

NOTE: I have been getting reports that enabling triple buffering in the Voodoo II control panel can cause freezing gameplay and jerky movement for some users. If you experience this, uncheck the box in your Voodoo II control panel. You can leave the gl_triplebuffer 1 in the autoexec.cfg. The check box in the Voodoo II control panel is the master over the gl_triplebuffer in the autoexec.cfg

The way the Voodoo2 initialization code currently works is the first board the 3Dfx PCI library finds is setup to be the video/monitor "Master." The other board in the SLI set is setup to be the video/monitor "Slave," and will not generate valid video output. The difficulty is that there is no way by looking at your system to determine which board will be found first by the PCI library (in some systems, it's the board closest to the CPU -- in other systems, it's the board furthest from the CPU). So, for early releases of the Voodoo2 drivers, you may have to manually swap which board is connected to the monitor for proper SLI functionality.

The 3 Fingers' Ultimate Tweak Guide For GL Quake & GL QW