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Good Quake maps

skacky

3D Realms
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There's already a thread like this for Doom, Heretic and Hexen, but I might as well start one for Quake, and *gasp* perhaps even Quake 2 though I know almost nothing about custom stuff on the latter.
The good news is the Quake singleplayer scene is very much alive, but the bad news is it's really slow compared to Doom, with around two dozens releases every year. Most of the time these releases are of excellent quality, sometimes made by professional level designers with years of experience, and there seems to be some fresh newcomers with awesome ideas lately.

The easiest way to play custom maps is through Quake Injector, a program that scans the map database at Quaddicted.com and installs maps and mods properly, so you don't have to do it yourself. It's very easy to configure and you can change engines on the fly. See this: https://www.quaddicted.com/tools/quake_injector

Now most of the maps released nowadays use the Quoth modification that adds some really cool monsters that for once do not look jarring and perfectly blend with the original bestiary, and a shit-ton of other useful stuff for level designers, new weapons and powerups, etc. It is available through Quake Injector, and the mod also has one or two remade maps from Quake's EP1 with the new entities and monsters as a showcase.

Now comes the engines part. There are a lot of different engines for Quake, with the most famous being FitzQuake and Darkplaces. I personally use FitzQuake 0.85; it's relatively faithful to GLQuake and has extended limits (you may have to enter some command lines into the engine configuration in Quake Injector to run the maps, but it's usually written in the map description). Darkplaces can be made to look like GLQuake, and also supports a new type of .bsp that breaks all kinds of old limits. I personally prefer to use RMQ (Remake Quake's engine) to play .bsp2 maps since it's a lot easier to configure it to look like GLQuake, or at least something close. You can find a list of engines here, just pick your poison: http://www.quakewiki.net/quake-1-engines/
Quakespasm and DirectQ are also pretty neat, with the former being based on FitzQuake if I remember right: https://www.quaddicted.com/quake/recommended_engines
My FitzQuake command line to play maps that require extended limits is this: -heapsize 192000 +max_edicts 8192 -zone 2048

Note that some of them (ezQuake for instance) only work in QuakeWorld, which is the multiplayer version of Quake. They do not contain any monster entities.

Some good releases this year:
- The Horde of Zendar: a huge fortress/city by night with lots of verticality and secrets.
- Nyarlathotep: if you're a fan of completely bizarre architecture, custom weapons and enemies, and brutal horde combat then this is for you. The maps are rather hit or miss, as usual with Tronyn's stuff. I personally loved it.
- Mainframe Mayhem: a large base map with some cliffs and pits. Uses Quoth.
- The Ivory Tower: a non-linear map reminiscent of the designs of the original game. Pretty neat but can be confusing.
- A Past and Future Secret: this came out of nowhere, it's so oldschool it's awesome, with some novel ideas. Made by Matthias Worch who made the classic Beyond Belief. Note that Chthon in this map is vulnerable to conventional weaponry.
- Backsteingotik: a large non-linear wind-tunnel map with some cool sections. Highly recommended.
- Terracity: a huge terracotta map with lots of monsters.
- Midnight Stalker: a very good romp with some classic aesthetics.
- Pain in the Arch: a large library carved into a huge cavern. Uses Quoth.
- For My Babies - Bin Dunne Gorne 2: a two-map episode with Daikatana textures and rather unusual progression. Very good. Uses Quoth.


Other recommended stuff all years erry year is (almost) everything by RPG, CZG, Kell, Vondur, Than, Hrimfaxi and Necros.
 
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skacky

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These are rather rare since the amount of work required is much higher, but there are some episodes.

Beyond Belief is a classic, people like to refer to it as Quake's lost episode 1 since it has a lot of similarities in its theme and overall direction. It's quite old but still plays very nice. You also have IKSPQ, which is another classic too. I don't think this one is available in a full package so you may need to download them all and play them in order. The maps are professionally built and feature a unique theme. Zerstörer, Nehahra and Travail also qualify, even though these feature new monsters and weapons as well. Nehahra is quite hit or miss because of its revamped AI, so be warned. Then you have Coven of Ebony and Soul of Evil but these are more medieval/magic than purely Quake, with many modified monsters and new ones. Ontranto is also in the same vein. Worth a playthrough since they are of excellent quality. Contract Revoked is a small 4-map episode of excellent quality, and its follow-up Contract Revoked: The Lost Chapters is a hub-based 9-level SP campaign with a boss map. Arcanum and A Roman Wilderness in Pain are extremely brutal mini episodes with huge maps filled with hundreds of monsters, modified weapons and new enemies. Warpspasm is also similar but doesn't feature horde combat. The maps are still extremely large in that one though.

Lastly there is also the "lost" third expansion pack, Abyss of Pandemonium, which was never released. It's on the level of Dissolution of Eternity; good ideas but meh execution. Worth a playthrough.
 

skacky

3D Realms
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Astral Rag

Arcane
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
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Insomnia

Very good well-balanced 3 level episode. I especially enjoyed the "base" maps, the last map was not bad but some outdoor areas are a bit too spacious for their own good making some of the endgame encounters too casual.

:4/5:

Some screenshots:
1tedsi.jpg


36kzah.jpg


81sfyla.jpg


11-24weazv.jpg


4vryv8.jpg


Those Quake 2 textures :love:

5z5x51.jpg


55mfz7a.jpg


q9-969oe91.jpg


60uay8.jpg


66ddyjk.jpg


6672gzqi.jpg


:negative:

Fort Ratsack


This fast-paced "base" map rocks, you will be hunted by every type of Quake and Quoth Grunt and Enforcer known to man. This level has some very cool new textures and surprising secret rooms.

:5/5:
 
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DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
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Messages
28,344
Damn, I remember making Quake maps. I gave up though because my epic visions always ended up passing the max number of blocks you could have on-screen or something and so they'd grey out in the distance.
 

Don Peste

Arcane
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That legends world site has many interesting entries for the Quake series:

Action Quake 2:License To Kill The Borg Matrix Edition (LTKTBM) (2003)
Aftershock Toolbox for Quake (1996)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007)
GameMania for Quake #1 (1996)
PC Zone April 2000 Coverdisk: Unreal Tournament, Quake III & Half-Life 500 Levels (2000)
PCZone March 1997 Coverdisk: Over 500 Quake Levels & Utilities plus Over 500 Duke Levels (1997)
Q2 for Quake (1996)
Qoole for Quake II, Quake & Hexen II (1998)
Qua.. it! Volume 1 / Quake It! (1996)
Quake (1996)
Quake 'em (1996)
Quake 2 (1997)
Quake 2 Addon: Zaero (1998)
Quake 2 Anthology (1999)
Quake 2 MissionPack 1: The Reckoning (1998)
Quake 2 MissionPack 2: Ground Zero (1998)
Quake 2 Netpack: Extremities (1998)
Quake 2 TC - Infinity: The Kai'Ren Threat (cancelled) (1999)
Quake 2 Total Conversion: Juggernaut - The New Story For Quake 2 (1998)
Quake 2: Chaos (2008)
Quake 2: Complete Gamer Add-on (1998)
Quake 2: Deathmatch Maker II (1998)
Quake 2: Fanatic's Complete Set (1999)
Quake 2: Oblivion (1999)
Quake 2: Total Destruction (Toolkit for Quake 2) (1998)
Quake 2: Unseen (cancelled) (1998)
Quake 3 Arena (1999)
Quake 3 MissionPack: Team Arena (2000)
Quake 4 (2005)
Quake Addon: Aftershock (1996)
Quake Addon: Dark Hour (1996)
Quake Deathmatch Maker (1996)
Quake II: Fault Line (1998)
Quake Level Design Handbook (1997)
Quake Level Master V (1997)
Quake Live (formerly Quake Zero) (2009)
Quake MissionPack 1: Scourge Of Armagon (The Rift) (1997)
Quake MissionPack 2: Dissolution Of Eternity (1997)
Quake Total Conversion: Malice (1997)
Quake Total Conversion: Shrak (1997)
Quake Total Conversion: X-Men - The Ravages Of Apocalypse (1997)
Quake Wars Online (2010)
Quake World (1999)
Quake World 2001 (2001)
Quake World 3 (1999)
Quake: Abyss Of Pandemonium (1998)
Quake: Eternal Darkness (1996)
Quake: Future vs Fantasy (1997)
Tremor for Quake (1997)
 
Self-Ejected

AngryEddy

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I'm looking for a custom quake campaign that I saw once, but forgot to bookmark and never saw it again:

It was a campaign, the entry level was a floating rock island/temple in a sea of blackness, and I think the name had something to do with dreams or insomnia or something like that.
 
Self-Ejected

AngryEddy

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Astral Rag

Arcane
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7,771
Can someone tell me how to run this shit? I've never played any custom content for Quake.

Install and configure Quakespasm:

Install:

Non-Steam:

1. Create folders x:\quakespasm and x:\quakespasm\id1
2. Download http://sourceforge.net/projects/quakespasm/
3. Unrar the Quakespasm files to the main Quakespasm folder
4. Copy/ paste the original Quake PAK0.PAK and PAK1.PAK files to x:\quakespasm\id1 (you don't need any other original files)

Steam:

1. Place all Quakespasm files in your main Steam Quake directory
2. Delete or backup the original winquake.exe and rename quakespasm.exe to winquake.exe

Configure:

*You'll want to change the way textures are filtered. To make Quake beautiful again you'll have to edit config.cfg and autoexec.cfg, these files reside in Quake's id1 folder.

If you're a gentleman of refined taste you'll want to use GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR .

*Change host_maxfps to your desired framerate, otherwise the framerate will be locked at 71. I use host_maxfps "144". You can use the scr_showfps 1 console command to display the framerate.

*For transparent water, lava and waste: open config and make sure r_novis is set to 1, you can then tweak the level of transparency by altering the value of r_wateralpha I like to use "0.8".

*r_shadow 1 will enable sexy shadows that put many modern games to shame.

*Add the line sv_aim 1 to the autoexec.cfg file to disable vertical auto-aim. Autoexec.cfg file is located in /id1, create this file if it's not there.

*You can instantly change the FOV with the fov command, If you want to change the FOV on a more permanent basis just add the line fov <your desired fov here> to Quake's autoexec.cfg. I use fov 100.

*Add r_particles 2 for beautiful square particles effect, those ugly round particle effects have no place in Quake.

*If you want to change the default difficulty setting you can add the line skill <x> to the autoexec file:
skill 0 = easy, skill 1 = medium, skill 2 = hard, skill 3 = nightmare

*The Steam version of these classic id games doesn’t come with the soundtrack :roll: to fix this:

1.Download the missing OST: https://www.quaddicted.com/files/music/

2.Place the music files in your id1/music folder, create this folder yourself if need be

Play (mostly) Older Maps and Multiplayer Maps::

Quaddicted is the website to visit if you're looking for Q1 maps.

1. Place these maps into x:\quakespasm\id1\maps
2. Launch Quake, lower the Console and type map <name map> E.g. map bbelief2008
3. The maps console command can be used to check which maps you have installed

Play Expansion Packs and most Modern Releases:

1. Create an extra folder in your main Quakespasm folder and copy/ paste the files in there, for Scourge of Armagon this would be:

x:\quakespasm\hipnotic

2. Create a new shortcut to quakespasm.exe and add -hipnotic to the target line (or use Steam's Set Launch Options feature):

Quakespasm\quakespasm.exe -hipnotic

Or you could launch Quake(spasm) and type game hipnotic in the console

You can use the game command to switch between installed "games". E.g. game id will bring you back to vanilla Quake's main menu

3. Always check out the readme files that come with modern releases because you'll often need to add extra stuff to the target line or Steam's Set Launch Options feature.

Alternatively, you can use the Quake Injector tool:

1. Download and launch Quake Injector and set paths ("configuration->engine configurator")

2. Download and run the map you want to play with Quake Injector

In Quake you can change the difficulty via the console (skill 0 =easy, skill 3 =nightmare)
you have to use the restart command to make difficulty changes stick. (see above for a more permanent solution)
Press TAB during gameplay to see current difficulty level

A lot of the newer custom maps use the Quoth mod, I believe Quake Inspector installs this mod for you when you try to launch your first Quoth map, if this is not the case you can find the files here https://www.quaddicted.com/webarchive/kell.quaddicted.com/

These files need to be in x:\quakespasm\quoth

Play against bots:

1. Download this file, it contains the Frikbot AI and hundreds of mostly non-shovelware, Frikbot-ready maps.

2. Place the Frikbot folder in Quakespasm folder (x:\quakespasm\frikbot)

3. Launch QuakeSpasm with "quakespasm-bots-ffa-cycle" or if you want to use Steam's Set Launch Options feature:
-listen 16 -game frikbot -zone 2048 -heapsize 192000 +exec quickstart.cfg

4. Once you're in-game you can add and remove bots by pressing B and N

Check out the maps folder and the quickstart.cfg file in x:\quakespasm\frikbot, you can edit this file to your heart's content. I use Deathmatch "1", this disables Weapons Stay.


Some handy console commands:

fraglimit

timelimit

map to change maps, for example map aerowalk or map exdm2

restart

deathmatch 1


Play deathmatch and co-op games using Quakespasm:
Quakespasm was made primarily for single player but fortunately it is entirely possible to get online games going. There may be other source ports out there that are more MP-friendly but to me they all look and feel like some silly caricature of The Most Important PC Game Ever™.

Deathmatch:

0. optional but recommended: Install Frikbots

1. Install Tunngle or a similar VLAN client, create a Private Network and invite all players to it, we ran into connection problems when we tried to play without using a VLAN but YMMV

2. The host then has to create a shortcut to quakespasm.exe and he has to add the following to the Target line:

-listen 16 -ip <host's (virtual) ip here> -game frikbot -zone 2048 -heapsize 192000 +exec quickstart.cfg

The client(s) has to create a shortcut to quakespasm.exe and has to add the following to the Target line:

-listen 16 -ip <client's (virtual) ip here> -game frikbot -zone 2048 -heapsize 192000 +exec quickstart.cfg

3. The host can now start a DM game by double-clicking the edited shortcut

4. client(s) can join by using the "connect <host's (virtual) ip here>:<host's port here>" console command

e.g. connect 192.168.1.1:26000

Co-op:

131FADDD627E147F4D12D06F535F107D3E55AEF1


1. Connect to your Tunngle Private Network

2. Host's QS shortcut: -listen 8 -ip <host's (virtual) ip here> +coop 1 +teamplay 1

3. Client's QS shortcut: -ip <client's (virtual) ip here>

4. Host starts multiplayer campaign from Quake's main menu

5. Client joins with connect ip command

Make sure all players wear the same color of pants if you want to play without friendly fire.

QvODO3K.jpg


Enjoy :salute:


quake_is_for_everyonek3uqe.jpg
 
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Self-Ejected

AngryEddy

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May 5, 2012
Messages
3,596
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Fuzzy Pleasure Palace
Is Quaddicted down for anyone else? I have only been unable to connect since installing Java and using Quake Injector.

It seems to go down a lot lately :(

In case you desperately need a Quake fix:

https://mega.co.nz/#!k9ZAkRaB!eJIdFywm_rGBX0IXuGVtv4_Bqdy0-uxJdr4YNTjAWFM

Has to be installed like a mission pack and can be launched with an edited shortcut.

You're doing God's work, son. Is there anything I need to know about launching an edited shortcut, or how to install a mission pack?
 

Astral Rag

Arcane
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
7,771
Is there anything I need to know about launching an edited shortcut, or how to install a mission pack?

Normally you just have to unzip the files to x:\Quakespasm\czg07, create a shortcut to Quakespasm.exe and add"-czg07" to the target line.
 
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Astral Rag

Arcane
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
7,771
Quaddicted is back up. Almost done with Insomnia, I think I might try this campaign out afterwards:

https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/zer.html


Played that one recently, it's very atmospheric and starts out promising with some neat new weapons to try out. Sadly the layout of the levels is not the greatest. It was ok but certainly not as good as I hoped.

You will probably also have to use noclip in the graveyard map because this campaign doesn't play nice with modern engines.



DM7RMX - Geophobia DM7


A great single player remake of American McGee's DM7, old school gameplay set in a beautiful fortress.

geo70ub1.jpg

:4/5:

Deathmatch Classics Vol. 3

Another case of "SP-ified DM", this time 8 classic DM maps were transformed into one fun and at times pretty challenging episode.

Not as great as Geophobia but the first maps are good if you're looking for some fast, straightforward Quake action. Final maps are very hard.

dm36cs0k.jpg

:3/5:

House of spikes

Another expertly made CGZ map, this is one brutal "metal" level.

spikesr1sh1.jpg

:3/5:
 
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Astral Rag

Arcane
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
7,771
Rapture

This beautiful campaign uses Daikatana E3 and Hexen II textures and features some great looking architecture and "new" enemies. Gameplay is very old school (no huge hordes). Sadly some of the later levels are not as good and it gets a little samey towards the end, could also use more secrets.

r9ncmk.jpg

:3/5:
 
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