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

thempermanently 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 inthe 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

thehigher-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 portsensed from the A variable in the BLASTER

environment variable.The DMA is the DMA channel and is confirmed in

hardware if thecard 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