A: You can look up a question by category, but that can be tedious. The easiest way to find a relevant question is to use the "Find" feature in your web browser:
Make sure you're on the first page of the FAQ itself:
Bring down the "Edit" menu in your browser and click on "Find" (it may also be called Search). Type in a word relevant to your question. For instance, if you have a question about gamma adjustments type "gamma" (without the quotes). The browser should send you to the first place that word appears in on the page. Click on the "Find again" button to continue searching down the page.
Please keep in mind that this is not a sophisticated search like the one you may be familiar with in a web search engine. All a browser find command will do is look for the matching word in the current web page's text. Try different words and avoid plurals.
A: Because of it's huge size, the entire FAQ is located on six separate web pages:
glfaq0.htm
glfaq1.htm
glfaq2.htm
glfaq3.htm
glfaq4.htm
glfaq5.htm
You can load each of these pages into your browser, one at a time, and save each one to a directory on your hard drive. Make sure you wait until the entire page has loaded! In most browsers you can bring down the "File" menu and select "Save As" or "Save as HTML". Once saved as a file, you can double-click on glfaq.htm in your Explorer window. This will run your browser and load the first page of the FAQ.
To print out a page, bring down the "Files" menu in your browser and click on "Print". Do this for each of the pages.
A: GLQuake is a special 32-bit (Windows 95 or NT 4.0) native-code version of Quake designed to run only on 3D graphics cards that support the OpenGL mini-port for Quake. There is also a version of Quake called VQuake which runs on 3D cards using the Vérité chipset. This FAQ only deals with GLQuake, however.
Please note that GLQuake is not required to run Quake 2. GLQuake is just a different version of Quake - one designed only to run on OpenGL compliant 3D cards only. Games based on the Quake2 engine have built-in support for both 2D and 3D in one program and have nothing to do with GLQuake.
GLQuake was written by Dave 
Kirsch for Id Software. "Zoid" is also the man
responsible for ThreeWave's popular Capture the Flag mod. (Let us
all bow down and kiss his toes....). Dave has adapted many of the
new features of Id's subsequent Quake2 engine into GLQuake
(Quake2 is more heavily optimized for 3D cards, and runs on most
of the popular 3D cards, right out of the box). GLQuake was
basically a test-bed for many of Quake2's 3D hardware features.
The fastest home-quality 3D cards that will run GLQuake are cards based on the 3Dfx Voodoo or Voodoo2 chipset. Voodoo 3D cards are all add-on PCI cards that work with your existing 2D card. Compatibility with your 2D card is not a problem because the only thing the two cards share is the computer monitor.
GLQuake will also run on cards using the Voodoo-Rush chipset. The difference is that Voodoo-Rush cards are all-in-one 2D and 3D cards that allow you to run 3D in a window, while Voodoo cards work with your existing 2D card and can only run 3D in full screen mode.
Click here for a more detailed discussion on 3D cards and recommendations...
A: No. WinQuake is a Windows95 version of Quake that does not support 3D hardware. If you're still playing on the original DOS version of Quake under Win95 right now, I strongly recommend you download WinQuake because it runs much better under Win95 than the DOS version. It even runs Quake in a window! WinQuake requires that you already have the DOS retail or shareware version of Quake installed in your computer.
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* Last updated 12/10/00
Remember, I'm writing this from the perspective of a serious online first person shooter gamer. I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you're a freak like me and predominantly play Quake engine games 3 or 4 hours a day, and occasionally some other 3D game just to give your wrist a break...
There are many decent 3D cards out now, but if you're into SERIOUS competitive gameplay, your choices, in my opinion, are limited to the following:
Also referred to as the Geforce GTS. This chipset is available in cards from a variety of manufacturers, but I personally recommend Asus cards as they have extra cooling on them and generally overclock very well. As of this writing the Geforce2 Ultra was just released which is even faster then the standard Geforce2. Right now this the fastest video card you can buy, PERIOD. However, they are very expensive ($300 US & up as of this writing).
If you're on a tight budget, try a Geforce MX card. This is a budget Geforce chipset that performs nearly as well at low resolutions as a Geforce2, and can be had for around $100 - $140 US).
I personally recommend the Geforce. Drivers are rock solid, and OpenGL compatibility is probably better than any other gaming card.
The V4 is a budget card and frankly I wouldn't even waste my money on a V4 - it's not that much faster than a Voodoo 3. Your money would be better spent on a Geforce MX in my opinion.
The V5 is a real power house, although the Geforce2 Ultra still outperforms it. It's a good card, but I'm not happy with the drivers or 3Dfx's driver support lately. It natively supports 3Dfx's proprietary Glide 3D API, but there are few Glide only games anymore.
The V5 is an expensive card in the same price range as the Geforce2.
ATI RADEON:
I admit to being a little biased about this card. From all reports it's a great card, but I've been into computers for a long time and ATI has always been synonymous with crappy video cards and less than stellar driver support.
However the Radeon seems to be the exception. The card isn't as fast as some people were hoping, but the drivers are still maturing. The Radeon comes in 32 and 64 mb versions.
The Radeon, by all reports, also has extremely good 2D image quality.
A: Voodoo 3D cards support Direct3D games, OpenGL and any game that supports the 3Dfx chipset. There's a lot of them now - the 3Dfx chip seems to be emerging as the 3D standard. In addition to GLQuake, Quake 2, GLHexen 2 there's many more. Almost every single first-person action game to be released in 1998 will support Voodoo 3D cards. Click here for a list of currently supported games...
Areally need a 3D card to play Quake or Quake 2, but it certainly does : Well no, you don't enhance the look and feel of the game. The most important reason, though, is that in most cases Quake and other games that support 3D will run faster on a Voodoo chipset equipped 3D card, like the Monster 3D, than on your standard 2D video card. Click here to see the results of frame-rate comparison tests on different processors running both GLQuake and regular Quake...
In GLQuake the graphics are startlingly beautiful and realistic looking, and the game is rendered in 32,000 colors, not just 256 as in standard Quake. Once you've played GLQuake, standard Quake will look blocky and gritty by comparison and you'll never want to go back. It's like going from an old Atari 2600 to a modern console game machine. Quake 2 looks even more impressive with colored environmental lighting effects which cannot be reproduced on a 2D card. The lighting effects and shadows are stunningly realistic. Screen shots just don't do it full justice, although you can get a look at some beautiful ones by clicking here...
I also have some comparison screenshots taken from the same saved game positions in both standard SVGA Quake and GLQuake so you can see the difference side-by-side. Click here...
As for other games, don't forget that Hexen II, the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever, Daikitana, and many other games will also be using the enhanced Quake or Quake 2 engine and thus will run on a Voodoo-equipped 3D card right out of the box, so will Unreal. Some games are going to support 3D hardware only - it looks like Prey will only run on a 3D card (no SVGA support is planned at this time). 1998 will see a slew of games designed to used either Direct3D or OpenGL - which any Voodoo-equipped 3D card can run.
GLQuake runs using 32,000 colors (as opposed to 256 colors in the standard SVGA version of Quake). This makes very subtle lighting and shading effects possible. In GLQuake the textures are soft and realistic with realistic shadows and lighting. When you get close to a wall, instead of the wall breaking up into large pixels, it goes out of focus, as it would in reality if you put your eyes up close to a wall.
The best way I can describe the quality of the graphics is that it looks a lot like the graphics in the new 3D console games. When my wife first saw GLQuake running, she said it looked like a gloomy version of Toy Story, the computer animated Disney movie. Yes, it really does look that good! If computer stores were smart, they'd set up a computer running GLQuake on a Voodoo 3D card in the front of the store, and they'd probably be unable to keep the damn things in stock. But then again, most computer stores are managed by retards...
A: GLQuake is freely available from Id Software's FTP Sever, or from CDROM.COM's FTP Server. There is also a version of GLQuake for QuakeWorld called GLQuakeWorld for Internet multiplayer action (if you're playing regular Quake over the Internet, you're wasting your time. Use QuakeWorld instead). GLQuakeWorld is included with the latest QuakeWorld Client. You can download the latest QuakeWorld Client from QuakeWorld Central. You must already have the full retail version of Quake installed in your computer to run GLQuakeWorld, although I've been told GLQuake will work with the shareware demo version of Quake if that's all you have (FOOL! Go out and buy the whole game! What are you waiting for, man?).
A: Yes, with almost all of them. You just need to change the shortcut that starts the add-on pack so it runs GLQuake instead of regular Quake. Just replace any instance of QUAKE.EXE with GLQUAKE.EXE. For instance, the command line in my shortcut to run Rogue's Quake Mission Pack #1 looks like this:
C:\QUAKE\GLQUAKE.EXE -game rogue -nojoy +exec glow.cfg
...and for Hipnotic's Quake Mission Pack #2 it looks like this:
C:\QUAKE\GLQUAKE.EXE -game hipnotic -hipnotic -nojoy +exec glow.cfg
The "+exec glow.cfg" is a config file located in my \quake\id1 directory that contains some GLQuake specific console switches (see below) that enables shadows, etc.
I can guarantee that GLQuake works with all the official add-on packs endorsed by Id, and almost all others. It also works with total conversions like Shrak and PainKeep. Shrak has a problem, sometimes, where the weapon bitmaps occasionally get corrupted. If this ever happens to you, just delete all the files in the \QUAKE\ID1\GLQUAKE directory and run the total conversion again. Don't worry, these files will be re-created by GLQuake as needed.
The only thing I couldn't get GLQuake to work with was Aftershock (the retail Add-On, not the total conversion), which is no great loss because Aftershock (the Add-On) sucks. Don't waste your money on it.
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A: The Voodoo and Voodoo2 3D cards are add-on cards and will work with any existing 2D card in your system, even if it's a 2D/3D combo card. If your existing 2D/3D combo card uses the Vérité chipset for the 3D section, you'll be able to run both VQuake and GLQuake when you install the Voodoo 3D card (although I'm willing to bet you'll never run VQuake again).
The Voodoo 3D chipset can only handle 3D graphics and is incapable of displaying 2D. The Voodoo card plugs into an empty PCI slot in your computer. Your monitor plugs into the 3D card, then there's a short jumper that connects the 3D card to your existing 2D card's monitor jack - there are no other connections. If you're a power gamer like me, you've probably already got a hot 2D video card in your computer like a Matrox Millenium. There's no reason to give up that excellent 2D card.
While you're working in Windows, or playing normal 2D games, the 3D card is passive and allows the video signals from your existing card to be sent to the monitor. However, when you run a 3D game, the Voodoo 3D card takes over your computer monitor.
The Voodoo Banshee is a combo 2D/3D card and replaces your existing video card to provide both regular video and 3D accelerated video. Because of this the Banshee is capable of displaying 3D applications in a window.
A: I have personally tested the K6 233 MMX processor and while I have found it to run GLQuake and Quake 2 well, although not as well as an equivalent Intel processor.
The K6 is a great processor for the price, but it unfortunately suffers from a slow floating-point math processor. This has no affect on 99% of the games and applications you may use which predominantly make use of integer math operations. As a matter of fact, I found it blindly fast running Nuke Dukem 3D, Outlaws, Blood and Shadow Warrior. I could comfortably run them all in 800 x 600 resolution with excellent frame rates, while my aging Pentium 133 system can only handle a resolution of 640 x 480 in these games.
Quake, because of it's true 3D environment, however, uses many floating-point math calculations. Using WinQuake and the almost standard TIMEDEMO DEMO2 test to check the frame rate, the K6 233 MMX produced a result of 18.5 fps, compared to 14.3 for a similarly equipped P-133 computer. Hardly what you'd expect out of a processor that was 75% faster. The performance was still good, however, and I could comfortably play WinQuake at 512 x 384 resolution with no problems. 640 x 480 was possible, but felt a little laggy (to be fair, 640 x 480 feels just as laggy on my P-133).
The K6 does do a respectable job of running GLQuake on a Voodoo 3D card (shows you how much work the Voodoo's processor off-loads from the computer's main processor). People have been reporting framerates starting around 30 fps for the K6 200, which is pretty good. I managed to get 44 fps out of my K6 233, which compares favorably with a Pentium II 266 at 55 fps.
The AMD K6-2 is another animal entirely. It includes a set of optimized 3D instructions called 3DNow! (similar to Intel's MMX instruction set) that allows a tremendous performance increase when utilized. These instructions must be used by the application (ideally) or in your 3D card's driver. They will also be supported by DirectX6 natively, but will only benefit games written to use DX6.
How well does it work? AMD publicly released a driver patch for Quake2 which allows the game to be fully optimized for 3DNow! and a K6-2 300 with a Voodoo2 will actually OUTPERFORM an Intel P2-300 using Voodoo2! So far, Quake2 is the only game fully optimized for 3DNow! Unreal has some 3DNow! optimization, but it's minimal. Time will tell how well the gaming community will support this new CPU.
BOTTOM LINE: If all you care about is playing Quake2, then the AMD K6-2 teamed up with a Voodoo2 and using the 3DNow! drivers is currently the fastest performance available. K6-2 based systems are generally $100 - $150 cheaper than comparable Intel Pentium2 systems.
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A: All Voodoo 3D cards support Glide, OpenGL and can also run applications that require Direct3D. Most games, when they detect multiple video displays capable of running D3D will give you a list of 3D devices to choose from.
Voodoo cards run Direct3D games very well, but there are slightly faster D3D cards available. However, with a Voodoo 3D card you get the best of both worlds: excellent OpenGL 3D performance, and good Direct3D performance.
A: A Voodoo 2 card with 12 Mb RAM is selling for less than $150 mail-order as of this writing (10/98). You should be able to purchase one at any computer store.
A: Well, I'd consider the minimum system a Pentium 100. Essentially, if you can run regular Quake in 320 x 400 resolution, or higher right now, you shouldn't have any problem running GLQuake. Don't forget that the 3D card takes a lot of the work load off of your computer's processor. Memory is a big factor, however. Regular Quake won't run on anything less than 16 Mb, and runs a whole lot better with more, while GLQuake seems to require a minimum of 24 Mb. If you're serious about playing Quake, or any bleeding-edge game, you should have at least 32 Mb in your computer - it makes a big difference. Doubling your memory size can make a bigger difference than doubling your processor's speed. Memory's cheap now, so go out and buy some while you can.
If you do add extra memory, make sure to set the heapsize properly in Quake. If you have 24 Mb or better you should add this to the end of your QuakeWorld command line:
-heapsize 20000
For instance, your quake command line might look like this:
glqwcl.exe -nojoy -nocdaudio +gl_flashblend 0 -heapsize 20000
If you have 32 Mb or more, make the heap 28000. This allocates 28 Mb of memory to Quake for heap space. The more the better - the basic rule of thumb is subtract 4000 from your available thousands of bytes of RAM and use that number as the heapsize (44000 if you 48 Mb, etc).
My system is an aging P-133 with 24 Mb and 256K Pipeline cache. I have no problem running regular Quake under Win95 in 512 x 384 resolution, although at 640 x 480 it's a little too sluggish to be playable. Using the following line at the console to run a frame rate test:
timedemo demo2
the best frame rate I can get at 512 x 384 in regular Quake is 13 frames-per-second (fps). Running GLQuake at 512 x 384 I get a silky smooth frame rate of 40 fps - over 3 times faster! Your mileage may vary. Click here to see a Comparison of frame rates in Quake and GLQuake using the TIMEDEMO DEMO2 test...
For your information, Quake's actual frame rate is only about 10-12 fps, although rumor has it that Quake II will have an option to run at 20 fps if your computer can handle it. So why do you need a higher frame rate? Well, you don't, but it can improve game-play dramatically. The amount of processor power required for rendering different scenes, especially in deathmatch (Quake deathmatch is a real processor hog), means that the better your average fps to start with, the smoother everything will run without the annoying occasional lag due to the graphics overload. While I can certainly play Quake just fine at 15 fps, 30 fps feels oh so much better.
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A: In order to play GLQuake or Quake 2 via modem, you need to setup a Dial-Up Server on the host computer. They're setup slightly differently because GLQuake uses the IPX network protocol, while Q2 uses TCP/IP. TCP/IP is a lot harder to setup than IPX. Id Software will eventually be releasing an update that will add IPX to Q2.
SETTING UP GLQUAKE FOR MODEM PLAY:
First, you need to make sure you have the latest version of dial-up networking for Win95 (if you have Win98, you already have Dial-up Networking and you can skip this).
Go to Microsoft's web page at:
http://backoffice.microsoft.com/downtrial/moreinfo/win95pptp.asp
Download the v1.2 upgrade for Dialup Networking if you have Win95B (OSR2), or v1.1 if you have the older version of Win95. It will allow you to set up a Dial-up Server.
Making sure the network drivers are installed:
On both computers, you need to make certain that the proper network driver and client components are installed:For GLQuake, you need to make sure that the IPX network protocol is installed. Go to Window's Control Panel, double-click on "Network". Check the list of installed network components and make sure that "IPX/SPX-compatible Protocol -> Dial-Up Adapter" is installed. If not, click on the "Add" button, select "Protocol" and under "Microsoft" select "IPX/SPX-compatible Protocol". You'll probably be asked for the Win95 installation CD, and the computer will reboot when it's done to load the Network driver.
Go back to the installed network components list and check to make sure that "Client for Microsoft Networks" is installed. If not, click on the "Add" button, select "Client" and under "Microsoft" select "Client for Microsoft Networks". Again, you'll probably be asked for the Win95 installation CD, and the computer will reboot when it's done to load the client.
To setup a Dial-Up Server on the Host computer:
Double-click on "My-Computer", double-click on "Dial-Up Networking", bring down the "Connections" menu and select "Dial-Up Server". Under your modem's tab, enable "Allow Caller Access". Click on "Server Type" and make sure that the server type is set to default. Click OK to close this.To setup a Dial-Up Networking connection on the client computer:
Now setup a dialer. Double-click on "My-Computer", double-click on "Dial-Up Networking" and double-click on "Make New Connection". Enter a name (i.e.: Jim's Computer), and the host computer's phone number. Once the icon is created, right click on it and select properties. Select the "Server" tab and in the box labeled "Allowed Network Protocols", place a checkmark next to "IPX/SPX Compatible". Remove any checkmarks from NetBEUI and TCP/IP.That's it. Double-click on the dialer icon you just made to have the client call the host computer. Setup the game for multiplayer as follows:
SETTING UP THE HOST COMPUTER:
One computer needs to be the host server. Go to the Options menu and select "Multiplayer", then "New Game", and then select "IPX". Follow the prompts from here to setup a game.SETTING UP THE CLIENT COMPUTERS:
On the client computer, go the "Options" menu, select "Multiplayer", then "Join" and "IPX".
SETTING UP QUAKE 2 FOR MODEM
PLAY:
Setting up Q2 for modem play is a bit more complicated, and I haven't done it myself. However there's an entire web site dedicated to setting up Quake 2 for modem play. It's VERY detailed and walks you through each step very carefully with pictures. It's called Q2 Modem-to-Modem How To...
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A: You don't need to install the latest version of DirectX unless you purchased some other game that specifically requires it - Quake and Quake2 only require DirectX 3. Quake and Quake2 do not use any of the 3D features of DirectX, only DirectSound.
My rule-of- thumb concerning a new version of DX is to NEVER INSTALL IT UNTIL IT'S NECESSARY. That means I don't recommend installing it until you install a game that specifically requires that version to run properly, and that game's installer offers to install it itself. Unless a game requires it, it will get no benefit from the new DirectX. Moreover, DirectX has a nasty habit of breaking drivers and having compatibility issues in it's initial release. Right after a new DirectX comes out, there's usually all sorts of little problems that pop up. Best to let the retards in Redmond do their beta testing on someone else and delay the installation of DirectX until it's been proven. Remember, once a version of DirectX is installed, you're stuck with it - there's no uninstall. If it's working fine now, don't screw with it.
When you do install a new version of DirectX, download and install ONLY the DirectX core files, not the full version. The full version includes Microsoft "Certified" (latin for "crappy") drivers which DX will use to replace your audio, video and 3D drivers. You should always use the latest driver from the manufacturer, whether or not DX recognizes it as certified (trust me, it will be).
What should you do if you have already installed a new DX and you want to go back to an older version? DX is not designed to be uninstalled, although it can be done. I recommend you try using the new version first and see if it's stable - you'll need to upgrade to it sooner or later anyway. On rare occasions, a DX installation can go wrong or the files can be corrupted. Worse comes to worse, you can try to use the DX Uninstaller which should remove any version of DX up to 6.1. Then you'll need to install the version you want afterwards. PLEASE NOTE: Use the uninstaller at your own risk! Read the instructions carefully!
If you have already installed the latest version and are having problems, it's almost certainly due to a driver compatibility problem. Click here for suggestions on how to solve this...
A: I don't play Team Fortress myself (real men play CTF!) but you can find GLQuake related info in the Team Fortress Mission Control Troubleshooting FAQ located here...
This answer has been moved to this page...
