A: This seems to be a registry problem. I copied this straight from the 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee FAQ:
Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo2 install a registry key that is used by Direct3D to build a list of secondary devices. If you remove a Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo2 card but do not uninstall the drivers this registry key remains. Games will continue to try and use Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo2 but will fail as the hardware is not present. To fix the problem you should un-install your existing Voodoo card as specified by the manufacturer of your board. If no uninstall procedure is documented you can download the following .inf file that will remove the registry key Direct3D looks for.
The delv.inf file will remove the Direct3D registry keys used by Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo2. To use: download the file, using Windows Explorer right mouse button click on the file in the download location and choose "Install".
If you use the delv.inf file you will no longer be able to access Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo2 as a Direct3D device. If you installed the delv.inf file by mistake and need to re-enable the Direct3D key for your Voodoo2 or Voodoo Graphics card follow these steps: Download the restore file for Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo2. Then using Windows Explorer right mouse button click on the file in the download location and choose "Install".
The old Voodoo drivers may also still be in there causing problems. If after trying the above fix you still have problems, click here for instructions on how to remove all your 3D drivers properly, and then re-install the Banshee driver...
A: DUN 1.3 handles MaxMTU differently than 1.2, and this can cause problems on some systems. Go to Network settings in the Windows Control Panel, highlight "Dial-up Adapter", click on "Properties" and select the "Advanced" tab. Make sure that "Enable point-to-point IP" is set to "Yes" and set "IP Packet Size" to small.
Some people have had not luck getting DUN 1.3 to work properly. If necessary you can re-install DUN 1.2 if it ran better for you. You can get DUN 1.2 here...
I would also recommend you check out Crime's How to Get Good Pings Page. Follow his recommendations on setting MaxMTU and RWIN, the COM port, and the modem init string. This can shave 100 ms. off your ping.
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A: A very likely culprit is that the card is not making proper contact with it's PCI slot connector. This is VERY common - 90% of all intermittent problems with 3D cards are caused by this, so please read this carefully:
The card MUST be fully inserted in the PCI slot connector. Many cheap computer cases have soft sheet metal that bends under the motherboard, allowing the cards to loosen up whenever you mess with them. Some cases are so cheap that the cards don't fit properly at all. What happens is that the aluminum mounting bracket on the 3D card (or any PCI card) is preventing the back end of the card from inserting any deeper because the mobo has sunken so low. This is why it's worth it to spend the extra money on a quality case.
Before touching any cards or the motherboard itself, make sure to take static discharge precautions! Static electricity discharged from your body can easily damage computer electronics. Turn the computer off but leave the computer plugged into the wall outlet. The high voltages are all sealed off inside the power supply box so there's no danger to you, and leaving the computer plugged into the outlet keeps the case grounded.
Remove the cover off the computer. Now plant both your feet firmly onto the floor and DON'T MOVE THEM AGAIN UNTIL YOU FINISH. Next, touch any part of the metal chassis of the case of the computer with one finger to discharge any static charge you've built up in your body. Now you can touch the circuit boards without damaging anything AS LONG AS YOU DON'T MOVE YOUR FEET.
Look carefully at the card with a flashlight. If it's not fully inserted or is not sitting level in the PCI connector, you'll have problems. Sometimes a visual inspection won't reveal the problem. Remove the mounting screw from the card's bracket and try to pull the card out from the back end (closest to the bracket) using two fingers and a light tug. IF the card easily pops out of the slot, it was never making good contact. A properly seated card will require a good tug to come out and not slip out easily.
You may be able to push the card fully into the slot like this: Brace the back of the motherboard with one hand (you need to brace the motherboard itself, not the sheet metal it's mounted to) being careful not to prick yourself with the sharp points sticking out of the back of the board. Push the card firmly down into it's slot connector with the other hand. Go ahead and do this to all the cards while you're at it, being careful not allow one card to pop out when you press down on another. This is why you must brace the back of the motherboard with one hand.
If the motherboard is so sunken that this doesn't work, take a pair of pliers and CAREFULLY bend the top of the card's bracket (where it screws into the case) up to allow the card to be fully inserted. The bracket won't look pretty when you're done, and you're going to have to do some creative bending to give you enough clearance and still allow you to screw it down afterwards (you DON'T want to leave it in there without a screw to hold it in place). Be careful that when you screw it down it doesn't pop back up out of the slot again. Also, check all the other cards to make sure they didn't pop out while you were fiddling around.
Be careful not to crack the PC board of the 3D card when bending the bracket. Put tape on the pliers' teeth so you don't mar the metal too much which could void the warranty (most manufacturers are cool about this though).
If this all makes you feel real nervous, take it to a mom & pop neighborhood computer store (DON'T take it to a big store like CompUSA, I guarantee you that they won't fix it and will charge you a fortune for the courtesy) and explain the problem and let them do it for you - maybe they can recommend a better case if you want to solve the problem for once and for all.
If you upgraded from another 3D card. it's possible that the old 3D card drivers are interfering with the new ones. Click here for details on how to remove all your 3D drivers and re-install the new ones properly...
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A: Whenever you change your 3D card drivers (unless you're applying an update patch - always read the instructions that come with the drivers) you should first remove the old drivers to prevent problems. This is especially true if you're switching from the manufacturer's drivers to the reference driver, or if you are upgrading to a new 3D card.
- Run the Window's file search app and search in c:\windows and it's subdirectories for any files ending with the .inf extension. - Delete any .inf files associated with your old video card. The name of the .inf file will usually include the name of the card manufacture or (in the case of reference drivers) the name of the chipset manufacturer. For instance the Voodoo2 reference driver .inf file is: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.VOODOO2.inf
- Go to the Add/Remove Programs wizard in Control Panel and if there is an entry for your video card's drivers and utilities, remove them. DO NOT REBOOT!
- Go to Display Properties, click on the Settings tab, then the Advanced button. Click on the Adapter tab and then the Change button. Change the driver to "Standard VGA" (it's under standard video devices).
- Shut down the computer and install the new video card (on modern ATX mobos make SURE to turn off the power switch on the back of the power supply if there is one, otherwise pull the power plug. ATX mobos always have current running through them, even when the computer is powered down, and you could short something out if you're not careful.
- Reboot the computer and Windows will detect the new card and ask you for the drivers. Make sure you have the driver you want to install (usually the latest driver) already unzipped into a temporary folder and and direct Windows to that folder so it can install the driver. Windows sometimes asks for the path twice, just go ahead and show it the path again.
AVOID BETA OR RELEASE CANDIDATE DRIVERS!
If you change from a manufacturer's V2 driver to the reference driver, you may have problems with the old registry settings - for instance, the old driver's control panel might stay in the display properties even after you've removed the driver. To cure these problems, you need to delete the V2 registry settings - the next time you run the V2 control panel the registry will be restored. Click here for instructions on how to remove all traces of the old drivers from the registry.
A: The autoexec.cfg file can contain initial settings for all game variables in Quake engine games. When you first install Quake, Quake2, Sin, Hexen2, Heretic2 or Half-Life the AUTOEXEC.CFG may be empty or may not exist. If there isn't one already, just make it. You can create or edit the AUTOEXEC.CFG file using any text editor including Windows' Notepad.
In Quake or QuakeWorld the AUTOEXEC.CFG file is located in the \quake\id1 folder,
In Quake2 the AUTOEXEC.CFG file is located in the \quake2\baseq2 folder.
In Half-Life the AUTOEXEC.CFG file is located in the \half-life\valve folder.
In Sin, the AUTOEXEC.CFG file is located in the \sin\base folder.
In Quake3 Arena, the AUTOEXEC.CFG file is located in the \quake3\baseq3 folder.
NOTE: You also need to place a copy of AUTOEXEC.CFG in each mod folder, such as CTF, Lithium, etc. This feature was incorporated to allow custom settings for each mod (this doesn't apply to Quake or QuakeWorld though).
A: Some people report problems with Quakeworld after upgrading to DirectX6 - they have problems staying connected to servers. Zoid has tracked it down to a problem with DirectSound of all things (well, not surprising, since DirectSound is the only DirectX API that QW uses). Anyway, the short term workaround is to add the following command line switch to your QW command line:
-wavonly
For instance:
glqwcl.exe -wavonly
This will force QW not to use DirectSound and use the Windows wav audio device instead. The drawback is that there will be some latency in the sound. Hopefully a real fix will be announced soon.
A: This is a problem with Matrox G200 cards. The G200 sometimes uses more memory than it reports to Windows and it overlaps into the Voodoo2's memory space. Here's a post from Jason I got off VoodooExtreme that explains the problem and known fixes:
"Apparently, the G200 and Voodoo2 have neighboring memory
addresses. This wouldnt be a problem except for that one of
the cards is using more than it says and the addresses are
overlapping, causing crashes and lockups and really slow 2D.
In Win95 you can solve the problem by going to the Device
Manager and changing the Voodoo2's memory range. In
WinNT it's a different story. There is apparently no way of
changing a cards memory address, and I've even spoken with
Matrox. The "tech's" solution was to remove my voodoo2.
Since that'll be a cold day in hell, I've been looking for other
REAL solutions but have yet to come up with any.
There are people talking about this problem all over the news
groups. I've already spoken to Ant over at the MURC and he's
looking into it. So for now, I would suggest to your readers
that if they have a Voodoo2 card to hold out on getting a
G200 untill the bugs are worked out. If they are worked out.
The Matox tech said that a driver release "may possibly" fix it.
Well, possibly it will, but I've lost data to these crashes and
the G200 will **definately** be going back to the store.."
A: Version 3.17 added a feature which prevents you from accidentally switching back to the desktop during a game. To disable this feature, bring down the Quake2 console by pressing the tilde "~" key and type the following:
win_noalttab 0
This setting should stay permanent.
A: Yup, take it back to the store. It seems that PCI modems are not ideal for playing Quake, Q2 and other online games. My opinion is that sound cards and modems should stay on the ISA bus and only video and drive controllers belong on the PCI bus. Eventually we'll be able to move the modem and sound card to the USB bus and this will be a GOOD THING.
A: Try this: place the following commands in your autoexec.cfg file:
set intensity 2.0
set gl_modulate 2.5
The default for these two settings is 1. This will brighten the lighting in the game. You can experiment with these values to your liking. In general, you'll get a better image by turning down your gamma and brightness a bit and then compensating with these two settings. Too high a gamma will wash out the textures or add color distortions.
A: In Quake2, go to the Options menu, and set the Sound Compatibility setting to "Max compatibility". You should also go to the Ensoniq homepage and download the latest beta drivers for Win95/98.
If you're using a 3Dfx Voodoo1 card, you should also add this line to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET SST_FASTPCIRD=0
Voodoo2 owners should use this line:
SET SSTV2_FASTPCIRD=0
This will prevent static caused by the Voodoo card "bus-hogging" the PCI bus.
If you still have problems with pops and static, try reducing the graphics acceleration of your 2D card. Many 2D cards suffer from PCI bus hogging as well. Right click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Performance tab, click on the Graphics button, and move the Hardware Acceleration slider on click to the left.
For more help with the AudioPCI, there's an excellent web site called the Unofficial AudioPCI Support Page that's full of benchmarks, tips, FAQs and other useful information on the AudioPCI card.
I experimented with an AudioPCI card, but I wasn't happy with it. I cured my problems by reducing the 2D Hardware Acceleration, but it bothered me that I was throttling back my nice fast Matrox Millenium II for the benefit of my sound card. Eventually, I re-installed my good old reliable Sound Blaster 16 PnP and never worried about it again. Personally, I think that audio cards don't yet belong on the PCI bus. Ditto for PCI modem cards.
A: No one really
"needs" Win98. Win98 is isn't all that big an upgrade.
If you're presently running Win95B (also called OSR 2) then you
already have 80% of what's in Win98 - most importantly: FAT32
support (FAT32 allows you to partition hard drives larger than 2
Gb). The rest is basically cosmetic. If you're still running the
original version of Win95 (also
called Win95A) then you should consider upgrading to Win98 -
there's been a lot of updates and revisions since then. Win95B
users won't benefit much.
Drivers are not an issue with Win98. This is not a major upgrade like going from Win 3.1 to Win95. All Win95 drivers work under Win98, nothing changed THAT much - under the hood, Win98 really is still basically Win95. I'm aware of no applications that require 98 versus 95, and likely there won't be.
So what's in Win98 that's not in OSR 2? 98 has a slightly spiffier look to it - the menus scroll open instead of popping up (although this can be disabled). The backup program is much improved, the plug-in-play support is supposedly better (although 98 is just as retarded as 95 when it comes to some legacy devices). The biggest difference, which is none-the-less invisible to most users, is that several core DLLs have been optimized to run faster. Over-all, 98 does "feel" a little bit faster than 95 - menus and explorer windows seem to pop up snappier than they used to. Quake2 actually showed a 2 or 3 fps improvement, but that's hardly noticeable. You'll have to decide whether it's worth it to spend 90 bucks for what really amounts to a minor upgrade.
Personally, I don't see enough in there to make it worth it if you already have Win95B installed. If you're running Win95A then you probably should upgrade.
The nice thing is that the upgrade is fairly painless. Win98 is smart enough to upgrade from 95 without any major hassles, usually, and it takes only about 30 - 45 minutes.
One thing I will warn you about is that the Win98 upgrade will replace your sound, video and 3D card drivers with generic ones. You definitely should re-install the latest drivers from the manufacturers after installing Win98.
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A: My experience is that Win98 runs Quake & Quake2 slighty faster than Win95 (mostly due to optimized DLLs) when setup properly. The problem is that when you upgrade from Win95 to Win98, just like when upgrading DirectX, the Win98 upgrade will usually rudely replace your video, sound and 3D card drivers with DirectX compliant drivers, even if your drivers already work fine with DirectX and are newer. Win98 will not notify of this, however. These DirectX compliant drivers are not optimized for performance, and should be replaced with the latest drivers from your 3D card's manufacturer.
Since Win98 replaces many drivers, it's a good idea to re-install your sound, video and 3D card drivers after upgrading to Windows 98. If you have any problems with a device after upgrading to Win98, it's almost certainly due to a driver. Make sure you check the manufacturer's web site and download the lastest drivers.
Remember that despite what Microsoft wants you to think, Win98 is not a radical upgrade from Win95. As a matter of fact, if you're currently running under Win95 OSR 2, you already have 75% of what's in Win98 running on your system right now - the rest is mostly desktop glitz. All Win95 drivers will run properly under Win98.
Another possible problem is triple-buffering
on Voodoo2 cards. I've noticed that, although it doesn't show up
in Timedemo tests, there seems to be some performance loss during
netplay with triple-buffering enabled on low-end systems (non-P2
systems), and it's especially noticeable when running under
Win98. For the fastest performance I recommend disabling both
triple-buffering and VSync in your Voodoo2 card's settings tab in
Windows Display Properties.
A: As of version 2.21, QuakeWorld requires that you use GameSpy version 1.53 or later. If you have an older version of GameSpy, you'll get this error. Download and install the latest version.
A: This is actually a problem with Win95 (Win98 as well) and only happens on some systems in some configurations. It's caused by the fact that the serial and PS/2 mouse input is only refreshed at 40 Hz. USB mice, however, are refreshed at 140 Hz and don't have this problem. NT 4.0 refreshes the PS/2 mouse at 60 Hz so this usually not a problem on NT systems.
In general it's more common for this problem to occur on high-end systems rather than low-end systems because it's due to high framerates - if your average framerate exceeds the refresh rate of your mouse you'll have this problem.
There's some work arounds:
This will help a little, and you should have mouse filtering enabled anyway in Quake engine games for the best mouse feel. Add this to your game's AUTOEXEC.CFG file:
For Quake, QuakeWorld:
m_filter 1
For Quake 2 and KingPin:
set m_filter 1
You may have to turn up the mouse sensitivity a little when using this setting. This will smooth the mouse response which substantially alleviates (but does not cure) the problem.
If you have your framerate cap set too high (over 40 fps) the problem will be worse because your framerate will exceed the refresh rate of the mouse. If you play online multiplayer, and you use a modem to access the Internet, you should be capping your framerate at 40 anyway to prevent lag from bandwidth saturation. Go here for details...
If you're using a PS/2 mouse (round connector) there's a utility called the PS/2 Mouse Rate Adjuster Plus that will increase the refresh rate up to 200 Hz under Win95 or 98 and solve the problem. This doesn't always work on some systems, but it does no permanent harm. If it doesn't work for you, just uninstall it. There's a test utility included that will check your PS/2 port's actual refresh rate. This only works on PS/2 ports - it will not work on PS/2 mice plugged into serial ports with an adapter. Also note that this utility doesn't work with NT 4.0, but since NT refreshes the PS/2 mouse at 60 Hz you'll rarely have a problem with it.
NOTE: Even though this utility will allow you to set the refresh as high as 200 Hz, it's not recommended that you exceed 100 Hz or you may only make matters worse, or the mouse may not work properly in other desktop apps. 80 Hz usually works fine.
If you have a computer with a USB port and you're running Win98, you can replace your existing mouse with a USB mouse. USB mice refresh at 140 Hz and don't suffer from the stutter problem. USB mice generally don't cost any more than regular mice. I use the USB Intellimouse and it's super smooth at the 72 fps I get in Quake2. You'll also find it very precise in the Windows desktop for apps like Photoshop.
NOTE: In order to support USB mice properly, you must have Win98 installed - USB mice are not properly supported under Win95 - not even with the USB Supplement installed.
A: As of the 3/23/98 version of the GLQuake mini-port, triple buffering has been enabled by default and this causes the flickering. Add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.CFG:
gl_triplebuffer 1
In GLQuakeWorld this can be caused by another problem as well. The fix that I found was to go to the QuakeWorld options menu and set "Use old status bar" to off. This gives you a transparent status bar and prevents the flicker.
A: In order to run at 800x600 you must have a Voodoo2 card installed - Voodoo1 cards can't exceed 640x480 in GLQuake. In order to run at 1024x768, you must have TWO Voodoo2 cards installed and linked together in SLI mode.
Use one of the following commands to start GLQuake in either 800x600 or 1024x768:
glquake.exe -width 800 -height 600
glquake.exe -width 1024 -height 768
A: You must have the latest version of the GLQuake mini-port (dated 3/23/98 or later) in order for 1024x768 to work properly in SLI mode. You can download the latest version from my files section.
A: Voodoo and Voodoo2 cards will only work on motherboards that are PCI 2.10 compliant. Some early PCI motherboards don't meet this criteria. How can you tell? Download this little utility from Canopus called PCIVIEW. Unzip it into an empty temporary directory, open a DOS window, go to the directory containing the file and run it. The very first line of information will contain the PCI BIOS version. It must be at least v2.10
A: Yes, if you have a dual SLI Voodoo2 setup and a high-end system. Using 16-bit textures will cost you too much performance for serious deathmatch play on anything less. Most textures in Q2 are 8-bit anyway, but the texture transitions and lighting will look a lot nicer in 16-bit.
The setting for texture color depth is in the Video Options. Set "Use 8-bit textures" to NO if you want to use 16-bit textures, otherwise leave it on YES for 8-bit.
If you have a primo high-end system, and really want to see how pretty Quake2 can look, go to 3 Fingers' & Heron's and download 3 Fingers' Quake2 High-Quality settings. He includes a high visual quality AUTOEXEC.CFG file that enables all of Quake2's visual bells & whistles. Be warned though, this will shave 20 or more fps off your framerate, so yo'd better be running a P2-266 (or better) and dual Voodoo2 cards in SLI mode.
A: No - at least not on any computer yet in existence. SLI mode will not appreciably improve your framerate over using just one Voodoo2 card. All SLI will do for you is allow you to play Quake or Quake2 at 1024x768 resolution, and increase the amount of texture memory and texture processing available which will allow you to run Quake2 using 16-bit textures.
A: There was a change made to Q2 in the version 3.14 release that forces the game to ignore the autoexec.cfg file in the \QUAKE2\BASEQ2 folder whenever a game mod, such as CTF 2 is launched. Instead, Q2 will look for a copy of autoexec.cfg in the mod's directory. This was done to allow different config settings for different mods. You need to copy (Careful! Don't move it, copy it!) the AUTOEXEC,CFG file from the \QUAKE\BASEQ2 folder to the \QUAKE\CTF folder to force Q2 to read it during initialization when playing CTF2.
A: There's just a few basic performance settings for Voodoo 2 cards concerning Quake and Q2. PLEASE NOTE: 3Dfx Voodoo settings placed in your autoexec.bat or custom batch files will have no effect on Voodoo 2 cards. For the Creative Voodoo2 and any other Voodoo2 using the generic 3Dfx drivers, all settings have to be made from the Windows Display Properties which now has a settings tab for the Voodoo 2 card. In this tab you want to place a checkmark on the following items:
"Don't sync buffer swaps to monitor refresh rate for Glide apps."
Gamma and refresh rates can be adjusted from the Display properties as well. Remember that GLQuake and Quake 2 are both Glide applications and not Direct3D. Only changes made to the settings for Glide applications will have any effect in these games.
The readme file for the Creative Voodoo2 also mentions the fact that you can make some adjustments via the system registry. This can be very dangerous for people who do not know what they're doing - you can screw up your Win95 installation very easily by making a mistake in the system registry. Until these adjustments are better documented, or you are familiar with using the Windows registry, I'd avoid playing around in there. All the basic adjustments can be made from the Windows Display Properties excect over-clocking, and I don't recommend over-clocking the Voodoo2 anyway.
A: No. Don't worry about it. During gameplay, Quake 2 NEVER exceeds a framerate of 30 fps and GLQuake never exceeds 15 fps - that's the max fps unless you're running a timedemo. During a timedemo, if your framerate exceeds your monitor's timing, you just see some image tearing. If your fps was ever higher than 30 fps during a game of Quake, it would be unplayable (unless you're on speed). Quake 2 does do some fancy image processing with some animations that can give you an effectively higher framerate for those animations only, but they'll likely never be over 60 fps - and any monitor can handle a refresh of 60 Hz..
You'll actually never need more framerate that this, but a higher framerate equals more available image processing power. The reason we want a higher available framerate is because when a complex scene is rendered (one with lot's of players, rockets, BFG fire, etc), the number of polygons increases dramatically, putting a bigger load on the 3D card. If you have more available framerate (i.e.: more available image processing power) then the 3D card will take up the load with no problem, otherwise the card will start dropping frames if it can't keep up.
A higher refresh just gives you a sharper image with less eyestrain. I use 85 Hz myself. If you have a decent modern monitor, it will almost certainly be able to support a refresh of 75 Hz at 800 x 600, and that's all you need for a flicker-free image.
A: The science of setting up Quake bindings is an arcane art and, unfortunately, there's differences between Quake and Quake 2 - enough to drive you loopy. I'm a mouse player and I use a fairly simple config file - it's setup for both deathmatch and CTF. You're welcome to download it and check it out. It's very well documented.
A very good web site that covers console commands and has example bindings for Quake 2 is Fahrenheit 176.
A: I'm a mouse player myself and I personally think that using the mouse is the best way to play competitively. However, I know several Quake keyboard players who are very, very good. My opinion is that in Quake 2, keyboard players are at a greater disadvantage than in Quake 1. In Q2 players can jump higher and crouch, which forces keyboard players to do the same to hit them. Missiles don't auto-target as they did in Quake1, adding to the challenge.
I highly recommend you learn to play with a mouse. There are two basic methods you can use for mouse play: freelook and mouselook modes. With freelook enabled, moving the mouse forward and back at any time will make your player look up or down. Some people find it very difficult to play in this mode. I never liked it much myself, although I've learned to do it in Jedi Knight because there is no mouselook mode in JK (Grrr...). I play Quake and Q2 using mouselook mode. With freelook disabled, moving the mouse forward and back moves your player forward and back. In order to look up or down, you need to press and hold down the mouselook key, which then makes the mouse act as in freelook mode only while the mouselook key is pressed. This generally feels more natural. I have my mouselook bound to the "V" key. A simple trick I use to let me find the "V" key quickly is that I placed a big drop of super-glue in the center of it and let it dry. This created a substantial bum on the key that I can quickly feel for without looking down in order to be able to tell that my finger is over the proper key.
Usually I run around with my finger on the "V" key looking up occasionally to look for snipers. I do not use lookspring so that if I take my finger off the "V" key, the view does not spring back to center - this makes it much easier to shoot at targets above or below you. Your view will automatically center when you start running, anyway, and I also have a centerview key if I need to look straight ahead quickly - although I rarely use it.
If you're interested, you can download my custom config file. It's fully documented and it's setup for deathmatch and CTF.
A: One of the coolest visual features of GLQuake was the ability to support dynamic object shadows. Quake 2 initially didn't have this, and most of us were very disappointed. However, the shadow effect is now fully supported since the version 3.12 Point Release.
Bring down the console in Q2 by pressing the tilde "~" key, and type the following:
set gl_shadows "1"
Q2 will remember this setting. Now weapons, monsters and other players will cast shadows. Cool!
Please keep in mind that shadows will cost you a lot in framerate - something like 7 - 12 fps. I'd only recommend it on high-end systems.
A: This happens to me sometimes too, and I don't know why. It's not ISP or Winsock related because when it happens, I can still get on Quake 1 servers or access the Internet with my browser. I don't think it's a GameSpy problem either, because when it happens I can't even get onto a server by connecting manually from within the game.
Fortunately this is very rare. The only solution I've found is to exit windows, shut the computer down, and then reboot.
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A: GameSpy version 1.52 does not properly support game mods for Quake 2, so you have to setup a Custom Tab in GameSpy to do this:
- In GameSpy, bring down the "View" menu, click on "Custom tab", select "Add" and name it "Q2 CTF".
- Place a checkmark next to "Run a custom game for servers in this tab"
- Place a checkmark next to "Exec script" and in the box next to it type:
a +set game ctf
- Place a checkmark next to "Use these features when servers in this tab are double-clicked in another tab"
- Make sure there is no checkmark next to "Don't remove items when they fail tab filters"
- Select the "Filtering" tab, click on the "Add" button and setup a filter that says "Server name does contain CTF".
- click OK twice.
That's it. To play a Q2 CTF game, make sure you have the Quake2 master server button pressed on the left-hand side of the window and the Q2 CTF tab pressed along the top.
A: The Voodoo 2 will support resolutions, in GLQuake and Quake 2, of 512x384, 640x480 and 800x600. It will only support 800x600 maximum using z-buffering (which both GLQuake and Quake 2 uses). However, you can install two cards together in one computer in SLI mode. In this configuration, GLQuake and Q2 can run at 1024x768.
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A: There are no AGP versions of the V2 as far as I'm aware of. One manufacturer, Quantum 3D, is made an AGP card that effectively contains two Voodoo2 cards on it, though. It uses only a single AGP slot.
One of the most exciting features of the Voodoo2 chipset is that you can install two PCI Voodoo2 cards together in one computer in what's called Scan-Line Interleave (SLI) mode. Please keep in mind that this requires two free PCI slots.
So what's SLI mode do for you? In SLI mode you can increase the maximum resolution available in most games from 800x600 to 1024x768 at a framerate that should be comparable to 800x600 for a single card. Also, SLI will dramatically improve your framerate at 800x600 as compared to a single card. SLI will also allow you to run Quake engine games using 16-bit textures without any framerate penalty due to texture thrashing. You can do this by going to the Video options and setting "Use 8-bit textures?" to NO (this only applies to Quake2, Sin and Kingpin. Half-Life uses ONLY 16-bit texture mode and Quake3 uses 16 or 32).
SLI mode will not double your frame rate over a single card, as has been claimed some people. There is a fill rate limitation due to the maximum speed of the PCI bus, and SLI can't overcome this.
Using the manufacturer's drivers, you're forced to use two cards of the same brand for SLI. However, there are now modified drivers available that allow you to use mixed-brand V2 cards. More info here.
Something to keep in mind if you decide to go with SLI is that Voodoo2 cards produce a LOT of heat, and two Voodoo2 cards are going to make things VERY hot in your computer case. Make sure you have sufficient cooling. Most ATX-style cases today have provisions for adding an extra fan to the front intake vent, that will blow air right across the card slots, and this would be a good idea for an SLI configuration.
A: I believe Quantum 3D makes one. Keep in mind, however, that there is only one AGP slot on AGP-equipped motherboards. You may prefer to use the AGP slot for your Windows 2D card and use a PCI Voodoo 2 3D card instead - especially considering that SLI mode will only work with PCI versions of the Voodoo 2.
A: Okay, these instructions are specific for installing a Diamond Monster 3D Voodoo card. However these instructions will, for the most part, also apply to all other 3D cards using the 3Dfx Voodoo and Voodoo2 chipsets. The hardware installation is the same for all these cards, and for most other add-on 3D cards as well, although the driver setup will be slightly different and the performance adjustments for the Voodoo 2 are different than for Voodoo cards. I document the different setups for Voodoo and Voodoo 2 at the end of the instructions. I'll also discuss how to setup GLQuake, GLQuakeWorld and Quake 2 to run on a Voodoo or Voodoo 2 card.
To get help with cards using other 3D chipsets, try these sites:
If you're having problems with a 3D card that uses NVIDIA's Riva 128 (STB Velocity 128, Diamond Viper330) or TNT (Canopus Spectra 2500, STB V4400 TNT, Diamond Viper V550) chipsets, you may find more useful information at RivaZone or Riva3D.com
If you're having problems with a 3D card that uses the NEC PCX2 chipset, also known as PowerVR (Matrox M3d and Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx and 5D), you may find more useful information at eXtreme3D
If you're having problems with a 3D card that uses the Intel i740 chipset, you may find more useful information at 740
If you're having problems with a Matrox G200 3D card, you may find more useful information at the Matrox Users Group
There are other 3D card specific FAQs listed here...
All 3D cards have several things in common. You must install a driver for the card, an OpenGL driver for GLQuake an Quake 2 (sometimes you can use the same OpenGL driver for Quake 2, sometimes it's a different one). Voodoo and Voodoo2 cards also require a separate Glide driver.
As far as the games are concerned, you need to install the latest version of GLQuake and/or GLQuakeWorld as well as configure some basic performance tweaks to allow GLQuake to run at it's best framerate.
Quake 2 is pretty much ready to run on most 3D cards right out of the box.
Some cards have other requirements or specific settings you must setup properly. Please read the instructions that came with your 3D card carefully! Also, check the manufacturer's web site for specific instructions concerning GLQuake and Quake 2.
To get started you'll need several things, in this order (please read all instructions carefully before proceeding):
I'm going to describe installing the Diamond Monster 3D here, but all Voodoo cards are essentially the same and installation is almost identical. Please read the instructions that came with your card carefully and use my directions as a guide, making changes only when it comes to installing the drivers and testing the card. If my instructions differ in any way from those that came with your card, follow the manufacturer's instructions.
PLEASE
READ ALL THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS
CAREFULLY
BEFORE INSTALLING THE 3D CARD:
Installation of the Monster 3D (or any other Voodoo card for that matter) is very simple. Turn off the computer but don't unplug it - the high voltage is not accessible when the lid's off anyway and you want to keep the unit grounded to protect the delicate electronics from static discharge.
Plant your feet in one place and don't move them again until you finish installing the card (moving your feet may build up a static charge in your body - static can damage the computer's components or the video card). Before taking the video card out of the plastic anti-static bag, touch the metal case of the computer with your hand to discharge any static charge in your body.
Basically the card goes into any spare PCI slot in your computer (they're the slots with the smaller connector, usually located closer to the power supply - your 2D video card will likely be plugged into one already). PLEASE NOTE: Make certain that the card is seated properly in the connector. The card should be level in the slot connector. If not, you may have to bend up the aluminum mounting bracket with pliers to give you more room to allow it to fully seat. Some motherboards aren't mounted very solidly and installing the 3D card may pop some of the other cards out of their slot sockets - it happens pretty often. It's a good idea to press the back of the motherboard (if it's accessible) up against all the cards to make sure they're all seated properly (be careful not to prick yourself, as the back of the motherboard is usually covered with a lot of sharp points). Check all the other PCI cards in particular, and make sure that they're still seated properly.
Connect your monitor's video cable to the matching jack on the Monster 3D card, and connect the small jumper cable that came with the card between it and your 2D video card's monitor jack.
Turn the computer back on. If the computer starts repeatedly beeping and booping at you through the PC speaker in the case as soon as you turn it on, and the screen stays blank, don't panic. What probably happened is that the 2D card popped slightly out of it's socket when you inserted the 3D card and now the computer can't detect the 2D card. Turn the power off and check all the PCI cards again to make sure that they're properly seated.
When Win95 boots up the first time after installing the 3D card, it should automatically detect the Voodoo card when it starts up, and it will prompt you for the driver disk or CD. If it doesn't automatically detect the Voodoo card, then the card is not seated properly. Don't attempt to install the driver manually. Windows must auto-detect the Voodoo card in order for the drivers to be properly installed. Shut down Windows, turn the computer off and check the card. Trust me, if Windows doesn't detect the card, it's not fully seated in the slot connector - even if it looks like it is. You may have to play around with it to make it sit properly in the connector. When it is seated properly, Windows will detect it.
If you have Win95A, when you are prompted for the driver, press the "Have Disk" button and insert the the floppy or CD with your 3D card's drivers on it in your floppy drive and hit OK. If you have Win95B (OSR-2) or Win98, it'll ask that you insert the floppy or CD containing the drivers and it will try to find them. If it can't find them, you'll have to click on the "Browse" button and select the appropriate path.
NOTE: If you are installing updated drivers obtained from the manufacturer's web site, it's important that you read any instructions that came with them first, before attempting to install the 3D card. Some updates require that you install the drivers that came with the card first, before installing the update patch. Almost all update drivers that you can download are in Zip archives and require you to unzip them into an empty temporary folder first, before installing the card.
If, during the driver installation process, you get asked for a "Monster Direct 3D driver disk" or the "3Dfx Direct 3D Driver", just make sure the path is still pointing to the floppy or CD with your card's drivers on it, and hit OK again.
Once the drivers are installed, the computer should reboot itself. Once rebooted, go to the Windows Display Properties. You can get there by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting "Properties" (it is normal for the screen to go black for a moment when you do this). You should see two new Monster 3D tabs; "Settings" and "Information". Click on the "Monster 3D -Settings" tab and then click on the "Test" button in the upper right corner of the window. You should see a 3D demo of a rotating torus, which indicates that the card is installed properly and the drivers are working fine. If you do not see this demo, something is wrong and you should click here for more help.
NOTE: If you are installing a 3D card other than the Diamond Monster 3D, please read the instructions that came with your card to find out how to run a test demo. Most cards have the facility to run a test demo from the Display Properties panel, or there may be one included on the CD that came with it. Don't use a game to test the 3D card because if it doesn't work, it could be due to a problem with the game and not with the card or drivers.
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS
CAREFULLY:
3DFX VOODOO PERFORMANCE SETTINGS:
We're almost there! Just a few more little things to take care of. There's a few basic performance tweaks for Voodoo 3D cards that will dramatically improve the framerate. These settings are only for 3Dfx Voodoo 3D Cards - they will have no effect on the Voodoo2 or other 3D cards. Place the following in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (remove any existing lines starting with SET SST or SET FX that your 3D card's driver may have already put in there). Start with the default setting of 1.7 for gamma. If, after you first run GLQuake, it looks too dark or bright, change this number accordingly; lower is darker, higher is brighter. Don't go below 1.3 or above 1.7).
SET SST_GRXCLK=50
SET SST_GAMMA=1.7
SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=60
SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=1
SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1
NOTE: You must reboot the computer after making these changes to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so that they can take effect. If you get the error "Out of Environment Space" when you reboot, click here for a fix...
3DFX VOODOO2 PERFORMANCE SETTINGS:
The adjustments for most Voodoo2 cards are all made from the Voodoo2 tab in the Windows Display Properties window. Consult with your card's manual for specifics on how to setup the following. For ideal GLQuake and Quake2 performance, you want to disable VSync for Glide apps.
On Voodoo2 cards using the generic 3Dfx drivers, you do the following:
- Go to the Windows Control Panel, double-click on "Display", click on the Voodoo2 tab, then click on the "Advanced" button.
- Place a checkmark next to "Don't sync buffer swaps to monitor refresh rate for Glide". It might also be called "Disable VSync for Glide"
- You need to have the full retail (store bought) version of Quake already installed in your computer first, in order to install GLQuake and/or QuakeWorld. Be nice and don't pirate this game. Most games are crap. Few games are worth half of what you pay for them, and then the publisher screws you for every update or add-on. Many software companies are run by idiots who don't care about you, and have no idea what gamers want in a game.
Id Software is run by gamers like us. Quake was written by gamers like us (albeit very talented at programming as well) who not only understand gaming, but love it and live it. John Carmack and company CARE about us and are dedicated to delivering the finest gaming experience that is technically feasible, given the state of the art. They have continually updated Quake in response to OUR suggestions, and have given us GLQuake and QuakeWorld for FREE, knowing damn well we would all have gladly paid extra for them (and any other game company WOULD have made us pay extra for them)! Incredibly, these guys made the game an open programming language so anybody could meddle around in there and improve it and modify it to their heart's content. This has allowed people, like us, to write mods for Quake to mutate it into all sorts of variations that the original programmers never even dreamed of (if you want to try something really far-out, check out the Air-Quake Total Conversion).
All this has made Quake a cultural phenomenon with a close-knit online gaming community that is intimately involved with the game's authors. (If you want to get involved in the Quake gaming community, check out Blue's News or Telefragged). The guys who wrote Quake are game addicts like us. They love the game like we do, and want to continue putting out quality gaming titles. That's hard to do if everyone is STEALING their creative property. Repay them for their creativity. Forty bucks is a cheap price to pay for the thousands of hours of entertainment that playing Quake online will provide you. 'Nuff said...
- You need to download the latest version of GLQuake for solo play. Click here to download version 0.97 of GLQuake. Download the installer file into a temporary directory and run it
- If you wish to play Quake online via the Internet, you should also download the QuakeWorld client pack which also includes the executable for the 3D version of QuakeWorld called GLQuakeWorld. QuakeWorld is a special version of Quake designed exclusively for Internet play. Regular Quake is much too laggy to be playable over the Internet. To download the QW client files including GLQuakeWorld, go to QuakeWorld Central, go to the files section and download the Client software. Download the installer into a temporary directory and run it.
- To run GLQuake, you need to create a shortcut in Win95's File Explorer using the following command line to run GLQuake:
glquake.exe -width 512 -height 384 +gl_playermip 2 +r_shadows 1 +gl_flashblend 0 -window +_windowed_mouse 1 -zone 512
- For GLQuakeWorld, use one of the following two command lines in your browser Q-plug launcher, or in GameSpy's gameplay options to run QuakeWorld:
If you have a 4 Mb Voodoo card such as the Monster 3D, use this command line:
glqwcl.exe -width 512 -height 384 +gl_playermip 3 +r_shadows 1 +gl_flashblend 0 -window +_windowed_mouse 1 -zone 512
If you're using a 6 Mb Voodoo card such as the Canopus Pure3D, or any Voodoo2 card, then you can use this command line:
glqwcl.exe -width 512 -height 384 +gl_playermip 1 +r_shadows 1 +gl_flashblend 0 -window +_windowed_mouse 1 -zone 512
The only difference between these two command lines is the value for gl_playermip. Because of limited texture memory, 4 Mb Voodoo cards suffer from texture thrashing problems during netplay which can dramatically affect the framerate. Setting gl_playermip to 3 reduces the amount of memory used for player skins, which will substantially improve performance in netplay, but will also make the player skins look blurry as a side-effect. Voodoo cards with 6 Mb of memory, and Voodoo2 cards do not suffer from this problem.
- If you are playing on a 4 Mb Voodoo card such as the Diamond Monster 3D, you should also consider replacing your missile and grenade models if you're a serious deathmatch player. 4 Mb Voodoo cards suffer from substantial texture thrashing problems that will slow down the framerate during netplay. Three Fingers' modified models have no smoke or flame trails and this has a dramatic effect during large rocket battles. This helps alleviate the problem during large rocket battles which use many textures for the rocket trails. You won't believe how this will improve Internet games. Click here for more information on this... PLEASE NOTE: If you're using a 6 Mb Voodoo card such as the Canopus Pure3D, or a Voodoo2 card, you won't have to worry about this problem.
- Once you're running GLQuake or GLQuakeWorld for the first time, you should bring down the Quake console (press the tilde "~" key to bring down the console while quake is running) and type this command, followed by the enter key:
_snd_mixahead 0.14
This will prevent sound driver latency. It's a permanent setting - once you've changed it, it'll stay that way.
That's it! These settings will get you up and running with a minimum of fuss and hassles. However, these are very conservative settings to prevent you from having problems. If you're a serious netplayer, you will want to tweak GLQuake to improve the framerate. While a framerate of 20 - 25 fps is perfectly adequate for solo play, nothing less than 30 will cut it for serious netplay. A higher framerate equates to a smoother netgame.
Please be sure to check out the "Performance Tuning" section in this FAQ to find out how to improve the appearance and performance of GLQuake on your system. Make any performance tweaks to your settings one at a time so that if you run into problems, you can easily figure out what went wrong, or better yet, download the easy to use utility, GLQplus instead. Using GLQPlus is a far simpler way to tweak your card for the fastest performance running GLQuake. GLQPlus also makes these changes in a batch file so that these performance settings don't affect other 3Dfx games which may not run properly with the GLQuake tweaks. If you use GLQplus, you won't have to add any lines to your autoexec.bat file either. PLEASE NOTE: GLQPlus 3Dfx performance tweaks will only affect Voodoo cards.
I personally had no major problems getting GLQuake up and running on my system, but if you do, click here for 3Dfx's GLQuake troubleshooting FAQ...
Q2 doesn't require anything special. Unlike Quake, Quake 2 was designed to run on 3D accelerator cards straight out of the box. When you first run Q2:
- Select "Video Options" and select "OpenGL 3Dfx" as the driver.
- Under "Fullscreen" select "NO" and set your resolution to whatever you prefer. For Voodoo cards I'd strongly recommend you use 512x384 unless you have a high-performance system. Voodoo2 cards can go up to 800x600 with little or no performance penalty.
- Set "use 8-bit textures" to YES. Use 16-bit textures ONLY if you have a Voodoo2 and ONLY for solo play, and ONLY if you really have to. Visually it doesn't make much of a difference - most textures in Q2 are 8-bit anyway - but it eats up ALOT of texture RAM and that will slow things down to a crawl during netplay.
- Exit the "Video Options" and go to "Options". Set the sound quality to "LOW". Only use the "High" setting if you're playing solo games on a high-performance system, and never for network games. The high setting will cost you too much performance in netplay.
PLAYING ONLINE:
If you're planning on playing Quake or Quake2 over the Internet, I strongly recommend you download GameSpy from the GameSpy Homepage and install it. GameSpy is an Internet front-end for Quake and Quake2 that searches for servers and makes it very easy to setup and start a network game.
If you're having problems with a specific card, and I don't address it here, click here for a list of card-specific FAQs...
