FLYING PENGUIN'S
GLQUAKE & QUAKE2 3D FAQ PAGEFLYING PENGUIN'S
GLQUAKE & QUAKE2 3D FAQ PAGE
This FAQ originally started out addressing GLQuake and Monster 3D issues. However since then Quake2 has been released and there are now many new 3Dfx Voodoo-based 3D cards available, as well as cards based on the superior Voodoo2 chipset. There are also 3D cards using other chipsets that are approaching, and sometimes exceeding, the performance of the Voodoo2 chipset. Thus the focus of this FAQ has slowly been changing and will continue to change in the coming months. While the spotlight will predominantly remain on Voodoo and Voodoo2 3D cards, I will also include any information on other cards when I think it's important, or if I get enough e-mail concerning them. Please note that manufacturers don't send me demo cards to play with, so everything I write about here is either from personal experience with cards I or friends have owned (predominantly Voodoo & Voodoo2), or from reliable sources on other 3D chipsets. I refer you to my Other FAQs section for detailed information of chipsets other than Voodoo and Voodoo2.
In the section of this FAQ entitled "Which 3D card should I buy?" I discuss most of the major 3D chipsets and cards available, which ones will run Quake2, GLQuake or VQuake, and my recommendation for the best 3D card for playing GLQuake and Quake2 as well as other 3D games (you mean there's games other than Quake?!).
The GLQuake troubleshooting section will apply to most 3D cards running GLQuake.
The Quake2 troubleshooting section will apply to most 3D cards running Quake 2.
In the section of the FAQ entitled "How do I Install a Voodoo/Voodoo2 3D Card?" I walk you through the procedure for installing a Voodoo or Voodoo2 3D card and for setting up GLQuake and Quake2 to run properly on it. This description will also apply to 3D cards using other chipsets, although I strongly recommend you check my Other FAQs section for detailed installation walkthrus for non 3Dfx hardware.
I'm a long-time computer user (I go back to the Apple II days), technician and programmer and I'm very knowledgeable about computers, yet I still had some hassles getting GLQuake to run properly with my original Diamond Monster 3D graphics card (I've since upgraded to a Creative Voodoo2). Part of the problem is that GLQuake is an unsupported version of Quake that Id Software has used as a test-bed for 3D hardware support (this is why it's so much easier to setup Quake II for 3D - 3D support is built-in). For that reason, some features in GLQuake aren't fully implemented yet or have been set to a disabled default to avoid problems on some systems - some performance settings are not enabled for this reason as well. There's also some funky looking default settings for the lighting effects that don't look very good when playing Capture the Flag, Team Fortress and other mods, but can be switched to work like they do in regular Quake.
Another problem is that in order to guarantee full compatibility among all users, and the the minimum number of customer support problems, Diamond and other 3D card manufacturers have used very conservative settings as the defaults for their 3D cards. This can be changed, though, to provide dramatically faster frame rates.
Don't let all this scare you off, though. Although it's technically an unsupported release, GLQuake is very stable and there are tens of thousands of us playing it every day. Once you switch to GLQuake, you'll never want to go back to drab and slow regular software-rendered Quake again - trust me on this. If you want to see why, go to my Screenshot Comparison page and my Framerate Comparison page.
I decided to put this FAQ together to help out others having problems, or those trying to decide if they want to purchase a 3D card for playing GLQuake and Quake2.
I've also listed links to other useful web sites relating to GLQuake, Quake2 and 3D cards.
Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have a question and I'll do my best to come up with an answer. Please be warned that I in no way represent Id Software, Diamond Multimedia, 3Dfx or any other company. My recommendations and opinions here are my own or gathered from others knowledgeable on this topic. A lot comes from experience setting up GLQuake and Quake2 to run on 3D cards in three of my own systems as well as those of my customers and friends.
My name is Robert Osorio, I live in
Miami, Florida (the "Shoot Me" state), I go by the
name "FlyingPenguin[OFC]" and I play 
almost exclusively on HL Day of
Defeat and Q3 Urban Terror.
I'm 42, and honorary CEO for of the Old Farts Clan (gamers under age 35 need not apply). When I first started posting my age on my web sites, I was amazed by the number of "closet" old-fart Quakers that e-mailed me to tell me that it was so cool that there were others, like themselves, who played the game like addicts, weren't under 19 years old, and were old enough to remember when "Pong" was state-of-the-art computer gaming. The oldest Quaker I've heard from is 55 and he plays around 4 hours a day!
Membership is easy: if you're over 35 and take every opportunity to insult teenage opponents and mock they're "superior" reflexes, you're an OLD FART in good standing.
