Add On FAQs

2.1 Where to get add ons
2.2 How to use add-ons
2.2.1 How to use BSPs
2.2.2 How to use QuakeC Mods
2.2.3 How to use PAKs and other add-ons


2.1 Where to get add-ons

Quake not enough for you? Can you kill Shub with your eyes shut? Can you shut down The Big Gun in your sleep? Then you'll be wanting to download add-ons. These can include new levels, weapons, monsters, graphics, sounds, special effects, or any combination of the above. So where do you get them?

Well, a good place to start is right here in the Gestalt666 Resource. Check out the Quake World o' Hurtz which features Quake and Quake II Top Tens and Levels of the Week.

If you just can't get enough Quake, then you'll eventually want to trawl through the hundreds of Quake levels on ftp.cdrom.com and its mirror sites. Check out my Quake HotLinks list for your nearest FTP site... Look in the levels directory for Quake levels, and the quake2/levels directory for Quake II levels.


2.2 How to use add-ons

Quake add-ons come in several different flavours, and can be difficult to use. The easiest way around this is to use a front-end launcher. The best one I've found is QRun 32, which requires Win '95 to run, but will load either WinQuake or DOS Quake (or QuakeWorld, or GLQuake, or VQuake...)

As well as all kinds of add-ons (apart from uncompiled QuakeC and MAPs), it will also deal with multiplayer options, memory settings, sound settings and more. All you need to do is to put a PAK file or mixed files (containing BSPs, WAVs, MDLs, SPRs, progs.dat etc) into a subdirectory of your Quake directory, or a lone BSP into quake/id1/maps.

There are no good frontends available for Quake II yet.


2.2.1 How to use BSPs

To use an add-on level for Quake, you need to put it in a subdirectory of your Quake directory, called id1\maps. For example, if your copy of Quake is in a directory called c:\quake, you will need to put all your add-on levels in a directory called c:\quake\id1\maps

To use an add-on level for Quake II, put them in a baseq2\maps subdirectory.

Once you have done this, just load up Quake/Quake II as normal. Once the game has loaded, activate the command console using the tilda (~) key, and use the command MAP LEVEL where LEVEL is the name of the BSP file you want to play. DO NOT include .bsp in the level name...


2.2.2 How to use QuakeC Mods

QuakeC Mods affect the way that the player, monsters, weapons, or just about anything else, behaves in Quake. You can get them from the QuakeC directory at ftp.cdrom.com.

Often QuakeC Mods come fully compiled. If there is a prog.dat file in the ZIP, then your QuakeC Mod has been pre-compiled by the thoughtful programmer... In this case, see section 2.5, below...

However, if all you have is a bunch of .qc files and possibly a prog.src file, then you will need to compile the code yourself... To do this -

  1. Download a QuakeC compiler. My favourite is the Complete QuakeC v1.06 package.
  2. Copy the .qc files that come with it into the same directory as the .qc files from the add on you have downloaded. DO NOT overwrite files that already exist...
  3. Run QCCDOS.
  4. This will create a progs.dat file. Put it in a subdirectory of your Quake directory with any other files (MDLs, sounds etc) that came with it, making sure you unzipped the ZIP file using the -d option so that the files all ended up in the right subdirectories...
  5. You can now run the patch using the command line
    QUAKE -GAME SPLODGE
    where SPLODGE is the name of the subdirectory that the files are in...

If you have any problems, mail me and I'll try and help you out...


2.2.3 How to use PAKs and other add ons

Some add ons for Quake include more than a BSP file - they can include new monsters, new weapons, new sounds, new ambient effects, new just-about-anything in fact. To use these levels you must unpack the ZIP file containing the level into a seperate subdirectory of your Quake directory. For example, c:\quake\add-on

This type of add-on can come either as a collection of loose files (in which case you will need to remember to use the '-d' option with pkunzip when you unpack the file to let the ZIP file set up subdirectories within c:\quake\add-on) or as a single .PAK file.

Whatever, once the files are all in place, load up Quake using the command QUAKE -GAME ADD-ON (where ADD-ON is the name of the subdirectory you have put the add-on in). Then start a new game from inside of Quake and the add-on files should work... If the add-on includes new levels, then you will need to type -

QUAKE -GAME ADD-ON +MAP ADD-ON

Quake II PAKs and DLLs must also be put in a subdirectory of your Quake directory, but you use the command line QUAKE2 +SET GAME ADD-ON, where ADD-ON is the name of the subdirectory...


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