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If you have a couple of bucks for shareware and a few minutes of download time on the net, you can learn to frag with style. By Ruffin Bailey Published: 2/9/99 |
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The QuakeWorld mod took Quake to new levels. Today we will learn how to install the client-side Quake modification. |
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First, a quick note to those of you that asked IPX questions. Many older games do not have TCP/IP as a connection
option, but do include IPX. IPX is actually easier to hook up than TCP/IP, all things considered. IPX is not quite as
robust when it comes to networking, but with games that only have IPX, IPX is good enough!
Last time we discussed how to use the classic Quake software to hook up a LAN party through an ethernet hub. But we hardly scratched the surface of the fun you can have with Quake! If you have not played QuakeWorld before, this article is going to introduce you to a whole new gaming world. If you have played QuakeWorld, might as well go back to the xlr8 home page, read some news, and come back next week! Step one in the staging of a LAN party is to learn TCP/IP. Step two to perfecting your Quake LAN is to become familiar with the QuakeWorld modification. QuakeWorld adds a whole new dimension to your game. Perhaps the nicest new feature is called "pushlatency". QuakeWorld takes the general direction a player is going, and uses this information to predict where to draw the marine on your screen. One of the big problems of playing over a network is that some of the packets of information can get delayed or lost on the way from your computer to the server and from the other players' computers to the server and to you. The amount of time it takes for signals to get from you to the server and back is called lag. QuakeWorld's pushlatency helps make this lag transparent; especially if you have a low ping time.
[Note: If you have an iMac with a Voodoo2 card installed, see our new iMac Voodoo2/Quakeworld Fix page on configuring it to work-Mike]
I guess we remember that Quake came out for Windows-style PC's first. Yeah, yeah, I know you did not need to hear that, but deep down we all know that is the truth. So how did Quake make it over to the Mac OS sans OpenGL? Westlake Interactive is how. They did the ports of not only Quake, but also Tomb Raider, Unreal, and Klingon Honor Guard. They are also working on Railroad Tycoon II and Deer Avenger for the Mac as you read this! Check out their news page for more. For today, all that really matters is that they did Quake and know it inside and out. So they were the natural choice to whip up a Mac version of the QuakeWorld mod. Mind you, they do not charge a dime for this mod, and sometimes it is a little behind the PC version, but hopefully this version is a "final" and the delays will be a moot point.. Another item to remember is that though Westlake takes bug reports for QW, they do not have the time to respond to each and every question. If you have to harass someone regarding QW, try me. Hopefully I can help. So take off to their download page, and hit the link Mac QuakeWorld Client 2.3 Beta 1 (this is the current version as of this writing). It is only 1.3 megs, so grab a coke and some pizza and by the time you are back, it will be done. Unstuff the file with Stuffit Expander if your browser did not do that for you. You ought to have 'Expander on your Mac, but if you do not, just follow the above link. Now for the "tough" part. Take the contents of the folder, and drop them into your Quake directory. Things should look a little like this: 
Now, if you want to play a network QuakeWorld game, click on the fancy Quake symbol with the world in the middle. You will probably find yourself clicking on these more than classic Quake from now on. ;^) You are now just about ready to play. When you set up a LAN through an ethernet hub, you know who is hosting a game. If you want to play QuakeWorld online, you are going to have quite a time figuring out which servers on the net are hosting QuakeWorld games. That is where QuakeFinder comes in! It was in your QuakeWorld download. Might as well fire it up. (Look for it in the QuakeWorld finder. QuakeFinder's folder is pictured in the image above.) If you do not already have a connection to your ISP, you will have to start one up. Then double click "Standard Games". You will be able to play these games almost immediately. In the above image, you will see a folder/directory called "qw". QuakeWorld will create this folder automatically once you have joined a game. This folder fills up with maps, skins (the pictures that customize your marine; we will discuss them in the coming weeks), and other fancy smancy do-dads that QuakeWorld adds to Quake. These Standard Games use the maps that came with Quake, and are a great way to get started quickly. When you play on servers with maps that you do not already have, QuakeWorld will download them for you automatically, but boy! that takes a while. So for now, stick to Standard Games. Now we need to update QuakeFinder's information. Hit  and "t" and QuakeFinder
will start pinging known QuakeWorld servers. There are two important columns for you to view: Resp (your ping time in
milliseconds), and the Players column.
Simply put, the Resp time should be under 340 for you to have a good time playing. If it is higher, you might experience a number of slow-downs as your Mac waits for the info from the QW server. And of course there are two things to see in the Players column. First, make sure there is someone there to play against. It is not much fun to wander around alone. And two, make sure the server is not at its maximum amount of players that it can handle. If it is, you will not be able to join the game! My next tutorial explains the use of skins and maps that are not found in the Standard Games. Further topics include setting up a QuakeWorld server on a LAN yourself, and also using some QuakeWorld mods like Team Fortress and Head Hunters! Until then, practice a little on the Standard Games. And if you see TheDude in a Spawn skin, you might want to take it easy on him. If he gets fragged too often, he might not want to write the next in this series! | ||||||
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