+----------------------------------------+ | Q3Test | | The Official Quake 3: Arena TEST | | Linux version | | Revision 1.02 | | Released Apr 28, 1999 | | Copyright (C) 1999 id Software, inc. | +----------------------------------------+ | Documentation: Paul Jaquays | | Dave Kirsch | +----------------------------------------+ Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Bug Reporting 3. Installing Q3Test 4. Running Q3Test. Operating Instructions 6. Status Readouts 7. Player Actions 8. The Arena Environment 9. The Game Console 10. Problem Icons 11. Known Issues 12. Epilepsy Warning ================== == Section 1. == == INTRODUCTION == ================== This is the Linux version of the test. The Win32 versions will be released separately at a later date. Before proceeding onward, please read the README.EULA file. This is the End User License Agreement. It's the agreement between you and id regarding this test. Read it. Understand that the acts of loading or running the software, or placing it on your computer hard drive, RAM, or other storage, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of the End User License Agreement. So it's best to know what you are agreeing to. +----------------+ | THIS IS A TEST | +----------------+ We want to set the record straight from the outset. This is neither a demo nor an ALPHA version of the final game and should not be expected to behave as such. Q3Test is a test of Quake3: Arena's network technology and graphics compatibility. While many of the game features that you will see in this test are in a highly polished state, do not confuse this with being anything other than what it is intended to be: a test. By running this test openly on the Internet and on a multitude of local networks, we hope to expose problems that could not otherwise be discovered on the limited number of in-house systems and computer. That's why we need your assistance for this test. Furthermore, it is anticipated that there may be revisions and additions made to the test that will make it incompatible with earlier versions. +---------------------+ | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS | +---------------------+ There is no software-only version of the game. If your computer is not hardware accelerated with a game compatible graphics card, you will NOT be able to run Q3Test. Currently, 3DFX based cards are the only tested compatible cards. If your computer does not meet the minimum requirements, you are unlikely to be able to run a satisfactory game experience. A glibc compatible Linux installation is required. An easy to determine if you have glibc support is to type this: ls -l /lib/libc* If you get a report of libc6 (you may also have libc5), you have a glibc based system. The Linux version requires a supported hardware 3D acceleration card. The following are currently supported: o 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics based cards o 3Dfx Voodoo2 based cards Other cards of similar make and model may work, but are not supported. Other X11 OpenGL libraries may work with a supported hardware accelerator, but have not been extensively tested. Performance on untested OpenGL configurations may not produce acceptable game speed. For 3Dfx based products, Linux Q3Test is distributed with a version of Mesa 3-D specifically compiled for Voodoo support. You must have 3Dfx Linux Glide drivers installed however. These drivers are available from: http://glide.xxedgexx.com/3DfxRPMS.html Make sure that you download and install the glibc versions of the drivers (found at the bottom of the page). Mirrors for this site are can be found at: http://glide.mirrors.sonic.net http://glide.samiam.org Please follow the installation instructions presented there for adding the correct drivers for your 3D-acceleration card. Note that there are two ways to install the 3DFX drivers-one with support for a /dev/3dfx device that does not require root permissions in order to use the card. If you choose to not use the /dev/3dfx method, you will have to run Q3Test as the root user. NOTE: Linux Q3Test will try to load "libGL.so" before using 3Dfx drivers. This can cause problems if you have a software or third party OpenGL driver installed. You can specifically target the included 3Dfx based Mesa driver by using the following command line: ./linuxquake3 +set r_glDriver libMesaVoodooGL.so.3.1 For 3DFX users, you may disable the vertical sync refresh. This can improve proformance at the cost of some visual tearing of the image. Entering the following command into your shell before running Q3Test will turn off the vertical sync: export FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0 Then run Linux Q3Test from the same command line normally. +-----------+ | X11 Setup | +-----------+ Linux Q3Test requires X11 to run. There is no console-based version as in previous id products such as GLQuake and Quake2. XFree86 version 3.2 or later is required. There are two ways that mouse input is handled under XFree86: o By default, Q3Test will attempt to use DGA mouse handling. DGA support features direct reading of the mouse motion and provides more accurate control while playing the game. By default this support is enabled, but can be disabled by adding "+set in_dgamouse 0" to the command line at startup. o The non-DGA method of mouse input uses pointer grabbing and warps the pointer to the middle of the window on each mouse update. On systems with a slow frame rate and a lot of mouse user input, the motion can get "clipped" to the window boundaries. This method of input is more compatible however. Q3Test uses the XFree86 VidModeExtension facilities if available to provide fullscreen play. This does not apply to 3Dfx passthrough based cards, since the passthrough cable takes over the video display upon activation anyway. When configuring your X11 server, make sure that you include lower resolution modes such as 640x480 and 800x600. Q3Test will auto-switch to these modes using the VidModeExtension if you select fullscreen from the graphics options menu. If the lower resolution modes are not listed in the XFree86 configuration file, Q3Test will be unable to switch to the desired resolution for fullscreen play. +-------------------------+ | Sound Support and Setup | +-------------------------+ Q3Test uses the /dev/dsp sound device for sound support under Linux. This is the default device provided by the sound drivers included with the Linux kernel. Please note that at the time of this writing, PCI based sound cards such as the SoundBlaster Live and Diamond Monster MX series were not supported. They may be supported in the future. Check http://www.opensound.com/ for support in the future. If you do not run Q3Test as root (recommended), you may need to make sure the permissions for the /dev/dsp device are read and write by the user running Q3Test. The cheap and easy way to make this happen is to do "chmod o+rw /dev/dsp" as root. For the more security conscious, a special sound group could be created and Q3Test could be made setgid to the sound group to access the device. Q3Test uses mmap() to map the sound buffers on /dev/dsp directly in order to provide responsive sound needs. Sound cards must be able to support this feature in order to work. SoundBlaster 16, AWE32 and AWE64 cards are known to work. +----------------------+ | WHAT'S IN THIS TEST? | +----------------------+ We have included two maps with this test version of Quake3: Arena. They are q3test1 and q3test2. q3test1 for 4-8 players on Internet or LAN play Best with 6 players q3test2 for 3-8 players Primarily for LAN play Best with 3 players =================== == Section 2. == == BUG REPORTING == =================== What we would like from our testers are emails with descriptions of problems that are encountered, particularly those involving video or network bugs. Do NOT send reports to individual id employees. All bug reports should go to the following e-mail address: q3feedback@idsoftware.com In your subject line, please describe the system the game is being played on (Mac, Linux, Win32) and the type of problem you are reporting: video, network, sound or game. Example Subject Line: "Mac/video problem" or "Linux/network connection problem." In the body of your letter (no attached files please), briefly list and describe the problems. Detailed descriptions of problems are good, but remember that brevity is best. Please do NOT send screen shots unless they are the ONLY way to show a problem. While we realize that you may have comments and suggestions regarding specific game play features, please refrain from submitting such along with bug reports. Comments on game play can be made on the official Quake 3: Arena message board at: http://www.quake3arena.com ======================== == Section 3. == == INSTALLING Q3TEST == ======================== After you have installed the needed hardware drivers for your 3D acceleration and sound hardware, you need to install the Q3Test package. Q3Test is available as a Red Hat RPM file or as a tar file. To install the RPM file, enter the following when logged in as the root user: rpm -Uvh q3test-1.00-glibc-1.i386.rpm The rpm installs the game and data files in /usr/local/games/q3test. [ Note: If you have not installed (or do not wish to install) the Linux glide drivers, you may get an error message about not having libglide2x.so installed. This can be ignored and installation can be forced by adding the --nodeps option to the rpm command line as follows: rpm --nodeps -Uvh q3test-1.00-glibc-1.i386.rpm ] If you are going to install the tar version, make a directory for installation, untar the file as follows: tar xzvf q3test-1.00-glibc-i386.tar.gz This will untar the files into a q3test subdirectory under the current directory. ==================== == Section 4. == == RUNNING Q3TEST == ==================== It is recommended that you do not run Q3Test using the root account or with root privileges. There are two exceptions to this: o If you are using a 3Dfx based accelerator card and do not install the /dev/3dfx configuration option. (You will have to run as root in order to access the card). o If you do not have access to the /dev/dsp device and do not wish to change the mode of the device so that non-root accounts can access it. You will have to be running under X11 or have the DISPLAY variable pointed to a OpenGL glX capable X Server. By default, Q3Test tries to find the following OpenGL libraries in this order: o libGL.so.1 o libMesaVoodooGL.so.3.1 You can override the library name by entering, "+set r_glDriver " on the command line. This may be needed if you are using a non-standard set up and have a different name for the OpenGL shared library. If everything proceeds successfully, you should have a Q3Test window on your desktop with a menu displayed (3DFX owners will get a full screen view). If you want to use full screen, go to the System Configuration, Graphics Options, Fullscreen, change the value to Yes, and hit enter to apply it. If you intend to connect to the Internet to play Q3Test, make certain that your net connection is open and working first. ============================ == Section 5. == == OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS == ============================ When you start Q3Test, the game does not automatically load a map. Instead it displays the Main Menu screen. At this point (or at any time during the game) you may adjust and customize the video and audio settings on your computer, change details regarding your game character, and if desired, change the default controls to ones more to your liking. At any time during the game, press the Escape key to bring up the Main menu and superimpose it over the game screen. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the menu, and press the Enter key to select a function. Press Escape to return to the main level menu (and set any selected choices). Each Main menu function brings up a list of secondary menu items. If you have problems using the secondary menu selections, please refer to the message banner at the bottom of the screen for technical details. If a menu selection appears in gray, you cannot select or modify it. Choosing some options in the CONTROL CUSTOMIZATION and GRAPHICS OPTIONS menus will disallow other options. This is because they are either unnecessary (as is the case with MOUSE LOOK if you select the FREE LOOK option), or are not supported (as is the case with COLOR DEPTH if you chose the VOODOO OPENGL). +-----------+ | MAIN MENU | +-----------+ The first three Main Menu options, SEARCH FOR LAN GAME, CONNECT TO NETWORK GAME and START NETWORK GAME are only available if the player is not currently connected to an ongoing game. SEARCH FOR LAN GAME: If your computer is on a Local Area Network (LAN), this will show any currently active Q3Test servers on the network, along with the number of players currently in the game and the maximum number of players that can be in that game. Example: idserver q3test1 1/8 This indicates that the server on the LAN called "idserver" is currently playing the map "q3test1" and has one player in it out of the possible 8 that can be in the game at one time. Use the up/down arrow keys to select a server and hit ENTER to command your computer to connect to that game. CONNECT TO NETWORK GAME: SERVER: If your computer is connected to the Internet, you can enter the IP address of a server and hit ENTER to attempt to make a connection to that server. For server id's Q3Test server listings, go to http://www.quake3arena.com or check with your favorite 3D gaming web sites for other servers. RATE: Set the type of network connection you are using. Choices are: "<=28.8K", "33.6K", "56K", "ISDN", and "LAN/cable/xDSL". START NETWORK GAME: To start a network game, whether on a LAN or over the Internet, select this option. The secondary menu screen has the following options: START: Launches the game using the parameters currently set on this menu. MAP: This gives access to the list of maps located in the Quake3/Baseq3/Maps directory/folder. For the purposes of this test, there are only two maps. Use the left and right arrow keys to toggle between the two maps. DEDICATED: This is either "no", "dedicated LAN," or "dedicated Internet." A dedicated server (set to YES) runs the game, but does not display a graphic version of the game on the screen of the computer running the game. The default value for this is no. This means that you are running the server and participating as a player at the same time. TIME LIMIT: entering a non-zero number here sets a time limit (in minutes) for the game duration. If the game has not ended because a frag limit has been set, then it will end when time runs out. FRAG LIMIT: Entering a non-zero number here sets the number of "kills" needed to win the game. If the game has not ended because a time limit has been set, then it will end when one player in the game reaches this number of frags. MAX PLAYERS: This is the total number of players that may be in the game at any one time. HOSTNAME: This is the name of the server. In the LAN example above, the hostname is "idserver." CUSTOMIZE PLAYER: Allows the player to change information about his in-game persona. NAME: This is the player's name as it will appear on-screen during the game. It may be up to 33 characters long. SKIN: Visor is the only model in the test. Two skins (red and blue) are available for the model. Use the left and right arrow keys to select one. EFFECTS COLOR: You can choose an identifying color for your rail gun projectile trails. Use the left and right arrow keys to select a color. HANDICAP: Better players can choose to handicap themselves to balance a match against players of less skill by limiting the maximum amount of health and armor that they can have during the game. Use the left and right arrows to select a value from 25 to 100 points. Certain items and power ups will temporarily raise this value, but will then count down to the preset value. The default is 100. CUSTOMIZE CONTROLS: Allows the player to change the assignment of game controls to other keyboard and mouse buttons. When you visit this menu for the first time, the default assignments for all controls are shown. To change an assignment, use the up/down arrow keys to select a game function. Press ENTER to activate the change process. Press the keyboard key or mouse input that you want to use for that function. Up to two keys/buttons may be assigned to each game function in this manner by repeating the process. If you inadvertently use a key assigned to another function, three question marks ("???") appear next to the function that previously used that key. ALWAYS RUN: setting this to YES causes your player to move faster, but make more noise as he moves. The RUN/WALK key allows the player to switch between fast/noisy and slow/silent movement modes. FREELOOK: If YES, then you may look freely in all directions as if you were moving only your head by moving the mouse around. If this is Set to NO you must bind a key to mouse look. INVERT MOUSE: Selecting YES inverts the up and down view movement directions. MOUSE SPEED: This is set on the menu with a slide control. The faster your mouse speed, the greater the on-screen response to small movements of the mouse. Mouse speed can also be adjusted from the console. Bring the console down and type in "sensitivity". The game will respond by printing "sensitivity" is: "__" (the blank indicating the number value currently assigned to mouse speed) default is "5". Use the up arrow key to display sensitivity on the console again, enter a different number value and hit enter. Higher numbers are more sensitive. Lower numbers are less sensitive. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION: EFFECTS VOLUME: Use the slide control to adjust game sound playback volume to your liking. SOUND QUALITY: Select either Low (16 bit sound running at 11 megahertz) or High (32 bit sound running at 22 megahertz). BRIGHTNESS: Use this slide control to compensate for differences in the way some monitors and video cards draw the game world. Remember that the arenas are supposed to be dark and foreboding places. GRAPHICS OPTIONS: This drops you down into another menu layer. The controls here are designed to help you optimize graphics and or/enhance the game's playability on your system. When you are satisfied with your selections, you must move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to the APPLY option to activate them. Pressing Escape to return to the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION MENU does not activate changes in the graphics settings. Changing anything on this menu will cause the game to restart the video. GRAPHICS MODE: This is a global setting for the display of the game's screen graphics. The settings are HIGH QUALITY, NORMAL, FAST, FASTEST, and CUSTOM. Selecting one of these choices affects most of the other settings on this page. If you make any adjustments to other settings on this page, the graphics mode changes to CUSTOM. DRIVER: Default OpenGL defaults to the libGL.so library. The 3DFX option applies to the included Glide compiled libMesaGL.so.3. VIDEO MODE: This is the screen resolution size. Smaller resolutions can improve performance speed on slower machines. COLOR DEPTH: Determines whether you are using 16-bit textures or 32-bit textures. Default means you run with the color depth currently set for your computer's desktop. FULLSCREEN: A YES selection allows you to choose to run with the test filling the entire screen. A NO selection will run the game in a window. If run in a window, COLOR DEPTH is disabled because you are limited to whatever has been selected for the desktop. LIGHTING: Allows you to chose either a LIGHTMAP or VERTEX lighting. Using the LIGHTMAP is recommended for best appearance. VERTEX lighting may improve game performance, but at a cost to appearance. GEOMETRIC DETAIL: Lets you adjust the number subdivisions used to define curves in the arena on both world geometry and items, weapons and characters. HIGH is the normal setting. LOW greatly reduces curve complexity. SCREEN SIZE: The slide control changes the amount of screen area devoted to display of the game. Reducing screen size can improve performance. TEXTURE DETAIL: This sliding control allows you to adjust the level of detail displayed. Unless you have an extremely fast computer, the normal setting gives the best balance of detail vs. game speed. TEXTURE QUALITY: This determines whether you wish to use 32-bit textures, 16-bit textures, or compressed textures. Many of the game's special effects will appear at their best only when defined by 32-bit textures. OPENGL EXTENSIONS: Allows you to enable or disable OPENGL extensions. DRIVER INFORMATION: Brings up a display of information regarding the drivers currently operating in your machine. It is not interactive. Hit ESC to return to the previous menu. PREFERENCES: Hitting ENTER here will drop you into another menu that allows you to adjust other game features. CROSSHAIR: choose one of four options, none, cross, dot, or angle. MARKS ON WALLS: Enable or Disable weapons scars and blood smears. Disabling this feature may improve performance. DYNAMIC LIGHTS: Enable or Disable lights that move through the world (such as light generated by weapon projectile trails). Disabling this feature may improve performance. LIGHT FLARES: Enable or DISABLE glowing light halos around lights. Disabling this feature may improve performance. IDENTIFY TARGET: Enable or Disable the ability to see the name of your foe when you put your crosshair on him. SKY: Set the sky for either HIGH SPEED or HIGH QUALITY. RESET DEFAULTS: Restore all game settings and controls to their default value by reloading the default configuration. APPLY: You must select this and hit ENTER to lock in your choices. Doing so will restart the game video. SCREENSHOT: Makes a targa file screen shot of what is currently in view on the screen. Look for it in the Screenshot folder within your q3test/demoq3/screenshots folder. LEAVE ARENA: This disconnects you from the arena you are currently playing, but does not quit you out of the game. From here you can connect to other servers or start your own. You can also leave an arena by typing "disconnect" on the command line of the console. QUIT GAME: Returns you to the desktop. ====================== == Section 6. == == STATUS READOUTS == ====================== Your player status is shown as numbers and icons floating in your view at the bottom of the screen. There is an indicator for your ammo (far left) including the type of ammo currently in use, current health (left-center), your character portrait (center), armor (center-right), and Frag Count (far right). The digital timer in the upper right shows the amount of time you have been in this arena. When you have a one-use item in your inventory (such as the personal teleporter), its icon will appear on the right side of your display. When you are fragged, the character portrait and name of the foe who killed you appears in the upper right corner of the display. When you change weapons, icons representing the ammo of the weapons in your inventory will appear above your character portrait. If you have a weapon, but no ammunition for it, the negation symbol will be superimposed over the ammo icon. ===================== == Section 7. == == PLAYER ACTIONS == ===================== The descriptions below are based on the preset default configurations for the game controls. If you have played first person shooting games previously (such as Quake or Quake 2), you may want to reconfigure the controls to match your preferences. +----------+ | ACTIONS | +----------+ WALKING: Use the four arrow keys or the mouse to walk around. To walk steadily forward, hold down the "forward" key (the up arrow or center button on a 3-button mouse). Turn left or right with the left or right arrow keys, or by sliding your mouse in the desired direction. RUNNING: To run, simply hold down the left Shift key to increase your speed. If you prefer to always run during the game, open the Main menu, then the Customize Controls menu, and select Always Run. SHOOTING: Tap the Ctrl key or the left mouse button to fire. Hold the shooting key down to keep firing. LOOKING UP AND DOWN: The letters A and Z allow you to look up and down, respectively. Start walking forward and your line of vision will automatically readjust to the center position. You may also choose to select Free Look under the Controls menu which will allow you to move the mouse around as if it was your head movement. SWIMMING: While underwater, aim yourself in the direction you wish to go and press the forward key to go in that direction. Unfortunately, as in real life, you may lose your bearings while underwater. Use the jump key, (default is the Space Bar), to kick straight up towards the surface. Once on the surface, tread water by holding down the jump key. To get out of the drink, swim toward the shore and you can either jump up onto the land or walk straight out if it is shallow enough. There is always a way out of water, but you may have to submerge even deeper in order to find it. CROUCHING: Press and hold down the C key to duck and move forward to "duck walk." When you release the C key, you will return to an upright position. It is also possible to avoid rockets in this manner. JUMPING: Tap the space bar to jump. You jump farther if you're moving forward at the time. STRAFING: Hold down the ALT key and the left or right arrow key and you will side-step in that particular direction. This is perfect for avoiding incoming weapon attacks. PICKING UP OBJECTS: To pick up items, weapons, and power-ups, simply walk over them. The weapon cross-hair will pulse larger briefly to indicate you have acquired a new weapon or supply. If you are unable to pick something up, it means you already have the maximum amount possible for that object. TALKING: To communicate with other players, press the T key and type in your message. Press Enter when finished and your words will appear at the top of the screen. ATTACKING: Point your weapon at an opponent and press the fire button. Default fire keys are the left mouse and the control key). If a weapon runs out of ammo, it switches to the next available weapon with ammo. If you have no ammo at all, you fight with the gauntlet. +--------+ | DYING: | +--------+ When you die, the weapon you were using (except for the gauntlet and the machine gun), and any active power ups drop where you died. Armor, ammo and one-use items like the teleporter are lost. To respawn into the game, press the fire key. When you re-enter the game you are once again armed with only your starting equipment. =========================== == Section 8. == == THE ARENA ENVIRONMENT == =========================== +-----------------------+ | RAPID TRANSIT DEVICES | +-----------------------+ TELEPORTERS: These devices instantaneously move you to a pre-selected destination. PORTALS: These are devices that generate holes in space through which you can see your ultimate destination and move to it like walking through a doorway. JUMP PADS: Jump pads throw you upwards to land on higher portions of the arena. You have some "air" control over your final landing point. ACCELERATION PADS: Acceleration pads turn you into a human cannon ball, launching you to distant locations in the arena. As with the jump pads, you have some "air" control over your final landing point. +-----------------------+ | ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS | +-----------------------+ LAVA: Walking on lava is not instantly fatal, but even with good armor protection, it can be a relatively quick (and noisy) doom. THE VOID: Falling off into the infinite blackness of the void is a near inescapable death. +--------------+ | TEST ARSENAL | +--------------+ MACHINE GUN: This is your default weapon. It's an instant hit attack and reasonably accurate even at long range. It uses bullets. GAUNTLET: This is either your weapon of last resort when you're out of ammo or a cool tool to humiliate other players. When it hits, it does damage and knocks a foe back. It does not require ammunition, but you have to be in direct contact with a foe and activating (firing) it to cause injury and knockback. SHOTGUN: This uses shells for ammunition. The spread of the shotgun blast makes it deadly in close combat, but not the best choice for long-range attacks. ROCKET LAUNCHER: The rocket launcher delivers heavy fire power to your Target, but travels slower compared to other attacks. Be careful when you use this weapon in close combat. PLASMA GUN: Powered by Energy cells, this rapid-fire weapon delivers deadly gouts of glowing energy quickly and accurately. RAIL GUN: The Rail Gun fires depleted uranium slugs at super high velocities. It hits instantly and can pass through the bodies of multiple opponents. But be warned, it recharges slowly and can be a liability in close combat. Take note of the distinctive trail of atmospheric disturbance caused by the projectile. The color of the rail gun's trail can be changed under the CUSTOMIZE PLAYER menu on the EFFECTS COLOR line. +------------------+ | COMBAT SUPPLIES: | +------------------+ Pick up these helpful items whenever possible. Some items take effect when picked up, others you must activate during play. AMMO: With the exception of the gauntlet, each weapon has a corresponding ammo type. The color of the ammo boxes corresponds with the color of the graphic weapon icons displayed briefly in your heads up display. Each ammo type has a maximum you can carry. ARMOR: There are three armor types: Green armor shards, yellow combat armor and red body armor. Collecting them increases your armor protection. The red armor and the green armor shards can increase your total armor protection above the maximum for short duration. The points "decay" back to the normal maximum value. HEALTH: There are three types of standard health kits: small (green), medium (yellow) and large (red) encased in crystalline shells. The green health can increase your total health value above the maximum. QUAD DAMAGE: The quad temporarily multiplies all your weapon's strengths. MEGA HEALTH: This blue health power up provides a temporary but significant boost to your health, taking it above your maximum level. Like armor, it "decays" back to your maximum possible health value. PERSONAL TELEPORTER: Grab this single-use power up and use it to escape from dangerous situations. Activating it immediately teleports you to one of the arena's spawn spots. ======================= == Section 9. == == THE GAME CONSOLE == ======================= The game console (or just the console) is a pull down window shade that shows recent game information, including the text of conversations and recently executed game commands. The bottom line of the console is the command line. While playing Q3test, you can enter into console mode by pressing the tilde (~) key and exit by pressing it again. The console is where you enter all the commands to change the game state. For example, one console command is "map " which will load a map and start it up. Starting up a map actually starts a local Server and a Client. For the purposes of this test, most of the console commands will be executed to optimize graphics. Pressing the up and down arrows in the console will change to the last command entered. You can backspace over the command and enter new values if you'd like. There is also a command-completion function. Type in the first few letters of a command. By pressing the TAB key, you can have the console automatically finish the name of the command for you. When you are in console mode (or when you have selected to "talk" by typing in words to appear on the screen), a blue "voice balloon" will appear over your head. Common game courtesy is to NOT shoot players who are in this mode. ======================= == Section 10. == == PROBLEM ICONS == ======================= Q3Test has a Problem Icon that you may see on your screen from time to time. When you are disconnected from a Quake Server or the network packet flow is disturbed, you will see a Network Disconnect icon above the spot where your frag count is displayed. If you are not immediately reconnected to the server, you will need to disconnect (leave arena) and attempt to reconnect with the server by either using the menu commands or by typing "connect" in the console command line. ====================== == Section 11. == == KNOWN ISSUES == ====================== Q. My mouse is erratic. My player is constantly looking up or down and I can't seem to move him. A. This happens with two issues. Some versions of XFree86 have a bug in DGA mouse handling that confuses Q3Test. You can try turning off DGA mouse support by entering "+set in_dgamouse 0" on the command line when you start Q3Test. This problem can also occur after a restart of the video system (such as after a graphic setting change). This is because some sort of event occurred to jam up the mouse. Restarting the video system another time and not moving the mouse during the restart should clear it. Q. When I do a video restart (for example, selecting Apply in the Graphics Options menu), Q3Test exits with a Sig11. A. This is a driver related problem. On 3DFX hardware that is using the /dev/3dfx device and you are NOT running as root, it seems that the restart doesn't clear some sort of permission. Running Q3Test as root will fix this problem. Q. Performance is so slow I can't play! The frame rate looks like one frame per second! A. Most of the current drivers for Linux do not support hardware acceleration at any bit depth other than 15 or 16 bit color. Make sure that you specify 16 bit color when you run your X11 Server, such as: startx -- -bpp 16 Q. I was playing Q3Test and suddenly it quit and reported a signal error. A. This is probably a bug. Please report it. ====================== == Section 12. == == EPILEPSY WARNING == ====================== Exposure to some kinds of flashing lights is known to trigger epileptic seizures and/or loss of consciousness in some people. These triggers are all around us, a part of our day to day lives. It is possible that images on television or in some video or computer could trigger these kinds of reactions. They might even affect persons who have no past history of epilipsy or related seizures. If you, or anyone in your family has ever had symptoms that might indicate epilepsy when exposed to flashing lights, please consult your doctor before playing this game. Furthermore, we suggest that parents should monitor the use of all video and computer games by their children. If a player experiences the symptoms described below during play, the session should stop and a doctor should be consulted immediately. Symptoms: Dizziness Blurred Vision Eye or Muscle Twitches Loss of Consciousness Disorientation Any Involuntary Movement or Convulsion