This file is in Unix text format (linefeed only at the ends of lines).
So you might have problems reading it under Messy Dos, Messy Windoze,
Half an OS etc.

I can't be bothered to use the 'official' template. So I won't.

This is my first Quake level. It was made with Quest 1.092. The BEST
editor. But that's what everybody says about the editor they use. So
which IS best? Well Quest has the advantage that it does NOT need
win95. I am NOT a lamer and, like quite a lot of other sensible
people, do not want to go within 10 miles of win95 (or winnt, or
anything made by m$ after win3.1). Are there any good Linux or OS/2
based editors in the making? (it shouldn't be too difficult to port
win95 editors such as thred to OS/2 with Warp 4's Open32 API)

Use the level in the same way as any other. Copy the BSP file to
<quake dir>/id1/maps. Oops, for all you lusers that's
<quake dir>\id1\maps.

Anyway, this is a deathmatch level, consisting of a large dark pit
with lots of platforms of various shapes and sizes floating in the
air. The bottom of the pit is filled with a very large amount of very
hot and very deadly lava. If you fall off any (or rather, most) of the
ledges, you die. There are various weapons scattered about.

There are 6 deathmatch starts on this level. It is good for 2 players,
4 is quite violent, and I don't reccomend more than 8. I have tested
the level with Reaper Bot 1.06B (the BEST bot), but I haven't played
any real netgames on it yet.

Somewhere there is a wind tunnel, where you will find a rocket
launcher, quad damage, red armour and a ring of shadows. This still
doesn't always work properly. When it does you get all of the items
mentioned above and are shot out of the tunnel onto a platform, a good
distance from the edge. But sometimes you get stuck in the tunnel, or
don't get all of the items, or fall into the lava when you come out of
the tunnel. I suppose that makes it more fun really.

Also, you will find a moving platform which stops (not for very long
though) at 4 places, in the order shown: One of the main platforms,
another one of the main platforms, the entrance to the wind tunnel,
and deep in the lava. Don't be stuck there for the ride down to your
death.

In the lava (the corner near the 1-player start) you will find a
Pentagram of Protection. The problem is that the only way out is the
moving platform mentioned earlier. I will add a teleporter or
something in later versions of the level. If you DO manage to get out
of the lava alive, collect as many backpacks as you can first - they
accumulate at the bottom of the lava quite fast!

I hope you enjoy this level. Apart from some things like making the
lava give off light (Quest was being VERY slow because it draws
wireframe models of entities, and I only have a 486DX4/100) I enjoyed
making it. Look out for more levels (and possibly QuakeC patches) from
me! E-mail me if you like this level.

Both MAP and BSP format files are included. You can make levels based
on this (if you REALLY want to) as long as you mention that I made the
original.

I suppose I might as well propose here an idea which I have had and
which I will post to the Quake groups some time soon. This is the
original message I intend to post to the groups, so it might not fit
in quite right with the rest of this file. Here it is:

--
Subject: Idea for future Quake editors

Currently there are no or few Unix-based Quake editors. I expect
somebody will make a Linux-based editor some time because there's a
version of Quake for Linux, but before anyone rushes to make an
editor, I have an idea which will (hopefully) make the process of
editor-writing easier:

make a library (for use with C) containing functions used to edit
Quake levels. For example, the library could provide variable types
for brushes, vertices, entities etc., and could have commands for
reading and writing MAP files, reading texture wads etc. Basically,
any functions which would be useful in an editor. Then, anyone who
wants to write an editor can just use this library rather than having
to write the functions themselves.

If newer versions of the library are kept backward-compatible, and the
library is dynamically linked with the editors, it should be possible
to upgrade the library without breaking older editors - or even
recompiling them.

I say this library should be written for Unix because otherwise
windoze lusers would think of Visual Basic extensions and stuff
;-). But i'm sure it would be possible to port the library to dos,
win95/nt, os/2 etc.

I'm pretty crap at C programming, and i've never tried to write any
Quake-related programs, so I wouldn't know where to start on
this. Which is why i'm posting this message. But I would be interested
to know if you try to actually write the library.
--

Matthew Stewart-Smith
e-mail: stewarts@luna.co.uk
IRC: NiMBUS or _NiMBUS_ on #quake or #linux (or sometimes #os/2)
(usually EFNET, sometimes Undernet or DALnet)












