Quake Info Pool - Classic Quake - Startup Commands

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# Quake Startup Commands

## Index

- General Information
- Windows Quake Startup Commands
- OpenGL Quake Startup Commands

## General Information

This page is a copy of the command lists from QuakeWorld.Net.
Some things were added by myself, Maddes, and are marked with *.
You can find the most recent version of this list on Quake Info Pool.

## Windows Quake Startup Commands

|  | -allow360
| Syntax: -allow360 ADVANCED OPTION: Allow listing of 360 pixel wide modes in the video list, these are normally filtered out to make sure the video list doesn't fill up.

|  | -dibonly
| Syntax: -dibonly ADVANCED OPTION: Forces Quake to not use any direct hardware access video modes, use as a last resort if you just can't get Quake's video to work properly.

|  | -dinput

Syntax: -dinput
By default, quake doesn't use DirectInput for mouse input, just the normal windows methods. It's recommended that you use this parameter if it functions correctly for you as it can provide better handling of mouse activity and fast movement.

|  | -heapsize
| Syntax: -heapsize <KBytes> Default: Normally 8-16 megs is allocated based on the amount of physical system RAM. Tells Quake how much memory to allocate. Parameter is in KBytes.

|  | -ip

Syntax: -ip <adress>
If you have a multi-homed network, i.e. more than 1 network device in your system (Dial up adapter AND Ethernet adapter both using an ip address) this will make quake send network packets from the device whose ip is specified.

|  | -noautostretch
| Syntax: -noautostretch ADVANCED OPTION: Don't stretch high resolution modes by pixel doubling.

|  | -nodirectdraw
| Syntax: -nodirectdraw Disallows Quake to use DirectX video support, but allows VESA or DIB only modes, helpful for working around a buggy DirectX driver.

|  | -noforcevga

Syntax: -noforcevga
ADVANCED OPTION: Quake normally will use VGA 0x13 to initialize 320x200 when it starts up, even if VESA or DirectX versions of this mode exist. This helps to ensure that Quake will not crash due to a buggy VESA or DirectX driver, this parameter doesn't force the VGA mode to be used on startup. (in game or .cfg mode switching isn't effected)

|  | -nofulldib
| Syntax: -nofulldib ADVANCED OPTION: Don't use full screen, borderless windows even if there are no VESA or DirectX video modes available.

|  | -nosound
| Syntax: -nosound Disables initializing of the sound system and sound output in Quake.

|  | -notriplebuf
| Syntax: -notriplebuf ADVANCED OPTION: Disallow triple buffering, only double buffering, used as a workaround for rare flicker or driver initialization problems, results in slightly slower performance.

|  | -novbeaf
| Syntax: -novbeaf ADVANCED OPTION: Quake will not use VBE/AF 1.0 or later modes. This may increase your framerate.

|  | -nowindirect
| Syntax: -nowindirect Disallows Quake to use VESA video support in favor or DirectX or DIB modes, helpful for working around a buggy VESA driver.

|  | -primarysound
| Syntax: -primarysound ADVANCED OPTION: Performance tweek, can speed up sound a bit, but causes glitches with many sound systems.

|  | -resetwinpos
| Syntax: -resetwinpos Quake remembers it's last window position when it's started, this will reset that position.

|  | -snoforceformat
| Syntax: -snoforceformat ADVANCED OPTION: Causes Quake to not force the sound hardware into 11KHz, 16Bit mode. Can help if DirectSound fails for no reason, but may hurt output quality.

|  | -startwindowed
| Syntax: -startwindowed ADVANCED OPTION: If for some reason you have problems, or don't wish Quake to start in fullscreen mode, this parameter will have Quake initialize in a windowed mode.

|  | -wavonly
| Syntax: -wavonly ADVANCED OPTION: Disallow Quake to use DirectSound if available, only WAV sound, WAV sound is a bit faster, but suffers latency problems.

## OpenGL Quake Startup Commands

|  | -bbp

Syntax: -bpp <value>
Default: 16
ADVANCED OPTION: Sets the pixel depth mode the video adapter should swich into, note setting it to 24 or 32 won't actually increase the visual quality of the game, ususually just slow it down, but useful for getting certain GL cards to function with GLQuake.

|  | -conwidth / -conheight

Syntax: -conwidth <x> -conheight <y>
Default: 320, 240
This scales the statusbar to the size of the defined resolution (conwidth x conheight).
Do not define them higher than stated in -width / -height.
If the statusbar is to small in 640x480, then try to scale it for 400x300, 512x384 or even 640x480.

|  | -nomtex

Syntax: -nomtex
ADVANCED OPTION: Disables multitextures support.
Multitextures support allows certain hardware to render the world in onepass instead of two. On hardware that supports this, you will get a 60% to 100% increase in frame rate. This extension will be autodetected and used.

|  | -width / -height

Syntax: -width <x> -height <y>
Default: 640, 480
Starts GLQuake with the resolution specified by width and height. Note that you cannot change video modes within GLQuake.
You also need -window for 3dfx Voodoo cards for 512x384 and 320x240 resolutions.

|  | -window
| Syntax: -window Starts GLQuake in window mode. Does not work with the original 3Dfx Voodoo cards, but let's them use unusual screen resolutions such as 512x384 and 320x240.

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