#1 2013-09-12 17:59:01

pat0gen
Guest

Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Hi all.

I've dusted off my copy of Quake 2 today just to discover that every single significant web archive of custom Q2SP levels is gone... Maybe i'm missing something but i can't find for shit a couple of presumably well-known and popular maps by Shaun [Kona] Ross, specifically

Nightmare Orchards (http://www.electricescape.com/etherealh … /index.php),

alk14 (http://www.electricescape.com/etherealh … /index.php) and

Amari Aliquid (http://www.electricescape.com/etherealh … /index.php).

All the existing links are dead, there's no feedback option on the author's website and search gives nothing:/ I'd really appreciate any help. Maybe there's somebody here who could provide working download links or upload an archive with these maps to any file hosting?

#2 2013-09-16 11:55:48

Qwerty
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Hey pat0gen!

Nightmare Orchards and Satyr are awesome maps, with complex architecture and lovely texture work. It would be a shame if a fellow gamer miss the chance to play them, so here you go:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/c7lxy … chards.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/x17ey … alk14).zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/s4yh6 … liquid.zip

Enjoy.



PD: Btw, Spirit, thank you so much for keeping Quake alive in the 21st century. I tip my hat to you, sir.

Cheers from Argentina.

#3 2013-09-17 13:14:57

Tamarisk
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Some great maps there Qwerty. Much appreciated on the downloads!

BTW, if using Windows, I highly recommend Q2PRO as a replacement engine.

http://skuller.net/q2pro/

#4 2013-09-17 23:04:23

pat0gen
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

thanx a lot, Qwerty :)

Tamarisk, i prefer yamagi quake 2 engine nowadays for its out of the box support for official mappacks as well as ogg soundtrack.

http://www.yamagi.org/quake2/

unofficial patch v. 3.24 is another decent choice, ogg sountrack and mission packs are supported too, gamma setup is a bit less flexible than in yamagi

http://www.markshan.com/knightmare/

knightmare engine is also good if you want some slight graphical tweaks like bloom and hires hud.

as for q2pro, it's mostly intended for multiplayer, so maybe it's less compatible with singleplayer content. probably shouldn't matter if one cares only about default quke 2 campaign.

PS. it's interesting how quake 1 singleplayer community has stood the test of time so much better than quake 2 one. i wonder if it's because q2 was quickly overshadowed by more inventive unreal and half-life series... definitely huge props for all the great people who keep this site alive anyway!))

#5 2013-09-18 08:23:12

quakis
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Huge shame there isn't an active site for reliable download mirrors, any that I've found might go 'poof' one day. In fact some I came across already have. :(

I'd love Spirit even more than I already do for this site, if he would host Q2 SP maps here for archival purposes. :p Even a simple one will do to dump the files. Heck, I wouldn't mind helping with uploading some of them from my (incomplete) collection.

Last edited by quakis (2013-09-18 08:24:08)

#6 2013-09-18 09:11:49

Spirit
Administrator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

But Quake 2 is so terrible!

Once we finally move servers I could have a dump for other games' maps. I don't know a safe way though to let people upload though that keeps timestamps intact.

#7 2013-09-25 10:59:40

Tamarisk
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Spirit, Quake 2 is still fun. There has been some really great maps made for it over the years. I have a lot of the better ones archived on flash drives and CD. Every now and then I love playing some Deathmatch online. I suck but it's great lobbing grenades down on people. HA!

#8 2013-11-18 18:15:22

Kusanageek
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

quakis wrote:

Huge shame there isn't an active site for reliable download mirrors, any that I've found might go 'poof' one day. In fact some I came across already have. :(

I'd love Spirit even more than I already do for this site, if he would host Q2 SP maps here for archival purposes. :p Even a simple one will do to dump the files. Heck, I wouldn't mind helping with uploading some of them from my (incomplete) collection.

Hi,

A while back I contacted [Kona] (really cool guy BTW) and he gave me his archived maps. I assume they aren't all there though. The folders are as following:

[Kona]'s Q2 Maps
1998
1999a
1999b
2000
2001-to date

We talked about me putting an archive to download them but I have a lot of money problems and not much time in my hands currently.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h903yx4ebv19oge/7VdYS73RFA

Last edited by Kusanageek (2013-11-18 18:15:41)

#9 2013-11-19 20:36:51

Spirit
Administrator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Thanks, I grabbed those. They are all renamed though so not what I would be after.

#10 2013-11-20 06:28:14

Kusanageek
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Renaming them would be enough? If yes give me a list and then I'll save you the trouble.

#11 2013-12-07 22:19:24

erc
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Spirit, if you ever get to making a Q2 dump, just drop me a line. I think my archive is 99% complete (and unaltered).

#12 2014-02-03 07:21:12

Quaddicted
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Anymore Quake 2 maps or mission archives been found or shared?

#13 2014-02-03 12:28:52

Icantthinkofanickname
Moderator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Quaddicted wrote:

Anymore Quake 2 maps or mission archives been found or shared?

I don't know much about Q2 custom maps (I've only played the original game itself, and that was ages ago), but for what it's worth (and if this is not old news to you): someone called Musashi released a Q2SP unit called Slight Mechanical Destruction late last year. Here is the release thread at Func_Msgboard, including the download link, and if you scroll through the thread, you might find some other worthwhile recommendations:
http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thr … 973&end=25

Hope this helps.

#14 2014-02-07 13:13:02

Krypto
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Greetings folks!

Well at the potential risk of being attributed to an Abandonware site, here is the most comprehensive pack for Q2 I've come across which contains a grand total of 109 SP Mission Packs and 243 Single Levels. As for distinguishing between which maps are recommended and which are mediocre, I recommend reading under the Q2 review section over on 3D Gamers Edge or Ten Four. Their are a number of great levels in this pack which I never had the opportunity to play years ago owing to dead/inactive links on Ten Four, which was the only site which catered towards Quake II reviews at the time.

http://3dsl.game-host.org/shooter/game/7163

Note: You'll have to read the associated instructions on the site in order to gain access to the download archive.

#15 2015-02-18 20:46:58

Cocerello
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

I have links for some websites with lists of maps for Quake2, but nothing that resembles Quaddicted, and most of them aren't classified. Here you have:

http://maps.clanwos.org/maponserver/
http://tastyspleen.net/quake/downloads/maps/individual/
http://www.quake2.com/awoq2/


And don't forget about Quaddicted's own list:

https://www.quaddicted.com/files/idgame … e2/levels/


And thanks to Margaal from Quake2 Cafe, i can post more:

http://home.versatel.nl/djbloot/quake2/
http://j-spot.backshooters.com/maps.html
http://musashi.backshooters.com/q2maps.html
www.mapcore.org/topic/14698-q2-bugdm2-thru-9-re-release-12-years-later/

Sp maps

www.markshan.com/podstrn/sp_anno.htm
www.3dgamersedge.com/spq2revsalph.html
http://tenfourmaps.telefragged.com/php/ … t=1&page=1
Closest to Quaddicted or LvL would be probably the last two links.

Last edited by Cocerello (2015-02-18 21:03:54)

#16 2015-02-19 20:12:23

Spirit
Administrator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

#17 2015-02-19 22:29:34

Cocerello
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

With pleasure, but it will have to wait for a week or so, as i will have to check too all of this before doing that, and some extra websites i found these last days.

By the way, do I add a new section for Quake 2 or just add the part in the ''Quaddicted analogues for other games'' section?

Last edited by Cocerello (2015-02-19 22:34:49)

#18 2015-02-20 10:05:28

Spirit
Administrator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Your choice!

#19 2015-03-27 14:36:36

Cocerello
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Found this also, quite a lot of of a number of maps, but it is missing most of the text files. Looks like it is  Macanah's own list.

http://www.freewill-mnh.com/files/quake … op%20maps/

#20 2015-09-25 09:17:52

Icantthinkofanickname
Moderator

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Thanks for all the links, people in this thread! I was never a big fan of Quake 2 as a game, but for some reason I got curious about Q2 custom SP maps, and some of these are pretty nice! It's also interesting to see what some big names in Q1SP have done for Q2.

Spirit wrote:

But Quake 2 is so terrible!

Having just replayed most of the original game before trying the custom maps, I have to say I (still) mostly agree for several reasons (e.g. I think that Quake 2's slowed down, more "realistic" mechanics are a lot less fun than Quake's, I personally find the very overtly macho/military/army theme incredibly boring/annoying, and I feel that the game takes itself far too seriously), yet I think it's mainly a matter of Q2's stock SP maps -- they all look and play more or less the same (in my opinion).

Quite a few of these custom maps, however, take things out of the stale vaguely industrial-ish/military-ish/base-ish setting and have fun gameplay too. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that even if you hated Quake 2, you might still find some of the custom maps worthwhile. And though it is a completely different game, the fact that the engines are not that different and that a lot of Q1SP mappers mapped for Q2, arguably makes it part of Q1SP history ... right?

Sadly one of the links Cocerello posted above (Ten Four) is already dead, and one of the others (markshan.com) has dead links. Krypto's link is dead too. I'd like to echo what quakis said above -- it's a shame there isn't a reliable Quaddicted equivalent for Q2SP content...

#21 2015-12-01 19:23:39

Mike
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

I'm happy to find this thread and see there are lots of other people still wanting to play these old maps. I'm gonna repeat a question here that I asked at the Q2 Cafe:

You spawn into an outdoor area with a big rock wall opposite a very cool castle or fortress-type structure. After exploring for a while and knocking off some guards on the towers on the fortress, an explosion happens on the rock face and hordes of machine gun guards start spilling out and attacking. Very challenging and COOL map. That's all I can remember, because it was such a unique way of springing a trap on the player. The only other thing I could add is that I remember the "castle" MIGHT have been sort of near-East or India influenced, rather like Iikka Keränen's Quake map architecture. But that's just my memory, it was a really long time ago.  Note: it is not Love Story: Prince of Stroggos.

TIA for any direction!

#22 2023-01-23 00:25:46

inf78
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

Great info in this thread.
I was in a mood to have Quake 2 run after some long years. '1964' seems like some great effort, I will definitely play that one. It's from the same guy who created DOPA right?

Anyway, I agree that Q2 isn't that good as Q1, but that's just an opinon, perhaps based on the general theme, not playability.
Q1 appeals more to many people, maybe also because it has more themes mixed in, while Q2 is just one Strogg scifi-military thing. But if I'm honest, Q2 generally plays better. The movement itself I like a bit more, although the air control is limited. But the way movement is done and the slow changing of weapons also make it feel a bit more immersive.
What I  don't like though, is sometimes a bit of confusion of where to go after some switch or something is activated. The generally similar architecture doesn't help it either. But all in all, it plays well and that's about it. It doesn't have the strong sort of Q1 personality, no, but it's better in other areas and it just depends on who one asks.

I'm playing Ground Zero now and frankly, I start to hate it. Some monster placements, monster combinations in some areas and sometimes more of the Q2 progress confusion mixed in is annoying.  One thing about Ground Zero is sure, those custom enemies in general are plain headache.
Well, but I will try to get over it and try with fresh head in a day or two. :D

#23 2023-01-23 07:30:17

Gila
Member

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

inf78 wrote:

But if I'm honest, Q2 generally plays better. The movement itself I like a bit more, although the air control is limited. But the way movement is done and the slow changing of weapons also make it feel a bit more immersive.

There's just a bit too many weapons and while some of them are nice, a lot of them feel kinda weak. Grenade Launcher is just too slow, Rocket Launcher is alright but rockets are slower. Many enemies have hitscan attacks or fast moving projectiles, and in general it just feels "slower" and different from Q1. Slow changing of weapons might be more "realistic" but instant weapon changes in Q1 just felt better I think.

inf78 wrote:

I'm playing Ground Zero now and frankly, I start to hate it. Some monster placements, monster combinations in some areas and sometimes more of the Q2 progress confusion mixed in is annoying.  One thing about Ground Zero is sure, those custom enemies in general are plain headache.
Well, but I will try to get over it and try with fresh head in a day or two. :D

Ground Zero is just filled with the goddamn turrets that do quite a lot of damage and have a lot of health. They just slow down the gameplay. Without them it would've been a decent mission pack. The Reckoning has a bit of the same problem - from some point you will encounter many laser guards that are placed up high and far away that will chip away your health.

I used to remember Reckoning being much better but overall I think both mission packs for Q2 can be skipped. You don't get much new stuff there anyway, same themes and similar locations. If it's a new enemy, usually it's a reskin of an existing one with highly increased health and/or power shield, which again, bogs the gameplay down. If it's a new weapon, usually it's somewhat inferior variant of a weapon that was in base Q2 game already. The power ups are either too slow, impractical or just inferior to originals again. With that, only the levels can be the saving grace, but they are just OK. Well, at least other music that Sonic Mayhem made for Q2 was released with the mission packs, something nice for those who liked it in the original game.

#24 2023-01-23 21:10:39

inf78
Guest

Re: Quake 2 maps, anybody?

I will try Reckoning tomorrow, Ground Zero I stopped playing, it's just terrible.
It's a mix of frustration, nothing else.

Few things to add to what I wrote before.
That slow firing ETF rifle that has just sound ripped from Q1's nailgun is mostly pointless. Its projectiles have very low chance of hitting anything, unless it's a slow moving target. Really bad combination if it's the only weapon left and one encounters a pack of those idiotic stalkers. Those not only evade most of the shots with their quick jumping on the ceiling, but also manage to fire that annoying laser at player where they also predict the player position according to his movement.
These encounters are simply killing it. And if that's over, than yes, just like you said, those turrets that also predict player movement will finish it with a help of 2 shotgun and 2 machine gun guys who stand far from the player somewhere atop. Hitting those with ETF while trying to evade two turrets that I would have to take care of with the ETF as well? No, thanks.
Jeez, who came up with this nonsense.

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