Coop is fun on these maps, however they seem not really built with coop in mind. If you die you might need to walk a looong way from the start. And if you happen to forget to take a weapon to the next map, you are pretty much lost. Anyways, it's fun.

I think this is THE best thing Quake has to offer, CZG is a fantastic mapper ! If the game industry was still trying to make class games, (I don't think they are though, judging by all the shit they bring out nowadays ...)they should hire this guy. I think he should be forced to make maps every working hour of his life !;)


The only thing that pisses me off about this pack is that I can't find the last secret in map 2. I've played the pack about 10 times now but I still can't find it. Maybe a section of this website could be about secrets in custom maps, that would be cool !

I agree and love these maps too.

czg is actually working at http://www.starbreeze.com/ ;)
Many mappers ended up the game industry.
metlslime, Speedy, than, Vondur, Willem are some who still (more or less) map for Quake too.

Yeah, secrets guides would be the next great thing. I'm scared how to do it properly. A standard for style and screenshots would be needed otherwise it would look terrible. And of course, people would need to submit some. I once tried doing some guides and it is a lot of work.

You can use QuArK to open the pak0.pak and then peak into the maps.

The four secrets and their approximate location (I think Fitzquake can show your location somehow):

Red Armor: 960 832 1344
Rocket Launcher: 320 448 3136
Rockets: -1728 -1216 3136
Quad: -1216 960 960 (I never found out how to get up there, heh.)

There is a special door opening if you find all secrets. You get a rune there, no idea if there is a deeper meaning.

Hi Spirit,

Thanks for your reply !
Today the dumbest thing happened !
I played it again and actually found it, it was the Armor one, I had to get off an elevator before it got to the ground ! The Quad has to be grenade/rocket jumped, I think. I think the rocket launcher has to be too, when I shoot that floorbutton I can see the secret door but it does not open. So I always toss a grenade and jump over the wall. I don't know if there is another way.

Anyway, thanks for this great website !
It's good to see there are other people who still love this great game, Quake on !

Thanks to czg for the hints:

The Quad is accessable by shooting an irregular floor texture right next to it.

The Rocket Launcher requires some trickery: Shoot the button where you got the rockets, then right before the wall panel encloses the space put a grenade on it. The grenade will trigger the wall panel move in reverse and the small door behind will open for a second.

Even at just three levels, and no big end fight, this is WELL up there in the Quake Hall of Fame. For pure fun, I don't think Quake has (or necessarily even can) get better than this. An absolute, positive, definitive MUST HAVE!!!

The most professional looking Quake maps I've ever seen.
Great gameplay too.
A true classic !

You don't know enough about FPS until you've installed Quake and played this. After which you'll realise you've got a lot to learn.

I get into the first map, but I don't know what to do from there. I found what looks like a portal, but when I go through it I just fall down and is respawned at the top. I use nquake to play this map.

That is because nquake uses ezQuake with is a multiplayer engine. Download Fitzquake instead: http://www.celephais.net/fitzquake/

Ok, thanks, Spirit.

Up to last month I thought I was the only man in the world still playing Quake 1. How wrong I was!
I found this site and was ovewhelmed. The first new level in ten years was this one and I liked it soo much. Thanks to all of you who add to this still great game.

I just completed this for the first time.. wow! What a great pack. The huge scale of the architecture balanced with great layouts, details, and gameplay is really impressive.

Hello good game but now I'm stuck -- can anyone help---I'm doing the (czg07) map and I have gotten both keys and went through both doors --- now i cant find anything else to do, went everywhere... Any suggestions?

Hi margie!

You gave me a reason to replay these fantastic maps. :)

The exit is inside the room you unlocked with the gold key. It is rather easy to miss, I just did that too. Post again if you need more than this vague hint.

Yo, Spirit, I just replayed these fantastic maps, and saw the comments above about dedicating a section to secrets. I've been toying with this idea for about 10 years now, if you'll ever get to it, keep in mind that I'd love to help you out (already have some documents detailing some maps' secrets)

The nightmare skill is hidden below the platform right before the main teleporter (through which you enter the next map). Drop down to the left.

I made a youtube video of it because that is currently a really hip thing to do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyqjknvBFEc

Was a nice playthrough.

Insomnia and Zerstorer, and Warpspasm are my all time favorite map packs for one reason. They fill me with a feeling I can't quite put my finger on. It's like a mixture of apprehension and lethargy in the pit of my stomach. Whether or not it's pleasant is debatable, but it's an effect which adds immeasurably. I call maps packs like those "oppressive", since I can't come up with a better word for it. It's not a bad thing. If anything it makes finishing a map EXTREMELY satisfying, and surviving each fight is at least as much an accomplishment.

Seriously CZG, I love this pack.

Thanks for help to get this secret in Subgud, i have thought it's a bug that this door / wall isn't opening after shooting the sign at the floor. Once i have even put there a granade not knowing it's the issue, but probably i was looking in other direction and haven't seen the opening (it's really shortly!).
Now i still have problem to find how to get the secret in the 3rd map, this shelf with the ogres, i guess there is other way than rocket jump. :-)

I've played dozens (hundreds?) of maps and packs from this site and this has the best start map. Warpspasm is a semi-close second, but these two start maps are miles ahead of any other pack.

I know EXACTLY the feeling Lord is talking about, and I love it too. When a map stops feeling like Quake and starts to feel like an ordeal you're desperate to survive, other packs just seem... lesser. Petty may be a better term.

KEEP IN MIND: A pack dragging on is not the same thing. Nothing feels repetitive, the fights are always fresh and different from the others, and the item balancing is all but perfect. I had fun until I was a whole new level of immersed, and then I continued having fun.

God, I love this pack.

Oh, and if you're looking for secrets or nightmare mode, it usually takes me about ten minutes in a Warpspasm map if you use noclip. If you aren't having any luck finding a secret, just open the console, type the word NOCLIP in and hit enter, and you'll start walking through walls. set a couple of keys to swim up and swim down, as that's the only way to move vertically in noclip. Items that move become transparent when you're inside of a wall. That means monsters and many traps, but more importantly it means doors and buttons as well.

I record dirty walktrough of Insomnia with 100% secrets and kills.

Demos recorded using modified Quake engine, showing outlines of
invisible objects for finding shooting position of first attack,
and some more "improvements". I'm not going to use this engine
for multiplayer or other fraud, only for development of "tactic".

I am now too lazy to clean walktrough and record the demo on an
unmodified engine.

vip-beep.narod.ru

Certified dope ass shit.

I can't believe this is thirteen years old!

I've played a lot of awesome Quake maps in my time, but this remains the best of them all.

I can't believe this is thirteen years old!

I've played a lot of awesome Quake maps in my time, but this remains the best of them all.

Just replayed this for the first time in a few years, expecting it to look dated by now ... but it doesn't, really. It's still impressive and just as much fun as I remember it being back when I first played it.

An absolute classic.

Complete timeless classic, and for good reason. If you play Quake you have to play Insomnia. Nuff said.

Cool map, not really a big fan of this style of super open maps but it's still quite playable. Very doomish in a lot of ways.

I wasn't convinced by some of the screenshots, but when I got around to playing this I really kicked myself for procrastinating.

This episode is full of the best kind of Quake map exploration (IMO), cutting through and around hugely vertical fortresses, finding your way to previously glimpsed areas and revisiting familiar areas in new interesting ways. Good monster placement/spawning draws you along and keep you from getting lost. The layout allows for easy movement and sets up great midrange combat with hordes of varied monster groups, and if you're paying attention you can occasionally ambush the bad guys with satisfying results.

Play it!

As for the visuals, czg uses an eclectic mix of textures from all 3 Quake games that somehow works. Lots of natural-rock intrusions and a generally block/chunky style help hold it all together. It may not always screenshot ideally (although the pic here on the Quaddicted page is a good one) but when you're playing it's fun for the eyeballs. One of the best mad texture mashup maps.

I must have played this through ten times now -- it has the most incredible replayability. Even now, when there are plenty of technically better maps out there, this pack may still be the most fun of anything Quake has to offer. It's an amazing combination of beautiful architecture and perfectly judged combats.

On the runes: you get one for entering nightmare mode, then you can collect one on each of the three main levels after finding all the other secrets. So having done this, and holding all four runes ... now what? There seems to be no reward for doing this. I expected for example that I'd get a different, and less depressive, ending message if I had the runes, but no, it's the same.

So is there something else that you can do on the final map if you hold all four runes? Have I missed a mega-secret?

Considering the release date this was an awe-inspiring map. It still is actually and was a blast to play...really felt like I was in some sort of dark trance and had to push underground!

The final map is a bit too open in my opinion, makes most enemies fodder for the heavier guns. However all of the blood falls and demonic imagery more than make up for that. I like the morbid ending as well!

What can you do with all four runes in Insomnia?

I know I've asked this before, but I am asking again in the hope that, when this comment appears on the Quaddicted front-page, it'll catch the eye of someone who knows. I finished the game with all kills on all three levels, all secrets on all three levels, and all four runes. Yet still the ending message was the depressing one where the universe ends. Am I missing something?

The end of the universe is czg's idea of a happy ending.

I did 2 casual runs and I didn't notice there were runes in this.

QuakePone, there is a rune as a meta-secret in each of the three levels -- find all the other secrets and the grate leading to it opens up. The fourth (or, rather, first) rune is in the level-select area, next to the Nightmare entrance.

Great pack, but not all the maps are equally great.

The Second stage was The One that gave me Real Insomnia, because it did not find the right path and tried the "hard way", a painfull path of Fiends, Ogres and Closed Doors. It is a clever oppresive labirinth in which, once unlocked the Silver Key, offers you a wide variety of ways to make your way to the end, find the secrets and complete the 100% killcount if you want. 5/5 and bonus points for the final fight.

The third map, in comparison, is a much more relaxing stage with honest shotgun F2F encounters, and if you planned well, plenty of rockets to deal with the hordes. However, it is the most linear of the three, with little interconnection and no shortcuts among the areas. It is a nice gigantic design with plenty of space to add more secrets and interesting features, so 4/5 is fair enough.

The First map is somehow as clever as the second but a bit boring at the beginning, too many non-interesting Grunts for a long time untill you reach "near" the Silver Key. At that point is when you realize the real size of the map, the intrincate connections between areas and the need for a detailed exploration to gather ammo and secure your way to the end. 4/5 just because I want to quit everytime the game starts in a Base.

Overall thinking is a good experience worth to play and replay in Nightmare mode if you dare. But there is this big problem with the Runes: you can finish the whole game without realizing they even exist and they do nothing at all like giving you an extra secret level or at least a secret portal to a safe passage home. So final rating is B, which is quite good 17 years after this pack was released. I have little doubt that 10 years ago these maps were as good as the best.

YOU DARE IMPLY THAT INSOMNIA IS NOT PERFECT?! I SHOULD SLAY YOU WHERE YOU STAND!!

Another super fun set of maps. Played them on hard. I love these large scale maps like this. I did feel this one started a little slow with some big halls just throwing large amounts of the weakest enemies at me but didn't really provide a challenge ... then it turned things up on me quite a bit. Very fun!

I do seriously need to spend more time looking for secrets though. My secret finding ability, or lack thereof, is shameful

Video of my play through can be found at the following:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/165804991 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipL_4g8FvCc

Slaughtering hordes of low-tier enemies in the first two enemies provides quite the cathartic experience, while the mapset wraps up with an excellently morbid finale featuring rivers of blood and even more deadly baddies waiting at every turn.

On this map I was most surprised skybox. I thought in Quake the sky is always square, so either you'll see it square, or you'll try to lay out distortions in the texture of the sky, losing animation.

I think I agree with czg that in the end, this pack isn't all that great. :(

BPSkibbenheims, how did you get transparent water in Insomnia, did you VIS the maps yourself?

The recently released "Map Jam X: Insomnia", which is based on this episode, made me realise I had not played it yet, which I did a few days ago before diving into the Map Jam.

I did enjoy myself and there are quite a few great ideas, but I'm having trouble understanding why it is so highly regarded. Perhaps it has to do with me taking a break from Quake in the early 2000's and only discovering this pack now after returning to Quake last year ... and certainly, after playing incredible releases like Arcane Dimensions.

Still, judging from the considerable quality of the maps I've seen in Jam X so far, I can only thank CZG for the inspiration that Insomnia gave other mappers. And it was a fun experience as well. It's just that I don't see how it could make the top list of releases I would advise someone to play.

4.5/5

Somehow this classic flew under my radar and was recommended to me on the mapping Discord when I was looking for something new. Playing this renowned mini-episode for the first time (ever) 22 years after its release has been an educating experience. Its relatively non-linear design is years before its time and its gameplay is airtight. Furthermore, it oozes an oppressive atmosphere that fits right in with the classic Quake vibe. Exploration is a prominent emphasis of this collection, and more than once, I was excited to find a path that led me behind a pack of enemies I otherwise would have had to face head-on. Just wonderful and professional design.

My only criticism, and this is tempered by the age of the collection, is that some of the texture selections seem to clash with each other in color/fidelity. This is a just a personal preference and barely impacted an otherwise amazing experience.

Visuals - 4/5 Atmosphere - 5/5 Gameplay - 5/5 Difficulty - 5/5 MittensForKittens' Rating - 4.75/5