Using mods and total conversions

QuakeDS supports mods and total conversions. However, due to the low amount of free memory available on a stock DS, many of them cannot be run. Remember, QuakeDS has a ~3 megabyte game heap - many TCs (eg Malice) require a 16 meg heap. Be realistic when you're trying to get something to run. However, if you're convinced something should run but it just won't, get in contact with me and I'll try and help you get it running.

 To fully support these large TCs, QuakeDS can use the extra memory provided by some flash cards (eg the Supercard, M3, Opera memory expansion, G6, EZ-flash). More information on this build is provided further down the page...
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To use mods/TCs, you need access to the Quake command line. The command line for QuakeDS is available in a file in the root of your flash card named 'qdsopts.txt'. To handle spaces in filenames etc, each option (of argv) must be separated by a either a space or newline character (both UNIX and MS-DOS newlines are supported).
So for example, to start the Malice TC with no sound, and no networking, qdsopts.txt would look like this:

-game malice -nosound -notcp

Easy huh?
If you make a mistake and it won't start you'll be able to see the processed command line options printed to the subscreen as the game starts.

If you are unable to change your qdsopts.txt file and you want to revert to the default gameplay without using a computer, hold down the left shoulder button during the 'FAT init' step to disable the qdsopts file.

An example of the popular Malice total conversion running on QuakeDS.

Networking

QuakeDS supports infrastructure-mode wifi networking for UDP/IP PC-DS, DS-DS, etc-DS gaming. This means that you need an access point to play.
There is currently support for ad-hoc DS-DS gaming, however it's disabled in this build until it's more robust for general release. Check out net_adhoc_lan.cpp in the source if you're interested.

As the DS networking code takes up a large amount of memory, be aware that you are unlikely to be able to play all standard Quake levels in a co-op match. Use the EXRAM build to play everything properly. Also, the server code in QuakeDS is slow and this will slow down the other client. So if you can, put the server on a computer which has oodles of processing time :-)

To set up wifi play, you need to configure an access point. To do this, fire up a copy of Mario Kart and configure an AP in the first settings slot. You'll have more luck if you manually set IP addresses, rather than let DHCP do it for you. Once you have done this (and have checked that the settings work), fire up the networking build of QDS. Go to the multiplayer menu and select join game. Then go to 'SEARCH FOR LOCAL GAMES' and choose the relavent server! Note that this requires the server to be on the same subnet as you, and UDP broadcast packets need to be supported by your network. If you'd like to manually enter an IP address, use the OSK to enter the address.