Func_Msgboard: Quake 2 Help

Posted by hfc2x [181.226.2.178] on 2014/07/21 02:44:20

Hey there, I'm new to this message board, so I don't know if this has been answered before (if so, I apologize).

I've been googling for a couple days now for a realiable way to play Quake 2 on my pc (it's a Dell laptop, with Win 7 x64). I've installed the unofficial 3.24 patch so I can play in 1920x1080 screen resolution, but that happens to cause the obvious issue of the HUD being awfully small.

Of course, I've searched for some solutions, like using special renderers (like R1GL) or source ports. R1GL does exactly what I want (resizing the HUD), but at the cost that the game will not play cinematics. Source ports are nearly non-existant or difficult to find, and those which do have support aren't what I'm looking for. Q2Pro looks awesome, but doesn't have cinematic support either. Q2XP just crashes without any explanation, and others like KMQuake 2 don't look like Quake 2 at all.

People usually recommend Yamagi Quake 2 as the best client for people looking for a similar experience, but I cannot get it to work. I've installed it exactly as is instructed in the README file, but the game will not start (it doesn't even crash, it simply doesn't even execute).

So, the question is: Has anyone gotten YQuake2 to work on Win7 x64? Or does anyone have an alternative for this?

#1 posted by Johnny Law [67.188.146.229] on 2014/07/21 05:41:19

Looks like the Yamagi 5.23 binary files package doesn't come with openal32.dll. So if you don't have OpenAL installed system-wide, it won't work.

You can get the DLL from here: http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html and more specifically what you want is the zipfile of "Win32 and Win64 binaries". Get the soft_aol.dll file out of the Win32 folder in there, rename it to openal32.dll, and plop that into the Quake 2 folder.

#2 posted by hfc2x [181.226.2.178] on 2014/07/21 09:13:15

Okay, it didn't work. I installed OpenAL in my system, and also put the required DLL in the Quake 2 directory, but the application still fails to start.

Re: Quake 2 Help

#3 posted by Tamarisk [46.175.106.4] on 2014/07/21 12:50:12

Fellow Q2 player here also. I have a Win7 x64 system (Lenovo laptop) but honestly, I've always been put off by the seemingly complicated steps needed to get Yamagi Quake 2 running. Q2PRO just works, although it is geared more towards online play than SP. That being said, I'm curious now to see if I can get Yamagi running so I'll definitely have a look. Unfortunately no time today, but tomorrow is free so I'll see what happens and let you know.

#4 posted by Johnny Law [67.188.146.229] on 2014/07/22 04:46:21

I went through it another time, writing down the steps I'm taking. This time instead of starting with a "normal" Q2 install and deleting files and whatnot, I started with a blank slate, just to remove confusion.

- Make sure that my Documents\YamagiQ2 folder is empty.
- Download the "Prebuild Windows binaries" for Yamagi Q2 (quake2-5.23.zip).
- Extract the "quake2" folder from in there to my desktop.
- Put openal32.dll (DLed and renamed as per above) into that quake2 folder.
- Copy the following files/folders from my usual Quake 2 baseq2 folder into the new quake2/baseq2 folder: video, pak0.pak, pak1.pak
- I'm ignoring ctf, rogue, and xatrix for now (they need pak files too).
- Run quake2.exe.

That works OK for me.

If you still can't get it to launch, one possible source of info:

First, launch quake2.exe using the command line arguments: +set logfile 2

Then look in your Documents\YamagiQ2 folder. There should be stderr.txt and stdout.txt files there. Also maybe baseq2\qconsole.log.

For example if I try to launch it without openal32.dll, then the stderr.txt and stdout.txt files are empty, but there's a baseq2\qconsole.log file that ends right after printing the "Current OpenAL device".

#5 posted by Johnny Law [67.188.146.229] on 2014/07/22 04:48:12

(The qconsole.log file I'm talking about above is the one in Documents\YamagiQ2\baseq2; it's not in quake2\baseq2 on my desktop.)

#6 posted by hfc2x [181.226.2.178] on 2014/07/22 06:06:36

Okay, I did exactly that, but the game doesn't launch.

The logfile prints the following, tho:

Couldn't init SDL video: windib not available.
Input shut down.

#7 posted by hfc2x [181.226.2.178] on 2014/07/22 06:50:26

Okay, went to the environment variables of the system and deleted the sdl_videodriver variable, which for some reason was set to "windib".

It runs perfectly now!

#8 posted by Johnny Law [67.188.146.229] on 2014/07/22 06:56:11

Huzzah! I was about to ask about that... I don't think SDL2 uses the "windib" name for a video driver anymore. :-) Just "windows" these days.

Ugh!

#9 posted by Tamarisk [46.175.106.4] on 2014/07/22 14:56:05

And this is exactly why I prefer to use Q2PRO. Download from their site, copy over pak files and play. No mess and no fuss. It just works. But great you got it working hfc2x.

I Want Cinematics :s

#10 posted by Cinematix [90.43.25.50] on 2014/11/05 23:38:55

The only thing Q2pro is missing is cinematics :\

Can i watch them with a program outside of the game ? :D

And Music In OGG File Support Or W/e To Have Music To Work

#11 posted by Cinematix [90.43.25.50] on 2014/11/06 00:04:34

and music in OGG file support or w/e to have music to work :(

all the ports i tried where a no go, q2pro is smooth and has a good interface. would just need cinematic support and music support in any way be it pk3 files music or ogg files !

KMquake2

#12 posted by Skiffy [219.92.52.161] on 2014/12/22 09:53:24

I just use this version of the engine. Adds some basic features but runs nicely in any windows.
http://www.markshan.com/knightmare/

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