Q3Arena.com - The Ultimate Quake III Site

Tritin Films was successful with last weeks voice tryouts for their upcoming Quake III: Arena based movie. Their movie, Quad God, is expected to be released soon and they want only the best and talented voice actors.

The following voice acting positions are available:

Good Guys:

MALE - Quinten Test 1 � [Profile: Older/Rude/Sarcastic/Stupid] � (Small Voice Acting)

MALE - Walkens Test 1 � [Profile: Older/Rude/Sarcastic/Stupid] � (Small Voice Acting)

Bad Guys:

MALE - Ristic Ki Test 1 � [Profile Evil/Smart/Powerful] - Large Acting

MALE -Wisak Ki Test 1 � [Profile Evil/Powerful/Overconfident] - Large Acting

MALE -Zaron Ki Test 1 � [Profile Creative/Powerful/Intelligent] - Large Acting

FEMALE -Jion Ki Test 1 � [Profile Evil/Seductive/Formerly Good] - Large Acting

Deep, rustic voices are required to act out the part of the bad guys, so please don't apply for those positions unless you are positive Tritin Films will be interested in you for those qualities. If you are interested, please contact Joe Goss.

The first version of OnTheWayQ3A has been released. This is a Quake3 version of the popular Quake2 launcher tool. Features include an easy-to-use GUI map and options chooser, automatic map rotation, and more.

The The MapZone has relocated to a new home. Check 'em out for the latest news on Q3Arena maps, and more.

id Software's lead coder guy, John Carmack made an update to his plan file with a new edition of the worklog:

* spinning machinegun barrel
* changed q3data -origin option to -offset, defaulted to 0 0 24 for all player grabs
* removed second parm from -lod in q3data
* fixed 0 ping on last player killed before fraglimit
* better ping calculation right after transitions
* add time back to scoreboard
* sv_maxRate option to force all clients to play with a max rate. This can be used to limit the advantage of LPB, or to cap bandwidth utilization for a server. Note that rate is ignored for clients that are on the same LAN.
* fixed bad name vs name in tourney after first player left
* added hitch warning messages to server console
* new time clamping rules for net play
* avoid sending usercmds during connection
* send explicit heartbeats to the master server when a server transitions to or from empty or full
* shaders that aren't found will return index 0, but still keep the allocated slot to prevent rescanning if registered again
* use nextSnap for player prediction when available
* removed teleport dest invisible objects
* reduced client to server bandwidth by 35%
* changed logging for chats to guarantee parsing properly with names that conflict with commands: from: G_LogPrintf( "%s say: %sn" ) to: G_LogPrintf( "say: %s: %sn" )

Version 3.0 of Name Maker Studio has been released. There's quite a few changes, including interface enhancements, speed improvements, and miscellaneous other features and tweaks. NMS is a freeware "fun name" creation tool for creating interesting and customized names for your Quake (or other game) character.

NOP version 2.1 has been released. Among the new features and fixes includes several significant bugfixes, as well as some optimizations within the HTML and CGI files. NOPTrans v1.0 has also been included, which automates the game log transfers from a Q3Arena server to a ranking table master. Check out their site for more info!

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I've been moving back into college here, and getting things in order since about Wednesday, so that's why I've been missing for a bit. Thanks again to Bomb who covered things while I was away!

Another version of the Game Name Builder is now available. This new release includes new features such as improved WYSIWYG functions, support for mods, bug fixes, and more. It is available for download by clicking here.

John Carmack updated his .plan this morning with information about the release of the next Q3Test and what it will include, as well as new features and bug fixes. Here's a clip from this morning's .plan update:

The current plan is that we will have another test release around the middle of next month. This version will be running game/cgame/ui with the virtual machine, and will include single player play against bots. No new maps.

I will be releasing the source for all the VM modules with it, and setting the executable up so that it will allow modified modules to be used.

The modified LCC and q3asm will be available both in source form and precompiled, so a professional development environment will not be requried. Using MSDEV to debug binary dll's does make exploration a lot easier than adding prints to interpreted code...

Some minor porting work on the tools will be necessary to do development under linux. The effort would be greater for mac development, because the tools are inherently command line based.

The map editor and tools will not be released until after the game hits store shelves. To be completely clear: you are not legally licensed to create or use addon maps with the test.

You can read the full .plan courtesy of our finger service by clicking here.

Tritin Films is working on a film and they need voice actors to complete it. The film is expected to be released the day Quake III: Arena hits the store shelves. Just a few of the requirements include:

You MUST have a professional quality microphone.
You must be at least 17 years of age.
You must spend at least 2 hours on ICQ daily.

If you are interested or would like additional information, please e-mail Joe Goss.

The creators of King Of The Server are looking for people with T1 or faster connections and NT to be servers, since their current servers are filled to capacity. KOTS is a server-side mod that requires quite a bit of dedication to admin. If you are serious about being an admin, please contact the KOTS mod team.

Version 1.22 of The Game Name Builder is now available for download. This release includes support for NetStorm, new color dialogs, a new registration system, and the usual bug fixes.

Name Maker Studio v2.00 has been released. This new release is a total rewrite of the software engine. It features a WYSIWYG interface that supports up to 25 characters and best of all, it's free. It supports Quake III: Arena, Quake 2, and many others. Additional details and information can be found by clicking here.

Mugwum over at 3D Action Planet has conducted an interview with John 'Gestalt' Bye from The Coven. The interview includes a few words on the recently released Deadlode2, Quake III: Arena and other stuff relating to The Coven and the Quake scene. Click here to check it out!

Ward Six has posted a preliminary announcement regarding the development of multiplayer functionality for the popular Quake II TC, Dawn of Darkness. Additional information is available on their site in the news section.

The King of the Server mod has "gone global". Here's the press release:

The King of the Server is proud to announce that the long used term Global Data Server (GDS) has finally lived up to it's name. The Rankings page and the player database now includes players from servers in the UK and in Chile. Players from around the world are saved and ranked against each other on our GDS. So now when traveling to South America or Europe, you can find a server with a good ping and play with the same players that you use in the US.

The King of the Server Team has just released KOTS v3.1, which is it's last release before an entire overhaul of the player abilities takes place, we're calling this ORBIT (online role-playing based internet training), scheduled to be released late September.

LoToH Software has sent along a quick update on their mod progress and such. They've recruited a new modeler to their ranks, in order to help advance production of their mod, "Dark Rising". Check out their site to read some newly-updated plan files, and to take a look at some screenshots from their work thus far.

The Coven is looking for another mapper to work with them on an exciting new project. Pay is by share of profits, and there's no need to relocate. Full details of the opening can be found on the Coven news page.

A new version of Q3Stats has been released. Q3Stats is a Quake 3 Test log file analyzer and statistics generator. Q3Stats reads log files produced by Quake 3 Test game servers, analyzes the games' events, compiles statistics, and generates HTML output for web publishing. A list of changes and new stuff can be found on their website.

I saw over on Blue's that version 1.41 beta of Wally has been released. Wally is a utility for editing textures, and now features many new improvements. Check out their site for the skinny.

Looking for a blow-by-blow version history for Q3Test? Look no further! Exxtreme3D has done up a little piece which covers the development and release of the string of Q3Test versions, from first to last.

The Assimilation mod team has given word on how to fix those "corrupt .exe files" that were downloaded with v2.6. Apparently a slight overview lead the .zip files to be renamed to .exe files, thus rendering them useless. However the good news is that all you have to do is rename the file to one with a .zip extension, and you're ready to rock!

The Q3Center is giving away a Voodoo3 3500 TV card in the form of a "rail trail" contest. More info is available at this link.

A new version of King of the Server has been released. Version 3.1 features several new additions, including map voting, console commands to view your stats and credits, and others. Check out their site for more info!

Name Maker Studio version 1.53 has been released. This new version is a bit faster, and has added support for a few new games, including new QuakeWorld and Quake2 mods, Q3Arena, and others. Check out their site for more info!

Maniacal Software has released a small update to their mod, "Dark Chaos". The new version features cleaner code and has several bug fixes. It now also works well for those of you who like to play with "infinite ammo" turned on.

The King of the Server Armory is now open for business. This has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Any player who has played on a KotS GDS server is able to visit the armory webpage, and spend "credits" on buying powerups and other items for use during a game. This takes the KotS role-playing idea to a new level, and sounds like a VERY nifty mod!

Ward Six has released five new screenshots from their now-canceled TC, "Dawn of Darkness". They plan to continue posting new screenshots over time, as they work out plans for their new TC using a new game engine.

Version 1.0 (non-beta) of Name Maker Studio has been released. The update from the beta fixes some bugs and speeds up NMS. Support for more games will be added in the next version, so be sure to keep an eye out for that as well!

id Software's John Carmack made a plan file update with some news on optimizations and other changes that he's made. It's pretty tech-savvy, and mostly coders will be interested; but if you're the kind that likes to keep on top of the latest Q3Arena developments, this is worth a look.

BostonChick has recorded all of her myriad of QuakeCon adventures, and posted them up in her QuakeCon diary. Check out QC'99 " from a chick's perspective including things like the Press tournament all the way down to the chicks pool party." y0w

"The Awakening of Golney", a Quake1 mission pack has been released from PlanetQuake3.de. Check out their site for info, screenshots, and download mirrors.

Version 2.0b1 of Q3Stats has been released. This is primarily a new version for Q3Test 1.08 compatibility, but also has a beefier parser as well. As always, check out their site for more info!

The first public version (I think) of MatrixQuake has been released. MatrixQuake is described as actually being an "OpenGL proxy that sits between Quake2 and your video card." This gives it a pretty funky look, as you can see from this screenshot. Pretty wild!

Version 2.6 of Assimilation, the Quake2 mod, has been released. A list of new features and changes is available on their website, along with the new files!

I've gotten a lot of emails about ADSL and cable modems lately, so this should be a good read for those of you looking to be LPB's. Ingava.com has posted a feature on ADSL vs. cable modems. It gives the low-down on both high-speed access options as they pertain to gamers and their time spent online.

Due to the lack of a linux release of the latest version of Q3Test until recently, our server was down for a week or so. Users will be happy to know I have put it back up at 209.10.76.4 or Q3Test.Q3Arena.com. It is now running on a PIII 550 Xeon with a half gig of ram and an OC3 connection, have fun!

After over a year in development, the Loki's Minions team has released their mini-mission pack for Quake2, "LM: Escape". This is a single-player only mission, which features new monsters, a new weapon, cut-scenes, a space battle and a secret level with a super cool boss battle. Snag a copy and give it a shot to burn some time until Quake3's release ;)

id Software's Graeme Devine made a quick plan file update with a new tip for easy server filtering:

BTW. You can search for Q3A Internet Servers using the keywords "ffa", "tourney", "deathmatch", "team" and "tournament" in the Internet game browser screen to only show specific types of maps.

The Quake Done Quick guys have released a new mission pack for Q2, called "Runner's Delight". Here's the release:

After sixteen months in production, "Runner's Delight" has been released. This is a speed-runner's mission-pack, built by Jesse van Dijk of the Quake done Quick team. It's a completely new six-level Quake1 episode which will work for single-player, co-op and DM play as normal - but what distinguishes this episode from other releases is its particular suitability for speed-running. All the levels have lots of opportunities for the craziest tricks and short-cuts one can imagine, such as double grenade-jumps, ogre-grenade jumps, barrel-jumps, Quad rocket-jumps and more. If you'd like to try to play an old favorite in a new way, check it out.

They've got a website up for it, check it out here.

Looks like id pulled a fast one on us and snuck out the new Linux releases of Q3Test v1.08. Here's a partial list of download sites (thanks Justin Ormont):

ftp://ftp.stomped.com/pub/quake3/updates/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.rpm
ftp://ftp.stomped.com/pub/quake3/updates/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.rpm
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/quake3/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.rpm
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/quake3/linux/q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.tar.gz

So you, like myself, may have found yourself wondering on occasion if Quake3 will ever be released. It's a common question, and one that we haven't had a real status-update on for quite a while. Until today. (cue dramatic sound effect...) It looks like Blue has gotten a bit of an update email from id's Graeme Devine, with two bits of news: a fixed playdemo version will not be released for all those QuakeCon demos, and id has started down the home stretch, game-production wise. Here's the note:

No there will not be a special update for playing back the QuakeCon levels. We're in pretty much the final push now to get this thing out the door and we've started to make CD images etc. to test out the game, so another test is looking doubtful. I expect the next update will be the full demo, followed in very short order by the game itself.

Definitely good news! (except for the demo playback part, doh)

The Q3Center has done up an interview with their first "nobody" (their term, not mine :) Quake player, Vengeance{ChK}. They've tried a new twist in Q&A's, and have forgone the more well-known players for an interview with an average "Joe Blow online gamer", which is pretty darned cool. You can check it out here.

The gang over at GameGirlz has posted their Diary of QuakeCon '99. It's got a load of photos from the activities, as well as info on what went down during the weekend blast.

The Engineering Room has posted an article on the recent happenings at QuakeCon '99. They also include a recap of Carmack's discussion there, especially as it pertained to server administration and mod releases. Definitely worth a read!

Quake3Source.com has posted a Q3Test1 strategy guide on their site. They go pretty in-depth, with screenshots and techniques and everything. They've also already had a Q3Test2 strategy guide posted for a short while.

A new version (3.0) of King of the Server has been released. This one has literally a couple PAGES of changes made to it, so I won't post them here. All KotS server admins are encouraged to upgrade to take advantage of all the cool new features.

QuakeStarter version 0.72b has been released. Among the changes included are added gametype options for Q3Arena, added password field to deathmatch options, improved Gladiator bot support, and more.

This year's QuakeCon was a big hit with all who attended, and several wrap-ups and reports have hit the 'net:

3D Action Planet has posted a feature on John Carmack's speech. They cover several discussion highlights, including the future of 3D technology, what makes Quake3 tick, 100+ player games, and more.
sCary over at the ShugaShack has done up an interview with DieHard-r3v, the winner of the massive tourney that was held at QuakeCon.
Also over at the Shack is the first (of many?) QuakeCon picture albums, complete with captions and everything.

Ward Six has posted five new screenshots of their now-cancelled Quake2 TC, Dawn of Darkness. They've posted them to keep the site "interesting" until they reveal more info on their new DoD project.

The guys over at Quake2000.net have posted their guide to Q3Test1. It comes with a printer-friendly diagram of all weapons, items, and general layout of Q3Test1 for handy deathmatch reference.

There's a new Q3Test log parser available here (unnamed so far, I guess). The current version (0.20b) is admittedly rather crude, but the author is looking for feedback on how the output looks, and such like that. Check their site for the current version, as well as for the regular posted updates when they're available.

3D Action Planet has posted a rather large preview of Quake3 Arena. This preview contains information on all the weapons, items and features set so far, as well as covering several key questions about its success and following. Check it out!

The Quake3Rocks.com team is looking for a graphics artist to help them put the finishing touches on their site. Check 'em out for more info.

Sorry for the no-news day, apparently everyone's too busy having fun at QuakeCon to do anything important :)

A new version of The Game Name Builder has been released. Version 1.1 has several new additions, including support for Q3Test v1.08, totally revamped help sections, bugfixes and layout changes, and more. Check out their site for more info and for the new files.

The Q3Center has posted a feature on Tritin Films' upcoming Q3Arena movie, "Quad God". They also have an interview with the director of the movie, discussing all aspects of the film.

This is one of those things that you've basically gotta see to believe. Q3Center.com has posted up a quick feature on a recent phenomenon found on the ShugaShack's messageboards. Called a "Shack Stack", it's basically like a million players standing on each other's heads. Pretty cool!

Just a quick couple of notes to make. First, QuakeCon is this weekend, which is cool. Unfortunately I had to drop out of the press tourney, so, maybe next year?

Secondly, our resident tech writer and newsletter pimp, Jude, will be gone until next Sunday, so he asks that everyone who mails him be patient with the late responses :)

Version 0.2 of X11Spy, the game server browser tool for Linux users, has been released. This new release has a fix for a bug that occured when the new q3test was released, as well as the added ability to sort servers by the master that they're retrieved from.

Frag.com has kicked off its coverage of QuakeCon '99. They've posted an entire site dedicated to it, conveniently located at QuakeCon.com. To get the ball rolling, they've posted an interview with Craig Sparks, the CEO of NetGamesUSA.

The guys over at Trendkill.net have brought up some brand new Q3Arena forums. Their current list of topics includes General Discussion, Mapping, Macintosh Specific, Linux Specific, Mods, and Hardware. More will be added soon!

Q3Test v1.08 for Mac OS X server has been released by the folks over at The Omni Group. It should be noted that this release requires OS X (duh), and a Voodoo2 accelerator. Thanks Blue/loony.

News of a new Crush Depth test has arrived, here's the release:

Everyone is invited to join the 4th Dimension team to a game of Crush Depth. The game is scheduled at 9:00 PM Pacific Time Wednesday night until 2:00 AM Pacific Time Thursday morning. The game will take place at quake2.citylinq.net. And if there are enough people playing this late then the game just might run longer... You never know. So go get the latest version of Crush Depth from their files page and have some fun!

The Oxygen Tank, previously hosted by Q3Center, is now operating the site which was their previous host. However, the Oxygen Tank isn't dead. For the complete story and what the new changes are, and information on the future of both sites, please visit q3center.com and read the latest news posting.

id Software's Graeme Devine updated his .plan informing everyone that since Q3Test v1.08 is a full download, a new model will be included with it. Here's the update:

Q3Test 1.08!!! Go bring down your favorite Internet site.

Because it's once again a full download, we've included a new model (Sarge) with this version of the test as a consolation prize. You need to select him from the console using the "model sarge" command.

The Win32 and Mac versions of Q3Test v1.08 are now available for download. The official mirror list from id will most likely be posted tomorrow morning, so please check out www.shugashack.com or www.bluesnews.com until then. Also, make sure you uninstall all previous versions of Q3Test!

On a sidenote, thanks to everyone that e-mailed me informing me it was out, even though I heard about it this morning. This is a little delayed because I just installed a new OS and I'm still in the process of getting everything setup again.

Ward Six Entertainment has made plans to cancel their Quake II TC, Dawn of Darkness. However, they plan to release a few maps and around 100 shots from the game. You can read the full update by clicking here.

MiCeK over at The Croatian Quake3 Arena Scene has informed us that their Quake III: Arena user benchmark page has finally been completed. This page is based upon reviews that are submitted by the community, and is useful for those who wish to build systems and more! Click here to check it out.

The Quake Times has plans on making several programs once Quake III: Arena is released, and they need your help! If you are interested, please e-mail them for additional info.

Tritin Films is requesting a one-time acting part in a film. Any interested parties must have Quake 2 and Q3Test version "1.05" installed. At least 40-50 people are needed. The shot involves a mass gathering of warriors for a home-coming celebration for the hero of the film. The map will be sent to you via e-mail or ICQ. The deadline for filming is Wednesday afternoon. All interested people please contact Joe Goss.