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5131 clevermous 1
--------------------------
2
| wqreadme.txt           |
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| WinQuake documentation |
4
| 3/21/97                |
5
--------------------------
6
 
7
WinQuake (WQ) is a native Win32 version of Quake, and will run on
8
either Win95 or Windows NT 4.0 or later.  It is designed to take
9
advantage of whatever enhanced video, sound, and input capabilities
10
(such as DirectX or VESA VBE video modes) are present, but has
11
fallback functionality so it can run on any Win95 or NT 4.0 or later
12
system, even if neither DirectX nor VESA VBE is available.  You may
13
experience problems running WQ on some systems, because driver and
14
operating-system support for game functionality are not yet mature
15
under Win32, and many bugs and incompatibilities remain in those
16
components.  If you encounter what seems to be a bug, first please
17
check through the list of known problems, below.  If your problem
18
doesn't appear on the list, please fill out and submit the WQ bug
19
report at http://www.idsoftware.com/contact/.
20
 
21
The material accompanying Quake is the reference for all
22
non-Windows-related matters concerning WinQuake; in terms of gameplay,
23
WQ is the same as Quake.  This file contains Windows-related
24
information only.
25
 
26
The rest of this document is organized as follows:
27
 
28
Installing and running WinQuake
29
Common problems and workarounds
30
A bit about how WQ video works
31
Video command-line switches
32
A bit about how WQ sound works
33
Sound command-line switches
34
Notes on networking
35
Notes on the mouse
36
Log of changes to documentation
37
Special thanks
38
 
39
 
40
-----------------------------------
41
| Installing and running WinQuake |
42
-----------------------------------
43
 
44
In order to run WinQuake, you must first have Quake installed.
45
Assuming Quake is installed in the standard directory, c:\quake,
46
unzip the WinQuake zip file into c:\quake.  The following files
47
from the zip file must be present in order for WQ to run:
48
 
49
winquake.exe
50
pmpro16.dll
51
pmpro32.dll
52
wdir16.dll
53
wdir32.dll
54
wdirnop.com
55
wdirnop.pif
56
 
57
Then you can run WinQuake by making c:\quake the current directory,
58
typing "winquake" and pressing the Enter key.  Alternatively, you can
59
use wq.bat to run WinQuake.  The wq batch file requires one parameter
60
describing how to configure WQ for performance; just type "wq" to get
61
a list of the six options.  The first of the six options is
62
 
63
wq fast
64
 
65
This is the same as typing "winquake"; this runs WinQuake in an
66
aggressive configuration that is likely to yield the best performance
67
if it runs successfully on your system, but which has a risk of
68
causing WinQuake or even your system to crash if there are bugs or
69
incompatibilities in your video or sound drivers.  Alternatively, you
70
can use
71
 
72
wq safe
73
 
74
to run WinQuake in a conservative configuration, likely to run
75
on almost all machines with no problems, but possibly with slower
76
graphics, fewer high-resolution modes, and delayed sound.  Or you
77
can run
78
 
79
wq verysafe
80
 
81
to run WinQuake in a very conservative configuration that is pretty
82
much guaranteed to run, but will probably have slow performance, and
83
will have no sound.  Two other options are
84
 
85
wq fastvid
86
 
87
which has maximum video performance, but greater sound latency (delay
88
until the sound is heard), and
89
 
90
wq fastsnd
91
 
92
which uses more conservative video modes, but low-latency sound.
93
 
94
(One odd note is that DirectSound has much lower-latency sound than
95
wave sound, but is currently quite a bit slower overall.  Thus you
96
may find that "wq fastvid" is actually faster, by as much as 5-10%,
97
than "wq fast"; however, it may not feel faster, because the sound
98
will lag.)
99
 
100
Finally, you can use
101
 
102
wq max
103
 
104
which is the same as wq fast, but turns on DirectInput, which
105
provides more responsive mouse control, but does not work properly
106
on all systems.
107
 
108
Note that DirectX is not required for WQ to run, but WQ will
109
automatically take advantage of DirectSound and DirectDraw if they
110
are present.  If DirectSound is not present, there will generally be
111
considerable sound latency (sound will become audible several hundred
112
milliseconds after the event that caused it).  Note also that there
113
are currently no true DirectSound drivers for Windows NT, so WQ will
114
always run using wave output on NT, and will consequently have lagged
115
sound.  See below for information about obtaining DirectX if you do
116
not have it.
117
 
118
Note that VESA VBE modes aren't required for WQ to run, but WQ will
119
automatically make VESA modes available if they're present.  Your BIOS
120
may already have VESA VBE 2.0 support built in, but most BIOSes
121
don't. Worse, some BIOSes do have VESA VBE 2.0 built-in, but have
122
buggy implementations, which may prevent you from being able to run
123
the faster configurations of WQ.  An easy way to get reliable VESA 2.0
124
support is by obtaining SciTech Display Doctor; see below for
125
further information. WQ can also use VBE/AF 1.0 and greater modes;
126
again, SciTech Display Doctor is the commonest way to get VBE/AF
127
support.
128
 
129
Note that winquake -dedicated completely replaces the old winded
130
dedicated Win32 server, which is now obsolete.
131
 
132
WinQuake normally uses half the physical memory in your system for its
133
heap, but not less than 8.5 Mb and not more than 16 Mb.  You can
134
override this with "-heapsize n", where n is the amount of memory to
135
allocate for the heap, in Kb.
136
 
137
To use the joystick, you must bring down the console by pressing the
138
tilde ('~') key, and type "joystick 1"; you can disable the
139
joystick with "joystick 0" at any time.  The joystick setting
140
remains in effect for subsequent WinQuake sessions until changed, so
141
you only need to do joystick 1 once to enable the joystick.  If the
142
joystick somehow causes problems that keep you from being able to run
143
WinQuake at all, you can start WinQuake -nojoy to complete disable the
144
joystick for that session.
145
 
146
 
147
-----------------------------------
148
| Common problems and workarounds |
149
-----------------------------------
150
 
151
WQ crashes or won't run
152
-----------------------
153
 
154
If WQ refuses to run or crashes on your system, try running
155
it using "wq safe" or "wq verysafe".  Or you can use command-line
156
switches:
157
 
158
winquake -nodirectdraw -nowindirect -wavonly
159
 
160
This will almost certainly solve your problem; however, it may result
161
in  lagged sound (a long delay from action to hearing the sound), may
162
result in fewer or slower high-res video modes, and the mouse may be
163
somewhat less responsive.  If this does work, you can try removing
164
each of the command-line switches until you identify the one that
165
fixes the problem, thereby sacrificing as little functionality as
166
possible.
167
 
168
If the above command line does not fix your problems, try:
169
 
170
winquake -dibonly -nosound
171
 
172
which forces WQ into silent operation with bare-bones video support
173
and no use of DirectInput for mouse input (the normal Windows mouse
174
APIs are used instead).  Again, if this works, try removing switches
175
until you identify the needed one.
176
 
177
Both of the above command lines are quick fixes.  Often, the problem
178
is caused by outdated or buggy DirectX drivers or code, and can
179
frequently be completely fixed simply by installing the latest
180
Microsoft-supplied version of DirectX, which you may be able to find
181
on http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.exe, although
182
the availability and location of the DirectX file changes
183
periodically; note that at last check, this is a 3.4 Mb file.  (Be
184
aware, though, that sometimes Microsoft's DirectX drivers don't
185
support features that the manufacturers' drivers do support, such as
186
display refresh rate control.)
187
 
188
One known problem of this sort involves the current SB16 drivers from
189
Creative Labs, which cause WQ to crash on some machines.  The
190
DirectSound drivers from Microsoft, available via the above-mentioned
191
URL, fix this problem.
192
 
193
It can also sometimes help to get the latest Windows drivers for your
194
video adapter or sound card (although as the SB16 example indicates,
195
this is not always a good idea), and for video boards that have flash
196
BIOSes, it can sometimes help to get the latest BIOS upgrade.
197
 
198
 
199
How do I select fullscreen or windowed WQ operation?
200
----------------------------------------------------
201
Check out WQ's new, spiffy Video menu, accessible from the Options
202
menu.  There are now two types of modes listed, windowed and
203
fullscreen.  You can make any of these modes the current and/or
204
default mode, just as in DOS Quake.  If you make a windowed mode the
205
default, WQ will still briefly start up in fullscreen mode, then
206
switch to windowed; if this is a problem, use the -startwindowed
207
command-line switch.  More complete video control is available
208
through the console, as described in the "A bit about how WQ video
209
works" section, below.
210
 
211
 
212
Gee, I wish I could use a mouse to play WQ with in a window
213
-----------------------------------------------------------
214
You can!  While in a windowed mode, go to the Options menu.  At the
215
bottom, you'll find a new selection that lets you choose to have the
216
mouse active when you're in a window.  Of course, if you do this,
217
you'll have to use the keyboard (Alt-Tab, the Windows key, Ctrl-Esc,
218
Alt-Esc, or Shift-Alt-Tab) to switch away from WQ.
219
 
220
 
221
Serial/modem menu is missing
222
----------------------------
223
WQ currently does not support direct connect serial or modem play.
224
 
225
 
226
DOS Quake reports unknown variables on startup after running WQ
227
---------------------------------------------------------------
228
WQ uses some console variables that do not exist in DOS Quake, and
229
some of these are automatically archived in config.cfg when you exit
230
WQ.  If you then start DOS Quake, DOS Quake will complain that it
231
doesn't recognize those variables.  You will also lose the settings
232
of these variables when you return to WQ.  Apart from losing the
233
settings, this is harmless; ignore it.
234
 
235
 
236
Problems running WQ on NT 3.51
237
------------------------------
238
NT 3.51 isn't supported by WQ.
239
 
240
 
241
WQ crashes while switching modes or Alt-Tabbing
242
-----------------------------------------------
243
So far, all cases of this seem to be tied to Creative Lab's SB16 sound
244
drivers, and have been fixed by getting the latest DirectX drivers, as
245
described above.  Alternatively, you should be able to fix this either
246
by not switching modes or Alt-Tabbing, or by running -wavonly to
247
disable DirectSound support.
248
 
249
 
250
WQ sometimes runs pretty slowly fullscreen
251
------------------------------------------
252
There are several possible reasons for this, starting with "You have a
253
slow computer."  Assuming that's not the case, if you don't have
254
either DirectDraw or SciTech Display Doctor installed (see the "A bit
255
about how WQ video works" section), it would probably be a good thing
256
to install one or the other, because slow operation can be a result
257
of slow copying or stretching of pixels to the screen by a Windows
258
driver, something that's eliminated by both DirectDraw and Display
259
Doctor.  You can also sometimes get a faster 320x200 mode on Win95 by
260
doing vid_describemodes, then using vid_mode to select a non-VGA
261
320x200 mode, as described in the "A bit about how WQ video works"
262
section.
263
 
264
You can also try using a primary sound buffer on Win95 (this doesn't
265
work on NT) by using the -primarysound command-line switch; this can
266
improve performance by several percent, but does not work on all
267
systems, and can result in odd sound effects on some systems when
268
minimizing WQ or switching the focus away from it.  If you use this
269
switch, please don't report sound bugs; it's in there purely for you
270
to use if it helps you, and we know it has problems on many systems.
271
Finally, you can use -wavonly to select wave sound; this will increase
272
your sound latency (sounds will be heard later than they should), but
273
allows WQ to run 5-10% faster on some systems.  That's about all you
274
can do to speed up fullscreen WQ on Win95, other than shrinking the
275
active area of the screen with the screen size control in the Options
276
menu.
277
 
278
NT 4.0 comes with DirectX installed, but doesn't have any resolutions
279
lower than 640x480.  In order to support a lower-resolution 320x240
280
mode, WQ has NT double each pixel in both directions to get enough
281
pixels for 640x480.  The extra stretching costs some performance, the
282
result being that NT can seem sluggish on all but high-end Pentiums
283
and Pentium Pros.  (In fact, depending on the quality of your driver's
284
stretching code, it can sometimes be faster to run WQ at 640x480 than
285
320x240-stretched on NT.)  One thing that can help on NT is switching
286
to 640x480, then using the Options menu to shrink the active area of
287
the screen.
288
 
289
A common cause of slowness running in a window is having the desktop
290
run in 16- or 32-bpp mode.  WQ is an 8-bpp application, and it slows
291
things down if pixels have to be translated from 8-bpp to 16- or
292
32-bpp.  (Note that this is generally a problem only when running in a
293
window; fullscreen apps rarely suffer from this.)
294
 
295
 
296
Sound is sluggish on NT
297
-----------------------
298
NT doesn't have any real DirectSound drivers yet, so there's no way to
299
do quick-response sound on NT.  When DirectSound drivers for NT
300
appear, WQ's sound should automatically be snappier.
301
 
302
 
303
Sound breaks up or gets choppy, especially in menus
304
---------------------------------------------------
305
This is generally a sign that WQ's frame rate is too low on your
306
system.  Try reducing resolution or shrinking the active area of the
307
screen.  In some circumstances, it may help to set the console
308
variable _snd_mixahead to a larger value.
309
 
310
 
311
The color black doesn't change with palette flashes sometimes
312
-------------------------------------------------------------
313
Normally, DirectDraw lets WQ change all 256 colors, so when a palette
314
flash happens, we can change all the colors, including black.
315
However, on NT DirectDraw currently doesn't allow changing black;
316
likewise, on both NT and Win95, black can't be changed in a window,
317
either a normal window or fullscreen.  Consequently, in some modes and
318
in a window, some parts of the WQ screen (such as the sigils on the
319
status bar and the spray where a shotgun blast hits) stay black when
320
the palette flashes.  There is no workaround.
321
 
322
 
323
Problems can result if Office shortcut bar is running
324
-----------------------------------------------------
325
Various odd behaviors, especially with sound, have been reported if
326
the Office shortcut bar is running while WQ is running.  If you
327
experience odd problems, you might try shutting down the Office
328
shortcut bar and see if that fixes anything.
329
 
330
 
331
Other apps fail to play sound while WinQuake is running
332
-------------------------------------------------------
333
The sound hardware is currently not a fully shareable resource on
334
Win32.  Consequently, while WQ is running, it always has the sound
335
hardware allocated to itself, to make sure that sound is never lost to
336
another app.  This means that normally (when WQ is using DirectSound),
337
apps that use wave sound (most non-game apps) will not be able to play
338
sound while WQ is running, even if WQ is minimized or not the active
339
app, although other DirectSound apps will be able to play sound when
340
WQ is not the active app.  If WQ is using wave sound rather than
341
DirectSound (either because -wavonly is used on the command line, or
342
because there is no DirectSound driver, as is always the case on NT),
343
then no other app will be able to play any sound while WQ is running,
344
period.
345
 
346
 
347
WQ doesn't have quite the right colors when it’s not the active app
348
-------------------------------------------------------------------
349
We're working on fixing this.  But WQ puts everything back again as
350
soon as it is reactivated, and anyway, when it’s not active, you can’t
351
actually do anything in WQ, so it doesn’t really matter anyway, right?
352
 
353
 
354
Desktop is weird colors when WQ runs windowed
355
---------------------------------------------
356
WQ needs all 256 colors to look right and run fast, which causes it to
357
have to change some of the 20 colors used to draw the desktop.
358
 
359
 
360
Sometimes Permedia boards crash unless -nowindirect is used
361
-----------------------------------------------------------
362
It looks like this is probably a Permedia driver bug, so it might help
363
if you get the most recent drivers.
364
 
365
 
366
Right-click on WQ button in task bar to close doesn’t work as expected
367
----------------------------------------------------------------------
368
In some modes, right-clicking on the WQ task bar button doesn't work
369
the way you'd expect.  We're trying to fix this, but if it's a
370
problem, don't right-click.
371
 
372
 
373
Screen saver never kicks in when running WQ fullscreen
374
------------------------------------------------------
375
It does work windowed, but when WinQuake is fullscreen, it completely
376
owns the screen and doesn't share it with anyone, even the
377
screensaver.  If you use Alt-Tab to minimize WQ, the screensaver will
378
then be enabled, so Alt-Tab away from WQ if you're leaving your
379
computer alone for a while and want the screensaver to be able to kick
380
in.
381
 
382
 
383
WQ doesn’t work in a window in 16-color mode
384
--------------------------------------------
385
That’s 16 *colors*, not 16-bpp.  If you’re still running a 16-color
386
desktop, run WQ fullscreen.
387
 
388
 
389
Can't minimize window while mouse active
390
----------------------------------------
391
When running in a window with the mouse active as a WQ input device,
392
there is no easy way to minimize the window, because the system menu
393
can't be brought up from the keyboard (because some of you use Alt
394
and Spacebar for playing the game), and the mouse can't be used to
395
manipulate the window because it's controlling WQ.  To minimize, you
396
can disable the mouse for WQ and use it to minimize the window.  Or
397
on Win95 you can Alt-Tab away from WQ, then use the mouse to
398
minimize (this doesn't work on NT, where clicking on the window
399
controls just reactivates WQ).  Or you can bind a key to the
400
vid_minimize command, as in
401
 
402
bind m "vid_minimize"
403
 
404
and press that key to minimize the window.
405
 
406
 
407
Window controls don't work on NT when mouse enabled
408
---------------------------------------------------
409
When running in a window on NT with the mouse enabled (so you can use
410
the mouse to play WQ), if you Alt-Tab away from WQ, then use the mouse
411
to click on the WQ system menu control, or the minimize, maximize, or
412
close controls, the controls are ignored and WQ just reactivates.
413
 
414
 
415
Mouse sometimes vanishes in system menu on Win95
416
------------------------------------------------
417
On Win95, if WQ is running in a window with the mouse enabled (so you
418
can use the mouse to play WQ), if you Alt-Tab away, then click on the
419
system menu, the menu comes up, but the mouse vanishes.  However, you
420
can still use the keyboard to select system menu items, or to exit
421
the system menu.
422
 
423
 
424
WQ behaves oddly if Scandisk starts defragmenting
425
-------------------------------------------------
426
If WQ is running fullscreen on Win95 when Scandisk starts an automatic
427
defragging, WQ is forced to minimize, and when it is brought back up,
428
may either be in a strange mode where it runs one frame for each
429
keystroke (in which case Alt-Tab generally fixes things), or may hang
430
the system.  We don't know what the problem is right now, but you may
431
want to make sure you don't leave WQ sitting there fullscreen
432
overnight if you have automatic defragging.
433
 
434
 
435
Hang reported with zero sound volume
436
------------------------------------
437
When sound is turned all the way down via the WQ menus, hangs have
438
been reported.
439
 
440
 
441
Joystick worked fine with earlier versions of WinQuake but not now
442
------------------------------------------------------------------
443
The joystick was enabled by default in earlier versions of
444
WinQuake, but quite a few people reported serious problems that
445
forced them to disable the joystick--even some people who didn't
446
have a joystick attached.  Since most people don't have joysticks,
447
we've decided to disable the joystick by default, and let people
448
who do want to use it set joystick 1 in the console (WinQuake
449
remembers this setting, so this only needs to be done once).
450
 
451
 
452
WQ runs very slowly when it has the focus under NT
453
--------------------------------------------------
454
In one case, WQ ran very slowly when it had the focus, but fast when
455
it didn't (obviously this is only visible in windowed modes).  The
456
problem turned out to be that NT had a Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick
457
driver installed; when the driver was removed, things were fine.
458
If you see a similar problem, check whether WQ is detecting that
459
your system has a joystick when you don't think it should; if so,
460
try doing "joystick 0", or -nojoy on the command line, and see if
461
that fixes it.  If so, there's something flaky in your system
462
joystick setup.
463
 
464
 
465
Joystick doesn't seem calibrated properly
466
-----------------------------------------
467
WQ relies on the information about your joystick stored in the
468
system registry.  If the joystick seems miscalibrated, run the
469
joystick applet and recalibrate and see if that fixes things.
470
 
471
 
472
Playdemo fails across multiple levels
473
-------------------------------------
474
If "record" is used to record a client-side demo, bad things will
475
happen on playback via playdemo if a level change is recorded.
476
(Timedemo works fine.)  This is unfortunate, but WinQuake
477
internals make this not fixable without a good chance of
478
breaking something more important, so it'll have to stay this way.
479
 
480
 
481
Alt-Tab fullscreen only works sometimes
482
---------------------------------------
483
I know it seems that way, but actually the trick is that on Win95
484
it only works if you let go of Tab before you let go of Alt.
485
This is due to a Windows quirk involving what key sequences are
486
passed along, so you'll have to work around it by remembering to
487
let go of Tab first.
488
 
489
 
490
MS-DOS windows get scrunched on Alt-Tab
491
---------------------------------------
492
This is a quirk of Windows; when you run WinQuake in a low-res
493
mode, sometimes when you exit WinQuake or Alt-Tab back to the
494
desktop, any open MS-DOS windows will be scrunched down to the
495
size of the low-res mode.  There is no known workaround.
496
 
497
 
498
Dprint in progs doesn't work
499
----------------------------
500
Dprint means "developer print," so it only works if the developer
501
console variable is set to 1.  It was a bug in earlier versions that
502
it worked even when developer was set to 0.
503
 
504
 
505
Some DirectDraw modes flicker badly and look wrong
506
--------------------------------------------------
507
Page flipping doesn't work properly in some modes on some
508
systems, particularly when using some DirectDraw modes.  You
509
can work around this by setting the console variable
510
vid_nopageflip to 1, then setting the desired mode (note
511
that the vid_nopageflip setting does not take effect until
512
the next mode set after the setting is changed).  Bear in
513
mind, though, that the vid_nopageflip setting is remembered
514
until it is explicitly changed again, meaning that once you
515
change it, it thereafter applies to all modes, even if you
516
exit and restart WinQuake.
517
 
518
 
519
The Windows key doesn't do anything fullscreen on Win95
520
-------------------------------------------------------
521
True.  This is a minor bug we haven't figured out how to fix yet.
522
You'll have to use Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Tab, or Alt-Esc to switch away.
523
 
524
 
525
My default mode is windowed, but WQ goes fullscreen first
526
---------------------------------------------------------
527
For internal reasons, WQ has to pick a single mode to always
528
initialize when it starts up, before it sets whatever default you've
529
selected.  We've chosen fullscreen mode, because that's the way most
530
people will play.  If this is a problem for you, however, you can
531
run WQ with the -startwindowed command-line parameter.
532
 
533
 
534
Some high-resolution video modes flicker or fail to initialize
535
--------------------------------------------------------------
536
We think these problems are all fixed, but if not, they have to
537
do with triple-buffering in some modes on some DirectDraw drivers.
538
If you encounter this problem, either don't use the problem modes
539
or try using the -notriplebuf command-line parameter to turn off
540
triple buffering.  Note, though, that turning off triple-buffering
541
can reduce performance in some modes, so do this only if needed.
542
 
543
 
544
Right-click doesn't work right on minimized WinQuake
545
----------------------------------------------------
546
If you right-click on minimized WinQuake on the task bar, the
547
Close selection in the right-click menu doesn't work; you have
548
to restore WQ before you can exit it.  Also, the cursor vanishes
549
over the right-click menu, although it still works.
550
 
551
 
552
The screen briefly blanks when you exit WQ
553
------------------------------------------
554
We're trying to fix this, but it's not harmful, just a mite ugly.
555
 
556
 
557
QBENCH doesn't work with WinQuake
558
---------------------------------
559
We've had a report that QBENCH doesn't work with WinQuake, but
560
haven't had a chance to look into it yet.
561
 
562
 
563
MWAVE sound loses focus
564
-----------------------
565
We've had a report that on a ThinkPad with MWAVE sound, WQ loses
566
sound focus (and thus sound) every few seconds.
567
 
568
 
569
Desktop doesn't reset to proper resolution on WQ exit
570
-----------------------------------------------------
571
We've had a report that on exiting WQ, the desktop didn't reset
572
to the proper dimensions.  This may be a bug with the Matrox
573
drivers, but we're not sure.  If it's a problem and newer
574
drivers don't fix it, you can run -dibonly, which solves the
575
problem but can cost some performance.
576
 
577
 
578
Palette goes bad periodically on #9 Imagine card
579
------------------------------------------------
580
There's only one report of this, so maybe it's a flaky board,
581
or maybe it's a driver bug.  Newer drivers might help.
582
 
583
 
584
System with Packard Bell sound card III crashes on CapsLock
585
-----------------------------------------------------------
586
This appears to be the result of buggy DirectSound drivers;
587
-wavonly makes the problem go away.
588
 
589
 
590
Dvorak keyboard mapping ignored
591
-------------------------------
592
WQ is hardwired for QWERTY.
593
 
594
 
595
Cursor messed up after running WQ
596
---------------------------------
597
This is a Windows driver bug; the driver isn't restoring the
598
cursor properly on return from fullscreen WQ to the desktop.
599
Try newer drivers.
600
 
601
 
602
Dedicated server runs very slowly while typing at console
603
---------------------------------------------------------
604
When you type at a dedicated server's console, the game runs
605
very slowly for everyone who's connected.
606
 
607
 
608
Ctrl-Alt-Del on NT sometimes doesn't allow return to WQ
609
-------------------------------------------------------
610
This happens on some machines while running WQ fullscreen.
611
If you experience this problem, the only workaround is not
612
to press Ctrl-Alt-Del while fullscreen; Alt-Tab away first.
613
 
614
 
615
Many fast Alt-Tabs on Win95 sometimes disable WQ input
616
------------------------------------------------------
617
If you Alt-Tab fast lots of times on Win95 with WQ running
618
fullscreen, sometimes you end up in fullscreen WQ, with the
619
game not accepting any keyboard input (so there's no way to
620
exit).  The only workaround is to not do lots of fast
621
Alt-Tabs (why you'd want to, I'm not sure).
622
 
623
 
624
 
625
----------------------------------
626
| A bit about how WQ video works |
627
----------------------------------
628
 
629
WQ has the built-in ability to draw into windows (both normal, framed
630
desktop windows and fullscreen, borderless windows).  It also has
631
built- in support for VGA 320x200 graphics, and supports DirectDraw,
632
VESA VBE 2.0 and VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions) graphics modes,
633
if those are available.
634
 
635
WQ does not require DirectDraw, but in order for DirectDraw modes to
636
be available, you must have DirectDraw installed; some systems come
637
with it preinstalled, but if it's not on your system, you can download
638
it from http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.exe (the
639
exact URL may vary), and install it.
640
 
641
WQ does not require VESA VBE, but in order for VESA VBE modes to be
642
available, your graphics card must be VESA VBE 2.0 or VBE/AF
643
compliant; a VESA driver can either be built into the BIOS of your
644
graphics card, or loadable via software.  If you don't have a VESA VBE
645
driver, Scitech Display Doctor, available from Scitech Software, will
646
update most graphics cards to VESA VBE 2.0 and VBE/AF.
647
 
648
 
649
SciTech Display Doctor
650
----------------------
651
If you are having problems with your video drivers, or if you would
652
like to take a shot at improving your video performance in WQ, you may
653
want to try out SciTech Display Doctor (SDD).  SDD works on just about
654
any graphics card and it can do several things that can make WQ run
655
better on your system:
656
 
657
1. It will update your graphics card to be compatible with VESA VBE
658
2.0 and VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions). These modes will usually
659
give you the best performance in WQ (which is often but not always
660
faster than your current performance).
661
 
662
2. It creates low-resolution modes on your graphics card.
663
Low-resolution video modes (such as 320x240, 400x300 and 512x384)
664
allow you to adjust the level of detail in WQ so you can get the best
665
balance between performance and image quality.
666
 
667
The latest version of SciTech Display Doctor can be obtained from the
668
following locations:
669
 
670
www: http://www.scitechsoft.com
671
ftp: ftp.scitechsoft.com
672
CIS: GO SCITECH
673
AOL: Keyword SciTech
674
 
675
SciTech can be contacted at:
676
 
677
email: info@scitechsoft.com
678
 
679
SciTech Software, Inc.
680
505 Wall Street
681
Chico, CA  95926-1989
682
916-894-8400
683
916-894-9069 FAX
684
 
685
 
686
Video modes supported in Win95
687
------------------------------
688
What all this means is that on Win95, WQ will always be able to run in
689
the following modes:
690
 
691
1)  in a window
692
2)  fullscreen 320x200 VGA mode 0x13
693
3)  fullscreen high-resolution of some sort
694
 
695
Category #3 can be any of several configurations.  On Win95, if either
696
DirectDraw or VESA VBE modes are available, then all the DirectDraw
697
and VESA modes will be presented as high-res choices.  (320x200 will
698
always default to VGA mode 0x13.)  In the case that a given resolution
699
is supported by both DirectDraw and VESA, the VESA mode will be used.
700
(However, the command-line switch -nowindirect can turn off VESA modes
701
entirely.)  If neither DirectDraw nor VESA modes are available, then
702
high-resolution modes will be provided by using fullscreen, borderless
703
windows in whatever resolutions the Windows driver supports, usually
704
starting at 640x480 and going up.
705
 
706
 
707
Video Modes Supported in Windows NT
708
-----------------------------------
709
NT is similar but not identical, because neither VESA VBE modes nor
710
VGA mode 0x13 are available.  On NT, WQ will always be able to run in
711
the following modes:
712
 
713
1)  in a window
714
2)  fullscreen high-resolution of some sort
715
 
716
On NT, category #2 can be one of two configurations.  If DirectDraw
717
modes are available, then those will be the high-res choices;
718
otherwise, fullscreen, borderless windows will be used in whatever
719
resolutions the driver supports, usually starting at 640x480 and going
720
up.  Because there is normally no low-resolution mode such as 320x200
721
or 320x240 on NT, a pseudo low-res mode is created by rendering at
722
320x240, then stretching the image by doubling it in each direction
723
while copying it to a 640x480 screen.  However, stretching performance
724
depends on the driver, and can be slow, so sometimes 640x480 is
725
actually faster than 320x240 on NT.
726
 
727
The bottom line here is that you can generally just use the Video menu
728
and pick one of the modes and be happy.  In some cases, though, you
729
may need to use command-line switches (described next) to get the
730
types of modes you want.  One useful tip is to go into the console and
731
do vid_describemodes, which lists all the modes WQ makes available on
732
your machine given the command-line switches you've used.  Each mode
733
is followed by the name of the internal WQ driver that supports it, so
734
you can tell which modes are DirectDraw, VESA, and so on, as follows:
735
 
736
WINDOWED: WQ runs in a normal window
737
FULLSCREEN DIB: fullscreen borderless window
738
FULLSCREEN VGA8.DRV: VGA 320x200 mode
739
FULLSCREEN DDRAW8.DRV: DirectDraw mode
740
FULLSCREEN LINEAR8.DRV: VESA VBE 2.0+ mode
741
FULLSCREEN ACCEL8.DRV: VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions) mode
742
                       (note that WQ does not take advantage of
743
                       VBE/AF acceleration; so far as WQ is
744
                       concerned VBE/AF is the same as normal VBE)
745
 
746
You can use vid_mode from the console to set any of these modes.  So,
747
for example, if you see that there are two 320x200 modes (such as one
748
VGA mode 0x13, normally mode 3, and one VESA mode, normally mode 4),
749
you can choose the VESA mode, which will often be faster, with
750
vid_mode 4.  (You can make it the default by setting
751
_vid_default_mode_win to the mode number.)
752
 
753
There's more to the windowed modes than you might think.  320x240 is
754
just what you’d expect, but 640x480 is actually rendered at 320x240
755
and stretched up to 640x480, because most machines can’t handle the
756
performance demands of real 640x480 rendering.  Likewise, 800x600 is a
757
stretched 400x300.  Actually, though, vid_mode 2 (the 800x600 mode) is
758
a user-configurable mode.  By setting the following console variables,
759
you can change the characteristics of vid_mode 2:
760
 
761
vid_config_x: width of mode 2 window
762
 
763
vid_config_y: height of mode 2 window
764
 
765
vid_stretch_by_2: whether to render at half-resolution in each
766
direction and stretch up to the specified size in mode 2, or render at
767
full resolution.
768
 
769
After setting these variables in the console, do a vid_forcemode 2,
770
and you’ll have the window you specified.  Note that after making
771
these changes, the new resolution will show up as the third windowed
772
mode in the Video menu.
773
 
774
If you don't have WQ mouse play enabled in windowed mode, you can also
775
go from windowed to fullscreen mode simply by clicking on the maximize
776
button.  The mode switched to is controlled by the vid_fullscreen_mode
777
console variable, and defaults to mode 3.
778
 
779
Other video console commands include:
780
 
781
vid_fullscreen: switch to the mode specified by the
782
vid_fullscreen_mode console variable.
783
 
784
vid_windowed: switch to the mode specified by the vid_windowed_mode
785
console variable.
786
 
787
Vid_fullscreen and vid_windowed can be bound to keys, so it's possible
788
to flip between windowed and fullscreen with a single key press.
789
 
790
Also, vid_minimize minimizes the WinQuake window if and only if
791
WinQuake is running in a windowed mode.  You can bind a key to
792
the commands "vid_windowed; wait; vid_minimize" to minimize WQ
793
regardless of whether you're running in windowed or fullscreen mode.
794
 
795
You can turn off page flipping by setting the console variable
796
vid_nopageflip to 1, then setting a new mode.  (Note that the
797
vid_nopageflip setting does not take effect until the next mode set.)
798
Some systems run faster with page flipping turned off; also, page
799
flipping does not work properly on some adapters, and vid_nopageflip
800
is a workaround for this.  Note that vid_nopageflip is a persistent
801
variable; it retains its setting until it is explicitly changed again,
802
even across multiple WinQuake sessions.
803
 
804
The vid_forcemode console command sets the specified mode, even if
805
it's the same as the current mode (normally the mode set only happens
806
if the new mode differs from the current mode).  This is generally
807
useful only if you've modified the characteristics of video mode 2
808
(the configurable window) while you're in mode 2, and want to force
809
the new characteristics to take effect.
810
 
811
Whenever you switch to running WinQuake in a window, the window is
812
placed at the same location it was in the last time WinQuake ran
813
in a window.  You can reset the window position to the upper left
814
by using the -resetwinpos command-line switch.  The window position
815
is stored in the vid_window_x and vid_window_y console variables.
816
 
817
 
818
 
819
-------------------------------
820
| Video command-line switches |
821
-------------------------------
822
 
823
The full list of video-related command-line switches is:
824
 
825
-dibonly: WQ will use only windows (both normal, framed windows on the
826
desktop and fullscreen, borderless windows), not any direct hardware
827
access modes such as DirectDraw or VESA modes, or even VGA 320x200
828
mode.  This is the closest thing to a guaranteed-to-run fullscreen
829
mode WQ has.
830
 
831
-nowindirect: WQ will not try to use VESA VBE 2.0 modes, or VBE/AF
832
1.0 or later modes.  Note that if there are both DirectDraw and VESA
833
modes for a given resolution, WQ will normally use the VESA mode;
834
-nowindirect allows DirectDraw modes to be the preferred choice for
835
all resolutions except 320x200.  This can be useful if WQ is crashing
836
because of a buggy VESA driver.
837
 
838
-nodirectdraw: WQ will not try to use DirectDraw modes.  This can be
839
useful if WQ is crashing because of a buggy DirectDraw driver.
840
 
841
-novbeaf: WQ will not try to use VBE/AF 1.0 or later modes.
842
 
843
-startwindowed: WQ will come up in a windowed mode, without going
844
fullscreen even during initialization.
845
 
846
-noforcevga: normally, WQ uses VGA mode 0x13 for the default 320x200
847
mode, even if a DirectDraw or VESA 320x200 mode exists.  However,
848
DirectDraw and VESA modes can be considerably faster than mode 0x13,
849
because they can set up a linear framebuffer with higher memory
850
bandwidth.  If you specify -noforcevga, the default 320x200 mode in
851
the menu will be a DirectDraw or VESA mode if one exists.  This has no
852
effect on modes selected via the console variable vid_mode, and if
853
320x200 is already your video mode, -noforcevga doesn't do anything
854
until you use the menu to select another mode, then select 320x200
855
again.  (So if your default mode is 320x200 and you then specify
856
-noforcevga, switch away to some other mode and then back to 320x200
857
to get the potentially faster 320x200 mode.)  The downside to this
858
switch is that DirectDraw and VESA modes can cause problems in some
859
systems, due to driver bugs or hardware incompatibilities; if you
860
experience problems with this switch, don't use it.
861
 
862
-noautostretch: don't stretch windowed modes selected with
863
-startwindowed to double resolution.
864
 
865
-nofulldib: don't use fullscreen, borderless windows, even if there
866
are no DirectDraw or VESA modes available.
867
 
868
-allow360: allow listing of 360-wide modes in the video mode menu.
869
These are normally filtered out to make sure the menu doesn't get too
870
full, which could cause high-res modes not to be displayed.
871
 
872
-notriplebuf: prevent triple-buffered page flipping (rather than double-
873
buffered).  This may result in slower performance, but is a workaround
874
if you encounter problems with flicker or initialization failure, which
875
could possibly happen in some modes with some DirectDraw drivers.
876
 
877
 
878
 
879
----------------------------------
880
| A bit about how WQ sound works |
881
----------------------------------
882
 
883
WQ can use either DirectSound or Windows wave output to generate
884
sound.  If DirectSound is available, it is used; if not, if wave sound
885
is available it is used; and if neither is available, there is no
886
sound.  DirectSound results in the best sound quality, and also the
887
lowest-latency sound; use it if you can, because you will be happier
888
with the results.  (Note, though, that no NT sound drivers yet support
889
DirectSound.)  Wave sound will often have high latency, lagging the
890
events that generate sound by hundreds of milliseconds on some
891
machines.
892
 
893
You can tell what kind of sound WQ uses on your system by looking at
894
the startup portion of the console; you will see either "DirectSound
895
initialized" or "Wave sound initialized" (neither message is printed
896
if there's no sound).  Any sound failure messages will also be printed
897
in the startup portion of the console.
898
 
899
Note that WQ generates sound only when it is the active app, the one
900
with the input focus.
901
 
902
 
903
 
904
-------------------------------
905
| Sound command-line switches |
906
-------------------------------
907
 
908
The full list of sound-related command-line switches is:
909
 
910
-wavonly: don’t use DirectSound, but use wave sound if available.
911
Note that wave sound is generally faster than DirectSound, but has
912
considerably greater latency.  This switch is redundant on NT, because
913
all sound output on current NT drivers is wave sound.
914
 
915
-nosound: don’t output any sound.
916
 
917
-primarysound: use DirectSound primary buffer output.  This is
918
generally faster than normal secondary buffer output, but does not
919
work in some systems, and produces odd sound glitches on minimization
920
and focus switching in other systems.  Use it at your own risk, and
921
please do not report sound bugs if you're using this switch.
922
 
923
-snoforceformat: WQ will not try to force the sound hardware to 11
924
KHz, 16 bits per sample.  This may be useful if DirectSound is failing
925
for no apparent reason, but generally WQ will produce better sound and
926
better performance if this switch is not used.
927
 
928
 
929
 
930
-----------------------
931
| Notes on networking |
932
-----------------------
933
 
934
The winsock TCP/IP driver will not cause a dial-up internet connection
935
to automatically start up when Quake is started.  If you start Quake
936
with it inactive, the connection will be activated when you either try
937
to connect to a server or search for local servers.
938
 
939
The local IP address will not always be known at startup.  If it is
940
currently unknown the menu will display "INADDR_ANY".  This will be
941
replaced with the real address when it is known.  The IP address will
942
become known when you try to connect to a server, you search for local
943
servers, or you start a server.
944
 
945
For multi-homed machines (machines with more than one network adapter
946
and IP adress), you can force WinQuake to bind to a specific IP
947
address.  There is a command line option "-ip" that takes an IP
948
address as its parameter.
949
 
950
 
951
 
952
----------------------
953
| Notes on the mouse |
954
----------------------
955
 
956
If DirectInput is installed and functioning, WinQuake can use it for
957
mouse input, but does not do so automatically because DirectInput does
958
not work properly on all systems.  DirectInput can be enabled via the
959
command-line switch -dinput.  If DirectInput is not available or is
960
not enabled, WinQuake uses the normal Windows mouse APIs instead.
961
DirectInput provides slightly smoother motion; also, it tends to be
962
more responsive to fast spinning motions, and we recommend that you use
963
it if it works properly on your system.  You can determine if WQ uses
964
DirectInput on your system when you use -dinput by checking for
965
"DirectInput initialized" in the startup console text.  If not, you
966
might try installing DirectX 3 (note, though, that as I write this
967
there is no released DirectInput support for Windows NT, only Win95).
968
 
969
 
970
 
971
-----------------------------------
972
| Log of changes to documentation |
973
-----------------------------------
974
 
975
*** WinQuake 0.994 ***
976
 
977
Fixed bug where in some cases involving IPX, whenever a new person
978
entered the game, a current player got dumped.
979
 
980
Added DirectInput mouse support, and the -dinput command-line to
981
enable it.
982
 
983
Added -notriplebuf to disable triple buffering to work around
984
possible problems with some modes on some DirectDraw drivers.
985
 
986
Added remembering last window position, and restoring that, rather
987
than centering the window, whenever WinQuake runs in a window.
988
Can be reset with the -resetwinpos command-line switch.
989
 
990
Added the vid_minimize command, which minimizes WinQuake if and only
991
if the current mode is windowed.
992
 
993
Made it so WinQuake no longer gets suspended when Alt-Tab is used to
994
switch away from a fullscreen session.  The means you can Alt-Tab
995
away from fullscreen WinQuake without losing a connection to a
996
Quake server.
997
 
998
Added vid_nopageflip console variable to turn off page flipping, and
999
documented page flipping problems this can be used to work around.
1000
 
1001
Documented that Del-Ctrl-Alt (in that order) causes WinQuake to
1002
fault on Win95.
1003
 
1004
Fixed the winsock TCP/IP driver so it will not cause a dial-up
1005
internet connection to automatically start up when Quake is started.
1006
If you start Quake with the internet connection already active, there
1007
will be no difference.  If you start Quake with it inactive, the
1008
connection will be activated when you either try to connect to a
1009
server or search for local servers.
1010
 
1011
The local IP address will not always be known at startup now.  If it
1012
is currently unknown the menu will display "INADDR_ANY".  This
1013
will be replaced with the real address when it is known.  The IP
1014
address will become known when: you try to connect to a server,
1015
you search for local servers, or you start a server.
1016
 
1017
For multi-homed machines (machines with more than one network
1018
adapter and IP adress), you can now force WinQuake to bind to a
1019
specific IP adress.  There is a new command line option "-ip" that
1020
takes an IP address as its parameter.
1021
 
1022
Added vid_fullscreen_mode and ability to select that mode by
1023
clicking on the maximize button.  Added two commands:
1024
vid_fullscreen to switch to vid_fullscreen_mode, and
1025
vid_windowed to switch to vid_windowed mode.
1026
 
1027
Changed joystick default to disabled; now it only works if the
1028
joystick cvar is set to 1; however, this setting now remains in
1029
effect permanently.  Added joystick documentation below.
1030
 
1031
Documented dprint only works if developer set to 1.
1032
 
1033
Documented scrunching of MS-DOS windows on Alt-Tab.
1034
 
1035
Documented that NT versions earlier to 4.0 are not supported.
1036
 
1037
Added DirectInput support for devices such as First Person
1038
Gaming's Assassin controller.  All buttons should now
1039
be configurable in WinQuake.
1040
 
1041
Fixed bug where when low-res fullscreen DIB modes selected from
1042
the menu sometimes ran very slowly or produced garbled displays.
1043
 
1044
Fixed bug where 1.06 and earlier save files couldn't be loaded
1045
by WinQuake.
1046
 
1047
Removed "Net play pauses every few seconds" bug; it was determined
1048
not to be a bug, just an artifact of network play.
1049
 
1050
Noted that even when BIOSes do have VESA 2.0 built-in, it's often
1051
so buggy that WinQuake crashes in faster configurations, and that
1052
SciTech Display Doctor is the easiest way to get reliable VESA
1053
support.
1054
 
1055
Added note on Alt-Tab only working if Tab released first.
1056
 
1057
 
1058
*** WinQuake 0.992 ***
1059
 
1060
Implemented force_centerview.
1061
 
1062
Fixed backspace bug in dedicated console.
1063
 
1064
Made "player entering game" messages and "say" messages visible
1065
in dedicated console.
1066
 
1067
Added description of -heapsize (how to change default memory
1068
allocation).
1069
 
1070
Added description of "net play pauses every few seconds" bug.
1071
 
1072
Added description of "playdemo fails across multiple levels" bug.
1073
 
1074
Added hooks for QHost; however, WinQuake won't work with QHost
1075
until a new version of QHost 3.0, which uses the hooks, is
1076
released.  QHost 3.0 will not work with WinQuake.
1077
 
1078
Fixed bug where savegame descriptions weren't always terminated
1079
properly.
1080
 
1081
Fixed bug where running -dedicated reset part of config.cfg to
1082
defaults.
1083
 
1084
 
1085
*** WinQuake 0.991 ***
1086
 
1087
Fixed problem with pre-1.07 (DOS) clients connecting to WinQuake.
1088
 
1089
Got rid of "Starting Quake..." dialog when running -dedicated.
1090
 
1091
Added -novbeaf switch to turn off VBE/AF support in case of problems,
1092
and updated documentation.
1093
 
1094
Corrected SciTech's U.S. Mail address in documentation.
1095
 
1096
Added joystick bug decriptions and workarounds.
1097
 
1098
 
1099
 
1100
------------------
1101
| Special thanks |
1102
------------------
1103
 
1104
Special thanks for help with WinQuake to:
1105
 
1106
James Barnes
1107
Kendall Bennett
1108
Raymond Chen
1109
John Colleran
1110
Andrew Goossen
1111
Mike Harrington
1112
Chris Hecker
1113
Todd Laney
1114
Scott Ludwig
1115
...and all the beta testers!
1116
 
1117
======================================================================
1118
End of Document 3/21/97
1119
======================================================================