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IMMORTALZ
Console...
The console is a command line type interface, a bit like DOS, its not DOS, its a custom command interface written by id software. The console can be used to change variables of the game or to enter commands. Every single thing that has a value one way or another can be changed through the console. The console contents can be scrolled up and down with the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN keys. Commands you typed previously can be accessed with CURSOR_UP and CURSOR_DOWN keys.CURSOR_LEFT and CURSOR_RIGHT let you go back along the string you typed and edit wrong bits. The console supports TAB COMPLETION, if you type part of a command then press TAB key the game will fill in the rest of the command. Note: if there is more than 1 possible match, all of the possibilities are displayed. To pull down the console, press "crtl + alt + ~". If you want to make it so you can pull down the console by just pressing ~, put com_allowconsole 1 in your autoexec.cfg, or add +com_allowconsole 1 to your q4 shortcut.
Config Files
Config files (marked *.cfg) are textfiles that contain settings, scripts and binds for Q4 (see topics on the console, scripts and binding keys for more info). The one config file everyone has is q4config.cfg, located in the baseq4 folder inside your Quake 4 folder, and in every mod folder. The q4config.cfg files contain all the settings and variables for Q4 and/or a particular mod. It is not recommended to edit these files manually, but you can safely look at them using a textfile viewer which supports Unicode Text Files (if you open up the q4config.cfg file in Notepad you'll notice all carriage returns have disappeared. I recommend to use WordPad instead).
q4config.cfg- The file that contains all of your quake4 settings.
autoexec.cfg- This file is not created by Q4, you can make it yourself. What it does is automatically loads any settings located in this file when q4 starts up.
Configs can be saved and loaded at any time. When in the game, pull down the console and type 'writeconfig anynamehere.cfg'. This command creates a config file out of your current settings, and saves it as 'anynamehere.cfg'. To load a config, type 'exec anynamehere.cfg' in your q4base directory. This is useful if multiple people play your game and have different control settings, or if you want different configs for multiplayer and singleplayer. If you have different graphics settings per config, you might have to type vid_restart in the console after exec'ing your config.
Chat
say
sayteam
'say' chats to everybody, and 'sayteam' chats to only your team. You can bind chat macros via the console and your config. For example, typing bind q "sayteam 'RALLY AT THE RED ARMOR'" will tell your team to "RALLY AT THE RED ARMOR" every time you hit the "q" key.
Voice chat
In addition to the standard text chat, Quake 4 also includes a voice communication system. To use it, you must first bind it to a key in the controls menu. You can configure your voice settings from the Voice Chat menu by hitting escape while in game. You can mute and unmute players by hitting escape in game, clicking 'Players', then clicking 'Mute Player' from the menu.
Friends List
If you have a few buddies who you frequently frag with, you can add them to your friends list to easily find what server they're on, and join them at the push of a button. To add a player to your friends list, you must be on the same server as them. Press escape, click 'Players', and click 'Add Friend' on the menu.
Health and Armor
There are 3 types of armor. Large (red) = 100, Small (yellow) = 50, and armor shards = 5. Armor always absorbs 2/3 of the damage you take. If you don't have enough armor, the rest of the damage will go to your health.
Weapons
If you are familiar with Quake 3's weapons, Quake 4 will make you feel right at home. Basically all of Quake 3's weapons return with the addition of the nailgun. The damage, rate of fire, and speed from Quake 3's arsenal remains exactly the same. Some weapons can also be fired through teleporters. Note that the Blaster is not available in multiplayer, and the Gauntlet is not available in singleplayer. Weapon modifications are also not available in multiplayer.
Gauntlet
A last resort weapon, or a way to humiliate your opponent. A saw that can only be used when you're up close and personal.
Machinegun
Your starting weapon. This is best used to finish your opponent off. It also has a semi automatic zoom function that deals a little bit more damage. In tourney/DM the machinegun deals 7 damage a bullet, and 10 when zoomed. In teamplay modes it does 5 damage a bullet, and 7 when zoomed.
Shotgun
The best weapon in close combat. The more range, the larger the spread of the bullets.
Grenade Launcher
Used to spam hallways, and root out opponents. Excellent if you are being chased and are running away in tight hallways. Grenades can be bounced off acceleration pads, and bounce pads, making them a bit more effective than in past quakes. A direct hit with a grenade will result in 100 damage.
Hyperblaster
Much like the q3 plasmagun. The best strategy is to aim for direct hits. Also can be used to blanket an area fairly quickly. 1 hyberblaster hit does 14 damage.
Nailgun
A rapid fire weapon, with a slight spin up time. Since this weapon deals a large amount of splash damage, and has a slower rate of fire, a good strategy is to aim at your opponents feet and kill them with the splash damage. This weapon also makes a buzzing sound that can give your, or your opponents position away. A direct nail will deal 30 damage.
Rocket Launcher
Rockets are excellent in medium, to close range. The best strategy is to aim at the feet and kill your opponent with splash damage. 1 direct rocket does 100 damage.
Lightning gun
Used in medium to close combat, this weapon has a limited range, and deals a stream of damage. If you can hold it on your opponent, you're golden. The best strategy to avoid it is to make jerky movements from side to side, and try to get behind corners and other obstacles.
Railgun
An instant hit weapon with a zoom function. Best used in long, to medium range. Its long recharge time makes it ineffective in close combat compared to some other weapons. Note that this weapon makes a slight buzzing sound, and can give your position away. The best way to avoid rails is to make unpredictable strafing patterns, and to stay out of the air. If your opponent has the rail, keep off bounce pads. 1 rail inflicts 100 damage.
Dark Matter Gun
Q4's super weapon. Fires slow balls of energy that have a large splash damage radius on impact. Best used to fire into a group of unsuspecting opponents. Fires too slow for long range, and the splash damage is too large for close range.
Customizing Quake 4
Quake 4 allows for plenty of customization, however some commands are limited, or cannot be changed in multiplayer.
Colored Names
To color your name in the Quake 4 player setup menu, just type ^1-8 before the part of your name you would like to color. The color code will disappear, and you will be typing in the color you chose. You can switch colors as many times as you'd like. You can also use the color codes for chat macros.
The color codes are as follows:
^1 = Red
^2 = Green
^3 = Yellow
^4 = Blue
^5 = Light Blue
^6 = Purple
^7 = White
^8 = Grey
^9 = Black
Theres also a large variety of "advanced" name colors available. to use these type ^c<R><G><B>, where <R><G><B> are values from 1-9
Rail Trail
To change the color of your rail, use the ui_HitScanTint "hue[0.0-360]" "saturation[0.0-1]" "value[.75-1]" command. This command uses HSV color space. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSV_color_space
Crosshair Color
You can change the color of your crosshair by pulling down the console and using g_crosshaircolor 0 1 1 1 //RGB + Alpha?
Example color codes:
1 0 0 = red
0 1 0 = green
0 0 1 = blue
0 1 1 = cyan
Crosshair Size
To change the size of your Crosshair, use the g_crosshairsize command.
Mouse Settings
Below are settings that deal with the mouse. Almost every aspect of it's behavior can be tweaked.
m_strafeSmooth
m_smooth //number of samples blended, makes a smoothing effect
m_strafeScale
m_yaw //horizontal, left and right sensitivity.
m_pitch //vertical, up and down sensitivity
sensitivity //overall mouse sensitivity
Field of View
You can change your FOV by typing the command g_fov xxx in the console. The higher the number, the more of a fish eyed effect. The default is 90. This command doesn't stick in your config, so you may have to add it to autoexec.cfg, or to a shortcut to get it to load on startup.
The Lag O' Meter
The Lag O' Meter shows you a visual graph of your connection with the server. To enable it, type net_clientlagometer 1 in the console.
Adjusting Brightness
r_gamma adjusts the brightness. If set too high, you'll get a washed out effect.
Frames Per Second
To show your Frames per second, type com_showfps 1 in the console. The max FPS is capped at 60.
Taking Screenshots
By default, f12 takes screenshots. The screenshots are saved in your quake 4\q4base\screenshots directory. Screenshots are saved as .tga's, to view them you will need a graphics program such as photoshop. To take jpg screenshots, use the 'screenshotJPEG' command.
Here is a clean screenshot script. It binds the f11 key to take screenshots without the gun model and hud.
bind F11 "set ui_showGun 0; set g_showHud 0; screenshot; set g_showHud 1; set ui_showGun 1"
Recording Demo's
To record a demo, type recordNetDemo to start recording, and stopNetDemo to stop recording in the console. Type PlayNetDemo Demoname to play a demo. Demos are saved in your quake 4\q4base\demos directory.
Punkbuster
Punkbuster is cheat prevention software, that is frequently updated to help stop new hacks. You can enable it via the menu, or by typing cl_punkbuster 1 in the console. If punkbuster is disabled, you will not be able to join servers that have it enabled.
Stats and Scoreboard
At the end of a game, a summary page shows you the players scores, and quick weapon accuracy info. Weapon icons under the weapon accuracy space shows each players top 3 weapon accuracy during that game, best accuracy from left to right.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/summery.jpg[/lvlshot]
You can view more in depth stats by clicking the statistics tab. things such as how many awards you have aquired during that game, or what your accuracy percentage for each weapon was are shown here. You can also view other players stats by clicking their name on the list.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/statistics.jpg[/lvlshot]
The scoreboard tab breaks down how the points were tallied, and more in depth score related information.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/scoreboard.jpg[/lvlshot]
You can view your stats in game at any time by pressing the 'z' key. You can bring up the scoreboard at any time during the game by pressing 'tab'.
Awards
Awards are given to players depending on their accomplishments during the game. They are not worth any extra points, with exception of the special CTF awards listed below.
Humiliation: Awarded to a player who frags somebody with the Gauntlet.
Excellent: Awarded to a player who gets 2 frags in 2 seconds.
Impressive: Awarded to a player who hits 2 rails in a row.
Rampage: Awarded to a player who gets 3 or more frags in 2 seconds.
Combo: Awarded to a player who hits somebody with a rocket, and then rails them immediately after.
Special CTF only awards:
Flag Capture: Capturing the Enemy flag. Worth 5 points.
Assist: Returning your flag, and your team captures the enemy flag immediately after. Worth 2 points.
Defense: Defending your flag or flag carrier from an enemy. Worth 2 points.
Gametypes
Deathmatch
Free for all game, where the player with the most frags wins.
Tournament
A single elimination 1 vs 1 tournament. The winner of a match will move on to the next round until there is 1 champion. The eliminated players watch as spectators, or battle each other in a practice arena until the tournament is over. By default, the 'enter' key on the keypad joins the practice arena. When in a game, the 'tab' key will bring up the tournament brackets.
Tips for playing 1v1:
The most basic 1v1 skill is map control. The key to victory is not letting your opponent have any armors and powerups. Armor is a very important aspect of quake 4, even a little bit helps. All it takes is 1 armor shard to survive a rail. Timing items will help keep you on top of map control. The armor spawns every 25 seconds, and the megahealth spawns in 35 seconds. It may seem difficult to keep track of your opponent, and respawn times, but the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. Know when to play defensively and offensively. If you know your opponent is armed to the teeth with weapons and armor, and you have just spawned, you should probably not try to attack until you stock up a little bit more. Spawn rape is another important aspect. After you frag your opponent, high tail it to the other end of the map, and you might be able to catch him unarmed, and unarmored. This can often put you back in the lead if you are down by a few frags. Never give up, anything can happen during 1v1, and you might be able to get back in the game, even if you feel you don't have a chance. 1v1 is the most challenging mode. Don't feel too bummed out if you lose by a lot, it happens to all of us. Stick with it, and like everything, the more you play, the better you'll get.
Team Deathmatch
Players are divided up into Strogg and Marine teams. The team with the most frags wins.
Tips for playing TDM:
Like in 1v1, map control is a very important aspect of TDM. A noteable difference in this mode is the long weapon respawn time. This promotes map control on a larger scale, where starving your opponents of weapons is about as important as controlling the armors and powerups. The key to success, like in any team play mode, is teamwork. You should share weapons and armor with your teammates. Think twice about snatching up a weapon from an enemy you have just killed, and let a teammate have it. If you don't have a weapon, stay near a teammate who does and offer support until you can get a hold of one. The key is to stay defensive, then when you have enough weapons and armor, go offensive and actively seek out the enemy. Every frag counts, and you don't want to give them up. Camp the armors, and time the quad. Your entire team should storm the quad area when it is about to respawn. It is an valuable tool to take back control of the map if need be, or to get some easy frags.
Capture the Flag
It's the Strogg vs Marines, where the goal is to capture the opposing teams flag without letting them capture yours. You cannot capture the enemies flag unless your teams flag is at it's base. The team who captures the flag the most times wins.
CTF scoring scheme:
5 points for capturing the flag
2 points for assisting a capture by fragging the enemy flag carrier and your team captures in four seconds
2 points for fragging the enemy flag carrier
2 points for fragging someone who has recently damaged your flag carrier
1 point for returning your flag
1 point for fragging an enemy player within sight or near your flag carrier
1 point for fragging an enemy player in your base
1 point for fragging an enemy player
1 point for assisting a capture by returning the flag and your team capturing in four seconds
Tips for playing CTF:
Remember that your flag carrier always has priority over health and armor. Never take armor that your flag carrier can use, even if you are defending him. Most of the time the enemy will be focused on killing the flag carrier, and completely ignore you, so he needs all of the health and armor he can get. When assaulting the enemy base, you will have better luck coordinating your attack with teammates. If you can, try to grab some armor before heading in. Anything that will keep you alive longer. Timing powerups can help tremendously, and is often just the boost you need to break through the enemies defenses. If the bases contain powerups, and armor, it might help to take the enemies. Flag carriers can only survive as long as their steady stream of health and armor keeps spawning, so disrupting the supply can ruin them. You can also give your flag carrier a little speed boost by shooting him. Make sure team damage is off before attempting this.
Arena Capture the Flag
The same as standard Capture the Flag, except it adds a Team Arena style powerup system. A powerup will not respawn until the player who has it is killed.
Arena CTF powerups:
Scout - Allows you to move faster and increases rate of fire, but negates your ability to utilize armor.
Guard - This powerup gives you 200 armor when acquired, and allows you to accumulate up to 200 armor, without decreasing over time. It will also regenerate 2 points of health every second.
Doubler - When you have the Doubler powerup, all of your attacks will do double damage.
Ammo-Regen - While you have Ammo Regen, your ammunition will slowly regenerate up to the default amount for the weapons you acquire, even while you have another weapon active. Also, your rate of fire increases.
The Arena CTF powerups stack on top of the standard powerups. For example, The Doubler will do even more damage if coupled with the quad.
Tips for playing Arena CTF:
Each powerup has an intended use, and team work is crucial to success. The Doubler is your teams killing machine. The guy who has this powerup should always be busy killing something. When coupled with the railgun, it can be extremely deadly in both defensive and offensive positions. This powerup is your best tool to take back your flag with. If there's a stalemate, you definitely want your Doubler on the offensive, he can take down anything in his path. The Scout is your teams flag carrier. Although it cannot use any armor, it can however use the mega health, so try to reserve it for him. For best results, have some teammates engage your opponents in the enemy flag room, while the Scout runs in and grabs the flag while everybody's busy. The Guard is like a brick wall, capable of capping the flag, or holding out in a stalemate. If there is a stalemate, it might be a good idea to give the enemies flag to the person with the Guard by killing yourself (kill -1 in the console) because he can take more punishment than any player out there, and is capable of surviving waves of enemies. Be especially careful of the enemies Doubler. The best thing to do is to run away, and have your teammates deal with it. The Ammo Regen is actually pretty weak compared to the other powerups, but it's better than nothing. Just keep spamming.
Advanced Tactics
The Quake series has always been on the forefront of competitive gaming. It's easy to dismiss it as just a twitch game, but the strategy, movement tricks, weapon balance, and other various gameplay mechanics make it unlike any other FPS series on the market. Easy to play, but hard to master has been what the series is all about, and the trend continues with Quake 4.
Movement and Trick Jumps
Strafe Jumping
Strafe jumping is a very important skill in Quake 4 that enables you to move at a faster-than-running pace. When you strafe jump you perform a continuous jumping cycle while running forward and strafing in alternate directions (or the same direction if you want to curve your jump).
How to do it:
Firstly, lets get you into the habit of jumping continuously, because strafe jumping is a bit hard to attempt all at once. Perform the following on a level with nice long open spaces or corridors.
Stage 1
Run forward. At no time in this example do you let go of the run forward key. While running, Jump When your in the air, release the jump button and press-and-hold it again. When you land, you will jump back into the air instantly. Repeat the above until you are comfortable with doing it everywhere.
Stage 2
Perform the exact cycle as above EXCEPT: When you jump in the air the first time, press and hold strafe left IN ADDITION to what you do already (holding forward and jump-cycling) After you land and skip back into the air, switch from holding strafe LEFT, to holding strafe RIGHT After you land and skip back into the air, switch from holding strafe RIGHT, to holding strafe LEFT for as long as you want/can travel
Note:
Playing jackrabbit can leave you a target for rail whores because your ability to change direction is limited. Also: You can do this backwards, simply by using the BACK key instead of the forward key.
Ramp Jumping
Ramp jumping is all about jumping up an incline, or a slope to get more height on your jump than normally possible. To do this, start a strafe jump into a ramp. Try to hit the highest part of the ramp as you can to gain more height. Simple right? Now you can use this trick to your advantage and reach places that you couldn't normally reach without stairs or bounce pads. A good place to practice this is on q4dm1. Try using the ramp in the red armor room to jump up on top of the crates near the railgun.
Crouch Sliding
Crouch sliding can be useful to make sharp turns without losing speed. When you have some speed from a strafe jump, press and hold crouch just before you hit the ground. You will notice that you slide a little bit. The tricky part is using this to keep your strafe jumping speed while making sharp turns. Before you hit the ground and are about to start your crouch slide, let go of your direction keys. As you slide, press and hold left or right depending on your desired direction, and move your mouse in the direction you are moving. The next step is to let go of crouch, and press jump to continue your strafe jump. Note that the closer to the ground that you press crouch to start your crouch slide, the longer you'll slide.
Rocket Jumping
To rocket jump you need to hold a rocket launcher. Look straight at the floor. Now pull the trigger and jump simultaneously.
You'll notice that, provided the jump was done right, you'll fly quite high into the air, at least far higher than you could ever reach with a normal jump. Rocket jumps may take some practice, and are sometimes hard to perform with lag. Practice them a bit first on your own. Be sure that you can afford to lose some health and that making the jump is worth it. Grenade jumps are a quite tough to perform, as you need to time your jump exactly at the moment the grenade explodes. Fire a grenade straight at the ground a few times without jumping. Notice it's bouncing rhythm and moment of detonating. When you can "feel" this inside, you can try your first jump.
Wall Climbing
Wall climbing is using the splash damage of the Hyperblaster or Nailgun to lift yourself up along a wall. Stand facing against a wall and look down at a slight angle with your feet. Jump as you start firing your Hyperblaster, and hold the 'forward' key. Release the jump key as you take off. If you don't go into the air, adjust your aiming angle and make sure you aren't 'sliding' along the wall while holding the forward key. Wall climbing is most effective with the Nailgun because it has more splash damage, but it is a little bit tougher to pull off because of it's slight spin up time. Wall climbing can be incredibly hard to master, and often isn't useful in real games.
General Gameplay Tips
Always keep moving, the second you stop makes you an easy target. Learn to move and aim at the same time.
Try to predict what your opponents next move is going to be.
Spam rockets and grenades in doorways, or where ever you think the enemy is going to pop up.
Try to be unpredictable in movement, and map control.
Listen to sounds, footsteps,jumping, item pickups, the buzz of the enemies railgun, and nailgun.
Try not to give your position away by making unneeded noise. remember the railgun, and nailgun buzz. Walking isn't as useless as you might think in 1v1.
Use sound to your advantage. Start jumping to make your opponent think you are strafe jumping away, then walk the other direction.
Some weapons have unique initialization sounds when switched to.
Know when to use the right weapon for the right situation. There is no such thing as the 'best' weapon.
Bind your weapons to keys instead of using the mouse wheel, or by the time you select the weapon you need, it's already over.
Keep pressure on armor and powerups.
Know when to attack, and when not to.
Learn the maps
Spectate other players, and watch demos.
Practice
Installing Maps, Skins, and Models
Maps, skins, and models end in a .pk4 format. They should be placed in your quake 4\q4base directory. After that, start up the game, and they should be available to you.
Installing Mods
Mods should be installed directly into your Quake 4 directory. You should then be able to choose them from the Mods menu in game.
Terms
Below are a list of terms used in this guide, and Quake in general.
Frag
A term for killing, or fragging a player.
Mods
A modification to the game, that can add small features such as new gametypes, or weapons. They can also change almost every aspect of the game, to make it not even resemble Quake. These mods are called 'total conversions'.
Map
A level, or battle ground that you play on.
Skins and Models
A player model is the 3d representation of the player in game. The 2d art that paints the player model is called a skin.
Strafing
Side to side movement, a basic Quake skill.
Splash Damage
this is an effect that is only on certain weapons such as... rocket launcher, hyperblaster, grenade launcher, and nailgun. it is the "splash of the weapon that creates this damage..." You could compare this to the force of an explosion. Standing slightly away from an explosion can still hurt you. Splash Damage is always calculated in a radius. This means that the center of the "splash damage sphere" around, say, the rocket deals full damage (ie, a direct hit from a rocket delivers a hit of 100 health). The further you are away from the rocket's impact location, the less damage the rocket splash will do. You will often find yourself rather using splash damage from some weapons than direct hit damage, since it's very hard to get a direct hit with a grenade or rocket.
Quake 4 Related Links
Patches, and Official Files
N/A
Quake 4 Sites
http://www.ravensoft.com Developers
http://www.idsoftware.com Developers
http://www.quake4game.com Official Game Site
http://www.quake4world.com News and our Wiki
http://www.planetquake.com News
http://www.esreality.com Demos
http://www.q4euro.com News and much more
http://www.leveldesign.nl Test your custom maps on their servers
http://ucguides.savagehelp.com/Quake4/Quake4Guide.htm Guide/Tweaks
The console is a command line type interface, a bit like DOS, its not DOS, its a custom command interface written by id software. The console can be used to change variables of the game or to enter commands. Every single thing that has a value one way or another can be changed through the console. The console contents can be scrolled up and down with the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN keys. Commands you typed previously can be accessed with CURSOR_UP and CURSOR_DOWN keys.CURSOR_LEFT and CURSOR_RIGHT let you go back along the string you typed and edit wrong bits. The console supports TAB COMPLETION, if you type part of a command then press TAB key the game will fill in the rest of the command. Note: if there is more than 1 possible match, all of the possibilities are displayed. To pull down the console, press "crtl + alt + ~". If you want to make it so you can pull down the console by just pressing ~, put com_allowconsole 1 in your autoexec.cfg, or add +com_allowconsole 1 to your q4 shortcut.
Config Files
Config files (marked *.cfg) are textfiles that contain settings, scripts and binds for Q4 (see topics on the console, scripts and binding keys for more info). The one config file everyone has is q4config.cfg, located in the baseq4 folder inside your Quake 4 folder, and in every mod folder. The q4config.cfg files contain all the settings and variables for Q4 and/or a particular mod. It is not recommended to edit these files manually, but you can safely look at them using a textfile viewer which supports Unicode Text Files (if you open up the q4config.cfg file in Notepad you'll notice all carriage returns have disappeared. I recommend to use WordPad instead).
q4config.cfg- The file that contains all of your quake4 settings.
autoexec.cfg- This file is not created by Q4, you can make it yourself. What it does is automatically loads any settings located in this file when q4 starts up.
Configs can be saved and loaded at any time. When in the game, pull down the console and type 'writeconfig anynamehere.cfg'. This command creates a config file out of your current settings, and saves it as 'anynamehere.cfg'. To load a config, type 'exec anynamehere.cfg' in your q4base directory. This is useful if multiple people play your game and have different control settings, or if you want different configs for multiplayer and singleplayer. If you have different graphics settings per config, you might have to type vid_restart in the console after exec'ing your config.
Chat
say
sayteam
'say' chats to everybody, and 'sayteam' chats to only your team. You can bind chat macros via the console and your config. For example, typing bind q "sayteam 'RALLY AT THE RED ARMOR'" will tell your team to "RALLY AT THE RED ARMOR" every time you hit the "q" key.
Voice chat
In addition to the standard text chat, Quake 4 also includes a voice communication system. To use it, you must first bind it to a key in the controls menu. You can configure your voice settings from the Voice Chat menu by hitting escape while in game. You can mute and unmute players by hitting escape in game, clicking 'Players', then clicking 'Mute Player' from the menu.
Friends List
If you have a few buddies who you frequently frag with, you can add them to your friends list to easily find what server they're on, and join them at the push of a button. To add a player to your friends list, you must be on the same server as them. Press escape, click 'Players', and click 'Add Friend' on the menu.
Health and Armor
There are 3 types of armor. Large (red) = 100, Small (yellow) = 50, and armor shards = 5. Armor always absorbs 2/3 of the damage you take. If you don't have enough armor, the rest of the damage will go to your health.
Weapons
If you are familiar with Quake 3's weapons, Quake 4 will make you feel right at home. Basically all of Quake 3's weapons return with the addition of the nailgun. The damage, rate of fire, and speed from Quake 3's arsenal remains exactly the same. Some weapons can also be fired through teleporters. Note that the Blaster is not available in multiplayer, and the Gauntlet is not available in singleplayer. Weapon modifications are also not available in multiplayer.
Gauntlet
A last resort weapon, or a way to humiliate your opponent. A saw that can only be used when you're up close and personal.
Machinegun
Your starting weapon. This is best used to finish your opponent off. It also has a semi automatic zoom function that deals a little bit more damage. In tourney/DM the machinegun deals 7 damage a bullet, and 10 when zoomed. In teamplay modes it does 5 damage a bullet, and 7 when zoomed.
Shotgun
The best weapon in close combat. The more range, the larger the spread of the bullets.
Grenade Launcher
Used to spam hallways, and root out opponents. Excellent if you are being chased and are running away in tight hallways. Grenades can be bounced off acceleration pads, and bounce pads, making them a bit more effective than in past quakes. A direct hit with a grenade will result in 100 damage.
Hyperblaster
Much like the q3 plasmagun. The best strategy is to aim for direct hits. Also can be used to blanket an area fairly quickly. 1 hyberblaster hit does 14 damage.
Nailgun
A rapid fire weapon, with a slight spin up time. Since this weapon deals a large amount of splash damage, and has a slower rate of fire, a good strategy is to aim at your opponents feet and kill them with the splash damage. This weapon also makes a buzzing sound that can give your, or your opponents position away. A direct nail will deal 30 damage.
Rocket Launcher
Rockets are excellent in medium, to close range. The best strategy is to aim at the feet and kill your opponent with splash damage. 1 direct rocket does 100 damage.
Lightning gun
Used in medium to close combat, this weapon has a limited range, and deals a stream of damage. If you can hold it on your opponent, you're golden. The best strategy to avoid it is to make jerky movements from side to side, and try to get behind corners and other obstacles.
Railgun
An instant hit weapon with a zoom function. Best used in long, to medium range. Its long recharge time makes it ineffective in close combat compared to some other weapons. Note that this weapon makes a slight buzzing sound, and can give your position away. The best way to avoid rails is to make unpredictable strafing patterns, and to stay out of the air. If your opponent has the rail, keep off bounce pads. 1 rail inflicts 100 damage.
Dark Matter Gun
Q4's super weapon. Fires slow balls of energy that have a large splash damage radius on impact. Best used to fire into a group of unsuspecting opponents. Fires too slow for long range, and the splash damage is too large for close range.
Customizing Quake 4
Quake 4 allows for plenty of customization, however some commands are limited, or cannot be changed in multiplayer.
Colored Names
To color your name in the Quake 4 player setup menu, just type ^1-8 before the part of your name you would like to color. The color code will disappear, and you will be typing in the color you chose. You can switch colors as many times as you'd like. You can also use the color codes for chat macros.
The color codes are as follows:
^1 = Red
^2 = Green
^3 = Yellow
^4 = Blue
^5 = Light Blue
^6 = Purple
^7 = White
^8 = Grey
^9 = Black
Theres also a large variety of "advanced" name colors available. to use these type ^c<R><G><B>, where <R><G><B> are values from 1-9
Rail Trail
To change the color of your rail, use the ui_HitScanTint "hue[0.0-360]" "saturation[0.0-1]" "value[.75-1]" command. This command uses HSV color space. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSV_color_space
Crosshair Color
You can change the color of your crosshair by pulling down the console and using g_crosshaircolor 0 1 1 1 //RGB + Alpha?
Example color codes:
1 0 0 = red
0 1 0 = green
0 0 1 = blue
0 1 1 = cyan
Crosshair Size
To change the size of your Crosshair, use the g_crosshairsize command.
Mouse Settings
Below are settings that deal with the mouse. Almost every aspect of it's behavior can be tweaked.
m_strafeSmooth
m_smooth //number of samples blended, makes a smoothing effect
m_strafeScale
m_yaw //horizontal, left and right sensitivity.
m_pitch //vertical, up and down sensitivity
sensitivity //overall mouse sensitivity
Field of View
You can change your FOV by typing the command g_fov xxx in the console. The higher the number, the more of a fish eyed effect. The default is 90. This command doesn't stick in your config, so you may have to add it to autoexec.cfg, or to a shortcut to get it to load on startup.
The Lag O' Meter
The Lag O' Meter shows you a visual graph of your connection with the server. To enable it, type net_clientlagometer 1 in the console.
Adjusting Brightness
r_gamma adjusts the brightness. If set too high, you'll get a washed out effect.
Frames Per Second
To show your Frames per second, type com_showfps 1 in the console. The max FPS is capped at 60.
Taking Screenshots
By default, f12 takes screenshots. The screenshots are saved in your quake 4\q4base\screenshots directory. Screenshots are saved as .tga's, to view them you will need a graphics program such as photoshop. To take jpg screenshots, use the 'screenshotJPEG' command.
Here is a clean screenshot script. It binds the f11 key to take screenshots without the gun model and hud.
bind F11 "set ui_showGun 0; set g_showHud 0; screenshot; set g_showHud 1; set ui_showGun 1"
Recording Demo's
To record a demo, type recordNetDemo to start recording, and stopNetDemo to stop recording in the console. Type PlayNetDemo Demoname to play a demo. Demos are saved in your quake 4\q4base\demos directory.
Punkbuster
Punkbuster is cheat prevention software, that is frequently updated to help stop new hacks. You can enable it via the menu, or by typing cl_punkbuster 1 in the console. If punkbuster is disabled, you will not be able to join servers that have it enabled.
Stats and Scoreboard
At the end of a game, a summary page shows you the players scores, and quick weapon accuracy info. Weapon icons under the weapon accuracy space shows each players top 3 weapon accuracy during that game, best accuracy from left to right.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/summery.jpg[/lvlshot]
You can view more in depth stats by clicking the statistics tab. things such as how many awards you have aquired during that game, or what your accuracy percentage for each weapon was are shown here. You can also view other players stats by clicking their name on the list.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/statistics.jpg[/lvlshot]
The scoreboard tab breaks down how the points were tallied, and more in depth score related information.
[lvlshot]http://www.quake3world.com/q4faq/scoreboard.jpg[/lvlshot]
You can view your stats in game at any time by pressing the 'z' key. You can bring up the scoreboard at any time during the game by pressing 'tab'.
Awards
Awards are given to players depending on their accomplishments during the game. They are not worth any extra points, with exception of the special CTF awards listed below.
Humiliation: Awarded to a player who frags somebody with the Gauntlet.
Excellent: Awarded to a player who gets 2 frags in 2 seconds.
Impressive: Awarded to a player who hits 2 rails in a row.
Rampage: Awarded to a player who gets 3 or more frags in 2 seconds.
Combo: Awarded to a player who hits somebody with a rocket, and then rails them immediately after.
Special CTF only awards:
Flag Capture: Capturing the Enemy flag. Worth 5 points.
Assist: Returning your flag, and your team captures the enemy flag immediately after. Worth 2 points.
Defense: Defending your flag or flag carrier from an enemy. Worth 2 points.
Gametypes
Deathmatch
Free for all game, where the player with the most frags wins.
Tournament
A single elimination 1 vs 1 tournament. The winner of a match will move on to the next round until there is 1 champion. The eliminated players watch as spectators, or battle each other in a practice arena until the tournament is over. By default, the 'enter' key on the keypad joins the practice arena. When in a game, the 'tab' key will bring up the tournament brackets.
Tips for playing 1v1:
The most basic 1v1 skill is map control. The key to victory is not letting your opponent have any armors and powerups. Armor is a very important aspect of quake 4, even a little bit helps. All it takes is 1 armor shard to survive a rail. Timing items will help keep you on top of map control. The armor spawns every 25 seconds, and the megahealth spawns in 35 seconds. It may seem difficult to keep track of your opponent, and respawn times, but the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. Know when to play defensively and offensively. If you know your opponent is armed to the teeth with weapons and armor, and you have just spawned, you should probably not try to attack until you stock up a little bit more. Spawn rape is another important aspect. After you frag your opponent, high tail it to the other end of the map, and you might be able to catch him unarmed, and unarmored. This can often put you back in the lead if you are down by a few frags. Never give up, anything can happen during 1v1, and you might be able to get back in the game, even if you feel you don't have a chance. 1v1 is the most challenging mode. Don't feel too bummed out if you lose by a lot, it happens to all of us. Stick with it, and like everything, the more you play, the better you'll get.
Team Deathmatch
Players are divided up into Strogg and Marine teams. The team with the most frags wins.
Tips for playing TDM:
Like in 1v1, map control is a very important aspect of TDM. A noteable difference in this mode is the long weapon respawn time. This promotes map control on a larger scale, where starving your opponents of weapons is about as important as controlling the armors and powerups. The key to success, like in any team play mode, is teamwork. You should share weapons and armor with your teammates. Think twice about snatching up a weapon from an enemy you have just killed, and let a teammate have it. If you don't have a weapon, stay near a teammate who does and offer support until you can get a hold of one. The key is to stay defensive, then when you have enough weapons and armor, go offensive and actively seek out the enemy. Every frag counts, and you don't want to give them up. Camp the armors, and time the quad. Your entire team should storm the quad area when it is about to respawn. It is an valuable tool to take back control of the map if need be, or to get some easy frags.
Capture the Flag
It's the Strogg vs Marines, where the goal is to capture the opposing teams flag without letting them capture yours. You cannot capture the enemies flag unless your teams flag is at it's base. The team who captures the flag the most times wins.
CTF scoring scheme:
5 points for capturing the flag
2 points for assisting a capture by fragging the enemy flag carrier and your team captures in four seconds
2 points for fragging the enemy flag carrier
2 points for fragging someone who has recently damaged your flag carrier
1 point for returning your flag
1 point for fragging an enemy player within sight or near your flag carrier
1 point for fragging an enemy player in your base
1 point for fragging an enemy player
1 point for assisting a capture by returning the flag and your team capturing in four seconds
Tips for playing CTF:
Remember that your flag carrier always has priority over health and armor. Never take armor that your flag carrier can use, even if you are defending him. Most of the time the enemy will be focused on killing the flag carrier, and completely ignore you, so he needs all of the health and armor he can get. When assaulting the enemy base, you will have better luck coordinating your attack with teammates. If you can, try to grab some armor before heading in. Anything that will keep you alive longer. Timing powerups can help tremendously, and is often just the boost you need to break through the enemies defenses. If the bases contain powerups, and armor, it might help to take the enemies. Flag carriers can only survive as long as their steady stream of health and armor keeps spawning, so disrupting the supply can ruin them. You can also give your flag carrier a little speed boost by shooting him. Make sure team damage is off before attempting this.
Arena Capture the Flag
The same as standard Capture the Flag, except it adds a Team Arena style powerup system. A powerup will not respawn until the player who has it is killed.
Arena CTF powerups:
Scout - Allows you to move faster and increases rate of fire, but negates your ability to utilize armor.
Guard - This powerup gives you 200 armor when acquired, and allows you to accumulate up to 200 armor, without decreasing over time. It will also regenerate 2 points of health every second.
Doubler - When you have the Doubler powerup, all of your attacks will do double damage.
Ammo-Regen - While you have Ammo Regen, your ammunition will slowly regenerate up to the default amount for the weapons you acquire, even while you have another weapon active. Also, your rate of fire increases.
The Arena CTF powerups stack on top of the standard powerups. For example, The Doubler will do even more damage if coupled with the quad.
Tips for playing Arena CTF:
Each powerup has an intended use, and team work is crucial to success. The Doubler is your teams killing machine. The guy who has this powerup should always be busy killing something. When coupled with the railgun, it can be extremely deadly in both defensive and offensive positions. This powerup is your best tool to take back your flag with. If there's a stalemate, you definitely want your Doubler on the offensive, he can take down anything in his path. The Scout is your teams flag carrier. Although it cannot use any armor, it can however use the mega health, so try to reserve it for him. For best results, have some teammates engage your opponents in the enemy flag room, while the Scout runs in and grabs the flag while everybody's busy. The Guard is like a brick wall, capable of capping the flag, or holding out in a stalemate. If there is a stalemate, it might be a good idea to give the enemies flag to the person with the Guard by killing yourself (kill -1 in the console) because he can take more punishment than any player out there, and is capable of surviving waves of enemies. Be especially careful of the enemies Doubler. The best thing to do is to run away, and have your teammates deal with it. The Ammo Regen is actually pretty weak compared to the other powerups, but it's better than nothing. Just keep spamming.
Advanced Tactics
The Quake series has always been on the forefront of competitive gaming. It's easy to dismiss it as just a twitch game, but the strategy, movement tricks, weapon balance, and other various gameplay mechanics make it unlike any other FPS series on the market. Easy to play, but hard to master has been what the series is all about, and the trend continues with Quake 4.
Movement and Trick Jumps
Strafe Jumping
Strafe jumping is a very important skill in Quake 4 that enables you to move at a faster-than-running pace. When you strafe jump you perform a continuous jumping cycle while running forward and strafing in alternate directions (or the same direction if you want to curve your jump).
How to do it:
Firstly, lets get you into the habit of jumping continuously, because strafe jumping is a bit hard to attempt all at once. Perform the following on a level with nice long open spaces or corridors.
Stage 1
Run forward. At no time in this example do you let go of the run forward key. While running, Jump When your in the air, release the jump button and press-and-hold it again. When you land, you will jump back into the air instantly. Repeat the above until you are comfortable with doing it everywhere.
Stage 2
Perform the exact cycle as above EXCEPT: When you jump in the air the first time, press and hold strafe left IN ADDITION to what you do already (holding forward and jump-cycling) After you land and skip back into the air, switch from holding strafe LEFT, to holding strafe RIGHT After you land and skip back into the air, switch from holding strafe RIGHT, to holding strafe LEFT for as long as you want/can travel
Note:
Playing jackrabbit can leave you a target for rail whores because your ability to change direction is limited. Also: You can do this backwards, simply by using the BACK key instead of the forward key.
Ramp Jumping
Ramp jumping is all about jumping up an incline, or a slope to get more height on your jump than normally possible. To do this, start a strafe jump into a ramp. Try to hit the highest part of the ramp as you can to gain more height. Simple right? Now you can use this trick to your advantage and reach places that you couldn't normally reach without stairs or bounce pads. A good place to practice this is on q4dm1. Try using the ramp in the red armor room to jump up on top of the crates near the railgun.
Crouch Sliding
Crouch sliding can be useful to make sharp turns without losing speed. When you have some speed from a strafe jump, press and hold crouch just before you hit the ground. You will notice that you slide a little bit. The tricky part is using this to keep your strafe jumping speed while making sharp turns. Before you hit the ground and are about to start your crouch slide, let go of your direction keys. As you slide, press and hold left or right depending on your desired direction, and move your mouse in the direction you are moving. The next step is to let go of crouch, and press jump to continue your strafe jump. Note that the closer to the ground that you press crouch to start your crouch slide, the longer you'll slide.
Rocket Jumping
To rocket jump you need to hold a rocket launcher. Look straight at the floor. Now pull the trigger and jump simultaneously.
You'll notice that, provided the jump was done right, you'll fly quite high into the air, at least far higher than you could ever reach with a normal jump. Rocket jumps may take some practice, and are sometimes hard to perform with lag. Practice them a bit first on your own. Be sure that you can afford to lose some health and that making the jump is worth it. Grenade jumps are a quite tough to perform, as you need to time your jump exactly at the moment the grenade explodes. Fire a grenade straight at the ground a few times without jumping. Notice it's bouncing rhythm and moment of detonating. When you can "feel" this inside, you can try your first jump.
Wall Climbing
Wall climbing is using the splash damage of the Hyperblaster or Nailgun to lift yourself up along a wall. Stand facing against a wall and look down at a slight angle with your feet. Jump as you start firing your Hyperblaster, and hold the 'forward' key. Release the jump key as you take off. If you don't go into the air, adjust your aiming angle and make sure you aren't 'sliding' along the wall while holding the forward key. Wall climbing is most effective with the Nailgun because it has more splash damage, but it is a little bit tougher to pull off because of it's slight spin up time. Wall climbing can be incredibly hard to master, and often isn't useful in real games.
General Gameplay Tips
Always keep moving, the second you stop makes you an easy target. Learn to move and aim at the same time.
Try to predict what your opponents next move is going to be.
Spam rockets and grenades in doorways, or where ever you think the enemy is going to pop up.
Try to be unpredictable in movement, and map control.
Listen to sounds, footsteps,jumping, item pickups, the buzz of the enemies railgun, and nailgun.
Try not to give your position away by making unneeded noise. remember the railgun, and nailgun buzz. Walking isn't as useless as you might think in 1v1.
Use sound to your advantage. Start jumping to make your opponent think you are strafe jumping away, then walk the other direction.
Some weapons have unique initialization sounds when switched to.
Know when to use the right weapon for the right situation. There is no such thing as the 'best' weapon.
Bind your weapons to keys instead of using the mouse wheel, or by the time you select the weapon you need, it's already over.
Keep pressure on armor and powerups.
Know when to attack, and when not to.
Learn the maps
Spectate other players, and watch demos.
Practice
Installing Maps, Skins, and Models
Maps, skins, and models end in a .pk4 format. They should be placed in your quake 4\q4base directory. After that, start up the game, and they should be available to you.
Installing Mods
Mods should be installed directly into your Quake 4 directory. You should then be able to choose them from the Mods menu in game.
Terms
Below are a list of terms used in this guide, and Quake in general.
Frag
A term for killing, or fragging a player.
Mods
A modification to the game, that can add small features such as new gametypes, or weapons. They can also change almost every aspect of the game, to make it not even resemble Quake. These mods are called 'total conversions'.
Map
A level, or battle ground that you play on.
Skins and Models
A player model is the 3d representation of the player in game. The 2d art that paints the player model is called a skin.
Strafing
Side to side movement, a basic Quake skill.
Splash Damage
this is an effect that is only on certain weapons such as... rocket launcher, hyperblaster, grenade launcher, and nailgun. it is the "splash of the weapon that creates this damage..." You could compare this to the force of an explosion. Standing slightly away from an explosion can still hurt you. Splash Damage is always calculated in a radius. This means that the center of the "splash damage sphere" around, say, the rocket deals full damage (ie, a direct hit from a rocket delivers a hit of 100 health). The further you are away from the rocket's impact location, the less damage the rocket splash will do. You will often find yourself rather using splash damage from some weapons than direct hit damage, since it's very hard to get a direct hit with a grenade or rocket.
Quake 4 Related Links
Patches, and Official Files
N/A
Quake 4 Sites
http://www.ravensoft.com Developers
http://www.idsoftware.com Developers
http://www.quake4game.com Official Game Site
http://www.quake4world.com News and our Wiki
http://www.planetquake.com News
http://www.esreality.com Demos
http://www.q4euro.com News and much more
http://www.leveldesign.nl Test your custom maps on their servers
http://ucguides.savagehelp.com/Quake4/Quake4Guide.htm Guide/Tweaks
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