Quake 2

Post by **zewulf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 3:09 pm

Been playing it on a P3 500 laptop. Not surprisingly, it runs much better in software than in OpenGL. Still, I could get only 30 fps in demo1 at 640x480. I thought the recommended CPU was only a Pentium 133, so shouldn't I be getting much better performance than what I'm getting now? What are some tweaks, if any, that will up the graphics as well as performance? Also, is there a way to cap the fps and to show it in-game?

As for the game itself, I'm enjoying it so far. I love the feel of the weapons (especially the machine gun and the chaingun) and the pace of the action :icon14: I think I already like it much better than D3 despite the really shitty graphics

Post by **Foo** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 3:21 pm

laptops are an exception since they usually feature completely shit graphics cards and shared graphics memory.

Post by **zewulf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:10 pm

This laptop does have a really shitty graphics card (Rage Mobility P) with only 8MB of RAM. Q2 isn't the first game I've come across that runs better in software on this laptop.

Btw, I know about cl_maxfps, but from what I read, that only controls the number of packets sent or received between the client and the server in a multiplayer game and has no effect on actual fps.

Also, is there any repercussion later on for blowing away those imprisoned Marines?

Post by **zewulf** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:28 am

One more question...

Is Q2's physics frame rate dependent like in Q3?

Post by **^misantropia^** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:07 am

Post by **BlueGene** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:11 pm

I used to play Quake2 in software mode back in the day

I think you need at least 12mb video card to run it well in openGL.

Post by **CheapAlert** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:29 am

Here, slap altogl in the quake2 folder, rename it to opengl32.dll, and tell me how it goes.

Post by **zewulf** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:30 pm

^misantropia^ wrote:Yes.

So what is the optimum fps for offline play? The same as Q3?

Post by **zewulf** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:32 pm

CheapAlert wrote:Here, slap altogl in the quake2 folder, rename it to opengl32.dll, and tell me how it goes.

That did bring OpenGL performance up close to software performance, but the graphics became all hallucinogenic/funkadelic with lots of things not being rendered

Post by **^misantropia^** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:45 pm

zewulf wrote:So what is the optimum fps for offline play? The same as Q3?

Heaps of people swear by cl_maxfps 84.

Post by **primaltheory** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:01 pm

Have you played the java version yet? Honest to god the java version (in a timedemo) gets me 1400+ fps on this rig...funny stuff!

Post by **zewulf** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:58 pm

^misantropia^ wrote:Heaps of people swear by cl_maxfps 84.

Tried a few numbers already. Didn't really notice any difference. Surely because I can't get any where close to those frame rates :icon32: Doesn't matter though, as I haven't had any trouble getting around in the game

84 sure is an odd number, because I remember 83 being the 3rd best offline frame rate in Q3 (behind 333 and 142) :icon32:

Post by **zewulf** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:02 pm

primaltheory wrote:Have you played the java version yet? Honest to god the java version (in a timedemo) gets me 1400+ fps on this rig...funny stuff!

What Java version? Java usually runs like shit on this laptop, so I'm not getting my hopes up high :icon32:

Post by **primaltheory** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:04 pm

it was on slashdot, google search java quake 2

Post by **zewulf** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:19 pm

primaltheory wrote:it was on slashdot, google search java quake 2

Looks interesting. I will check it out when I get the time :icon32:

Post by **zewulf** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:21 pm

Finally beat it. That Makron dude at the end was no match for my Quad, Invulnerability, and BFG; he went down in no time :icon32:

Not much of a storyline, but a pretty decent game. There were a few maps (I think Research Lab and the Upper/Lower Palaces) in which I couldn't find the last few remaining Stroggs to kill (I got all the secrets btw). Is this just a bug in the Field Computer? And what's with the Tank and the two Iron Maidens underneath the Hall of Credits? :icon6:

So I heard Q4 is just a continuation of Q2. Does Q4 play similarly to Q2 or is it more like D3?

Post by **CheapAlert** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:43 pm

nah, q4 isn't like d3 at all. it's totally q2/q3 hybrid.

Post by **primaltheory** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:36 pm

it looks like d3

Post by **Lenard** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:32 am

Because it bump-mapped.

Post by **zewulf** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:04 pm

Just tried Java Q2, and the frame rates were even worse than default OpenGL. There were graphical anomalies, too

Post by **primaltheory** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:15 pm

Lenard wrote:Because it bump-mapped.

It looks too much like d3, they could've done something to differentiate them more...

(Most people I know who are not pc games won't buy this game for their 360 because they say its a ripoff of doom 3, though they have never played doom1/2/expansions or quake 1-3/expansions)

Post by **hemostick** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:51 am

zewulf wrote: Btw, I know about cl_maxfps, but from what I read, that only controls the number of packets sent or received between the client and the server in a multiplayer game and has no effect on actual fps.

You read wrong, it caps your actual framerate. You can't send more than you are displaying, so it acts as maxpackets.
I'm surprised you haven't tried it out

(or maybe the lcd is so bad you can't tell the difference between 30 fps and something higher on it)

zewulf wrote: 84 sure is an odd number, because I remember 83 being the 3rd best offline frame rate in Q3 (behind 333 and 142)

Well, this isn't q3 :icon25: although q2 pretty much seems to snap framerates by frametime, kinda like q3.
Anything between 84 and 90 behaves the same (12ms frametime) and will cap at 83.333~ (1000/12)
83 doesn't quite cut it because of rounding, probably.

As for Q3 - here's a table here. Good frametimes give 64u jumps, better frametimes give higher jumps =)