Welcome to the CD version of Quake II Uncovered.
The CD version goes into a lot more detail about certain aspects than the printed copy, and allows for much
more interactivity - within this document you'll find movie versions of the guide's screenshots aswell as hyperlinks
allowing you to watch Quake II demos from the document.
NOTE: In order for you to be able to watch the demos by clicking on the links appearing in this document
you must have Demoplay installed on your computer. Demoplay is a great utility that associates Quake II (aswell
as other games) demo files to the game allowing you to open one up from within Windows' Explorer or even a WinZip
file. The Demoplay website can be found here http://www.planetquake.com/demoplay/.
Note that the AVI files embedded in this documents will look optimum at a lower desktop resolution such as 600x480.
Introduction
Welcome to the complete playguide that will transform both complete newbies and veterans alike into Quake
II Gods. No longer will you be the one at the LAN party yelling out 'Hey! How the hell can you run that fast?'
or 'Who took the megahealth? I didn't hear no-one rocketjump...' Now yours will be the computer everyone gathers
around, jaws dropped to the floor, emitting wow's and oh-my-god's at your unmatched skill and precision...
Okay, maybe you'll need a little practice aswell as this guide =).
Much of the contents of this guide may be old news to some of you; but I can almost guarantee that everyone who
reads this will walk away with something they didn't know before. If you do not play Quake II online much - or
at all - then prepare yourself; because you're about to see all the secrets, tips and tricks that the best players
in the world are still trying to master. Herein lie things that rip apart Carmack's code completely and exploit
bugs that have only just surfaced amongst the Quake II community - and more of these 'features' are being discovered
every single day.
First Things First: Setting Up
Raw skills are only part of becoming the best of the best. No matter how many people try to tell you that you can
play just as good on a crusty old P75; it's not true. The setup you use is extremely important.
A good target for the budget-conscious (and that's pretty much all of us) is getting a pretty solid 45 fps in an
800x600 timedemo. To see what you're getting at the moment; bring down the console by hitting ~ and type:
timedemo 1
map demo1.dm2
This will run through the first demo as fast as your computer can handle and give you a number in Frames Per Second
(FPS). If you're running an older version of Quake II you'll also have to type timedemo 0 before playing normally
again. Generally, the higher your resolution is set at, the lower your framerate will be.
In order to compress this section I'll simply give a sample configuration to use as a guide: A PII-266 with 64Mb
of RAM and a Voodoo II should yield around 45 fps in 800x600. That's plenty for most things; but if you want more
you're going to be paying PII-450 rates which aren't very pleasant at all. The alternative is to grab a Celeron
300A, some PC100 RAM and an Abit BH6 mainboard and overclock to 450MHz (ensure the room temperature remains relatively
cool for this). A Celeron 300A has a very good chance of running stable at 450MHz; just use one of the many online
guides available at places like Tom's Hardware:http://www.tomshardware.com/ and AnandTech: http://www.anandtech.com/.
With a single Voodoo 2 you'll be up in the late 60's and with two you're going to be approaching 100 frames per
second in 800x600, and the opportunity to have quite a nice framerate in 1024x768.
With the computer itself out of the way, the next important thing is your mouse - here you have two options. One
- for the budget users - is using either a Microsoft or Logitech PS/2 mouse, and upping the sample rate to 200Hz
using the program 'ps2rate' - click here ps2rate.zip to open the .zip file containing this program and follow the
intructions to set it up (Juha Kujala of Qizmo http://qizmo.sci.fi/fame is the creator). Two - for the hardcore
Quake II player where money is no object - is a USB Microsoft or Logitech mouse. A USB mouse, whilst the sample
rate is only 135Hz; offers superior performance to that of the PS/2 mouse as it is using an increased sample rate
through hardware rather than software emulation (as the increase of the sample rate of a PS/2 mouse comes from).
Expect to pay more for the USB mouse though, especially in Australia. Note if you already have a perfectly good
MS or Logitech serial mouse and do not wish to part with the money for another; a serial plug to PS/2 port converter,
I'm told, works just fine with ps2rate.
Moving on now from the mouse itself to the mouse pad - this part's easy; hands down you get a 3M Precise Mousing
Surface. These babies are the best things that ever happened to mice. Be warned, however; that there are currently
three types of these pads - the difference is in the appearance of the surface; however one seems to be a bad egg.
Avoid the type that consists of a black and purple design with white specks - these get very sticky very fast.
Instead opt for either the grey version, or a 'watery' design. These offer infinitely better resistance to stickiness
- I am reliably told that with one of these two types you can blow on a mouse gently and watch it slide along the
pad. Speakers are the next important consideration for the ultimate Quake II experience. Those tiny little tweeters
that came with your computer just don't do Quake II justice; and bass helps a Quake II duel immensely. If you don't
use a subwoofer; you will have great difficulty in hearing the hum from your own railgun let alone someone else's...
and you may not even be aware of the fact that the BFG also emits a bassy hum. I strongly recommend a 3-piece speaker
set - even if you're on a tight budget this can be purchased reasonably cheaply; but the Altec Lansing ACS48 20W/40W
set going for around $270 seem to be the best bet for price/performance. Once you are equipped with a decent sub
system, grab the Q2 Bass Pak basspak2.zip (follow the instructions for installation contained in the readme.txt
file - check out Steve 'Stretch' Edwards' site here http://www.infiniteplanes.net/ for updates aswell as similar
paks for other games) which replaces most of the Quake II sounds with ones of a much lower frequency. This does
wonders for your game, and allows one to quite easily discern an opponent in an adjacent room sneaking up on you
with the railgun.
IMHO, a big monitor - while definitely increasing the general Quake II experience, and also giving your aim a boost
- is just too much money to spend on Quake II. But if a 17" is only a couple of hundred dollars extra if you
are purchasing another system; I'd recommend going for it.
Now that the computer itself is out of the way, let's move on to the actual controls. First up, if you haven't
already; create a custom config file for yourself by opening Notepad and saving a blank file as YOURNAME.cfg (make
sure you set the file type to '*.* All Files' so Notepad doesn't append a .txt extension). Into this file you will
enter commands that define what keys you press to move, shoot, jump, etc. aswell as preferences for your video
card and just about everything else you can imagine. To use it, edit the properties for your Quake II shortcut
and add a "+ exec YOURNAME.cfg" (sans quotes) to the end of the command line. The system is pretty easy
to use - all you have to remember is that each command goes into the file on a seperate line, and appear just as
if they were typed into the Quake II console. I won't go into details about the syntax; you should be able to pick
it all up by having a look at my own personal config file - click here s8n_cfg.cfg and choose to save the file
to use the config as-is (save it to your \quake2\baseq2\ folder). I'd suggest copying the config file's contents
into your own, and just changing what you want. Basically you want to firstly USE THE MOUSE - it, or a trackball
or equivalent device is the ONLY way to play seriously. If you are still using the keyboard only; either switch
or don't expect to be able to do half the things described in the rest of this guide. The arrangement is; you use
the mouse to turn left and right and look up and down, and the keyboard to move forward/backwards and strafe left
and right. Most people use the left mouse button to fire, and the right to jump however many prefer to move forward
with the right mouse button or have the jump button on the keyboard to prevent accidentally moving the mouse while
jumping. Most people have a WASD configuration - that is; W moves forwards, A strafes left, S moves back and D
strafes right. Personally I prefer to use RDFG instead as it gives me more keys surrounding them to bind to other
functions. The most important of these 'other functions' is weapon switching - you'll never be able to hit the
9 key for the railgun quick enough in the heat of a battle, for example so you'll want all your weapons surrounding
your movement keys. As you'll see by my config file; the main ones are E for railgun and T for rocket launcher.
You'll also notice a few occasions where I bind two weapons to the one key - this simple script selects the best
weapon of the two when I hit the key, or, if I am holding one of the two weapons it will switch to the other. Simple
and effective. Zoom is also very important for those long-range rails and is accomplished by setting up an alias
to change the field of view (FOV) in and out again. Note I use a default FOV of 120 (as opposed to the normal 90)
because it gives me a wider view without sacrificing too much detail - I highly suggest you try this, too as it
will give you the edge in battle. Last thing to note is that the spacebar is set to +speed - this actually reverses
the "always run" option of cl_run 1 and makes me walk when held down - as you may know; walking in a
straight line makes your footsteps silent. This is a very important tool in 1-on-1 deathmatch.
With all of that out of the way; there are also a few things you can do if you play Quake II over the internet;
especially over a slow dial-up connection. If you're using a 56K modem of less, the first thing you want to do
is set your cl_maxfps variable to about 31. This caps your framerate at 31 fps hence making Quake II send less
data to the server, directly resulting in a lower ping and less packet loss. Also, go through the menu system to
Multiplayer|Player Setup and adjust the Connection Speed setting to match your connection as closely as possible
- this sets a command called 'rate' which determines how much data is sent and received to prevent packet loss.
Play around with this setting manually to determine what suits you best. Ensure you put both of these commands
into your personal config file so they're executed every time you play. HOWEVER - a lot of the tricks described
in this guide are difficult to complete with cl_maxfps capped at 31; so I'd recommend creating an alias in your
config rather than just sticking in the RATE command - something like
alias LOWFPS "cl_maxfps 31"
alias HIGHFPS "cl_maxfps 140"
...to ensure you can perform the tricks when not playing on the 'net.
Getting About: Basic DM Techniques
If you are relatively new to Quake II; you're probably still a little uncomfortable with using the strafe-left
and strafe-right keys - if you use them at all. This is something you'll have to get over fast; so start practicing
in single-player mode strafing from left to right and shooting at an enemy. Once you're comfortable with this,
try strafing one direction while turning in the other - you'll notice yourself moving in a circle. This is known
as circle-strafing; one of the primary techniques used in deathmatch. Get familiar with it by practicing circle-strafing
around an enemy while keeping your crosshair on them - you should, with practice, be able to complete a full circle
around an opponent with the chaingun never leaving your target. From here; start experimenting with more and less
turn when you strafe, and begin to use it in everyday Quaking. For example; instead of walking up to a corner,
turning, then walking again practice walking up to it and strafe while turning around it - this will enable you
to see what's around the corner before your body actually comes into view. You will, after a while, start to use
strafing as part of your normal movements in Quake II.
The next important basic technique is being able to dodge and attack at the same time - it's not much use stopping
dead and just moving your mouse to attack someone because you leave yourself wide open to fire. Instead, practice
dodging enemy fire while at the same time letting off some ammo yourself - again, this will come with experience
but it's a necessary skill to learn in becoming a better player. Practice this by placing yourself in a roomful
of Strogg, and try to kill just one opponent while dodging everyone else's fire. Here, strafing is essential, as
you need to be able to move without taking your crosshair off your target.
Don't get too stressed if you're not an instant expert at strafing and concentrating on more than one thing at
the same time - it will all come naturally soon :).
This Weapon Sucks: Weapon Appreciation
At some point in time you'll find yourself stuck with a weapon you don't like. This is where it's important to
be able to use every weapon effectively, and know every weapon's strengths and weaknesses. You'll also want to
know which weapons are most effective short-range, and which are most effective long-range.
Blaster: As you know, you spawn with the blaster your only weapon. It is a pretty useless long-range weapon, but
enough to finish someone off at close-range if they are low on health so don't be afraid to let off a couple of
shots while looking for a better gun. Its shots do travel at a reasonable speed so you will often get one or two
hits in, and if you catch someone using the railgun at close range then you stand quite a good chance of bringing
them down if they are at 100 health / 0 armour.
Shotgun: The shotgun is pretty useless and shouldn't be considered a primary goal when it comes to picking up weapons.
Its firing rate is slow, and it does little damage although it is possible to kill someone with two close-up shots
if they have less than 100 health. The spread of bullets doesn't break up as much over long distances like its
bigger brother, however; and hence is more suited to sniping than the Super Shotgun.
Super Shotgun: Now this is a gun. Able to kill an unarmoured opponent at close range it is a great confrontation
weapon. It's quite useless at long range though; its bullets spread out so much often you'll miss completely at
a fair distance. It's definitely useful in small levels; but still be on the way to something bigger and better.
Machinegun: Not entirely useless; the machinegun is a good finishing weapon if the chaingun isn't handy and it
delivers a constant rate of fire meaning you're basically guaranteed to inflict some pain. Once you hear the sub-25
health pain noise from an opponent it can be wise to switch to the machinegun if they're a fair distance away.
Chaingun: The bigger, badder machinegun takes a second to spin up to full power but once it does - watch out. An
excellent close-range weapon that'll eat someone up in no time provided you can circle-strafe well. It's the ultimate
companion to the railgun, however; as one hit from the railgun will often cripple an opponent and letting loose
with the chaingun afterwards will finish them off no problems. It has the advantage also of practically blinding
someone who's being pelted by it. The chaingun is also very useful underwater.
Handgrenades: Handgrenades, while better than the blaster as a general run-around weapon, are basically useless.
Don't be afraid to throw a few around where you think your opponent might be, however; but make sure it's not going
to give away your position if you do.
Grenade Launcher: Sometimes you might find yourself requiring the use of this weapon; however it is not something
you go out of your way to collect if you have a better weapon with a healthy stock of ammo.
Rocket Launcher: The most versatile weapon; generally in a 1-on-1 situation you always want to be holding this
while running around unless you are a perfect shot with the railgun. Its splash damage means it is important to
fire at your opponent's feet rather than straight at them, or a nearby wall or ceiling will work just as well.
The rocket launcher is also the easiest gun to weapon-jump with - if you aim at the ground, then fire and jump
simultaneously you'll jump much further than normal (but be prepared to lose 53 health for a perfect jump). If
you have less than 53 health, but need to rocketjump; fire the rocket after you've jumped instead - this won't
lose you as much health; but still get you enough distance (usually) to go where you want to go.
Hyperblaster: The hyperblaster is an often underrated weapon; however in close quarters it is ideal as a carrying
weapon if you are low on health or do not have a rocket launcher handy. It doesn't go through ammo as much as the
chaingun but if you can train the cells onto your opponent well, it certainly inflicts a considerable amount of
pain. If you have quad, this is without doubt the best weapon to use for close- and medium-range encounters, as
just two shots will take down an unarmoured opponent with 100 health. Keep in mind that in a friendly 'net game
it is considered bad etiquette to use the hyperblaster if modem users are playing - it has a tendency to lag modemers
out, even with the 'fix' implemented in the later versions of Quake II.
Railgun: The railgun, delivering 100 points of damage per shot, is the ultimate weapon for those who can aim. You
need to be spot-on as there is no splash damage, and it takes time to reload each shot. For new players it is recommended
that the railgun only be used at long and medium range; however once you get very good at spinning around and shooting
a target anywhere around you then it should be your primary weapon for just about any situation. It's also great
underwater as your opponent will be an easier target. The best defense against the railgun is the chaingun - it
blinds your opponent making it extremely difficult to aim properly. Also, note that a single armour shard or health
bonus will give you an extra 'life' so to speak against the railgun - but, with only 2 health remaining as a result;
will leave you wide open to a chaingun/machinegun/super shotgun finish.
BFG10K: The Big Friendly Gun is regarded by many as a bad addition to the Quake II series of weapons. However,
it's there, so it's pointless boycotting it. Make sure you fire the BFG at the ground, or anywhere that'll hit
close to your opponent. Remember that if the BFG's orb explodes directly between you and an opponent they will
take an enormous amount of damage, generally killing them instantly. The BFG's main weakness is it emits a warning
sound seconds before it discharges meaning your opponent will know it's coming and have the opportunity to duck
behind a crate or something - or, even worse; jump out infront of you with a super shotgun =).
The following table lists the damage inflicted by each weapon (thanks to Richard Connery for allowing me to reproduce
the Table of Damages from his Unofficial Quake II FAQ http://www.planetquake.com/q2faq/:
Weapon Type of ammo Ammo used in one shot Damage Special
Blaster - 0 15 10 damage in single player
Shotgun Shells 1 4 per fragment Max. Damage is 48 if all 12 fragments hit
Super Shotgun Shells 2 6 per fragment Max. Damage is 120 if all 20 fragments hit
Machinegun Bullets 1 8
Chaingun Bullets 9 6* 8 damage in single player
Grenades Grenades 1 125 Blast radius is 165 units
Grenade Launcher Grenades 1 120 Blast radius is 160 units
Rocket Launcher Rockets 1 100 + random number between 0-20 Blast radius is 120 units
Hyperblaster Cells 1 15 10 damage in single player
Railgun Slugs 1 100 150 damage in single player
BFG10K Cells 50 ** **
* The chaingun's rate of fire is 20 bullets per second for the first second, then 40 bullets per second thereafter.
** The BFG10K's green orb releases lasers to a distance of 256 units if anyone is in its line of sight. These lasers
do 5 damage points per second. When the orb hits a wall or player it will take 100 health points from the target,
aswell as anything in a 200 unit radius. Also, up to 500 damage points is inflicted to anything within 1000 units.
OMG! How'd he do that?: Advanced Techniques
There exist in the world of Quake II many tricks that exploit the physics code - here I'll describe in detail some
of the easier ones that have many uses in a deathmatch environment.
Rocketjumping
Rocketjumping is achieved by firing a rocket directly at your feet and jumping at the same time. The result is
a very high jump, which can launch a person great distances, both vertically and horizontally. As firing a rocket
into one's self obviously takes damage (53 at the most if unarmoured); generally you want to rocketjump somewhere
that has replacement health or armour. Rocketjumping is also a very good close-combat attack - if you rocketjump
right next to your opponent you'll invoke damage aswell as disorienting your opponent; often letting you get in
another shot while in the air.
Fig. 1 shows how to rocketjump in q2dm1 to the megahealth.
[insert link to fig1.avi, fig1.dm2 and show fig1.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Slopejumping Another exploit uses slopes or ramps to gain height - if you jump whilst running up a slope you will
jump a little higher than usual. This jump can be combined with a rocketjump to achieve even more height. A good
example of an easy slopejump is when coming out of the lower rocket launcher room in q2dm1 - slopejumping off the
ramp there and moving left will put you on the ledge beside you; saving you running around and up the stairs. This
is a very good deathmatch lifesaver. Fig. 2 shows this.
An example of combining slopejumping and rocketjumping is shown in Fig. 3 - this is beside the pool leading to
the railgun in q2dm1 - and enables one to rocketjump up to the walkway with the three packs of bullets.
[insert link to fig2.avi, fig2.dm2 and show fig2.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
[insert link to fig3.avi, fig3.dm2 and show fig3.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Doublejumping Doublejumping was introduced to Quake II by Zoid in Quake II version 3.14, and has remained since
- it is arguably the most useful physics exploit in Quake II, and quite easy to do aswell. Basically, you have
to find a step that is two average steps high - basically, any second step in a staircase. The height of the step
can vary a bit. The easiest doublejump can be performed by pushing into the step and jumping twice in quick succession
- you'll gain a little more height than normal this way. Even more height can be achieved by running up to the
step, and just before hitting it doing the two jumps. This will put more length into the jump. Also, if there is
a wall on one side of the step to jump on you can perform a really high jump by pressing into the corner and jumping
twice quickly. This last method is also nice and easy, and is most often used in q2dm1 to get the megahealth without
rocketjumping - see Fig. 4.
Another useful place to use doublejumping - the 'run-up' version - is also in q2dm1 to get the yellow armour in
the megahealth room quickly. A simple doublejump while running towards the lowest block is all that's needed to
make off with the armour very quickly - Fig. 5 shows this.
very difficult doublejump can also be performed in q2dm1 to get from the hyperblaster to the grenade launcher.
To do this (and only attempt it when you're very comfortable with doublejumping); ride the lift up from the yellow
armour until it's about a step from the top, then run forward and doublejump. Personally I find it easiest to be
looking straight ahead; however you can also try doing it diagonally (which implements a type of jump explained
further into this guide: the strafejump). See Fig. 6 for a visual guide.
[insert link to fig4.avi, fig1.dm2 and show fig1.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
[insert link to fig5.avi, fig1.dm2 and show fig1.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
[insert link to fig6.avi, fig1.dm2 and show fig1.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Sound Advice: Tracking your Opponent with Sounds
Sounds are an extremely important part of becoming a good Quake II player. Sounds will tell you exactly how much
health your opponent has, where your opponent is, where your opponent is going and how much ammo your opponent
has.
Each player makes a noise when injured - the noise they make depends on their remaining health. The ranges are
100-75, 75-50, 50-25 and 25-0. Memorising these sounds enables you to pinpoint to a 25-health accuracy exactly
how much health your opponent remains with. This, of course, is vital in determining which weapon you should use
- if your opponent has less than 25 health you're usually better off using the chaingun or super shotgun rather
than the railgun, for example.
A careless opponent's position is easily deduced by the sounds they make - ensure you know the level well enough
to determine where your opponent is if they make a certain pattern of noises; for example a weapon pickup and two
ammo boxes. Make sure you know where every armour shard is on the level; usually there are only two or three groups
of shards on a level so it's a dead giveaway as to your opponent's location if they pick one up. However it's important
not to deduce where your opponent is then go rushing straight for them - instead, think where your opponent's next
move will be and ambush them there.
More advanced uses of sounds include determining how much ammo your opponent has by listening to the ammo pickup
noises they make - this can help a strategy immensely if you know, for example; that your opponent has only 50
bullets for their chaingun. Also, you can use the pain sounds to determine which healths and armours are left on
the level by hearing how much damage a shot of yours took.
A Blaster Won't Do Much: Level Control
Level control is what separates the good from the best. It doesn't matter how good your railgun aim is, or how
well you can lead rockets; if your opponent doesn't let you get the railgun or rocket launcher you're not going
to get very far at all.
There are two main types of level control: Weapon Sweeping and Spot Control. Weapon Sweeping is most effective
on small levels, whilst spot control is more suited to larger levels where there is a depot of health, armour and
ammo.
Weapon Sweeping
On small levels, weapon sweeping is very effective. It involves running around the entire level picking up all
the 'good' weapons, then timing it so you begin the circuit just before the first weapon respawns (this is, of
course, assuming you are playing with weapons stay off - as you should be in a 1-on-1 match).
To weapon sweep successfully you must have good timing skills - each weapon takes 30 seconds to respawn; so ideally
you want to finish the circuit in about 28 seconds. Of course in reality you're going to have interruptions - like
killing your opponent, for example ;) - so it's best to give about 20-24 seconds for a circuit. Any more and you
either want to make sure you meet your opponent near the end of your circuit; or use spot control instead.
Q2DM3 is a level where weapon sweeping is possible, however it can be risky as it involves a trek through the frag
pipe. Start from the rocket launcher, drop down to the rocket pack and run around the top to the railgun. Drop
down and grab the hyperblaster then continue along and climb up the ladder to the super shotgun, then jump across
to the armour and then up to the hole leading to the rocket launcher again. Note to make the jump across to the
hole from the yellow around you need to employ a trick known as a strafejump; described in detail in the next section.
This route should take about 20 seconds, leaving you with time to rocketjump to the invulnerability (which usually
isn't there as most 1-on-1's are played without powerups). Whilst it doesn't yield the powerup it does give you
back 75 health and a railgun; so it's useful if you have less than 100 health and little armour.
However, for the Q2DM3 situation I much prefer the Spot Control method.
Spot Control
No, this isn't putting your dog on a leash - spot control involves selecting a nice warm, cosy area of the map
and controlling it. The area selected should contain health, armour and ammo - so you can move out at intervals,
take a few shots, then dart back in to stock back up on supplies. This, of course, has the downside of letting
your opponent go out and grab weapons - and armour - so it's important that you kill your opponent before they
have a chance to stock up.
Note that spot control is not camping. Camping is positioning yourself so there's only one entrance to your hidey-hole,
and placing your crosshair just before a major weapon or item like a BFG, rocket launcher or red armour. Usually
the railgun or rocket launcher is used for camping. Spot control is just making sure no-one can access your supplies,
whilst still moving out of your area to attack. Basically, you're making sure you can get back to the 'spot' before
your opponent can.
Spot control in Q2DM1 is important - you want to control the megahealth room, as it contains 120 health, 50 armour,
a backpack and 200 bullets (including the chaingun). From here, you can also hear your opponent anywhere on the
map - for example, you know your opponent has just picked up a rocket launcher because either:
a) you saw them head for it in the Central area (as you should always be looking out there),
b) you heard them drop into the lower rocket launcher room,
c) you heard them pick up armour shards, or
d) you heard them rocketjump (rocketjump is the only way to pick up the upper rocket launcher without touching
the armour shards).
You can also hear whenever your opponent is about to enter the megahealth room - either:
a) you saw them run up from the super shotgun (as stated above, you should always be looking out here),
b) you heard them use the lift or rocketjump (meaning they're about to drop in near the chaingun),
c) you heard them get out of water - this means they either just got the railgun, or just came out of the machinegun
tunnel - and can either enter to megahealth room, or go into the machinegun tunnel (in which case you'll usually
hear them enter water), or
d) you heard them jump to your right, pick up ammo to your right or fall to your right - those three bullet packs
under the upper rocket launcher serve a very important purpose on the map. Your opponent cannot sneak up on you
with them there.
Also, in the megahealth room you are relatively high up - this means you have the advantage when attacking your
opponent from above.
Q2DM3 also benefits from spot control - the area you want to control is the yellow armour room. Here you have quick
access to 20 health, 50 armour, shells, slugs, cells, and you can hear your opponent grab the rocket launcher (in
which case it's a nice easy rail).
The Juicy Stuff: Advanced Physics Exploitation
Okay, here is where we get into the really, really juicy stuff - the things that make onlookers' jaws drop, and
gives you the edge in a 1-on-1. Before I launch into these moves I'll mention firstly that with a dial-up ping
most of them become exponentially difficult, and some adaptation will be needed in order to use them over the internet.
Strafejumping
Strafejumping gives a significant boost to a single jump, and is performed by holding down either strafe key while
jumping forward. During the jump, it is important that the forward key and the strafe key are held down for the
entire jump. You will need to turn a little in the opposite direction you are strafing in order to jump in a straight
line.
Strafejumping is most often used to reach places where normally one would have been required to take an alternate
route. For example, in q2dm1 a strafejump can be used to jump to the two 25-health boxes in the Central area from
the walkway running out of the megahealth room (see Fig. 7).
[insert link to fig7.avi, fig7.dm2 and show fig7.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Things like this may seem irrelevant - you only save about a second doing this particular example - however as
any top-rung Quake II player will tell you, in a pursuit one second can be the difference between life or death.
Another useful place strafejumping helps is the previously mentioned jump to the megahealth in q2dm1 by first doublejumping
onto the backpack blocks, then to the light, then to the megahealth. With practice, a strafejump can be used to
jump from the top of the backpack blocks directly to the megahealth, erasing the need for the light. For the skilled
strafejumper, the next step is to jump back from the megahealth onto the top of the backpack blocks - useless,
you may think; until you then strafejump to the yellow armour (a difficult, but possible, jump that requires very
precise positioning and timing). See Fig. 8 for a visual explanation of this maneuver.
[insert link to fig8.avi, fig8.dm2 and show fig8.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Bunnyhopping
An unusual phenomenon occurs if one performs a series of strafejumps one after another with no break in between
- the player will actually gain horizontal velocity with each jump, and while there is a hard limit as to how much
velocity can be gained the resulting speed is quite dramatic. The important thing about this trick is that you
must make sure you do a full strafejump each time, which means if you're going on a straight line you may need
to alternate left and right strafe, or just keep turning with the mouse if you're going around a bend. The other
vital part to this is the fact that there must be no delay between each jump - this can be ensured by releasing
the jump button after each jump, then pressing it and holding it before you hit the ground. This will make you
jump automatically the instant you hit the ground.
Bunnyhopping has a limitless array of uses - once one becomes proficient at bunnyhopping you should be using it
all the time as a general way to go faster (unless, of course, you need to remain silent for ambush purposes).
Also, there are a few places on the dm levels where bunnyhopping can allow one to reach places normally requiring
a rocketjump, for example. The best example is - once again - q2dm1, and the upper rocket launcher. If one bunnyhops
along the passage leading to it, and times it so the last strafejump is performed on the edge of the platform;
correct placement will make one sail right over to the opposite side of the room, landing them on the ledge containing
the health, rockets and armour shards. If this trick can be performed a good percentage of the time it becomes
an excellent way of gaining 10 rockets.
One characteristic of bunnyhopping is the fact that if a large drop is made somewhere throughout the series of
jumps, providing the player keeps strafing and moving forward and jumps immediately upon impact with the ground;
they will continue along at the same velocity. This can lead to an odd cannon effect, as if the player is eventually
falling almost straight down it can appear very much like they have been shot out of nowhere as their horizontal
velocity is not affected by the fall. This in itself has uses - one, which is quite difficult to do but can be
useful; is on the walkway in q2dm1 just under the upper rocket launcher (yes, you are right in saying that this
area contains an abundance of trick spots :). One can perform a strafejump off the ledge at an angle of about 45
degrees, and land on the staircase below and immediately execute another strafejump - hence bunnyhopping. If timed
right, with a bit of luck you'll be shot out onto the ledge over the other side of the room. Refer to Fig. 9 for
positioning.
[insert link to fig9.avi, fig9.dm2 and show fig9.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Circlejumping
Circlejumping is a relatively new style of jump, having only recently been discovered by the trick-jumping community.
Its exact reasoning is unknown, however it can exceed a strafejump in terms of distance jumped. However, it is
considerably more difficult to pull off than the strafejump. It involves running perpendicular to a ledge, then
arcing around by slowly turning the mouse to the direction of the intended jump, and jumping when you're facing
a little before the target. Then, turning is sped up a bit and the forward key always held down. The most important
aspect is that you must be turning throughout the entire jump.
Fig. 10 shows how circlejumping can enable one to reach the same ledge as mentioned above in q2dm1 with a single
jump from the walkway (thanks to RD|Julios for the demo).
[insert link to fig10.avi, fig10.dm2 and show fig10.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Circlejumping in reality is not all that useful unless you can execute it consistently. It is, as I said, a very
difficult jump so don't be too bothered if you can't pull it off at all.
Cratejumping
Cratejumping is a bug in Quake II that has been known for a while, but has only very recently (the day this article
was written, as a matter of fact) been explained. Anthony Bailey - of Quake done Quick fame - has been hard at
work with Nolan Pflug, other members of the QdQ team and myself (and I'm sure others I've forgotten) to try and
explain the phenomenon.
What cratejumping does is allow one to jump onto crates that usually can't be reached. In his conclusions, Anthony
presented a very detailed and complex report that I will summarize here.
There are three aspects of Quake II's physics that all combine together to allow the phenomenon that is cratejumping.
The first - known as bouncing, or bounceback - involves an odd feature that allows one to gain more height by jumping
twice. What happens in Quake II will add approximately one hundredth of one's downward velocity to their next jump,
provided the next jump occurs immediately after the landing of the first fall. This means that if you are falling
at a velocity of 270, you will jump 2.7 velocity units faster for the next jump. With a normal jump followed by
another jump this yields about one extra unit of height. Next, 'frame quantization' occurs when a player jumps
and in order for them to make it a certain height the peak of their jump must occur within a very short amount
of time. If a player's computer is achieving only a low framerate there is the chance that the player may miss
the peak of their jump, hence not making the required height. For most purposes, a framerate above 30 fps will
prevent frame quantization from having a noticeable effect. The final 'feature' - that which has the most effect
- is rounding. Quake II, for each frame, will round off the player's current location to one eighth of a unit -
but it will round it towards zero every time. For example, if the player's z-coordinate is 34.92 it will be rounded
down to 34.875. Because this is done for each individual frame, it can have an effect on jumping height - especially
if the computer is yielding a high framerate. However, what happens if the player's position is below the z-axis?
Their z-coordinate will be a negative, and hence the rounding will round up. This means that if you are in what's
known as negative z-space - that is, below the z-axis - you will jump higher than if you were in positive z-space.
Also, if you have a high framerate you will hence jump even higher in negative z-space, but even lower in positive
z-space. Confused yet? =). With a framerate of 70 fps, one should expect to jump roughly 3 units higher in negative
z-space.
Now here comes the point of all this - if you combine the 3 units from a negative z-space, with one unit from a
bounce, and have a high framerate to ensure frame quantization doesn't come into effect... you can bounce onto
a block of 64 units high, which normally could never be done. Unfortunately, there exist only a very small number
of places where one is actually ever in negative z-space. One spot, however, is most of q2dm8.
Currently, only one area in the q2dm# deathmatch level series has been found to contain crates existing in negative
z-space - that is the majority of the crates in q2dm8. The QdQ team is hard at work trying to find similar crates
in the single-player levels to aid their run time, and it appears that some others do exist.
About the only real practical use of cratejumping is if you have a killer system you can grab the rocket launcher
in q2dm8 quickly by two or three cratejumps. See Fig. 11 for a visual guide to one of the methods that can be used
for this shortcut.
[insert link to fig11.avi, fig11.dm2 and show fig11.bmp - this is the same for all figures !!]
Wrapping it Up: Conclusion
Well, there you have it - a complete playguide for Quake II that delves into the deep, dark areas of physics that
no-one was ever meant to find out about :). Don't get too stressed if you can't do everything listed in this guide
first shot - these things take a lot of practice, so be prepared to give up your social life if you intend on being
able to do everything here consistently. I highly recommend the use of Quake II bots to help you train rather than
trying to do these tricks on the laggy internet - the current best is the Gladiator Bot, which you can find here
http://www.botepidemic.com/gladiator/ - however at the time of writing it is only in a beta form and only a handful
of levels can be used (the important ones - dm1 and dm3 - are available though). The CRBot and Eraser Bot are two
other popular ones, available here http://www.planetquake.com/crbot/ and here http://impact.frag.com/ respectively.
If you think you know this stuff inside and out by now, drop by Riding the Rocket here http://www.tsunamitech.com/quake2/rtr/,
where you'll find weekly challenges pertaining to trick jumping aswell as challenges against bots and an ongoing
'bot league'. Here many people compete in a grueling tournament against bots to see who rocks and who... doesn't
rock :). Riding the Rocket is also a great resource to find the latest and greatest trick jumps, as all challenges
are archived with the winning demos available for download.
Now get practicing!
- Kaj 's8n' Haffenden