Network PC/Network PC.iso/windows 95 utilities/games/gaming utilities/quakeworld client/qw-win.txt

Text File | 1996-12-12 | 24KB | 519 lines

------------------------------------------
| Windows-related QuakeWorld information |
------------------------------------------

QuakeWorld is a Win32 app, and will run on either Win95 or Windows NT.
It is designed to take advantage of whatever enhanced video and sound
capabilities (such as DirectX or VESA video modes) are present, but has
fallback functionality so it can run on any Win32 system, even if, for
example, neither DirectX nor VESA is installed.  You may experience
problems running QW on some systems, because driver and operating-system
support for game functionality are not yet mature, and many bugs and
incompatibilities remain.  This document will describe the Windows-
specific functionality (video and sound) supported by QW, and known
problems and workarounds.  If you encounter what seems to be a bug,
please fill out and submit the QuakeWorld bug report at
http://www.idsoftware.com/contact/.

The rest of this document is organized as follows:

Common problems and workarounds
A bit about how QW video works
Video command-line switches
A bit about how QW sound works
Sound command-line switches



-----------------------------------
| Common problems and workarounds |
-----------------------------------

QW crashes or won't run
-----------------------

If the QW client refuses to run or crashes on your system, try running
it with the following command line:

qwcl -nodirectdraw -nowindirect -wavonly

This will almost certainly solve your problem; however, it may result in
lagged sound (a long delay from action to hearing the sound), and may
result in fewer or slower high-res video modes.  If the above command-
line does work, you can try removing each of the command-line switches
until you identify the one that fixes the problem, thereby sacrificing
as little functionality as possible.

If the above command line does not fix your problems, try:

qwcl -dibonly -nosound

which forces QW into silent operation with bare-bones video support.
Again, if this works, try removing switches until you identify the
needed one.

Both of the above command lines are quick fixes.  Often, the problem is
caused by outdated or buggy DirectX drivers or code, and can frequently
be completely fixed simply by installing the latest Microsoft-supplied
version of DirectX, which can be downloaded from
http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.zip; it is a 6.3 Mb
file.  (In fact, getting the latest MS-supplied version of DirectX is a
good idea if you have any video or sound problem.)

One known problem of this sort involves the current SB16 drivers from
Creative Labs, which cause QW to crash on some machines.  The
DirectSound drivers from Microsoft, available via the above-mentioned
URL, fix this problem.

It can also sometimes help to get the latest Windows drivers for your
video adapter or sound card (although as the SB16 example indicates,
this is not always a good idea), and for video boards that have flash
BIOSes, it can help to get the latest BIOS upgrade.


How do I select fullscreen or windowed QW operation?
----------------------------------------------------
Check out QW's new, spiffy Video menu, accessible from the Options menu.
There are now two types of modes listed, windowed and fullscreen.  You
can make any of these modes the current and/or default mode, just as in
DOS Quake.  If you make a windowed mode the default, QW will still
briefly start up in fullscreen mode, then switch to windowed; if this is
a problem, use the -startwindowed command-line switch.  More complete
video control is available through the console, as described in the “A
bit about how QW video works” section, below.


QW crashes when Alt-Tabbing from fullscreen QW to a fullscreen DOS box
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We are in the process of adding a VxD to solve this problem, but
currently you should never Alt-Tab from a fullscreen QW session using a
DirectDraw or VESA mode or VGA mode 0x13 to a fullscreen DOS box.  (You
can tell whether a mode is a DirectDraw or VESA mode or VGA mode 0x13 by
using vid_describemodes in the console, as discussed below.)  If this is
a particular problem for you, try running -dibonly.  Apart from
switching to a fullscreen DOS box, Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Esc, and the Windows
Key should work properly.


Multiple Alt-Tabs sometimes leave screen blank
----------------------------------------------
Sometimes, rapidly pressing Alt-Tab multiple times leaves a blank
screen.  If this happens, just press Alt-Tab slowly one or two more
times, and the screen will come back.


DOS Quake reports unknown variables on startup after running QW
---------------------------------------------------------------------
QW uses some console variables that do not exist in DOS Quake, and some
of these are automatically archived in config.cfg when you exit QW.  If
you then start DOS Quake, DOS Quake will complain that it doesn't
recognize those variables.  You will also lose the settings of these
variables when you return to QW.  Apart from losing the settings, this
is harmless; ignore it.


Can't run fullscreen on NT 3.51
-------------------------------
Unfortunately NT 3.51 doesn't support DirectDraw or any other mode-
setting mechanism.  You can run in a window, though.


Ctrl-Alt-Del does bad things when running fullscreen
----------------------------------------------------
We're working on a VxD to fix this one, but it's true that in DirectDraw
and VESA fullscreen modes, Ctrl-Alt-Del on Win95 results in a blank
screen.  Try not to do this, and if you do, hit Esc to return to QW.
(DON'T hit Enter, because that kills QW, and then you're stuck there
with a blank screen and no way to get back to the desktop.)


QW crashes while switching modes or Alt-Tabbing
-----------------------------------------------
So far, all cases of this seem to be tied to Creative Lab's SB16 sound
drivers, and have been fixed by getting the latest DirectX drivers, as
described above.  Alternatively, you should be able to fix this either
by not switching modes or Alt-Tabbing, or by running -wavonly to disable
DirectSound support.


Gee, I wish I could use a mouse to play QW with when running in a window
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can!  While in a windowed mode, go to the Options menu.  At the
bottom, you'll find a new selection that lets you choose to have the
mouse active when you're in a window.  Of course, if you do this, you'll
have to use the keyboard (Alt-Tab, the Windows key, or Ctrl-Esc) to
switch away from QW.


The maximize box on the QW window doesn’t work
----------------------------------------------
It’s not supposed to; it’s grayed out.  You don’t want to run a
fullscreen window at your desktop resolution; it’d be really slow.
That’s why we have all those nifty lower-resolution fullscreen modes in
the Video menu.


QW sometimes runs pretty slowly fullscreen
------------------------------------------
There are several possible reasons for this, starting with “You have a
slow computer.”  Assuming that's not the case, if you don't have either
DirectDraw or Scitech Display Doctor installed (see the “A bit about
how QW video works” section), it would probably be a good thing to
install one or the other, because slow operation can be a result of slow
copying or stretching of pixels to the screen by a Windows driver,
something that's eliminated by both DirectDraw and Display Doctor.  The
-noforcevga command-line switch can also help produce a faster 320x200
mode on Win95 (but may not work on some video cards); you can get the
same result by doing vid_describemodes, then using vid_mode to select a
non-VGA 320x200 mode, as described in the “A bit about how QW video
works” section.  That's about all you can do to speed up fullscreen QW
on Win95, other than shrinking the active area of the screen.

NT 4.0 comes with DirectX installed, but doesn't have any resolutions
lower than 640x480.  In order to support a lower-resolution 320x240
mode, QW has NT stretch each pixel in both directions to get enough
pixels for 640x480.  The extra stretching costs some performance, the
result being that NT can seem sluggish on all but high-end Pentiums and
Pentium Pros.  (In fact, depending on the quality of your driver's
stretching code, it can sometimes be faster to run QW at 640x480 than
320x240-stretched on NT.)  One thing that can help is using the Options
menu to shrink the active area of the screen.

A common cause of slowness running in a window is having the desktop run
in 16- or 32-bpp mode.  QW is an 8-bpp application, and it slows things
down if pixels have to be translated from 8-bpp to 16- or 32-bpp.  (Note
that this is generally a problem only when running in a window;
fullscreen apps will almost never suffer from this.)


Sound is sluggish on NT
-----------------------
NT doesn't have any real DirectSound drivers yet, so there's no way to
do quick-response sound on NT.  When DirectSound drivers for NT appear,
QW's sound should automatically be snappier.


Sound breaks up or gets choppy, especially in menus
---------------------------------------------------
This is generally a sign that QW's frame rate is too low on your system.
Try reducing resolution or shrinking the active area of the screen
(getting a faster computer is another, more expensive alternative).  In
some circumstances, it may help to set the console variable
_snd_mixahead to a larger value.


The color black doesn't change with palette flashes sometimes
-------------------------------------------------------------
DirectDraw lets QW change all 256 colors, so when a palette flash
happens, we can change all the colors, including black.  However, on NT,
DirectDraw doesn't allow changing black; likewise, black can't be
changed in a window, either a normal window or fullscreen.
Consequently, some parts of the QW screen (such as the sigils on the
status bar and the spray where a shotgun blast hits) stay black when the
palette flashes.  There is no workaround.


Problems can result if Office shortcut bar is running
-----------------------------------------------------
Various odd behavior, especially with sound, has been reported if the
Office shortcut bar is running while QW is running.  If you experience
odd problems, you might try shutting down the Office shortcut bar and
see if that fixes anything.


QW has no sound when another app was playing sound in background
------------------------------------------------------------
If another app is playing a sound in the background while QW starts, QW
will be unable to gain control of the sound hardware, and will not
output any sound.  If this happens, exit QW, stop the other app from
making sound, and restart QW.


Win95 crashes when another app was playing sound in background
-----------------------------------------------------------
There is a report of Win95 crashing when another app starts a sound just
as QW initializes sound during startup.  This is rare even for this
person, but if this becomes a problem for you, shut down the offending
app if possible, or try running -wavonly, which will result in less
snappy sound but shouldn’t cause a crash.


QW gets funny colors when it’s not the active app
-------------------------------------------------
QW is a palettized app, and needs all 256 colors to look right.  When it
isn’t the active app, it loses the ability to get more than 236 colors
(and if there’s another palettized app running, QW may not be able to
get any of the exact colors it wants), so it does its best (which is
sometimes not very good) to look right using the current colors.  But it
puts everything back again as soon as it is reactivated, and anyway,
when it’s not active, you can’t actually do anything in QW, so it
doesn’t really matter anyway, right?


Desktop redraws a lot when QW runs windowed
-------------------------------------------
We're fixing this, but right now when QW runs windowed and the palette
changes, the other stuff on the desktop often redraws, sometimes
flickering as it does so.  Apart from being ugly, the extra redrawing
can cause a noticeable slowdown.  The best fix is to run fullscreen;
otherwise, minimize as much stuff as possible to reduce redrawing.


Fullscreen QW sometimes drops the connection when switched away from
--------------------------------------------------------------------
If QW is running in a fullscreen mode that’s not a fullscreen window
mode (that is, if it’s a DirectDraw mode, a VESA mode, or 320x200 VGA
mode 0x13), then if you switch away with Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Esc, or the
Windows key, QW will be suspended.  Not paused—completely suspended,
doing nothing.  After about 30 seconds, your net connection to the
server will be dropped.  We’re really sorry about this, but right now we
can’t change it.  One workaround is to change to a windowed video mode
when you want to switch away; there’s no connection dropping if you’re
running in a normal window.  You could also try running -dibonly, which
uses fullscreen windows for fullscreen modes; QW is not paused when you
switch away from fullscreen in this case.  The downside to -dibonly is
that it can be significantly slower than normal fullscreen modes,
especially at low resolutions.


High-resolution modes don’t work on the Intergraph Reactor
----------------------------------------------------------
Sad but true.  Working on it, but for now try -nowindirect and see if
that fixes things.  Or maybe their latest BIOS upgrade fixes the
problem.


Sometimes Permedia boards crash unless -nowindirect is used
-----------------------------------------------------------
Still working on this one too; for now, use -nowindirect.


Keys whacked during mode switches sometimes go to other apps
------------------------------------------------------------
During a mode switch, there is a small period when QW doesn’t have any
window, and if you hit keys then, they will go to the next app on the
desktop, possibly doing things you won’t like.  So please don’t whack
keys during mode sets.


Problems if an autorun CD is inserted while QW is fullscreen
------------------------------------------------------------
If you insert an autorun CD, then exit its window, you’ll switch back to
the QW window, but input won’t be going to QW properly for some reason.
Just do an Alt-Tab and you’ll be fine.


Right-click|close on QW button in system bar to close doesn’t work
------------------------------------------------------------
This specific problem only happens running -dibonly (with fullscreen
windows); right-click doesn’t work at all when minimized in other
fullscreen modes.  Working on it; for now, don’t do it.


Quake turns system sound down to zero
-------------------------------------
This happens occasionally, although we have no idea why yet.  If it
happens to you and you see any potential causative event, please let us
know.


Screen saver never kicks in when running fullscreen
---------------------------------------------------
Actually, it doesn’t kick in if you’re running windowed with the mouse
enabled, either.  The mouse code does stuff that convinces Windows we’re
never idle.  We’ll fix this in the future if people think it’s a
problem.


QW doesn’t work in a window in 16-color mode
--------------------------------------------
That’s 16 *colors*, not 16-bpp.  If you’re still running 16-color mode,
only run QW fullscreen.


There’s no joystick support
---------------------------
Not yet.  Sorry about that.



----------------------------------
| A bit about how QW video works |
----------------------------------

QW has the built-in ability to draw into windows, both normal, framed
desktop windows and fullscreen, borderless windows.  It also has built-
in support for VGA 320x200 graphics, and supports both DirectDraw and
VESA graphics modes if those are available.

In order for DirectDraw modes to be available, you must have DirectDraw
installed; some systems come with it preinstalled, but if it's not on
your system, you can download it from
http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.zip (it is a 6.3 Mb
file), and install it.

In order for VESA modes to be available, a driver must be installed; a
VESA driver can either be built into the BIOS, or loadable software.
The most common VESA driver is Scitech Display Doctor, from Scitech
Software. The latest version of Display Doctor can be obtained from the
following locations:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
www: http://www.scitechsoft.com
ftp: ftp.scitechsoft.com
CIS: GO SCITECH
AOL: Keyword SciTech

SciTech can be contacted at:

email: [e-mail]

SciTech Software
5 Governors Lane, Suite D
Chico, CA  95926-1989
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

What all this means is that on Win95, QW will always be able to run in
the following modes:

1)  in a window
2)  fullscreen 320x200 VGA mode 0x13 (unless -noforcevga is used)
3)  fullscreen high-resolution of some sort

Category #3 can be any of several configurations.  On Win95, if either
DirectDraw or VESA modes are available, then all the DirectDraw and VESA
modes will be presented as high-res choices.  (320x200 will always
default to VGA mode 0x13 unless the -noforcevga command-line switch is
used.)  In the case that a given resolution is supported by both
DirectDraw and VESA, the VESA mode will be used.  (However, the command-
line switch -nowindirect can turn off VESA modes entirely.)  If neither
DirectDraw nor VESA modes are available, then high-resolution modes will
be provided by using fullscreen, borderless windows in whatever
resolutions the Windows driver supports, usually starting at 640x480 and
going up.

NT is similar but not identical, because neither VESA modes nor VGA mode
0x13 are available.  On NT, QW will always be able to run in the
following modes:

1)  in a window
2)  fullscreen high-resolution of some sort

On NT, category #3 can be one of two configurations.  If DirectDraw
modes are available, then those will be the high-res choices; otherwise,
fullscreen, borderless windows will be used in whatever resolutions the
driver supports, usually starting at 640x480 and going up.  Because
there is normally no low-resolution mode such as 320x200 or 320x240 on
NT, a pseudo low-res mode is created by rendering at 320x240, then
stretching the image by doubling it in each direction while copying it
to a 640x480 screen.  However, stretching performance depends on the
driver, and can be slow, so sometimes 640x480 is actually faster than
320x240 on NT.

The bottom line here is that you can generally just use the Video menu
and pick one of the modes and be happy.  In some cases, though, you may
need to use command-line switches (described next) to get the types of
modes you want.  One useful tip is to go into the console and do
vid_describemodes, which lists all the modes QW supports on your machine
given the command-line switches you've used.  Each mode is followed by
the name of the internal QW driver that supports it, so you can tell
which modes are DirectDraw, VESA, and so on, as follows:

WINDOWED: QW runs in a normal window
FULLSCREEN VGA8.DRV: VGA 320x200 mode
FULLSCREEN ACCEL8.DRV: VESA mode
FULLSCREEN DDRAW8.DRV: DirectDraw mode
FULLSCREEN DIB: fullscreen borderless window

You can use vid_mode from the console to set any of these modes.  So,
for example, if you see that there are two 320x200 modes (such as one
VGA mode 0x13, normally mode 3, and one VESA mode, normally mode 4), you
can choose the VESA mode, which will often be faster, with vid_mode 4.

The windowed modes are more interesting than they seem.  320x240 is just
what you’d think, but 640x480 is actually rendered at 320x240 and
stretched up to 640x480, because most machines can’t handle real 640x480
rendering.  Likewise, 800x600 is a stretched 400x300.  Actually, though,
vid_mode 2 (the 800x600 mode) is a user-configurable mode.  By setting
the following console variables, you can change the characteristics of
vid_mode 2:

vid_config_x: width of window

vid_config_y: height of window

vid_stretch_by_2: whether to render at half-resolution in each direction
and stretch up to the specified size, or render at full resolution

After setting these variables in the console, do a vid_forcemode 2, and
you’ll have the window you specified.  Note that after making these
changes, the new resolution will show up as the third windowed mode in
the Video menu.



-------------------------------
| Video command-line switches |
-------------------------------

The full list of video-related command-line switches is:

-dibonly: QW will use only windows (both normal, framed windows on the
desktop and fullscreen, borderless windows), not any direct hardware
access modes such as DirectDraw or VESA modes, or even VGA 320x200 mode.
This is the closest thing to a guaranteed-to-run fullscreen mode QW has.

-nowindirect: QW will not try to use VESA modes.  Note that if there are
both DirectDraw and VESA modes for a given resolution, QW will normally
use the VESA mode; -nowindirect allows DirectDraw modes to be the
preferred choice for all resolutions except 320x200 (see -noforcevga
below).

-nodirectdraw: QW will not try to use DirectDraw modes.

-startwindowed: QW will come up in a windowed mode, without going
fullscreen even during initialization.

-noforcevga: normally, QW uses VGA mode 0x13 for the default 320x200
mode, even if a DirectDraw or VESA 320x200 mode exists.  However,
DirectDraw and VESA modes can be considerably faster than mode 0x13,
because they can set up a linear framebuffer with higher memory
bandwidth.  If you specify -noforcevga, the default 320x200 mode will be
a DirectDraw or VESA mode if one exists.  The downside to this switch is
that DirectDraw and VESA modes can cause problems in some systems, due
to driver bugs or hardware incompatibilities; if you experience problems
with this switch, don't use it.


----------------------------------
| A bit about how QW sound works |
----------------------------------

QW can use either DirectSound or Windows wave output to generate sound.
If DirectSound is available, it is used; if not, if wave sound is
available it is used; and if neither is available, there is no sound.
DirectSound results in the best sound quality, and also the lowest-
latency sound; use it if you can, because you will be happier with the
results.  (Note, though, that no NT sound drivers yet support
DirectSound.)  Wave sound will often have high latency, lagging the
events that generate sound by hundreds of milliseconds on some machines.

Note that QW generates sound only when it is the active app, the one
with the input focus.



-------------------------------
| Sound command-line switches |
-------------------------------

The full list of sound-related command-line switches is:

-wavonly: don’t use DirectSound, but use wave sound if available

-nosound: don’t output any sound

========================================================================
End of Document 12/10/96
========================================================================