- Introduction
- Abbreviations and terms
- Proxies
- Demos
- Other
Introduction
Below I have gathered some answers to questions regarding Challenge Smackdown that regularly pop up on IRC and message boards or in e-mails. I obviously can't guarantee that you'll find all answers here or that the proposed solutions will work in your specific case, but I'll try my best.
Please, do not e-mail me questions. If you have a specific problem first check the informaton below. If you can't find the solution there, ask the people in #smackdown on IRC and you will usually be helped straight away. Obviously, if many people have the same problem it will eventually end up here. Should you have an answer to an often heard question, please send it to me so I can add it. Also, corrections or more detailed information then the one available currently are always welcome.
Abbreviations and terms
QW= QuakeWorld
Folder= Directory and vice versa
'quotes' indicate either commands that have to be entered or names of folders
Proxies
(for more detailed information, please check the readme file of your proxy)
Why does every player need to connect through a proxy?
Using a proxy has obvious advantages for QW teamplay games over the internet such as being able to report your current location to teammates very easily. By itself this makes most people use proxies anyway even if it would not be required. On the other hand QW by itself is very vulnerable to cheating. Either through the use of modified models/sounds/maps or, ever since the source code was released, through modifications of the client program itself. Proxies are currently the only way to have some form of cheat protection in QW (e.g. f_modified).
What is f_modified?
The f_modified command prompts each proxy to report which models or sounds have been altered on the players computer. How thorough the check is depends on the proxy being used.
How to get a clean f_modied (i.e. reporting 'Nothing' to the query)?
The easiest way to get rid of altered game data is to reinstall Quake in a freshly created folder and apply the necessary updates to it. If you regularly play mods (such as CTF, TF or RA) and do not want to reinstall everything, you may prefer to manually weed out the problematic files however. To do so, check the 'ID1' and 'QW' subfolders for additional '.pak' files (e.g. 'pak2.pak') and delete them. However, do NOT remove 'pak0.pak' or 'pak1.pak'; they are essential for QW to work. In 'ID1' and 'QW' also remove 'SOUND', 'GFX' and 'PROGS' subfolders if they exist. If it is a '.pal' file that is giving you trouble, delete the 'GLQUAKE' folder in 'ID1' and 'QW'; it will be recreated every time you start QW.
f none of the above helps, try searching your Quake directory for the offending file and delete all instances. If the problem still persists, you are probably better of reinstalling Quake afterall ...
Why is only Qizmo allowed?
Qizmo is the required proxy for smackdown since it has the most advanced cheat protection currently available. Most notably f_speed is absent from other proxies. Furthermore Qizmo has advanced data compression options that, together with the availability of public Qizmos, allow for better playability on low quality connections.
Also, having to deal with only proxy (and its quirks) is enough of a burden to admins already.
How do I set my teammates colors and skins?
To force colors for your teammates and the enemies uniforms, type 'say .color 13/13 4/4' in the console. This will make your teammates blue (color 13; both shirts and pants) and the enemies yellow (color 4). If you change teams, the colors of the other players will be updated automatically.
To make the difference between teams even clearer you can use fullbright skins. Download this file and unzip it to the 'ID1' folder of Quake. Now type 'say .skins friend nmy' in the console. The teammates will now be bright white whereas the enemies will show up red.
Demos
What are .qwz files?
A file with a .qwz extension is a QW demo file that has been recorded with or compressed by a Qizmo proxy. The filesize is a lot smaller after this losless compression, making down and uploading of demos faster. The .qwz compression is about 3 times better then other compression techniques, such as .zip. Further reducing filesize by putting .qwz files in e.g. a .zip file simply does not work and you usually end up with a file that is even slightly larger.
How do I convert .qwz files into .qwd files?
The demos on the Smackdown ftp server are mostly stored in the .qwz format. Put the file in the folder which contains 'qizmo.exe' and, in this folder, run 'qizmo.exe -D demoname.qwz' (change to the correct filename; mind the CAPITAL 'D'). To get to the correct folder, either use a DOS command prompt or create a specific shortcut. You should end up with a demoname.qwd file.
If you have problems with this, talk to an admin on IRC.
How do I convert .qwd files into .qwz files?
After recording a game, move the file to the Qizmo directory and run 'qizmo.exe -C demoname.qwd' (mind the CAPITAL 'C'). This should give you the demoname.qwz file.
If you have problems with this, talk to an admin on IRC.
Why are demos required?
Demos are foremost required because they are a big part of making a league interesting for people to follow. Match reports can be great descriptions of the action that took place, but many times it's far more interesting to watch the replay of the whole game.
Also, a demo may help to eleminate any doubts about possible irregularities or cheating that took place during the game so it is in everybodies interest to record them.
Other
How do I adjusting GL-QW brightness?
There are several methods to increase the brightness of GL-QW. Try using the Qizmo command .gamma with a value of e.g. 0.5. Alternatively the brightness can be set in the control panel of your 3D video card (right click on the desktop and choose 'Properties').
How to observe games through a public Qizmo?
First you need to figure out if there is a public Qizmo available to observe the game through at all. If any of the players or spectators in the game is connected through a public Qizmo, you can usually connect through that. Ask on IRC or look at the website for ip's.
Start up the QW client and type '/connect qizmoip' where qizmoip is the ip adress of the public Qizmo (usually followed by some port). For example, to connect to the Barrysworld proxy (in the UK) you would type '/connect 194.88.93.66:27501'.
On connecting, you should be greated by the main Qizmo menu. You should be able to navigate around using the arrow keys, if not type, '/say .menu bind' in the console. Other important keys to remember are the Enter key to select a menu option and Backspace to take you to the previous menu. To make the menu appear or disappear at any time, press the Pause/Break key.
Depending on your connection speed, you may find the menu navigation behave a little slugish. There is not much you can do about that except finding a different public Qizmo to which you have a better connection. Try not to get frustrated if you miss the correct menu entry a few times because you pressed the arrows to quickly; it just takes some getting used to.
Find the Client list selection in the menu (fourth on the left) and press Enter.
This will bring up a different type of menu. To navigate this you have to watch the line on top. You will see one word in brackets and brown ([CONTROL] in this case). With the Left and Right arrows you can move between these sub-menus. In some of them you will be able to use the Up and Down arrows to make a selection from a list. Here the [OBSERVE] submenu contains a list of people connected to the same public Qizmo as you are. Using the Up and Down arrows, find the player (or the camera) you are interested in and press Enter. You will get the view this player has on the server and you can sit back and enjoy the game...
Be careful not to use the [FOLLOW] submenu which looks exactly the same as the [OBSERVE] one. Selecting a player here would connect you to the same server he is on as a participant, which in general is a bit anoying.
Remember, if you get lost in the menus just press Backspace a few times and you should end up back in the main menu. In the worst case you can start from scratch by connecting to the Qizmo again.
Often you will find that the teams don't have their colors set properly, e.g. all players have different colors or there is even a red player in both teams. In a case like this, use the 'team xyz' console command, where xyz is a name of a team in the game. Now please refer to this section for further instrucions on getting the colors sorted out.
