Preferred version/source port?
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Hey friends, longtime no see, but I had to come back for this one, Quake is one of my favorite games of all time :).
I replayed the entire thing last summer when the official “remastered” release hit the scene, but I’m curious as to how the rest of you prefer to experience this game.
So, any favorite source ports?
Has anyone ever played the Sega Saturn port which runs on a different engine?
For nearly two decades by now, the Darkplaces engine with rygel’s texture packs has been my preferred way of running quake.
https://icculus.org/twilight/darkplaces/
Be aware that this engine is not yet compatible with the remaster’s data files.
Make sure to rip the music (also possible with the gog version) and put those files in the appropriate folder to get it in-game as it is supposed to be.
I’ve ordered the original CD version from eBay to play on one of my old machines. Until that arrives I’ve been playing the demo version through DosBox on my linux PC and… Hoo boy!
I don’t know why, but this particular setup is BUGGY! The most noticable (and hilarious) bug happens with the Spawn – half the time they load with the wrong assets and become a floating head or ammo box, flying around and attacking you. Other than that, I’m getting elevators that clip through you and gun graphics vanishing.
As fun as all that is, I’m getting a little tired of being soft locked. I guess I could install the shareware episode on my Pentium machine, but for the sake of science I’m going to try Quakespasm, mainly because I want a more “vanilla” experience.
So far I’ve had little luck with it though. It supposedly supports the Shareware version, but it keeps insisting I need a file called pak1.pak, which I understand to be the data from the full version…
potentially divisive question as results vary.
Darkplaces with high res textures for a modern but authentic feel. the physics are a little off but it’s pretty.
QuakeSpasm gameplay compares with Fodquake in terms of graphical look and options, and supports the single player campaign. It’s a cross-platform Quake 1 engine based on FitzQuake. John Romero refers to this as “one of the best source ports”.
ezQuake is interesting and if not a vastly different take. still very worth looking at.
I have tried a few engines over the years, but my favourite is still DirectQ on windows.
It hasn’t been updated for a while, but it’s a pretty solid no-nonsense engine. It’s DirectX based rather than the GL and supports plenty of resolutions. The custom game menus are not overwhelming, and it runs super smooth on even lower-spec hardware.
DOSBox-X worked well enough for me last night. It does take a beefy PC to run, even at 320×200, the resolution dog intended.
Remaster uses Kex and maybe it’s just me but the grenades bounce directly back at me from steps. DOS Quake doesn’t seem to have that problem.
Like Jozxyqk I have been a long time user of DarkPlaces. Back in the day I did use other engines, like TomazQuake, FTE, even tried out Tenebrae for a little while…
But yeah, in a large part due to familiarity with DP I turn to it by default, with the exception being the latest release on Kex. Kex feels… fine, I guess. But I’m looking forward to some of those older engines getting updated for the new formats.
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