ioquake3 1.36 Gone Gold

ioquake3 1.36 is here!
Go get it as a package for your system, or a source zip file/tarball. Check out your options for help if you run into a problem. If you find any bugs, please search bugzilla, and then report them!
Here is what you can do with ioquake3:

  • Play Quake 3: Arena and the expansion, Quake 3: Team Arena
  • Make your own game!
  • Play standalone games like Urban Terror and Tremulous.
  • Play older Quake 3 mods without the Quake 3 security issues but with new features.

voipHave a look at the list of improvements that have gone into this release:

  • Ports to new platforms
  • Off-server data downloads (http redirection) via HTTP and FTP with cURL
  • OpenAL sound rendering allowing for surround (5.1 and 7.1) speaker layouts and generally improved sound
    quality. Especially on the Windows Vista Operating System.
  • Ogg Vorbis audio decoding.
  • In-engine VOIP support, with optional Mumble player-location (positional audio) support.
  • IPV6 Networking. We’re ready to frag on the net of the future!
  • SDL backend for the OpenGL context, window management, and input. This also improves portability.
  • Anaglyph stereo rendering (for viewing with 3D glasses)
  • Full x86-64 architecture support
  • Rewritten PowerPC JIT compiler, with ppc64 support
  • New SPARC JIT compiler, with support for both sparc32 and sparc64
  • Compilation with MinGW and cross-compilation for Windows from Linux
  • Improved console command auto-completion
  • Persistent console command history
  • Improved QVM (Quake Virtual Machine) tools
  • Colored terminal output on POSIX operating systems
  • GUID System
  • Multiuser support on Windows systems (user-specific game data is stored in their respective Application Data folders)
  • PNG format support for textures
  • Numerous security fixes

If you’re interested in following more updates with ioquake3, follow our twitter feed , and please do digg/reddit/slashdot this post! Please!
Join us on our forums, mailing lists, irc, etc at the discussion page!
Write just about anything about ioquake3 on the wiki!
Talk with us on our mumble server at mumble.ioquake3.org
Thanks again to everyone who has made this a spectacular release. What do you want to see in the future of ioquake3? 4-Player Split-Screen? Let us know in the comments.


Comments

11 responses to “ioquake3 1.36 Gone Gold”

  1. Sweet!!! How do I get mumble working in Urban Terror? I’d love to only hear my clan when they are near enough to be of use, and from what direction they are coming from! AWESOME WORK!

  2. […] nueva versión 1.36 incluye además las siguientes […]

  3. […] Per maggiori informazioni a riguardo, consultare l’annuncio ufficiale. […]

  4. Nobody Important Avatar
    Nobody Important

    I applaud you, well done!

  5. Zakintosh Avatar
    Zakintosh

    Is it just me or Mission Pack never loads on powermacs?
    great release though! Thanks and I will donate!

  6. bogbert Avatar
    bogbert

    Great ! I upgraded from 1.34 to 1.36 on my old Athlon XP and my fps in timedemo jumped from 244 to 305. I guess that’s because of OpenAL (my sound card is supposed to have hardware OpenAL support). Good work.

  7. How many forks of Quake3 are there? It would be nice if all the engine forks could be consolidated into one really flexible engine released often that all the games could use. This would make Debian and the other Linux distros very happy.

  8. fragile Avatar
    fragile

    So you made it!
    Happiness fills me now
    I want to say:
    Thank you

  9. I want to know something before I download IoQuake3: This Engine modifies Quake 3 Arena/Team arena?
    It looks like original Quake 3?
    I just know it fixing bugs for servers, and makes better! I want to be exactly like Quake 3!
    But command for mods +set fs_game works? or i must acces from mods menu? I go to download later with my PC because on my laptop I have bad connection!

  10. I tested IoQuake3 and is very cool! I copied the pak0.pk3 from CD for Quake 3 Arena and works fine!
    But where is q3config.cfg? is not in baseq3 and im using Windows Vista! And how to use mods? I want to create the shortcut and not from mods menu! Is same +set fs_game like in Quake3.exe or is other command? HELP!

  11. Enrique Abelenda Avatar
    Enrique Abelenda

    Hi, ioquakers!
    Until a few days ago I didn’t know there was a project so excellent and ambitious as ioquake3 (I said “project” because I hope it’s still alive). You achieved what seemed to me impossible: improve the masterpiece of programming that Q3 Engine is. Awesome work, guys.
    But (damn, there’s always a “but”) I found some “issues” in the 1.36 distro for Windows. Here they are:
    — Issue No. 1 —
    Your download page is confusing, ie: the text does NOT provide enough information. As Murphy said: It’s impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are very ingenious. But c’mon, you want that ioquake3 can be used by as many people as possible, right? So let’s see:
    1) There is no question about why I should download the Engine Installer (2.5MB). But… why I *NEED* a 26MB program (the Data Installer) to do what I can do manually (to copy the Quake3 .PAK files)?
    Text says: “*BOTH* are *REQUIRED* to play Quake 3”. Oh, well… *IF* you pays attention then you *CAN* understand (or NOT, according to Murphy) that “*BOTH*” refers to “ioq3 Engine” and “Q3 game data” (NOT to “Data Installer”).
    OK, maybe I’m a malicious critic. But you guys must admit that the wording is a bit tricky, especially considering the following:
    2) Text says: “If the installer fails to copy the Quake3 data (pak0.pk3) from your CD-ROM, you can manually do so…”
    OK, wait a minute. If the manual procedure is SO EASY… and if I SHOULD do it anyway under certain circumstances (like for Steam copies of Q3)… then again, I ask: Why I need the Data Installer? Just because the Q3 patch? Well…
    3) About the Data Installer, text says: “…and *PROVIDES* the latest patch pk3 data *FROM* id.”
    Once again, the wording is a bit tricky. This can be interpreted as follows: A) “Data Installer *DOWNLOADS* the latest Q3 patch *FROM* id web site”, or B) “Data Installer *INCLUDES* the latest Q3 patch *BY* id”.
    The A interpretation means the same question (again): Why should I download a 26MB program (the Data Installer) just to download another 28MB stuff (the Q3 Point Release v1.32 patch)? I can do it manually too!
    Hum! Let’s do some Sherlock Holmes homework: I know that the latest Q3 patch for Windows provided by id Software is “Q3 Point Release v1.32”. And its size (28MB) is pretty similar to the Data Installer size (26MB). That’s funny.
    So MAYBE the B interpretation is the correct. MAYBY the Data Installer *INCLUDES* just “pak1.pk3 to pak8.pk3” for Quake III Arena (because, of course, the ioq3 engine does NOT need the latest patched quake3.exe NOR the PunkBuster files).
    And MAYBE that’s what it means “latest patch pk3 data *FROM* id”, ie: a SELECTIVE distro (JUST the .pak files) extracted *FROM* the latest id patch.
    But, according to its size, MAYBE the Data Installer *NOT* includes “pak1.pk3 to pak3.pk3” for Quake III *Team* Arena.
    Sorry, folks. Too many “MAYBYs” for me. Don’t think that I don’t appreciate the effort you made to simplify the “Q3 data affair”. But, WITHOUT a *gooood* explanation about it in the download page, the Data Installer is NOT reliable, it confuses more than it helps.
    Not to mention that I refused to download the Data Installer, not just because the “information” about it is confusing, but because I already *HAD* Quake3 installed and fully patched. And that’s PRETTY funny.
    My case is typical: WHO wants ioq3? Q3 PLAYERS in first place! But surprisingly, it’s a NOT considered case: not even a word about it in the download page, and that’s the most confusing of all.
    Why I can NOT install ioq3 on the same folder of my already existing Quake3 installation? SURE I CAN, and is the EASIEST way! You guys just “forgot” to mention it.
    Benefits of that easy way: My classic Q3 is still there, along with all the MODs and maps that I have been collected over a decade… plus the new ioq3 engine. If I want to play ioq3, I can do it. If I want to play classic Q3, I can do it too.
    There is no risk of q3config.cfg overlaps, because ioq3 uses by default the “Windows multiuser scheme”, so stores its own q3config.cfg into a very different path (%APPDATA%\Quake3\baseq3).
    Even if I meddle with the +set fs_homepath command line parameter (ie: forcing both engines to share the same q3config.cfg), the new cvars of ioq3 are ignored by classic Q3, and vice versa (like PunkBuster stuff).
    So what’s the big deal? Licensing issues with PunkBuster? Fuck ’em! You guys are NOT guilty about the PunkBuster files included in the latest official Q3 patch, and you have explicitly stated that ioq3 does NOT use PunkBuster. And who uses PunkBuster today, anyway, on Q3 servers? Nobody. Has amply demonstrated that it is useless… and risky.
    My suggestion is obvious: put a *GOOD* description in the download page about “WHAT *IS*” and “WHAT *DOES*” the Data Installer… or FORGET it. And (unless there is a flaw that I have not found yet) why not include explicitly “the EASY procedure”? ie: how to install ioq3 OVER an already existing (positively FUNCTIONAL and fully PATCHED) Quake3 installation.
    By the way… I have not even a clue about what the “Catch the Chicken” MOD is (once again, the download page is pretty “eloquent”) and honestly I don’t care. But I wonder… Why this MOD is only available for Windows? Supposedly, although the MOD is done for a specific platform (ie: Windows), the Virtual Machine embedded in the Q3 engine is capable of running this MOD on any platform (Linux, Mac, etc.). Am I wrong?
    — Issue No. 2 —
    Supposedly, under NT based systems, the ioq3 Engine Installer creates a shortcut to %APPDATA%\Quake3\. But in my case that didn’t happen.
    My OS is Windows XP Professional x86 SP3 (a pretty “NT based system” for me). Works flawless, but just in case I checked what I already knew: all my environment variables are OK (just type SET in a cmd.exe box).
    And the definitive proof is that ioquake3 runs perfectly. The %APPDATA%\Quake3\baseq3 folder is there and works fine. The “issue” is just the missing shortcut.
    Not a problem for me, but for a rookie this can be pretty confusing: Where is my q3config.cfg? Where should I put my autoexec.cfg?
    For a rookie Windows user who just wants to PLAY ioq3 in a little more advanced way… it means a shock to face the fact that now the baseq3 related stuff is splitted and stored into VERY different paths.
    But the real problem for him is that %APPDATA% is a goddamned complicated and HIDDEN path.
    I know too well that this “secrecy” (I mean “the use of Windows multiuser scheme”) is the “new wave” in commercial software (Quake Live, Google Chrome, you name it). But c’mon, guys, is supposed to you are demonstrating that free software is BETTER.
    So here are some suggestions for your next Windows ioq3 distro. There are at least 5 possibilities to deal with this “issue”:
    1) Go back to the classic “Q3 single user scheme” BY DEFAULT instead of as an obscure “option” (command line parameters like fs_homepath are NOT friendly for most Windows users). Yeah, yeah, I know this is a pretty unrealistic suggestion, so let’s see the next ones.
    2) Adopt the “multiuser scheme” used by other developers (like Crytek): they stores the cfg files and saved games into a folder tree under My Documents, which is NOT a hidden path. Of course, this means “some” changes in the installer and in the engine. I don’t think you’ll like this suggestion.
    3) Continue supporting the “Windows multiuser scheme” (which is not bad at all, except that %APPDATA% is a hidden path), but allowing the user to choose DURING INSTALLATION if will use it or not.
    This requires adding a new stage in the installer, containing a well described option to let the user choose between: A) the new “Windows multiuser scheme”, or B) the classic “Q3 single user scheme”.
    The B option means the installer creates a shortcut to ioquake3.x86.exe with the appendix +set fs_homepath “%the_ioquake3_install_path_accepted_or_entered_by_the_user_just_before_the_A/B_option_stage%”
    I have the feeling that A LOT of players will love the B option.
    4) Do nothing, ie: drink beer and dream about tank-combat MODs 🙂 …but BE SURE your next distro CREATES the shortcut to %APPDATA%\Quake3\
    5) A painless mixture between suggestions 4 and 3. This means the installer must create the shortcut to %APPDATA%\Quake3\ …and TWO shortcuts to ioquake3.x86.exe
    The first one named “ioquake3 (multiuser scheme)” which is the current default. The second one named “ioquake3 (classic single user scheme)” which is the equivalent to the above B option.
    So the user can choose an “option” AFTER INSTALLATION, exactly as in the current distro, but WITHOUT having to deal with command line parameters. I think this is the best and easiest way for you guys to make users happy.
    — Issue No. 3 —
    As a “bonus” of the above, the ioquake3 shortcut was WEIRD.
    Its runnig path was OK (“C:\ioquake3\ioquake3.x86.exe” in my case).
    But its working folder was pretty WRONG (“C:\ioquake3\missionpack” in my case). Not to mention that I corrected this immediately (“C:\ioquake3” in my case).
    I didn’t execute the original shortcut. But I can say this: with my modified shortcut ioquake3 runs Q3A perfectly.
    And Q3 Team Arena (the missionpack) runs like usual: loading it from the MODS menu, or running it with its own shortcut (“C:\ioquake3\ioquake3.x86.exe +set fs_game missionpack” in my case).
    Can you guys correct this silly “issue”? Hell, yeah!
    — Issue No. 4 —
    The default values of the ioq3 memory cvars was a pleasant surprise for me:
    com_zoneMegs “24” (Q3 original is “16”)
    com_hunkMegs “64” (Q3 original is “56”)
    com_soundMegs “16” (Q3 original is “8”)
    They are an improvement, although are still ridiculously conservative values for current PCs (and even for much older PCs too). Basically, they are OK for plain Q3 maps and MODs, but not for really large/complex maps and/or HD MODs (ie: complex geometry, lots of different models and/or Hi-Fi sounds, etc.).
    Anyway, if necessary, the last two cvars can be raised easily by anyone who knows how to use the Q3 Console. The real problem is the first one: the infamous com_zoneMegs
    That damn cvar drove me crazy for months with “inexplicable” crashes and overruns every time I was loading a bunch of 11 DIFFERENT bots on CERTAIN maps, like q3w8 (ThreeWave CTF). I’m talking about the original but fully patched Q3 engine v1.32 (com_zoneMegs “16”).
    I tried to initialize Q3 (from the command line of its shortcut) with increasingly higher values, from “20” to absurdly high values, like +set com_zoneMegs “512”. The problems persisted.
    Finally, I found an “explanation” by using the meminfo command. com_zoneMegs always reports the custom value (“32”, for example) correctly, but in fact changes only in appearance. The meminfo command tells the awful truth: 16777216 bytes total zone (ie: “16”, the absolutely UNALTERABLE dafault).
    The ONLY way to REALLY change com_zoneMegs is modifying its default value INSIDE quake3.exe using a Hex Editor. Problems fixed.
    This also applies to ioquake3: com_zoneMegs “24” is BARELY enough… FOR NOW… and the ONLY way to REALLY change it is modifying its value INSIDE ioquake3.x86.exe using a Hex Editor.
    So guys, PLEASE, rise its default value to at least “32”, or even better, make it MODIFIABLE.
    — Issue No. 5 —
    Is it ABSOLUTELY necessary for the r_swapInterval cvar to have the LATCHED flag? In the original idTech3/4 engines this is NOT the case, so the Vertical Sync can be switched On/Off INSTANTLY.
    Now, under ioquake3, you MUST apply a vid_restart between On/Off. It is annoying for testing, and VERY annoying for playing on low-end systems (when small maps can be played with V-Sync On, but large maps must be played with V-Sync Off because the FPS drop).
    — The End ? —
    That’s all for now. And maybe you’re already working on these “issues”. Anyway, I think you guys have earned a place into the Quake Hall Of Fame. But please, don’t fall into John Romero’s path. I mean, 3 years since your last distro… Wake up, guys!