The retro thread

[Ambrose Burnside]

How fucking great is Quake? It's just so pure. Yes it's brown with brown highlights, but there's nothing like it with that atmosphere or even anything that pays as well.

Make sure you check out some of the other sourceports. Dark Places even backports Doom 3's lighting techniques, and it looks amazing

I've always felt OG Doom was the best game ever. It was the first game that really got me into gaming in a big way. But I'm appreciating Quake more and more.

Love that era of PC gaming. id were gods.

It's like music I guess. The games you played when you were a certain age are the ones that stick with you forever.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Well, Quake has received the 25th anniversary Bethesda update that Doom received a couple of years ago. Free to existing owners. Like Doom, the original is still there to play if you like. So yeah, there's no need for me to run the Quakespasm mod any more, as this does all that and quite a bit more (including two new episodes and Quake 64 (!!!)), splitscreen AND cross-play multiplayer (as it's now out on consoles too):

RELEASE NOTES
Enhanced Graphics
Better lighting, new models, updated maps, and a dynamic shadow system headline the graphical features available in Quake. Individual features of the enhanced graphics can be turned on and off to your preference

Includes Original Expansion Packs
The two retail expansion packs, Scourge of Armagon, and Dissolution of Eternity are both now bundled with Quake, and are integrated into the main game. The downloadable expansion pack, Dimension of the Past, has also been upgraded and included

Includes Soundtrack
The iconic original soundtrack by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is now included on all versions for the first time. The soundtracks for Scourge of Armagon, and Dissolution of Eternity are also included when playing those expansion packs

Brand New "Dimension of the Machine" Episode
Created for Quake's 25th anniversary, Dimension of the Machine is a brand new experience created by the MachineGames team. Continue your fight through brand new dimensions, figure out the secret to restarting the machine, and come face to face with an old foe

Free Optional Add-ons
Similar to our re-releases of DOOM (1993) and DOOM II, we will also be periodically releasing free optional Add-ons available to download in the in-game "Adds-on" menu. Our first Add-on is Quake 64, which includes the original alternate soundtrack by acclaimed composer Aubrey Hodges

Split-Screen Multiplayer
Quake includes 4 player split-screen multiplayer on all platforms, in both deathmatch and co-op modes. Fight against your friends, or with your friends in all five campaigns. AI bots are also available to play against in deathmatch mode

Online Multiplayer
Play custom matches on player-hosted servers, or hop into matchmaking and play on dedicated servers. Quake also now includes the extra levels Acrophobia, and The Edge available in deathmatch mode. Dimension of the Machine also contains all new deathmatch levels

Cross-Play Multiplayer
Play with friends no matter which platform they prefer. Cross-play is available on all platforms, so you can play Quake with everyone

Supported Languages
English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian

I love PC gaming.

[unfnknblvbl]

I picked up the Xbox version. I like it, but the improved models amount to nothing, really. The action is still fast paced enough to really not notice those improvements. The new dynamic shadows are excellent... but I kinda wish they'd gone the whole hog on the remaster, with optional high resolution textures and whatnot. They've somehow managed to make it still look like software rendered Quake. Nostalgic, but... Well, they could have taken a leaf out of the DarkPlaces book of tricks, at least.

[unfnknblvbl]

Just installed the Windows Store version, and it seems... laggy? Like there's a few frames of input lag whenever you do anything. It feels really weird to encounter that in a twitchy game like this. Is it there in the Steam version?

[Ambrose Burnside]

Steam version here. I tried cranking up the FPS and it died in the arse. Capped it to 60 FPS and it seems OK.

Running backwards speed seems slower than I'm used to. My timing for avoiding ogre chainsaws etc is all off.

It needs to be patched.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Just discovered bots are included too!

[Ambrose Burnside]

Honestly thought I was going crazy playing a level I hadn't played before, until it started looking familiar again, which made me even more confused.

Turns out there was cut content, and its been restored:

John Romero left a fair amount of unfinished maps on the cutting room floor. The most iconic piece of cut content, however, is something known as "The Lost Entrance to the Dismal Oubliette." As @starshipwaters on Twitter reports, this missing part of the map has now returned to the game.

"For a long time now, I’ve kept one remnant of Quake’s creation that I had to cut out. It’s the Lost Entrance of the Dismal Oubliette," John Romero explained in 2010. "Yes, there used to be a much more interesting beginning to that area of Quake, but I had to amputate the guy and cauterize the wound into its current state, the starting point of e2m6."

The Dismal Oubliette is a challenging map due to its tight corridors; Romero considered the map the sole "defective gene" in the game, owing to his lack of understanding of how large the space of a Quake level was in comparison to the size of maps in Doom. The beginning of the map, however, was different from what gamers actually got to play when Quake first launched in 1996.

So, why was this cut from the game? Believe it or not, it all had to do with the removable media of the day: The Lost Entrance to the Dismal Oubliette made this particular level larger than 1.4MB in size and this single map file could no longer fit onto a floppy disk. Ultimately, it was axed and players never got the chance to play it until Romero released it to the world in 2010.

https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/quak ... ut-content

So it sounds like it had been floating around for ... 11 years ... But it's now part of the official game too.

Awesome!

[Twiztid Elf]

I really wish I could play these classic old PC shooters.
It is really, really cool, but 5 minutes in Quake, and the sweaty fever and intense nausea kicks in.
I gotta go lie down now.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Ah that really sucks.

Back in the day I used to get horrendous headaches when PC gaming (didn't stop me though) but I now realise it was because of the shitty refresh rates on the old CRT monitors we used to have. Seems I'm rather sensitive to them.

Never got nauseous thankfully, but funnily enough, if I ever dreamed I was in an FPS (usually Doom), it was always a sign I was coming down with something. Even if I woke up in the middle of the night feeling fine after dreaming of Doom, by the time the sun was up I'd be throwing up.

Wild.

[t0mby]

Man I used to love Quake, haven't played it since the 90s though. Rember going to an internet café, we paid for like 2 hrs to download the shareware version on 56k only to find out after we got it that it was installed on the pc we were on.
Was it Quakeworld that introduced the grappling hook?

[Ambrose Burnside]

Man I used to love Quake, haven't played it since the 90s though. Rember going to an internet café, we paid for like 2 hrs to download the shareware version on 56k only to find out after we got it that it was installed on the pc we were on.
Was it Quakeworld that introduced the grappling hook?

Also played Deathmatch in an internet cafe. So good

I believe the grappling hook was introduced in one of the expansion packs.

[unfnknblvbl]

Quake is still the only online deathmatch I've spent any real time with. I used to play against someone called Quietus486, and damn they were good, even though they were legit paying on a 486/66.

[Vince]

As I wasn’t a PC gamer in my younger years I never played Quake. Doom, yes. Doom we played the fuck out of. But after that it was console gaming so I just never played Quake. Well that was rectified this weekend when I picked it up on my PS5. Fuck it’s a masterpiece! id were gods! I actually love the look of the game too. I appreciate the enemies are crude polygons by today’s standards but it works. And the level design is just spot on. I’m in love!

[Ambrose Burnside]

As I wasn’t a PC gamer in my younger years I never played Quake. Doom, yes. Doom we played the fuck out of. But after that it was console gaming so I just never played Quake. Well that was rectified this weekend when I picked it up on my PS5. Fuck it’s a masterpiece! id were gods! I actually love the look of the game too. I appreciate the enemies are crude polygons by today’s standards but it works. And the level design is just spot on. I’m in love!

Not sure what difficulty you're playing on, but I can't imagine fighting the blue blob fuckers in Episode 4 with a controller, they're annoying enough with a mouse

Having said that, glad you're enjoying it The development of Quake tore OG id apart with Romero etc leaving during or just after the game was finished, but I do think it's peak id despite what must have been terrible working conditions.

[t0mby]

Everything happens for a reason cos then we got the amazing Daikatana.

[unfnknblvbl]

The maps in the new episode are fucking spectacular. It's easy to forget that this is all in the 25yo Quake engine O_o

[Vince]

As I wasn’t a PC gamer in my younger years I never played Quake. Doom, yes. Doom we played the fuck out of. But after that it was console gaming so I just never played Quake. Well that was rectified this weekend when I picked it up on my PS5. Fuck it’s a masterpiece! id were gods! I actually love the look of the game too. I appreciate the enemies are crude polygons by today’s standards but it works. And the level design is just spot on. I’m in love!

Not sure what difficulty you're playing on, but I can't imagine fighting the blue blob fuckers in Episode 4 with a controller, they're annoying enough with a mouse

Having said that, glad you're enjoying it The development of Quake tore OG id apart with Romero etc leaving during or just after the game was finished, but I do think it's peak id despite what must have been terrible working conditions.

I’m loving it with the controller! I remember reading all the trials and tribulations about id during their formation and up to this game. Fascinating reading. I just think John Romero is a legendary designer who probably doesn’t get the plaudits owed to him.

[Ambrose Burnside]

As I wasn’t a PC gamer in my younger years I never played Quake. Doom, yes. Doom we played the fuck out of. But after that it was console gaming so I just never played Quake. Well that was rectified this weekend when I picked it up on my PS5. Fuck it’s a masterpiece! id were gods! I actually love the look of the game too. I appreciate the enemies are crude polygons by today’s standards but it works. And the level design is just spot on. I’m in love!

Not sure what difficulty you're playing on, but I can't imagine fighting the blue blob fuckers in Episode 4 with a controller, they're annoying enough with a mouse

Having said that, glad you're enjoying it The development of Quake tore OG id apart with Romero etc leaving during or just after the game was finished, but I do think it's peak id despite what must have been terrible working conditions.

I’m loving it with the controller! I remember reading all the trials and tribulations about id during their formation and up to this game. Fascinating reading. I just think John Romero is a legendary designer who probably doesn’t get the plaudits owed to him.

Masters of Doom?

Excellent book.

[Vince]

Not sure what difficulty you're playing on, but I can't imagine fighting the blue blob fuckers in Episode 4 with a controller, they're annoying enough with a mouse

Having said that, glad you're enjoying it The development of Quake tore OG id apart with Romero etc leaving during or just after the game was finished, but I do think it's peak id despite what must have been terrible working conditions.

I’m loving it with the controller! I remember reading all the trials and tribulations about id during their formation and up to this game. Fascinating reading. I just think John Romero is a legendary designer who probably doesn’t get the plaudits owed to him.

Masters of Doom?

Excellent book.

That is the book! Excellent read.

[unfnknblvbl]

Might just be me, but the Windows Store version of the Quake 25th anniversary release has several frames of latency with keyboard input. That is... cursed beyond belief.

[BOOMY]

Using windows store? you deserve an eternity of input lag.

[Twiztid Elf]

While it's bumped, I picked up a RGB 10 MAX, and it is fucking awesome. So much better than the Retroid Pocket 2. Only because of the bigger screen. Shame about the mono sound, but it's a decent speaker at least.

[unfnknblvbl]

Using windows store? you deserve an eternity of input lag.

Agreed, I'm only using it because of the Xbox Play Anywhere thing, and I was curious. Quake with input lag is one of the worst things I've ever experienced.

[unfnknblvbl]

While it's bumped, I picked up a RGB 10 MAX, and it is fucking awesome. So much better than the Retroid Pocket 2. Only because of the bigger screen. Shame about the mono sound, but it's a decent speaker at least.

My pet peeve with all these handhelds is that they have virtually identical hardware. 1GHz dual core MIPS CPU, 512MB RAM, some variation of Dingux Linux.
I do wish someone would take even a 5yo phone chipset and make a dedicated handheld from that.

Wait... That's the Switch...

[t0mby]