logo done by 'Mix'

January 16, 1998


Autoexec.cfg's in my mail
Please DO NOT send me your autoexec.cfg or any other file. limbo@quake2.com forwards to another account, so I lose all embedded downloads. Someone else also tried to send me a trojan horse yesterday. Nice try, but I'm not that dumb. If you'd like to ruin someone's hard drive ruin your own.

Quake2 Executor
Beta 1 of the front end tweaking utility for Quake2 which is called Quake2 Executor has been finished. It will be available for download sometime soon.

January 15, 1998


Yep, I'm slackin'
Sorry to those people out there who scope this site daily, but for the last two days I've been lanning hardcore with some friends in town. Needless to say I think we didn't play enough Quake/Quake2, and played too many real-time strategy games. However, Dark Reign is pretty cool, but it's still no Quake2. :) We also played some Doom2 map7 action. Memories....memories.....Ok, I'm gonna sleep and then I'll make a phat update tomorrow morning. yO Dethlord, I wanna rematch in Doom2, ya punk. :)

January 13, 1998


New drivers added
ATI Rage Pro chipset drivers have been added, which are for Expert@Work and Expert@Play boards. The Glide runtime drivers and the Verite miniport have been fixed as well.

Additions to the site
I've merged with three people who live in Germany. Their help will be most appreciated in the future as new drivers and more news come out. One of the three, Jazz, is the developer of the front end loader. He's told me that the first release will be soon, and that he's added newer features to it. Jazz also did the graphics and frame code for the new look of this site.

IRC channel
If you use IRC and need help with your GLQuake2 problems, or have inquiries about video boards, or just want to stop by and say hi, Quake2.com's IRC server (irc.quake2.com) is now the host of the Primary LZ - #glquake2.

January 12, 1998

New look
w00p! future update coming soon....

January 11, 1998


Questions that need to be addressed
For the people emailing and asking me how to get GLQuake2, here's the answer. GLQuake2 is just Quake2 running in one of the OpenGL rendering modes. It's not a patch, an upgrade, or anything that costs extra money to get from Id Software. The ONLY thing that costs more money is a video board that supports OpenGL rendering.

OpenGL is NOT Direct3d. It is a different rendering option. It's not a plugin, extra option to Direct3d, or addon.

As far as I know, Quake2 will NEVER support Direct3d. John Carmack and Brian Hook of Id Software prefer OpenGL to Direct3d for what they want to use, and as of now all future 3d titles will use OpenGL. If they change their minds, then this site will change its name to "D3DQuake2 Primary LZ" - but that won't happen.

The drivers on the drivers page reflect video boards that support GLQuake2. If your board is on there, get the latest drivers and run the proper renderer in Quake2.

The news archive will be put up shortly. :)

More on the front end
For those people emailing and asking when the front end, which is named Quake2 Executor will be done, it will be done in the same fashion Quake2 was: "when it's done". As for beta testers, the developers will decide if beta testers will be needed or not. I've seen the alpha, and it will have alot of features. Tweaking variables, general gameplay settings, and future TC support will all be included. This front end is written in Visual Basic 5, so VB5 runtime drivers will be needed.

Primary LZ is going under the knife
The GLQuake2 Primary LZ will be changed soon. New look, new sections, same great taste. :)

January 10, 1998


New Canopus Total 128 3D drivers
New drivers for the Canopus Total 128 3D have been released for Windows95 and WindowsNT systems. You can get them off the drivers section. Thanks to Slipgate for beating me to the punch on these drivers. :)

Front End loader for GLQuake2!
The Primary LZ is going to be the home site for a future front end loader designed for Quake2/GLQuake2. The first public release will be available soon, and will support the following in its first release:
- 3Dfx tweaking
- Rendition v1000 chipset tweaks
- general Quake2 settings, name, crosshair, handedness, server setup
There is other support, and a final list will be compiled once its finished.

LZ Button
Thanks to PrEciSionX for making the button. (luv u man :)

Stealth II overclocking utility
There is a Diamond Stealth II overclocking utility, you can get it here. With the addition of this utility, I've found overclocking methods for EVERY chipset that is supported in GLQuake2.

January 9, 1998


AMD vs. Cyrix vs. Intel
I've received numerous emails from people asking why their AMD and Cyrix based pc's don't show significant increases in GLQuake2 after they added the variable tweaks. A few went on to say that they noticed slower Pentium-based systems still clocked higher fps in GLQuake2 even after they added the tweaks to their non-Pentium systems. Why? Well, Quake2 depends on what is called the 'Floating Point Unit' to achieve more frames. The FPU is the part of the cpu that does the math calculations to achive the drawing and animation of levels in Quake2. AMD and Cyrix have weaker FPU's than that of Intel's Pentium chips. John Carmack of Id Software elaborated on this issue for me:

The AMD and cyrix floating point units are not "pipelined". This means that you can only have a single floating point operation going on at once. On intel systems, you can have two or three floating point operations going on at once if they are independent. Thats why intel chips are faster at floating point operations.

John Carmack


This means that Pentiums can calculate the math needed to draw the levels faster than that of chips by AMD and Cyrix, so that is why more fps are seen on Pentiums than that of AMD or Cyrix chips.

January 8, 1998


Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme review
MrNeutron has a review up on his page for the Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme, which uses the Permedia2 chipset. He'll have other boards reviewed in the future.

Quake2's timedemo vs. Quake's timedemo
Some people aren't sure how to do a framerate test in Quake2. Here's how you do it:
Timedemo is no longer a command to just test a demo. It's now a variable. To activate the timedemo function, type 'timedemo 1' at the console. After turning on timedemo, run a demo by typing 'demomap demoname.dm2' at the console. An example of this is 'demomap demo1.dm2'.
After testing your framerate, turn the timedemo function back off by typing 'timedemo 0' at the console.

Videologic Apocalypse 3d OpenGL driver
A new PowerVR-driven Apocalypse 3d driver has been released, get it here or in the drivers section.

A couple of benchmarks
A friend of mine, Doctor DaChronic, did some playing around with his pc in GLQuake2. While his results aren't the best possible, he did get a performance increase. I also put my bus speed back up to 75MHz. Using the 3Dfx variables/GLQuake2 variables I had before, plus my faster bus speed, I got these benchmarks:
512x384 - 61fps
648x480 - 49fps

There you have it. (I get MAD tearing with these settings, so I'm going to take some variables out)

Quake2's memory usage
A few people asked me if Quake2 uses the '-heapsize' or '-winmem' arguments. I wasn't really sure, so I emailed John Carmack of Id Software and got this response. (Mr. Carmack's answer is in bold)

Does Quake2 need either the '-heapsize' or '-winmem' command-line argument to use more than the minimum amount of RAM it requires? And if so, do these command-line arguments act the same way as they did for GLQuake/GLQuakeWorld/WinQuake, which means the most amount needed to lock is half your total RAM?

Quake2 uses as much memory as it needs, and relies on the operating system to swap if there isn't enough.
Large memory systems will automatically do the right thing.


In other words, no '-heapsize' or '-winmem' command-line arguments are needed.

January 7, 1998


Permedia2 chipset overclocking
Thanks to MrNeutron for giving me the information on overclocking Permedia2 boards. I have posted his info on the Speed Increase page. Permedia users: be forewarned, this overclocking method has to do with registry editing. If you're not sure how to, don't do it or you could find yourself reformatting. As always, BACK YOUR STUFF UP FIRST!

3Dfx variables
I've been told by quite a few people that there is a bug in Quake2 which can account for a performance drop with 3Dfx boards if the tweaking variables are in the autoexec.bat. So, put them in a .bat command that launches Quake2 as well as setting the variables. An example would be this:
SET SST_GAMMA=1.9
SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1
SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=60
SET SST_GRXCLK=57
SET SST_FASTMEM=1
SET SST_PCIRD=1
SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
quake2.exe %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

Be sure you've enabled enough environmental space for the 'SET SST_' variables. They need to be stored in memory before they work. Check the Speed Increase section to get more tips on this.

S3 GLQuake benchmark
Got this from Damon. On a 2 meg S3 Virge board he got 3.5fps in 640x480 in GLQuake, timedemo demo2. This goes to prove that the S3 Virge chipset won't cut it for GLQuake/GLQuake2.

WOW!
Mad hits! I will be doing some sort of contest or such, not sure when I'll announce it, but I will. :)

New board drivers added
Drivers for the Miro HiSCORE 3d have been added. The HiSCORE 3d is the European version of a Pure3d from what people have told me.

nVidia Riva 128 chipset tweaking utilities
There are two seperate Riva 128 tweaking utilities to enhance the speed of Riva 128 boards. The first one, Registry Tweak 1.6, is a simple to use tool which goes into your system registry and changes the Riva 128 settings. The second one is NV3Tweak v2.1. NV3Tweak has options to install settings into your display settings section in Windows95. Be sure to read the included text files before doing any changing of your registry!

Links section
A links section has been added with board vendor sites, Quake/Quake2 related sites, and some sites made by friends. If you would like to submit a site email me.

Want more frames?
The Speed Increase section has been suped up with some normal GLQuake2 variables for your autoexec.cfg. 3Dfx users can use both sets of variables, while the other renderers are to ONLY use the second list.

January 6, 1998


S3 GLQuake/GLQuake2 support?
Someone emailed me about this, then I saw it on Blue's. All I can say is, if it works, cool, if it doesn't, well...its to be expected. S3 isn't the best chipset on the market. Get the S3 GLQuake driver here. Note: I guess this driver is for GLQuake, versions 0.93 or 0.95, but if someone with an S3 board wants to try it out with Quake2 and actually gets it to work, email me and explain how well it does, include a benchmark or two.

Direct3d Quake2: noway, not gonna happen
I got about 20 emails from people asking if there is a Direct3d version of Quake2. Nope. Not gonna happen. Direct3d and OpenGL are two different methods of drawing a 3d level. Id Software chose OpenGL, not Direct3d. Will there ever be a Direct3d version? I doubt it.

News: the way it should be
Thanks once again to everyone sending me email in regards to my site, and yes, I made the news section the way it should. - Credit to BowB4God for that.

The Permedia2 drivers
Those drivers I posted for Permedia2 boards are reference drivers from 3dLabs, they're supposed to work on all boards with the Permedia2 chipset. The same goes for the Glint drivers. People asking about their Diamond FireGL Pro and what drivers they should use, the FireGL's use various forms of the Glint chipset. Check your manuals before downloading.

Voodoo vs. Voodoo Rush
I got a couple of emails from people asking why their Voodoo Rush board didn't get much of a performance increase with my posted .cfg for speeding up Quake2 in 3Dfx OpenGL. The Voodoo Rush is a 2-in-1 board. It does 2d as well as 3d. While it can do the 3Dfx OpenGL stuff like a normal Voodoo board, it doesn't do it quite as fast. That is why your framerates didn't jump up like that of a normal Voodoo.

Bus speeds
I got a few emails from people telling me that they have pushed their bus speeds above 66MHz. Yes, I know it can be done, but there can be problems. I've heard horror stories of people switching the jumper pins and damaging their motherboards. I personally have done it, but right now its back at 66MHz because of the testing I did last nite for 3Dfx OpenGL. I will probably put it back up to 75 in the near future. After I do that, I'll post my new benchmarks for a pumped up bus speed.

VeriteGL driver link fixed
The VeriteGL driver link has been fixed, thanks to the people who emailed me and told me it was screwed up.

Permedia2 and colored lighting
Many people have asked me why Permedia2 boards won't do colored lighting in GLQuake2. Supposedly the chipset can't do it and keep a decent framerate. If the drivers for Permedia2 boards were coded to support colored lighting, there would a large drop in performance in GLQuake2. As for now, colored lighting is not supported. Maybe 3dLabs will release new drivers with support in the future.....

Different look
Numerous people have told me that my love for the color red is a little too harsh. Yes, its true. :) I've changed the colors some so people don't start going into comas or such when they visit here.

Counter added
Added a counter. If I get enough hits, I might run a contest or something. Maybe the 1000th person to visit the page gets a new video board or something, I dunno. :)

January 5, 1998


Here we go....
Well I'm open for bizness, so to speak. If things look wrong on your internet browser, drop me an email and tell me what browser you're using, desktop display settings, and color depth. This site is optimized for viewing in 1024x768 with 16 bit color, using Netscape Communicator 4.01. Werd goes out to SirStimpy for helping me get the frames right. ( Thanks man :)

My currnet project is to get the 3Dfx OpenGL version of Quake2 to exceed 40fps in 640x480. This is easy in GLQuake, but a little harder in GLQuake2, due to larger and more detailed levels, along with the colored lighting. Right now I can get GLQuake2 to go 42fps in 640x480 on my pc, a p200 MMX, and that's without tweeking too many variables. I could pump my bus speed up and get it to go 50+, but I'm going to try to speed it up without messing with internal motherboard speeds.

Whoa...
The GLQuake2 Primary LZ has been up for around two hours, and my email inbox is already flooded. Thanks to everyone who has sent me a compliment. :) As for the people sending me Permedia2 information, thanks also, I'll try to have some information on that up ASAP. Tonite I finish my 3Dfx renderer testing, I will update as soon as I'm done.

Drivers
For those people sending me email about drivers not being there, yes, I know. I wanted to get this page up and running before I filled it up with drivers. Permedia2 stuff is up now, along with some more Voodoo and Voodoo Rush drivers. I tried to just put up the popular boards at first, now I'm going into the less popular, yet OpenGL capable boards. Oh yeah, Glint chipset drivers are now up too.

3Dfx OpenGL beta drivers
If there is anyone out there who has the beta OpenGL drivers from 3Dfx, please email me and tell me how well they work. I haven't faxed 3Dfx yet with my request, and I'd like to know how well they work before I start posting stuff about them. Also, if these drivers allow you to run Quake2 in the Default OpenGL mode at a decent framerate, I would like to know.

The logo
Special thanks to Mix of The Natural Born Killers for making the logo. The NBK guys are all OpenGL junkies. :)

Riva 128 ICD link
Someone emailed me telling me that the link to the Win95 OpenGL ICD for Riva 128 boards wasn't working, so I just put the driver on this site. Riva 128 owners, please read the readme file before installing this driver, it works fine, but Direct3d support isn't perfect in these drivers yet, that's why they're still in alpha state. A final version of these drivers with more fixes and better OpenGL support is expected soon. News on those drivers will be posted once they're available to the public.

3Dfx variable settings
I just got done testing the 'SET' variables for 3Dfx cards. Goto the Speed Increase section to see my findings.