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Quake III Arena

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Template:Infobox game/row/linporter
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena cover
Developers
id Software
Publishers
Activision
Engines
id Tech 3
Release dates
Windows December 2, 1999
Linux December 27, 1999
Mac OS (Classic) 2000
Quake III Arena guide on StrategyWiki
Quake III Arena on Wikipedia
Quake
Quake 1996
Quake II 1997
Quake III Arena 1999
Quake 4 2005
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars 2007
Quake Live 2010
Quake II RTX 2019
Quake Enhanced 2021
Quake Champions 2022
Quake II Enhanced 2023

Key points

Engine is open source with modern multi-platform ports available; see Source ports.

General information

ESReality - Community hub for competitive Quake.
Func_Msgboard - Mapper hub, new map releases, technique improvements.
Planet Quake - Very old hub for the Quake franchise. Has mods, guides, and news on the Quake communities.
Quake Wiki - Wiki for the Quake franchise.
Worldspawn Archive - Map repository.
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
Windows
Mac OS
Amazon.com
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Windows
GamersGate
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Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Quake III Gold. Cannot be purchased in Germany.[1]
Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Quake III Gold.
Windows
Quake III: Gold includes the base game along with the Quake III: Team Arena expansion.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Quake III: Team Arena Included with Quake III: Gold.
Windows

Version differences

Vanilla

The original, closed-source versions of the game still work for online multiplayer. Many users may prefer to use more recent, improved engines based on the source code release.

Quake Live

id Software launched a free-to-play browser-based port of Quake III titled Quake Live, that has since migrated to Steam and is no longer free-to-play. Most players have migrated to this service to continue playing, as it adds new features and game modes, and improves compatibility with newer systems.

Essential improvements

Official patch

Digital distribution platforms such as GOG and Steam are already have the latest version.
The latest official patch is 1.32c, it can be downloaded from Quake 3 World.

Source ports

While the original Quake III Arena point releases still work on modern systems, the release of the engine's source code has enabled the creation of additional variants that improve upon the game but are backwards compatible for multiplayer play. These versions do not support PunkBuster anti-cheat and thus cannot connect to servers using it, though very few still exist.

ioquake3

ioquake3 is a port of the engine to SDL to assist in multi-platform development of stand-alone mods for the Quake III engine.

Quake3e

Quake3e introduces many bug, security and performance fixes as well as some quality of life features for competitive play.
Fork of ioquake3

Spearmint

Spearmint supports XInput controllers and split screen multiplayer up to 4 players.
Fork of ioquake3

Modifications

Quake 3 servers often use modifications in order to enhance the game in some way.

Challenge Promode Arena

Challenge Promode Arena (CPMA) is a modification which supports a two gameplay styles (vanilla and promode) and many different game modes, it is often used for competitive play.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2200/pfx/[Note 1]
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2200/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

Instructions

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Input settings

In-game control settings.
In-game control settings.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 A source port is required. See Source ports
LAN play
16
Online play
16
All official maps are designed for at most 16 players. However, dedicated servers can be set to have no max player limit.

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 27950, 27952, 27960, 27965
UDP 27950, 27952, 27960, 27965
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Game crashes on exit

Instructions

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
OpenGL 1.1
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

Brightness issues

By default, Quake III Arena has brightness issues and may appear very dark.
Instructions

Head Bobbing

By default, Quake III Arena has head bobbing that may cause motion sickness.
Instructions

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, NT 4.0
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 233 MHz or Pentium II 300 MHz or AMD K6-2 350 MHz or Athlon.
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7 compatible
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Any distribution (ports of the engine available in most distros' package repositories)
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 233 MHz / Pentium II 300 MHz or AMD K6-2 350 MHz / Athlon. Also suitable are CPUs exceeding 400MHz of any ISA.
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/2200/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (2200) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References