Title: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on January 21, 2016, 07:32:26 PM Before reading.. Read the DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/FAQ]FAQs (http://([b)
Have you ever wondered how to become a better player? Sick of being target practice for the enemy? Here I will be including a few tips that will hopefully improve the average player. Avoid standing still. Learn the maps you're playing. Learn the weapons you're using. Develop strategy. Practice. The pros didn't get good over night. You should also invest in a personal config for yourself. Having a custom settings file will make improving much easier. Most people don't play with default settings from the game. There are always a multitude of reasons why people would want something to fit to there liking. Typically there are no one size fits all setups for OpenArena/Quake 3 so putting the time into finding your setup is the best option. In this post I will be including a few things that will definitely help in the process of creating a personal file to help your development. General reading over the DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Command_console]Command console (http://([b) page on the DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Main_Page]OpenArena Wikia (http://([b) website should give you a basic understanding of the command console. Reading over the attached files and the config file in this post should also give a basic understanding of how things should look. In most cases config files are stored in the baseoa folder in one of the OpenArena directories. Each directory is located in different places on each Operating System. Code: // OpenArena config settings of ^7oa-user In many cases you can get by with just basic to above average hardware for your computer. Sometimes you will be better off upgrading some key parts to improve the overall experience. At last there is an OpenArena channel that offers help when available. IRC QuakeNet #openarenahelp (http://webchat.quakenet.org/?nick=oa-user&channels=openarenahelp&prompt=1&uio=d4) is a great place to get help from some of the different people who may have the answer to some of your questions. Topic: OpenArena on IRC - Internet Relay Chat (http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=5188.msg53048#msg53048) At one point in time there was a website associated with #openarenahelp (http://) (openarenahelp.com is currently down.) Anyone feel free to also add tips. All tips are welcome, lets build a better community together. Read: DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Tweak]Tweaks (http://([b), DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Manual/Graphic_options]Graphic options (http://([b) Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Catameniacal on January 23, 2016, 12:01:59 AM Hasn't been that long since I started to play this thing, but nevertheless
believe it'll be appropriate to share what I found most useful along the way. Can't stress enough how vi ~/.openarena/baseoa/q3config.cfg would've helped on the first day, costum config file is a great idea, I keep number of those, for setting, binds, defrag and regular play, not to mention how much easier to edit setting in file. cg_fozoom I think is worth of mentioning while talking about settings, it's seems to me to be of an advantage no less then cg_fov, as well as I find cg_drawgun pretty useful to minimize any unwanted distractions, further more cg_drawrewards, cg_drawcrosshairnames and cg_fragmsgsize variables I find highly annoying, and it's the best thing of all that you can customize any of those to your preferences and greatest advantage. Server ones are a bit different though, while person above mentioned default values, for except cl_timenudge I believe. Well, snaps value represents snapshots from server, they could be higher I think, my are 125 mostly, rate the network speed, where 25k is pretty low, would go with 55k instead and everyone knows cl_maxpackets 125, by god I get reminded of it every day.. timenudge, it's sort of a twilight zone option, there's delag there, would you still need it, would you use it if you have it, idk, I's still trying to figure that one out. Then, server browsers are really nice tools, been using xqf for a while now and would recommend it, best thing you can define execution environment, pipe stuff, substitute oa's console, which always seemed kind of awkward to me and proper browse stuff, a must have in my book. Bots will do for accuracy training, ojra-retribution, ojra-absolution are good maps for that sort of practice. Considering jumping and running, well there's no way around it, you must defrag. That's at part what makes this game so much enjoyable actually, no two player movements, speed or techniques are alike. Yeah, sure it's the pretty much same mobious strip sort of movements, but even if there's pretty much allot of common mistakes there appears allot more diversity in skilled players, don't take my word for it though. What I mean is that in order to develop or hone out those, practice and training is essential and there's fair amount of maps where that can be done, my personal favorite being cos1_beta7b, and j4n_PureStrafeRL which is excellent for strafe practice, rest assured when you'll complete that one you'll increase you average speed, there's quite a few tracks in it with slick and pretty colors.. and again, you must defrag. Gameplay strategy I know nothing about and won't speculate upon. But I'll suggest to steal, to adopt approaches from other as there are no players are alike maybe it would be wise to more reflect upon own habits, for instance I got nasty habit crouching when I aim at target and after awhile opponent can easily become aware of it and take advantage of, consistency of performance is good but it's rather becomes disadvantage if becomes a pattern. Try to feel confident on a map, try make use of all it has. And even though I shouldn't mention it, use console, forget that gui settings manager, it isn't any good, need to change something > console = done, need to set something > file = concrete, all you need is just to play. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Gig on January 23, 2016, 03:30:54 AM go with 55k Are you sure? I thought rate 25000 (bytes per seconds) was its maximum value, and that settings higher values had no effect...Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on January 23, 2016, 06:16:44 AM For myself.. I have nearly 10 different config files that I usually experiment with for my own personal comfort. So trying to find the perfect config can take much time. Being that you would need to arrange new lines and then test them out on either bots/human players in order to know what you like. There are plenty of lines that definitely should be in most configs such as editing cg_zoomfov and cg_fov.
Overall, it can take quite sometime to be absolutely sure about creating the perfect config for yourself. Highly recommended not to overlook the process that should be taken when finding what works for you. You can use the /writeconfig from the command console for an easy file creation. I recommend just creating one using a text editor from scratch. Config Editor (http://superior.cf/tools/configEditor.zip) Binds Code: TAB Code: // SET => set a variable This would slightly help someone along the way with the config help. Just more information of meaning and whats available for config use. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Catameniacal on January 24, 2016, 12:03:16 AM go with 55k Are you sure? I thought rate 25000 (bytes per seconds) was its maximum value, and that settings higher values had no effect...The highest value I believe is 125k, values do have an effect, in my tests nevertheless, you can easily check those out, Or do you mean that those might be like server specific? Not certain in any way, like I mentioned have started to play fairly recently and those are only my suggestions, that I found to be useful and of benefit, and it might differ for you. Worth of mentioning that I'm on a slow network here, but was more stable at 55k rates then 25k DZK should talk about network tweaks, he's more knowledgeable about those then me. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Gig on January 24, 2016, 03:44:33 AM IIRC, your "rate" value is checked against server's "sv_maxrate" value, and the lower of the two is used.
How did you check it's "more stable"? Do you mean that lagometer lines are more similar or what? And what happens to it if you set lower values (e.g. 15000)? Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: grey matter on January 24, 2016, 08:00:28 AM IIRC, your "rate" value is checked against server's "sv_maxrate" value, and the lower of the two is used. There are hardcoded limits for sv_minRate and sv_maxRate, both need to be at least 1000 (unless they're 0, which disables the server rate limiting check, which is also the default setting). The clients rate is then capped within these limits, i.e. sv_minRate <= rate <= sv_maxRate. Another check ensures that userinfo rate is within 1000 and 90000 or else defaults to 3000 if not set. Exception to this being sv_lanForceRate, which will set each clients' rate to 99999. So overall the valid values for rate are 1000 to 90000, with the optional limit of sv_minRate and sv_maxRate. Also note that there is a clientside check for rate < 25000, which will disable VoIP on the client. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Gig on January 25, 2016, 02:54:08 AM Thank you.
But then, how much is the rate-related code of standard automatic download[1] different from rate-related code of actual playing? Modifying sv_maxrate and rate, I have been able to slow down automatic download lower than 25KB, but not higher (except maybe a bit, using some trick like setting higher sv_fps). What's the reason of having a max of 90000 during gameplay and 25000 while downloading? Also, IIRC, sv_lanforcerate seems to have no effect on automatic download speed. [1] I'm not referring to the http download (URL redirection), and not to the sv_dlRate (which was not included in OA 0.8.8 binaries... and I don't even know if that is included in current official git repo)... but to the old-fashioned download mode you can still do in 0.8.8. PS: Another check ensures that userinfo rate is within 1000 and 90000 or else defaults to 3000 if not set. Do you mean that, for a client, setting "rate 0" or "rate 100000" both mean "rate 3000"? And for a server, setting "sv_maxrate 0" is like "sv_maxrate 90000", due to removing the serverside limit, it still applies che hardcoded client-side one? Did I understood correctly? And what means "sv_maxrate 100000"?BTW, "rate" CVAR default value is 25000, and "sv_maxrate" CVAR default value is 0. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on January 26, 2016, 09:18:09 PM Since I'm not sure, while discussing cvars.. Is there a known limit to the number lines for one single config file? I know theres a limit to sets for a server, I don't know if this is the same for the seta or other.
Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: grey matter on January 28, 2016, 03:51:29 PM But then, how much is the rate-related code of standard automatic download[1] different from rate-related code of actual playing? I just remember the in-game automatic downloading to stuff pk3 slices into regular game packets, which had quite a bit of overhead. So if you increase packet size/rate, you'd slightly increase download speed. I didn't look at the old code, so that's just memories.Do you mean that, for a client, setting "rate 0" or "rate 100000" both mean "rate 3000"? It means that if a client transmits a value below 1000 it'll be set to 1000 and if above 90000 it'll be set to 90000. If a client does not supply a "rate" setting at all, it'll be set to 3000 instead (but this should never happen with a recent and legitimate client from what I can tell).And for a server, setting "sv_maxrate 0" is like "sv_maxrate 90000", due to removing the serverside limit, it still applies che hardcoded client-side one? If you do not set sv_maxRate (i.e. = 0), then only the userinfo check will be applied (because you can not turn that one off). So yes, it's basically the same as sv_maxRate 90000.Keep in mind however that it's just a maximum, clients can still use lower rates such as 25000. And what means "sv_maxrate 100000"? The clients' maximum rate will still be capped at 90000 first, even if the sv_maxRate check lateron would allow a higher value.Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: grey matter on January 28, 2016, 04:11:41 PM Since I'm not sure, while discussing cvars.. Is there a known limit to the number lines for one single config file? I know theres a limit to sets for a server, I don't know if this is the same for the seta or other. That's two separate questions.For the exec command the game will allocate a temporary buffer, so you should only be limited by com_hunkMegs. There are however other things you might call "config file", some of which are read by other means (engine or even gamecode). There's a maximum number of cvars that can be set (MAX_CVARS 2048). Those that are transmitted over the net have additional restrictions, so serverinfo (sets) and userinfo (setu) can not actually use all the free slots or have too long keys/values (should be MAX_INFO_STRING 1024 chars). Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Gig on January 29, 2016, 01:59:37 AM Thank you grey.
Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on January 29, 2016, 07:01:53 AM I'll have to take a look at the source code. Thank you grey.
Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on February 01, 2016, 08:37:35 PM Here are some more tips to keep in mind.
While playing I believe its best to get comfortable using each weapon and understanding the situations on which they should be called on. There are different damages to seek in each situation, such as splash damage. Using weapons as the Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Plasma Gun, BFG 10K, and Proxy Mine Launcher will result in splash damage being dealt. Players can fire rockets at a player without making direct contact, and still result in a frag. Gauntlet | Melee Machinegun | Hitscan Shotgun | Hitscan Grenade Launcher | Projectile Rocket Launcher | Projectile Lightning Gun | Hitscan Railgun | Hitscan Plasma Gun | Projectile BFG10K | Projectile Nailgun | Projectile Prox Launcher | Projectile Chaingun | Hitscan Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitscan Read: (DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Manual/Weapons This would give a better understanding of each of the weapons accessible in game. Knowing how to use each of the weapons is another useful feature to have as an OpenArena player. These skills are lacked most of the time usually because players tend to "fall in love" with one weapon. Versatility is a lost trait as a FPS gamer, and its something that shouldn't be overlooked. Now if you like today's average FPS games where there isn't much of difference between camping, and the typical rock found in your backyard.. you should be motivated to develop some skill. If Quake was done today (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZtBCpo0eU) Included at the bottom of this post is a .zip file containing a spreadsheet of the weapons damage for OpenArena. This chart is also included on the WIkia page. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Homme_de_noiR on February 10, 2016, 03:41:21 PM Hello Dilznik!
I had found you cheating on us here, lol. Nice post, do you maybe want to throw it on the GoD page? It would be a great place to stick your guide, nice work man. I'm setting up irc on windows, never knew it could be so difficult on this city os, so i will join conversationmaybe too, see you later man! Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on February 11, 2016, 10:29:02 AM Nice to see you here Homme_de_noiR
When I get the chance to this weekend I can post some of the posts there as well. It would be nice to see you in irc also. Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: Homme_de_noiR on February 11, 2016, 04:48:19 PM Sir, i have found the path, i am now to be found also, on a decent medium. greetings!
Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on February 13, 2016, 04:46:37 PM Glad you could make it Homme_de_noiR
Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on February 13, 2016, 05:01:32 PM Have you ever wondered how players are moving at greater speeds than your own? Players with enough experience have met someone who has done DeFRaG. DeFRaG is one of the most popular mods of all time for Quake 3, and highly requested in Quake Live. The DeFRaG community is large enough to be its own game in general. There are many players who have enjoyed this mod since its release in the early 2000s. The concept of playing this mod is to finish a specified map as quick as possible. This mod exists based on the way the game is written; it includes a bug where a certain motion allows the user to accelerate. More information can be found on the DeFRaG website. Before I went on a long hiatus, I spent much time playing this mod through the OpenArena protocol. I recommended this mod for players who don't want to feel the pressure of frags, or team game reliance. DeFRaG also includes a challenge once you've gotten past the basic maps; by no means is this an easy gametype to master.
Check out these Quake 3 Arena DeFraG movies below. Genesis - The Beginning Of (Part 1) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Q9SvMLMWE) Genesis - The Beginning Of (Part 2) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mEu_fhtOm4) f33l - Quake3 Defrag Movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T6IAHWMd2I) w3sp strafes - Quake3 Defrag movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAVsJI2PCiM) RUN DEX [Quake3 DeFRaG movie] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxn8Q-MiYkM) http://www.q3df.org/ http://q3defrag.org/files/defrag/ Title: Re: OpenArena/Quake 3 Tips & Configuration Help Post by: DILZNIK on February 18, 2016, 10:17:14 PM One of the most important things to a players improvement is to have comfortable servers to play on.
Recently the :F servers are back and running. The most recent change made to :F Stupid CTF (http://dpmaster.deathmask.net/?game=openarena&server=52.28.156.155:27961) is the damage some of the weapons are dealing; the damage from a Machine Gun, Lightning Gun, and Railgun are all reduced. Players such as myself understand why its a great idea to have these weapons reduced, being that in certain ways weapons are overpowered. The Lightning Gun There are also servers that are "normal" being ran on :F servers. The Machine Gun is reduced to 5 rather than 7, Lightning Gun has been set to 6 and the Railgun is no longer 100 but instead 80. Now most of these changes are for the players who can manage and adapt to the more difficult handicap set. The changes aren't noticeable unless you were to be told so. You can check out the servers on the website listed below along with the master list page. The servers operator is an active listener, and you don't have to worry about someone playing dictator during your playing time. You can see his contact information on the website as well and send him some requests you want to have on the server. These servers are particularly for players who want fair games, no win joiners, aimbots/wallhacks; with active admins there to regulate the servers for the most enjoyable experiences at these servers. I recommend playing on this server to help improve your efficiency as an overall player. Being that there is a rotation constantly changing, this will bring more fun for players.. rather than just playing on oasago2 every single game. The maps are action packed and will bring more versatility to your CTF experience. Only one server at the moment is running a server-side mod that is altering the damage. http://www.stupidctf.tk/ http://dpmaster.deathmask.net/?game=openarena&css=game/deathmask.css |