

Ask HN: What's the easiest way to get started modding Quake2 or similar? - sdegutis

I just found https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;id-Software&#x2F; the other day. I&#x27;m pretty familiar with C, and there was a time when I&#x27;d play Doom and Quake2 a lot.<p>I&#x27;d really like to jump in to the source, change a few things, compile, and play my modified version of the game.<p>But first of all I&#x27;m having a hard time compiling it. I&#x27;m on Mac OS X and started thinking maybe the problem is that it compiles most easily on Windows or Linux? Google isn&#x27;t helping much in this regard.<p>Secondly, where would someone find free (legal) data files to use in place of the official ones that only come with buying the game? Is it easiest to just buy it on eBay, or are there places to find community-made data files?<p>If this is an off-topic question, please let me know and I&#x27;ll delete it. I try to use my best judgment on this, but I don&#x27;t always get it right. And I&#x27;m not sure about this question.
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bliti
Somewhat related:

There is a game based on Quake Arena called Urban Terror. It has a good
community of modders that help others learn how to modify the game. If you do
not have too much luck with Quake2, you could look into this as as well. Good
luck hacking.

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blakerson
For assets (data files), I recommend buying the game. Steam would work well
since you'd get instant gratification and everything would already be patched
- don't forget, Q2 dates back to well before automated patching in games.
Admittedly, it's unlikely assets themselves got patched, but it could pop up
as an issue after you compiled your own source.

There _are_ community-made data files, and these were called "total
conversions" since all assets - models, textures, sound, maps - were original.
You could go find those, but they often had original game code as well so
you'd be effectively playing a different game at that point.

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sdegutis
Whoa, I didn't even think to look on Steam. Thanks for pointing that out!

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phantom_oracle
Use a VM to try running it on Linux or Win. Ideally, if it is C, I would go
with Linux.

The best way I would get started is by trying something as simple as making my
player move twice as fast as all the rest.

It sounds simple in theory, but it is complex and a great way to break things
while getting your feet wet.

If you can read the code and understand what each piece does, it isn't very
tough to make mods. If you find it confusing, coding weird things and watching
it break is a good way to experiment.

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sdegutis
I figured the early Doom stuff would compile best on some kind of linux, but
the readme for the Quake stuff looks like it's talking about Visual Studio
which is what started worrying me.

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phantom_oracle
Getting an earlier version of Visual Studio won't be difficult. I _think_ they
give them away for free.

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thenomad
It's been a looooong time since I fiddled with the Quake 2 source, but I
remember the basics.

1) Yep, it's easiest to compile on Windows, I think. Not sure about Linux, but
I recall that the projects were Visual Studio based.

2) I don't think you'll find replacements for the official data files. The
easiest way to get hold of the official ones is to buy Quake 2 on Steam, which
is instant, then download the data there. Alternatively it's also available to
buy on Amazon, still.

~~~
sdegutis
Okay. I hope the Visual Studios Express (free) compiles it in Windows 7
running in VirtualBox.

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replax
You could also try to go into developing/modding a game called Xonotic. while
it's based on the Q3 engine, it looks really good and has an active developer
community! it's fantastic really :)

[http://xonotic.org](http://xonotic.org)

