Quake 3 Arena (Linux)
by Loki Entertainment Software Inc.
(Click here)
Product Summary
Brand: Loki Entertainment SoftwareFormat: CD-ROM
Platform: Linux
Publisher: Loki Entertainment Software Inc.
Video Game Reviews of Quake 3 Arena (Linux)
Customer Review: Great game . . . difficult to install
Summary: 5 Stars
Any shooter will love this game. It is fast on Linux and the graphics rendering is great. And the best part is no crashes or screen lock ups as in Windo$e.
Now for the bad stuff. It is extremely hard to install and to be frank, if you are a beginner to Linux I wouldn't even try it unless you got a pair and are willing to spend at least several hours cruising the net forums for help (or if you are lucky enough to follow my advice at the very end of this review). The initial problems were (and I must emphatically state that at this price for an oldish game, one would expect it to install flawlessly), at least in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty, inadequate write privileges for installation and other folder and file privileges inadequate to write necessary configuration files, cd key and to gain access to the sound.
Particularly, the pathetically short and poor instructions provided for installation suggest installing and running it in administrative mode (a grave security risk), yet Ubuntu is one of the few Linux distributions that makes it almost impossible to run the desktop in administrative mode or even get to the system prompt in administrative mode. Great for security, and yes it is good to get used to using sudo, but this complicates installation significantly to almost insurmountable proportions. But even before you get to the part of using sudo to change a bunch of folder and file permissions ya have to get the setup.sh script to work.
So the VERY first problem ya will run into will be that the instructions assume that you use the sh shell rather than bash. So ya got to put a link in the sh path to bash, so bash will start when ya type in sh. Not too bad but annoying. I mean how many disto's use sh still. I've never seen a distro use sh and I've been using Linux for ten years. Then ya can run sh setup.sh and the setup script will start . . . but oh boy, your problems are just starting because the setup.sh cannot find your libGL files.
After hours of fumbling my way through sudo commands, I was able to get the game to run at least, although I had to use the command "sudo quake3 +set r_gldriver
The real glitch is the part
So the game starts with no sound and I put in the cdkey . . . but, what? It gives the message that the key is no good. I check it again, and then again. What gives. Well, despite the cdkey being in capital letters on the diamond case the program wants the letters in the key all lower case. Now there is no, I repeat no excuse for this BS. So I enter it in lower case.
Well, when I start the game again, it asks me for the cdkey again. Evidently, there is a write permission problem to the file that stores the cdkey. I won't say how I solved this because its all BS and the solution I'll come to will solve all your problems.
Anyway, I finally play the game without sound for a couple hours, then, understandably, I want the sound. So, once again, spending hours on the Internet finding other people trying to solve the same problem I'm having, without luck I might add (because quake3 uses something called mmap sound and ALSA, the universal sound protocol now used by Ubuntu and most other distro's isn't compatible with that) . . . NO SOUND.
By this time I'm about to give up and install the game on windows (the CD comes with Windoze binary executables). . . what? Did I say that? Well, I won't do it. I'd rather suck pus through an old straw I found in the garbage.
I was desperate. There is no excuse for a game that has been around so long as Quake 3 Arena to be so hard to install. I mean . . . the developers couldn't write a script to query the system about its configuration and accommodate it. Open Source programmers are too stupid to do what game programmers for the Windo$e O/$ do ALL the beeping time?
Well, happily this is not the case. Because I found a site that a group of Open Source programmers had created an installation engine for "Quake 3 Arena for Linux" and an engine to install the maps. The only foot work ya have to do is to physically copy the PAK0.PK3 file from the baseQ3 folder located on the cd to the location specified. Easy enough. And . . . bingo. Quake 3 Arena is running from my users (no administrative privileges) account with full sound with no problems at all!
And it ROCKS. Windoze . . . suck algae off dead fish. I'm playing Quake 3 Arena on Linux. Yes!
Okay . . . so here is the url that will solve all your installation problems with this game
Was it worth it. Well, uhmmmmm . . . yes. I'd crawl on my knees across miles of broken glass and tacks to avoid using Bill Gates' putrid abomination of an O/$$$$.
Now . . . if I could only watch screwattack.com in my Firefox browser in Linux . . . its something about the url in the flashplayer files. I wonder if I Google . . . .
Okay, now ya got the dope on how to setup Quake 3 Arena on Linux.
Micro$oft . . . eat it!
Description of Quake 3 Arena (Linux)
This software is BRAND NEW. Packaging may differ slightly from the stock photo above. Please click on our logo above to see over 15,000 titles in stock.As in its dozens of first-person shooter ancestors, id Software and Activision's Quake 3: Arena transports players into a violent, virtual world filled with deadly weapons, impressive power-ups, and intense combat. Players compete on 26 maps in either death match (free-for-all or team play), with goals to rack up as many kills as possible; or capture the flag, a team-oriented game with scoring based on the number of enemy flag captures. Though presenting the best death-match experience around, Quake 3's two game types lack the variation and originality of a similar game, Epic's Unreal Tournament.
Although you'll need the latest video card and computer hardware, it's impossible to dispute the sheer beauty of Quake 3's 3-D engine. The 26 maps are filled with exquisite architecture and impressive special effects; further, Quake 3 provides dozens of highly detailed player models to choose from. If you've played other id Software first-person shooters, the weapons should all look familiar: machine gun, shotgun, plasma gun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, lightning gun, railgun, and the BFG 10K. Though impressively rendered and balanced, you've likely used them before in id's Doom, Quake, or any number of other first-person action games.
Hopping online and competing against other Quake 3: Arena players worldwide requires only a 56K or better Internet connection and a few mouse clicks. Quake 3 offers an infinitely replayable multiplayer experience (and a violent one--not for youngsters), but an unsatisfying solo game. Its single-player tournament mode--a series of death matches against computer AI bots--serves simply as a massive training exercise for multiplay. --Doug Radcliffe
Pros:
- Cutting-edge graphics
- Near-perfect death-match multiplay
- Detailed player models
- Beautiful level architecture
- Uninspired single-player experience
- Lack of game variations
- Unoriginal weapons
Quake 3 Arena for Linux features a completely rebuilt game engine that adds gorgeous 3-D arenas to "frag" your opponents within, plus all new weapons and character models. This first-person shooter game includes single-player game play or live death-match kills on the Internet or over a LAN. The Linux edition of Quake 3 Arena will also ship in a limited edition collector's tin box and includes the SuSE Linux 6.3 operating system.
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