How to connect to quakeworld

[sloopdoom]

I compiled the quakeworld code downloaded from internet. when I clicked the multiplePlayer menu, it displayed:"If you want to find QW games, head on over to:www.quakeworld.net www.quakespy.com For pointers on getting started!".
but the two web seems like closed . how can i connect to the quakeworld game servers

[talisa]

there's a huge list of quake servers right here
QuakeOne - Quake Servers

just connect to them manually by opening console and typing 'connect SERVER-IP-ADRESS'

[sloopdoom]

I typed connect quake.crmod.com:26001, it pop up a error window: NET_GetPacket: Bad file descriptor

[sloopdoom]

oh, thanks ,I can connect to its own server now.

[Mr.Burns]

It sounds as though you are trying to use a Quakeworld engine to connect to a NetQuake server. This is primarily a NetQuake site but we do get some very helpful and friendly QuakeWorld experts visiting and from what I can gather it is possible for certain QuakeWorld clients to connect to NetQuake servers. According to someone much more knowledgeable than I , namely Spike, there is a nqconnect command in QW clients like FTE and ZQuake which when used correctly should do what you need. In addition you could try some online resources such as Quakeworld.nu which have QuakeWorld server listings to help you find a game. I am also lead to believe that there are QW engines that has their own in game server browser.
Alternatively you could just download a NetQuake engine like Qrack, Proquake or Darkplaces and use their in game browsers to jump on to your desired NetQuake server.

Hope this help

Monty

[Spike]

quakeworld and netquake use different network protocols, they are not compatible (but yes, exceptions exist).
as a general rule, netquake uses port 26000 and quakeworld uses port 27500. obviously that's a default and different servers might use different ports or multiple ports... but as a general rule...


quake.xs4all.nl:27500 is a good quakeworld server, at least if you're european.
QuakeWorld Free For All Servers / QuakeServers.net will give you a few others.
the larger qw clients have built-in server browsers.

if you're using vanilla quakeworld... give up now. there's no point. its shite and buggy. if you want something vanilla-like, go with zquake (not to be confused with ezquake) as this will have all the stupid things fixed while retaining a vanilla feel.

[sloopdoom]

thanks Mr.Burns & Spike, has netquake improved the network code much more? I found the network protocol is fixed, not easy to extend. and QW can be cheated by some malicious people because it never encrypt its command message. and it seems not consider the DDOS attack.

[Mr.Burns]

I was always lead to believe that the QW network code was supposed to be an improvement on NetQuake, but I have no evidence one way or the other to back that up.

It may also depend on the version of code that you are looking at as new QW clients such as FTE are still being supported and actively developed by Spike. If you have compiled the original source from 10-15 years ago then its entirely possible that you may be missing a lot of fixes, improvements and updates that could have been applied in the intervening years. I know this is certainly true of NetQuake and the work of people such as Baker (ProQuake/Enginex), Rook (Qrack), MH (DirectQ) and Lord Havoc (Darkplaces).

People more learned in QuakeC than I, such as the mighty Spike, Rook or Baker would need to jump in here in order to provide you with a more fleshed out answer.

Kind regards

Monty

[Spike]

QuakeWorld was a rewrite of the vast majority of the network code. Which is what makes the two incompatible.
this fixes all sorts of issues with NATs (server replies from a single port, easier to forward, doesn't fail if the NAT has a certain bug, etc), contains fixes for smurf attacks (where you can fake source ips to DOS the server with just a few packets), doesn't retransmit every single entity on the entire map even if it hasn't changed, etc.
it also featured automatic downloads, as well as prediction so that it didn't feel so laggy when played online. even the server replies to clients faster, resulting in lower pings there too.
in theory, anyway. the vanilla implementation had certain issues, like only 64 ents visible at once, and if someone sends a carefully crafted message (in multiple forms) you can get some nice remote exploits of clients. it only supports 512 ents on the map max, and has a higher player limit of 32 (eep! lets hope players don't start spamming nails). It doesn't interpolae nails/rockets/grenades either, so can be a bit more jerky (lower latency...). But the real reason it failed to kill NQ is the fact that mods and things are completely incompabile (from a practical perspective, anyway).
since the sourcecode has been released, all of these limitations of quakeworld have been fixed. but then so have most of the NQ clients too (or at least internet connections have, anyway).
So, long story short, vanilla QuakeWorld sucks, don't use it. Vanilla NQ sucks too, if only for playing online. Some clients support both protocols, some don't.
Often mods will be written to run only in whatever engine the modder used. It can be buggy or just confusing (docs+cvars don't mix) when trying to run the mod in a different engine, so its often just easier to go with the flow and use whichever engine the modder recommended instead of trying to mix+match.
Obviously, if they didn't recommend any engine then you should use FTE, cos its awesome... and cos that one's my one - hey, at least I can admit that I'm biased!

Originally there was a global ranking system, but that was before my time and the code for that was never released, so meh. That's what the userids were all about.

when you mention DDOS attacks, remember that a NQ server could be DOSed with minimal bandwidth. 16 packets every 2 mins is enough. the only requirement is that you need to spoof the source address. its a really cheesy attack. :s
ultimately there's nothing you can do about DDOS attacks other than to get a bigger internet connection than the attacker (with gateways to cache/filter out the bad requests).
neither NQ nor QW encrypt their network protocol. now that its open source, encrypting it won't help anything. encryption blocks mitm attacks (like proxies), but if you don't have control over the client's computer, you don't have control over the client. it can still send whatever it wants. the only thing QW protocol hacking gets you is a speed cheat. modern servers generally detect+kick when they're used, so no advantage.