Quake 2 (off topic)

[xolve]

Well the quake sale is back down to -50% instead of -75% now,
which is still worth it-
BTW I ended up biting the bullet and buying quake 2 & expansions last night-
using the Quake 2 Evolved engine + texturepacks as per the instructions on this page.

It looks AMAZING.

Because I'd never played a legitimate copy when I was a youngster, I never realised the music for quake 2 is awesome.

You'll want to turn down the music and sound effect volume levels to about half in the q2e engine.

For reference, some simplified directions for getting this going with the steam edition:

1. copy your steamapps/common/quake II directory somewhere else (no need to update, it's already 3.20).
2. download The q2e buzzard texturepack and extract to your new quake2 directory. Overwrite where necessary.
3. Run q2e.exe

Amazing work by jimw and q2e

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzT04PGD8hA]Someone else's youtube video of q2e[/ame]

[Grim Warlock]

And you're posting here because?

[electrici]

I agree, Q2 music is awesome. Had the soundtrack in my CD player more often than in my cdrom. I never really enjoyed q2 multiplayer.

[FC Zvyozdochka]

If you really like Q2 then try this engine - Quake2xp Home Page
It is really beautiful and powerful (in some aspects even better than DP for Q1) but it lacks good textures and models (though something is already done). So any help is welcome.

Some pics:
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

[Bloodshot]

While Q2 and it's music was indeed awesome, I also felt Q2 as a whole was a mixed bag for me. The MP never really grabbed me like Q1 did. My main problem was that the entire game was basically Base - while Doom had hell and base and hell mixed levels, and Quake had a few base and many medieval/runic (which is my favorite)/ elder world settings that kept the episodes fresh, Q2 was all base with the Strogg - which IMO, most of the enemies I never found too interesting. They seemed a bit on the generic side.

All of my gripes aside, it was a really good game, just missing some things for me to make it one of my best games ever.

Oh and fyi, this goes in other games

[RL Clown]

My main problem was that the entire game was basically Base - while Doom had hell and base and hell mixed levels, and Quake had a few base and many medieval/runic

I don't know, but to me, that wasn't much of a problem. Architecture is one thing but the enemies were another... I thought that Quake 2 had some really good enemies. Some of them were really tough - like Tanks and Tank Commanders. But as you can see, it's 'different strokes for different folks.'

[xolve]

If you really like Q2 then try this engine - Quake2xp Home Page
It is really beautiful and powerful (in some aspects even better than DP for Q1) but it lacks good textures and models (though something is already done). So any help is welcome.

Some pics:
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Just thought I would concur here after some experimentation that Quake2XP is a much more solid client than Quake2 Evolved - the movement and lighting are better, and it's much easier to put together (already has high-res skins included in the build).
One thing that stumped me briefly,
you have to put the music in base2q/music with the titles track02.wav-track11.wav - don't think it recognises mp3 or ogg.
Fun game, though nowhere near as fun as quake.

[golden_boy]

Quake 2, like Doom 3, is (practically) all hi-tech in theme. There are variations though, e.g. there is the brown waste processing theme and the black-ish reactor theme with those glowing blue details. Or the distinctive Mines theme, or the factory level where humans are processed into ... stroyent.

There is quite a bit of variation, it isn't all Stroggbase. Same for Doom 3, which has Mars City, blue Alpha Labs, orange Alpha Labs, waste processing, Delta Labs, Hell, grey and green industrial, excavation, and ancient temple themes. At least.

There is more than meets the eye.

[MH]

I loved Quake 2; in many ways I find it's SP game better than Q1 (BURN THE HERETIC!). It has a level of sheer enjoyment and "rush" that Q1 no longer has for me, which may be due to being overly familiar with it.

gb is correct - there is ample variety in it's themes and you can see the styles build from the Base unit through Warehouse, Jail, City, etc. Some of the City maps contain some truly awe-inspiring architecture.

The Q2 tech itself fixes many things that were broken or just plain weird with Q1 (unfortunately it also breaks a few new things of it's own).

For a real dull run of consecutive samey base maps, you need to look at Scourge of Armagon, I'm afraid.