Quake2 done Quick2 ------------------ (0) Index (1) Introduction (1.1) What's Quake2 done Quick2? (2) The run (2.1) Installation (2.2) Running and viewing (3) More details about the run (3.1) Timing (3.2) How the run was recorded (3.3) The bunny-hop restriction (3.4) Project history (4) Statistics (5) Credits and contact info (5.1) Credits (5.2) Utilities used (5.3) Contact info ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Introduction (1.1) What's Quake2 done Quick2? Quake2 done Quick2 (known as Q2dQ2 for short) is the first speed-run by the Quake done Quick team through id Software's Quake2. It is a run all the way through Quake2 on Hard skill, going through the levels as fast as possible. We do not worry about secrets and kills, only about completing the primary game goals as specified in the manual and completing the game. We didn't use bunny-hops (strafe-jumping) except to perform tricks that couldn't be done in any other way. The run is continuous, so that we begin each new level with the same statistics with which we ended the previous level. In cases where we return to a level we have already visited, the level starts in the same state as when we left it previously. The run should therefore be just like a single continuous run through the game, although like all QdQ runs, it was actually recorded one level at a time. We do not expect every demo to be completely optimised, some maps certainly still have some room for improvements - the only certainty in speed-running is that you can always do it faster somehow. (-: If you think you can beat any of the demos in Q2dQ2, please get in touch and we'll supply you with the technology needed to record a demo that will fit into the existing run. (2) The run (2.1) Installation (At the time of release, Q2dQ2 works for WinXX platforms only. Check the download page for extra information on Linux and Mac versions.) First you need to find your main Quake2 directory. This probably has the name "Quake2" and will contain such items as your Quake2 executable program (quake2.exe) and your baseq2 game subdirectory. You should make a subdirectory of this main directory. Give it whatever name you like; for the purposes of these instructions we will assume you have called it "Q2dQ2". You can e.g. do this in a DOS shell by changing to your main Quake2 directory and then typing "md Q2dQ2" at the prompt. You should unzip the contents of q2dq2.zip into your Q2dQ2 directory. (2.2) Running and viewing First, you will need the "official" version of Quake2, v3.20, in order to watch the demos. If you aren't up-to-date, you can download what you need from many places, including Now to watch the run, start Quake2 with the command-line option "+game q2dq2". Alternatively, you can start Quake2 as normal and then enter "game q2dq2" in the console. The run is played from a menu interface, so that you can choose to play the whole speed-run, or individual units, or individual runs. Use the same keys that you use to access the Quake2 inventory menu to move around and make selections in the menu. By default, these will be the "[" and "]" keys to move up and down, and the "ENTER" key to select a menu item. If you have them available, you can toggle the inclusion of the original id cinematics as part of playback with a menu option. Whilst playing a demo, you can press F10 to stop and return to the menu. Note that if you press non-function keys in Quake2 whilst a demo is playing, this will take you to the console. To return to the main Q2dQ2 menu, you can press F10, or enter "menu" as a console command. If you are a keen player who has optimised their DeathMatch framerate at the expense of viewing quality, you may wish to choose some different configuration options to play back this run so that it looks as pretty as possible. A good way to do this is to edit the q2dq2/autoexec.cfg file. Is there anything else you need to know? Sorry, we'll have to blank you - there are no Easter Egg demos in the Q2dQ2 speed-run. There will be plenty of eggs when we make a proper movie, though. We don't know about any playback problems in Q2dQ2, but since this is the first time we have released something for Quake2, it is possible that some exist. Please write and tell us if you find any problems, so that we can fix them, and do things better next time. As time goes on, FAQs about this release will no doubt arise. We will try to publish answers to the common ones on our website. When we do this, these will be available via the download page at . (3) More details about the run (3.1) Timing Just a quick explanation of why we say we completed Quake2 in 21:06. We recorded every demo separately and then connected them together, adding up the times for each level. The times for individual levels are rounded down to a whole number of seconds, ignoring any fractions of a second. This convention is inherited from Quake1 speed-running; consistency was our main concern. The total time for our run if the excess fractions of a second are taken into account is 21:38.3. (3.2) How the run was recorded We recorded each demo separately, on skill 2 (Hard), of course without any cheating. To time the demos, and to start with the correct stats and entity positions that we ended the previous levels with, we used some specially written recording options in a game modification by Nolan Pflug called q2timer. We recorded Quake2 as one big run because Quake2 was made to be played all the way through, and not as separate levels. We did it by connecting single demos together because the final product is a lot more interesting and entertaining that way, and we could include some very cool tricks that we couldn't do had we recorded it in one sitting. However we wanted to be sure that the finished run worked just like a single continuous playing session, and have worked hard on our recording technology in order to do this. The "hub" system of levels that allows the player to carry items between levels and re-enter levels that they have already visited meant this was much harder to do in Quake2 than in Quake1. If you find any continuity problems, please let us know about them. The details of the recording procedure are too complicated to explain here, but in time we intend to publish them on our website. When we do this, these will be available via the download page at . (3.3) The bunny-hop restriction In Quake2, a player can increase their speed with various techniques that are based on swiftly changing direction in combination with jumping. The main trick is commonly known as turbo-running, although QdQ tend to refer to it as bunny-hopping because of the similarity to the Quake1 technique of the same name. It basically reduces to repeatedly jumping whilst strafing and turning a little. To proceed through Quake2 as quickly as possible, a player needs to bunny-hop non-stop. Some people, including several of the Q2dQ2 team members, find the results unattractive. There was also a concern that the effectiveness of the technique is frame-rate dependent, which would have meant that in order to get the best times, a player had to have as fast a computer system as possible. This would have introduced undesirable unfairness to speed-running. For this first Q2dQ2 run, we decided to restrict the use of bunny-hopping. We bunny-hop only when it is necessary for us to do so in order to perform some trick (more precisely, to follow a particular route through the Quake2 environment at a certain cost of damage.) This is an arbitrary restriction that results in slower than optimum times, but we thought it was appropriate for this first attempt at a Quake2 speed-run. Perhaps future QdQ runs through Quake2 will feature unrestricted bunny-hops. This development would echo that of Quake1 speed-running, where bunny-hops became more important as time progressed and running techniques were refined. (3.4) Project overview Quake done Quick started making these sort of runs using Quake1 a couple of years ago. There are plenty of downloads waiting for you at if you haven't seen them already. This was our first project for Quake2, and it took a very long time to complete - sorry to the people who have been waiting impatiently! The details of speed-running Quake2 turn out to be much more complicated than they were in Quake1. A lot of new recording technology had to be written, and tuning the details so that everything worked right took us a long time. I'd like especially to thank Nolan Pflug and Will Marsh for their efforts in making everything work as it should. Respect also to all the runners for putting up with all the patches, fixes and work-arounds that we had to use whilst trying to get things working, and to Gerald Tangent for assembling and motivating the team. Quake2 underwent many changes relevant to gameplay post-release. We waited for the game to stabilise (and for the baseq2 source to be released) before starting recording on this project, since we wanted to run a single, stable version of the game. In both the above cases, we could have cut our losses, accepted that the finished product wouldn't really represent a continuous run through the game, and released something that wasn't quite right. It would probably have been just as enjoyable to watch a run where the details don't quite work, but we didn't want to compromise the integrity of our speed-runs, so we accepted the delay resulting from getting the details right. But although there are devils in those details, there is lots new to enjoy about running this game as well. Quake2 adds many jumping tricks to the ammunition available to runners. Double-jumping and other varieties of ledge pull-ups were probably as important as grenade and rocket-jumping in this run, but there are others too, including the occasional "permitted" bunnies and circle-jumps. The ability to carry items between maps (especially with skill 2's "only one of any power-up at a time" restriction) adds a lot to the strategy involved in route planning. There was a lot of discussion about which Quads and Invulnerabilities would yield a profit over all. The hub/unit-system makes keys and triggers interesting too. There are actually a few places where one can carry keys between units; for example, one could avoid using the blue key in waste3 and take it through to use in lab. However that minor saving was abandonned when we found a forgotten floating trigger that let us avoid most of the Power unit altogether; this is probably my favourite hack in the run. Other neat tricks are the corpse and bullet door-stops in ware1 and ware2, the 10fps laser bug in jail3, the supertank launch in jail4, the rocket+grenade in mine1, the adrenaline grab in mine3iii, the Quad from water in hangar2, the well-known window in the black hole generator's security in command, and the icarus and beserker assists in city1 and city2ii. Enjoy the run! Especially, ah, hangar1ii... - Anthony, 1999.06.28 (4) Statistics ============================================ Map (Level Name) Time Player ============================================ base1 (Outer Base) 0:12 Toxy base2 (Installation) 0:18 Fredrik base3 (Comm Center) 0:44 Fredrik base2ii (Installation) 0:20 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit1 (Base) 1:34 -------------------------------------------- bunk1 (Ammo Depot) 0:25 Fredrik ware1 (Supply Station) 0:33 Toxy bunk1ii (Ammo Depot) 0:26 NancyBoy ware2 (Warehouse) 0:48 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit2 (Warehouse) 2:12 -------------------------------------------- jail1 (Main Gate) 0:31 NancyBoy jail2 (Detention Center) 0:28 Optic jail3 (Security Complex) 0:11 NancyBoy jail5 (Guard House) 0:58 Toxy jail3ii (Security Complex) 0:12 NancyBoy jail4 (Torture Chambers) 0:24 MrJ jail3iii (Security Complex) 0:19 Fredrik security (Grid Control) 0:41 NancyBoy -------------------------------------------- unit3 (Jail) 3:44 -------------------------------------------- mintro (Mine Entrance) 0:25 MrJ mine1 (Upper Mines) 0:26 Toxy mine2 (Bore Hole) 0:04 Ajare mine3 (Drilling Area) 0:28 NancyBoy mine2ii (Bore Hole) 0:03 Mattias mine3ii (Drilling Area) 0:22 Mattias mine4 (Lower Mines) 0:25 MrJ mine3iii (Drilling Area) 0:06 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit4 (Mines) 2:19 -------------------------------------------- fact1 (Receiving Center) 0:08 Ajare fact2 (Processing Plant) 0:58 Toxy fact1ii (Receiving Center) 0:09 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit5 (Factory) 1:15 -------------------------------------------- power1 (Power Plant) 0:15 Fredrik power2 (The Reactor) 0:40 Hatti -------------------------------------------- unit6 (Power) 0:55 -------------------------------------------- biggun (Big Gun) 0:30 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit7 (Big Gun) 0:30 -------------------------------------------- hangar1 (Outer Hangar) 0:08 Ajare lab (Research Lab) 1:46 Toxy hangar1ii (Outer Hangar) 0:06 Anthony hangar2 (Inner Hangar) 1:00 Ajare command (Launch Command) 0:23 Fredrik strike (Outlands) 0:56 Ajare -------------------------------------------- unit8 (Hangar) 4:19 -------------------------------------------- city1 (Outer Courts) 0:59 Fredrik city2 (Lower Palace) 0:44 Optic city3 (Upper Palace) 0:23 Ajare city2ii (Lower Palace) 0:39 Ajare city3ii (Upper Palace) 0:30 Ajare -------------------------------------------- unit9 (City) 3:15 -------------------------------------------- boss1 (Inner Chamber) 0:36 Ajare boss2 (Final Showdown) 0:27 Fredrik -------------------------------------------- unit10 (Boss) 1:03 ============================================ Quake2 done Quick2 21:06 ============================================ (5) Credits and contact info (5.1) Credits Q2dQ2 features demos recorded by the following people: Fredrik "[+]RZA" Arvidsson Anthony "They let me do a very easy one, bless them" Bailey Mattias Berggren Sean "NancyBoy" Crooks Robert "Toxy" Duncan David "Mr-J[!!]" Eva Justin "Optic" Fleck Will "Ajare" Marsh Simon "Hatti" Nordberg Other people also recorded demos that did not feature in the final run, invented tricks and routes, wrote tools that made this release possible, took care of admin matters, and so forth: Vincent "ColdFusion" Aber MacKenzie "Chino" Anderson "BlacK_OuT" Simon Broadhead "BurninSun" Dugan Chen Yonatan "Zem" Donner Ben "Slayer" Douglass Kaj "s8n" Haffenden Thomas Lim Chris Longden Jesper "Avalanche" Lund Kyle Monson Anthony "Airon" Oetzmann Nolan "Radix" Pflug Roman "WarKosign" Priborkin Aivars R Stefan Schwoon Andrew Smith Gerald "Tangent" Tan Zoltan "Predator4" Torok Thanks also to David "crt" Wright for the menu mod and to mad dasher Colin Moore for the cue to grab that city3 Quad. (5.2) Utilities used The utilities we used included: Q2timer by Nolan Pflug for timing runs, allowing recordings to follow-on from previous runs, and logging information needed for other demo processing. D2relise by Will Marsh (unreleased) in order to maintain continuity of the later demos when improvements were made to earlier demos in the run. LMPC by Uwe Girlich for decompiling & recompiling demos so we could use the convenient LS format. Also Uwe's DM2 specs were very useful for us in creating our own tools. Dm2Tool by Stefan Schwoon . A variety of other tools also made use of his skeleton code for parsing demos. MenuMod by David Wright for the code used to implement the menus from which demos are accessed. (5.3) Contact info For QdQ news and future projects check our page at At the time of writing, the next should be: "The Rabbit Run" (tRR), a movie of the quickest ever Skill 0 Quake1 run. For questions and comments (even if you just want to say you liked the demo), email . For general comments to QdQ, email If a FAQ, patches or extensions are developed for this release, they will be available via the download page at . To contact individual members of the team: Vincent "ColdFusion" Aber mailto:vaber@peaks.teton.com MacKenzie "Chino" Anderson mailto:chino@nildram.co.uk Fredrik "[+]RZA" Arvidsson mailto:fredrik.arvidsson@swipnet.se Anthony Bailey mailto:anthony@planetquake.com Mattias Berggren mailto:mattias.berggren@mail.bktv.se "BlacK_OuT" mailto:nwise@megsinet.net Simon Broadhead mailto:simonb@kwic.com "BurninSun" mailto:burninsun@aol.com Dugan Chen mailto:wingman@infoserve.net Sean "NancyBoy" Crooks mailto:sean@prcn.org Yonatan "Zem" Donner mailto:zem@planetquake.com http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4704/ Ben "Slayer" Douglass mailto:bendoug@yahoo.com Robert "Toxy" Duncan mailto:toxy@planetquake.com David "Mr-J[!!]" Eva mailto:moksha@dial.pipex.com Justin "Optic" Fleck mailto:rjfleck@earthlink.net Kaj "s8n" Haffenden mailto:s8n@tsunamitech.com http://www.g-a-m-e.org/rtr/ Thomas Lim mailto:tom@connect.ab.ca http://www.ualberta.ca/~tmlim Chris Longden mailto:chrisl@gamespy.com Jesper "Avalanche" Lund mailto:jeppelund@hotmail.com Will "Ajare" Marsh mailto:w.t.marsh@sms.ed.ac.uk http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/2599/ Kyle Monson mailto:elm@televar.com Simon "Hatti" Nordberg mailto:simon@planetquake.com Anthony "Airon" Oetzmann mailto:aronchce@sp.zrz.tu-berlin.de http://www.scene.org/phd/ Nolan "Radix" Pflug mailto:radix@planetquake.com http://www.planetquake.com/sda/ Roman "WarKosign" Priborkin mailto:warkosign@intertaxi.co.il http://www.planetquake.com/remaic/ Aivars R mailto:aar@shiznat.com Stefan Schwoon mailto:schwoon@informatik.uni-hildesheim.de Andrew Smith mailto:andrew@amorph.demon.co.uk http://www.amorph.demon.co.uk/ Gerald "Tangent" Tan mailto:tangent@cyberway.com.sg http://www.planetquake.com/sda/ Zoltan "Predator4" Torok mailto:pred4@freemail.c3.hu DISCLAIMER: NO MARINES WERE HURT DURING THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE... WELL OK... MAYBE A COUPLE.. :) Enjoy Quake2 done Quick2!