Quake2 3.24 Unofficial Patch: Released!

[knightmare]

UPDATE: Download the released patch here:
www.markshan.com/knightmare/downloads/quake2-3.24-win32.zip
Full Patch version (DM maps w/ CTF 1.5):
www.markshan.com/knightmare/downloads/q2-3.24-x86-full-ctf-1.5.zip
Source code:
kmq2.toastednet.org/downloads/quake2-3.24-src.7z
Rogue/Xatrix missionpack source:
kmq2.toastednet.org/downloads/quake2-3.24-src-missionpack.7z

I've been working on a 3.24 patch the last few days, which is a follow-up to my 3.23 unofficial patch. Here's my list of planned changes:

* Optimizations to multitexture rendering, particularly for Intel graphics with dynamic lights
* FPS counter- so the improved framerate can be measured
* Ogg Vorbis support- this the big addition, as 3.23 was a strict no-new-features deal
* Refresh rate control- a cvar that sets refresh rate
* Writeconfig command- saves config changes BEFORE exiting, so they won't be lost

Does anyone have any additional suggestions? I will likely have it ready for testing withing a week.

[grieve[Q2C]]

sounds good.

[knightmare]

It's taken a little longer than expected, but I've gotten everything except the Ogg support working now.

I've also added some pak searching optimizations to speed up load times, and am trying out a fix for maps with backslashes in the texture paths, so textures can load from inside paks.

[knightmare]

I finally got a build ready for testing. I had some memory corruption problems from the Ogg Vorbis code that were causing crashes for a while, that's fixed now. Here it is:

www.markshan.com/knightmare/downloads/quake2-3.24-win32-test4a.zip

Please test this thoroughly, as I would to release it officially soon.

[giswig]

I played for a good 30min-45min, the first few maps and that secret level. Played it at 1920x1080 and everything looked good. The music did seem to stop after a bit on the second level, cannot remember if it coincided with an event but on the secret level, as soon as I picked up the red card, the music stopped. Coincident? When you go down the elevator from the first map to the second and then go back up the elevator to the first map, there is no music playing. I did test against KMQuakeII and it was the same behavior so maybe that is how it is.

Otherwise, I did not notice any glitches in sound or graphics, and for the record...
Win7 x64
Phenom II X4 965BE
XFX AMD 6670 w/ 1GB GDDR5

[knightmare]

The music is supposed to stop at those points. Q2 is coded to stop the level music when all target_goals in a level have been used.

[giswig]

Well then, I think it is good. I can't play through the whole game but I tested all weapons, splattered lots of blood and body parts. No glitches.

[tempest]

I have been using the 3.24 patch and love it. I do have a couple questions though. Does the 3.24 patch include all the fixes and security patches that R1Q2 does? Also, does it include the security patches from the q2pro client?

Reference for q2pro security fixes:
skuller.net/q2testbed/

If not, would it be possible to add them in future releases?

[knightmare]

It includes a great many of the client and server fixes in R1Q2, the same fixes I added to KMQ2 years ago. Most importantly, it has a lot of fixes in the renderer that R1GL doesn't have.

I've never heard of Q2Pro's security fixes before. Q2 engine development has been totally fragmented since Quakesrc.org crashed and closed 6 years ago. I'll look into those map load fixes. And this is a test build, not a release.

I did find a bug in this build with the audio missing in the intermission cinematics, the same bug that's been in KMQ2 for a long time. It turns out to be caused by an order-of-operations problem in the changes implemented for Ogg Vorbis support (the last changes I made in this test build), and I've since fixed it in both v3.24 and KMQ2.

[tempest]

Okay cool, I've been using the test build and it works great for me. It really looks alot cleaner then R1GL. There is one really cool feature I like in Q2Pro, and its the option to use raw mouse input. I'm not sure if your engine mod has it, but maybe you could add it in before the offical release of 3.24. Other than that, I can't possibly think of another way to improve the game. You've done a really awesome job and I'm replacing R1Q2/R1GL with your engine mod. Its for sure a keeper. Its easily the best one I've used. Keep up the great work. Happy Halloween.

[knightmare]

I've been thinking of adding in support for the the "musictrack" worldspawn key from KMQuake2. This allows mappers to specify an included Ogg Vorbis track for music instead of using CD music. It is a minor feature, a few lines of code that tie in with the Ogg Vorbis support.

If anybody here is interested in making maps that utilize this feature (provided that v3.24 will be widely used enough), please let me know.

I also think it would be good to include patched versions of the Rogue and Xatrix DLLs that fix the "function pointers have moved" savegame error. These would also include "musictrack" support and the other fixes in the game code.

[knightmare]

I got the musictrack support added, and also Q2Pro's fix for malformed pak files.

I'm still looking at Q2Pro's modified BSP loading code for the security fixes. It appears to be a complete rewrite, and I don't know if I'll be able to add the fixes without similarly rewriting everything, which is out of the question for this project.

Also, changes to things like mouse input are outside the scope of this project. They're more suited for KMQuake2. This isn't intended to be an engine mod, but a patch that fixes things that id would/should fix if they still updated the game for current systems and distribution formats (i.e. Steam).

[knightmare]

I've got a second test build ready. This one includes ref_soft.dll mainly to change the default software video mode (640x480). Also included are patched versions of the Rogue and Xatrix DLLs to fix errors with loading saves. I also hid video modes below 640x480 in the video menu, as nobody uses those anymore. The occasional long startup times and missing audio in intermissions have been fixed.

Here it is:

www.markshan.com/knightmare/downloads/quake2-3.24-win32-test4a.zip

This is pretty much a release candidate, so please test the hell out of this.

It took me a while, but I was able to get most of the Q2Pro BSP loading fixes implemented without any structural changes. I had to add some of them into both ref_gl and ref_soft. There were some that I couldn't get working, due to some structural differences in Q2Pro I couldn't replicate in this patch (its integrated renderer and unified BSP loading).

It now drops to the console instead of crashing for most of the test BSPs provided at that reference. I also fixed the graphical corruption that is triggered by one of the test BSPs.

[grieve[Q2C]]

is it just me, or does it not play the videos ?

[Deleted]

( Xp machine )..

( quake2-3.24-win32-test2.zip )

Play,s intro start map, also play intro video`s..