PQuake 1 and 2 performance and running TIPS

[satani]

hey,

firstly, thanks for the xscale project files.
and i got something to advise you:
after trying to run quake 3 ce on my 400mhz pocketpc (yakumo delta 400/medion MD4700/mitac mio 339) and not getting in a level even thought i got quake 3 menus, config and other reached (but if i wanted to load a map, it loaded and gave me a low-space-warning and i had to quit q3ce - due to my pda only has 64 (for real it's only 56 megabytes of ram) mb and i got 42 free, which was really to less.
so i decided to try quake 2. i loaded the orginal files off dexplor's site and the xscale project ones, installed the original via installer, copied the pak0.pak and the xscale files to /storage card/quake2/ and /baseq2/-folders on card and started the game.
all i got was the nearly 'famous' colormap.pcx-message. so i thought, if q2 looks for the files themselfs, why not extracting the pak-file.

so that's what i did:
i took pakscape 0.11, unpacked the pak0.pak off the installed quake 2 game, and copied all included folders to my pda.

my path-structure now looks as follows :
(all in base-dire /storage card/quake2/ )
/game.dll
/quake2.exe
/ref_soft.dll (all three files off the xscale project)
/env/*.pcx and *.tga (off the pak0.pak)
/pics/*.dat and *.pcx (including this colormap.pcx!
/sound/*/ all soundfiles and subfolders directly off the pak-file
/sprites/*.pcx and *.sp2-files
/baseq2/pak0.pak (reduced 'dummy-file' only including the root-path off the pak-file - the cfg-files)
/baseq2/config.cfg (modified to aux-bindings)
/baseq2/default.cfg
/baseq2/maps.lst (all off the pak-file)
/baseq2/demos/*.*
/baseq2/env/*.*
/baseq2/maps/*.*
/baseq2/models/*.*
/baseq2/pics/*.*
/baseq2/save/*.* (will be created automatically, if you save a game)
/baseq2/textures/*.*
/baseq2/video/*.cin

the video-path you may find as single directory (NOT included in the pak-file). just copy the whole dir from your quake2-cd to your card (req. ~160 mb) or just take the idlogo.cin and create dummy-files (0-bite-files) from the other videos (as i did)
finally, your quake 2-folder may be a bit bigger as only with the pak-file (due to doubled folders), but i think, even 186.00 MB are ok for quake2 to run, too!

uh, that's it and QUAKE 2 WORKS fluently (including console, cheats, input-files and anything else!)
well, as you surely notices i have some folders and files doulbed (the colormap.pcx and the /env/- and /pics/-pathes, but i didn't have time to test which path will be really required to run quake 2.
another advantage besides the speed of the game in this method is the way to copy it to card. you don't have to put the card into your card-reader and wait for the pak-file not being working again and again, so just leave the card in your pda and drag and drop via active sync explore-function to your card.

hope i can help anyone here. (due to i'm not the only one having this problem). btw. my pda :
Yakumo Delta (same hardware as the above mentionned 2), 400mhz, 64 (54 for real) mb ram (40-42mb free), tested on 1gb-sd-card in automatic-mode.running at windows mobile 2003 (not SE!), i tested quake 2 (first 3 levels) got no visible problems (besides that the screen-rate/fps-rate is *sometimes* getting lower for a few seconds only, but that's ok.

for all : the key bindings :
AUX1,2,3,4: the notes/contacs/calendar/tasks-buttons (from left to right)
AUX5: the record/memo-button aside of your pda (should be bind to "ESCAPEMENU" manually in config.cfg to get the menu during game.
up/down/left/right is clear, i think.
JOY1: only if possible - the 4way-navigator/directions -button pressed in the middle
AUX15: a tap on the screen.

some special notes : you can also bind special console-commands or cheats to the keys.
for example : AUX4 : "quit" will immediately quit the game.

cyaz

SaTaNi

[satani]

ok, i played through the first episode and found out :
you HAVE TO use the full videos (*.cin-files) instead of 0/zero-byte-files, else you will get a 'failed to alloc 0 bytes in eout1_.cin'-message after ending the first episode.
so it may take up to 160 mb more for the full videos, or just double the small idlogo.cin (3 mb) and rename the copies to the other level ones (eout1_.cin; eout2_.cin, ...)

the 'failed to alloc 0 bytes in XY' seems to be very general, due to i never read of anyone, to put the videopath from cd to your pda, too.

btw. pakscape and all q2 console commands can be easyly found via googling around.

i think this pak-extraction-method may also work in quake 1 (because even the xscale-version will not run fluently on my pda - without transwalls, but with transwalls, i think it's a bit stupid.

i will try to unpack the quake1-pak-files this evening and report you the results.

NOW ITS YOUR PART, try yourself and give feedbacks and comparisons between packed and unpacked game-file-versions.

I somehow think, nobody ever needed these fixes, even though quake 1 and 2 'not-running'-errors are most common here, and quake 3 is still in developing phase and even not running fluently on high-end pdas.

This is an easy Quake1/2/3/simlar-engine-Game performance boost-trick which was used to run these games better on your OLD PCs.

[satani]

ok, just tested as announced, if it works with quake 1 and: yes, it will run faster (at the xscale version without transwall, i only go a dia-show with normal pak0 and pak1.pak-files.)
so just unpak the both pak-files into the ID1-dir (create a pak0.pak including the config-files from the original pak0 only) and run pq1. it runs much faster as before!

so at this point i say THANKS to Dan East for the base ports and Patrick xscale optimized files of both Quake 1&2!

[Caesar]

Why not send this over to PocketGamer? You're not really going to get much in the way of notice in here.

[Kenny806]

Hi, i would just like to ask how exactly did you manage to modify the controls settings and make the game remember it? When i modify the config file it has no effect-the game changes the settings back.