Releases: neogeographica/quakestarter
Quakestarter 3.9.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.9.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.9.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.9.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
A new version of Dwell has been released, not only updating its first episode extensively but also adding a whole new episode. One of the best ever Quake singleplayer releases is now better! So, of course we should update Quakestarter to get the new Dwell version into the Latest Greatest menu. This is that.
Other minor changes:
- The vkQuake feature list in the Quake Engines chapter has been updated to reflect the newer vkQuake version. Should have done that last release!
- Version 1.0 of Coppertone Summer Jam 2 has aged out of the legacies menu. Version 1.2 has also aged out of the Latest Greatest menu, but is still ensconced in the Next Generation episodes/hubs menu.
- And of course, the original Dwell release has dropped into the legacies menu.
Quakestarter 3.8.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.8.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.8.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.8.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
New year, new stuff!
One major part of this release is bumping the bundled vkQuake engine from version 1.20.3 to 1.22.3. This may not sound like a large difference, but check out the vkQuake changelog for the 1.22.x releases. Some cool stuff in there.
This release also adds the recent GOG release of "Quake Enhanced" to the list of sources that the auto-setup assistant will use when trying to find soundtrack files for you.
The main new addition to the installables is Twisted Christmas Jam 2022, a sort of melding of the Halloween and Xmas map jams this time. Along with appearing in the Latest Greatest menu, it has also already qualified for the Next Generation episodes/hubs menu.
Empire of Disorder has had a new version (2.4) released, with the previous version getting bumped into the legacies.
The Copper gameplay mod has also had a version update to 1.20, so new installations of Copper-dependent releases will now use that version. And Copper 1.17 has aged out of the legacies menu.
Finally, since several installables have been hovering under the ratings threshold for a while now, they get dropped into legacies: Quake Condensed, A Roman Wilderness Of Pain, Deathmatch Classics Vol. 3, 768^2, January Jump Jam 2, and In The Shadows [Demo v1.1].
Quakestarter 3.7.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.7.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.7.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.7.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
Your Quakestarter updates for November (drumroll)...
- Add Empire of Disorder and Sewer Jam 2 in Latest Greatest; Empire of Disorder also already qualifies for being in the Next Generation episodes/hubs menu.
- Age out Remaster Textures from Latest Greatest; it can still be found in the Next Generation episodes/hubs menu.
- Move the Rubicondom speedmap to the legacies menu.
Quakestarter 3.6.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.6.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.6.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.6.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
Another installables update:
- Add Quake Brutalist Jam in Latest Greatest. Prepare for concrete overload!
- Remove aged-out entries from the legacies menu, as mentioned in the v3.5.0 release notes below.
- Move quite a few entries to the legacies menu since their ratings have dipped below the threshold and stayed down there for a while now: The Castle of Koohoo, Biotoxin, Antediluvian, The Elder Reality, Waldsterben, and Slip Tripping.
This release also adds some basic capability for finding Quake installations from the Epic Games Store (by checking common folder names), when looking for soundtrack music files. The Auto Setup Logic chapter (under Other Topics) has been updated with those details.
Quakestarter 3.5.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.5.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.5.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.5.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
This release just updates some of the installables as described below.
One other thing to note: I've set an official policy that entries will "age out" of the legacies menu if they sit there for six months without ever bouncing back into one of the main menus. This will help us keep the legacies menu from growing too large. I won't be enforcing this policy until the next release of Quakestarter, but FYI almost all of the current legacies entries are about to get the boot.
Of course, when a mod's entry is removed from the Quakestarter menus, it doesn't affect any of your own installed mod files. But it will mean that you can no longer launch/manage that mod through the Quakestarter menu. (Fortunately there are lots of other methods to deal with your mods, as described in these docs.)
OK anyway here's the menu changes for this release:
- Remove Waldsterben from Latest Greatest since its time is up there. It can still be found in the Next Generation menu for non-episodes, although if its ratings don't get a bit of a boost it may slide into the legacies menu next time.
- Add Prototype Jam 3 in Latest Greatest. This large set of maps using prototype/blockout textures also includes a very cute modification for weapons, enemies, and items so that they match the theme.
- Add Doom Tintin Jam in the Next Generation episodes/hubs. This was a map jam from 2020 that used a set of custom textures based on Doom 3.
- Move This Onion and Arcane to the legacies menu.
Quakestarter 3.4.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.4.0.zip.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.4.0.zip from below instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.4.0.zip package in that case.
This package can be used as a new installation of Quakestarter.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter 3.3.0 or later, autoupdate will pick up this new version within 24 hours. If you have autoupdates disabled, or don't want to wait for the next autoupdate check, you can also download this package and drag it onto your current "quakestarter.cmd" script to trigger an update.
If you have an existing installation of Quakestarter before version 3.3.0, you can update by using the extracted files from this zip to overwrite your current files.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
Hey let's test out that autoupdate feature! Coppertone Summer Jam 2 has had an update, so that version is now in the Latest Greatest menu and the previous (original) version is moved to legacies.
One confession to make here: I'm still learning about the best way to deal with downloads from Slipgate Sightseer. In this case, if you used Quakestarter v3.3.0 to install ctsj2 super recently, you may in fact already have gotten the updated version rather than the original. However Quakestarter will still think it's the original version that you have installed. If that happens, sorry! ... but you can still keep playing what you have via the legacies menu, so no harm done I think. I've corrected this problem going forward.
Quakestarter 3.3.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.3.0.zip from below.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.3.0.zip instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.3.0.zip package in that case.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
This release introduces an autoupdate feature for Quakestarter, as well as the ability to trigger the update process using a manually downloaded zipfile if you'd rather do that. Autoupdate covers not only the Quakestarter scripts but also vkQuake and Ironwail (unless you are using a "noengine" bundle). These features are discussed in detail in the Updating Quakestarter chapter of the docs (under Other Topics).
If you're updating to v3.3.0 from an earlier release, you don't have this feature yet! You'll still have to do the manual "overwrite your current files with the contents of the zip" kind of update process one last time. (And actually you can still continue to do Quakestarter updates that way in the future, if you want.)
Of course a feature like autoupdate could be affected by variations in people's hardware, OS, and Internet connection, and it's impossible for me to test all those combinations myself. If you do hit a situation where autoupdate doesn't work for you, please let me know the details of what happened. You can use the email address in the footer of quakestarter.com, or file an issue as described in that Updating Quakestarter chapter.
Assuming the autoupdate feature is a keeper, it will be more reasonable to promptly push out new Quakestarter releases in the future. For example we can react quickly to any new version of vkQuake or Ironwail. Also see the note about the new "The Latest Greatest" category below.
Other stuff in this release:
- Update the docs here and there with various improvements. Probably the most significant change is to note that the Windows version of Quake Injector no longer relies on a system Java installation.
- Quake Sewer Jam has had a bit of a ratings bump that brings it out of the "legacies" menu and back into the Post-AD episodes menu.
- Rename the "The Age of Jams" category to "The Coming of the Jams", since obviously we still have a lot of jams going on! Also rename "The New Hotness" to "The Next Generation" since it's become more of a standard "era" category now rather than just sort-of-recent-stuff.
- Speaking of which: add a new "The Latest Greatest" category which is specifically for recent high-profile releases (as determined by me, I guess). Check out that menu page for more explanation on how it works.
- Inaugurate "The Latest Greatest" with a few recent releases that are still less than six months old, and also add the super-new release of Coppertone Summer Jam 2 there.
Quakestarter 3.2.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.2.0.zip from below.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engines (vkQuake and Ironwail), download quakestarter-noengine-3.2.0.zip instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have vkQuake/Ironwail or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.2.0.zip package in that case.
(For a version of this info with hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
The main point of this release is to change the bundled Quake engine(s). Instead of Quakespasm-Spiked, Quakestarter will now bundle both vkQuake and Ironwail. A new item has been added to the main Quakestarter menu to help you switch between any Quake engines that are present in the Quake folder, and the Quake Engines chapter of the docs has a more extended description of these two engines.
This change is motivated by occasional reported compatibility issues in recent Quakespasm-Spiked releases, an active and transparent development process for vkQuake and Ironwail, and just a general sense of where the conventional wisdom currently rests about the best general-purpose singleplayer engine. Quakespasm-Spiked is still a great program and still has several features not found in vkQuake or Ironwail, but for now vkQuake and Ironwail will be the bundled engines here.
If you have an existing older Quakestarter installation that bundled Quakespasm-Spiked, you have a few choices when upgrading to a newer Quakestarter version that bundles vkQuake/Ironwail:
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If you want to continue using Quakespasm-Spiked and you don't care about having vkQuake/Ironwail, use the "noengine" version of the new Quakestarter release and overwrite your existing files. Then use the engine-choice menu item to choose your Quakespasm-Spiked executable.
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If you want to have the ability to switch between all three Quake engines, use the normal version of the new Quakestarter release and overwrite your existing files.
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If you want to get rid of the Quakespasm-Spiked files (and only use vkQuake/Ironwail going forward), then you could do so before the upgrade by deleting qss_manifest.txt and all the files it lists. If you've already done the upgrade and overwritten various files though, the only files you should delete are: qss_manifest.txt, libvorbisidec-1.dll, quakespasm.pak, Quakespasm-Spiked.txt, Quakespasm-Spiked-Revision.txt, and quakespasm-spiked-win64.exe.
This release also has a few doc updates to take into account the opening of Slipgate Sightseer, and it now handles Copper dependencies using the recent release of Copper version 1.19.
Quakestarter 3.1.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.1.0.zip from below.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engine (Quakespasm-Spiked), download quakestarter-noengine-3.1.0.zip instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have Quakespasm-Spiked or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.1.0.zip package in that case.
(For a version of this info with a lot of hyperlinks, see the changelog in the online docs).
This release is purely about updating the lists of installables. Four 2022 releases have popped up just over the ratings threshold, but interestingly so have several older releases all the way back to 1997. For this release I'm experimenting with doing a little blurb for each addition, so here's a rundown from newest to oldest.
In the New Hotness menus (Episodes and Other):
- Speedmap event #217 was themed on Remaster Textures (2022, in Episodes) from the Quake re-release; this new coat of paint got the creative juices flowing for some old hands and new blood.
- Slip Tripping (2022, in Other) is a polished bite-sized gem from Markie_, the multi-talented mapper behind the Quake Builder and Markie Music channels.
- Waldsterben (2022, in Other) from Paul Lawitzki is a unique Copper-based offering that shows off one of the best "forest" environments you'll see in Quake.
- January Jump Jam 2 (2022, in Episodes) takes the "jump boots" powerup out for a shakedown cruise, using the Alkaline mod.
And in the other menus:
- The Elder Reality (2016, in Other - The Age of Jams) is an artful tribute to the maps of Episode 4, from PuLSaR who is no stranger to these lists.
- Deathmatch Classics Vol. 3 (2011, in Episodes - Modern) -- returning from its exile in the "legacies" menu -- brings together heavy hitters to spin SP interpretations of DM maps from id and the community.
- A Roman Wilderness Of Pain (2009, in Other - Post-Quoth), also returning from "legacies", delivers epic scale like only Tronyn can.
- This Onion (2007, in Other - Post-Quoth) from Mike Woodham, a moody and quirky adventure, is the final entry here to escape from "legacies" with a ratings boost.
- Antediluvian (2005, in Other - Classic) is a classic wind-tunnels-inspired level from Rubicon mapper, Quake engine coder, and func_msgboard host (whew) John Fitzgibbons.
- Quake Condensed (2004, in Episodes - Modern) by R.P.G. is a neat recapitulation of the original Quake campaign map themes in five small pieces.
- Biotoxin (2001, in Other - Classic) is yet another czg creation for our lists, notable for being constructed out of only 100 brushes.
- Arcane (1997, in Other - Classic) is our earliest entry. It's also the last and probably best release from Matt Sefton, who was not only a standout 1996/97 mapper but was also among the first reputable Quake map reviewers.
Also of course a few bugfixes have snuck in. Deathmatch Classics Vol. 3 and Paradise Sickness (in "legacies") have added patches. Also I've eliminated a warning message that would show when Quakestarter looked for pakfiles/music on a system that didn't have Steam library folders configured.
Quakestarter 3.0.0
To use this package, most people should download quakestarter-3.0.0.zip from below.
Note: For a package WITHOUT the included Quake engine (Quakespasm-Spiked), download quakestarter-noengine-3.0.0.zip instead. This is intended for "power users" who already have Quakespasm-Spiked or who intend to use a different Quake engine. If you're not sure which package to get, that is probably NOT the one you want; get the usual quakestarter-3.0.0.zip package in that case.
Some interesting high-visibility changes here, and some changes to the file structure, so let's do a major version bump. Welcome to Quakestarter 3.0.0!
The most obvious change is that the documentation is now in HTML. You can open "quakestarter_readme.html" in your web browser and poke around; there's also an option to open the docs from the main Quakestarter menu. Rather than the docs just mentioning each other, they now use proper hyperlinks... imagine that.
(If you're upgrading by overwriting a 2.x release of Quakestarter, the first time you run 3.x it will remove the old textfile documentation.)
Also new in this release: On the menus showing individual addons, you now have the option to open the Quaddicted review page for a particular addon. That page will open in your default web browser.
Speaking of addons, The Castle of Koohoo has made a triumphant return to the Classic (non-episodes) menu, on the back of a small recent ratings bump. (Maybe because of the Koohoo-themed retrojam?) We've also added the sm198 hub to the Post-AD episodes menu, a nicely weird experimental speedmap pack with a particularly small playable space per map.
Finally, as part of the process of finding Quake game data and soundtrack files, Quakestarter is now better at locating Quake installations that are in Steam library folders separate from the main Steam folder.