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1.1 ! root 1: -------------------------- ! 2: | qwcl-readme.txt | ! 3: | QWCL documentation | ! 4: | 5/11/98 | ! 5: | | ! 6: | Based on WinQuake | ! 7: | 3/21/97 | ! 8: -------------------------- ! 9: ! 10: QWCL is a native Win32 version of Quake, optimized for internet ! 11: play, and will run on either Win95 or Windows NT 4.0 or later. It is ! 12: designed to take advantage of whatever enhanced video, sound, and input ! 13: capabilities (such as DirectX or VESA VBE video modes) are present, ! 14: but has fallback functionality so it can run on any Win95 or NT 4.0 ! 15: or later system, even if neither DirectX nor VESA VBE is available. ! 16: You may experience problems running QWCL on some systems, because driver ! 17: and operating-system support for game functionality are not yet mature ! 18: under Win32, and many bugs and incompatibilities remain in those ! 19: components. If you encounter what seems to be a bug, first please ! 20: check through the list of known problems, below. For other info, ! 21: check out http://www.quakeworld.net/ ! 22: ! 23: The material accompanying Quake is the reference for all ! 24: non-Windows-related matters concerning QuakeWorld; in terms of gameplay, ! 25: QuakeWorld is the same as Quake. This file contains Windows-related ! 26: information only. ! 27: ! 28: The rest of this document is organized as follows: ! 29: ! 30: Installing and running QWCL ! 31: Common problems and workarounds ! 32: A bit about how QWCL video works ! 33: Video command-line switches ! 34: A bit about how QWCL sound works ! 35: Sound command-line switches ! 36: Notes on networking ! 37: Notes on the mouse ! 38: Log of changes to documentation ! 39: Special thanks ! 40: ! 41: ! 42: ----------------------------------- ! 43: | Installing and running QWCL | ! 44: ----------------------------------- ! 45: ! 46: In order to run QWCL, you must first have Quake installed. ! 47: Assuming Quake is installed in the standard directory, c:\quake, ! 48: unzip the QWCL zip file into c:\quake. The following files ! 49: from the zip file must be present in order for QWCL to run: ! 50: ! 51: qwcl.exe ! 52: pmpro16.dll ! 53: pmpro32.dll ! 54: wdir16.dll ! 55: wdir32.dll ! 56: wdirnop.com ! 57: wdirnop.pif ! 58: ! 59: Then you can run QWCL by making c:\quake the current directory, ! 60: typing "qwcl" and pressing the Enter key. Alternatively, you can ! 61: use qwc.bat to run QWCL. The qwc batch file requires one parameter ! 62: describing how to configure QWCL for performance; just type "qwc" to get ! 63: a list of the six options. The first of the six options is ! 64: ! 65: qwc fast ! 66: ! 67: This is the same as typing "qwcl"; this runs QWCL in an ! 68: aggressive configuration that is likely to yield the best performance ! 69: if it runs successfully on your system, but which has a risk of ! 70: causing QWCL or even your system to crash if there are bugs or ! 71: incompatibilities in your video or sound drivers. Alternatively, you ! 72: can use ! 73: ! 74: qwc safe ! 75: ! 76: to run QWCL in a conservative configuration, likely to run ! 77: on almost all machines with no problems, but possibly with slower ! 78: graphics, fewer high-resolution modes, and delayed sound. Or you ! 79: can run ! 80: ! 81: qwc verysafe ! 82: ! 83: to run QWCL in a very conservative configuration that is pretty ! 84: much guaranteed to run, but will probably have slow performance, and ! 85: will have no sound. Two other options are ! 86: ! 87: qwc fastvid ! 88: ! 89: which has maximum video performance, but greater sound latency (delay ! 90: until the sound is heard), and ! 91: ! 92: qwc fastsnd ! 93: ! 94: which uses more conservative video modes, but low-latency sound. ! 95: ! 96: (One odd note is that DirectSound has much lower-latency sound than ! 97: wave sound, but is currently quite a bit slower overall. Thus you ! 98: may find that "qwc fastvid" is actually faster, by as much as 5-10%, ! 99: than "qwc fast"; however, it may not feel faster, because the sound ! 100: will lag.) ! 101: ! 102: Finally, you can use ! 103: ! 104: qwc max ! 105: ! 106: which is the same as qwc fast, but turns on DirectInput, which ! 107: provides more responsive mouse control, but does not work properly ! 108: on all systems. ! 109: ! 110: Note that DirectX is not required for QWCL to run, but QWCL will ! 111: automatically take advantage of DirectSound and DirectDraw if they ! 112: are present. If DirectSound is not present, there will generally be ! 113: considerable sound latency (sound will become audible several hundred ! 114: milliseconds after the event that caused it). Note also that there ! 115: are currently no true DirectSound drivers for Windows NT, so QWCL will ! 116: always run using wave output on NT, and will consequently have lagged ! 117: sound. See below for information about obtaining DirectX if you do ! 118: not have it. ! 119: ! 120: Note that VESA VBE modes aren't required for QWCL to run, but QWCL will ! 121: automatically make VESA modes available if they're present. Your BIOS ! 122: may already have VESA VBE 2.0 support built in, but most BIOSes ! 123: don't. Worse, some BIOSes do have VESA VBE 2.0 built-in, but have ! 124: buggy implementations, which may prevent you from being able to run ! 125: the faster configurations of QWCL. An easy way to get reliable VESA 2.0 ! 126: support is by obtaining SciTech Display Doctor; see below for ! 127: further information. QWCL can also use VBE/AF 1.0 and greater modes; ! 128: again, SciTech Display Doctor is the commonest way to get VBE/AF ! 129: support. ! 130: ! 131: QWCL normally uses half the physical memory in your system for its ! 132: heap, but not less than 8.5 Mb and not more than 16 Mb. You can ! 133: override this with "-heapsize n", where n is the amount of memory to ! 134: allocate for the heap, in Kb. ! 135: ! 136: To use the joystick, you must bring down the console by pressing the ! 137: tilde ('~') key, and type "joystick 1<enter>"; you can disable the ! 138: joystick with "joystick 0<enter>" at any time. The joystick setting ! 139: remains in effect for subsequent QWCL sessions until changed, so ! 140: you only need to do joystick 1 once to enable the joystick. If the ! 141: joystick somehow causes problems that keep you from being able to run ! 142: QWCL at all, you can start QWCL -nojoy to complete disable the ! 143: joystick for that session. ! 144: ! 145: ! 146: ----------------------------------- ! 147: | Common problems and workarounds | ! 148: ----------------------------------- ! 149: ! 150: QWCL crashes or won't run ! 151: ----------------------- ! 152: ! 153: If QWCL refuses to run or crashes on your system, try running ! 154: it using "qwc safe" or "qwc verysafe". Or you can use command-line ! 155: switches: ! 156: ! 157: qwcl -nodirectdraw -nowindirect -wavonly ! 158: ! 159: This will almost certainly solve your problem; however, it may result ! 160: in lagged sound (a long delay from action to hearing the sound), may ! 161: result in fewer or slower high-res video modes, and the mouse may be ! 162: somewhat less responsive. If this does work, you can try removing ! 163: each of the command-line switches until you identify the one that ! 164: fixes the problem, thereby sacrificing as little functionality as ! 165: possible. ! 166: ! 167: If the above command line does not fix your problems, try: ! 168: ! 169: qwcl -dibonly -nosound ! 170: ! 171: which forces QWCL into silent operation with bare-bones video support ! 172: and no use of DirectInput for mouse input (the normal Windows mouse ! 173: APIs are used instead). Again, if this works, try removing switches ! 174: until you identify the needed one. ! 175: ! 176: Both of the above command lines are quick fixes. Often, the problem ! 177: is caused by outdated or buggy DirectX drivers or code, and can ! 178: frequently be completely fixed simply by installing the latest ! 179: Microsoft-supplied version of DirectX, which you may be able to find ! 180: on http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.exe, although ! 181: the availability and location of the DirectX file changes ! 182: periodically; note that at last check, this is a 3.4 Mb file. (Be ! 183: aware, though, that sometimes Microsoft's DirectX drivers don't ! 184: support features that the manufacturers' drivers do support, such as ! 185: display refresh rate control.) ! 186: ! 187: One known problem of this sort involves the current SB16 drivers from ! 188: Creative Labs, which cause QWCL to crash on some machines. The ! 189: DirectSound drivers from Microsoft, available via the above-mentioned ! 190: URL, fix this problem. ! 191: ! 192: It can also sometimes help to get the latest Windows drivers for your ! 193: video adapter or sound card (although as the SB16 example indicates, ! 194: this is not always a good idea), and for video boards that have flash ! 195: BIOSes, it can sometimes help to get the latest BIOS upgrade. ! 196: ! 197: ! 198: How do I select fullscreen or windowed QWCL operation? ! 199: ---------------------------------------------------- ! 200: Check out QWCL's new, spiffy Video menu, accessible from the Options ! 201: menu. There are now two types of modes listed, windowed and ! 202: fullscreen. You can make any of these modes the current and/or ! 203: default mode, just as in DOS Quake. If you make a windowed mode the ! 204: default, QWCL will still briefly start up in fullscreen mode, then ! 205: switch to windowed; if this is a problem, use the -startwindowed ! 206: command-line switch. More complete video control is available ! 207: through the console, as described in the "A bit about how QWCL video ! 208: works" section, below. ! 209: ! 210: ! 211: Gee, I wish I could use a mouse to play QWCL with in a window ! 212: ----------------------------------------------------------- ! 213: You can! While in a windowed mode, go to the Options menu. At the ! 214: bottom, you'll find a new selection that lets you choose to have the ! 215: mouse active when you're in a window. Of course, if you do this, ! 216: you'll have to use the keyboard (Alt-Tab, the Windows key, Ctrl-Esc, ! 217: Alt-Esc, or Shift-Alt-Tab) to switch away from QWCL. ! 218: ! 219: ! 220: Serial/modem menu is missing ! 221: ---------------------------- ! 222: QWCL currently does not support direct connect serial or modem play. ! 223: ! 224: ! 225: DOS Quake reports unknown variables on startup after running QWCL ! 226: --------------------------------------------------------------- ! 227: QWCL uses some console variables that do not exist in DOS Quake, and ! 228: some of these are automatically archived in config.cfg when you exit ! 229: QWCL. If you then start DOS Quake, DOS Quake will complain that it ! 230: doesn't recognize those variables. You will also lose the settings ! 231: of these variables when you return to QWCL. Apart from losing the ! 232: settings, this is harmless; ignore it. ! 233: ! 234: ! 235: Problems running QWCL on NT 3.51 ! 236: ------------------------------ ! 237: NT 3.51 isn't supported by QWCL. ! 238: ! 239: ! 240: QWCL crashes while switching modes or Alt-Tabbing ! 241: ----------------------------------------------- ! 242: So far, all cases of this seem to be tied to Creative Lab's SB16 sound ! 243: drivers, and have been fixed by getting the latest DirectX drivers, as ! 244: described above. Alternatively, you should be able to fix this either ! 245: by not switching modes or Alt-Tabbing, or by running -wavonly to ! 246: disable DirectSound support. ! 247: ! 248: ! 249: QWCL sometimes runs pretty slowly fullscreen ! 250: ------------------------------------------ ! 251: There are several possible reasons for this, starting with "You have a ! 252: slow computer." Assuming that's not the case, if you don't have ! 253: either DirectDraw or SciTech Display Doctor installed (see the "A bit ! 254: about how QWCL video works" section), it would probably be a good thing ! 255: to install one or the other, because slow operation can be a result ! 256: of slow copying or stretching of pixels to the screen by a Windows ! 257: driver, something that's eliminated by both DirectDraw and Display ! 258: Doctor. You can also sometimes get a faster 320x200 mode on Win95 by ! 259: doing vid_describemodes, then using vid_mode to select a non-VGA ! 260: 320x200 mode, as described in the "A bit about how QWCL video works" ! 261: section. ! 262: ! 263: You can also try using a primary sound buffer on Win95 (this doesn't ! 264: work on NT) by using the -primarysound command-line switch; this can ! 265: improve performance by several percent, but does not work on all ! 266: systems, and can result in odd sound effects on some systems when ! 267: minimizing QWCL or switching the focus away from it. If you use this ! 268: switch, please don't report sound bugs; it's in there purely for you ! 269: to use if it helps you, and we know it has problems on many systems. ! 270: Finally, you can use -wavonly to select wave sound; this will increase ! 271: your sound latency (sounds will be heard later than they should), but ! 272: allows QWCL to run 5-10% faster on some systems. That's about all you ! 273: can do to speed up fullscreen QWCL on Win95, other than shrinking the ! 274: active area of the screen with the screen size control in the Options ! 275: menu. ! 276: ! 277: NT 4.0 comes with DirectX installed, but doesn't have any resolutions ! 278: lower than 640x480. In order to support a lower-resolution 320x240 ! 279: mode, QWCL has NT double each pixel in both directions to get enough ! 280: pixels for 640x480. The extra stretching costs some performance, the ! 281: result being that NT can seem sluggish on all but high-end Pentiums ! 282: and Pentium Pros. (In fact, depending on the quality of your driver's ! 283: stretching code, it can sometimes be faster to run QWCL at 640x480 than ! 284: 320x240-stretched on NT.) One thing that can help on NT is switching ! 285: to 640x480, then using the Options menu to shrink the active area of ! 286: the screen. ! 287: ! 288: A common cause of slowness running in a window is having the desktop ! 289: run in 16- or 32-bpp mode. QWCL is an 8-bpp application, and it slows ! 290: things down if pixels have to be translated from 8-bpp to 16- or ! 291: 32-bpp. (Note that this is generally a problem only when running in a ! 292: window; fullscreen apps rarely suffer from this.) ! 293: ! 294: ! 295: Sound is sluggish on NT ! 296: ----------------------- ! 297: NT doesn't have any real DirectSound drivers yet, so there's no way to ! 298: do quick-response sound on NT. When DirectSound drivers for NT ! 299: appear, QWCL's sound should automatically be snappier. ! 300: ! 301: ! 302: Sound breaks up or gets choppy, especially in menus ! 303: --------------------------------------------------- ! 304: This is generally a sign that QWCL's frame rate is too low on your ! 305: system. Try reducing resolution or shrinking the active area of the ! 306: screen. In some circumstances, it may help to set the console ! 307: variable _snd_mixahead to a larger value. ! 308: ! 309: ! 310: The color black doesn't change with palette flashes sometimes ! 311: ------------------------------------------------------------- ! 312: Normally, DirectDraw lets QWCL change all 256 colors, so when a palette ! 313: flash happens, we can change all the colors, including black. ! 314: However, on NT DirectDraw currently doesn't allow changing black; ! 315: likewise, on both NT and Win95, black can't be changed in a window, ! 316: either a normal window or fullscreen. Consequently, in some modes and ! 317: in a window, some parts of the QWCL screen (such as the sigils on the ! 318: status bar and the spray where a shotgun blast hits) stay black when ! 319: the palette flashes. There is no workaround. ! 320: ! 321: ! 322: Problems can result if Office shortcut bar is running ! 323: ----------------------------------------------------- ! 324: Various odd behaviors, especially with sound, have been reported if ! 325: the Office shortcut bar is running while QWCL is running. If you ! 326: experience odd problems, you might try shutting down the Office ! 327: shortcut bar and see if that fixes anything. ! 328: ! 329: ! 330: Other apps fail to play sound while QWCL is running ! 331: ------------------------------------------------------- ! 332: The sound hardware is currently not a fully shareable resource on ! 333: Win32. Consequently, while QWCL is running, it always has the sound ! 334: hardware allocated to itself, to make sure that sound is never lost to ! 335: another app. This means that normally (when QWCL is using DirectSound), ! 336: apps that use wave sound (most non-game apps) will not be able to play ! 337: sound while QWCL is running, even if QWCL is minimized or not the active ! 338: app, although other DirectSound apps will be able to play sound when ! 339: QWCL is not the active app. If QWCL is using wave sound rather than ! 340: DirectSound (either because -wavonly is used on the command line, or ! 341: because there is no DirectSound driver, as is always the case on NT), ! 342: then no other app will be able to play any sound while QWCL is running, ! 343: period. ! 344: ! 345: ! 346: QWCL doesn't have quite the right colors when it�s not the active app ! 347: ------------------------------------------------------------------- ! 348: We're working on fixing this. But QWCL puts everything back again as ! 349: soon as it is reactivated, and anyway, when it�s not active, you can�t ! 350: actually do anything in QWCL, so it doesn�t really matter anyway, right? ! 351: ! 352: ! 353: Desktop is weird colors when QWCL runs windowed ! 354: --------------------------------------------- ! 355: QWCL needs all 256 colors to look right and run fast, which causes it to ! 356: have to change some of the 20 colors used to draw the desktop. ! 357: ! 358: ! 359: Sometimes Permedia boards crash unless -nowindirect is used ! 360: ----------------------------------------------------------- ! 361: It looks like this is probably a Permedia driver bug, so it might help ! 362: if you get the most recent drivers. ! 363: ! 364: ! 365: Right-click on QWCL button in task bar to close doesn�t work as expected ! 366: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ! 367: In some modes, right-clicking on the QWCL task bar button doesn't work ! 368: the way you'd expect. We're trying to fix this, but if it's a ! 369: problem, don't right-click. ! 370: ! 371: ! 372: Screen saver never kicks in when running QWCL fullscreen ! 373: ------------------------------------------------------ ! 374: It does work windowed, but when QWCL is fullscreen, it completely ! 375: owns the screen and doesn't share it with anyone, even the ! 376: screensaver. If you use Alt-Tab to minimize QWCL, the screensaver will ! 377: then be enabled, so Alt-Tab away from QWCL if you're leaving your ! 378: computer alone for a while and want the screensaver to be able to kick ! 379: in. ! 380: ! 381: ! 382: QWCL doesn't work in a window in 16-color mode ! 383: -------------------------------------------- ! 384: That's 16 *colors*, not 16-bpp. If you're still running a 16-color ! 385: desktop, run QWCL fullscreen. ! 386: ! 387: ! 388: Can't minimize window while mouse active ! 389: ---------------------------------------- ! 390: When running in a window with the mouse active as a QWCL input device, ! 391: there is no easy way to minimize the window, because the system menu ! 392: can't be brought up from the keyboard (because some of you use Alt ! 393: and Spacebar for playing the game), and the mouse can't be used to ! 394: manipulate the window because it's controlling QWCL. To minimize, you ! 395: can disable the mouse for QWCL and use it to minimize the window. Or ! 396: on Win95 you can Alt-Tab away from QWCL, then use the mouse to ! 397: minimize (this doesn't work on NT, where clicking on the window ! 398: controls just reactivates QWCL). Or you can bind a key to the ! 399: vid_minimize command, as in ! 400: ! 401: bind m "vid_minimize" ! 402: ! 403: and press that key to minimize the window. ! 404: ! 405: ! 406: Window controls don't work on NT when mouse enabled ! 407: --------------------------------------------------- ! 408: When running in a window on NT with the mouse enabled (so you can use ! 409: the mouse to play QWCL), if you Alt-Tab away from QWCL, then use the mouse ! 410: to click on the QWCL system menu control, or the minimize, maximize, or ! 411: close controls, the controls are ignored and QWCL just reactivates. ! 412: ! 413: ! 414: Mouse sometimes vanishes in system menu on Win95 ! 415: ------------------------------------------------ ! 416: On Win95, if QWCL is running in a window with the mouse enabled (so you ! 417: can use the mouse to play QWCL), if you Alt-Tab away, then click on the ! 418: system menu, the menu comes up, but the mouse vanishes. However, you ! 419: can still use the keyboard to select system menu items, or to exit ! 420: the system menu. ! 421: ! 422: ! 423: QWCL behaves oddly if Scandisk starts defragmenting ! 424: ------------------------------------------------- ! 425: If QWCL is running fullscreen on Win95 when Scandisk starts an automatic ! 426: defragging, QWCL is forced to minimize, and when it is brought back up, ! 427: may either be in a strange mode where it runs one frame for each ! 428: keystroke (in which case Alt-Tab generally fixes things), or may hang ! 429: the system. We don't know what the problem is right now, but you may ! 430: want to make sure you don't leave QWCL sitting there fullscreen ! 431: overnight if you have automatic defragging. ! 432: ! 433: ! 434: Hang reported with zero sound volume ! 435: ------------------------------------ ! 436: When sound is turned all the way down via the QWCL menus, hangs have ! 437: been reported. ! 438: ! 439: ! 440: Joystick worked fine with earlier versions of QWCL but not now ! 441: ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! 442: The joystick was enabled by default in earlier versions of ! 443: QWCL, but quite a few people reported serious problems that ! 444: forced them to disable the joystick--even some people who didn't ! 445: have a joystick attached. Since most people don't have joysticks, ! 446: we've decided to disable the joystick by default, and let people ! 447: who do want to use it set joystick 1 in the console (QWCL ! 448: remembers this setting, so this only needs to be done once). ! 449: ! 450: ! 451: QWCL runs very slowly when it has the focus under NT ! 452: -------------------------------------------------- ! 453: In one case, QWCL ran very slowly when it had the focus, but fast when ! 454: it didn't (obviously this is only visible in windowed modes). The ! 455: problem turned out to be that NT had a Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick ! 456: driver installed; when the driver was removed, things were fine. ! 457: If you see a similar problem, check whether QWCL is detecting that ! 458: your system has a joystick when you don't think it should; if so, ! 459: try doing "joystick 0", or -nojoy on the command line, and see if ! 460: that fixes it. If so, there's something flaky in your system ! 461: joystick setup. ! 462: ! 463: ! 464: Joystick doesn't seem calibrated properly ! 465: ----------------------------------------- ! 466: QWCL relies on the information about your joystick stored in the ! 467: system registry. If the joystick seems miscalibrated, run the ! 468: joystick applet and recalibrate and see if that fixes things. ! 469: ! 470: ! 471: Playdemo fails across multiple levels ! 472: ------------------------------------- ! 473: If "record" is used to record a client-side demo, bad things will ! 474: happen on playback via playdemo if a level change is recorded. ! 475: (Timedemo works fine.) This is unfortunate, but QWCL ! 476: internals make this not fixable without a good chance of ! 477: breaking something more important, so it'll have to stay this way. ! 478: ! 479: ! 480: Alt-Tab fullscreen only works sometimes ! 481: --------------------------------------- ! 482: I know it seems that way, but actually the trick is that on Win95 ! 483: it only works if you let go of Tab before you let go of Alt. ! 484: This is due to a Windows quirk involving what key sequences are ! 485: passed along, so you'll have to work around it by remembering to ! 486: let go of Tab first. ! 487: ! 488: ! 489: MS-DOS windows get scrunched on Alt-Tab ! 490: --------------------------------------- ! 491: This is a quirk of Windows; when you run QWCL in a low-res ! 492: mode, sometimes when you exit QWCL or Alt-Tab back to the ! 493: desktop, any open MS-DOS windows will be scrunched down to the ! 494: size of the low-res mode. There is no known workaround. ! 495: ! 496: ! 497: Dprint in progs doesn't work ! 498: ---------------------------- ! 499: Dprint means "developer print," so it only works if the developer ! 500: console variable is set to 1. It was a bug in earlier versions that ! 501: it worked even when developer was set to 0. ! 502: ! 503: ! 504: Some DirectDraw modes flicker badly and look wrong ! 505: -------------------------------------------------- ! 506: Page flipping doesn't work properly in some modes on some ! 507: systems, particularly when using some DirectDraw modes. You ! 508: can work around this by setting the console variable ! 509: vid_nopageflip to 1, then setting the desired mode (note ! 510: that the vid_nopageflip setting does not take effect until ! 511: the next mode set after the setting is changed). Bear in ! 512: mind, though, that the vid_nopageflip setting is remembered ! 513: until it is explicitly changed again, meaning that once you ! 514: change it, it thereafter applies to all modes, even if you ! 515: exit and restart QWCL. ! 516: ! 517: ! 518: The Windows key doesn't do anything fullscreen on Win95 ! 519: ------------------------------------------------------- ! 520: True. This is a minor bug we haven't figured out how to fix yet. ! 521: You'll have to use Ctrl-Esc, Alt-Tab, or Alt-Esc to switch away. ! 522: ! 523: ! 524: My default mode is windowed, but QWCL goes fullscreen first ! 525: --------------------------------------------------------- ! 526: For internal reasons, QWCL has to pick a single mode to always ! 527: initialize when it starts up, before it sets whatever default you've ! 528: selected. We've chosen fullscreen mode, because that's the way most ! 529: people will play. If this is a problem for you, however, you can ! 530: run QWCL with the -startwindowed command-line parameter. ! 531: ! 532: ! 533: Some high-resolution video modes flicker or fail to initialize ! 534: -------------------------------------------------------------- ! 535: We think these problems are all fixed, but if not, they have to ! 536: do with triple-buffering in some modes on some DirectDraw drivers. ! 537: If you encounter this problem, either don't use the problem modes ! 538: or try using the -notriplebuf command-line parameter to turn off ! 539: triple buffering. Note, though, that turning off triple-buffering ! 540: can reduce performance in some modes, so do this only if needed. ! 541: ! 542: ! 543: Right-click doesn't work right on minimized QWCL ! 544: ---------------------------------------------------- ! 545: If you right-click on minimized QWCL on the task bar, the ! 546: Close selection in the right-click menu doesn't work; you have ! 547: to restore QWCL before you can exit it. Also, the cursor vanishes ! 548: over the right-click menu, although it still works. ! 549: ! 550: ! 551: The screen briefly blanks when you exit QWCL ! 552: ------------------------------------------ ! 553: We're trying to fix this, but it's not harmful, just a mite ugly. ! 554: ! 555: ! 556: MWAVE sound loses focus ! 557: ----------------------- ! 558: We've had a report that on a ThinkPad with MWAVE sound, QWCL loses ! 559: sound focus (and thus sound) every few seconds. ! 560: ! 561: ! 562: Desktop doesn't reset to proper resolution on QWCL exit ! 563: ----------------------------------------------------- ! 564: We've had a report that on exiting QWCL, the desktop didn't reset ! 565: to the proper dimensions. This may be a bug with the Matrox ! 566: drivers, but we're not sure. If it's a problem and newer ! 567: drivers don't fix it, you can run -dibonly, which solves the ! 568: problem but can cost some performance. ! 569: ! 570: ! 571: Palette goes bad periodically on #9 Imagine card ! 572: ------------------------------------------------ ! 573: There's only one report of this, so maybe it's a flaky board, ! 574: or maybe it's a driver bug. Newer drivers might help. ! 575: ! 576: ! 577: System with Packard Bell sound card III crashes on CapsLock ! 578: ----------------------------------------------------------- ! 579: This appears to be the result of buggy DirectSound drivers; ! 580: -wavonly makes the problem go away. ! 581: ! 582: ! 583: Dvorak keyboard mapping ignored ! 584: ------------------------------- ! 585: QWCL is hardwired for QWERTY. ! 586: ! 587: ! 588: Cursor messed up after running QWCL ! 589: --------------------------------- ! 590: This is a Windows driver bug; the driver isn't restoring the ! 591: cursor properly on return from fullscreen QWCL to the desktop. ! 592: Try newer drivers. ! 593: ! 594: ! 595: Ctrl-Alt-Del on NT sometimes doesn't allow return to QWCL ! 596: ------------------------------------------------------- ! 597: This happens on some machines while running QWCL fullscreen. ! 598: If you experience this problem, the only workaround is not ! 599: to press Ctrl-Alt-Del while fullscreen; Alt-Tab away first. ! 600: ! 601: ! 602: Many fast Alt-Tabs on Win95 sometimes disable QWCL input ! 603: ------------------------------------------------------ ! 604: If you Alt-Tab fast lots of times on Win95 with QWCL running ! 605: fullscreen, sometimes you end up in fullscreen QWCL, with the ! 606: game not accepting any keyboard input (so there's no way to ! 607: exit). The only workaround is to not do lots of fast ! 608: Alt-Tabs (why you'd want to, I'm not sure). ! 609: ! 610: ! 611: ! 612: ---------------------------------- ! 613: | A bit about how QWCL video works | ! 614: ---------------------------------- ! 615: ! 616: QWCL has the built-in ability to draw into windows (both normal, framed ! 617: desktop windows and fullscreen, borderless windows). It also has ! 618: built- in support for VGA 320x200 graphics, and supports DirectDraw, ! 619: VESA VBE 2.0 and VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions) graphics modes, ! 620: if those are available. ! 621: ! 622: QWCL does not require DirectDraw, but in order for DirectDraw modes to ! 623: be available, you must have DirectDraw installed; some systems come ! 624: with it preinstalled, but if it's not on your system, you can download ! 625: it from http://www.microsoft.com/mediadev/download/directx.exe (the ! 626: exact URL may vary), and install it. ! 627: ! 628: QWCL does not require VESA VBE, but in order for VESA VBE modes to be ! 629: available, your graphics card must be VESA VBE 2.0 or VBE/AF ! 630: compliant; a VESA driver can either be built into the BIOS of your ! 631: graphics card, or loadable via software. If you don't have a VESA VBE ! 632: driver, Scitech Display Doctor, available from Scitech Software, will ! 633: update most graphics cards to VESA VBE 2.0 and VBE/AF. ! 634: ! 635: ! 636: SciTech Display Doctor ! 637: ---------------------- ! 638: If you are having problems with your video drivers, or if you would ! 639: like to take a shot at improving your video performance in QWCL, you may ! 640: want to try out SciTech Display Doctor (SDD). SDD works on just about ! 641: any graphics card and it can do several things that can make QWCL run ! 642: better on your system: ! 643: ! 644: 1. It will update your graphics card to be compatible with VESA VBE ! 645: 2.0 and VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions). These modes will usually ! 646: give you the best performance in QWCL (which is often but not always ! 647: faster than your current performance). ! 648: ! 649: 2. It creates low-resolution modes on your graphics card. ! 650: Low-resolution video modes (such as 320x240, 400x300 and 512x384) ! 651: allow you to adjust the level of detail in QWCL so you can get the best ! 652: balance between performance and image quality. ! 653: ! 654: The latest version of SciTech Display Doctor can be obtained from the ! 655: following locations: ! 656: ! 657: www: http://www.scitechsoft.com ! 658: ftp: ftp.scitechsoft.com ! 659: CIS: GO SCITECH ! 660: AOL: Keyword SciTech ! 661: ! 662: SciTech can be contacted at: ! 663: ! 664: email: [email protected] ! 665: ! 666: SciTech Software, Inc. ! 667: 505 Wall Street ! 668: Chico, CA 95926-1989 ! 669: 916-894-8400 ! 670: 916-894-9069 FAX ! 671: ! 672: ! 673: Video modes supported in Win95 ! 674: ------------------------------ ! 675: What all this means is that on Win95, QWCL will always be able to run in ! 676: the following modes: ! 677: ! 678: 1) in a window ! 679: 2) fullscreen 320x200 VGA mode 0x13 ! 680: 3) fullscreen high-resolution of some sort ! 681: ! 682: Category #3 can be any of several configurations. On Win95, if either ! 683: DirectDraw or VESA VBE modes are available, then all the DirectDraw ! 684: and VESA modes will be presented as high-res choices. (320x200 will ! 685: always default to VGA mode 0x13.) In the case that a given resolution ! 686: is supported by both DirectDraw and VESA, the VESA mode will be used. ! 687: (However, the command-line switch -nowindirect can turn off VESA modes ! 688: entirely.) If neither DirectDraw nor VESA modes are available, then ! 689: high-resolution modes will be provided by using fullscreen, borderless ! 690: windows in whatever resolutions the Windows driver supports, usually ! 691: starting at 640x480 and going up. ! 692: ! 693: ! 694: Video Modes Supported in Windows NT ! 695: ----------------------------------- ! 696: NT is similar but not identical, because neither VESA VBE modes nor ! 697: VGA mode 0x13 are available. On NT, QWCL will always be able to run in ! 698: the following modes: ! 699: ! 700: 1) in a window ! 701: 2) fullscreen high-resolution of some sort ! 702: ! 703: On NT, category #2 can be one of two configurations. If DirectDraw ! 704: modes are available, then those will be the high-res choices; ! 705: otherwise, fullscreen, borderless windows will be used in whatever ! 706: resolutions the driver supports, usually starting at 640x480 and going ! 707: up. Because there is normally no low-resolution mode such as 320x200 ! 708: or 320x240 on NT, a pseudo low-res mode is created by rendering at ! 709: 320x240, then stretching the image by doubling it in each direction ! 710: while copying it to a 640x480 screen. However, stretching performance ! 711: depends on the driver, and can be slow, so sometimes 640x480 is ! 712: actually faster than 320x240 on NT. ! 713: ! 714: The bottom line here is that you can generally just use the Video menu ! 715: and pick one of the modes and be happy. In some cases, though, you ! 716: may need to use command-line switches (described next) to get the ! 717: types of modes you want. One useful tip is to go into the console and ! 718: do vid_describemodes, which lists all the modes QWCL makes available on ! 719: your machine given the command-line switches you've used. Each mode ! 720: is followed by the name of the internal QWCL driver that supports it, so ! 721: you can tell which modes are DirectDraw, VESA, and so on, as follows: ! 722: ! 723: WINDOWED: QWCL runs in a normal window ! 724: FULLSCREEN DIB: fullscreen borderless window ! 725: FULLSCREEN VGA8.DRV: VGA 320x200 mode ! 726: FULLSCREEN DDRAW8.DRV: DirectDraw mode ! 727: FULLSCREEN LINEAR8.DRV: VESA VBE 2.0+ mode ! 728: FULLSCREEN ACCEL8.DRV: VESA VBE/AF (Accelerator Functions) mode ! 729: (note that QWCL does not take advantage of ! 730: VBE/AF acceleration; so far as QWCL is ! 731: concerned VBE/AF is the same as normal VBE) ! 732: ! 733: You can use vid_mode from the console to set any of these modes. So, ! 734: for example, if you see that there are two 320x200 modes (such as one ! 735: VGA mode 0x13, normally mode 3, and one VESA mode, normally mode 4), ! 736: you can choose the VESA mode, which will often be faster, with ! 737: vid_mode 4. (You can make it the default by setting ! 738: _vid_default_mode_win to the mode number.) ! 739: ! 740: There's more to the windowed modes than you might think. 320x240 is ! 741: just what you�d expect, but 640x480 is actually rendered at 320x240 ! 742: and stretched up to 640x480, because most machines can�t handle the ! 743: performance demands of real 640x480 rendering. Likewise, 800x600 is a ! 744: stretched 400x300. Actually, though, vid_mode 2 (the 800x600 mode) is ! 745: a user-configurable mode. By setting the following console variables, ! 746: you can change the characteristics of vid_mode 2: ! 747: ! 748: vid_config_x: width of mode 2 window ! 749: ! 750: vid_config_y: height of mode 2 window ! 751: ! 752: vid_stretch_by_2: whether to render at half-resolution in each ! 753: direction and stretch up to the specified size in mode 2, or render at ! 754: full resolution. ! 755: ! 756: After setting these variables in the console, do a vid_forcemode 2, ! 757: and you�ll have the window you specified. Note that after making ! 758: these changes, the new resolution will show up as the third windowed ! 759: mode in the Video menu. ! 760: ! 761: If you don't have QWCL mouse play enabled in windowed mode, you can also ! 762: go from windowed to fullscreen mode simply by clicking on the maximize ! 763: button. The mode switched to is controlled by the vid_fullscreen_mode ! 764: console variable, and defaults to mode 3. ! 765: ! 766: Other video console commands include: ! 767: ! 768: vid_fullscreen: switch to the mode specified by the ! 769: vid_fullscreen_mode console variable. ! 770: ! 771: vid_windowed: switch to the mode specified by the vid_windowed_mode ! 772: console variable. ! 773: ! 774: Vid_fullscreen and vid_windowed can be bound to keys, so it's possible ! 775: to flip between windowed and fullscreen with a single key press. ! 776: ! 777: Also, vid_minimize minimizes the QWCL window if and only if ! 778: QWCL is running in a windowed mode. You can bind a key to ! 779: the commands "vid_windowed; wait; vid_minimize" to minimize QWCL ! 780: regardless of whether you're running in windowed or fullscreen mode. ! 781: ! 782: You can turn off page flipping by setting the console variable ! 783: vid_nopageflip to 1, then setting a new mode. (Note that the ! 784: vid_nopageflip setting does not take effect until the next mode set.) ! 785: Some systems run faster with page flipping turned off; also, page ! 786: flipping does not work properly on some adapters, and vid_nopageflip ! 787: is a workaround for this. Note that vid_nopageflip is a persistent ! 788: variable; it retains its setting until it is explicitly changed again, ! 789: even across multiple QWCL sessions. ! 790: ! 791: The vid_forcemode console command sets the specified mode, even if ! 792: it's the same as the current mode (normally the mode set only happens ! 793: if the new mode differs from the current mode). This is generally ! 794: useful only if you've modified the characteristics of video mode 2 ! 795: (the configurable window) while you're in mode 2, and want to force ! 796: the new characteristics to take effect. ! 797: ! 798: Whenever you switch to running QWCL in a window, the window is ! 799: placed at the same location it was in the last time QWCL ran ! 800: in a window. You can reset the window position to the upper left ! 801: by using the -resetwinpos command-line switch. The window position ! 802: is stored in the vid_window_x and vid_window_y console variables. ! 803: ! 804: ! 805: ! 806: ------------------------------- ! 807: | Video command-line switches | ! 808: ------------------------------- ! 809: ! 810: The full list of video-related command-line switches is: ! 811: ! 812: -dibonly: QWCL will use only windows (both normal, framed windows on the ! 813: desktop and fullscreen, borderless windows), not any direct hardware ! 814: access modes such as DirectDraw or VESA modes, or even VGA 320x200 ! 815: mode. This is the closest thing to a guaranteed-to-run fullscreen ! 816: mode QWCL has. ! 817: ! 818: -nowindirect: QWCL will not try to use VESA VBE 2.0 modes, or VBE/AF ! 819: 1.0 or later modes. Note that if there are both DirectDraw and VESA ! 820: modes for a given resolution, QWCL will normally use the VESA mode; ! 821: -nowindirect allows DirectDraw modes to be the preferred choice for ! 822: all resolutions except 320x200. This can be useful if QWCL is crashing ! 823: because of a buggy VESA driver. ! 824: ! 825: -nodirectdraw: QWCL will not try to use DirectDraw modes. This can be ! 826: useful if QWCL is crashing because of a buggy DirectDraw driver. ! 827: ! 828: -novbeaf: QWCL will not try to use VBE/AF 1.0 or later modes. ! 829: ! 830: -startwindowed: QWCL will come up in a windowed mode, without going ! 831: fullscreen even during initialization. ! 832: ! 833: -noforcevga: normally, QWCL uses VGA mode 0x13 for the default 320x200 ! 834: mode, even if a DirectDraw or VESA 320x200 mode exists. However, ! 835: DirectDraw and VESA modes can be considerably faster than mode 0x13, ! 836: because they can set up a linear framebuffer with higher memory ! 837: bandwidth. If you specify -noforcevga, the default 320x200 mode in ! 838: the menu will be a DirectDraw or VESA mode if one exists. This has no ! 839: effect on modes selected via the console variable vid_mode, and if ! 840: 320x200 is already your video mode, -noforcevga doesn't do anything ! 841: until you use the menu to select another mode, then select 320x200 ! 842: again. (So if your default mode is 320x200 and you then specify ! 843: -noforcevga, switch away to some other mode and then back to 320x200 ! 844: to get the potentially faster 320x200 mode.) The downside to this ! 845: switch is that DirectDraw and VESA modes can cause problems in some ! 846: systems, due to driver bugs or hardware incompatibilities; if you ! 847: experience problems with this switch, don't use it. ! 848: ! 849: -noautostretch: don't stretch windowed modes selected with ! 850: -startwindowed to double resolution. ! 851: ! 852: -nofulldib: don't use fullscreen, borderless windows, even if there ! 853: are no DirectDraw or VESA modes available. ! 854: ! 855: -allow360: allow listing of 360-wide modes in the video mode menu. ! 856: These are normally filtered out to make sure the menu doesn't get too ! 857: full, which could cause high-res modes not to be displayed. ! 858: ! 859: -notriplebuf: prevent triple-buffered page flipping (rather than double- ! 860: buffered). This may result in slower performance, but is a workaround ! 861: if you encounter problems with flicker or initialization failure, which ! 862: could possibly happen in some modes with some DirectDraw drivers. ! 863: ! 864: ! 865: ! 866: ---------------------------------- ! 867: | A bit about how QWCL sound works | ! 868: ---------------------------------- ! 869: ! 870: QWCL can use either DirectSound or Windows wave output to generate ! 871: sound. If DirectSound is available, it is used; if not, if wave sound ! 872: is available it is used; and if neither is available, there is no ! 873: sound. DirectSound results in the best sound quality, and also the ! 874: lowest-latency sound; use it if you can, because you will be happier ! 875: with the results. (Note, though, that no NT sound drivers yet support ! 876: DirectSound.) Wave sound will often have high latency, lagging the ! 877: events that generate sound by hundreds of milliseconds on some ! 878: machines. ! 879: ! 880: You can tell what kind of sound QWCL uses on your system by looking at ! 881: the startup portion of the console; you will see either "DirectSound ! 882: initialized" or "Wave sound initialized" (neither message is printed ! 883: if there's no sound). Any sound failure messages will also be printed ! 884: in the startup portion of the console. ! 885: ! 886: Note that QWCL generates sound only when it is the active app, the one ! 887: with the input focus. ! 888: ! 889: ! 890: ! 891: ------------------------------- ! 892: | Sound command-line switches | ! 893: ------------------------------- ! 894: ! 895: The full list of sound-related command-line switches is: ! 896: ! 897: -wavonly: don�t use DirectSound, but use wave sound if available. ! 898: Note that wave sound is generally faster than DirectSound, but has ! 899: considerably greater latency. This switch is redundant on NT, because ! 900: all sound output on current NT drivers is wave sound. ! 901: ! 902: -nosound: don�t output any sound. ! 903: ! 904: -primarysound: use DirectSound primary buffer output. This is ! 905: generally faster than normal secondary buffer output, but does not ! 906: work in some systems, and produces odd sound glitches on minimization ! 907: and focus switching in other systems. Use it at your own risk, and ! 908: please do not report sound bugs if you're using this switch. ! 909: ! 910: -snoforceformat: QWCL will not try to force the sound hardware to 11 ! 911: KHz, 16 bits per sample. This may be useful if DirectSound is failing ! 912: for no apparent reason, but generally QWCL will produce better sound and ! 913: better performance if this switch is not used. ! 914: ! 915: ! 916: ! 917: ----------------------- ! 918: | Notes on networking | ! 919: ----------------------- ! 920: ! 921: The winsock TCP/IP driver will not cause a dial-up internet connection ! 922: to automatically start up when Quake is started. If you start Quake ! 923: with it inactive, the connection will be activated when you either try ! 924: to connect to a server or search for local servers. ! 925: ! 926: The local IP address will not always be known at startup. If it is ! 927: currently unknown the menu will display "INADDR_ANY". This will be ! 928: replaced with the real address when it is known. The IP address will ! 929: become known when you try to connect to a server, you search for local ! 930: servers, or you start a server. ! 931: ! 932: For multi-homed machines (machines with more than one network adapter ! 933: and IP adress), you can force QWCL to bind to a specific IP ! 934: address. There is a command line option "-ip" that takes an IP ! 935: address as its parameter. ! 936: ! 937: ! 938: ! 939: ---------------------- ! 940: | Notes on the mouse | ! 941: ---------------------- ! 942: ! 943: If DirectInput is installed and functioning, QWCL can use it for ! 944: mouse input, but does not do so automatically because DirectInput does ! 945: not work properly on all systems. DirectInput can be enabled via the ! 946: command-line switch -dinput. If DirectInput is not available or is ! 947: not enabled, QWCL uses the normal Windows mouse APIs instead. ! 948: DirectInput provides slightly smoother motion; also, it tends to be ! 949: more responsive to fast spinning motions, and we recommend that you use ! 950: it if it works properly on your system. You can determine if QWCL uses ! 951: DirectInput on your system when you use -dinput by checking for ! 952: "DirectInput initialized" in the startup console text. If not, you ! 953: might try installing DirectX 3 (note, though, that as I write this ! 954: there is no released DirectInput support for Windows NT, only Win95). ! 955:
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