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games, both became very popular for multiplayer deathmatch games over a network. With Quake III, Id Software took the Quake universe and created a game strictly aimed at multiplayer gaming. In Quake III there is a single-player mode, but it revolves around playing a series of deathmatch games against one or more computer opponents in an arena style. As you progress in the game the opponents get more difficult to defeat; in the final round, you are one-on-one with an incredibly accurate opponent. In many ways the single-player mode is practice for multiplayer games on the network.

The entire Quake series has Linux binaries available for download from ftp.idsoftware.com. When Quake III was first released, Linux binaries weren't available; however, a special tin box edition of the game containing Linux binaries was released in stores some time after the initial Windows version. Even if you didn't get the special tin box edition, you can still use your Windows CD and download the Linux installer.

Installation

To install Quake III under Linux, download the latest version of the installer from the ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/linux directory. Once you have downloaded the file, use chmod +x filename to make it executable and then run the installer from a console as root. Accept the licensing agreement to then see the main installer window (Figure 7-1). The installer will default to putting the game files into /usr/local/games/quake3. The installer from the Linux retail CD will copy the .pk3 data files from the CD-ROM, but the installer that you download will not. Therefore, if you used the downloaded installer, mount the Linux or Windows Quake III CD and copy pak0.pk3 from the Quake3/baseq3 directory on the CD to /usr/local/games/quake3/baseq3. If you also have the Team Arena CD-ROM, you can mount that CD and copy pak0.pk3 from the Setup/missionpack directory to /usr/local/games/quake3/missionpack/.

Figure 7-1. Quake III Installer

Once Quake III is installed, click the corresponding icon in your KDE or GNOME menu, or type quake3 in a console. Quake III relies on OpenGL as its graphics library, so make sure that you have 3D hardware acceleration with OpenGL support. Unlike with the Windows version, the Linux version of Quake III does not require you to have the CD-ROM in the drive to start the game. Once the game begins for the first time, a .q3a directory is created in your home directory to store settings and saved games. You can edit the configuration files directly if you wish, or you can change game options through the Setup menu on the main screen.

Single Player

In single-player mode you can either start with the first arena match and move map by map through the game, or you can immediately get to the action and click the skirmish button inside the single-player screen. A skirmish is a quick match that doesn't count toward the standard single-player game. You can choose any map and also how many and which bots to play against on the map, along with their difficulty. Skirmish mode is very useful to hone your skills on a particular map, especially before you move to a multiplayer game.

The rules for a standard deathmatch are pretty simple—kill everyone else. When a match starts, your player is spawned in one of the many spawn points on the map. Once the match starts the object is to have the most frags, or kills, before the time limit lapses. Scattered across the map are weapons; items such as health, ammo, and armor, and your opponents. You start off with a simple machine gun and your gauntlet, so you will want to find more powerful weapons, especially before your opponents do (Figure 7-2). Your player starts out with 100 hit points, which decrease as you take on damage. If you reach zero or fall into one of the bottomless pits on the map, your character dies and you "respawn" at a random spawn point on the map. Any opponents you kill also respawn in this way. There are no limits to the number of times you can respawn, but keep in mind that you lose any weapons and armor you previously had,