I worked with protobuf in c++ a few years ago, and recently succeeded in getting protobuf-c to work. I've only just started looking into the server/client messaging side of quake source, but I'm already wondering could this code be cleaned up, simplified and made more flexible with protobuf? 

Started learning QuakeC a couple days ago, and have been doing pretty simple stuff just to get the hang of things. When I say simple things, I mean VERY simple stuff like:

if(self.key_bind4 == TRUE)
{
self.walkframe = 109; //play an animation from the mdl
}

I wanted to know if there was some way for me to add a damaging hitbox to the player when they hit this button and the animation plays. An example would be an animation of the player swinging a bat or something, and a hitbox being created where the bat physically is. I'd appreciate any help! 

Quake is a much more abstract game than that. The hitboxes don't rotate, and the physics is modelling everything as a particle (at best). The Quake axe just traces a straight line a short way down the crosshair line, like a bullet with a 4 foot range. This isn't through lack of imagination or because it produced better gameplay - it's simply the kind of thing the engine is built to do.

With the technical limits set aside, I think there is an argument that first person games favour melee weapons that produce a precise stab of damage rather than a long swing. The problem is the player can freely move their camera between frames of a swing, If they move in the direction of the swing, they might stretch it out further than you intended, either leaving gaps the swing does no damage on, or dealing damage in a huge area of effect. On the other hand if they rotate against the direction of swing, they might inadvertently cause a whiff, or stack multiple hits in one spot. 

Hello, I'm new to Quake modding, and am currently trying to add a new enemy to the game. I have the enemy modeled, rigged and all that, but when in the game, the texture doesn't show up. It shows up when placing in TrenchBroom, but doesn't show in the game, and the enemy is just black. Is there anything I may be missing? BTW, I've tested it in both QuakeSpasm and FTEQW, in case that was the issue. 

Are you sure the new model has the Quake1.pal?