Fun times so far. Got 3 of the runes, but the remaining one (the rune from episode 1) I haven't even glimpsed yet. And it seems that I've reached every area and killed every monster that I've been able to see.

HMMM

(And the fact that you said above that no grenade jumps are required, that's interesting. I did use one; wonder what I missed there.) 

Well I completed it with 3/3 secrets. Pretty tough, and I would never have done it if I hadn't have read someone above mentioning the "picture puzzle". It's an interesting map but the difficulty for me is a bit much, I ran out of ammo on the last few death knights near the end (ended up cheating the last bit of the map because of it). 

Managed to get all kills and all secrets in just around 40 minutes! I got plenty lost as the navigation through the map was counter-intuitive to me, in a left-handed vs. right-handed kind of way. The details and architecture were amazing, even if the textures were a bit drab. The hacks were sheer genius! I broke something at the end, though, and I couldn't end the map properly :(

Great job!!! 

Great map!
How did you manage to make such a complex weave of corridors and rooms? I bow to your creativity.

Thank you! 

and I would never have done it if I hadn't have read someone above mentioning the "picture puzzle".

likewise. would never have found rune 3 either if i hadn't opened up the entity file and looked at the origins ;/ was the hint for that one supposed to be the 'rear balcony' message?

good map otherwise. library made me giggle 

Attempt 1: Spent a very long time getting everything up to the "S"-shaped rune but failed to get that.

Attempt 2: Same again, also spent a very long time getting the S-rune, used up all my ammo on the death knghts and wasn't able to kill the final monsters.

I found a large difference between the internal logic of some puzzles (visible jumping puzzles onto balconies, visible rune behind curtain with a path of instructions to follow), and the puzzles that were pure secrets (S-rune - if the kitchen note relates to this, it is not clear what is front and back of the building, nor which of the many upper floors are the upper floor). The basement puzzle was somewhere in-between as it used a map feature as the secret (painting), however there are a vast number of visual red herrings both in details (paintings etc) and objects (books etc). There are also physical red herrings e.g. grenade jumping (despite not being necessary, explosive jumping is necessary to exit), jumping around the edge of the map (the earliest progress the player makes is via jumping, and later there could be more jumps, also the wooden roof tiles are visible from below). 

It's all fairly haphazard. Once again, I overestimated the players' ability to quickly and easily grasp a layout and mechanics. But in the end I was too fed up with the whole thing to be willing to change or sacrifice any of it. Sorry about that.

You make good points. Another potentially misleading bit about the attic crates, as otp pointed out, is that there's a GL in the workshop next to some broken crates, and a box of rockets visible on the attic, all of which can be interpreted as suggesting one needs to break the crates oneself or grenadejump over if that doesn't work. I blocked off the attic (->roof access) thinking it would help the player for being able to explore the roof part as well would make it even more confusing.

The S-rune in the stash, well, some players found them by accident without even having seen the hint. I made it so the secret door isn't visible when passing by, only when stopping to look around. Obviously doesn't work out. 

Rune 1 ("7"): it's in the headmaster's secret study/laboratory. The diary in the bunkhouse hints at the "top of the library stairs" - the button to open access is in the painting.

Rune 2 ("�"): easiest to find - in the head summoner's chamber, the one with the fiend trap in the doorway.

These two runes unlock the seal in the basement.

Rune 3 ("S"): a secret stash in a corner next to the rear balcony, the one with the GK. The note on the storage floor in the kitchen, up the ladder.

Rune 4 ("α"): behind the curtain. The spell to open it is on one of the bunk beds, as hinted to by the note in the workshop.

These two runes unlock the seal in the courtyard.

When the first two seals are broken, the attic becomes accessible. The third seal on the roof requires all four runes to open. 

Rune 1 ("7")
Rune 2 ("�")
Rune 3 ("S")
Rune 4 ("α")

The runes are just 1, 2, 3, 4, highly stylized. 

Route planning is a documented weakness of mine, but here's a demo of me finishing mce in 1:21.

http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/mce_er_mandel.7z 

Func_moderator: Can you please edit the OP and fix a typo - it should read "DirectQ 1.8.8(1)"

Mandel: Very nice already. It should be even quicker/easier if you use the super secret. ;) 

I concur that it's too confusing but still good fun. Thanks negke! 

eventually...

And when I do I might even record a demo!(!!!!!!!!) 

My crappy laptop doesn't run this map without low fps.

And that is why Mandel can keep his record. ;) 

try -nomtex 

I never noticed that. Probably because S = 3...

http://wiki.quakeworld.nu/images/Runes.jpg

Haven't played this one yet. 

That image is 2341. 

pretty sure that fourth one is the episode 2 rune, otherwise i've ballsed up considerably here: http://isoterra.co.uk/quake/s9/e2m3a.jpg 

You're right.

So the order is 1342 in that image... 

Earth, Hell, Elder, Black. 

...everything freezes.
Using Fitzquake (Quakespasm) 0.85 2 on an Imac.

What gives? Any (easy, for the untrained, for dummies) workaround?

Thanks in advance... 

Just finished playing this one on all the difficulties.
Played it on Fitquakes Mark 5 with zero issues at all.

Very frustrating at first, but once you get into the swing of things it flows very well. Some parts of the map genuinely put a smile on my face (the silly magic curtain and some of the props etc).
I enjoyed the attention to detail. The props as mentioned, like the knives in the workshop and stuff like the rug on the library floor very cool.

One thing I enjoyed was being able to get the keys/items in a different order when I would replay the map in the higher skill level, enhancing the non-linear feel of the map even more.

For those complaining about running out of ammo, well honestly I think that's an issue of simply being wasteful with it.
Fair enough I was almost out of shells and nails (like 4 shells left, 30 nails), but I just finished on Hard just then with 99 rockets and 15 cells, still with one of the 'Battery' of 100 cells left over near the Deathknight super battle/Gold key door that I didn't have to use.
I think that's a more than reasonable amount of ammo to get the job done.

Very cool to see what mappers can still wring out of vanilla quake. A very creative and daring effort, well done Negke! 

Finally found the last rune.
Lots of nice touches. Getting lost seems obligatory (gold door is where!?!), but the nice mediaval touches everywhere meant i didnt get so annoyed at having to continuously wander around. The seals are a great theme.

@the silent
QS 0.85.2 is very old... so probably best to upgrade 

...Question is, where do I find a more recent version ported for OSX? 

Found it.