it's more enhanced than I expected -- models are higher poly, there is animation interpolation, they added splitscreen....

There's one screenshot where they have a dynamic shadow casting light from a muzzle flash. 

I also wonder about what technical changes they made. The models look high-poly enough I wonder if they changed the model format, or switched to a skeletal format for models and animations?

Also wonder if the netcode changed at all, are they still using the old protocol 15? Did they combine quakeworld enhancements into a single new protocol? 

Posted by Poorchop on 2021/08/19 22:14:30
It looks like Bethesda has given Quake 1 fans a pittance in the form of a major update. It seems like they gave it the Doom treatment with a new source port with built-in add-on support. Talking to someone who is playing through it now, I think that they have included the "5th episode" from Machine Games, and the release notes mention the inclusion of another episode by them. Apparently the online component will have cross play with the console releases but a Bethesda account is needed for the online component.

There are already updated screenshots on the Steam page linked above along with more specific release notes. The original soundtrack is finally available in this release. 

Just played around with it! Its honestly a really solid port. Nice to see them add stuff like matchmaking to make getting online easier. Honestly I think that's their angle, before now getting Quake working right through steam has been a huge pain in the ass for new players. 

I bought the PC and Switch versions.

I probably won't use the PC version much, but I am very interested in having a good old poke at the content. For PC, community source ports will remain my go to.

The Switch version makes a great deal of sense to me. It's exactly what I need for a quick and easy Quake fix if I'm on a train, stuck in an airport, or whatever. I can see that getting a huge amount of use, and I'm delighted they released for that platform too. 

If you already owned a copy on Steam, you should be given a free upgrade to this new version.

I've had a look round the .pak files and the enhanced models are in there alongside the original .mdl file. For each upgraded model there's a
.md5anim file
.md5mesh file
.lmp file per skin

The .lmp files are readable in adquedit, might be a good avenue to make the worlds first mod for Quake XXV. And the skins are actually all power-of-two dimensions! So potentially the effective footprint for textures is lower than base glquake, even with the raised pixel density.

Another fun fact, not all models have been remade - for example head gibs have been left untouched! 

Played up to the start of e1m4 on the Switch.

There's a different rhythm to playing a shooter on a console, but the Switch motion controls help a hell of a lot with a fast-paced game like Quake. It'll still never beat mouselooking, but it's very far ahead of just using the sticks.

There's some extra trim and detail in some of the maps. I don't mind it, it's something new to look at and it fits well thematically.

Pickups bob up and down, like in Q3A. I don't like that.

All the big obvious z-fighting cases are fixed.

The coloured light looks good, but can be switched off if you don't like it. Model interpolation can be switched off, you can revert to the classic models, fog can be switched off, shadows can be switched off.

It has software Quake underwater warp, but the effect is a little too pronounced for my tastes.

Different HUD options but I haven't played around with them yet.

All in all it feels like a community source port, rough edges and all, which is kinda cool. And it's fast, like really fast. 

I just f'ing finished the z-fighting fixes and now it's coming officially anyway, just a few days after I am done. My life sucks so hard. 

This release also features higher quality sounds. The graphical enhancements can be turned off separately from each other, like keep new models, but disable Depth of Field and Texture Filtering.

Yes, the Unofficial 5th Episode "Dimension of the Past" from 2016 is included but it was tweaked and updated a little bit. It now includes .lit for colored lighting, as well as two new maps (e5sm1, e5sm2), although the ending of the episode is still just two shamblers. This episode is now also considered official.

There's another episode by MachineGames in the rerelease, called "Dimension of the Machine". It looks bigger and way more detailed than DOPA. Has a hub and 4 small episodes, 3 maps each or so, a final small episode and also a few deathmatch levels.

The original Steam version of Quake that was before (GLQuake/WinQuake executables) is still there. All the new stuff is in a separate folder "rerelease", has new executable, the id1 and other folders that have updated .pak files, even for the official Mission Packs.

The rerelease ID1 also has DM7 and DM8 maps included that were available separately in the 90s. DM7 is The Edge (used to be named Q1EDGE) and DM8 is Acrophobia (ironically, used to be named DM7 back in the day).

Also, this rerelease has uncut E2M6.

The port itself is strange because it does not allow full up/down aiming just like the original game, BUT changes behavior of Nightmare skill, which does not work like in original game - player now has normally 50 HP max and monsters are no longer spamming projectiles, just like in Copper mod. 

Not everybody is going to use this rerelease for playing, so your fix pack is still useful. In fact, now you can augment it with more high quality sounds from the rerelease! :)

The z-fighting isn't completely gone, I checked this on purpose in E2M1 when the yellow key trigger opens the enforcer monster closet. When the wall is moving up, z-fighting occurs, but it's gone when the wall stops. Speaking of E2M1, they somewhat fixed the teleporting enforcers on the walkway, although sometimes the gibbing occurs. But in one try I've had 5 teleport in alive out of 6.

I didn't notice if they prettied-up or added some new details to existing maps. But they support transparent water now which makes teleporters look bad sometimes because you see the back side of it as well. Seems that they didn't really go in and fix stuff in the maps. 

I'm not sure if I imagined this, but I think I just had a megahealth respawn in e1m8. That would be a disappointing Willitization if so. 

With this re-release, we finally have access to the Quake Expansion Packs in an easy to get format. Wonder how this is going to change modding... 

Actually no, they did went over the original levels. E1M1 first armor area has a ceiling light added and one texture changed, and more lights added to the outside area, etc. But these are not so noticeable.

E1M8 - yeah, the megahealth does respawn there. Perhaps it's a bug like some multiplayer rules are applied somehow. 

Wonder if this is leading up to anything else Quake related or if they're just testing the waters. 

It looks like the port is based on Kex engine by NightDive Studio. Wonder what is the reason to choose this one over an inhouse solution? Easier portability to consoles? 

KEX engine has no option to disable v_gunkick.
5th episode crashes with quakespasm(-spiked). 

I'd guess so. The Quake engine does need considerable work to modernize it, and that(s before you even consider the multiplatform stuff. It would seem that taking an existing engine and modding it to run Quake was actually less work. 

The megahealth in e1m1 respawns as well. I guess that's now a thing. I hope it's a bug and not intentional, as it reminds me of how Willits wrecked Doom 3 by putting too much ammo in the BFG edition.

e1m5 was fun. Some sharper-edged shadows are very noticeable in places, such as the "Q" secret. Cache mismatch textures are fixed. I was playing on Easy (what do you expect on a Switch?) so this was my first Shambler. I'm a hairy Shambler person rather than a muscly Shambler person, so I do need to get a closer look at the new model. 

The description also said Quake 64 is playable as well, how does one launch that one? 

In a tweet post (https://twitter.com/idtechpics/status/1428405642130345992) I saw it says that "Quake 64 will be available as a mod", so it might mean that Quake 64 is just not available yet. 

It's available under the "Add Ons" menu but you need a Bethesda.net account to access it. 

The PC port has some issues that will probably be resolved in future patches (just as the recent Doom re-releases had issues that were fixed), but I question the choice of netquake for the multiplayer. Even when they tweak it to the best of whatever is possible, it will still be vastly inferior to quakeworld network code.

Apparently some mods work with the new PC port as is, while many others don't? Will all mods that go beyond a pack of BSP files require Bethesda's approval?

The Switch port, meanwhile, is absolutely fantastic. Local DM4 botmatches on the go is something I didn't ever imagine getting. 

The maps load and run OK in a standard source port. They're BSP 29 and use community-derived features such as LIT files and fog and wateralpha from the worldspawn key.

I'm sure there are features that won't work, but for the most part there does indeed seem to be a high level of content compatibility. 

Wow, they've implemented Steam achievements. Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend. 

The new models are version 10 MD5s, i.e. Doom 3 format.

I haven't yet checked if the frame numbers are compatible with the originals, but it is indeed looking more and more like ID deliberately set this up to be hacked-on by the community.