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During QuakeCon the original Quake got an enhanced edition released, which Nightdive Studios worked on. It works with Steam Play Proton and you can also use the Steam Play tool Luxtorpeda to play the new content on an open source game engine.

It's a serious shame that a game with such a rich history of open source thanks to early id Software releases decided to go with a proprietary system (Nightdive's KEX Engine) for the enhanced upgrade. Really goes to show how much things have changed now. Quake officially only supports Windows still too. However, it does work with Steam Play Proton.

That said, since there are plenty of open source engines capable of running it you can also use the Steam Play tool Luxtorpeda which just got updated to support the newly bundled expansions, music, along with the brand new "Dimension of the Machine" Episode. Using Luxtorpeda gives you the ability to run the content with vkquake, quakespasm, and darkplaces.

Want to try Luxtorpeda? It's easy enough to download and install too with a few quick steps:

  1. Download the tar archive file from the GitHub releases page.
  2. If this folder does not exist, create it: ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/
  3. Extract the archive downloaded in Step 1, and place the contents into the above directory.
  4. Restart Steam if it's open which refreshes the Steam Play list for Luxtorpeda to show up.
  5. Right click on your game, go to Properties, Compatibility and ensure the box is ticked named "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" then select Luxtorpeda from the dropdown box that appears.

You can buy Quake from GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Proton, FPS, GOG, Steam | Apps: QUAKE
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31 comments
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sub Aug 20, 2021
It's a shame, indeed.
They could've at least have a Linux and Mac build out.

Then again the free two expansion packs by Machinegames (they made the recent Wolfenstein stuff) is a really nice stuff.
*Free* by means if you already own it Steam.

I hope those expansion packs also run with a *real* Quake engine and don't make use of stuff exclusive to that Kex Engine.
fabertawe Aug 20, 2021
One of my all time favourite games. It blew me away when I first saw it in 1996!

I've just installed Luxtorpeda (thanks for the heads up) so I'll give it a whirl.
logge Aug 20, 2021
Thank you for your manual how to play that natively - it was in my library forn a long time, and the first thing I thought when I read news about the Quake remake today was "Will that run without proton?".

Its a shame what "id" and "bethesda" became in regards to their linux / open source commitment.


Last edited by logge on 20 August 2021 at 11:05 am UTC
gbudny Aug 20, 2021
It's a shame, indeed.
They could've at least have a Linux and Mac build out.

Id software dosen't care about porting games to Linux and Mac, and it's sad how this company has changed. Aspyr removed all id software games from the Mac App Store, and they didn't even plan to create new versions that will be compatible with macOS Catalina.
pb Aug 20, 2021
But the achievements will only work on the kex engine, right?
Kristian Aug 20, 2021
So all the the new content is compatible with standard Quake engines/source ports? But the Nightdive version uses Kex? Are there any source ports that support the same kind of features like the Kex version? Like depth of field etc etc?
Mezron Aug 20, 2021
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I still own the original DOS version of Quake. It's one of the 6 physical games I did not sale when I downsized my physical game collection recently. I use ezQuake to play it often. Excellent game that still holds up, IMO.
Whitewolfe80 Aug 20, 2021
It's a shame, indeed.
They could've at least have a Linux and Mac build out.

Id software dosen't care about porting games to Linux and Mac, and it's sad how this company has changed. Aspyr removed all id software games from the Mac App Store, and they didn't even plan to create new versions that will be compatible with macOS Catalina.

Also remember that id is owned by Microsoft now
BielFPs Aug 20, 2021
Giving it's related to a company who release Skyrim to every single platform but Linux this causes me 0 surprises. (and don't come with "it's a Id Software game" because they're not independent company for many years)

But I would like to praise again the good job of Luxtorpeda developer in facilitating the process of playing these games natively.
Cybolic Aug 20, 2021
At least on my build of DarkPlaces (using DarkPlacesRM), the new episode (Dimension of the Machine) crashes when killing an enemy with the axe:
 
packet dump:  27:svc_killedmonster  52:svc_effect  69:<unknown>
Host_Error: CL_ParseServerMessage: Illegible server message
Packet dump:
0000:1B344143 485F4652 49454E44 4C595F46 .4ACH_FRIENDLY_F
0010:49524500                            IRE.

The text displayed by portals doesn't seem correct either, more like variable names.
I'll try Luxtorpeda's DarkPlaces build next.
Purple Library Guy Aug 20, 2021
Thank you for your manual how to play that natively - it was in my library forn a long time, and the first thing I thought when I read news about the Quake remake today was "Will that run without proton?".

Its a shame what "id" and "bethesda" became in regards to their linux / open source commitment.
There's a lot more superego than id about that outfit nowadays.
gbudny Aug 20, 2021
There was always a misconception among Linux users about this company, and it's now hard to accept facts. Dave Taylor ported Doom as the first game to Linux, but Inner worlds was the first game developed for Linux and published on the CD. Id Sofware invested some money to publish official versions of Quake for Linux, and they were active for one year.

Macmillan published Quake, Quake 2, and Loki software published Quake 3 in the same year - that is it! The low sales of Quake 3 for Linux were the main reason that Loki was closed.

Later, Timothee Besset decided to publish unofficial versions of games for Linux. I bought few versions of games for Mac to play on Linux.

Id software was a company interested to publish the source code of their games, and it's a fact. However, I think that the rest of the company didn't care what Timothee Besset was doing back then. He left Id software in 2012, and that was the end of porting unofficial versions of games to Linux and official versions to Mac.


Last edited by gbudny on 20 August 2021 at 3:22 pm UTC
whizse Aug 20, 2021
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The low sales of Quake 3 for Linux were the main reason that Loki was closed.
The whole thing was somewhat of a clusterfudge as I recall.

Loki decided to sell the native version in an exclusive metal box. Far more expensive than the Windows version. Meanwhile id published Linux binaries to download.

Most people where to excited to wait for the Linux version, simply bought the Windows version and called it a day.
Retrograde_i486 Aug 20, 2021
Also loaded up with Proton-6.15-GE-2 just fine here if anyone uses that.

Oh and to skip the obnoxious 6 intro videos put this as a launch option in Steam: -skipmovies
Cybolic Aug 20, 2021
At least on my build of DarkPlaces (using DarkPlacesRM), the new episode (Dimension of the Machine) crashes when killing an enemy with the axe:
 
packet dump:  27:svc_killedmonster  52:svc_effect  69:<unknown>
Host_Error: CL_ParseServerMessage: Illegible server message
Packet dump:
0000:1B344143 485F4652 49454E44 4C595F46 .4ACH_FRIENDLY_F
0010:49524500                            IRE.

The text displayed by portals doesn't seem correct either, more like variable names.
I'll try Luxtorpeda's DarkPlaces build next.
Yup, same thing with Luxtorpeda's build of QuakeSpasm-Spiked and VKQuake. The crash is not from using the axe but seems to be when one of the first enemies is killed (number 6 or 7 I think). The wrong portal text is in all three versions (and not in the Kex Engine version).
gbudny Aug 20, 2021
The low sales of Quake 3 for Linux were the main reason that Loki was closed.
The whole thing was somewhat of a clusterfudge as I recall.

Loki decided to sell the native version in an exclusive metal box. Far more expensive than the Windows version. Meanwhile id published Linux binaries to download.

Most people where to excited to wait for the Linux version, simply bought the Windows version and called it a day.

I wasn't a Linux user in 1999, but we should treat this story as the poor excuse of Linux users.

That doesn't change the fact that Quake 3 for Linux was a financial disaster. For Id Software that was proof that Linux isn't a serious operating system for games.

I have to correct something about people who worked for ID software because I don't know their point of view about Linux.

John Romero and Tom Hall founded Monkeystone Games in 2001. David Hedbor from Eon games ported their game Hyperspace Delivery Boy to Linux and LGP published exclusively the box version of this game.

Brian Hook founded Pyrogon in 2002. Ryan Gordon ported Candy Cruncher to Linux x86 and David Hedbor ported NingPo MahJong to Linux x86. Both games were later published by LGP, but someone also ported Candy Cruncher to Linux PPC/Sparc and NingPo MahJong to Linux PPC


Last edited by gbudny on 20 August 2021 at 4:20 pm UTC
d10sfan Aug 20, 2021
Interesting about machine, not sure if any of the other engines do it better, so would always welcome helping test there. The other packs should work fine, as they are using the original game releases. I do have a vkquake rerelease option that uses vkquake with the new paks, which is experimental (it seems to work ok but it does have the text issues that others have)

The Dimension of the Past, I had to use the original pak file when it was released a few years ago, because when I tried to pick up the armor, it crashed immediately with the kex version.

I noticed the text issues as well, it seems like with the kex one, they moved the localization to a common file, that I'm not sure if the quake engines can understand.

I put up a ticket here for those issues (not the crashing though): https://github.com/Novum/vkQuake/issues/343

If anyone finds out workarounds or fixes for these issues, let me know and I can add that to the packaging.


Last edited by d10sfan on 20 August 2021 at 4:39 pm UTC
d10sfan Aug 20, 2021
At least on my build of DarkPlaces (using DarkPlacesRM), the new episode (Dimension of the Machine) crashes when killing an enemy with the axe:
 
packet dump:  27:svc_killedmonster  52:svc_effect  69:<unknown>
Host_Error: CL_ParseServerMessage: Illegible server message
Packet dump:
0000:1B344143 485F4652 49454E44 4C595F46 .4ACH_FRIENDLY_F
0010:49524500                            IRE.

The text displayed by portals doesn't seem correct either, more like variable names.
I'll try Luxtorpeda's DarkPlaces build next.
Yup, same thing with Luxtorpeda's build of QuakeSpasm-Spiked and VKQuake. The crash is not from using the axe but seems to be when one of the first enemies is killed (number 6 or 7 I think). The wrong portal text is in all three versions (and not in the Kex Engine version).
+ Click to view long quote

I just added FTE QuakeWorld as an option. Give that a try and see if it works better if you have a chance.

I just tried that one and it seemed to go alot further.


Last edited by d10sfan on 20 August 2021 at 4:58 pm UTC
Mezron Aug 20, 2021
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Inner worlds was the first game developed for Linux and published on the CD.

I have been trying to remember this for a long time. Thanks.
Linuxer Aug 20, 2021
How to donate to Luxtorpeda developer? And i wish there could be a simple flatpak and or snap for it
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