Q3Offline Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I get the latest version of Q3Offline?
It takes up to 24 hours from when a new version of Q3Offline is released to when it is available on all the PlanetQuake mirrors. If you don't want to wait, the latest version is also available from the ShellShock's Crater web site in the UK.
How do I play mods via Q3Offline?
So far I've tested Q3Offline with Domination, Excessive, Instagib and Demonic mods, all of which rock!. To set up a mod in Q3Offline follow these general steps.
Why are some of my bots spectating?
You need a warm up time of at least 5 seconds to allow sufficient time for all the bots to join the game. Increase the warm up time on the Game page.
Why do I get a "Waiting for players" message in normal Q3?
This is because a warm up time has been specified in Q3Offline, but standalone Q3 will not work with a warm up. When you specify a warm up time, Q3Offline writes the following to the Q3Offline.cfg:
set g_warmup secs length of warmup
set g_doWarmup 1 switch on warmup
When Q3 runs with the Q3Offline.cfg, Q3 writes all the settings in Q3Offline.cfg to the main Q3 config file, q3config.cfg. Unfortunately this is a feature (bug) of Q3 - the set command is not meant to do this, but it doesn't work as advertised. Thus when you next run Q3 standalone, it will run with settings in the q3config.cfg file that have come from Q3Offline.cfg. This includes the warm up time settings. A warm up in standalone Q3 results in the infamous "Waiting for players" message.
Q3Offline attempts to get round this by taking a back up of q3config.cfg when Q3Offline loads, and restoring the backup when Q3Offline exits. This fix will only work if you use the Play button in Q3Offline, and not the Play & Exit button. When using Play and Exit, Q3Offline exits before Q3 starts, thus Q3Offline restores the q3config.cfg before Q3 starts. Q3 then starts and promptly overwrites all the q3config.cfg settings with the settings in Q3Offline.cfg, negating the effect of the back up.
A better solution is to put the following in your autoexec.cfg file:
set g_doWarmup "0"
Now when you run Q3 standalone, the autoexec.cfg will switch off the warmup. You'll still get warm ups when using Q3Offline, as the Q3Offline.cfg file is executed after autoexec.cfg.
The same argument applies to any other options Q3Offline changes. id need to provide a command so that Q3Offline can set options in Q3Offline.cfg and not have them also automatically saved to q3config.cfg. Until that happens, running Q3Offline will potentially change the configuration of standalone Q3 (but only for the set commands Q3Offline uses) - normally this is not a big problem, and the simple fix is to edit your autoexec.cfg to set it up for standalone Q3. In autoexec.cfg you only need to set the commands which Q3Offline sets and which you want to be set differently in standalone Q3.
Alternatively, and more simply, set the q3config.cfg file to read only, which prevents Q3 from writing to it. This assumes you have already got q3config.cfg set up correctly.
As a last resort, you could always use the Play button in Q3Offline.
Why do I get a "Waiting for players" message when playing Q3 via Q3Offline?
It is possible that the map does not support bots. If you are playing a map that did not come with the original Q3 game, check that the map has an .aas file in the pak. This file is necessary to play bots on the map.
Another possibility is that you have got a bots.txt file in a pak file which is overriding the bots.txt file in pak0.pk3. Q3 will use the bots.txt file in the pak file whose name appears last in the alphabet; only the bots defined in this pak will be available.
Why do I get a connection interrupted when playing CTF maps?
You need to set the Max. rate to 0 on the Server page.
Why don't the maps rotate?
If the same map is played repeatedly, then perhaps you are in Tournament mode. This is a feature (?) of the Tournament game type in Quake III Arena, which makes it next to useless as far as Q3Offline is concerned.
If you get kicked back to the main menu after playing a single map, then try unticking Pure on the Server page in Q3Offline.
Why are bots I didn't ask for being spawned?
Perhaps you've set No. of players (aka Max. bots) on the Bots page, or on the Edit map dialog (for a specific map). If No. of players is greater than 0, then Q3 will spawn or kick random bots so that the total number of players (bot + human) equals No. of players. For team games, No. of players applies to each team. Generally No. of players is really useful for running a server via Q3Offline (where you want bots to disappear when a new player joins the server), but is not so useful when playing standalone (so set it to 0).
Why doesn't the auto import/import all commands import all maps/bots?
The auto import (enabled on the Game
page) and import all button ( on the
Maps and Bots pages) only import maps/bots which are defined in
arena files (for maps) or bot files (for bots).
An arena file can either be in a pak file, or can be in the scripts directory (e.g., baseq3\scripts). The arena file name may be either arenas.txt (which contains definitions for more than one map) or map.arena, where map is the name of the map. Q3Offline uses the information in the arena file to assign the map to one or more map lists, as follows:
Type in arena file | Imported to map list |
single | ignored |
ffa | Free for all and Team deathmatch |
tourney | Tournament |
ctf | Capture the flag |
none of the above | Current map list |
To import a map that is not defined
in an arena file, use the Add map button on
the Maps page).
Similarly, a bot file can either be in a pak file, or can be in the scripts directory. The bot file name may be either bots.txt (which contains definitions for more than one bot) or bot.arena, where bot is the name of the bot.
To import a bot that is not defined
in an bot file, use the Add bot button on
the Bots page).
Why don't I get any further than the main Quake III Arena menu?
This is often caused by the server running in pure mode, and is not helped by the fact that id keep changing how pure servers work. To fix this, untick Pure on the Q3Offline Server page.
Why can I only change the Skill setting in the Edit bot dialog?
You can edit the other options if you have a scripts\botname.txt file on the hard disk, e.g., you've added the bot via Q3Offline. Q3Offline doesn't support changing the characteristics of existing bots in pak files.