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How submit a map to ..::LvLDisplaying » Map submissions
The very first thing you should do is release your level as a beta for peer review. This way you will get some feedback and there will be no need to re-release your level if there is something you missed. The Quake 3 World forums and the LevelMakers are two good starting points for beta releases, there are others as well. Once your level has been added to ..::LvL, we will update the download with a later version of your release if you want us to, but levels will not be reviewed a second time. Once you feel your level is ready for final release it will require a few things before it can be listed:
- A fully compiled <filename>.bsp with no spaces or funny characters in the filename.
- A <filename>.txt with level type, suggested player count, author information (name and email as a bare minimum) and any other information that may be required to play the level. Here is a sample .txt file that can be edited and used.
- Any other files that may be required to play the level. For example, textures and .shaders
- All contained within a <filename>.zip file. The .pk3, needs to be placed in a .zip for easy d/load, as some servers/browser mis-read .pk3 as text, and you need the right folder structure within your .pk3 file.
- The level has leaks (bad construction, also means unfinished).
- Produces errors when loading (bad construction, missing files).
- The <filename>.zip does not contain all the files need to run the level (missing files).
- Author information was not given in the <filename>.txt (missing information).
- Unattributed conversions.
- Anything else that may imply the level is in a unfinished state.
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If you have a question that is not answer below, just ask.
About the reviewsDisplaying » Site (general)
All reviews without an authors credit are by Tig or Tig and Mand0g. All other reviews have been submitted by members of the public. More information about how to submit a review, and how to download the maps for review, can be found on the map queue page. The back button does not work correctly!
This is a known issue with Safari Version 2 (419.x) and Micorosft IE. The reason and answers highlight known bugs / features / issues with these browsers and AJAX. This problem is not present on Mozilla based browsers (like Firefox) or Opera. The common issue is in the way content on the site is dynamic changed without reloading or requesting an entire web site page from the web server (with AJAX, often only parts of a page are requested). This means there is only really one full page called from the server even if you have looked at many different maps. The way to enabled back-button support is to create an anchor link dynamiclly. This creates (or tricks) the browser into creating a page request (and a history record, which the back button will use). The problem with Safari 2 (419.x) is because this dynamic anchor creation is (for some unknown reason) causing the browser to reload the entire page. This is not the correct thing to do. This Safari bug has been corrected in version 3 (522.x). The problem with Microsoft IE is in the way the back button requests are made. The history and anchor requests are recorded at the browser but when the back-button is pressed nothing (on the site) changes, even through the address bar is changed. A (bad) work around is to hit the back button and then hit the reload button. As stated above, this issue is not present on other browsers. If it is adversely affecting your experience on the site, now may be a good time to update your browser. Why are the videos in Quicktime format instead of ...
Quicktime is the most supported video format across different operating systems. Official browser plugins are avaliable on Windows and Mac OS, with an unofficial plugin for Linux and BSD. The unofficial plugin is an extension of mplayer and works great with Firefox. There are issues with all other video formats across the operating systems, including Adobe Flash. Where has the Beta section gone?
The beta section was removed as less maps where being released. The amount of work required to code the Beta section into the current ..::LvL design was pretty high, so it was cut. Also, other sites like the Quake 3 World forums and the Map-Center have a stronger community for beta reviewing. Where have all the translations gone?
While large sections of the site had been converted to a number of languages (thanks to the hard work of many translaters), it was clear that many people with English as a second language where more than happy to read the English reviews. With almost no translations being submitted, it appeared to be a lot of code to write for very little usage. It also complicated the site design.
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The following keyboard shorts may not work on all browsers. Any combo which
includes the CTRL key will not work Safari as this is a limitation of the
browser (only certain keys can be detected on Safari).
Displaying » Site shortcuts
ESC or ~
Toggle the screen shot for the currently active map in the map browser. A combination of the arrow keys and the ESC allows for some quick browsing of maps.Up or Down arrows
Change to the next screen shot, if the screen shot window is open and there is more than one screen shot option.Left or Right arrows
Slide the map browser to the left or right by one map.CTRL + Left or Right arrow
Move the map browser to the next group of maps. Does not work correctly in Opera (9.25)CTRL + Z
Toggle the map browser. NOTE: The map browser is still active when hidden, so you can use keyboard shortcuts when it is hiddenCTRL + Enter
Display the review for the currently active map in the map browser.F.A.Q. groups »
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Once you have found the map you wish to play, these are steps required to play it in Quake 3 Arena.
Displaying » How to play a map
- All maps have a map type - take note of it. This will give you some information about what type of game mode the map has been designed for. Some maps required an add-on or mod to play. The common ones are, CPMA (Challenge Pro Mode Arena), RA3 (Rocket Arena) and Team Arena (which is an official add-on for Quake 3 Arena). If the map is labeled CTF, it is a good idea to grab a copy of the original ThreeWave CTF pack as many mappers use this pack as a texture base. Without the ThreeWave Pack, there is a chance you will have missing textures.
- Download your selected map. This part is straight forward. There are three download links to select from - all do NOT require a login or password and there is no waiting in lines.
- What you have downloaded is a called a zip file or compressed folder. Inside the zip file should be at least one PK3 file, sometimes there are few PK3 files. Often there is a text file as well. You will need to place these files into your Quake 3 Arena baseq3 folder. Where this is located is up to you to find out. If you are using Microsoft Windows XP and have a shortcut on your desktop, you can right mouse click the shortcut and select the Properties option. This should show you the file path to main Quake 3 Arena folder. The baseq3 folder is located here as well.
- At last, start up Quake 3. If you are playing bots, select the Single Player option and then the Skirmish one. You can now browse for the map you have downloaded. NOTE: Some maps may not appear on the list. You may need to select a different Game mode. By default, Free For All is selected. This can be changed to Tourney and CTF. Other options are available from some add-ons, and others may require you to activate a mod first. If you can still not find the downloaded map, there is a chance the map you selected does not have a the required information to appear in the list. This is a common issue with a number of the very first released maps. If this is the case, you will need to check the text file that came with the map. If you still can not find you map, make sure you have placed it in the correct location.
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Below are a few of the terms commonly used on ..::LvL. If you would like to see
a term added, just ask.
Displaying » Terms used in reviews
1on1, 2on2, etc.
Two players having a game on a map is often
referred to as a 1on1. A 2on2 game would be two teams of 2
players each playing as one team against the other. See also Tourney.Brush
Levels are made from a collection of 3 dimensional shapes
in their rawest form. Each one of these shapes is called a brush.
Curves within Quake3Arena are called Patches and are treated differently
to a brush at all stages of development as well as by the Quake3 render
engine.CTF
A team based game where the objective is to capture the other teams flag and return it to your
base. Your flag is required to be home at the same time to make the capture successful. CTF stands for Capture The Flag. The first online game version was
a mod for Quake, made by the ThreeWave team way back in 1996. The Quake mod was not the
first CTF for a video game, however it was the most popular and many games after the release of the Quake CTF mod
shipped with a CTF multiplayer mode as default or as part of an offical patch.DM
A chaotic game where anything goes. Its where everyone is out to get you and you do your best
to get everyone. DM stands for DeathMatch and is often called a FFA or Free For All.Duel
Exactly the same as Tourney, so check that term out below :]FFA
A chaotic game where anything goes. Its where everyone is out to get you and you do your best
to get everyone. FFA stands for Free For All and is often called a DM or DeathMatch game.Framey
A term often used to describe a level that causes a low
frames per second count. The cause is often related to high r_speeds. Can also
be due to high memory usage on the video card or from the CPU requiring an
above normal amount of processing.
If you wish to check out your FPS at any time during a game type \cg_drawFPS
1 at the console.
See also Laggy.HOM (Hall of Mirrors)
A term used to describe the visual effect
generated by a compile or texture error where you see a repeating, strobing
image. You can see this effect in action at the bottom of some skies where the
ground texture is not being drawn (some RA3 maps). Another location is on the
portals under vertex lighting (try q3dm7).Laggy
If a level causes the CPU to do an above average amount of processing then the
frame rate may drop and the player movement will feel a little sluggish and
non-responsive. This can be described as laggy.
An online game may also be described as laggy when the connection to the game
server is dropping packets. You can see your packet loss with the in-game
netgraph, the yellow lines represent the dropped packets. You can find out
where the packets are being dropped by using the command line tool
tracert on any Windows OS and traceroute on Mac a OSX Terminal,
or Linux or any BSD. Open up a dos-box on Windows, start Terminal on a Mac or
on the command line for Linux and BSD, and type traceroute
XXX.XX.XXX.XXX just replace the X's with the ip number or the game servers
full name. A * is a ICMP packet that that never made it. The lower the
numbers the better. Quake3Arena uses the UDP protocol so this method can only
be used as a guide and may vary from within the game.OSP
A lot of the online game server run the Orange Smoothie
Productions mod. This is a server side only mod that gives
players and server admins a lot features. Server side only means you do
not need to download anything to enjoy the benfits of the mod. If you
do download the mod however you will notice a few enhanced features.
Below is a short description taken from the readme.txt
OSP Tourney DM is designed to facilitate competitive, yet flexible, match play. This mod simply makes it easier and more convenient for players and admins alike to ehance the Quake3 experience. There have absolutely been *NO* changes to the core gameplay or its dynamics -- its all default Quake3 in this regard.Check out the OSP web site for more information and the latest build: http://www.OrangeSmoothie.org
r_speeds
One of the most used terms. r_speeds are a series of
numbers generated by the quake 3 engine that describe what is currently being
processed by the render engine. They can be used as a guide to how well
a level will perform on different set-ups.
To see the r_speeds read out for a level you we need to load a map with
\devmap mapname then type \r_speeds 1 (r_speeds 0 will
disable the display)Shader
All of the special effects textures in Q3A levels are
based on shader scripts. These are a small series of commands that
inform the Q3A render engine to perform some special function on a particular
texture. A .shader takes the place of a texture and can be a combination
of textures, alpha channels and blend functions. For more information about the
syntax of the scripts check out the Q3A Shader Manual.Tiling
An image which repeats to fill a surface without apparent seams or overlaps. A tile can be repeated in
a one dimensional row for borders or vertically and horizontally to cover a surface. The majority of
textures in games are tiled, it really cuts down on the file size and video memory if most of your
textures are small tiles repeated.Tourney
A Tourney game is often a more serious match between 2 players. The term is derived from
the word tournament. Its where a player can show off just how good their skills and
map knowledge are. Tourney games are not restricted to 2 players but more than 1 player
per side is really a team game.Zebraing
If a face from two brushes are on the same plane the texturing can double up and
appear to flicker when you move. This is commonly called zebraing. Not all video
cards and set-ups will show zebraing but for the ones that do zebraing stands out like a
sore thumb.
Zebraing in the flesh - a screen shot of what zebaring looks like.F.A.Q. groups »
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