Hello
I have problems with low FPS in glquake and it seems like it is very difficult to get better preformance with other drivers. I have seen that there are other threads about this but I could not get it better.
So, I thought that I could play in software mode like I did back in the 90's but I cant get it to work. I have downloaded nQuake and ezquake but when I execute the file for software qw it does not work, nothing happens. The gl works but with very low fps around 30 so it is not playable.

Im a newbie to quake theese days and also not much knowledge about Linux either in depth. I quit playing actively in 99 but follow the scene today mostly specing games since the last year. Now I want to be able to play a bit of FFA and stuff so if anyone knows what might be the problem with getting software working write here or send me a message.

The new webpage is great by the way and I hope there will be another Hymn of Hope.
/manne

hello!

so cool to hear that someone has come back to qw after 12 years or so.
well, if you're having low fps problems, have you read http://wiki.quakeworld.nu/Smooth_Quake_in_Linux ?
you can always try a new client, i recommend fodquake for linux online play: http://www.fodquake.net/

please reply!

ah, welcome back

When did you buy your computer?

I don't really follow your logic about "other drivers"?

What hardware do you have? Graphics card? Drivers installed?
What Linux distro?

Tell us as much as you can and it will be a lot easier to help.

mushi: That guide is more likely to break stuff than help.

I think it would be interesting to know the specs of your computer, i.e. CPU, video card, RAM etc. as ezQuake should run nicely in GL on a PC that's a few years old.

Running in software is probably a real pain compared to get GL working.

Software is working with fodquake, however you need to get it from git and compile it yourself.
It have good performance.

Software in Ezquake is really not updated at all, the x11 binary really sucks and the mouse is messed up and the ancient svga binary is'nt really what you are looking as it won't give you more then 150fps :}

getting fodquake:

$ git clone git://tunkki.dk/fodquake
cd fodquake
# note, you might wanna change the Makefile and remove the line with snd_pulseaudio.c if you don't have pulseaudio.
make sw
cp objects/somedir/sw/fodquake-sw ~/quake

~/quake/x11
# ---- start of file ---
xrandr --newmode "320x240_60.00" 6.00 320 336 360 400 240 243 247 252 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode LVDS1 320x240_60.00 #Note check xrandr what it's called, might bga VGA or something instead of lvds
ulimit -c unlimited
./fodquake-sw
# ------ end of file ----

~/quake/start-qw
# ------ start of file ----
xinit ~/quake/x11 -- :1

In the fodquake menu you can change resolution, press right or left and chose 'customized fullscreen' and 320x240 should be there.

If you have a intel gfx you can try to start the gl client with:
$ vblank_mode=0 ./ezquake-gl.glx

edit: note that 'ulimit -c unlimited' is not neccesary, but it will create a core dump file if fodquake crashes.
and you might want to have something else then 320x240 at 60hz, run

gtf (or gtfcalc or cvt) 320 240 100 , for 320x240 at 100hz

(Edited 2012-08-31, 09:22)

If you use CPU frequency scaling (cpufreq), make sure to finetune it or switch to a performance governor. Default settings are really powersaving. Generally - scheduler switches a task between cores, CPU will not adjust its frequency up, or do it too late resulting in low/unstable FPS rate.

My /etc/rc.local (startup script, should work on all Debian based systems). It's pretty aggressive but still gives powersaving at light task or idling. You might want to adjust number of cores and frequency values in the first line. The rest is set to maximum performance values:

for i in 0 1 2 3; do cpufreq-set -c $i -g conservative -d 800MHz -u 2.60GHz; done
echo -n 10 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/conservative/sampling_down_factor
echo -n 11 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/conservative/down_threshold
echo -n 12 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/conservative/up_threshold
exit 0

(Edited 2012-09-01, 17:08)

Thanks for the tips! I am going to chek fodquake tonight and see if it works better than ez and also check the other tips.

I tried to install the Proprietary drivers from ATI but didnt get it started either so i think I will give that up because im scared of messing up eveything =)

The laptop I have is a AMD Acer aspire 5110 it has a ATI mobility radeon x1600, 2gb memory and should be able to preform much better off course. It's around 4-5 years old or something.

I have the newest Ubuntu.

(Edited 2012-09-02, 09:26)

Latest Fglrx does not support cards older than HD 5000 Series (2009). For X1600 you would need some really old fglrx which will not run on any recent GNU/Linux distribution. So, stick to sw rendering, try to use open source drivers, or tinker with old fglrx, xorg and stuff. As a side note in one of my PCs i have an Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440 from 2002 - works with drivers from Nvidia with Crunchbang Statler (based on Debian Squeeze).

Ok, some progress. I downloaded fodquake from their webpage and sw works and with better fps!

Raket and Korni thanks for your input but I think im not a hacker enough to understand how to implement the code =)
I understand that it is possible to add 320x240 to the list of avaliable resolutions but not how so to say.

Atleast this is a good start

xrandr --newmode "320x240_60.00" 6.00 320 336 360 400 240 243 247 252 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode LVDS1 320x240_60.00 #

note that 320x200 might be 'fucked up'
after that you can see 320x240 in the resolution menu, press right or left to get the 'custom fullscreen mode' (in fodquake)