• Current
  
• Archived
  

Latest stable version:
 Quest v2.4

Alexander Malmberg <alexander@malmberg.org>

Well, here's the news archive, with all the news from before the redesign (everything, all the way back to the original announcement in '98). Probably interesting only for historical purposes.

• December 12 1999 20:30
  
  First, sorry about the long lack of updates. I've had lots of other stuff to do, so if you've sent me an e-mail and haven't gotten a reply yet, it would probably be a good idea to send it again. Quest development has never stopped, though.

  I've now released version 2 of my Quake compiling utilities. The big new thing is support for detail, hint, and skip brushes in qbsp and vis, thus giving access to these powerful tools to people making maps for Quake. You can get compiled DOS/Windows and Linux (i386-glibc) versions and the source code from the downloads section.

  I'm getting questions about Quake 3 support, so again: Quest will have Quake 3 support. Some work is already done (basic bezier patch editing is in, crude, but you can create, move, scale, rotate, and change the shape of bezier patches), but there's not much more I can do now until (a) the compiling tools and game source code are released (so I can see what the .map format is like and create accurate entity lists), and (b) I have a copy myself (so I can see what the directory structure and texture formats are like, and so I can test it).

  I'll probably start sending out betas of Quest with Quake 3 support soon, so if you want to beta-test it, e-mail me. And if you're really desperate about editing curves, you can use CVS to get the latest source tree and compile it yourself.

• May 30 1999 23:50
  
  I've created two new sections, one with information for Quest developers and one with the mailing list information. Also, the bug section now points to a bug tracking system kindly provided by Derek Simkowiak.

• May 04 1999 22:00
  
  Thanks to Derek Simkowiak, there are now two Quest mailing lists, one for Quest users and one for developers. They can be found at quest-users@kd-dev.com (users' mailing list, for general stuff) and quest-dev@kd-dev.com (developers' mailing list, for coding issues). To subscribe, send an e-mail with the word subscribe in the body to quest-users-request@kd-dev.com (users' list) or quest-dev-request@kd-dev.com (developers' list). Note that the subscribe addresses are NOT the same as the mailing list addresses. I'm on both mailing lists, so there'll always be someone there to answer your questions.

• April 23 1999 00:10
  
  I've released a new version (release 06) of qrad3 (for Quake 2). I've optimized the second step so it takes only about half as long, so this version should be 10% - 30% faster than previous versions, with identical lighting results. It has support for reading Quest's textures.dat, but works without it too. Get it from the downloads section.

  I've also been working on adding support for detail, hint, and skip brushes to qbsp and vis (for Quake) lately. It's mostly done, but I'd like to have it tested before I release it, so if you're interested in beta testing the new versions of qbsp and vis, contact me. They can read both Quest's new map format and the old one, so they should be useful for everyone.

• March 22 1999 00:30
  
  Well, it's been a while. Work on the next version of Quest continues. Hopefully I'll be able to release a new version fairly soon.

  I've had persons asking me this, so I thought I'd put the answer here for everybody: Quest will have Quake 3: Arena support.

  I've added some maps to the Maps section. It's still very unorganized, though. If anyone wants to handle that section, please contact me.

• January 29 1999 15:00
  
  I'll be out of town for a week, so I won't be able to send nor receive e-mail. You can still e-mail me, but you won't get a reply until I get back.

• January 20 1999 23:30
  
  I've thought about writing a tutorial (in small parts, targetted at Quest and editing newbies) that guides a new Quest user through creating a small single player map, and I've also recieved requests for tutorials like that. Although I could write this myself, time spent writing tutorials is time not spent improving Quest, so if there's an experienced Quest user out there that would like to write it instead, please let me know. I'll wait a few days, and if nobody else wants to do it, I'll start myself as soon as I have time.

• January 17 1999 13:45
  
  I finally got around to releasing the source for Quest v2.36. Get it in the downloads section.

  I've been working on some neat improvments to Quest lately, as well as improving Halflife support and adding support for Sin (almost done). That leaves only Heretic 2 as unsupported, but if anyone can send me specs and information about it, I'd be happy to add support for it.

• January 09 1999 23:35
  
  I've released my versions of qbsp, light, and vis (for Quake). You can get them from the downloads section. The new qbsp can load Quest's new .map format, so Quake 1 map makers can also use it, and it also has an improved leak finding system so it writes a better .pts file. light and vis haven't changed much, but I'm including them too as it's becoming hard to find them nowadays.

  I'm working on a version of Halflife's qcsg that can load Quest's new map format. It'll probably be done soon.

• January 01 1999 01:45
  
  Happy new year!

  I've released version 2.36 of Quest with Halflife support. Get it from the downloads section.

• December 22 1998 23:45
  
  I plan on releasing a new version of Quest soon, as soon as Halflife support is finished. The textures aren't any problem, but I only have a very crude entity set. If anyone has a complete entity set, or is willing to write one, or can at least give me enough information to write it myself, please contact me.

  I've updated the downloads section. It now uses Frag dot com's download engine, so you can easily download Quest from all the mirrors.

  I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me with my hardware problems. Things are much better now, although some problems still remain.

  I'd like to hear from people who have used (or tried to use) MergeT3D. While adding Halflife support, I've changed a lot of internal stuff to allow easier support for more games, so hopefully MergeT3D's functionality will be incorporated in Quest someday, but that requires that you tell me what needs to be done.

• November 22 1998 23:35
  
  I finally got around to releasing MergeT3D today. You can get it from the downloads section. It's a program that converts .map files to .t3d files, thus allowing you to create geometry for Unreal maps in Quest. I still need people to test it.

• November 14 1998 23:15
  
  Sorry for the long lack of updates. I've been having hardware problems with my computer. They're mostly fixed now, but not completely, so if you're a real hardware guru and want to help, e-mail me.

  I've released a new version of Quest, v2.35. New stuff includes faster, span-buffered rendering, lighted and shadowed preview, a built-in leak finder, a new map building system, and also some other minor stuff. The source zip also includes the files necessary for compiling Quest under Linux, but you'll have to actually compile it yourself if you want to try it, as the Linux merge isn't finished nor tested. Get it from the Downloads section.

  I recently found a serious bug in qbsp3. It causes higher r_speeds and can also cause visual errors (overlapping and disappering polygons). The error is very common, it appeared several times in every single player Quake 2 map included in the retail version, and also almost all other maps I checked. Thus, I've released new versions of qbsp3, qrad3, and qvis3 with this bug fixed. Get them from the downloads page. If you want more information and details on the fix, read this.

• September 26 1998 18:20
  
  I need beta testers for the Quest map to Unreal t3d converter. This is mostly for people who want to use Quest for Unreal editing, not for people who just want to edit Unreal (at least for now).

  The author of the Quest Linux/Unix/Amiga port and I are currently working on merging our versions of Quest. Hopefully this will be done pretty soon, after which Quest will have versions for DOS/Windows, Linux, and Amiga (and some others, I think).

  A beta of Quake Base Defence (QBD) for Quake 2 has been released, and its maps are made with Quest. The basic idea of this mod (one team defends a base against other attacking teams) sounds good, so it could be something to check.

• September 13 1998 15:30
  
  Now that Quest's span buffering is working, I decided it was time to add display modes that require a lot of processing per pixel, so I added a lighted preview, complete with ray-traced, pixel-perfect shadows and colored lights. This turned out to look very good, so I decided to release some screenshots. They're both from Quake, as I haven't completely implemented Quake 2's lighting model yet. Colored lighting aside (which requires 24 bit color, which requires dithering to display, which makes it ugly), it will be in the next version. The only drawback is that it's slow, but there isn't much to be done about that.

• September 05 1998 23:30
  
  Once again, check the Quest chain map page. The sooner you sign up, the sooner we can get started.

  Bron Davies (who made the graphics for the Quest site), is looking for CTF map authors:

  I am looking for a few good map authors to create CTF maps for an up and coming CTF tournament that I am running. The tournament will feature all new maps never before released. Those interested can reach me at thequakeguy@hotmail.com

  You can now e-mail me at alexander@malmberg.org, or even quest@malmberg.org.

  I've modified qbsp to load Quest's new map format, so I'll release those versions of the Quake utils soon. I also changed qbsp's leak finding code to be more like qbsp3's, which means it will now give you a much better .pts file, similar to the quality of qbsp3's. I also added a leak finder to Quest. It seems to find leaks whenever there are any, but unfortunately, it finds leaks even if you don't have any. I've managed to narrow this problem down, though, so it should make it to the next version.

• September 04 1998 07:50
  
  The Quest chain map page is up now. A chain map is a map that several mappers add their own part to. See the page for more information, and instructions for signing up.

• August 29 1998 22:30
  
  In order to increase the speed of Quest's texture mapping, I've changed the BSP modes to use advanced span-buffering to eliminate overdraw. The speed of the solid colored BSP modes haven't changed, but the perspective correct texture mapping is more than twice as fast, and fast texture mapping is more than 50% faster.

  Quest will probably soon get Unreal support through the use of a program that converts Quest maps to Unreal maps in a smart way. This way you can create the architecture in Quest, and add textures and entities (actors?) in UnrealEd. More details on this later.

  As it didn't really say anywhere on this page what Quest is, I've added an About section. It also lists all Quest's features (although I might have missed some).

  School's started again. Luckily, I still have alot of spare time.

• August 15 1998 22:15
  
  I've released Quest version 2.3. This version features a customizable texture category system and a new, very useful way to create brushes. You can find it (and the source) in the Downloads section.

  I've also added a small utility by Dave Kondrad to the Downloads section. It allows you to make snapshots of Quest's tracebacks, so you can give me more information when Quest crashes.

• August 07 1998 21:00
  
  The Quest ring map is currently being worked on, and should come up eventually. For those of you that don't know, a ring map is a map that gets passed around to several mappers, and everyone adds a part to it.

  A new version of Quest should be released soon. It will have a new, cool way to create brushes (draw the shape in 2d and Quest will extrude it for you), and will have a partially new texture system, with support for arranging textures in categories. I've also been working on making the BSP modes dynamic. Although the basic system works, it probably won't make it into the next version, as it needs a lot of testing, and currently eats huge amounts of memory and reduces performance.

• July 20 1998 23:00
  
  I saw that Quark now has it's own chain/ring map thing. Anyone interested in a Quest chain/ring map? If there was one (Quest specific), I'd join it right away. Does anyone feel like running it, or will I have to do it myself? If anyone's interested in this or a Quest mailing list/message board/whatever, tell me so, because if I don't think there's any interest in it, I won't waste any time on it. If you are interested, you could also tell me what kind of maps you want to work on.

  Due to an internal bug in the brush CSG clipping stuff, brush welding will fail if the welded brushes have any identical planes. Actually, this appeared when I fixed a bug in Chris's and Trey's code that caused completely clipped away planes to be removed before clipping other planes, thus making 3-point clipping behave strangely, but the fix caused both copies of identical planes to be removed, resulting in brush welding not working, and when I fixed that, completely clipped away planes wouldn't be removed at all again causing 3-point clipping to fail. However, as far as I know, it's all fixed now. Also, scaling a texture down to 0 will in the face edit dialog will crash Quest.

• July 12 1998 19:10
  
  I've released version 2.28 of Quest. This fixes some bugs from v2.27, and has 3-point clipping and the ability to edit multiple faces.

  Quest is now distributed under the GNU General Public License, making it truly free software (not free as in no cost, it's always been that, but free as in freedom). Thus, the source code is available from the Downloads section, allowing anyone to port or add features to Quest.

• July 07 1998 21:30
  
  As someone pointed out to me, Quest could really use a user forum of some sort. So, what would be best? A message board? A mailing list? As message boards quickly get cluttered and hard to use (IMO), I'd suggest a mailing list. Unfortunately, I don't know how to setup or manage one, so if anyone could help me or tell me where to find resources about it, I'd be glad.

• July 03 1998 21:30
  
  It seems I forgot to include the actual sound list with Quest v2.27. I'll release a new version as soon as the 3-point clipping plane has been properly tested.

  Stephen Hocking (hope you're reading this): I've been unable to respond to your e-mail, as the return address is invalid (or so the servers say). Please contact me again with a correct address.

• June 25 1998 10:00
  
  I'll be out of town from today until Sunday. You can still send me mail, but I won't be able to read it or respond until then.

  There are some problems with positioning text in the edit face dialog. It'll be fixed in the next release.

• June 18 1998 21:10
  
  New version of Quest, v2.27. New stuff:
  • Perspective correct texture mapping.
    
  • Selecting sounds from the entity editor.
    
  • Removal of duplicate textures (for Quake 2).
    
  • BSP modes much faster.
    

• June 14 1998 22:30
  
  I've now managed to write a perspective correct texture mapper. It's terribly slow, but it looks much better than the old one. As it's very slow, I'm leaving the old, fast, ugly texture mapper. I've also optimized all BSP drawing stuff some more, so compared to the old code, the grey-shaded mode is ~70% faster, the single colored ~75%, and the old texture mapped ~21% (on my profiling map, anyway).

• June 09 1998 18:00
  
  Bron Davies' has released a new version of the Quest Front End. Get it from the downloads section.

  To make it easier for people wanting to port Quest, I've rewritten some internal stuff. I've also made the non-textured BSP modes faster (about 20%). A new version of Quest should be released soon.

• June 02 1998 18:00
  
  I've released version 1.0 of my Doom to Quake conversion programs, called D2Q and D2QTEX. You can find them in the downloads section. D2Q will convert a map in a Doom (or Doom 2) .wad file to a Quake map file. It's currently quite limited, but still very useful when converting old maps. D2QTEX will create .wal files from all textures and flats in a .wad file.

  I've also added the tutorials section and added the first tutorial, which is about making explodable stuff. If you have suggestions for tutorials, or feel like writing one, contact me.

  In case you wonder, the new, strange messages in the message area are debug messages I forgot to remove. Just ignore them. I'll be releasing a new, fixed version soon, which will also have support for selecting sounds from a list and getting light colors from textures. All that's missing is a list of all Quake 2 sounds with a description. Actually, I have one, but I'm not sure where I got it, or if I could redistribute it. If you know where I can find such a list, tell me.

  As an experiment, I added a light sourced preview. Pretty cool. It would update automatically as you moved lights. The drawbacks are that it's VERY slow and very ugly, so I removed it again. To improve lighting and texture mapping, I made the BSP building chop the faces to a maximum size. This reduces texture distortion, but also reduces speed.

• May 24 1998 21:00
  
  I finally got around to releasing Quest version 2.26 today. This new version has support for a profiles system when used together with the Quest front end. Both are available from the downloads section. It also has some minor improvements and a fixes a bug that made Quest crash under some DPMI servers.

• May 16 1998 22:15
  
  I began making a Doom to Quake/Quake 2 map converter today. It's already quite good, although it's currently limited to converting linedefs. While you can't compile the generated map file and expect it to work, it's a big help when converting maps. I'm working on converting sectors and things, and then I'll release it. Too bad converting my 12000x8000 maps doesn't work.

  A new version of Quest will probably be released soon, along with a Windows 95 Quest front end.

• May 13 1998 23:00
  
  I finally got around to putting up the Quest now button Bron Davies' made. If you want to use this on your page, just take a look at my html code and copy it to your page. Remember to adjust the URLs.

  I've finished a tutorial on making explodable stuff, so I'll upload it soon. As for the r_speeds tutorial, I'll probably write one big tutorial for r_speeds and other issues with hint/detail brushes, BSP trees and the works. There seem to be several misunderstandings about this. While waiting for the full tutorial (if I ever finish it, it's complicated stuff), here are a few comments about detail brushes:

  • Detail brushes DO stop leaks. You could make every single brush in your map a detail brush and it would still compile without a leak.

  • Using detail brushes does not automatically give you higher r_speeds. Just like hint brushes, detail brushes affect the BSP tree building, and using them correctly, you can actually reduce r_speeds.

• May 09 1998 21:10
  
  Today I finally got around to updating the manual. It's now at version 1.2. You can browse the new versions online, the downloads section still contains the old version. If you want to browse it offline, nothing important but questdoc.html has changed.

  Not much news to report about Quest. I've improved the Quake 2 texture system, so I might release a new version with that soon. A Windows 95 Quest front end is currently in beta testing. With it, Quest will have a brand new profiles system, making it easy to make maps for several different mods and games.

• May 04 1998 22:10
  
  Ooops. It seems I forgot to actually update the Quake 2 utils. I've uploaded a new, correct zip now. This one actually does have support for the new map format.

  I've updated some links and added some more maps to the Maps section.

• May 01 1998 20:00
  
  Thanks to Tom McKeown and Brian Wilson, there is now a Quake 2 CTF entity set for Quest, which you can get from the downloads section. It will be included in future Quest releases.

• April 28 1998 22:10
  
  Quest v2.25 is released! The most important new things are:
  • Texture locking.
  • New map format, no vertex drifting.
  • Faster textured preview.
  • Multiple maps.
  • Grey scale, shaded view.
  • Brush weld.
  • Lots of other minor features and bug fixes.

  I've also released release 04 of my version of the Quake2 compiling utils, with support for the new and old map format.

  Quest still needs a Quake2 CTF entity set. Any volunteers?

  Did some experimenting with brush weld, and yes, it does make a difference with r_speeds and file sizes.

  I haven't updated the manual yet, but I'll do so soon. I'm also working on a tutorial for explodable stuff, and one on r_speeds.

• April 27 1998 22:00
  
  I've decided to release the next version of Quest tomorrow. It'll contain lots of new, neat stuff.

  I finished the fourth and last arena in my RA2 map. It's the largest map I've made yet, ~1700 brushes, and I don't think I want to make any larger maps. It takes forever for qbsp3 et al to run. I still need to tweak it some more, but I'll release it soon.

• April 26 1998 21:40
  
  Sigh. After five years of trusty service, my monitor blew up yesterday. Luckily, I've been able to take another monitor from one of our older computers, so Quest development shouldn't be delayed.

  Did some experimenting with QERadient's proposed way of solving vertex drifting. It's pretty good, although there seems to be a slight roundoff error (0.0001, shouldn't matter). Quest can load this format, but it won't save it.

  Finally got an idea for the fourth arena in my RA2 map, so I'll get to work at it. It should be released sometime next week, along with a new version of Quest.

  Oh, and I created a Rocket Arena 2 specific entity set.

  My e-mail address will soon change to 'alexander@malmberg.org'. Just thought I'd warn you. I don't know if the current one still will work after the change.

• April 24 1998 23:10
  
  By popular request, I've released the Quake version of my Quake 2 deathmatch map, am1. You can find it in the Maps section.

  Beta testing goes on. I'll probably release a new version early next week. It may or may not have support for the new map format. It will have a brush weld feature.

  Finished arena three in my four arena RA2 map. Can't really think of anything for the fourth one, though.

  Here's an interesting idea for a map. Ever seen any of those 3d optical illusions (sortof) with houses with people walking on the roof and stairs at different angles connected and waterfalls that connect back to themselves (not a good explanation). While you can't really create anything like that in true 3d, it should be possible to create a 3d map that gives an illusion of something 4d, but the 4d thing is really impossible, ie. a 3d optical illusion. Hmmm. Takes some thinking.

• April 21 1998 22:30
  
  I've now done two of the arenas in my four arena RA2 map, all using the new map format, and it's worked fine.

  Worked on the texture picker. Managed to create a full screen texture adder mode. Really useful, although it doesn't quite work yet, so you'll have to wait a while more for the next version.

  I've gotten word of more maps made with Quest, so I've added most of the links to the Maps section. More coming eventually.

• April 18 1998 22:00
  
  I've sent off a beta with multiple maps, texture locking, and new map format support. It also has faster texture mapping, and the grey scale preview, and some other new cool stuff.

  The new map format is great. Smaller files, faster loading, and above all, no vertex drifting. I took a 500 brush deathmatch map I've made, rotated it 15 degrees around the x-axis, saved in the new format, and compiled it with a qbsp3 that loads the new format. No leaks! I still want to test this some more before I release it, though.

  I've heard of some more maps made with Quest, so I'll put links in the Maps section soon.

• April 15 1998 20:00
  
  If you're wondering why I haven't updated lately, there are two (main) reasons: easter and new ISP. However, I'll soon have time for Quest again.

  I'll release a new version pretty soon, I hope. It should have working texture locking, light sourced grey scale view, support for loading multiple maps and copying/pasting between them, much faster texture mapping, (maybe) ability to load BSP files, and the usual bug fixes.

  Thanks to Kasuha, I've got texture locking working (I think so, at least). It's pretty cool. You can load a map, tilt it a little, and watch qbsp choke on all the roundoff errors and leaks. The textures will be correct, however. Hmmm. Interesting idea: Take a normal Quake/Quake2 map, tilt it 90 degrees around the x or y axis, figure out a way to make the entities appear where they should, lower the gravity, and you should have a very interesting map. Or maybe turn the maps upside down? That should put people's map knowledge to the test (anyone can complete the map by walking on the floor, but what about the ceiling!).

  How bad would a special internal map format be in order to fix vertex drifting. I've figured out a quite good format (I think) that retains all of the map formats advantages and should fix vertex drifting. It only involves changing the brush definition, so you could mix the old and new format in one file, and make qbsp/qbsp3 load the new format directly (which should reduce roundoff errors even more). With this I could even add support for concave brushes, that will be split to convex ones when you save to the old map format.

• April 09 1998 22:30
  
  Yes! We finally got our ISDN connection today, and it's already working. Although only 64kbps, it's still much faster than a 28.8k modem.

  I managed to create a textured BSP file previewer yesterday using OpenGL, and also uncovered several new bugs/limitations in the Scitech OpenGL stuff. It turned out pretty good anyway, not fast, but with support for transparent surfaces and hi-color, hi-res, graphic modes.

• April 07 1998 23:20
  
  I created a grey scale, shaded view of the map. It's great for creating natural terrain, with lots of differently angled surfaces with the same texture. I also fixed some other stuff. I probably won't release a new version until next week, though.

  I'm trying to learn OpenGL, and it's going pretty good. I'm currently using the Scitech MGL, and while it's OpenGL routines are good, it makes the exe file 1000kb larger, it it's bundled with an event handling system (and some other stuff) that isn't good at all. I suppose I could create a big hack to work around that, but it wouldn't make the exe file any smaller.
  Question: Does anyone out there know of any other good DOS OpenGL kit? Please contact me if you do.

  Finally got some time over to do some editing with Quest. Maybe I'll finish another map.

• April 04 1998 22:50
  
  Quest v2.21 is out. This version has full support for MDL/MD2 viewing for Quake, Quake 2, and Hexen 2 (thanks to Simon Reichelt). The undo system is complete. The entity edit dialog is more powerful. Other bug fixes and stuff. Vertices still drift .

  The Quest manual v1.1 is also out. I'm not updating the zip file in the downloads section, as only the questdoc.html file is changed. This new version has Appendix C written, and also has information about the new stuff in Quest v2.21.

  You can also get release 01 of the Quake 2 map building utils from the downloads section. This fixes some bugs in the original release.

  See, I told you there'd be a big update.

• April 03 1998 19:30
  
  MDL and MD2 viewing now works. The Quake and Quake 2 entity sets are almost complete. I'll release a new version tomorrow, with support for Hexen 2 (the entity set works, but MDL viewing for it isn't yet supported). I also plan on updating the manual, adding some more stuff to the entity edit dialog, and making a new release of qbsp3, qvis3, and qrad3. Big update tomorrow, in other words.

• April 02 1998 23:00
  
  I've released a test of Hexen 2 entity set thing. Get it from the downloads section. I don't have Hexen 2, and thus I haven't been able to test it, so if someone could try it out and tell me if it works, I'd be happy.

  I created the basic framework for MDL viewing today. Quest can now load MD2 files (if they're extracted). I'll add support for MDL files and loading from PAK files tomorrow (I hope), and I'll release a new version as soon as possible (there's some other stuff I want to do first, too). I hope Hexen 2 uses the same MDL format as Quake.

  Help wanted: If you want Hexen 2 MDL viewing to work, someone out there will have to add all MDL file references to the hexen2.qc file. As I don't have Hexen 2, I can't do this myself. The information necessary for this will be in the soon finished Appendix C of the Quest manual. If you want to do this, contact me.

• April 01 1998 23:00
  
  Added a new, cool feature to the entity editor. You can now right click on certain keys, and you'll get a dialog allowing you to edit that key in some special way. The two currently implemented are classname, which brings up the entity picker, so you can easily switch classname, and _color, which brings up a dialog that lets you define the color, complete with a preview of it. I'll add support for more keys later. Any suggestions?

  As a lot of people have asked for MDL viewing, I'll add it soon. I'll also try to add Hexen 2 support as soon as possible. I haven't had time to look at the vertex drifting yet, but I will.

  Does anyone out there feel like writing entity specifications for other games/TCs. I'll add Appendix C to the manual soon, and it will contain instructions for adding your own entity types. This is an easy way to add support for stuff like Hexen 2 and CTF.

  Seems the date for yesterdays entry was incorrect. Fixed.

• March 31 1998
  
  The Quest manual version 1.0 is now browsable from here. Just go to the Manual section. You can also download it from the Downloads section. It isn't completely finished, as I haven't written Appendix C yet, but that isn't important, you can find the information elsewhere. I recommend everybody, both newbies and more advanced users, to read this, because it documents a lot of the new features of Quest v2 that I didn't document elsewhere. It would also be nice if some of you experienced Quest users could give me some feedback and eventual suggestions on this.

  For you confused newbies out there, you can now read a box room tutorial in the Quest manual. This should get you started (I hope).

  If you want screenshots of Quest, look in the manual, as it contains lots of them.

  I just finished a complete spell and grammatics check of the manual (all 38 pages), so I'm kind of tired right now.

  It seems vertex drifting wasn't fixed in v2.2, but I have reason to believe that the bug is in the loading code, not the saving code. I'll have a look at it tomorrow.

  There were also some bugs in the Quake 2 map building programs I released yesterday. They won't search the base directory for textures.dat, but they will search other directories, and a bug in Id's (not my) code preventes entity lights from working unless they have a '_color' key. I'll release new versions soon.

• March 30 1998 22:10
  
  I added some more stuff to my versions of qbsp3, qrad3 and qvis3. They can now load textures from pak files using Quest's textures.dat. They're compiled for DOS, and you can find them in the Downloads section.

  I'm making a lot of progress with the Quest manual. It should be done soon (no promises, though).

  Does anyone know where I can find information about Hexen 2 editing? I've heard that it uses the map format too, so adding support for it to Quest shouldn't be that hard.

• March 29 1998 21:30
  
  Tried to make Quest undo CSG subtractions. I managed to make it undo it, but it gives you a lot of error messages. I also found a bug in the CSG subtraction that must have been there since the 1.x versions. It appears when subtracting from a brush would make that brush disappear entirely.

  Wrote some more documentation. Hopefully, it'll be done soon, maybe even next week.

• March 28 1998 22:30
  
  Oops. Seems I didn't fix the multiple error messages when lacking textures bug. If you edit Quake 2 maps, and there isn't a single valid texture in the map, it will still appear when you build the BSP tree. After the BSP tree is built, you'll only get one error message per redraw. A workaround is to simply create a brush with a valid texture anywhere in the map.

• March 28 1998 18:00
  
  Quest version 2.2 is released! Get it from the downloads section. This version features an (almost) complete undo system, holding down keys when moving vertices, faster loading when editing for Quake 2, bookmarks in the fullscreen texture selector, a new way to split faces, improved CSG subtraction, fixed vertex drifting (??? it might be fixed, not sure).

  Worked some more on the documentation. Still far from done.

• March 27 1998 22:30
  
  I did some profiling yesterday, and yes, Quest compiled with GCC 2.8.0 with the new optimizations is slightly faster than the old version. I still haven't heard of any bugs in the undo system, so if nothing new comes up, I'll release a new version this weekend.

  I'm working on the documentation. I think this would be a lot easier if I didn't have to code all the HTML by hand, but I haven't found any HTML editor that's good enough for me (and besides, I wouldn't have room for it, anyway).

• March 25 1998 22:10
  
  I downloaded GCC 2.8.0 today. It's supposed to have Pentium specific optimizations, and Quest seems to run faster after I recompiled it with GCC 2.8.0, but that could be just me. Does anyone out there use Quest on a 486, or is it OK for me to tell GCC that it use whatever Pentium-only stuff it feels like to make Quest faster?

  I also started writing the new Quest manual. I decided to do it in HTML, and it will contain screenshots from Quest. Do you want me to upload it before it's finished so you can check it out, or would you rather wait?

  I haven't heard of any bugs in the undo system, so I'll probably release a new version soon (this weekend?). I've added a bookmark system to the full screen texture picker now. This should simplify selecting textures even more.

• March 24 1998 21:30
  
  Not much news to report. Undo should be finished soon, and then I'll release a new version, that'll also feature faster loading, ability to hold keys down while moving vertices with the keyboard, and a new, better way to split faces.

  Doesn't ANYBODY out there want to write documentation? Sigh. I guess I'll have to write it myself. This'll probably be best, as I'm the only one that knows about all new features I forgot to mention in the current docs. When? Don't know. It might take some time. Do you want docs at all??

  Seems Windows NT doesn't have support for VESA, which means you have the choice of running Quest in 320x200 (I'll add this if you want me to :) or make a Windows 95/NT port.

• March 21 1998 14:10
  
  I've had a lot to do in school lately, so I haven't had time to update the site. But the school week is over now, so I'll be able to waste some more time with Quest (OK, maybe not waste, but still).

  This site is now hosted at Frag dot com, and the new address is http://www.frag.com/quest/. Thanks, Frag dot com!

  I'm currently working on the undo system in Quest. This is in beta-testing right now, but as soon as it's somewhat stable, I'll release it.

• March 18 1998 19:50
  
  I discovered that these pages were nearly unusable if you didn't have a pretty high resolution. I've changed some stuff, and it looks pretty good down to 800x600. 640x480 is a bit too low, I'm afraid.

  I managed to create a undo system today. It works pretty well, and has support for multiple levels of undo. I'll send it out to the beta-testers soon.

• March 17 1998 20:00
  
  Oops. Seems I forgot to upload yesterdays entry, I was way too sleepy. You can check it out now, anyway.

  As the current version of Quest appears to be stable and without major bugs, I think I'll go into closed beta soon, and add some new neat features that will require lots of testing. I'll send out the legal stuff about beta-testing now. If you want to beta-tester but don't get the e-mail, contact me.

• March 16 1998 21:45
  
  See, I told you I'd release a map. It's called the Nameless Chambers (mainly cause I couldn't think of a name) and I think it's a pretty good 2-5 player deathmatch map for Quake2. You can get it in the maps section. Feedback on this would be nice.

  Worked some more with Quest. Added support for loading the pts and lin files qbsp and qbsp3 generates. This should help tracking hard-to-find leaks.

  I still haven't heard from anyone getting Quest to run under NT. Has anyone tried? And if so, did it work?

• March 15 1998 19:24
  
  Thanks to Bron Davies for the neat graphics on this page. While adding his pictures, I changed the look of the site in general. So, what do you think? Doesn't it look good?

  It seems I won't release my map tonight, but just you wait, I'll release a map yet! I got caught up with playtesting it. I played with my brother and 4 CRBots, and although it was a bit crowded, it was lots of fun (and lots of frags)! Although it has the same architecture as the original Quake map, it retains nothing of its old Quake look, and the new weapons make a big difference. I'll release it tomorrow (hopefully).

  I haven't worked too much on Quest today (hey, it's Sunday). If you wonder why you can't get Quest to remember about the menu pop up feature, it's because there's a bug in quest.cfg. A workaround is to simply add this row to it:
  pop_menu 0
  Quest will now load and save this setting.

• March 15 1998
  
  Quest version 2.12 is released. I think I've finally fixed the bug that caused the Unable to set requested video mode error in this version.

  As soon as all major bugs in Quest are cleared up, I'll begin working on some new, advanced features (undo system!?), and beta-test them properly before releasing a new public version. But first I've got to make it at least run on all systems.

  Yesterday, I converted an old deathmatch map I made with Quest for Quake to Quake 2. I'll fix the last things and test it today, hopefully releasing it tonight.

• March 14 1998 12:45
  
  It was a good thing I didn't release version 2.11 last night. The keyboard vertex manipulation had a really bad bug in it. It's released now, anyway. New in this version is support for non-64kb window granularities, loading textures from the pak files, and working keyboard vertex movement, as well as some minor changes.

  I could still use some more beta-testers. It would be nice if someone could beta-test the Quake support, as most people probably mostly edit Quake 2 maps nowadays.

  I still haven't gotten any reports of Quest actually running under Windows NT. Has anyone managed this? As far as I know, it should work as long as use_vbe2 is turned off in quest.cfg. If this isn't it, I'll be happy to fix it, but someone has to tell me what it is.

• March 13 1998
  
  It seems I don't have to worry about lack of interest. This site just broke 1000 visitors. I'd also like to thank you for all the feedback. Thanks!

  I've added a new FAQ section, which will contain frequently asked questions about Quest, and perhaps Quake and Quake 2 map editing in general.

  I'll release version 2.11 soon, probably tomorrow. This should have proper support for non-standard window granularities, which should fix some problems with the video system. It also has a few minor bugfixes, and I've reimplemented keyboard vertex movement.

  Note to beta-testers: I'll e-mail you soon with the legal stuff about beta-testing, and as soon as I get a working beta-system, I'll give you instructions for that too. Right now, be patient.

• March 12 1998 21:10
  
  Quest version 2.1 is released and available from the Downloads section. This version has full support for textured preview, and fixes a few bugs.

  Thanks to everyone wanting to beta-test Quest. Everyone who has asked to beta-test Quest as of now will be a beta-tester. I'll send e-mails to you as soon as I figure out how the beta-testing will work, and as soon as there is something to beta-test. I could still use some beta-testers. If you have lots of spare time and want to help, e-mail me. Then again, I can't think of anything to add to Quest right now, so there might not be much to beta-test. If you have any suggestions about what should be included in Quest, e-mail me.

  I'd also like to thank everyone who sent me encouraging e-mail.

  This site still needs logos, buttons and such stuff. Quest still needs documentation. If there's anyone out there who's good at writing docs, and who feels like documenting Quest, e-mail me (or do I have to do it myself?).

  I've had a few reports of Quest not running under Windows NT. Has anyone managed to get it running under NT? I don't have Windows NT, so I can't test it, but if someone can tell me why it wont work, I'll be happy to fix it. One thing I know doesn't work under NT is VBE 2.0, so you have to set use_vbe2 to 0 in quest.cfg under NT.

  I've also got a few requests to release the source code. I'll check this with Chris, and if it's OK, I can probably release it within a few days. I think the code is fairly portable. For those of you that wonder, I ported Quest to DJGPP v2.01, and the current version is compiled with GCC 2.7.2.1.

• March 11 1998 22:40
  
  Quest now has support for texture mapping (almost). I messed around with it this afternoon, and discovered that it was really easy. Of course, it's terribly slow, and it can't handle clipped polygons yet, but it still looks really good. You can see it in the new Screenshots section. I'll try to fix the last things with the texture mapping soon, and hopefully release a new version with full support for it soon.
  I also found another bug and fixed it. I thought you were supposed to find the bugs, and I would only need to fix them.
  It would also be nice if somebody would like to beta-test Quest. As I only have a 28.8k modem Internet connection, I can't send 200kb zip files to lots of persons. One way to solve this would be to put the beta version in the downloads section, and let the beta-testers downloaded it from there. An alternative is that I e-mail the beta to some nice soul with lots a time and bandwidth, who would then e-mail it to all other beta-testers. E-mail me if you're interested in any of this.

• March 10 1998 22:50
  
  Added some more stuff to these pages, most importantly, a Bug list section. This will contain a list of all known bugs, with workarounds and other useful information.

• March 09 1998
  
  The "Official" new DOS/Win95 Quest version 2.0 is released. You can find it in the downloads section. It is, IMO, a large improvement over the old Quest. This port was made and is being maintained by Alexander Malmberg , and is based on the original version by Chris Carollo and Trey Harrison.

  As you can see, this site is very crude, and not finished at all, but before I spend lots of time making a big site about Quest, I want to know if there is enough interest. I could sure use help with graphics and logos, and I need a better place to put this site on. If anyone feels like hosting a site about the new Quest, or wants to help, contact me.

  What's that, you don't know what Quest is? Quest is a complete, free Quake and Quake 2 editor for DOS and Windows 95. For more information about the original version of Quest, see http://www.nuc.net/quest. New features in this version include:

  • LOTS of bugfixes and minor improvements.
  • Full Quake 2 support.
  • New and much improved entity and model system.
  • Edge/face splitting.
  • Vertex/edge/face merging.
  • Improved face previewer.
  • New CSG operations.
  • Freelook mode.
  • VBE 2.0 support.