How to run Quake in Linux (with sound and without lags)

This is a short summary of what you need to do to run Quake in Linux. I use Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

1. First, you need Quake distribution. You can download shareware 1.06 version from IDSoftware's FTP. I won't tell you where you can download the full version.


2. Second, you need DosBox. It is packed into standard ubuntu repositories, so you can just type sudo apt-get install dosbox
   
   


3. If you have a Quake cd image, mount it with
   
   sudo mount -t iso9660 -o loop /path/to/your/quake_image.iso /where/you/want/to/mount/it
   
   and install it.


4. Quake should run in DosBox already, without sound though as it doesn't work properly with Gravis UltraSound by DosBox. You can either type
   
   set ULTRASND=
   
   in DosBox command prompt every time before launching Quake, or you can modify a startup configuration file for DosBox — it will save you time in future.


5. DosBox doesn't store it's configuration file by default. To make DosBox save it, you should type
   
   config -writeconf dosbox.conf
   
   in DosBox command prompt.


6. Now, edit dosbox.conf. Every time you start DosBox, it will read the file dosbox.conf from current directory.


7. To enable sound in Quake (by disabling Gravis UltraSound and forcing Quake to use SoundBlaster), change the gus option in dosbox.conf from true to false:
   
   gus=false


8. If you don't have Quake CD it will complain everytime on startup that it can't play music. To disable the check, you should run Quake with -nocdaudio command-line parameter.
   
   


9. To make Quake autolaunch as soon as you start DosBox from the Quake installation, add lines mount c .

c:

quake.exe -nocdaudio


   
   into the end of dosbox.conf, under autoexec section.


10. To make Quake run faster and lag less, you should increase memory size available for Quake by increasing the memsize DosBox config parameter in dosbox.conf. I use 64 megabytes:
    
    memsize=64


11. And finally, to make Quake run in fullscreen from the very beginning, change the fullscreen parameter to true:
    
    fullscreen=true


12. That's how my dosbox.conf looks after all the changes (it should work on all setups, so feel free to copypaste it):
    
    # This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.

# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.

# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.



[sdl]

# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.

# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.

# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).

# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.

# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb.

# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.

# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.

# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.

# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).

# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.

# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.

# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.



fullscreen=true

fulldouble=false

fullresolution=original

windowresolution=original

output=surface

autolock=true

sensitivity=100

waitonerror=true

priority=highest,pause

mapperfile=mapper.txt

usescancodes=true



[dosbox]

# language -- Select another language file.

# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.

# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.

# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.



language=

machine=vga

captures=capture

memsize=64



[render]

# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.

# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.

# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.

# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,

# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,

# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

# If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used

# even if the result might not be desired.



frameskip=0

aspect=false

scaler=normal2x



[cpu]

# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.

# auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.

# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.

# Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.

# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.

# The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.

# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.

# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.



core=auto

cycles=auto

cycleup=500

cycledown=20



[mixer]

# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.

# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will

# probably lower their sound quality.

# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering

# but sound will also be more lagged.

# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.



nosound=false

rate=22050

blocksize=2048

prebuffer=10



[midi]

# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.

# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.

# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.

# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put

# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.



mpu401=intelligent

device=default

config=



[sblaster]

# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.

# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.

# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.

# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.

# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.

# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.

# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.



sbtype=sb16

sbbase=220

irq=7

dma=1

hdma=5

mixer=true

oplmode=auto

oplrate=22050



[gus]

# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.

# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the

# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)

# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.

# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory

# there should be a MIDI directory that contains

# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used

# with Timidity should work fine.



gus=false

gusrate=22050

gusbase=240

irq1=5

irq2=5

dma1=3

dma2=3

ultradir=C:\ULTRASND



[speaker]

# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.

# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.

# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).

# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.

# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.

# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.



pcspeaker=true

pcrate=22050

tandy=auto

tandyrate=22050

disney=false



[joystick]

# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,

# 2axis (supports two joysticks,

# 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),

# 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),

# fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).

# none disables joystick emulation.

# auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).

# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).

# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.

# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.

# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.



joysticktype=auto

timed=true

autofire=false

swap34=false

buttonwrap=true



[serial]

# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.

# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.

# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of

# parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.

# for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).

# for modem: listenport (optional).

# for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,

# transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).

# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000



serial1=dummy

serial2=dummy

serial3=disabled

serial4=disabled



[dos]

# xms -- Enable XMS support.

# ems -- Enable EMS support.

# umb -- Enable UMB support.

# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).



xms=true

ems=true

umb=true

keyboardlayout=none



[ipx]

# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.



ipx=false



[autoexec]

# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c .

c:

quake.exe -nocdaudio






13. Enjoy :)

Final note: Quake will run with sound under DosBox in Linux. The problem arises when you increase resolution — it starts to lag. Even frameskip doesn't influence this much. I would recommend using darkplaces — this is a crossplatform modification of Quake, featuring native 3D acceleration, sound, optional lighting, shadow and explosion effect, numerous mods and extensions, and with all this it runs way faster then the DosBox Quake emulation.

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