ET:QW for beginners › Basics

I hope that I have made you more interested in trying out the full game. But now to the main reason for writing this article, to help you get started with QuakeWars. On the Wednesday after the demo release I got to work and was greeted by two colleagues that said they had tried QW which I had been so optimistic about. They said that it sucked and that they uninstalled it after 5 minutes. I was a bit nonplussed and wondered why they thought it sucked. The answer was: “It has no feeling, and it's so damn confusing!/. I thought that confusing wasn't very strange; Valley is a big map with a lot of spam, and QW is quite complex, so for a beginner to feel confused must be normal. I remembered the first time I played QW and it was my determination to play the game that made me learn more about it and keep playing. But “no feeling/? These guys are cs players and cs has a special feeling, but to think QW lacks feeling seemed strange. I thought about it and during lunch I installed the demo. When I tried it I noticed the problem in an instant, and remembered that I had the same problem the first time I played QW. By default FPS is locked in QW. First of all it's locked with a couple of cvars and then it's also locked with vertical sync which makes you feel like you are playing in an ocean of syrup. I thought I would show you how to unlock your FPS and to make your own config. And no, this isn't cheating as I've seen some .cfg-scared bf-players suggest. And yes, many of you already know all this.

You will find your QW .cfg here: C:\Documents and Settings\...\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\base

In your Base-folder you will find two QW specific .cfg-files: etqwbinds.cfg and etqwconfig.cfg

You will find your QW profile .cfg here: C:\Documents and Settings\...\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\sdnet\...\base

In your sdnet end folder you will find two profile specific .cfg-files: bindings.cfg and profile.cfg

In these configs you will find many of the cvars and binds that are used in QW. Their values can be changed in your .cfg-files or in the console which you activate by pushing Ctrl + Alt + § in-game or in the menu. To see all cvars in QW you can write HtmlCvars/ in the console. The command-dump will be saved in your Base folder. If you look through the file you will find cvars that are cheat-protected, e.g. “type: float (cheat)/, and this means that you can't alter these cvars and play on a normal server that doesn't allow “Cheat cvars/. The other commands are ok to change.

Two important cvars that you can write in your console right away are:
com_useFastVidRestart 1
-This command allows windows-mode by pushing Alt + Enter.
com_AllowConsole 1
-This command allows the console to be activated by pushing §.

Tip: Write com_ in the console and push Tab. As you can see a list appears with cvars beginning with com_ and their values. Test com_Allow and then Tab. I think you understand the principle of Tab. It's very useful.