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This site contains demos for Quake2 custom levels. These demos are usually recorded on the Hard skill level and show how to finish the levels, without cheating, with maximum kills and secrets. The purpose of these demos is to entertain and to help people who are stuck, or can't find a secret or a kill, or don't manage to survive a certain fight. Speed is not important, since I want everyone to be able to contribute, not just speedgods. Besides, whenever the 3.19 source will finally be released, Speed Demos Archive will start accepting Quake2 demos, and that will be the best (and only?) place for Quake2 speed demos.
Why I started this site
For a long time I was waiting for a Voodoo2 card that I won in a contest. (You can read the full story about this contest and how they screwed up the contestants by never sending us our prizes here) During that time, I occasionally visited some single player Quake2 level review sites, and downloaded levels they recommended. I didn't want to play these levels until I could play them with acceleration, so I had a constantly growing directory of Quake2 levels on my hard disk, waiting to be played.
Eventually I had enough of waiting for the card I won and bought one myself. Then I started playing these levels, and recording them. I didn't have much free time, and a lot of levels to play, so obviously I didn't make speed recordings, since I just didn't have enough time to spend on each level. I even played like a coward sometimes, something I hate. I recorded one level every several days until I recorded almost all the levels.
Then I had a lot of demos that I wanted to post somewhere, so other people can enjoy them. I also thought that others might be interested in making such demos. That's why I started this site. (Not a very exciting story, is it?)
Why Quake2 levels
Quake2 is a great game, but if anyone wants to send such demos for another game, I don't mind, I'll post them. I just didn't make any, myself.
Some basic rules
There aren't many rules, because this isn't a competition.
1. You can use any version of Quake2, as long as the demos it produces are playable by the latest version. Currently the latest version is 3.19, and I think it can play demos recorded with all versions, but I'm not sure. You don't have to use any mod, but if you want, you can use Q2Timer, available from the QdQ page. Please don't use any other mod, unless it doesn't affect gameplay too much. In that case, just mail me and ask about it.
2. Play on the highest skill level in which you can complete the level alive :) Don't play on Hard+ though (skill 3). I would prefer all demos recorded on Hard skill (skill 2), but if you can only finish the level on a lower skill, that's ok. A demo recorded on a higher skill level (except 3) will always have priority over one recorded on a lower skill level.
3. Try to get all the kills and secrets, unless they're impossible to get due to a bug, or you REALLY can't find them :) If someone sends a demo for the same level with more kills or secrets, it will replace it.
4. Don't use any cheats!! This is not a test of skill, but still, I don't think anyone wants to see someone finish a level with god mode and all weapons.
5. You're allowed to improve the time of a certain demo, but I don't want to turn this into a speed contest, so please try to record a level that hasn't been recorded yet before you improve a demo that's already been recorded. Once again, for speedruns go to SDA.
6. You can record any map you like, as long as it's available for download from somewhere on the internet. You can also record units from the original game or the mission packs!
7. You can refilm your demos using KeyGrip2 or something if you want to be extra-cool, but please include the original demo as well.
How to record demos
In case you don't know yet...
To record a demo of a single map, start playing the map as you would usually (make sure to type "skill 2" in the console before that, to play on Hard) and when it loads, type in the console "record demoname" (replace demoname with the name you want to call this demo). When you finish the level (make sure you press F1 before you leave so that everyone will be able to see that you got all the kills and secrets, unless you use Q2Timer's intermission screen), go to the console and type "stop".
If you want to record an entire unit, it's a bit more complicated. Record the first level in the same way described above, and when you finish it, stop the demo. Then, when the next level in the unit loads, save the game. Then, every time you want to try to record it, load the savegame and then go to the console and start recording. Make sure not to overwrite any demos...
For example, if I want to record a unit of two levels, level1.bsp and level2.bsp, here's what I'll do: Start playing level1.bsp on Hard skill, go to the console and type "record level1". Then finish the level, go to the console and type "stop". When level 2 loads, save the game, and type "record level2". If I die or want to try it again (or just want to continue later) I'll just load the savegame (make sure to stop the current recording first if there is one), and then type "record level2". Of course, if I return to level1 again, I wouldn't call the demo level1, because there's already a demo by that name, but level1b or something. It's quite simple, actually...
How to play back demos
To play back demos, just put them in a subdirectory called demos from the baseq2 directory of Quake2 (or in a demos subdirectory in whereever you put the maps), run Quake2 and type: demomap demoname.dm2 (you have to type the .dm2 part).
If you have any questions/comments/suggestions, don't hesitate to mail me.
