Quake plays like a dream on the DS
When the first version of Quake DS was released by coder Simon Hall, we all saw his ambition. However, the first version of the game was not able to match that ambition, instead providing us with a slower, uglier version of Quake on our DS. Well, we're glad to report this is not the case any longer, as the second version of his project has released, offering up a slew of improvements. Of course, if you want to play this, you're going to need a flash card for your DS, along with a copy of Quake for your PC (supports retail and shareware).
For a full breakdown on what's new, head past the post break.
[Thanks, wraggster!]
Improvements:
- faster rendering
- vertex lighting and light animations (proper lightmapping may be in the next build)
- Alias model texturing
- proper timebase, so no variable speed
- a crosshair and a HUD
- the Quake font (or whatever font is available in the mod you're playing)
- a nearly-proper sky
- sky, water, lava, sludge animations
- full control configuration
- game save saving/loading
- every level works - I have played from beginning to end with no crashes or thrashing
- wifi network play, via an access point (build coming in a few days after more testing)
- adequate support for mods/TCs in this build - full compatibility in the EXRAM build (coming in a few weeks)
- much improved sound system on the ARM7 (no music yet...)
- transparent water support via r_novis or VIS'ed maps
- hardware fogging for a light depth cue, or thick fog for underwater
- LOADS more little things (eg the end-of-episode finale messages)
Issues:
- if you had problems getting pre1 to run on your card before (say you had a DS Link) then it ain't gonna run this time! Same goes for cards which have no DLDI driver.
- you will only get textured models if you use pak files - loose files won't work any more
- if you have a slow flash card then loading textures on the fly may really annoy you
- particles and sprites still haven't been fixed
- there's an occasional sound glitch
- no on-screen keyboard in this build
Directions for getting it to run:
- download the zip file, and put the NDS in the root of your card
- DLDItool it with the DLDI driver of your choice
- make a directory in the root of your card named id1
- put the config file (downloaded from the site) in the id1 directory
- put your two pak files in that directory too
- plug into DS and power on.
