Quake II Remastered

[scalliano]

And Ground Zero is no longer shit. Turrets now make themselves known much more clearly and only take a handful of blaster hits to put down, thus they no longer break gameplay flow. I almost didn't even need to swap hands after all.

 

This change alone puts it in GOTY territory.

[Matthias]

I have noticed there is, from time to time, this weird bug with player start position.

 

When you enter a new map, you might have an incorrect position, so you make a step and LOADING... and you return into the previous map. Or you bump into the elevetor switch and return.

 

A bit annoying and happens only rarerly.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Matthias (LiquidDoom)

[Edward850]

Not a bug. There's a few maps where your player position is copied from its location in the previous map, Half-Life style.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Edward850

[mhmh]

That reminds me, I've noticed one or two maps where you're turned around and facing the opposite direction you should be. IIRC jail2 is an example. 

[Individualised]

40 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Not a bug. There's a few maps where your player position is copied from its location in the previous map, Half-Life style.

I think what they meant was that the player's angle sometimes gets flipped 180 degrees after a loading zone. It happens with unit 1's secret area.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Individualised

[mhmh]

Yes, I just checked out jail2 and you're definitely facing the wrong direction after you enter it from jail1. You should be facing into the start room, but instead you're facing the wall with the elevator button on it, so walking forward will trigger the button and send you back to jail1. This can be cross-checked with the original maps for the intended behaviour, and it is a bug. 

[Individualised]

2 minutes ago, mhmh said:

This can be cross-checked with the original maps for the intended behaviour, and it is a bug. 

Vanilla Quake 2 does not keep position data between loading zones, that is new to this remaster, hence Edward850's comment.

[mhmh]

It's a regression then. Either way it should be fixed. 

[bobbie424242]

15 hours ago, Lila Feuer said:

The differently colored fog in this game can add some cool atmospheric touches to some levels unlike the generic purple fog used in the Q1 remaster.

 

It can also add some banding and bluriness.

[Individualised]

55 minutes ago, mhmh said:

It's a regression then. Either way it should be fixed. 

The actual feature isn't a regression, however it's not correctly implemented in certain areas.

[ChaoticReverie]

Quake 2 holds a special place in my gaming history. After looking at the remaster, I have to say that Nightdive truly went above and beyond for this release. Maintaining the original feel while also subtly expanding on it. Well done!

 

And Quake 2 64? Truly didn't expect that.

[Geniraul]

Brand new speedruns from Quake II speedrunning legend 🇸🇰 Neznamy.

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: OPERATION: Laser Eyes - 100% (Easy) in 15:25:875

 

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First unit of the new expansion called Call of the Machine, which came with remastered Quake 2 release. I got every kill and secret on the easy difficulty in every level, including the secret one.

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: OPERATION: Wastelands - 100% (Easy) in 15:46:125

 

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Second unit of the new expansion called Call of the Machine, which came with remastered Quake 2 release. I got every kill and secret on the easy difficulty in every level, including the secret one.

 

Sadly I forgot about a secret and lost 1 minute because of that. I might go again in the future, but for now, I'll keep this run. Softlocked enemies have caused me enough resets and this was the first valid run.

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: OPERATION: Firewall - 100% (Easy) in 17:29:325

 

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Fourth unit of the new expansion called Call of the Machine, which came with remastered Quake 2 release. I got all kills and all kills in all levels, includuing the secret one.

 

Multitasking at 13:26 realizing I missed one enemy and looking for it while killing tanks.

 

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: OPERATION: Ruined Earth - 100% (Easy) in 18:28:375

 

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Fifth unit of the new expansion called Call of the Machine, which came with remastered Quake 2 release. I got all kills and all secrets in all levels, including the secret one.

 

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: Temple of the Creator - 100% (Easy) in 1:29.575

 

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Final boss fight of the new expansion called Call of the Machine, which came with remastered Quake 2 release. I got all kills and all secrets.

 

 

• Quake II: Call of the Machine: OPERATION: Corpse Run - 100% (Easy) in 11:54:650

 

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Finally found the secret kill.

 

Didn't even lose my sanity.

 

Yes I died once, can happen to anyone. 552 HP ending though!

 

 

• Quake II Remastered: Tutorial any% in 32.825

 

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• Quake II: Call of the Machine: Temple of the Creator - 100% (Nightmare) in 2:13.200

 

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Since this is so short I decided to do nightmare right away. It is actually pretty hard, who would have expected that.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Geniraul

[scalliano]

Another bug:

The new railing added above the ring platform with the Iron Maidens and the Red Armor in Descent To Core has no collision. Actually got me killed first time out.

[mhmh]

1 hour ago, Individualised said:

The actual feature isn't a regression, however it's not correctly implemented in certain areas.

 

The feature is good. The obvious intent is to provide seamless progression through maps, and that's a useful feature to have. However, adding the feature has resulted in buggy behaviour in maps that were not designed for it, and that's the regression. 

[scalliano]

I guess this is what they mean by "limit-removing"...

[Lizardcommando]

9 hours ago, SteelPH said:

Good to know my old player models still work with this.

Sweet! I remember downloading a ton of skins back in the day. I had a couple of Homer Simpson skins along with some Doomguy ones, the Quake Ranger skin and some random Action Quake skins.

[Dweller Dark]

How do you install skins for Quake 2?

[Edward850]

Place them in an additional pak file or in \baseq2\players\{skin name}. You can follow old guides for Quake2 as the file system and engine is still the same in that regard.

[Rudolph]

On 8/12/2023 at 5:11 PM, Blzut3 said:

It did get released, from what I understand it uses a custom engine, but excepting for the intro level (shared with N64) the game content is directly based off the PC version (there are some differences, most notably the new enemies which have been included in the new mission in this re-release, which is why some people wanted it included).  It does chop up the levels to have more loading zones, but they're mostly there otherwise.  This is different from the N64 version where only a couple levels are direct ports, a bunch borrow set pieces from the PC levels, and some as far as I can tell are completely new.  May not technically be as fresh as Doom 64, but it certainly feels like it.

I would be really curious to know what led to such result.

 

I am aware that they were developed by different studios, but the fact that they share the same opening level seem to indicate some collaboration. The inclusion of expansion levels is also quite puzzling; clearly, it was not possible to port Quake II as is, but then, why not just make truncated versions of all the base game levels and why include so many new levels in the Nintendo 64 port?

Edited August 14, 2023 by Rudolph

[Blzut3]

27 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I would be really curious to know what led to such result.

 

I am aware that they were developed by different studios, but the fact that they share the same opening level seem to indicate some collaboration. The inclusion of expansion levels is also quite puzzling; clearly, it was not possible to port Quake II as is, but then, why not just make truncated versions of all the base game levels and why include so many new levels in the Nintendo 64 port?

It is an interesting question.  I would guess that the opening level was copied since it acts as a tutorial level better than the PC's first level.  There are numerous reasons I could make up for why the Playstation version might have used the PC map set instead of the N64's but I'd just be spit balling.

 

Mostly unrelated to that, @Edward850 I haven't spent much time with the remaster yet and maybe my memory is failing me, but from what I can tell the player skins from Quake II 64 are not included?  I'm curious if this is an oversight or intentional?

[Edward850]

Intentional. We'd have to adapted them to the MD5 models.

[Dweller Dark]

Do the player skins only show if using the old graphics or only for other players?

[Edward850]

They only show if the player has the skin files available. The server never transfers them.

[Blzut3]

25 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Intentional. We'd have to adapted them to the MD5 models.

Aw, that sucks.  But I get it, most people wouldn't care or even know there were different skins there.

[Trov]

13 hours ago, Matthias (LiquidDoom) said:

I have noticed there is, from time to time, this weird bug with player start position.

 

When you enter a new map, you might have an incorrect position, so you make a step and LOADING... and you return into the previous map. Or you bump into the elevetor switch and return.

 

A bit annoying and happens only rarerly.

I agree that a lot of elevator related level transitions seem flipped around 180 degrees. Earliest example is the elevator from base1 to base2. Using the skybox angle as a reference in vanilla q2 (loose evidence but still) the elevator door in base2 start is the opposite side of the elevator door of base1 exit in vanilla quake 2. However the remaster treats it as if both doors are on the same side of the elevator (and both buttons on the opposite side) making it pointless for the elevator to be open on both sides (if both doors are the same side).

 

I also think it matters for gameplay too; I think it's more jarring for a novice player to press the button and then start the next level facing the button that takes them back to the last level (because 95% of players will keep facing the button as they exit base1)

 

I can only assume it was done to make the transitions seem more seamless and not have the effect of "pop, the wall I was looking at is now a door", as if it was the same elevator button in each floor. But that's a stretch because clearly when you press the button you see it staying on the wall as the elevator goes down below it. And that "pop, door appeared" still happens if you turn around after pressing the elevator button.

To keep them seamless while also swapping the door/button directions what I would do in base2 for instance is make the elevator start raised, and lower as soon as you enter the map (similar to how the elevator moves when you exit the map)

Edited August 14, 2023 by Tarvis

[Devalaous]

Played through the E3 campaign, the last proper level was the only one I couldnt get max kills on, apparently a bunch of them failed to spawn. Was neat to then play through Unit 2 and recognise a ton of the areas from the E3 levels.

[Lila Feuer]

Someone may've chipped in already but I started The Reckoning and noticed the new glowing texture in the swamps ignores level lighting and is independently fullbright across the board.

[Individualised]

2 hours ago, Tarvis said:

I agree that a lot of elevator related level transitions seem flipped around 180 degrees. Earliest example is the elevator from base1 to base2. Using the skybox angle as a reference in vanilla q2 (loose evidence but still) the elevator door in base2 start is the opposite side of the elevator door of base1 exit in vanilla quake 2. However the remaster treats it as if both doors are on the same side of the elevator (and both buttons on the opposite side) making it pointless for the elevator to be open on both sides (if both doors are the same side).

 

I also think it matters for gameplay too; I think it's more jarring for a novice player to press the button and then start the next level facing the button that takes them back to the last level (because 95% of players will keep facing the button as they exit base1)

 

I can only assume it was done to make the transitions seem more seamless and not have the effect of "pop, the wall I was looking at is now a door", as if it was the same elevator button in each floor. But that's a stretch because clearly when you press the button you see it staying on the wall as the elevator goes down below it. And that "pop, door appeared" still happens if you turn around after pressing the elevator button.

To keep them seamless while also swapping the door/button directions what I would do in base2 for instance is make the elevator start raised, and lower as soon as you enter the map (similar to how the elevator moves when you exit the map)

What you're describing is intentional and fine. There are some maps where you do actually get flipped 180 degrees though.

[QuaketallicA]

Wow didn't take long for there to be 11 pages on this subject!

 

Honestly, I love the new Quake II re-release. Fantastic job all around--improved graphics keeping original style/feel, bonus features like rare concept art, revived multiplayer, new a.i. behavior for some enemies, quake II 64 version, and the new episode is amazing! And they give it all for free. They could have easily charged money for this and it would've been worth it too, but they didn't. And they even bundle in the previous expansion packs for those that didn't have it and future customers.

[ZeroTheEro]

I got around finishing the first set of maps and I gotta say I love it. When Quake2RTX came out I never got around on actually finishing the first level.

Kudos to Nightdive for actually making it playable for me and giving me the motivation to start playing properly like the Quake Remaster, and maybe finishing it somewhere down the line. Too bad multiplayer is still shit for me since I can't even get my friends to play boomshoot with me, everyone else got 2-digit ping and I here I am hitting the 200s 😭