I've never played Quake before and I've got zero experience with ripping music or mounting CDs, so GOG's package and the discussions about its shortcomings (that is the removed soundtrack) and how to overcome them are rather confusing to me. Would anyone mind to provide simple answers to the following questions?

1. Apparantly GOG offers a Windows and a DOSBox version of the game - what is the difference? Did I understand correctly that the DOSBox version was left intact and complete with the full soundtrack? If so, is it still inferior to the Windows version in any way? Why should I choose to fix the Windows version instead?

2. Where is the DOSBox version, how do I run it? The desktop shortcuts seems to be for the Windows version only?

3. I vaguely remember that I read something along the lines that instead of trying to fix the Windows version, one could also burn the cd image to a disc and then just play with the disc in the drive. Is that correct and is it as easy as that? If so, how do I do it? I haven't burnt a disc in ages, but I believe Win 8 has integrated DVD burning (or mounting?) in the Windows Explorer? I feel like such a n00b but those are features I've mostly ignored for the last ten years or so ...

4. How do I change the screen resolution in the windows version? The game tells me to use command line prompts like -width (width), but when I add e.g. "-width 1680x1050" to the shortcut target, I get an error message. Is it because of the "x"? What do I put there instead, what's the correct line for 1680x1050?

Thanks!

Sorry for answering without you original questions. If you really want the answers to them, you can either prod me again or wait for someone else.


You should use a source port. Here is a comparison of the renderers. There are some other differences in terms of gameplay, but if you choose one of the original executables, you will get more bugs. There is no good reason for using the dosbox or glquake versions, unless you wan't to make your life more complicated.

I think QuakeSpasm is the best choice, although you have to fix the music. If you choose to burn the disc image or use a cd emulator, you have a high chance of running into the "music doesn't loop bug". You can avoid this by converting the music to ogg or mp3 files.

Try to mount the .gog (cd image) files with MagicIso

http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

And mount the correct . gog file.

If you play quake, mount game.gog
If you play armagon, mount gamea.gog
If you play disolution, mount gamed.gog

One problem, the game searches for the first cd/dvd drive. So make the drive letter of virtual cd/dvd drive the FIRST letter.

Now music must work.

You can also install the Ultimate Quake Patch: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1756923

Be sure to delete the "opengl32.dll"



For the resolution: -width 1680 -bpp 32

You understood correctly. They had to remove the music tracks from the shipped windows version, but are shipping a fairly good image of the original CD for the DOSBox version. There is just a slight issue of the track stops being two seconds off, and also that the music may require a bit of processing to sound exactly as intended. Not everyone even agrees with the latter point, which should tell you it's not a very big deal either way. Nothing keeps you from using the CD image to bring the music back to the shipped windows version. There are instructions for this on other threads.

DOSBox will get you a gaming experience comparable to how it was almost two decades ago. You won't get very large resolutions, widescreen or hardware 3d acceleration. Despite this, it will be surprisingly heavy on the CPU because DOSBox is not just running the game, it's also running the computer running the game.

Modern ports will look and perform much better. Aside from the Quakespasm recommended above, you could also try Darkplaces. It's a bit less authentic, but looks really nice.

Since no one mentioned it, the DOS version should be able to be launched from the Start menu.
Also, I would recommend using WinQuake instead of DOSQuake because it reduces the CPU overhead by running natively in Windows, while maintaining the authentic engine and not having the reduced visual fidelity of GLQuake (although it means that you still need the CD audio fix).

Also, if you need to mount the disc, use WinCDEmu.