Quake 4

Quake 4

Developers
	Raven Software
	id Software
Publishers
Retail	Activision
OS X	Aspyr Media
Digital	Bethesda Softworks
Engines
	id Tech 4
Release dates
Windows	October 18, 2005
Linux	October 20, 2005
macOS (OS X)	March 24, 2006
Reception
Metacritic	81
IGDB	75
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	FPS
Vehicles	Robot
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Quake

Quake
Quake	1996
Quake II	1997
Quake III Arena	1999
Quake 4	2005
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars	2007
Quake Live	2010
Quake II RTX	2019
Quake Enhanced	2021
Quake Champions	2022
Quake II Enhanced	2023

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Quake 4 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person FPS game in the Quake series.

General information

Quake Wiki - A detailed wiki for every Quake game made.

Planet Quake

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v4.60 DRM was removed in Patch 1.4.2. 4 CDs or 1 DVD.
Amazon.com
GamersGate (unavailable)
		The only digital version that is available in Germany.
GOG.com		Serial keys for multiplayer supplied as of May 9, 2023.
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Microsoft Store		Xbox Game Pass for PC
Steam		Can be run without the Steam client.
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Mac App Store (unavailable)

A free client provided by id allows Quake 4 to be played natively on Linux machines. It requires either a full retail copy or the demo to use it. Details can be found on the GamingOnLinux article.

A faithful higher quality icon can be found from IconArchive.

Game is not available in Germany, except for Gamesplanet version.

The Special DVD Edition for Windows features Quake II and additional bonus content.

Demo

Demo is available here.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Source ports

Adapted from the released source code for the id Tech 4 based Doom 3

Name	Description
Quake4Doom	Playable with occasional issues
gbQuake4	Fork of Quake4Doom

Not compatible with the retail version.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.4.2 (2007) is the latest version. GOG.com and Steam versions are already patched.

Patch 1.3.0 (2006)

Patch 1.2.0 (2006)

Patch 1.1.0 (2006. Bugged widescreen feature. Add support for multi core CPUs)

Quake 4 Tweaker

Able to change the FPS limit to above 62, fix graphical issues on modern hardware, adjust the despawn time of corpses, change the FOV, skip intro videos and force custom display resolutions.

Only works on 64-bit computers.

Only 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10 resolutions are supported. Other resolutions will be stretched.

Skip intro videos

Use Quake 4 Tweaker

Use the +disconnect command line argument
Notes For the GOG digital release, the command will not work when applied to the 'launcher' shortcut that GOG Galaxy creates. Create your own shortcut pointing directly to Quake4.exe, and apply the command to that.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\q4base\Quake4Config.cfg
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.quake4appstore/Data/Library/Application Support/Quake 4/q4base
Linux	$HOME/.quake4/q4base
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2210/pfx/

This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\q4base\savegames\
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.quake4appstore/Data/Library/Application Support/Quake 4/q4base/savegames
Linux	$HOME/.quake4/q4base/savegames
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2210/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

In-game general video/audio settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution for custom/unlisted resolutions. HUD is only 4:3 and will stretch to the proportion of resolution, unlike Xbox 360 version that have a proper Widescreen HUD.
Multi-monitor			See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD			See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		Default is 90°. Use Quake 4 Tweaker.
Windowed		Can also be toggled with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 16x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 62 FPS. Use Quake 4 Tweaker.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Sikkmod's HDR feature only adds HDR Rendering.

Widescreen resolution

Use Quake 4 Tweaker to force custom display resolutions

Set custom resolution in configuration file[citation needed]

Open <path-to-game>\q4base\Quake4Config.cfg. Search the line seta r_customHeight, replace with seta r_customHeight "768" Search the line seta r_customWidth, replace with seta r_customWidth "1366" Search the line seta r_mode, replace with seta r_mode "-1" Search the line seta r_aspectRatio, replace with seta r_aspectRatio "1". Notes Use seta r_aspectRatio "0" for 4:3, "1" for 16:9, and "2" for 16:10.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Set AF manually in Console window[citation needed]
Open the developer console with Ctrl+Alt+~ (Doom 3) or ~ (dhewm3). Type in image_anisotropy <value> where <value> can be 0, 1, 2, 4, 8; 8 being the Highest Quality. To apply new settings, type in vid_restart to restart the renderer.

Set AF manually in Configuration file[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open autoexec.cfg (Create if not present). Search & Edit the line seta r_multiSamples "value" (If not present, Add at the end of file). "value" can take values as "0", "2", "4", "8" & "16"; "16" being the Highest Quality. For Improving the Visual Quality even further, Force MSAA via 'Nvidia Control Panel' & 'AMD Catalyst'.

Input

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Disabled by default. Use m_accel 1 in the console to enable.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game advanced audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Only a single volume slider.
Surround sound		First enable surround speakers setup in the Windows control panel.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 4.0, EAX 5.0 (via OpenAL)
Royalty free audio

Hidden EAX 4.0 mode is available by using Creative ALchemy and selecting Generic Hardware driver in sound options. Currently broken in DSOAL v1.31a.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Retail only. link #1
French
German				Retail only.
Hungarian				Fan translation, download.
Italian
Polish				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish				Retail and GOG.com only. Patch for digital release here.
Turkish				Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		16	Versus
Online play		16	Versus

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	27650
UDP	27650

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest		Official Game Mod (version 1.4.2) - Single Player & Multiplayer
Novint Falcon

Issues fixed

Poor image quality on modern systems

The game does not properly recognize the available VRAM on modern graphics cards, and as such forces the game to use lower image quality settings.

Use Quake 4 Tweaker

Force high image quality settings via autoexec.cfg[citation needed]

Go to the configuration file(s) location. Create and open autoexec.cfg. Add the following and save. seta r_renderer "best" seta com_machineSpec "3" seta com_videoRam "1024" seta r_shadows "1" seta r_skipSky "0" seta r_skipBump "0" seta r_skipSpecular "0" seta r_skipNewAmbient "1" //causes problem with Lighting & Shadows if set to "0" seta r_forceAmbient "0" seta r_multiSamples "16" seta image_anisotropy "8" seta image_ignoreHighQuality "0" seta image_downSize "0" seta image_downSizeBump "0" seta image_downSizeSpecular "0" seta image_useCache "0" seta image_useCompression "0" seta image_useNormalCompression "0" seta image_usePrecompressedTextures "0" seta image_lodbias "-2" seta image_filter "GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR" seta g_brassTime "2"

Commands not taking effect even after including them in 'autoexec.cfg/DoomConfig.cfg'

Make sure your config file has *.cfg extension and NOT *.cfg.txt

Sometimes, when Users Share their set of settings/Console Commands over Internet OR when downloading a separate MOD, the block of lines that are Imported/Copied, have multiple Instances of the same command causing repetition of the same lines OR lines with different Values. This causes cvars to have their values wrongly configured, leading to undesired effects.

Make sure that every Command starts with seta and NOT seta_ OR set, as the Game Engine will ignore those lines.

Make sure that every Command has only One Instance in the Entire File

Make sure that every Command has only One Instance in the Entire File (i.e. it occurs only one Time in the File), because Multiple Instances can Override the value in the Previous occurrence of the same Command. The Command Line that occurs Last takes precedence over every previous occurrence. For e.g., in the following set of lines : seta r_renderer "best" seta com_videoRam "1024" seta com_machineSpec "3" seta r_shadows "1" // 1st Occurrence seta r_skipBump "0" seta r_skipBump "0" seta r_skipSpecular "0" seta r_skipNewAmbient "0" seta r_shadows "-1" // 2nd Occurrence seta image_preload "1" seta image_roundDown "0" seta image_useAllFormats "1" seta image_useCompression "0" seta image_useNormalCompression "0" seta r_shadows "0" // 3rd Occurrence The Final Value of cvar r_shadows will be "0" as per the Last entry (3rd Occurrence). Easier way to do this is using 'Find' Feature in Notepad/Notepad++ (Ctrl+F) and then 'Find Next' option, making sure there is ONLY One Instance of a particular command.

Stretched UI on 16:9 widescreens

Install Quake 4 widescreen fix by Wizzard
Download widescreen fix Copy and paste the content into the installation folder.

Low resolution font scaling

By default, some of the game's text fonts render at a lower resolution due to a font scaling limiter.

Remove the font scaling limit
This may cause some menus to have their text cut off in multiplayer. 1. Add the lines to autoexec.cfg or change it manually in DoomConfig.cfg: seta gui_mediumFontLimit "0" seta gui_smallFontLimit "0" 2. Save the file. The game should now render the text in higher quality regardless of resolution.

Micro stuttering

This issue is caused when playing the game on 60Hz Display, while the game's internal ticrate being tied to 62.5 FPS cap.

Users playing on High Refresh Rate Displays(90hz, 120 Hz, etc.) wouldn't experience this in first place.

'Unlock the FPS' in-game and then 'Limit the FPS' via your Video Card Software
Open autoexec.cfg and add the lines seta com_FixedTic "1" and seta r_swapInterval "0". Force V-Sync(Normal V-Sync) via 'Nvidia Control Panel' OR 'AMD Catalyst'. Limit FPS being generated by CPU to 60(exact) via 'Nvidia Control Panel' OR 'AMD Catalyst'.

Poor performance/"slow-motion" effect on Nvidia cards

Quake 4 and other id Tech 4 games suffer from a potential driver-related issue on modern Nvidia GPUs that causes the game to go into what appears to a "slow-motion" phase during some intensive scenes, where the framerate technically remains the same but game logic is slowed down and negatively effects performance, and it persists when using the microstutter fix and Quake4 Tweaker. This issue can potentially be fixed through using an autoexec.cfg file containing the necessary CVar tweaks.

This happens due to V-Sync being ON while com_preciseTic and com_FixedTic are set to anything other than value 0.

Add the lines seta com_FixedTic "0", seta com_preciseTic "0" & seta r_swapInterval "0" in autoexec.cfg

Steam Overlay doesn't work

Run the Steam client as administrator

Add registry key

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers. Right-click → New → String Value. Put the full path to Quake4.exe in the name. Open the newly created string and type in RUNASINVOKER and confirm it. Notes For the GOG version, the string value is already created. The only thing to do is right-click on Quake4.exe and modify the value data with the RUNASINVOKER to confirm it.

Sluggish mouse view

Use raw input
Open <path-to-game>\q4base\autoexec.cfg. Add the line in_mouse 2 Save the changes.

ReShade overlay inaccessible to mouse

Bypass the game's mouse bind
Open <path-to-game>\q4base\Quake4Config.cfg. Search the line seta com_allowConsole and set the value to "1". Start the game. Press Alt+Tab ↹ to switch into windowed mode Press ~ to open the console Access the ReShade GUI

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	2.0

Executable	PPC	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)				32-bit only.
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OpenAL
Anti-cheat	PunkBuster

Quake 4 4X AI Textures

Upscales the original texture's resolution 4x by using Topaz AI Gigapixel neural network.

Large download at over 6.5 GB, including patches. Around 27 GB once extracted.

Sikkmod

Sikkmod is a mod that was ported from Doom 3, which adds such effects as bloom, color grading, HDR and FXAA, and is easily configurable via the in-game menu.

The game's multi-core rendering may cause problems with this mod, disable that setting if there are graphical glitches.

Using the Retail version can case the game to crash.

False Dawn

False Dawn is a non-linear, multiple-goal mission with up-to-date graphics (powered by Sikkmod).

Next & Better Shaders

Next & Better Shaders is a more up-to-date collection of shaders for Quake 4, with some ported from Doom 3. They add effects like parallax textures, dynamic lighting, HDR, and more. The author has adjusted the shaders to keep Quake 4's original look and reduce the plastic effect.

Move the desired shader folder to the Quake 4 base install directory and select it from the in-game Mods list, or use the provided .bat file to launch the game.

Advanced tweaks

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for tweaking the game.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000	XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2000+
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3.2 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 9700 Nvidia GeForce3 Ti 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon X1800 XL Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT 512 MB of VRAM

Windows 98 has been tested to work with Quake 4, but this is not officially supported.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.3.9	10.4.4
Processor (CPU)	1.67 GHz	2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 9600 Nvidia GeForce 6600 64 MB of VRAM	128 MB of VRAM

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Kernel 2.4.x, Kernel 2.6.x
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2000+
System memory (RAM)	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Supported ATI chipsets: Radeon 9700 series, Radeon 9800 series, Radeon X300 series, Radeon X550 series, Radeon X600 series, Radeon X700 series, Radeon X800 series, Radeon X850 series

Supported Nvidia chipsets: GeForce 3/Ti series, GeForce 4/Ti series, GeForce FX series, GeForce 6 series, GeForce 7 series