[TriLUG] Question Re: Q3A Problem

[Scott Chilcote]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering if anyone has seen this problem with Q3A on Linux 
before.  As I mentioned a couple of meetings ago, EB was practically 
giving away Q3A for $10 (and still had it a week or so ago, in Cary). 
So I finally got around to putting it on my Redhat 7.1/Ximian system 
last weekend.

Here's the weirdness: I can run it from the CD-ROM just fine, either as 
root or using my user account.  If I try to run it from the hard disk, 
it dies no matter what I try.  I've even read all of the instructions!
e.g.:

me: cd /usr/local/games/quake3
me: ./quake3

it:

Q3 1.17 linux-i386 Apr 28 2000
----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
/home/username/.q3a/baseq3
./baseq3/pak3.pk3 (4 files)
./baseq3/pak2.pk3 (148 files)
./baseq3/pak1.pk3 (26 files)
./baseq3

----------------------

Running in restricted demo mode.

----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
/home/username/.q3a/demoq3
./demoq3

----------------------
----- CL_Shutdown -----
-----------------------
----- CL_Shutdown -----
-----------------------
Error: Couldn't load default.cfg

-------
at this point, it's back at the shell prompt.

The astute observer will notice that I've upgraded to the 1.17 patch, 
but this had no affect on the problem.  According to the FAQ, this 
problem is caused by Q3A being unable to find the baseq3/pak0.pk3 file, 
but if I do an "ls baseq3" from this location, I get:
     pak0.pk3  pak1.pk3  pak2.pk3  pak3.pk3

It also suggests that the ./quake3 script may have been overwritten by 
the binary, but this is not the case.  I can list the contents of the 
script and it looks just like the one in the FAQ.

I'd give up and just play the game from the CD-ROM, but there's either 
some protection or a minor imperfection playing the game from CD.  It 
hangs every ten minutes or so, and the CD head seeks back and forth 
several times.  Very disturbing, especially when a player's death shriek 
is looped fifty or sixty times until things straighten out again...

Thanks for any help!

                                   Scott