Quake 3 Arena (or general PC FPS) - tips, suggestions, advice.

zombie a gogo

So I think I'm going to grab Quake 3 Arena from Steam tonight. I'm a total console player and my Keyboard and Mouse experience has been limited to the Half-Life series and a little bit of F.E.A.R.

I'm trying to get into PC gaming (mostly FPS) and I figure Quake 3 would be good start. I recently purchased a 42" LCD and I'm planning on getting a new video card by year's end, so am able to sit back in my ol' rocking chair and use my PC just as I do with consoles.

What I'm looking for are some tips, suggestions, advice you can give to a PC FPS noob. I'm very good at FPS's on the console, but like I said it's relatively new to me on the PC. I don't mind the keyboard and mouse too much, though it takes some getting use to. I usually like to stick with the standard setup so I'm not looking to change that up too much.

Any advice, tips or even recommendations on some good ol' school FPS's to try out would be welcome. Thanks.

snookernet

Counter-Strike.

Apreche

Never stop moving. Things that are not moving are very easy to shoot. You should always be holding down at least one, if not more than one, of your movement buttons.

zombie a gogo

Thanks for the replies. One other quick question: Is Quake 3 Arena all team based or is there regular Deathmatch as well?

GreatTeacherMacRoss

First of all, you need to understand that PC FPS gaming is far faster and there is far less room for error. The mouse is significantly more sensitive than any analog stick controller, which means the potential for better accuracy is very high, but so is the potential for a drop in it.

I learned to play FPSs on the PC, and I can't stand analog FPS games. They feel sluggish and clunky control-wise for me. I usually have my mouse sensitivity turned up to a point where dragging my mouse from one side of my mousepad to the other results in my view swinging around 720 degrees. This means if I think someone is sneaking up behind me or something, I can whip around quickly, far faster than the restrictive speed of the analog stick.

For Quake style games, speed and agility are very important. You need to be able to jump out of the way of enemy fire, while strafing, while shooting at the enemy, while throwing grenades, while shouting taunts into the mic. I recommend standard WSAD for movement, and space bar for jump. If there is a 'fast weapon switch' option, have it turned on.

Also, the more combat related commands that are on your mouse, the better. For a standard mouse with a mousehweel, I have left-click as fire, right click as secondary fire (or zoom-in, depending on the game), and the mouse-wheel-depression as an activator for tertiary skills like 'powers' or whatever. MouseUp and MouseDown are typically weapon switch for me. If you have more mouse buttons, set them up for things you use commonly. 'Use' for doors or something similar, even macros for priming grenades (this was essential and took a bit of really basic programming back in the Mega Teamfortress days).

Quake 3 is also a particularly fast-moving FPS, same with the Unreal Tournament games. I got awesome on old school Quake 1 and Teamfotress/Mega TF.

Keep in mind you can really play with the keybinds. For instance, I have had Q and E in the past programmed to do things like leap left or right, lean left/right, throw/prime grenades etc. You can even reprogram your F# keys to do nifty stuff like taunt.

Remember also that each game engine has very different mechanics, even if the game is essentially the same. Teamfortress in Half-Life is WAY different from Quake's original version.

Apreche

Turn your mouse sensitivity up as high as it will go, and get used to it. If that's too hard, just turn your sensitivity up by .1 every time you play. Eventually you will be able to handle it at the highest setting.

zombie a gogo

ArtBoy - thanks for the very detailed advice, it's much appreciated (the mouse suggestions will definately be helpful).

Scott - I actually turned up my mouse sensitivity for everything (including every day use) after you talked about it on one of your shows. I love it, I hardly have to move the mouse at all to get a quick response, it's great.

GreatTeacherMacRoss

Yeah, minium mouse movement and maximum view movement are great. That's part of the reason analog sticks feel sluggish to all the veteran FPS junkies.

zombie a gogo

I went ahead and bought the whole Id pack at lunch, can't wait until after work to play them. I'll be getting my ass kicked big time tonight ;-)

GreatTeacherMacRoss

Nerd!

zombie a gogo

I agree ;-)

If the ass kicking gets too bad on the PC I'll jump on my 360 and kick some ass on F.E.A.R.

TheWhaleShark

The railgun is your friend.

Kite

hmm.. this is interesting, I use to play competitive Counterstrike and Day of Defeat in online leagues and I was always taught that I should lower my sensitivity as it would allow for more accurate aim. I suppose that the best advice for a new player is to pick a mouse setting and stick to it whatever it is.

edit: C&P from another board

* Clean up your computer - scan for spyware and viruses, keep at least 15% of your harddrive free and defrag once in a while. When starting a game shut down all unnecessary programs


* Try lowering your mouse sensitivity and turn off mouse acceleration - Lower sensitivity = more accurate shots, but too low and you can't turn for shit. Find a sensitivity you like and stick with it. Mouse acceleration increases the distance the pointer travels the faster you move the mouse and makes your shot less consistent. If you move from point A to B slowly it'll move a certain distance, but move it faster and it'll move a graeter distance. Mouse acc is in Control Panel -> mouse -> pointer options -> enhance pointer precision -> uncheck


* Turn off unnecessary eyecandy like muzzle flash, smoke, bullet ejection and other distractions


* Mess with your brightness, gamma, contrast, vibrance settings so you can see the enemy quickly and easily, I like cranking my gamma and vibrance up on dark games and maps to get rid of pesky shadows and the baddies who hide in em


* Adjust your rates, especially on any Halflife 1 or 2 games. Steam doesn't realize that most people online have high speed internet nowadays and defaults your rates too something retarded fit for 56k. Google up a tutorial, I could write a two thousand word essay detailing the process..


* Aim for the head/neck - obvious reasons, just do it


* Join a friendly clan with skilled players who are willing to teach you - this speeds up the process and making friends is always fun. Trying to be self-taught is a noble goal and all that but why waste the time? This also means you need to pick a game and dedicate yourself to it for a while


* Hotkey shit - hotkey your most commonly used weapons and get use to it. And if the game has binds learn how to use em.


* Get a mic and use it - obvious reasons


* Consider getting a better mouse and/or mousepad - if you like your current mouse and pad then don't worry about it, but personally I've found using a "gaming" mousepad to be very helpful in keeping my mouse moving smoothly and consistantly. There are cloth and hard pads depending on your preference, I use the X-Ray Thunder 9.

Apreche

Lower sensitivity can allow for finer grain control. However, it requires you to move your arm around a lot. Want to turn around? Gotta move the mouse two feet to the right. You are much better off practicing moving your mouse very small amounts. Though, if you do not have a high precision mouse, this can become a problem.

TheWhaleShark

Low sensitivity would be great if you're sniping in a game like, say, the Insurgency mod. Otherwise, crank it up.

GreatTeacherMacRoss

Even in the Insurgency mod, I have mine a 2.5 or 3. People keep tryin' to sneak up on me.

Apreche

Low sensitivity would be great if you're sniping in a game like, say, the Insurgency mod. Otherwise, crank it up.

THis is why you also have accelleration. Instead of a linear sensitivity, you have a logarithmic sensitivity. When moving the mouse a little, it will move a little, but when you move it a lot, it cranks it up.