Manual
Everything you need for your first frags - the rest you'll pick up on the server.
Server browser
Press F5 to open the server browser.
Pick a server with the arrow keys
(hold SHIFT or CTRL to jump faster)
and join with ENTER.
ENTER – join the selected server. If a match is already running, you'll hop in as a spectator
CTRL + ENTER – join as a spectator right away
R – refresh ping and player count for the selected server
CTRL + R – refresh info for all listed servers
Default keys
W – move forward
S – move back
A – move left
D – move right
SPACE – jump
Left Mouse Button – primary attack (Rocket Launcher)
Right Mouse Button – secondary attack (Thunderbolt)
Middle Mouse Button – tertiary attack (Grenade Launcher)
Q – Axe
E – Shotgun
SHIFT – Nailgun
T – say something
G – say something to your team
F5 – open the server browser
F6 – send a message with the IP and hostname of the selected server
F12 – take a screenshot
You can rebind everything in Options > Customize controls.
Essential commands
To open the console press the ~ (tilde) key, located just below ESC.
observe – reconnect as an observer
observe <server> – connect to a specific host as an observer
join – join as a player (while in observer mode)
join <server> – connect to a specific host
enemycolor 12 12 – make all enemies appear yellow
teamcolor 4 4 – make all team members appear red
enemyskin base – disable enemy skins
teamskin base – disable team skins
reconnect – reconnect to the server
disconnect – disconnect from the server
Changing maps
maps displays the list of all available maps on the server. To change
map, type its name. dm2, dm4, dm6,
ztndm3 and aerowalk are essential and you should learn
all of them. For teamplay the standard maps are dm2, dm4,
dm6, ztndm3, aerowalk, dm3
and e1m2.
On FFA (Free For All) servers you can also use next_map to vote for a map change.
Starting a match
Only FFA servers let you play straight away. If you want to get good at Quake, try to avoid FFA and focus on duels and teamplay first.
KTX (Kombat Teams eXtreme) is considered standard and is the most common server mod in QuakeWorld.
After joining a KTX server, set the gameplay mode by typing 1on1
(duel), 2on2 or 4on4 for teamplay. Then each player
types ready to start the match. Type break to leave
ready or to vote to stop the match.
In teamplay modes the rpickup command randomly assigns players to
teams. whonot shows which players are not ready.
Gibs
Some players prefer to play with gibs and corpses disabled.
Enable the filters with: cl_gibFilter 1 and cl_deadbodyFilter 1.
Demos
To view demos, open the main menu (ESC), then Multiplayer > Demos.
classicQ ships with a few recordings.
You will often see "Server starts recording" / "Server recording completed" in
the console. Most QuakeWorld servers automatically record each match. To list
server-side demos use cmd dlist.
cmd dl <number> downloads the selected demo,
cmd dl . (dot) downloads the latest, and
cmd dl cancel cancels.
Teamplay messages
You can quickly send automated notifications to your team using the keys below. It may look confusing at first, but once you start playing team games it becomes self-explanatory.
1 – Enemy [Powerup]
2 – Team [Powerup]
3 – Quad Dead / Over
4 – Get Quad
5 – Get Pent
6 – Replace [Location]
CTRL – [Item you look at] at [Item Location]
ALT – [Armor] / [Health] [Best Weapon]:[Ammo] [Location] c:[Cells] [Powerup]
Z – Safe [Location] [Best Weapon]:[Ammo]
X – Help [Location] [Number of Enemies]
C – Coming [Location]
R – Need [What you need] [Location]
F – Took [Item you took] [Item Location]
V – Lost [Location where you died] [Number of Enemies]
B – Enemy Slipped [Location]
Y – Yes / OK [Location]
H – Trick [Location]
N – No / Cancel [Location]
U – You Take [Location]
J – Waiting [Location]
K – Kill me [Location] [Best Weapon]:[Ammo]
Community
The QuakeWorld community hangs out on Discord - grab the invite at quake.world and, while you're there, catch a live match right in your browser. For everything else, there's quakeworld.nu.