Sparked by a discussion in IRC, I’ve made 2 config files which are aimed at 2 different groups of people. Read on if you want to know more..

Quake Live is an extremely configurable game, unlike almost any other. You can change so many things that new people usually don’t realise, including some settings which provide an obvious benefit to you. A lot of new people often consider it as cheating because they didn’t know about these things, but in reality the customisability is a large part of what makes Quake so good.

Here I have made two separate config files. Both include a bunch of essential settings and tweaks which I think every player should know about and use. The first is just there settings, without any extra settings which are just personal preferences. I feel all of the settings in the config provide a benefit in-game, through one way or another. The second is a very comprehensive config which includes most of the configurable settings someone may want to change in the game, aside from very personal ones such as mouse sensitivity and accel. The configs are very heavily commented – I have aimed to explain to people what each command does or why people use it.

Sections include:

1. Ease of use tweaks
2. Video settings
3. Mouse settings
4. Weapon settings
5. In-game visual settings
6. HUD settings
7. Audio settings
8. Gameplay tweaks
9. Network settings

tl;dr- 2 configs. 1st is for new people who want the ‘edge’ other people have, and the 2nd is for people who want to delve further into customisation, but aren’t sure what to change or what settings do.

> DOWNLOAD ‘ESSENTIAL TWEAKS’ CONFIG HERE <

> DOWNLOAD SEMI-COMPREHENSIVE ‘PRO’ TWEAKS CONFIG HERE <

Please download and reply with comments, especially is it helps you.

More info:
Essential Config Tweaks for Beginners, and Semi-Comprehensive ‘Pro’ Config: http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?14817
Yakumo’s ‘Ultimate Quake Live Guide’: http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?831
Twitter: http://twitter.com/emsixteen
Contact: EmSixTeen @ #quakelive

I went through the configs from the games I play, and added in some extra things to make those work too. It’s not perfect and I’m no guru, but it’s better than just plain old black text on a white background. The colours need tweaked, but they’re workable at the moment.

So yeah, this should provide rough syntax highlighting for your game config files in Notepad++.

Tested with configs from:

• QuakeLive
• Quake 3 CPMa
• Call of Duty 2
• Call of Duty 4
• Counter-Strike 1.6
• Counter-Strike: Source

>> DOWNLOAD HERE <<

Any suggestions in the comments, please!

I originally wrote a HUD install guide almost 2 years ago during QuakeLive’s closed beta stage, but it wasn’t great and is a bit out dated now.

First, you need to choose which custom HUD you want to use. There is a pretty vast resource at Custom HUDs for Quake Live, with 342 HUDs so far. Here is a link to my author page on there. Browse through there and find something you like.

Once you’ve found and downloaded the zip of your custom HUD, extract it. There should be at least 2 files, hudname.cfg and hudname.menu (although some have more than one .menu).

Go to your QuakeLive folder. If you’re not sure where that is, open Start, then Run, and paste in the location:

Windows Vista/7: %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\id Software\quakelive\home\baseq3
Windows XP: %appdata%\id Software\quakelive\home\baseq3
GNU/Linux: ~/.quakelive/quakelive/home/baseq3

You need to make a new folder called ui in \home\baseq3\, and put these files (hudname.cfg and hudname.menu) inside. You should have something similar to below.

homeaseq3 folder. Make a folder called 'ui'.

Your new ui folder, with custom HUD files inside.

Now all you need to do is load the custom HUD. If you use an autoexec.cfg, you can add the following line to it:

cg_hudFiles “ui/hudname.cfg”

The HUD should be loaded next time you start your game. Or if you are in-game, you can do the same followed by ;loadhud to load the HUD, like below.

Loading a HUD via console.

Congratulations, you should now have the custom HUD in-game!

Help, my HUD isn’t working! Troubleshooting:

If all you get is the default HUD loading again, something has gone wrong. This usually happens due to one of the following reasons:

1. You have actually put your HUD files in the wrong place, or didn’t put the correct location in the cg_hudFiles cvar. Make sure they are in quakelive\home\baseq3\ui\ (\home\baseq3\ is where qzconfig.cfg is), and not in quakelive\baseq3\ (where the map .pk3s are).
2. Make sure the cg_hudFiles cvar has “ui/hudname.cfg” and not just “hudname.cfg”.
3. If you renamed the hudname.menu file, you will need to edit hudname.cfg to reflect this, else it is looking for a file which doesn’t exist. Open hudname.cfg (Notepad will do fine) and edit the loadMenu line where your custom .menu is loaded to reflect the new name.

Make sure the .menu name is correct.

Any other questions or comments, feel free to leave a reply here. Or you contact me: EmSixTeen in #quakelive, #holysh1t or #esports.ie on Quakenet.

Anyway, I’ve just updated my config to make full use of the new cvars and the ability to use aliases. As ever, I’ve it cleanly laid out so it should be easy to understand even if you’re pretty new.

EmSixTeen's cfg/HUD, in-game FFA

I’ve made a big change in my team binds with this update though, as QuakeLive now supports aliases (+vstr in Q3). I now have 2 versions of each team bind, a standard one and an alternate one. The alternate set of binds is activated by pressing and holding in \ (backslash, on a British keyboard). This has let me have, for example, a bind saying red armour is available, and then I can hold in \ and the same button will change to say red armour taken. Same goes for enemies coming into your base and leaving, same button but a bit more communication. Check the vstr.cfg to see them all

I’ve also managed to change all the tell_buddy commands to print (echo) now that it’s in QL, so hopefully I’ll get less tell_buddy spam now.. My own fault last time.

> DOWNLOAD HERE <

If you want to get in touch or ask a question, just ask here or you can find me under the name EmSixTeen on either #esports.ie or #quakelive on Quakenet IRC.

Hey there, first post here..

A while back I decided I wanted to re-make my QuakeLive HUD, cleaning up both the visuals and the code now I know a little more about what I’m doing. I got to work and pretty quickly came up with an exact replica.

EmSixTeen HUD - noobHUD

As I was finishing this newer version I had an idea though. I get asked the same little questions over and over again about HUD editing, and I wanted to make a HUD which is a tonne easier for newbs to understand. I realised I could do this by using custom cvars and then using cvarTest, and making these custom cvars relate to presets I have made in the HUD file. Basically, you can just type ui_emsixteen_scores “topright” and it will place the scores in the top right. The player can then also have a little config file they exec with their own settings for the HUD, which is a heap easier than messing with the HUD’s actual .menu files.

I grew supremely tired of HUD editing and gave this up completely, but I’ve just decided to get my arse into gear and get this done now. Here’s what I’ve managed to get done so far:

• Full HUD Presets
  emsixteenold – Exact same as my old HUD
  emsixteen - What I use now
  stermy - Same layout as stermy’s HUD, without health/armour bars
• Timer Positions
  classic – Top middle small
  topmid - Top middle large
  bottommid - Bottom middle large
  bottommidsm - Bottom middle small
  ncts - Same place as noctis’ HUD
  stermy - Same place as stermy’s HUD
• Timer Backgrounds
  None
  ..bg1 - Gray with lighter border.
  ..bg2 - Coloured (blue) with light border.
  ..bg3 - Coloured (blue) with no border.
• Mini-Timer
  off – Disabled
  above - Above cg_drawitempickups message
  below - Below cg_drawitempickups message
• Scores
  topleft/classic – Top left
  topright – Top right
  topmid – Top middle
  bottomleft – Bottom left
  bottomright – Bottom right
• Health/Armour icons
  off – Disabled
  classic/insideql – QL icons between health/armour
  aboveql - QL icons above health/armour
  aboveq3 - Q3 icons between health/armour
  insideq3 - Q3 icons between health/armour
  above3d - Player head and 3d armour above health/armour
  inside3d - Player head and 3d armour between health/armour
  abovecombo – 3d player head/2d armour above health/armour
  insidecombo – 3d player head/2d armour between health/armour
• Ammo Position
  classic/lowermid – below crosshair, above health/armour
  lowmid – Below crosshair, above health/armour, above weaponbar3
  lowestmid – Between classic health/armour icons. Use with above health/armour icon presets or with bottommidsm timer
  bottomleft – Bottom left

So who wants to try it out? Please do! Even if you don’t want the new functionality, it also includes the newest and updated version/layout of my own HUD, so it’s worthwhile if you use my older HUD.

Download it from HERE. Then just open emsixteenhud.cfg and have a look at it to understand, then go in-game and type /exec emsixteenhud.cfg in console and play from there.

Okay, it’s not very complex HUDwise, but I’m really hoping it takes off a bit for those who want to make simple changes. I can add more functionality if it does, and if people suggest presets I can do that – I just need to be asked! Seriously. Get in touch any of the following ways:

• Reply here!
• EmSixTeen @ #quakelive on Quakenet
• EmSixTeen on the QuakeLive website
• Thread about this on the QuakeLive forums