How to Play Custom Maps and Mods in vkQuake

The Quake community has never stopped making levels. New single-player maps, episodes and total conversions still arrive every month, and many are better than anything in the original game. vkQuake runs everything that works in QuakeSpasm, and its built-in Mods menu makes switching between releases painless.

Maps vs mods

Community releases come in two shapes. A map pack is a set of .bsp level files that use the standard Quake game code. A mod has its own folder with new game code (progs.dat or progs.lmp), and often new models, sounds and textures. Bigger releases such as Arcane Dimensions or Alkaline are mods; a single-level release is usually a map.

Installing a single map

1. Download the map and extract the .bsp file.
2. Copy it into id1/maps inside your Quake folder. Create the maps folder if it doesn't exist.
3. In vkQuake, open the console with the tilde key and type map followed by the file name without the extension, for example map mymap.

If the map came with a .lit file (coloured lighting) or extra textures, put those in id1/maps as well.

Installing a mod

1. Extract the mod so its folder sits next to id1, for example Quake/ad for Arcane Dimensions.
2. Open vkQuake's Mods menu from the main menu and choose the folder.
3. Alternatively, start the game with the -game option, for example vkQuake.exe -game ad, or type game ad in the console.

A common mistake is extracting a mod one folder too deep, ending up with Quake/ad/ad/pak0.pak. If the Mods menu shows the folder but the game behaves like vanilla Quake, check for this double folder.

Where to find maps

Quaddicted.com is the community's main archive. It hosts thousands of single-player releases with ratings and screenshots. The free Quake Injector tool can browse it and install maps straight into your game folder. Slipseer and ModDB host many newer releases. Every major map jam, where dozens of mappers build levels around a shared theme, is announced on these sites.

Five great places to start

• Arcane Dimensions is a huge mod with new monsters, weapons and spectacular levels. It shows off what vkQuake's multithreaded renderer can do.
• Alkaline is a modern mod and map collection with a polished, cohesive campaign.
• Copper refines Quake's gameplay without changing its feel and serves as the base for many new maps.
• Dimension of the Machine by MachineGames comes with the 2021 re-release. See our re-release guide.
• The Quake map jams are themed collections of short, varied levels, ideal for a single evening.

Tips for big community maps

Some modern maps are enormous by 1996 standards. vkQuake handles them well, but set host_maxfps to your refresh rate and keep dynamic shadows low on heavier releases. If a mod ships its own quake.rc or config, let it load before changing settings, since some mods reset a few variables on start. The console commands guide lists the variables worth knowing.