Note: This is not so much a guide to installing as how to play effectively.
The first rule of playing
Quake (or any
first-person shooter) is that
everybody falls the first time. For the first few weeks, you're going to suck- period. There's just no way around it. Don't worry about it.
To begin, you're going to set up your
configuration. If you're right-handed, put the
mouse on the right side of your
keyboard (and
vice-versa), and set up your
keyboard config. If you're right-handed, this means that you're going to use the
WASD configuration- W is move forward, S is move backward, A is
strafe left, and D is strafe right. If you're left-handed, you've got a choice to make. You either need to use the arrow keys or work out some bizarre key combination (like IJKL). Attack should be some easily accessible key or the first mouse button. Jump should be likewise- usually the second mouse button. Don't forget to enable
mouse look.
Now, on to technique. You need to learn basic deathmatch skills before you start worrying too much about strategy. Practice the basic skills- movement and jumping. Get to the point where you can move without thinking about it- jump over large gaps until that becomes second nature. Movement is the most important part of Quake.
The advanced techniques are what separates the novice from the expert. The first of the advanced techniques is
circle-strafing. The idea is that you circle your opponent, constantly facing them and firing. To do this action, you need to move the mouse in one direction while strafing in the opposite. This will cause you to move in a circular pattern. With practice, you will become able to control your movement. Practice on stationary objects first- find a pillar and a nailgun and see how much you can hit it while maintaining the motion. Later, practice on slow-moving enemies before moving on to kill people with it. If you add jumping to this, only the truly good players will be able to hit you consistently.
The second advanced technique you will need to learn is that of jump movement. In Quake (and a fair amount of Quake-engine games) you can continue to steer yourself as long as you hold down the move forward key while jumping. You can use this to jump around corners (For example, this technique will let you get to the yellow armor in DM1 without hitting the button), and it will become very effective combined with the next trick.
Ahhh,
rocket jumping. The coolest trick you've ever seen. The idea is this: If you jump, and fire a rocket at the ground, you'll go flying upward. The trick is near-simultaneous action- you want to fire the rocket as quickly as possible after jumping. Practice this action by jumping up from the bottom of DM4. You'll suck at it (and fall into the lava a lot) at first. Keep at it, and you'll get to the point where you can reach the
lightning gun consistently. When you can do that, you'll learn the true meaning of this trick- horizontal movement. From the lightning gun, you should be able to shoot yourself across to the opposite ledge simply by aiming the
rocket launcher.
Now that you have a lot of the important moves down (and at this point you should be able to move without thought), it's time to start thinking strategy. The trick to Quake is not picking up items for yourself, but picking up items so that your opponent cannot get them. This is called
item denial. You need to keep armor and good weaponry away from your opponent or you will lose. Download a good demo of a DM3
clan match and watch as one clan monopolizes the armor and the rocket launcher. This is what you need to do, on a smaller scale. On DM4, you need to get the red armor, both rocket launchers, and the
megahealth as often as possible. Without armor, your opponent will drop in a hit or two from your RL, and without weaponry, he will be unable to seriously damage you. Ammo is not a problem if you're killing your opponent regularly.
Follow this advice, and you'll be able to beat most newbies with the greatest of ease, and you'll score some hits on those who previously seemed invincible. Happy Fraggin'!