Editing QSB

Quake Standards Base is a project which aims to raise the bar of basic Quake modding and mapping. The goal is to push engine devs to support features which are very specific to making mods and maps for Quake (such as increased map and entity limits, external textures and new builtins), rather than user-features (such as a better server browser in the menu, nicer particle effects and an FPS counter).

'''The spec is still a work in progress!'''

=== Thanks ===
* '''LadyHavoc''' for dpextensions.qc, most features people seem to want were listed and described here
* '''Spike''' for the FTE Wiki
* '''frag.machine''' for the engine limits list
* '''Spirit''' for the [[Engine Limits]] page
* Everyone who's shown support, contributed with ideas and discussion

=== Todo ===
* Discuss the current suggested extensions listed below
* Should QSB care about network protocols?
* What about QuakeWorld and specific QuakeWorld features?

=== Discussion ===
[http://forums.insideqc.com/viewtopic.php?t=1903 Suggestions for features on IQC]

[http://forums.insideqc.com/viewtopic.php?t=1953 Discuss existing features on IQC]

=== Increased Engine Limits ===
QSB will require some increased limits to bring engines to a more modern level of capability. This is still an ongoing discussion, as some of the limits are incompatible with the default Quake network protocol.

{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align: center; width: auto;"
|-
! Limit name !! Old limit !! New limit !! Note/Category
|-
! MAX_HANDLES
| 10 || 100 || File handling
|-
! MINIMUM_WIN_MEMORY
| 0x01000000 (16Mb) || 0x02000000 (32Mb) || Engine
|-
! MAXIMUM_WIN_MEMORY
| 0x04000000 (64Mb) || 0x08000000 (128Mb) || Engine
|-
! CON_TEXTSIZE
| 16384 || 262144 || Engine (maybe not relevant)
|-
! MAX_FARCLIP
| 4096 || INFINITE || Rendering
|-
! MAX_EDICTS
| 600 || 8192 (*) || Map limit
|-
! NET_MAXMESSAGE
| 8192 || 65536 (****) || Network
|-
! MAX_STATIC_ENTITIES
| 128 || 1024 || Map limit
|-
! MAX_MAP_LEAFS
| 8192 || 32768 (**) || Map limit
|-
! MAX_LIGHTMAPS
| 64 || 256 || Map limit
|-
! NUMSTACKSURFACES
| 800 || 8192 || Map limit
|-
! NUMSTACKEDGES
| 2400 || 8192 || Map limit
|-
! MAX_VISEDICTS
| 256 || MAX_EDICTS || Map limit
|-
! MAX_DATAGRAM
| 1024 || 1400 || Network
|-
! MAX_MSGLEN
| 8000 || 65536 (****) || Network
|-
! MAX_STACK_DEPTH
| 32 || 256 || Engine
|-
! MAX_EFRAGS
| 640 || 2048 || Map limit
|-
! MAX_CHANNELS
| 128 || 512 || Sound
|-
! MAX_DYNAMIC_CHANNELS
| 8 || 128 || Sound
|-
! MAX_MAP_CLIPNODES
| 32767 || 65535 (**) || Map limit
|-
! MAX_GLTEXTURES
| 1024 || 2048 (***) || Rendering
|-
! MAX_TEMP_ENTITIES
| 64 || 1024 || Rendering
|-
! DYNAMIC_SIZE
| 49152 || 262144 || Engine
|-
! MAX_BMODEL_VERTS
| 500 || 1000 || Map limit
|-
! MAX_BMODEL_EDGES
| 1000 || 3000 || Map limit
|-
! MAXALIASVERTS
| 1024(GL) 2000(SW) || 65536 || Model
|-
! MAXALIASTRIS
| 2048 || 65536 || Model
|-
! MAX_LBM_HEIGHT
| 480 || 1024 || Model
|-
! ABSOLUTE_MIN_PARTICLES
| 512 || 1024 || Engine
|-
! MAX_PARTICLES
| 2048 || 16384 || Rendering
|-
! MAX_MODELS
| 256 || 4096 (*) || Network
|-
! MAX_SOUNDS
| 256 || 4096 (*) || Network
|-
! MARKSURFACES
| 32767 || 65535 (**) || Map limit
|-
! FACES
| 32767 || 65535 (**) || Map limit
|-
! NODES
| 32767 || 65535 (**) || Map limit
|-
! MAX_BEAMS
| 24 || 256 || Rendering
|-
! MAX_DLIGHTS
| 32 || 128 || Rendering (might be best left alone)
|}
* (*) = requires new network protocol
* (**) = should be implemented in a non-hacky way (replacing short values with 32-bit ints)
* (***) = Hardware-rendering specific
* (****) = See FitzQuake README.TXT about multiplayer games sticking to 1400 bytes due network limitations

=== Supported Extensions ===
QSB will support the [[checkextension]] system, to bring engines which don't already support it up to speed, hence all features will be listed as either existing extensions or new ones will be suggested.

Extensions are listed with descriptions within (sometimes stolen from their respective authors), and a description next to it if the extension differs from the requirement of the standard.

Extensions which make the engine incompatible with the default Quake network protocol are noted with a warning, as this is still an ongoing discussion at the time of writing.

{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align: center; width: auto;"
|-
! [[DP_CL_LOADSKY]]
| pcx with quake palette minimum for software engines, no limit on texture size and texture sizes do not need to match within the same skybox, loads from $game\env\
|-
! [[DP_GFX_SKYBOX]]
| pcx with quake palette minimum for software engines, no limit on texture size and texture sizes do not need to match within the same skybox, loads from $game\env\
|-
! [[DP_GFX_EXTERNALTEXTURES]]
| required for engines with hardware accelerated rendering, optional for software, attempt to load tga before pcx, pcx before lmp, lmp before wad, loading _diffuse _gloss _norm _bump and _luma are optional
|-
! [[DP_LITSUPPORT]]
| required for engines with hardware accelerated rendering
|-
! [[DP_BUTTONUSE]]
|
|-
! [[DP_CON_SET]]
|
|-
! [[DP_CON_SETA]]
|
|-
! [[DP_EF_ADDITIVE]]
| required for engines with hardware accelerated rendering '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)'''
|-
! [[DP_EF_FULLBRIGHT]]
| this includes support for fullbrights on textures in maps and on model skins '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)'''
|-
! [[DP_EF_NODEPTHTEST]]
|
|-
! [[DP_EF_NODRAW]]
|
|-
! [[DP_ENT_ALPHA]]
| full range required for engines with hardware accelerated rendering, software engines round off to the nearest of 25%, 50% and 75% alpha, based on a lookup table. For hardware accelerated engines this includes support for textures with alpha channels on bmodels and model skins. '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)'''
|-
! [[DP_ENT_SCALE]]
| '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)'''
|-
! [[DP_ENT_VIEWMODEL]]
|
|-
! [[DP_ENT_EXTERIORMODELTOCLIENT]]
|
|-
! [[DP_INPUTBUTTONS]]
|
|-
! [[DP_MONSTERWALK]]
| (this one is a maybe, because it doesn't make a lot of sense without SV_PlayerPhysics)
|-
! [[DP_MOVETYPEBOUNCEMISSILE]]
|
|-
! [[DP_MOVETYPEFOLLOW]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_CHANGEPITCH]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_CVAR_STRING]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_FINDFLAGS]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_FINDFLOAT]]
| (note, includes findentity)
|-
! [[DP_QC_FS_SEARCH]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_MINMAXBOUND]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_UNLIMITEDTEMPSTRINGS]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_RANDOMVEC]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_TRACEBOX]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_TRACETOSS]]
| (it seems odd to me that this one needs an existing entity to base on, why?)
|-
! [[DP_QC_TRACE_MOVETYPE_WORLDONLY]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QC_VECTOANGLES_WITH_ROLL]]
|
|-
! [[DP_QUAKE2_MODEL]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SND_DIRECTIONLESSATTNNONE]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SND_FAKETRACKS]]
| (is this useful without OGG Vorbis or mp3 support?)
|-
! [[DP_SOLIDCORPSE]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_DRAWONLYTOCLIENT]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_ENTITYCONTENTSTRANSITION]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_MOVETYPESTEP_LANDEVENT]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_POINTSOUND]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_NODRAWTOCLIENT]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_PRECACHEANYTIME]]
|
|-
! [[DP_SV_ROTATINGBMODEL]]
|
|-
! [[DP_TE_STANDARDEFFECTBUILTINS]]

[[FTE_TE_STANDARDEFFECTBUILTINS]]
| (depending on type of engine)
|-
! [[DP_VIEWZOOM]]
| '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)''' (can be implemented as a stat to avoid altering network protocol)
|-
! [[FRIK_FILE]]
| the DarkPlaces type, reading inside $game and $game/configs/ is prohibited, writing is restricted to $game/data/
|-
! [[KRIMZON_SV_PARSECLIENTCOMMAND]]
|
|-
! [[FTE_QC_CHECKPVS]]
|
|-
! [[FTE_STRINGS]]
| (this one's a maybe, is it overkill?)
|-
! [[NEH_RESTOREGAME]]
|
|}

==== New Suggested Extensions ====
Some engines already support some of these features, but as they don't exist as extensions, new ones are suggested. Even engines already supporting the features would need to list them as extensions.

* [[QSB_GAMEPLAYFIXES]]
* [[QSB_FOG]]
* [[QSB_MOVINGSOUNDS]]

=== Misc. features ===
Some required features can't be categorized under anything else, they are listed below.

* '''Multicontent'''
Allows the user to specify multiple mod paths to read content from, with the last in line being the one loaded for play.

Example commandline: -game quoth -game mymod

This would make "mymod" be the current mod in play, but extra content is loaded from "quoth". Extra content is sounds, models, sprites, textures, maps, more?

* '''Higher precision origins and angles'''
Use floating point for origins and shorts for angles '''(ALTERS NETWORK PROTOCOL)'''

=== Bugfixes ===
* Render liquid textures of other sizes than 64x64 correctly
* Allow sky textures of 4x2 and higher
* Fix rendering of models with large bounding-boxes disappearing at edges of screen

== See Also ==
* [[Engine Limits]]
* [[List of builtin functions]]
* [[QSG extensions]]

[[Category:Abandoned Idea]]