Which client for Windows 10 & anticheat?

[Crazy Cooter]

 I haven't played Quake or Quake2 in a loong time but decided it was time to fire it up again after reading the EULA for Quake Champions (I refuse to sign on for that game - too much personal information collected and parsed).  My focus was/is Rocket Arena 1v1 but I always liked a little FFA/DM/CTF as well.  So here's what I've done and the results I've had:

1) Looked online a little bit to see what was going on in the scene.
* Installed Quake2 Gold (3.20), installed RA, installed Quake2XP, played some single player    - tried to connect to random RA server
* RESULT: Kicked for not having anti-cheat and having a modified client.

2) Looked online a little bit more to see what was going on in the scene.
* Installed Quake 2 Gold (3.20), installed RA, installed Q2PRO - tried to connect to random RA server
* RESULT: Kicked for not having anti-cheat and having a modified client.

3) Looked online a little bit more to see what was going on in the scene.
* Installed Q2 Demo (tired of installing from CD), update to 3.20, copy over RA, installed Q2PRO, copied in anticheat.dll - tried to connect to random RA server
* RESULT: Kicked for not having anti-cheat and maybe having a modified client (don't remember this one).    Copied over full PAK0.pak and played some single player.

4) Looked online a little bit more to see what was going on in the scene.
* Installed Quake 2 Gold (3.20), copy over RA, installed Q2PRO, copied in various anticheat.dll's - tried to connect to random RA server
* RESULT: Kicked for not having anti-cheat and maybe having a modified client (don't remember this one).

5) Tried the "Quake 2 Starter" and was kicked for not having anti-cheat.

6) Switched to R1Q2 with anticheat.dll, mutiple servers for DM & RA, sometimes kicked, sometimes not, always says I'm not using anticheat (I am... trying anyhow)
* Currently trying multiple combinations of anticheats, clients, Windows Defender whitelist = quake2.exe, anticheat.dll, r1q2.exe, firewall holes = quake2.exe, anticheat.dll, r1q2.exe...

So over the last couple days I've never had a server recognize that I have anticheat.dll - it always says I'm not using it.

7) Realized this isn't 1999, I'm not on windows 98, I don't have any idea what I'm doing and I obviously need help.  So here I am and here is what I'm hoping to find out-


With Windows 10, what client(s) can be used for better graphics and have anticheat enabled (maximizes my server choices)?  Which specific file(s) do I need to put on the whitelist for Windows Defender?  Which specific file(s) do I need to allow through the firewall?  Is there a router setting/port I need to adjust/forward for anticheat?

Sorry for the basic questions but I'm just not as deep into Win10 as I was with 98/XP/7 to know where I'm getting snagged here.

[Admin]

5) Tried the "Quake 2 Starter" and was kicked for not having anti-cheat.

We don't have many forced-AC subnets.

[Crazy Cooter]

The group I used to play with is now scattered from Minnesota to California so I'd like to maximize the server choices we can use when we 'get the band back together'.  Is getting anticheat working under Win10 generally problematic?  If so, do the clients (r1q2, Quake2xp, Q2PRO then become equal as far as which servers I/we would be able to connect to or do some of the clients modify too much and that's why you get kicked?

My initial thought was just get anticheat going and then walk everyone through the setup and we wouldn't have to worry about any server side settings where one/some of us couldn't get in.  FWIW, we used to all be on ICQ and whomever started playing first each day listed the server IP in their Do Not Disturb message so everyone else could jump in on the same server - I intend to do something similar but in a 21st century way... but want to make sure we're all eligible for the same servers.

[quadz]

Is getting anticheat working under Win10 generally problematic?

I believe AC works with Win10 these days.

Q2 clients that work with anticheat (as well as the download for the AC DLL itself) can be found here:

https://antiche.at/


(Generally, though, the tastyspleen servers don't force AC by default.)