R1Q2 vs Q2Pro vs Yamagi vs ? - What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?

[Punk_FAS]

Refer to the title, essentially.

I use R1Q2, mainly because I recall it being "better" or supposedly the best client. I don't know if that's true, or what that's based on - it's just what I've used for quite a while now.

Is there any difference between R1Q2 and Q2Pro regarding physics, or net code, or game play? I'm not really concerned about aesthetics, as far as making things prettier (though I do like better visibility), I'm more interested in performance-related differences.

So anyway, is there any reason, other than just "it's what I'm used to" to choose one over the other? I noticed a few TDM'ers were all using Q2Pro recently, and I was curious if that's just a coincidence, or is there something behind that choice (performance-wise).

Also, why is Q2Pro in the default download package in the Quake II Starter here? Why not R1Q2?

PS - What's Yamagi? I just found that through some searching - I had never heard of it before. Any performance reasons to use it over any other clients?

[quadz]

r1q2 was the client of choice in the mid to late 2000's, for sure.

These days r1q2 is no longer maintained, while improvements are still being made to q2pro.

q2pro lists its key features as:

- rewritten OpenGL renderer optimized for stable FPS
- enhanced client console with persistent history
- ZIP packfiles (.pkz), JPEG and PNG textures, MD3 models
- fast HTTP downloads (same as r1q2)
- multichannel sound using OpenAL
- recording from demos, forward and backward seeking
- server side multiview demos and GTV capabilities

q2pro also has an improved, config-file-driven in-game menu system for setting options, which can be nice.

I finally switched to q2pro a few weeks back, as I wasn't happy with how r1q2 was performing (in windowed mode) under Windows 10.

Had to mess with the q2pro config awhile to get it dialed in the way I like it, but I'm happy with it.

I really like the .pkz files, as one can use ordinary zip/unzip tools to modify & explore them. (You can even add 'pkz' as a type for Windows Explorer to understand is really a ZIP file and manipulate them right from the desktop.)

Only thing I'm missing from r1q2 right now is cl_autorecord for demos. (If there's a way to autorecord demos in q2pro, I haven't found it yet.)

Latest q2pro client: https://skuller.net/q2pro/

[rikwad]

Yamagi was and still is the defacto client for Linux, and a great Windows client also. Yamagi features a software mode, opengl 1.4 and 3.2. I think the soft mode is with coloured lighting as well, though I may be confusing that with Kondrak's Vulkan client which definitely uses the Kolorsoft ref.

Yamagi uses http and is asynchronous like r1q2 and q2pro. It supports Zaero, Xatrix, and Rogue unlike q2pro which is more multiplayer oriented. Yamagi is more SP oriented and has many fixes for the single player, but is also a terrific MP client as well.

You can't go wrong with Yamagi and the developers are very cool with issues or suggestions that you can bring up on their github page

https://github.com/yquake2/yquake2

Yamagi is currently being updated and new versions released periodically. I am certain it is the most worked on client currently.

Cheers,

**If you are interested, I posted a link below for the Vulkan rendered client. It supports a cool underwater warping effect like Quake 1 and is a good client as well, but no http or asynchronous behavior.

https://github.com/kondrak/vkQuake2

[quadz]

Yamagi is currently being updated and new versions released periodically. I am certain it is the most worked on client currently.

Interesting. So many choices.

Of course there's also q2rtx, which someday I'll have a video card that can run it at more than 6 fps.

https://github.com/NVIDIA/Q2RTX


P.S. I tried out Yamagi, and immediately got the old classic "Cbuf_AddText: overflow" error (autoexec.cfg > 8 kbytes). Yamagi seems to be missing a few quality-of-life improvements that have been added to r1q2 and q2pro over the years. Always tradeoffs of one sort or another I guess.

[VaeVictis]

Used R1Q2 for years. It was nice. Crashed a bit. Felt good though.

Switched to Q2pro, felt odd at first. Like it a lot more now. Doesn't crash like r1q2 used to. Has a lot more quality of life cvars like cl_noskins 2 (force grunt/athena instead of just grunt, nice for tdm) and s_ambient 2 (mute all non-entity generated sounds). More modern feeling for sure.

Both r1q2 and q2pro have the scripting capability I require for my complex tdm binds. Both are competitively viable. I used to prefer r1q2, but since switching to q2pro I don't see any reason to go back now. Also tried aprq2 in there for a bit due to jehar and it was cool, but didn't pull me away from r1q2 and I don't think it is supported anymore.

Yamagi never interested me. Doesn't seem to be an improvement and from what I gather people use it for convenience rather than quality.

If you start talking single player ports there is even more variety, but at that point almost none of the quality of life stuff matters.

[rikwad]

P.S. I tried out Yamagi, and immediately got the old classic "Cbuf_AddText: overflow" error (autoexec.cfg > 8 kbytes). Yamagi seems to be missing a few quality-of-life improvements that have been added to r1q2 and q2pro over the years. Always tradeoffs of one sort or another I guess.

Cool. I put in an issue regarding your error. I am guessing you have a massive auto, mine is tiny at 1.6 kb. Will see what Yamagi or Daniel say.

Cheers,

[rikwad]

Yamagi never interested me. Doesn't seem to be an improvement and from what I gather people use it for convenience rather than quality.

Yamagi looks better and the mouse movement is on par or better (4 me) than any other client that does not deviate too much from the original Q2 standard. Quality wise it is better, but not equipped as completely, perhaps, for MP. In the last year or two it has moved more into the  MP spectrum with asynchronous and http capabilities among others as well, I would imagine.  Plus the developers are involved and super cool.

R1Q2 and Q2pro are super clients as well, and both are better and worse for different reasons than each other, and Yamagi.

Normally I could not care less, but do not dis the Yamagi. 

[rikwad]

For general knowledge - Yamagi added a commit for that error regarding an autoexec over 8kb.


And thusly I quote the great and all knowing YAMAGI:

"That's 's a good idea. I've bumped the buffers to 32 kilobytes. That should be enough for the next 22 years. "

It would be in the next release or for the compiler crowd it's in the code now.

Cheers,