If you can't find an answer here, check the web site and web boards for more help.


Q: What is "Art of War"?

A: "Art of War" is an exciting new teamplay mod. Teams create different buildings which unlock new, more powerful classes for that team. You win the game by destroying enemy buildings. By design, "Art of War" supports every popular teamplay strategy because of how classes are divided into factions. One faction emphasises strategy (through a strong defense and covert offense). Another faction emphasises tactics (through coordinated offense and defense). The third faction emphasises combat skills (with aggressive attackers).

So it doesn't matter if you play Team Fortress, Capture the flag, Rocket Arena, or even Counterstrike. "Art of War" has strategic and tactical elements from all of these games and more, wrapped up in the intense combat system of Quake 3 Arena. Everyone who enjoys teamplay games can enjoy "Art of War" because you can apply ANY teamplay strategy and still have a fun, balanced game.


Q: Why can't I get the mod started?

A: Make sure you installed the "artofwar.pk3" file into the directory "quake3/artofwar".


Q: Yes, I put the file in the right place. Now what?

A: You need to start quake with the "+fs_game artofwar" parameter.
- You can use the included "aow" batch file which should have unzipped to the "quake3/artofwar" directory.
- You can also use the "Mods" tab from the main Quake menu.
- Server searchings programs such as "Gamespy" should set +fs_game for you

Q: I can't find any servers. Where are they?

A: Keep in mind this is a public test, so there aren't as many servers. The best place to look is the server page. You can also use Gamespy to search for any server with gametype "artofwar". Use the "artofwar.qst" file to set up a custom tab for Art of War in gamespy. To install it:

- Start Gamespy
- Go to the "view" menu and select "Custom Tab"
- Select "Import" and use the "artofwar.qst" file in the "quake3/artofwar" directory.


Q: I try to connect to a server, but I always get booted out. When I hit ~ and check the console error log, it says "client/server game mismatch". Whats wrong?

A: It means the client and server aren't running the same mod. Possible problems are:
- Server is not running the mod (find another server)
- You aren't actually loading the mod (see above comments about +fs_game)
- You have an older version of Art of War (download latest version and try again)


Q: I try to connect to a server, but I always get booted out. When I hit ~ and check the console error log, it was trying to download extra files from the server.

A: There is a bug in linux v1.27g servers in automatic downloading. Just turn off autodownloading. You can either use the setup menu or set the variable "cl_allowdownload" to 0.


Q: I try to connect to a server, but I always get booted out. I might have screwed around with some parameters in the custom Art of War setup menu, but I don't remember. What's going on?

A: Art of War uses different models to distinguish different player classes. Because of this, Quake might have to load a lot of different models. If the amount of memory allocated for quake (via "com_hunkmegs" console command, or the Art of War custom setup menu) is too low, Quake might run out of memory during setup. You can also try decreased the number of precached models (in the Art of War setup menu).


Q: I have 64 megs of system memory. What memory parameters do you recommend?

A: Um, owch. Go buy memory-- it's cheap. Use this:
   com_hunkmegs 54
   com_zonemegs 16
   com_soundmegs 8
   cg_precachedmodels 3


Q: What about for 128 megs of memory?

A: That's a little better:
   com_hunkmegs 72
   com_zonemegs 24
   com_soundmegs 16
   cg_precachedmodels 6


Q: And if I have 256+ megs of memory?

A: Try this:
   com_hunkmegs 96
   com_zonemegs 24
   com_soundmegs 16
   cg_precachedmodels 15

In general, setting precachedmodels higher makes start up take longer, but results in less game delay from loading models. I personally use "3" even though I have over 256 megs of memory.


Q: I set up my own custom models, but when I connect to a server, it doesn't load my custom models until I either do a \vid_restart or the level changes.

A: You have connected to a server without the +fs_game artofwar command line option. Gamespy 3d custom tabs created before gamespy version 2.19 have this problem. Make sure you've upgraded to the latest version of Gamespy and use the custom tab included in this mod release. If you got this problem using the internal Quake server browser, select "Art of War" from the mods menu before connecting to an Art of War server.