VitaQuake III version 0.5 (beta 1) released! – Play Quake III:Arena and Quake III: Team Arena on your PSVita/PSTV!

When Rinnegatamante started working on VitaGL last December, he promised that he’d port new game titles that require hardware acceleration to the PSVita such as Quake III. After a few months, he’s been able to deliver on that promise and now we have the first beta of VitaQuake III!

What is VitaQuake III?

As the title suggests, it’s a port of Quake III: Arena (and Team Arena) for the PSVita. Quake III is a largely multiplayer FPS game released in 1999 by id Software (the folks who brought us Wolf 3D, DOOM and Commander Keen).

This port is based on ioQuake3, an open-source FPS game engine based on Quake III and is fully hardware accelerated thanks to VitaGL.

Currently, VitaQuake III is at the following stage:

• You can play against local bots. It’s important to note that online multiplayer isn’t supported just yet but it’s still fun to play it single-player since the bots won’t let you win that easily!
• The game is rendered pretty well with only small rendering issues being present.
  

  VitaQuake III is still in beta-stage but apart from FPS issues and lack of MP, it’s working pretty well!

• The frame rate is all over the place and fluctuates in the 15-60FPS range depending on the settings you use. Lowering the resolution by following the steps below will greatly help!
• The menus are working and you can mess around with the settings to get a better game experience.
• The controls are mapped in a way that utilises the Vita’s control layout pretty well.
• You must launch Quake III: Team Arena from the Live Area shortcut and not from the game itself or else, it’ll crash!
• It is compatible with both FW 3.60 and 3.65 and works on the PSVita and PSTV as it doesn’t use touch controls.

How do I get it? How do I lower the resolution?

To get the game, simply go open VHBB and download it from VitaDB. It’ll download the demo files for Quake III demo itself and you’ll get 4 maps to play in (ignore the CD key prompt if you don’t have a key). It’s important to note that the demo files won’t allow you to launch Quake III: Team Arena as you need separate files for that!

While 480×272 reduces the graphical fidelity of the game, it’s necessary to get the most enjoyable experience out of the game!

If you have your own game files, simply drop them in ux0:/data/ioq3 (put the files for the base game in ux0:/data/ioq3/baseq3 and Team Arena files in ux0:/data/ioq3/missionpack).

Lowering the resolution

If you wish to make the game experience much more enjoyable (and if you value your sanity), it’s recommended you lower the resolution. To change the resolution, you need to do the following:

• Open ux0:/data/ioq3/baseq3/q3config.cfg
• Scroll down to the line that reads ‘seta r_mode “n”‘ <– This is line 231
• Set n to the following numbers for these resolutions:
  • 0 – 480×272. This is the PSP’s resolution and half that of the Vita’s screen. As this is the first beta, it’s recommended you use this mode if you fancy getting an enjoyable frame rate most of the time!
  • 1 – 640×368. If you fancy a better resolution and a decent(ish) FPS, use this.
  • 2 – 720×408. This isn’t much better than 960×544 so I would go lower
  • 3 – 960×544. If you fancy an FPS around 15-25FPS most of the time, go for this one! It’s mostly unplayable at this resolution in my books

This can be done on your PSVita/PSTV itself as it can be achieved through VitaShell.

Selecting game maps!

Conclusion

If you wish more information about VitaQuake III, simply follow the links below. Should you find any more issues, report them to Rinnegatamante on the Wololo /talk thread or GitHub link below.

Remember, this is beta grade software so expect bugs and FPS that isn’t too great!

Wololo /talk thread (more info + download link): https://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=48955

VitaQuake III’s GitHub (source code + place to report bugs): https://github.com/Rinnegatamante/vitaQuakeIII

Rinnegatamante’s Twitter (place where you can get further updates from): https://twitter.com/Rinnegatamante

Rinnegatamante’s Patreon (if you wish to donate him a buck for his hard work): https://www.patreon.com/Rinnegatamante