Single Player Multiplayer Setup
Use this option to set up your player attributes, game controls, adjust your system settings, and game options.
This screen lets you give your player a name, set a handicap for yourself, and customize your gladiator for combat in the arena. The following options are available:
Name: You can click on and type in the name you want to be known by in the Arena.
Handicap: The default handicap rating for all players is 100. This value can be lowered for veteran gladiators to level the playing field when inexperienced combatants are in the Arena. A handicap reduces the effectiveness of your weapons, armor, and so on as well as lowering your maximum health value.
Effects: When you fire the rail gun, the slug leaves a streak of light in its wake. Adjusting this slide bar allows you to select the color of that light trail and the flash it makes when it hits. Think of it as something of a signature.
Model: When you press this button you'll see a gallery of images. The one you pick determines what other players will see and hear when they encounter your gladiator.
You can use this button to customize the game interface to your liking. Just about everyone has his or her own favorite settings and the sub-menus you pull up here will allow you to adjust almost every aspect of the controls.
Look
For the most part, you'll look around simply by moving the mouse to and fro. Imagine that your mouse is controlling the gladiators head and you'll quickly get the hang of it. Remember that you will shoot wherever you're looking. There are a few other controls you can customize. The default keys assigned to these functions are shown in parenthesis. If a ??? appears, no key is initially assigned to that feature. Players who want to use it must select (or bind) a key themselves.
Mouse Speed: Adjust this slide to make your mouse more or less sensitive, speeding up or slowing down the rate at which your gladiator is able to change his view.
Smooth Mouse: Turn this option on to smooth the on-screen motion as you move your mouse.
Invert Mouse: Changing this toggle reverses the direction in which your mouse moves your view. Adjust it to suit your own preferences.
Look up/Look down (PGUP/DEL): These buttons will tilt your gladiators head back so you can see what's above him or cause your gladiator to look downward.
Center View (END): If you've been looking around and lost your bearings, hitting this key will center the view again.
Zoom View (???): There's no default for this feature, so you cant use it until you assign a key. By activating the zoom view, you'll effectively have a telescopic view of the battlefield. This is useful for sniper fire but leaves you vulnerable to anyone close by who might sneak up on you.
Joystick: Activate this toggle if you want to play using a joystick.
Joystick Threshold: Adjusting this slide will make your joystick more or less sensitive.
Move
Always Run: Toggling this button on will make your gladiator run everywhere in the game. This gets you where you're going faster, but your enemies will be able to hear your footsteps.
Run/Walk (SHIFT): Holding this button down will cause you to run (if the ALWAYS RUN toggle is off) or walk (if the ALWAYS RUN toggle is on). If you want to sneak around, be sure to walk or your footsteps will give you away.
Move Forward/Backward (W or UP/S or DOWN ARROW): These buttons will move you forward or backward without changing the direction your gladiator is facing.
Step Left or Right (A or COMMA/D or PERIOD): This will cause you to sidestep left or right without changing the direction your gladiator is facing, a maneuver commonly known as strafing.
Up/Jump (SPACE): Hitting this key will cause your gladiator to leap into the air. If you're moving when you jump, you'll leap in the direction you were moving.
Down/Crouch (C): Holding down this key will cause your character to drop into a kneeling crouch. Use this to hide behind things or take cover.
Turn Left or Right (LEFT/RIGHT ARROW): These keys cause your gladiator to pivot left or right, changing his facing without moving forward or backward.
Sidestep/Turn (ALT): Holding this key down in conjunction with the left or right arrow will cause you to sidestep in that direction instead of turning.
Shoot
Attack (CTRL): Hitting this key will loose a short burst of fire at your enemies. Hold it down and you'll pummel your target as quickly as the weapon can fire.
Previous/Next Weapon (LEFT BRACKET or RIGHT BRACKET): Scrolls through the weapons available to your gladiator in the order indicated above. (See Ready Weapon).
Autoswitch Weapons: If this toggle is ON, you will automatically arm yourself with a new weapon whenever you pick it up.
Ready Weapon (NUMBER KEYS): Over the course of the game, you'll be able to collect a deadly assortment of weapons. By hitting the number keys, you can pick the one you want to use. You cant arm yourself with a weapon you donut have, but you can ready one that's out of ammo. The default weapon keys are:
1. guantlet

2. Machinegun

3. Shotgun

 4. Grenade Launcher

5. Rocket Launcher

6. Lightning Gun

 7. Railgun

8. Plasma Gun

9. BFG-10k
Misc.
Show Scores (TAB): Hitting this button will show the current scores for all players or teams in the game.
Use Item (Enter): If you have an item (like a Personal Teleporter), hitting this button will activate it.
Gesture (Mouse3): This button causes your gladiator to make a characteristic gesture and vocal taunt for all the world to see and hear.
Chat (T): Hitting this button will allow you to type in text that will be displayed on every players screen. You can also chat with computer controlled opponents during single player games. Give it a try and see what they have to say!
Chat-Team (???): Hit this button to send a message only to your teammates.
Chat-Target (???): Hit this button to send a private message to whomever happens to be in your sights at the moment.
Chat-Attacker (???): Hit this button to send a private message to whomever is trying to frag you.
System
These controls can be used to adjust the way Quake III Arena plays on your system. Most of them are fairly self-explanatory.
Graphics
Graphics Settings: Select the option matching your computers graphics card and capabilities.
GL Driver: If you use a Voodoo graphics card, toggle through the options here to select the appropriate GL driver for your machine.
GLExtensions: Disabling the OpenGL Extensions may solve problems with some graphics cards, but will slow down play somewhat.
Video Model: Cycle through the options here to select the video mode best suited to your computers speed. Remember, choosing higher resolution uses more memory and can slow the game down.
Color Depth: Cycle through the various options and chose the one best suited to your needs.
Full Screen: Turning this toggle off allows you to play in a window on your dektop.
Lighting: Set this toggle to control the overall lighting effects in the game.  Set this to Vertex Lighting to improve game performance.
Geometric Detail: This allows you to reduce the level of detail used to draw curves and models. Lower settings speed play but make curves rougher.
Texture Detail: Setting lower values here will make the backgrounds and features less sharp, speeding game play.
Texture Quality: Some 3d graphics card drivers allow textures to be stored in greater or lesser qualities. Adjust this setting to suit your computers capabilities.
Texture Filter: Adjust to improve the appearance of the game.  Tri-linear filtering gives best quality, but at a speed cost.
Driver Info: Display information about your current graphics driver and settings.
Display
Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the game screen.
Screen Size: Adjust the size of the display to suit your tastes or the capabilities of your system. A smaller screen will speed game play.
Sound
Effects Volume: Controls the volume for explosions, gunshots, and so on.
Musice Volume: Adjusts the volume of the games background music.
Sound Quality: Switch this toggle to suit the capabilities of your sound card. Lower sound quality settings will use less memory and speed up play.
Network
Data Rate: Adjust this setting to reflect the speed of your modem or connection for multi-player games. Be careful, if you set your modem rate faster than your modems capacity, you can cause the game to slow down.
Game Options
This sub-menu allows you to control various features of game play. Turning some or all of them off can speed play on a slower machine.
Crosshair: Toggle through and select the crosshair you would like to use in the game.
Simple Items: Toggle this option ON to display a sprite icon in the game for power-ups, weapons, health, and ammunition, as opposed to their usual representative model.
Marks on Walls: If this is on, gunfire will leave black marks when it hits walls.
Ejecting Brss: If this is on, your machine gun will eject shell casings as it fires.
Dynamic Lights: When this is on, weapon fire illuminates the areas through which its passes en route to its target.
Identify Target: This shows you the name of whoever happens to be in your sights at the moment.
High Quality Sky: This adjusts the graphics quality of the sky above the arena.
Sync Every Frame: This evens out the performance of various graphics cards at the possible expense of some performance.
Force Player Model: This causes all opponents to use the same character model as the player, reducing the amount of memory used by the game and speeding play.
Draw Team Overlay: Toggles your team members' reporting information during Capture the Flag and Team Death Match.
CD Key
Use this option to re-enter your CD verification string.
Defaults
Use this option to reset all of the game options to their original (out-of-box) settings.
Demos
Hitting this button allows you to view the game demos that hi-light various features of play.
Cinematics
Hitting this button lets you see the cinematic sequences shown during the introduction and between game tiers. Only "unlocked" tiers can be accessed.
Exit
If you've had enough punishment for one day, you can always bow out by selecting the good old Exit option.
Single Player Multiplayer Setup