Installation

Simply download and unzip Q3Bench.zip. Run the "Setup.exe" file from unzipped folder.You will be presented with options on the path you would like Q3Bench to be installed to.

You will be asked which Startup Menu folder you would like Q3Bench shortcuts to be placed.

Before Running Q3Bench:

Before running any benchmarks you need to turn "VSYNC" off in your video driver options.

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(example for NVIDIA card owners):
Right click on your destop and select "Properties" from the right-click menu.
Click on the settings tab at the top, and then the "advanced" button at the bottom.
Click on the tab named after your video card (like "Geforce2 GTS").
Click on the button named "OpenGL"
In the middle of the window change the vertical sync setting to "Always Off".
Close the windows.

Remember to change this setting back to "On by default" when you finish running benchmarks.

Sound

It is recommended that you manually turn off your soundcard before run benchmarks. The ocnfig files used by Q3Bench do have both sound and volume set to "0.00", but for some systmes this must be done and it is recommended for everyone.

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Bring up your Device Manager form the Control Panel or by right-clicking on the MyComputer icon on your desktop and selecting properties. Click on the "+" sign next to the section called "Sound" or "Sound and Game controllers". Click on the listing for your soundcard and then click on the Properties Button at the bottom of the window. When the second window comes up click once on "Disable in hardware profile" to place a checkmark in the checkbox and click on "OK" and then "OK" again. Restart your computer if necessary. Just remember to turn the sound back on by unchecking the box when your benchmarks have been completed.
 

First Run

After installation is complete you can run Q3Bench by double-clicking on the Q3Bench.exe file in the Q3Bench folder or selecting the Q3Bench.exe shortcut in the Start Menu.

The first thing Q3Bench will do is to try and locate your Quake3 installation. If it finds the correct registry key Q3Bench will ask you to confirm Quake3's location. If Q3Bench does not find the registry key, it will ask you to manually locate the Quake3 folder. The location of your Quake3 installation will be stored in a file in the Q3Bench folder called "path.ini" and can be modified at any time by using the "refind path" button in the advanced section of the utility.

Starting the Benchmark

When Q3Bench starts you will see the benchmarking options infront of you. By clicking on the check boxes under "Resolutions to Run", you are choosing which resolutions will be used during the benchmarking. The checkboxes under "Config Files to Run" are used to select which configuration files to use. There are four configuration files. Three of them exactly match the "standards" for Quake3 benchmarking (you can find information on this here). The forth configuration file (Custom) was included for you to make your own setting choices (more on this later).

The last option (Run How Many Times?), will allow you to run each setting combination one, two, or three times. You may be wondering "WHY?" you would want to do this. Quake3 benchmarking results can fluctuate 5fps (sometimes more) at the same setting levels. The most accepted practice is to run each benchmark three times and then average the results (Q3Bench will average the results for you).

The default benchmarking setup has: five resolutions selected, three configuration files selected, and "Each Setting Run 3 Times" selected. This would equal:

5 x 3 x 3 = 45 demo plays

On a fast system this would take about thirdly to forty-five minutes to complete.

The last option is which demo you would like to use. By default DEMO001 and DEMO002 are added to the selection box if your Quake3 installation is at version 1.11 - 1.17. If your Quake3 version is at 1.27g or 1.27h there ARE NO supported built in demos. If your installation version is at 1.29f, there is one built in demo: "FOUR.dm_66".

You are now ready to start the benchmark. Just hit the "RUN" button at the bottom of the window.

Backup your Quake3 config file.

Right after pushing the "RUN" button, you will be asked if you would like to back up your configuration file. This is HIGHLY recommended as the configuration file (q3config.cfg) will be completely overwritten during the benchmarking. Simply choose a name for the backup and hit "OK". You can always restore the backup later by yourself, or let Q3Bench restore it when you are compiling the results. The restore (config) function is located in the advanced section.

Let Quake3 Run!

Just sit back and let Quake3 run. When it's done it will exit to the desktop.

Compile results

When Quake3 exits, start Q3Bench again and click on the "Compile Results" Tab and press the "Generate Results" button at the bottom of the page. The results will be displayed in the window. A text file has actually been created and you can see the path to it's location in the top text box. If you wish, you can press the "OPEN" button to open the text file.

Afterwards

If you wish, you can delete the large mess of files that were created in your BaseQ3 folder. There is a button for this in the advanced section of the program.

You should also know that the next time you start a benchmark, every Q3Bench file in the BaseQ3 will be "cleaned" (deleted) first. This includes the results text file. So you might want to move it or save a copy somewhere else if you want a record of your previous benchmark runs.

Quake3 / Quake3-DEMO VERSION HELP

WHERE DEMO FILES ARE LOCATED

Aside from built in demos, Demo files located inside in your Quake3 Demos folder (located in the "BASEQ3" folder of your Quake3 gamefolder). If you have never recorded a demo and wish to add demos to Quake3, you will need to create this folder by hand. All demo files MUST go in this folder.

The path will look like:           ...\Quake III Arena\BaseQ3\Demos\

This information holds true for any version of Quake3 that you have. However, there are now three different demo standards.

If your Quake3 version is:
 

• 1.11 - 1.17: Your playable demo version standard is "*.dm"          (ex: mydemo.dm)
  1.27g - 1.27h: Your playable demo version standard is "*.dm_48"     (ex: mydemo.dm_48)
              1.29f: Your playable demo version standard is "*.dm_66"    (ex: mydemo.dm_66) 

WHICH VERSION OF QUAKE3 DO I HAVE?

If you've patched Quake3 Arena you should know this offhand. But, if you don't know, or which to check or confirm your version level, follow these simple instructions: Start Quake3 Arena and once loaded press the tilde key (~). Your version level will be displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the console.

Enjoy!