This is the "Quake 2 Documentation Project" main document. Herein you will find an informal charter of the Q2DP, a description of the approach, concept and tools, and all other details needed to understand the Q2DP and enable you to put it to full use. If you intend to submit a contribution, it is also recommended that you make yourself familiar with the procedure and the inevitable legalese involved.
The prime objective of the Q2DP is free, efficient and fast exchange of information. The copyright and distribution policy as invoked herein is inspired by the GNU Public License, the various Artistic Licenses, and the License used by the "Linux Documentation Project". It is our intention that the licensing will protect the prime objective, will prohibit other people from enforcing additional restrictions on copies or modified versions of this collection, and will encourage further contribution.
The other documents within the collection will simply refer to this one, as far as details of licensing and distribution, or the Q2DP in general is concerned.
This collection would not have been possible without all the information contributed by other people, and all the experimentation done. Some of contributed sections of a document, or even the first revision of an entire document, other send in corrections and additions. The Q2DP collection would also not have been possible without the "open game" approach as employed by id Software, Inc.
Note that the list below includes both active contributors and authors, and other who just posted information on mailing lists or otherwise, or gave permission to use their documents.
The current list of contributors includes: Christian Antkow, John Carmack, Ryan Drake, Bernd Kreimeier, Adam Mayer, Kekoa Proudfoot. Nicholas Dwarkanath, Brian Hackert, Remco Stoffer, Thomas Scherning. Lars Bensmann, Robert Jones, Marc Fontaine, Bernd Kreimeier, Ben Morris, Dalias, John Wakelin, Thomas Winzig. John Cash, Greg Tree@Quake. Anthony Spataro, Davo, Michael DiGiovanni. David Bucciarelli. Kevin E. Martin. Yahn Bernier, Steve Fukuda. Paul Jaquays. Steve Simpson. Chris Wise, Adam Bowen.
We rely on you, the reader and fellow developer, to make this collection useful. If you have any suggestions, corrections, or comments, please send them to the current maintainer, Bernd Kreimeier ( bk@gamers.org). Please read the section below on how to do this best.
Before sending bug reports or questions, please read all of the information in this HOWTO, and send detailed information about the problem.
"DOOM", "Quake", "Quake 2" are registered trademarks of id Software, Inc.. Other product names are trademarks of the respective holders, and are hereby considered properly acknowledged.
Copyright (c) 1998 by authors. The authors and contributors explicitely encourage free redistribution, mirroring, and even modification, as long as the original credits and information including the pointer to the primary location is preserved, additions are marked as such, and proper credit is given. We also ask you to notify us of any additions or corrections to the content of this collection that might be useful to the community at large.
For all practical purposes, this document may be distributed under the same terms as set forth in the LDP license at sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/COPYRIGHT.html, which is used by the "Linux Documentation Project". Incidentally, the concept and spirit of the Q2DP is inspired by the LDP approach. This collection is thus free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the LDP license. If in doubt, feel free to contact the current maintainer of the project, Bernd Kreimeier ( bk@gamers.org).
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, with the same disclaimers as made in the LDP license.
If you publish this document on a CD-ROM or in hardcopy form for profit or other considerations, we ask for notification, and a number of complimentary copies would be appreciated. Mail the current maintainer, Bernd Kreimeier ( bk@gamers.org) for details and postal address.
You will find the most recent version of this document at www.gamers.org/dEngine/quake2/Q2DP/.
New versions of this document will be announced on the various mailing lists. They might also be mirrored at the usual Quake web sites.
To ensure that information is made available as soon as possible, the Q2DP uses a two stage mechanisms for contributions, which you will find described in the section about the Q2DP Supplement. It also provides a ChangeLog that will list all changes made in chronological order, to keep you up to date.