---------------------- (0) Index (1) Introduction (1.1) What is Blue Hell done Quick? (2) The Movie (2.1) Installation (2.2) Running the movie (2.3) Using the menu (3) More details about the demos (3.1) Timing (3.2) How the demos were recorded (4) The demos (4.1) Statistics (4.2) Comments on the Nightmare run (4.3) Comments on the Easy 100% (5) Credits and contact info (5.1) Credits (5.2) Utilities used (5.3) Contact info ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Introduction (1.1) What is Blue Hell done Quick? Blue Hell done Quick (BHdQ) is a set of demos which complete the Blue Hell episode as quickly as possible. Blue Hell is a custom episode created by Jason Zukowski. The levels have been quite popular with speed-runners because of their small size and their potential for tricks. In this collection we go through the episode in two different styles: - on Nightmare skill, collecting all four runes, in a total time of 38 seconds. - on Easy skill, collecting all the runes and killing all the enemies, in a total time of 51 seconds. We have also refilmed the Nightmare run and woven a small storyline around it. If you think you can beat any of the demos in BHdQ, go ahead and try, and send us your demo if you succeed. Make sure you use the our special modi- fication of QdQStats for Blue Hell to start with the same stats we started with, and also check out the improvements page at QdQ to see if any maps have been run faster after this release. (2) The Movie (2.1) Installation This release is available in two formats, with and without the levels. The downloads are set up so that you can extract both the levels and the demos in one directory, continue to play the levels, and start the demos by running one of two batch files we supply. First you need to find your main Quake directory. This probably has the name "Quake" and will contain such items as your Quake executable programs (such as quake.exe, or winquake.exe, or glquake.exe...) and your Id1 subdirectory. (Mac users may be more used to the term "folder" than directory.) You should install the downloads (i.e. both levels and demos) into a sub- directory of this main directory. For the purposes of these instructions we will assume you have called it "jzblue". In fact, the batch files used to run the demos will not work properly otherwise. (2.2) Running the movie For Dos/Win users: We supply two batch files to run the demos. Simply start them; they will ask you which version of Quake to use (DosQuake, WinQuake, or GlQuake). The file bhdq_eh.bat will start the Easy 100% run; the file bhdq_nr.bat will start the Nightmare run. You can access both the first person and the refilmed version within the latter. For other OSs: To run the movie, you need to rename the file bhdq.pak to pak1.pak and start Quake with the command-line option "-game bhdq". This will start the Nightmare run. To watch the Easy 100% run, add "+temp1 3" to the command line. Mac users: You can rename the pak and run Quake by dragging the jzblue folder onto the Quake app icon. For the Easy 100%, type "temp1 3" in the console. (2.3) Using the menu The movie is played from a menu interface, so that you can choose to play the whole episode, or individual levels. Using the menu should be mostly self-explanatory! There are just a few additional things you should know about using it: Whilst playing a demo, you can press F10 to stop and return to the menu. If you are playing the whole sequence of levels, then you can press F9 to advance to the next level. (3) More details about the demos (3.1) Timing Just a quick explanation of why we say we completed Blue Hell in 0:38 and 0:51, respectively. We recorded every demo separately and then connected them together, adding the times for the five levels. The times are taken from the intermission screen, i.e. fractions of seconds are discarded. We decided to collect the runes in the first four levels because we felt that the demos feel more "complete" that way. It would be possible to complete levels three and four faster if one doesn't care for the runes. (3.2) How the demos were recorded We recorded each demo separately, on skill 3 (Nightmare) and skill 0 (Easy), of course without any cheating. To start with the correct stats we ended the previous level with, we used a QuakeC patch that allowed us to select the statistics we started with. Why record each demo separately instead of doing them all in a row? Let's start by saying that the latter has been done already. The record (at the time of writing) for the Nightmare run is 0:47 by Sergi Cami, and the record for the Easy 100% is 1:19 by Marlo Galinski. Both demos can be obtained at the Speed Demos Archive . By recording the levels separately we could include more tricks and reduce the time. (4) The demos (4.1) Statistics ---------------------------------------------------------------- Nightmare run Easy 100% Level Map Running Time Running Time ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Castle jzblue_1 Robert 0:13 Robert 0:16 The Chamber jzblue_2 Sergi 0:11 Martin 0:13 The Temple jzblue_3 Markus 0:06 Valeriy 0:12 The Realm of Cython jzblue_4 Robert 0:06 Markus 0:08 The Journey Home jzblue_5 Valeriy 0:02 Valeriy 0:02 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Total for Blue Hell 0:38 0:51 ---------------------------------------------------------------- (4.2) Comments on the Nightmare run jzblue_1 (Robert): This run seems quite easy, don't you think? I can tell you, that it was NOT ;) I needed to be lucky with the monsters to do 14, and _super_ultra_lucky_ to get 13 sec. jzblue_2 (Sergi): Easy route, but need persistence at the end, to not crash with any monster, after grenade boost. Also a little problem is that we needed red armor for the next map. jzblue_3 (Markus): Waking up the shambler at the right time was the most important thing here. When it succeeds, you'll get boosted when going for the rune. After that, the shambler is already minding it's own business, making it possible to maintain some of the speed which helps on getting faster to the rocket- launcher. jzblue_4 (Robert): Someone told me that one could do this map in 6 sec... That was all I needed to know ;) It is easy to do good speeding if one believes in it. jzblue_5 (Valeriy): Well... No big deal actually. Just to make it worth a bit I killed the shambler. My fastest 100% so far (4.3) Comments on the Easy 100% jzblue_1 (Robert): I was aiming for 19, and got 18.. tried some more, got 17. Thought that was optimum, but the run was a bit shaky, so i redid 17 several times, and got 17,5 so i thought 16- could- be done... And I made it :) jzblue_2 (Martin): First I tried to nail the fiend, but then I discovered it could be killed with a quadded grenade thrown on your way to the exit. To kill the fiend this way you'll need some luck (or good aiming =). You also need to reach the quad fast, if you want to kill the fiend with one grenade that is. jzblue_3 (Valeriy): That was damn hard to get ALL the kills in the time. Moreover I had to take rockets and rocket launcher for jzblue_4. Funny demo anyway. I like it. jzblue_4 (Markus): This map was fun and easy to play because of the rl-quad-pent combo. The only thing I really had to care about was picking enough cells for killing Cython... jzblue_5 (Valeriy): It was too easy to optimize it. Nothing else to say. (5) Credits and contact info (5.1) Credits Robert Axelsson Running, Story Valeriy Burmistrov Running, Co-ordination Sergi Cami Running Samuel Persson Music Martin Selinus Running Markus Taipale Running Stefan Schwoon Post-production Additional thanks to: Peter Horvath Will Marsh Jozsef Szalontai (5.2) Utilities used The utilities we used included: LMPC by Uwe Girlich for decompiling and recompiling demos so we could use the convenient LS format. Also Uwe's DEM specs were very useful for us in creating our own tools. Some in-house utilities; DemoRelise (unreleased) to make demos that fit into a continuous run, Demtool for various editing jobs, and Dzip for compressing the demos. The basic menu code and batch files were made by Anthony Bailey. (5.3) Contact info For QdQ news and future projects check our page at For questions and comments (even if you just want to say you liked the demo), email , or email the project members individually. Also, keep an eye on our website for future projects and releases. At the time of writing, the next should be: Doom done Quicker, a speed-run through all four episodes of Ultimate Doom, improving the predecessor Doom done Quick. The Rabbit Run, a run through Quake on Easy skill, recammed and turned into a movie. This is quite an ambitious project and is taking us quite long. A sequel to Qd100Qlite, a run through all of Quake on Easy skill, getting all the kills and secrets. QddQlite, a cooperative run by two players through the whole game on Easy skill. The QdQ team, 30.11.2000