quakeat-decrypted

Quake Arcade Tournament Edition, with dongle protection removed.

What is this?

Quake Arcade Tournament Edition (quakeat) is an unreleased prototype arcade port of Quake 1. It has several unique engine modifications and cannot run in a source port.

You can read more about it here:

• http://quakearcadetournament.blogspot.com/
• https://www.quaddicted.com/quake/quake_arcade_tournament_edition
• https://www.tweaktown.com/news/36841/rare-quake-arcade-tournament-edition-on-ebay-1-of-20-/index.html

You can obtain a copy of the port by searching for its MAME hard disk image, quakeat.chd.

Previously, quakeat was unplayable on home computers due to a missing physical copy protection dongle that would normally be plugged into the arcade machine. Attempting to run glquake.exe would result in a Security key not found error.

This modified executable removes the dongle protection, so the port can be played on home computers.

Instructions

1. Download glquake_decrypted.exe, and place it in the game's root directory.
2. Run glquake_decrypted.exe. The -nogci option is recommended.

If you encounter crashes or freezes, try:

• Using a Glide wrapper. nGlide worked for me on Windows 10. Specifically, ensure the glide.dll, glide2x.dll, and glide3x.dll files are alongside glquake_decrypted.exe.
• Running the executable with the -nogci, -nosound, or -window options.
• Opening ID1/quake.rc and commenting out all lines where a .avi file is passed as a parameter to startdemos, i.e. change startdemos avis\lbe.avi to //startdemos avis\lbe.avi, startdemos avis\q3d-msv.avi to //startdemos avis\q3d-msv.avi... (issue)

FAQ

Q: Why is glquake_decrypted.exe different than what is produced by quakeat_patcher.c?

A: glquake_decrypted.exe was dumped with Scylla. The patcher was written after the fact, and works slightly differently – it modifies the original program to automagically decrypt itself and load imports when run.

Special thanks to

• CyberHeg - "Breaking the shell", March 2001. http://www.woodmann.com/crackz/Tutorials/Cyberheg4.htm
• ShubNigurrath - "Removing ________ ________ dongle from Applications", September 2006 (pdf)