Welcome to the Q2 File Fanatic Frequently Asked Questions section. I have tried to think of every question that could possibly be asked pertaining to my site and the files that reside on it, however, it is possible I overlooked some. If this is the case, ask me a question and I will add it to this F.A.Q. as soon as possible.

"What is the purpose of this site?"
"You have a lot of files. Are you sure they're all virus free?"
"One of the files on your site won't download. How come?"
"Why don't you have files like bots, mods, or patches?"
"I hate your website. Wanna know why?"
"I love your website! Can I tell you what I like?"
"What is/How do I install a theme?"
"How do I create my own custom theme?"
"Do I need Microsoft Plus! to use a theme?"
"I don't like some of the stuff that was in a theme I downloaded. Can I just change a couple things?"
"What is/How do I install a wallpaper?"
"I installed a wallpaper and there's a fat ugly border around it. Why?"
"I installed a wallpaper and it shows up more than once on the desktop. Why?"
"How do I create my own custom wallpaper?"
"What is/How do I install an icon?"
"How do I create my own custom icon?"
"What is/How do I install a cursor?"
"How do I create my own custom cursor?"
"What is/How do I install an animated cursor?"
"How do I create my own custom animated cursor?"
"What is/How do I install a screen saver?"
"How do I create my own custom screen saver?"
"What are/How do I install sounds?"
"How do I create my own custom sounds?"
"What is/How do I install a font?"
"How do I create my own custom font?"
"How do I change the colors and fonts on my desktop?"
"OK, I made a file for the site. What do I do now?"

"What is the purpose of this site?"

This site is aimed at providing some of the best Quake 2 files out there that can complement and enhance your boring, everyday Windows environment. After all, why should Quake2 be just a game?

"You have a lot of files. Are you sure they're all virus free?"

Absolutely. I run each and every file through two up-to-date virus checkers before uploading them to this site.

"One of the files on your site won't download. How come?"

Well, most likely it's because the link is wrong. Please tell me which link doesn't work and I'll fix it as soon as possible.

"Why don't you have files like bots, mods, or patches?"

Reason number one: this is a Windows oriented site. Bot, mod, or patch files are strictly for the game. Reason number two: there are plenty of great sites out there, even right here on Quake2.com, that have these sorts of files. Reason number three: way too many of these files are floating around the net. I couldn't keep track of them all. Reason number four: I'd rather not take up more of Quake2.com's web space than is required for the content of this site.

"I hate your website. Wanna know why?"

Absolutely. It is probably the most productive way to design your website, by what people like (or don't like). If you hate it for other reasons than design or content, however, I won't bother to hear them (such as complaints about not having mod files and such).

"I love your website! Can I tell you what I like?"

By all means! If you would be so kind as to share your raves with the rest of my guests by signing the guestbook, I would greatly appreciate it. I love complements. =)

"What is/How do I install a theme?"

A (thorough) theme is a collection of sounds, colors, icons, cursors, as well as a screen saver and wallpaper, grouped into a single file that changes your entire Windows environment. The best way to use a theme is with the Microsoft Plus! add on companion for Windows. You can download a demo of Microsoft Plus! here. If you have Microsoft Plus!, installing a theme is quite a simple task. Simply open up your Control Panel (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel) and double click "Desktop Themes". Select the theme you want to install from the drop down list and you're set! If your theme doesn't show up in the list, click "Others..." at the bottom of the drop down list and point to where you downloaded your theme file. Now, if you don't have Microsoft Plus!, it's going to take a little bit more effort. You can either install each aspect of the theme individually (by right clicking on the desktop and selecting "Properties" and changing everything there) or download a program similar to Microsoft Plus!, such as Free Theme, that will install the theme for you.

"How do I create my own custom theme?"

Well, the first thing you will need to do is prepare all of the aspects that create a theme; icons, sounds, cursors, animated cursors, a wallpaper, and perhaps even a screen saver. Each of these tasks makes for a (sometimes) time consuming job, and nearly each task requires that you have a special program. Read on to learn more about how to create these types of files. Once you are finished compiling all of your files to be included in a theme, here's what you do. First off, put all the pertinent files into one folder. Then, go through and set up your theme precisely how you want it on your machine. Change the wallpaper, the color scheme, all the fonts you will use, everything. When that's completed, open up Microsoft Plus! (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Desktop Themes). On the drop down list it should say "Current Windows Settings." Click "Save As...", save the file with a name of your choosing, and you're done! Again, if you don't have Microsoft Plus!, this can be a little more complicated. You will need to have a program that creates the .thm file for you, such as Desktop Themes by Left Side Software.

"Do I need Microsoft Plus! to use a theme?"

As I said before, if you don't have Microsoft Plus!, installing a theme can be a bit more painstaking. You have to either install each individual file in the theme, or download a program that acts similarly to Microsoft Plus! such as Free Theme (freeware; created by Klaus Thrane).

"I don't like some of the stuff that was in a theme I downloaded. Can I just change a couple things?"

Yes. Install a theme like normal, with one exception (if you don't know how to install a theme, read this). Instead of clicking the theme from the drop down list and immediately clicking "Apply," uncheck the stuff you don't want installed on the right. Purdy easy, huh?

"What is/How do I install a wallpaper?"

A wallpaper, also referred to as a "background" is the graphic that goes onto your desktop. This is one of the most important files when creating a theme... To install a wallpaper, all you need to do is place the .bmp file (all wallpapers must be in .bmp format) into your c:\windows directory, and then right click on the desktop and select "Properties." Choose your background from the list on the right.

"I installed a wallpaper and there's a fat ugly border around it. Why?

Well, most likely it's because the wallpaper is smaller than your current screen resolution. There are two ways to fix this. The first way is to make your screen resolution the same size as the wallpaper (right click the desktop, click "Properties", click the "Settings" tab, change the Desktop Area to that of the wallpaper). This is most likely what you'll have to do if you do not have Microsoft Plus!. If you do have Microsoft Plus!, all you need to do is open up the Plus! settings (right click the desktop, click "Properties", click the "Plus!" tab) and check the box that says "Stretch desktop wallpaper to fit the screen".

"I installed a wallpaper and it shows up more than once on the desktop. Why?

There are two reasons why this happen (both have to occur). First of all, the wallpaper in question is smaller than your current screen resolution, and second you have a "Tiled" background selected. To fix the problem, you will need to do one of the above two options first, and then second go to your "Background" settings (right click the desktop, click "Properties", click the "Background" tab) and select the Display type to be "Center" instead of "Tile". That should fix the problem.

"How do I create my own custom wallpaper?"

The first thing that helps is having an artistic touch. =) The next step is to get a graphics program. A shareware program, Paint Shop Pro 5 by Jasc Software, is a perfect tool for tasks like creating wallpapers. After you create your wallpaper (Hey, I'm not gonna tell you how to create the wallpaper, just the steps involved. You're on your own as far as design goes. =) save it as a .bmp file, and I would recommend that it have dimensions of 800 x 600, the standard desktop area for most computers.

"What is/How do I install an icon?"

An icon is a graphic associated with every single file on your computer. As far as I can tell, the only types of files that you can change the icon of are .bat files, shortcut files (.lnk), and occasionally .exe files. To accomplish this, right click the file you want to change the icon of and select "Properties." You should have a tab labeled "Program" or "Shortcut" on the window that just opened. Click the said tab and select "Change Icon...", hit "Browse", and point to the icon you want to replace the current icon with.

"How do I create my own custom icon?"

You will need to get a program that can associate with icon files (.ico). For this task, I would recommend you get a program called MicroAngelo. Then you need to get a program that can associate with graphic files such as .bmp and .gif (Paint Shop Pro 5 is a great shareware graphics program). After that, you're pretty much on your own. I would suggest you create your icons in 256 colors and size 32 x 32.

"What is/How do I install a cursor?"

A cursor is the graphic used to denote your mouse movement. It can be an arrow, change to a beam or an animated hourglass, or be any number of things. To install a cursor, go to your "Mouse" settings (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Mouse). Click on the "Pointers" tab, and away you go with your cursor selection. Just click the cursor you want to change, hit "Browse", and point to the new cursor to be installed.

"How do I create my own custom cursor?"

This process is nearly identical to creating an icon. The only difference is that when you create your graphic, you will save it as a .cur file instead of an .ico file. Read all about creating icons above.

"What is/How do I install an animated cursor?"

An animated cursor is simply a regular cursor that is animated (duh). It's just like an animated .gif you see on the web. Any cursor can be animated, but usually you stick to animated cursors only when the computer is doing something (the "Busy" and "Working in Background" cursors). Installing an animated cursor is identical to installing a regular cursor; Go to your "Mouse" settings (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Mouse). Click on the "Pointers" tab, pick your cursors. Just click the cursor you want to change, hit "Browse", and point to the new cursor to be installed.

"How do I create my own custom animated cursor?"

Making an animated cursor is a bit more complicated than a regular cursor, simply because you have to create enough graphic images so that when they are "played" in a row, your image appears to have motion. So, make all your graphics (I recommend Paint Shop Pro 5 in case you didn't pick up on that before...) and then use MicroAngelo to put all the images together and save it as an animated cursor file (.ani).

"What is/How do I install a screen saver?"

A screen saver (do I even need to say what a screen saver is??) is a program that launches up when you leave your computer alone for a set period of time so that it won't burn your monitor screen. To install a screen saver, first unzip the screen saver file (.scr) into your c:\windows\system folder. Then, right click on your desktop, select "Properties," and click on the "Screen Saver" tab. Select your screen saver from the drop down list, play with the options (when possible), and set the amount of time your computer must be idle before the screen saver turns on. That's it!

"How do I create my own custom screen saver?"

I have no idea. =) Honestly, I really don't know how to make one because, as far as I can tell, you need to have programming experience to make a screen saver. I don't even know where you can go to get information about creating one... sorry.

Update: I got word that there is a program that can create screen savers for you, even add sounds, text, or music! Check it out at Screen Saver Studio.

"What are/How do I install sounds?"

Sounds are a very important part of your Windows environment. They alert you when something is wrong, and they greet you when you turn on your computer. Installing sounds is a little time consuming when you have several to install, but the process is not difficult at all. To install new sounds, first go to your Sound settings (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Sounds). Click on each of the sound files you would like to change, and click "Browse" to point to the sound file you want to replace the current one.

"How do I create my own custom sounds?"

Beats me. I get all of my Quake2 sounds directly from the pak file included in the registered version of Quake2. To browse through the pak file, you need a program called Pak Explorer. With this, you can see all kinds of goodies about the game. Just be careful you don't delete anything, I'm not responsible if you mess anything up. You can also find thousands of sounds all over the internet, just do a search on what you're looking for.

Please Note: If you are creating a theme, at a bare minimum have the following sounds:
Asterisk - Played when a question is being asked
Critical Stop - Played when something critical happens in a program
Default Beep - Played when you do something like click where you shouldn't
Exclamation - Similar to Asterisk
Exit Windows - Played when Windows shuts down
Maximize - Played when a window is maximized
Menu Command - Played when a menu program is executed
Menu Popup - Played when a menu pops up
Minimize - Played when a window is minimized
New Mail - Played when you get new E-mail
Program Error - Played when a program has an error
Question - Similar to Asterisk
Recycle Bin Empty - Played when you empty the Recycle Bin
Restore Down - Played when a file is minimized to the taskbar
Restore Up - Played when a file is restored from the taskbar
Start Windows - Played when Windows starts up

"What is/How do I install a font?"

A font is a file that gives a certain appearance to text. It's a real great way to spruce up your Windows environment. To install a font, go to your Fonts folder (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Fonts) and click on "File," "Install New Font..." Find your font on your hard drive, and then select "OK." If you have the "Copy fonts to Fonts folder" box checked, you can delete your old font file.

"How do I create my own custom font?"

Uh, search me. =) If anyone out there knows of a freeware or shareware program that allows you to create your own true type fonts, especially if the letters can be created from graphic formats, please let me know!!!

"How do I change the colors and fonts on my desktop?"

If you go to your "Appearance" settings (right click the desktop, "Properties," "Appearance" tab) you can change all the colors, sizes, and fonts to use in your Windows environment.

"OK, I made a file for the site. What do I do now?"

Great! I'm always accepting new files to make the archives here grow more and more! Just go read the Send In procedures for the file type you're sending in, and I'll get it posted as soon as I can!