The Top Quake II Level Editors

There are a lot of Quake II editors out there...why waste your time? We've put together a user-friendly list pin-pointing the strengths and weaknesses of the best editors available. If you have previous level building experience, you'll find BSP, Quark, and QERadiant an awesome choice. If you're new to editing, stick with Winqoole, Deathmatch Maker, or qED. For an excellent tutorial series in Quake II level design be sure to stop by t u t o r i a l s. Before starting, download the optional compiling utilities and any additional programs below to aid in compiling the level.

Download
Size
Description
q2utils.exe
252kb
Compiling utils for computers w/o openGL
gdd_q2_utils.zip
103kb
Compiling utils requires openGL
QE4
? mb
id's compiling utils requires openGL
mipindex.zip
129kb
Util to extract textures from PAK or WAD
walplugin.zip
13kb
Photoshop Plugin to support WAL editing
pcxwal.zip
58kb
Converts textures between PCX and WAL
opengl95.exe
112kb
MS openGL drivers for original Win95


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I.  Deathmatch Maker for Quake II v1.0
DMM2 is the only level editor authorized by id Software and found in EB, Babagges, and Computer CIty, and CompUSA. DMM2 allows full 3-D rendered texture and item manipulation with drag and drop support. It comes with tons of tutorials, examples, and new textures. DMM2 is an outstanding editor for those new to editing, but professionals may find it too basic.   Buying Information: Virtus


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II.  Winqoole v2.41
Winqoole, and its built in counter part GLqoole, has the best user interface we've seen. The design windows don't feature a lot of unneccessary clutter and the texture browser is self formatted and convenient. Winqoole even offers full textured rendering. All features are fully functional and Winqoole is very stable. Here at FEAR, we use Winqoole for our levels.   Size: 2mb   FTP: 1 or 2


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III.  QERadiant v1.0b (build 072)
QER is based upon the source of id Software's level editor, QE4. It offers a very professional aporach to editing with a wide range of flexibility including project support. Like Quark, QER is an asset only to those who are already comfortable with level design. This promises to be an outstanding editor, but at the moment there are some bugs that interfere with design.   Size: 274kb   FTP: 1 or 2


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IV.  Quark v5.1b
Quark uses an explorer-based interface to viewing groups and entities. The polygon manipulation and OpenGL3-D textured editing is incomparible to other editors -- simply amazing! Quark is a far superior editor to qED and Qoole, but it has sacrificed useability for power and flexibility. Quark also offers the option of editing models, quakeC, packs, and textures.   Size: 476kb   FTP: 1 or 2


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V.  BSP v0.93a
BSP was probably one of the most sucessful level editors ever to grace the gaming community. This release adds Quake II support and a rework of the interface. BSP is customizable, very powerful, and visually helpful. While this gives experienced designers flexibility, it is very confusing for novices. Be sure to get both files for full Quake II support.   Size: 1.68mb (783kb)   FTP: 1 and 2


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VI.  Qod Erat Demonstrandum v2.0.101b
qED's super simplistic approach to editing makes it fast to visualize and get your level designed. qED offers the user the ability to drag and drop entities, cut and paste items and groups, and manipulate, mold, and carve groups using preset brushes. Ezbuild makes qED easier for new users. The qED beta expired January 24th when the commercial version was released.   Buying Information: 3D Matrix


Last Updated May 5th
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