JailBreak Introduction

Welcome to the JailBreak tutorial. Before proceeding any further please note that this tutorial assumes you fulfill one of the following assumptions:

  1. You have completely read the Deathmatch 101 tutorial
     
  2. You already have the equivalent knowledge in that tutorial (meaning you understand the basics of Quake2 Internet Games and can participate in them fairly easily).

Again, please make sure that you meet at least one of these requirements before proceeding any further, otherwise some of the concepts may seem very difficult.


WHAT IS JAILBREAK?
JailBreak is a popular mod for Quake 2. In fact it was one of the first Quake 2 mods available and rapidly became a hit with the on-line community. It combines teamplay and goal aspects along with the combat aspect of classic Quake 2 deathmatch. And, as you're about to find out, it's a whole lot of fun!

JailBreak is very much in the same flavor of other popular teamplay mods like Capture The Flag. There are two opposing teams - red and blue - with each team battling the other. The goal is to infiltrate the opposing team's base and "break" your teammates out of their jail. You are placed in the enemy's jail when you are killed, and enemies are placed in your jail when they are killed. As you can already tell teamplay is critical if your team is to be successful.

You must mount an adequate invasion force in order to successfully penetrate an enemy base and hit the prison release button in that jail. Likewise, you must also maintain sufficient defenses around and in your base to repel any attackers.

If you're entire team is jailed in the enemy base then you will all be executed and the opposing team will receive loads of points - so don't let your entire team get executed.


DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING JAILBREAK
Downloading the JailBreak software and installing it is a relatively easy process. First, check the Download Central page for the latest links to the JailBreak software and download it to your PC.

Once you've downloaded the software use the Windows Explorer to locate the file you downloaded. If the file is a zip file you must extract it to your Quake2 directory. This is most easily done with WinZip so download and install that if you don't have it. Remember when you're extracting the file to your Quake2 directory you must check the option Use Folder Names. This makes sure that all the path information in the zip files is used. Below is an example screenshot of using WinZip to extract a zip file to the Quake2 directory:

winzip.gif (7639 bytes)

If the file you downloaded was an executable (meaning it had a .exe extension) then just double click the file in the Windows Explorer and click the UnZip button and JailBreak will be extracted automatically.

Quick Tip
Note that these install instructions are only general guidelines. Always follow the install instructions the providers of JailBreak give you. You can check their web site for appropriate instructions at: http://www.planetquake.com/rxn

Once you've got JailBreak installed it would also be a good idea to grab a GameSpy tab for JailBreak. You can find a link to that on my Download Central page again.


SETTING UP JAILBREAK
Before we actually start to play JailBreak it's a good idea to set a few things up: namely creating a config file and a shortcut that will let us explore the maps off-line. First the config file.

Remember that I assume you already know the basics of config creation and usage. If you don't then please read Part 4 of my DeathMatch 101 tutorial.

Create a new config file in your Quake2/baseq2 directory. You can name it anything you want, jailbreak.cfg is a nice name. Now copy and paste the following config lines into that file:

bind f "cmd ident"
bind e "+use"

To use this config every time you play JailBreak I recommend you either associate this config with a player name in GameSpy or just type exec jailbreak.cfg at the console every time you play JailBreak. Also note that I have chosen to use the F and E keys in this config. You may alter it to suit your needs but for the remainder of this tutorial I will use those keys when talking about their respective commands.

Now, to play around in JailBreak off-line follow these steps:

  1. Using the Windows Explorer navigate to the Quake2 folder.
     
  2. Right click on the "Quake2.exe" file and choose Create Shortcut.
  3. Right click on the shortcut and click Properties
  4. Click the Shortcut tab
  5. In the Target box, copy and past the following bold text onto the end of the text already in the box (leave a space between the text already there and the text you paste in): +set game "jail"

Double click the shortcut and Quake 2 will launch in JailBreak mode. At the console type map jb2 to jump to a JailBreak level. The other map names are:

tinjb1
jbpalace
jb3b
haakjail


Now that you've downloaded, installed, and setup JailBreak it's time to actually start playing. Click the link below to start that up!

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