Part 2 - Using
Gamespy: The Basics |
THE
BASICS - CONNECTING TO A SERVER!
Well, you've spent all this time learning the basics to
deathmatch but you have yet to actually connect to a server and
start playing!!! Congratulations because your patience is about
to pay off! Just follow these steps to begin your first
deathmatch!
- If you haven't already, start
Gamespy.
- When you first start Gamespy
a couple windows popup. The first is just a little nag
screen that reminds you of the fact that you can register
Gamespy if you want (and why not, it's a great program!).
Just click Continue to proceed.
- The next screen is called the
player profile screen. This is where you can choose which
player name you want to play with. If you haven't created
a name yet click the New button. Another
window appears that lets you setup your player. All you
need to fill in is the "Player Name" box. When
you're done click OK and then click Continue.

- We are now at the main
interface window for Gamespy. On the far left side of the
window is a column of buttons with names like "All
Sources", and "Quake 2." These are source
buttons. Selecting them tells Gamespy what kind of
servers you want to search for. Since we want Quake 2
servers click the Quake 2 source button.
Make sure that "Quake 2" is the only source
button selected (you can tell a source is selected
because the button changes colors to white).
- Now that we've told Gamespy
we're looking for Quake 2 servers we need to tell it to
go out and find these servers. Click the Update
from current source button on the toolbar (as
pictured below). Gamespy will then contact several other
servers which maintain lists of Quake 2 servers. After
downloading the most current server lists it will go out
and "ping" each of these servers. This process
can take a minute or two so be patient (now would be a
good time to go grab a caffeinated beverage).

- When Gamespy is done
"pinging" servers you will be presented with a
list of all the Quake 2 servers it pinged. They are
listed from top to bottom in order of fastest to slowest.
Look at the ping times for each of the servers - they're
right next to the server name. Try to find the smallest
ping time you can. Pings over 400 aren't very playable,
the 300's are playable but can be jumpy at times, and
anything above that is typically very smooth. Find a
server that isn't empty, or full, and has a low ping
number. Double click on the name of that server and
Gamespy will launch your Quake 2 deathmatch game!!
Note |
Well I'll
be saying goodbye for a few hours now, because you're
likely going to be having too much fun on those
deathmatch servers playing Quake 2 to worry about this
tutorial! When you do manage to wrestle yourself away
from the fray join me back on this page and we'll
continue! |
Click below to continue on in the
tutorial. Lag and ping is our next topic.