Airtime docs Play ▸
Docs/References

Quake 3 Defrag

What it is: Defrag (DeFRaG) is a Quake III Arena mod for movement and trick jumping. It started around 2000 and is still played. Players race maps for time or do freestyle tricks, and records are collected online (q3df.org). Thousands of maps exist.

Physics modes#

  • VQ3: the original Quake 3 physics. Air control is weak, so speed comes from strafe jumping and circle jumps. This is closest to UrT's base.
  • CPM: Challenge ProMode physics. Strong air control (turning in the air with A/D only), double jumps, ramp jumps. A different skill set with its own records.
  • Every record is per physics mode. The map is the same, the leaderboard is separate.

Movement tricks#

  • Strafe jumping, circle jumps, rocket jumps, grenade jumps, plasma climbs (climbing walls by shooting the plasma gun at them), BFG jumps, overbounces (special heights where a landing bounces you up), slick surfaces, jump pads, teleports.
  • Map types: run maps for time and freestyle maps for tricks. Many run maps forbid weapons ("strafe" maps) or give one (rocket maps, plasma maps).

Timing#

  • Map entities:

    • target_startTimer starts the run;
    • target_stopTimer stops it;
    • target_checkpoint records splits in between.

    Triggers fire them. This is the model for our timer volumes (tech/timing/triggers.md).

  • Times are shown to the millisecond. The client keeps its own records per map and physics mode.

Demos and ghosts#

  • Runs are recorded as Quake 3 demos (.dm_68) and named by map, physics, time and player. Records are submitted as demos and checked by watching them.
  • Ghosts: Defrag can play back a demo as a ghost to race against.
  • Watching record demos is how players learn new routes and tricks.

Community#

  • Online cups (DFWC, the Defrag World Cup), a ladder of records per map, and mapping contests.
  • A culture of "every millisecond counts" and of sharing demos.

What we take#

  • Start / stop / checkpoint entities as the basic timing model.
  • Records per rule set: maps with different rules and moves keep separate boards.
  • Ghosts from demos and records you can always watch.
  • Cups: time-limited competitions on a fixed map.

What Airtime does differently#

  • Weapon-based movement (rocket jumps, plasma climbs) isn't part of the classic routes. Where a map has a movement tool (a jetpack, a grapple), the map is built around it.