it's more enhanced than I expected -- models are higher poly, there is animation interpolation, they added splitscreen....

There's one screenshot where they have a dynamic shadow casting light from a muzzle flash. 

I also wonder about what technical changes they made. The models look high-poly enough I wonder if they changed the model format, or switched to a skeletal format for models and animations?

Also wonder if the netcode changed at all, are they still using the old protocol 15? Did they combine quakeworld enhancements into a single new protocol? 

Posted by Poorchop on 2021/08/19 22:14:30
It looks like Bethesda has given Quake 1 fans a pittance in the form of a major update. It seems like they gave it the Doom treatment with a new source port with built-in add-on support. Talking to someone who is playing through it now, I think that they have included the "5th episode" from Machine Games, and the release notes mention the inclusion of another episode by them. Apparently the online component will have cross play with the console releases but a Bethesda account is needed for the online component.

There are already updated screenshots on the Steam page linked above along with more specific release notes. The original soundtrack is finally available in this release. 

Just played around with it! Its honestly a really solid port. Nice to see them add stuff like matchmaking to make getting online easier. Honestly I think that's their angle, before now getting Quake working right through steam has been a huge pain in the ass for new players. 

I bought the PC and Switch versions.

I probably won't use the PC version much, but I am very interested in having a good old poke at the content. For PC, community source ports will remain my go to.

The Switch version makes a great deal of sense to me. It's exactly what I need for a quick and easy Quake fix if I'm on a train, stuck in an airport, or whatever. I can see that getting a huge amount of use, and I'm delighted they released for that platform too. 

If you already owned a copy on Steam, you should be given a free upgrade to this new version.

I've had a look round the .pak files and the enhanced models are in there alongside the original .mdl file. For each upgraded model there's a
.md5anim file
.md5mesh file
.lmp file per skin

The .lmp files are readable in adquedit, might be a good avenue to make the worlds first mod for Quake XXV. And the skins are actually all power-of-two dimensions! So potentially the effective footprint for textures is lower than base glquake, even with the raised pixel density.

Another fun fact, not all models have been remade - for example head gibs have been left untouched!