Quake3 Map Renderer

Quote:

I am interested in writing a quake3 map renderer and I am curious as to where i would start, i dont know anything about q3 map files.

Description of the Q3 .bsp file format:

http://graphics.cs.brown.edu/games/quake/quake3.html

Look down at the bottom for more possibly useful links. Also:

bsp collision detection tutorial

I've seen other tutorials on various websites, but I can't remember where.

Anyway, writing a Q3 renderer can be a great learning experience. You can tackle it at any level of complexity, from getting the polygons and textures on screen (not too hard) to fully supporting shaders, skyboxes, lightmaps, curved surfaces, visibility, entities, and fog (a fair amount of work).

Existing renderers are also a great reference, as digging through the source code will provide a lot more detail than the above format descriptions. Here's one that you might take a look at.

Here are some screenshots from my Q3 renderer:

screenshot 1
screenshot 2
screenshot 3
screenshot 4

(Oh, and I almost forgot - wasn't the Q3 source code released?)

I think what was released were the sources of the game, NOT the engine. Correct me if i'm wrong ^^

yep the engine AND game code has been released. ftp.idsoftware.com

http://www.codesampler.com/dx9src/dx9src_10.htm#dx9_solidnode_bsp

Let me know if it helps you.