Quake 4 Hints

Modifying DEF files

• This is quite a bit different from using the console to enter simple cheat codes and change environment variables. DEF files define attributes for game entities, such as monsters, weapons, etc. It can be fun to play around with some of the values, but you have to be careful since they can affect gameplay in unpredictable ways.
  
  In order to find the DEF files, you'll need a program like WinRAR to look into the PK4 files in the "Program Files\id Software\Quake 4\q4base" directory on your hard drive. The "def" directory is compressed into the file PAK001.PK4, so load it up with WinRAR. Click on the "def" directory to select it, then choose to extract it to your "q4base" directory. The game will see the extracted DEF files and use them instead of referring to the PK4 file. This is done so you can edit the files however you want to and then "restore" back to the originals simply by deleting the new "def" directory. (You can also delete individual DEF files from the directory to cause the game to revert to the PK4 for those items only.)
  
  Once you've extracted the "def" directory, use Microsoft Notepad to load up any file in it that sounds interesting to monkey around with. For instance, you can load up the monster files and give them fewer hit points, or the weapon files to make weapons much more powerful.
  
  As an example, load up the "blaster" file in the "weapons" subdirectory and search for "damage" (quotes included). There should be an 8 in quotes a little ways to the right of the word "damage" on the same line. Change the 8 to any number you like to alter the power of a regular shot fired by the blaster. For instance, a value of "1000" would kill just about anything in one shot! (You can also edit the damage done by a fully-charged blaster shot and its splash damage by finding the other two "damage" lines in the file.)
  
  To turn any weapon into an unlimited-ammo weapon that never needs reloading (like the blaster), edit its DEF file and set the fields "ammoRequired" and "clipSize" to zero. There will be more than one "clipSize" field for most weapons -- make sure all of them are set to zero. (Unfortunately, this doesn't work on the nailgun, so leave its DEF file alone.)
  
  You can also make any weapon have a flashlight on it. Load up the machinegun's DEF file and find the eight lines that start with "mtr_flashlightShader". Copy all eight of those lines into the other weapon DEF files, putting them right below the set of six lines that start with "mtr_flashShader". After you do that, any weapon will have the flashlight shining out of it when equipped (if the flashlight is on). Note, though, that pressing the flashlight button will still switch you back to the machinegun.
  
  Another cool thing you can do is edit the "player" file in the main DEF directory to change some important starting attributes. For instance, find the "maxhealth" and "maxarmor" lines and change their values to some number bigger than 100. A short ways below that, you can find max ammo values for weapons and vastly increase them. (Note that to increase weapon clip sizes, you'll have to edit the "clipsize" lines in the weapon DEF files.) Run Quake 4 and start a new game in order to get your new player settings to take effect.
  

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