Challenge ProMode Arena

Installation guide

Content

Installation Guide

A few important points before we start:

  • CPMA is a free modification (mod) for the commercial game Quake III Arena.
  • CNQ3 is a free improved executable (engine) for running Quake III Arena on Windows (Vista and later) and Linux. It is the official engine for CPMA. While not necessary, we highly recommended its use.
  • This guide is for Windows Vista and later.
  • MacOS X users will want to look at the ioq3 engine to replace the original one.
  • Windows XP users should look at the quake3e engine.
  • Download and extract the DEZ pack (it's a ZIP archive).
    Make absolutely sure not to install in Program Files or Program Files (x86) as it will prevent the game from saving files to disk.
  • Locate and copy the 9 missing .pk3 files (pak0 to pak8) from your legally obtained copy of Quake III Arena. The files are baseq3/pak0.pk3 to baseq3/pak8.pk3. Where to locate the files:
  • You can now run cnq3-x64.exe to launch CPMA.
    Use cnq3-x86.exe instead of cnq3-x64.exe if you have a 32-bit Windows installation.

Installing on the Steam version

Installation steps:

Extra steps to launch CNQ3 instead of the original client from Steam:

  • Delete or move quake3.exe and testapp.exe.
  • Rename cnq3-x64.exe (or cnq3-x86.exe on 32-bit Windows) to quake3.exe.

Installing from the original Quake 3 CD

  • Run the original installer.

    • Make absolutely sure not to install in Program Files or Program Files (x86) as it will prevent the game from saving files to disk.
    • Opt not to install Punkbuster when prompted for this and any further installation.

  • Download the 1.32 Point Release patch from our download section and run it.

  • Locate the game's folder.

  • Download and extract the following archives

    File Destination
    https://cdn.playmorepromode.com/files/cpma-mappack-full.zip q3/baseq3
    https://playmorepromode.com/files/latest/cnq3 q3
    https://playmorepromode.com/files/latest/cpma q3

    where q3 is the root folder of your Quake 3 installation.

  • If you don't have a file called q3key in your game's baseq3 directory:

    • Create an empty file called q3key in your baseq3 directory.
    • Edit the file to add your own CD key in it and save it.
    • It will look a bit like this: 0123456789ABCDEF (16 contiguous characters).

  • You can now run cnq3-x64.exe to launch CPMA.
    Use cnq3-x86.exe instead of cnq3-x64.exe if you have a 32-bit Windows installation.

Alternative sources

Quake 3 can also be bought on GOG if you don't want to be tied to Steam's DRM platform.

Configuring the game

Once you have CPMA up and running, you will probably want to configure the game to your liking.
For this, please consult the following guides: