Quake III Arena - How to fix the Resolution, FOV, and FPS

This short, easy to follow guide will teach you how to fix the Resolution, FOV (field of view), and FPS (frames per second) in Quake III Arena in order to make it more enjoyable on modern monitors.

Fixing the resolution

(Note that this will make your character model look weird in menus but the actual game will look totally normal).

Step 1
Go your Quake 3 installation folder (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Quake 3 Arena) and open the “baseq3” folder. Then open the file named “q3config.cfg” with Notepad and press CTRL+F. In the search box search for “customheight” and press enter and you will find 2 lines:
seta r_customheight "1440"
seta r_customwidth "2560"
Change the values in the quotes after these lines to match your screen’s resolution. Mine is 2560x1440 so that is what I changed them to (as seen above).

Step 2
Just below these lines you will find another that says:
seta r_mode "3"
Make sure to change this value to “-1” so that the game will use the resolution you put in above.

Step 3
Make sure to press File→Save in order to save these changes.

Fixing the FOV (field of view)

In order to make the FOV look normal at your desired resolution you may need to change it.

Step 1
In the “q3config.cfg” file, CTRL+F and search for “cg_fov” to find the line:
seta cg_fov "110"
Change the value to change the FOV. I find 110 looks best to me personally.

Step 2
Make sure to press File→Save in order to save these changes.

Note: If in-game, you can also open the console and do /cg_fov 110 or whatever number you want to play around with the FOV in-game.

Setting your FPS (frames per second)

Step 1
In the “q3config.cfg” file, CTRL+F and search for “maxfps” to find the line:
seta com_maxfps "0"
Change the value to change your maximum FPS. Setting it to 0 will unlock the fps, making it so it will be as high as your PC can output.

Step 2
Make sure to press File→Save in order to save these changes.

Step 3
Now go to C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Quake3 and do the same step to the "q3config.cfg" files in the "baseq3", "DM", and "excessiveplus", folders in there aswell. I've noticed that while all the other options that you change will update in these files, for some reason the FPS does not so you have to change it manually or your fps won't be uncapped when you launch the game.

Note: If you are on a laptop and you find that after applying the fix above your FPS still doesn't go higher than 60, open the NVIDIA App --> Graphics --> Global Settings --> turn "BatteryBoost" OFF.

Bonus Fix

This step is optional but since you are already changing stuff, I highly recommend doing it.

Step 1
In the “q3config.cfg” file, CTRL+F and search for “lightning” to find the line:
seta cg_trueLightning "1"
Make sure to set the value to 1. This makes it so the beam from the Lightning Gun follows the crosshair a lot more closely (like it does in Quake III: Team Arena), making it much easier to aim than it is leaving this value at it's default setting.

Step 2
Make sure to press File→Save in order to save these changes.

Hope this helps! :D

If you also play Team Arena you'll need to do these steps for it's config file aswell:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2959316453
I also recommend checking out my other guide on how to get Upscaled Textures, an HD Main Menu/HUD, and HQ Sounds: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2960682722

[GreenApple2013]

I add 32k and its looks amazing!

[xX_RaptorSc0pez_Xx]

@Raven I'm really not sure. Since the game doesn't take up much space I'd honestly just reinstall it to the C drive. Something you could try first though is install Everything by voidtools which will let you search your entire PC for certain files (basically just how the Windows search SHOULD work by default). Use it to search for all instances of "q3config.cfg” and see if you can find the ones that you haven't edited yet.

[Raven Atreides]

OP, where would I find the C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming(etc.) stuff if I have the game installed in a separate drive that's not C? I don't see a Quake folder in my Roaming.

[KACKTUS EGGY EGGY]

To prevent the HUD from stretching, use ZTM's Flexible HUD mod for ioquake3. https://clover.moe/flexible-hud-for-ioq3/

[xX_RaptorSc0pez_Xx]

@Roycephus Honestly for the best experience I wouldn't do just this guide by itself I would also install ioquake3, as I show how to do in my other guide.

[Roycephus "Roy" Pulsipher]

Yeah it works, but for some reason the cinematics went black screen

[xX_RaptorSc0pez_Xx]

@Epsilon From the Main Menu go to Setup --> Controls --> Move --> then turn "Always Run" off (it's the first option at the top of the page).

[Epsilon]

Is there anyway to disable autorun so that the player walks normally and only runs when the run key is held down?

[xX_RaptorSc0pez_Xx]

@Sixteen60 Try setting the config file to be "Read Only"

[Sixteen60]

I set the framerate to 165 in Quake3e but it resets back to 125 everytime I start it back up.