How to Connect — Quake III Arena

Get Quake III Arena

Buy Quake III Arena on Steam or GOG. You need the baseq3/pak0.pk3 file from your install — it contains all original maps, textures, sounds, and the multiplayer data. Copy your full baseq3/ folder to a clean directory.

Choose Your 2026 Engine

The original 2001 Q3A engine still runs but these are dramatically better:

Quake3e — RecommendedFastest modern Q3 fork. 4K native, high-FPS rendering, improved netcode, and Vulkan renderer support. Drops in as a direct replacement for quake3.exe. GitHub: ec-/Quake3e

ioquake3 — Classic CompatibilityThe reference open-source port. Most stable, widest mod compatibility, connects cleanly to our server out of the box: ioquake3.org/get-it

Quake III Arena RTX Remix — Path TracedA real-time path-tracing remaster built on Quake3e with NVIDIA RTX Remix: PBR materials, remastered textures and fully ray-traced lighting. Needs an RTX-class GPU and your own pak0.pk3-pak8.pk3 copied into its baseq3/. Download: ModDB · GitHub · runtime: NVIDIA RTX Remix

Install HD Texture Packs

Place these .pk3 files in your baseq3/ folder alongside pak0:

pak0-Redux / Q3 HD Retexture Pack — 2K/4K upscales of all original textures with sharpening and detail preservation
Q3 Model Pack (HD Skins) — higher polygon count player/weapon models with PBR-style materials
Spearmint / Mission Pack textures — enhanced arena map visuals for Team Arena expansion

Connect to the Server

Launch Quake3e or ioquake3, open console (~), then:

/connect quake3.sonofasam.com:27960

Our server runs ioquake3 on protocol 68 — compatible with Quake3e, ioquake3 and any vanilla-protocol Q3A client. The RTX Remix remaster is Quake3e-based, so it connects too. No password. Fraglimit 30, Timelimit 20.

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MODERN CLIENTS

Stock Q3A is capped at 125fps and has no widescreen support. Quake3e fixes all of that — Vulkan renderer, uncapped framerate, proper widescreen FOV, connects to any ioquake3-compatible server including this one. If you have an RTX card, the path-traced RTX Remix remaster is the third option below.

RECOMMENDED

Quake3e

Vulkan + OpenGL renderers, 4K widescreen, 1000fps cap, improved netcode, controller support. Drop your baseq3 pak files in and go.

↓ github.com/ec-/Quake3e

4K widescreen:
_mode -1; _customwidth 3840; _customheight 2160; _fullscreen 1

OPEN SOURCE

ioquake3

The reference open-source Q3A engine. Widest mod/game compatibility, OpenAL audio, OpenGL renderer. Use if a mod requires ioq3 specifically.

↓ ioquake3.org/get-it

Widescreen: _mode -1; _customwidth 2560; _customheight 1440

PATH TRACED

Q3A RTX REMIX

Real-time path tracing through NVIDIA RTX Remix, built on Quake3e. Remastered PBR textures and fully ray-traced lighting across the classic arenas. RTX-class GPU required; copy your own pak0-pak8 in.

↓ moddb.com · RTX Remix Mod

↓ github.com/PPBWoodBoy/q3-rtx-demo

4K: edit baseq3/autoexec.cfg
r_customWidth 3840; r_customHeight 2160