VKQUAKE(6)

💖 VKQUAKE 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for vkquake over in the Games Manual section, and I am literally so excited to tell you about it. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

vkquake — a Vulkan-based engine for id Software's Quake 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vkquake [options]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So this page is the quick lil rundown of the vkquake command, and honestly? it's giving iconic.

vkQuake is a port of id Software's Quake but — and this is the slay part — it uses Vulkan instead of OpenGL for rendering. 💅 It's built on top of the very beloved QuakeSpasm and QuakeSpasm-Spiked ports, and it runs all the mods that QuakeSpasm is compatible with, like Arcane Dimensions. no cap. 🔥

👑 OPTIONS 👑

Okay so this program follows the Quake convention, where long options start with a single dash (-). yes, one dash. iconic behavior. a summary of the options is included below 🫶

• -basedir directory — tells it where the game data files live.
• -cddev device — pick the CD device to be used for CD audio.
• -condebug — writes a log file with debugging information in it.
• -consize integer — sets the size of the console buffer, in kilobytes.
• -current — start the game in the current video mode for Vulkan.
• -dedicated — start the game in a dedicated server mode.
• -device integer — the index of the Vulkan device to use for rendering.
• -[no]egs, -[no]epic — skip, or explicitly enable, detecting installed game assets from the Epic Game Store.
• -f, -fullscreen — use a full screen video mode.
• -fitz — Fitz mode: disables the vkQuake customizations so it acts like vanilla Fitzquake.
• -game name — start the game using the files from a mission pack or a mod.
• -[no]gog — skip, or explicitly enable, detecting installed game assets from the GOG game store.
• -height pixels — the vertical resolution to use for the game screen.
• -hipnotic — start the game with the Hipnotic mission pack.
• -ip ip-address — start the game and specify an alternative IP address for the game to use.
• -ipxport port — the port number the server uses for the IPX network protocol.
• -listen integer — the maximum number of players that can connect to the listen server.
• -mixspeed integer — sampling frequency for audio out; default is 44100 (Hz).
• -multiuser — use $HOME/.local/share/vkquake for game data (save files included) instead of the default $HOME/.vkquake directory.
• -nocdaudio — disables CD music audio.
• -noextmusic — don't play external music files.
• -noipx — disables the game's support for the IPX/SPX network protocol.
• -nojoy — disables support for joysticks.
• -nolan — disables support for all network protocols.
• -nomouse — disables support for the mouse.
• -nosound — disables support for sound hardware.
• -noudp — disables support for the UDP network protocol.
• -noudp4 — disables using IPv4 for UDP networking.
• -noudp6 — disables using IPv6 for UDP networking.
• -original — if both the original and the remastered game assets are found, use the original.
• -particles integer — the maximum number of particles rendered on the screen at once.
• -pinnedworkers integer — number of workers to pin to individual cores.
• -port port — sets the port for both the IPX and UDP network protocols.
• -protocol integer — the communication protocol to use for online/LAN play. accepted values are: 15 (NetQuake), 666 (FitzQuake), or 999 (RMQ). RMQ is the default.
• -quoth — use extensions from the Quoth mod.
• -refreshrate integer — the display refresh rate to use.
• -remaster — if both the original and the remastered game assets are found, use the remaster.
• -rogue — start the game with the Rogue mission pack.
• -sndspeed sample-rate — the sampling rate used for sound; default is 11025.
• -[no]steam — skip, or explicitly enable, detecting installed game assets from the Steam game store.
• -udpport port — the UDP port number the game should use for network play.
• -validation — enable Vulkan validation. 👀
• -w, -window — start the game in a windowed OpenGL video mode.
• -width pixels — the horizontal resolution to use for the game screen.

🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

vkQuake is written by Axel Gneiting and contributors. 💜

This manual page was taken from the QuakeSpasm package — originally written by David Banks <amoebae@gmail.com> for the Debian project — and adapted by John Rowley <dpkg@johnrowley.me> for vkQuake.

and that's the whole vibe check, bestie 🧚 this page is from the Games Manual, dated 2026-07-19, and it ate, no notes. go frag some fiends 💖✨🌈