Action Quake 2 for Mac OS X Howto

Action Quake 2 is a popular mod for the Quake 2 engine from Id Software. It is possible to play Action Quake in Mac OS X without owning Quake 2 or paying a dime. Instructions ensue:

Step 1: Get the Quake 2 application

Fruitz of Dojo have created a very elegant Quake 2 Mac OS X port. You'll need it to actually run Quake 2. This download includes a Quake 2 application bundle and PowerPC-compiled plugins that will enable third-party mods on Mac OS X.

Step 2: Get the Action Quake 2 mod

Download Action Quake 2 here. If the link is broken, visit the official AQ2 site and navigate to the appropriate download.

Step 3: Get a copy of Quake 2

Ideally, you'll want to get a copy of a working Quake 2 installation, since you'll need the baseq2 folder and pak files. You can download the Windows demo if you don't have access to such a CD (.exe installer, extract using StuffIt Expander).

Step 4: Arrange the files

1. Create a folder for Quake 2.
2. Copy the Quake 2 application bundle into the folder.
3. Copy the 'baseq2' folder from your Quake 2 CD (or demo) into the folder.
4. Copy the 'action' folder from your AQ2 download into the folder.
5. Copy the respective GamePPC.q2plugin files from the port into their respective folders.

Step 5: Run the game

You can now run Quake 2 by opening the Quake 2 application. If you used the demo baseq2 folder you will only be able to play the demo levels in Quake 2. Action Quake, however, will function without restrictions. When the game is launched you will be presented with a dialog that allows you to pass command line parameters to the application. You'll want to type in "+set game action" to run Action Quake 2, as demonstrated below: