Installation

Installation

Download

Get the latest release from one of these places:

• GitHub Releases: github.com/Q3Rally-Team/q3rally/releases
• ModDB: moddb.com/games/q3rally
• Website: q3rally.com

Q3Rally is a standalone game, so you do not need Quake III Arena. Unpack the archive into a folder of your choice. The game data lives in the baseq3r folder next to the executable.

Starting the game

Platform	Executable
Windows (64-bit)	q3rally.x86_64.exe
Linux (64-bit)	q3rally.x86_64
macOS	the app bundle from the release

On the first launch you'll see the profile wizard:

1. Enter your display name.
2. Optionally add gender, birth date, avatar and country. You can skip all of these.
3. Optionally opt in to the Ladder. You can also skip this step.

System requirements

Q3Rally runs on almost any hardware made in the last 20 years. You need:

• A 64-bit Windows, Linux or macOS system (Apple Silicon is supported)
• A graphics card with hardware OpenGL support and up-to-date drivers
• Around 1 GB of free disk space

Where your files are stored

Settings, screenshots, demos, profiles and ghost recordings are not written to the installation folder. They go into your personal data directory:

Platform	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Q3Rally\baseq3r\
Linux	~/.q3rally/baseq3r/
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Q3Rally/baseq3r/

Useful files and folders in there:

Path	Contents
q3config.cfg	Your settings and key bindings
ghosts/	Your personal lap ghosts (see Ghosts and Ghost Race)
ghosts/ladder/	Ghosts downloaded from the ladder (🧪 Development build)
demos/	Recorded demos
screenshots/	Screenshots

💡 If something gets messed up, close the game and rename q3config.cfg. Q3Rally then starts with default settings.

Running from source

Building the game yourself? See engine/README.md for build instructions. On Linux and macOS you can then start the game straight from the repository with:

./run.sh +set g_gametype 6 +map q3r_battlecanyon

run.sh builds the game if needed, links the compiled QVMs into baseq3r/vm/ and launches it.

Next steps

• Learn the keys: Controls
• Pick a mode: Game Modes
• Something doesn't work? Troubleshooting