How to Add Mods to Your Quake Live Server

In Quake Live, additional content comes exclusively from the Steam Workshop. Custom rule sets are defined on top of that through so-called factories – small JSON files stored on your server.

Add Workshop content

1. Find the item ID
   Open the desired item in the Quake Live Steam Workshop in your browser. The item ID is the number at the end of the address:

   https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123456789
   

   In this example the item ID is 123456789.

2. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

3. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP.

4. Open workshop.txt
   Open the following file. If it does not exist yet, create it:

   /baseq3/workshop.txt
   

5. Enter the item IDs
   Enter exactly one item ID per line:

   123456789
   987654321
   

6. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server. The server downloads every listed item before it finishes initialising.

Add custom maps to the map pool

A downloaded map is only played once it is part of the map pool.

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Open mappool.txt
   Open the following file via SFTP:

   /baseq3/mappool.txt
   

3. Add the map
   Add one map together with its factory per line, separated by a |:

   campgrounds|ffa
   mymap|ca
   

4. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server.

Create custom game modes (factories)

In Quake Live, gameplay settings do not belong in server.cfg – they get overwritten by the factory of the running game mode. Custom rules are therefore defined as a factory.

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Create the folder
   Create the following folder via SFTP if it does not exist yet:

   /baseq3/scripts/
   

3. Create the factory file
   Create a file there whose name ends in .factories:

   /baseq3/scripts/mymode.factories
   

4. Define the factory
   The file is a JSON file and contains either a single object or an array of several factories. This is what the bundled InstaGib FFA factory looks like:

   {
     "id": "iffa",
     "title": "Instagib FFA",
     "author": "id Software",
     "description": "Railgun and Gauntlet only. One shot, one kill.",
     "basegt": "ffa",
     "cvars": {
       "g_dropCmds": "0",
       "g_spawnArmor": "0",
       "dmflags": "28",
       "g_instagib": "1",
       "g_startingWeapons": "65",
       "timelimit": "15",
       "g_allowKill": "0",
       "fraglimit": "50",
       "g_overtime": "0",
       "g_loadout": "0"
     }
   }
   

5. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server.

Fields of a factory

Valid values for basegt:

Folder structure at a glance

/baseq3/server.cfg                <- server configuration
/baseq3/workshop.txt              <- item IDs from the Steam Workshop
/baseq3/mappool.txt               <- maps and factories of the map pool
/baseq3/access.txt                <- admins, moderators and bans
/baseq3/scripts/                  <- custom factories (.factories)