# Every time I launch Quake 3 it seems fine until I hit anything on the menu. From singleplayer to exit, every time I click on something the frame rate drops to about half a frame a second. How do I fix this, I cant find a fix anywhere else

**URL:** <https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/every-time-i-launch-quake-3-it-seems-fine-until-i-hit-anything-on-the-menu-from-singleplayer-to-exit-every-time-i-click-on-something-the-frame-rate-drops-to-about-half-a-frame-a-second-how-do-i-fix-this-i-cant-find-a-fix-anywhere-else/1997>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [October 24, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/every-time-i-launch-quake-3-it-seems-fine-until-i-hit-anything-on-the-menu-from-singleplayer-to-exit-every-time-i-click-on-something-the-frame-rate-drops-to-about-half-a-frame-a-second-how-do-i-fix-this-i-cant-find-a-fix-anywhere-else/1997 "2024-10-24T17:53:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WofWca](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.ioquake.org/wofwca/32/795_2.png) [@WofWca](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/WofWca)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/every-time-i-launch-quake-3-it-seems-fine-until-i-hit-anything-on-the-menu-from-singleplayer-to-exit-every-time-i-click-on-something-the-frame-rate-drops-to-about-half-a-frame-a-second-how-do-i-fix-this-i-cant-find-a-fix-anywhere-else/1997/3 "2025-05-22T12:15:32Z")

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I am experiencing something similar. Windows 10.

I downloaded the game from here [https://files.ioquake3.org/Windows.zip](https://files.ioquake3.org/Windows.zip), unpacked it then moved the original game `.pk3` files to `baseq3` of the unpacked folder.  
I also tried following the instructions in https: //ioquake3 .org/help/players-guide/#windows (running installer, then replacing files), but the result is the same.

Notably, when I launch `ioquake3.x86.exe` from the old installer instead of `ioquake3.x86_64.exe` from `Windows.zip`, it runs smooth, not as atrociously as `ioquake3.x86_64.exe`.

My original Quake III Arena from steam also runs smooth.

My GPU is an old-ish (~2015) Nvidia one.

This looks very similar to [Engine runs at less than 1 FPS on Windows XP](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/engine-runs-at-less-than-1-fps-on-windows-xp/115).

* * *

And just as I was about to press “post”, I launched the game once again, and it worked perfectly! Both the “installed” version and the simply unpacked `Windows.zip`.  
Frankly, I have no idea what fixed it.

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/every-time-i-launch-quake-3-it-seems-fine-until-i-hit-anything-on-the-menu-from-singleplayer-to-exit-every-time-i-click-on-something-the-frame-rate-drops-to-about-half-a-frame-a-second-how-do-i-fix-this-i-cant-find-a-fix-anywhere-else/1997)._