# Keeping Game Data while removing unnecessary garbage

**URL:** <https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [April 16, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841 "2023-04-16T13:35:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![2ez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e274bd/32.png) [@2ez](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/2ez)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/1 "2023-04-16T13:35:33Z")

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Hello everyone.  
I’d like to remove the proprietary game engine  
and all the unnecessary stuff that comes with it,  
and only keep the actual data files: maps, sounds, textures etc.

So my question is:  
which files should I keep and which I can safely remove  
to keep playing the main game and the Team Arena expansion pack?

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**Author:** ![MrNuclearMonster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.ioquake.org/mrnuclearmonster/32/820_2.png) [@MrNuclearMonster](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/MrNuclearMonster)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/2 "2023-04-16T14:24:54Z")

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ioquake3 is the opposite of proprietary. The source code is public and free software. If you remove the data, you break the game.

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**Author:** ![2ez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e274bd/32.png) [@2ez](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/2ez)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/3 "2023-04-16T14:45:03Z")

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I’m talking about the original engine that comes with the game.  
I want to remove it.  
And use ioquake3 instead.

I need to keep all the textures, sounds etc  
but remove the proprietary engine and other unnecessary files.  
That’s why I’m asking which files I should keep.

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**Author:** ![MrNuclearMonster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.ioquake.org/mrnuclearmonster/32/820_2.png) [@MrNuclearMonster](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/MrNuclearMonster)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/4 "2023-04-16T14:47:59Z")

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Thanks for clarifying. That makes sense, however there is no practical need to remove the other files that come with quake 3 though of course you can remove the original executable if you must. I’m glad you want to play with ioquake3 though, let us know if you run into any trouble.

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**Author:** ![2ez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e274bd/32.png) [@2ez](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/2ez)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/5 "2023-04-16T15:11:44Z")

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That’s the thing, I already ran into trouble.  
There’s unnecessary stuff in my system that shouldn’t be there.  
I mean the proprietary engine: the executable and other stuff related to it.  
I want to remove all the stuff (and use ioquake3 instead) while keeping the actual data files.  
Which files should I keep?

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**Author:** ![2ez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e274bd/32.png) [@2ez](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/2ez)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 10:55am UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/6 "2023-04-20T10:55:18Z")

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I’m using GNU/Linux.  
I got my copy of the game from [gog.com](http://gog.com),  
extracted data files with innoextract,  
checked file sizes with ls -lh,  
and found md5 checksums of the files with md5deep.

Turns out the gog’s pak1-8 in baseq3/ and pak1-3 in missionpack/ are the same  
as the Patch Data provided on this website: [Patch Data – ioquake3](https://ioquake3.org/extras/patch-data/)  
So, downloading the Patch Data was unnecessary.

Now, both yquake2 (Quake II source port) and dhewm3 (Doom 3 source port)  
provide checksums for all the necessary files in their installation instructions:

> <https://github.com/yquake2/yquake2/blob/ba2fc77ee811da3751c9f61dceff22ccaa07003a/doc/020_installation.md>

> **[dhewm3 - Doom3 Source Port](https://dhewm3.org/#how-to-install)**
>
> Project Page of the dhewm3 Source Port of Doom3

To answer my initial question.  
The only files from the original game you need to keep are:  
9 pk3 files in baseq3/ directory (pak0-pak8)  
and 4 pk3 files in missionpack/ directory (pak0-pak3).  
Everything else from the original game can be safely removed.  
To play the game using source port, just install ioquake3 engine and add pk3 files to corresponding directories.

It would be nice to add checksums to ioquake3 Players Guide too  
Here, I made the list for ioquake3 files (similar to one provided for dhewm3):

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![2ez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e274bd/32.png) [@2ez](https://discourse.ioquake.org/u/2ez)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 10:56am UTC](https://discourse.ioquake.org/t/keeping-game-data-while-removing-unnecessary-garbage/1841/7 "2023-04-20T10:56:21Z")

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Getting the Quake3 Game Data

You’ll need the game data from a Quake3 installation. Specifically, you’ll need the following .pk3 files for the main game:

Filename Size MD5-sum  
baseq3/pak0.pk3 458M 1197ca3df1e65f3c380f8abc10ca43bf  
baseq3/pak1.pk3 366K 48911719d91be25adb957f2d325db4a0  
baseq3/pak2.pk3 7,2M d550ce896130c47166ca44b53f8a670a  
baseq3/pak3.pk3 270K 968dfd0f30dad67056115c8e92344ddc  
baseq3/pak4.pk3 9,2M 24bb1f4fcabd95f6e320c0e2f62f19ca  
baseq3/pak5.pk3 188K 734dcd06d2cbc7a16432ff6697f1c5ba  
baseq3/pak6.pk3 7,1M 873888a73055c023f6c38b8ca3f2ce05  
baseq3/pak7.pk3 314K 8fd38c53ed814b64f6ab03b5290965e4  
baseq3/pak8.pk3 444K d8b96d429ca4a9c289071cb7e77e14d2

… and (optionally) these .pk3 files for the Quake III: Team Arena expansion:

Filename Size MD5-sum  
missionpack/pak0.pk3 336M e8ba9e3bf06210930bc0e7fdbcdd01c2  
missionpack/pak1.pk3 375K 8b8a51f9edf2671dfeb53e0405bac3c6  
missionpack/pak2.pk3 368K 4e02be54614ca7dbed81b5c44a19302d  
missionpack/pak3.pk3 376K e7f91f4eb6e3d28d978b8cca54631695