I can't remember if Quake 2 creates a config.cfg or not, I assume it does. Delete that so it resets all your game/graphic settings. Maybe something is set to an incorrect value that your Radeon doesn't like.

It'd probably fault at the super long extension list string. it's a common point of failure for the older id techs

also inb4 the sourceport recommendation rodeo - not all are universally ideal (and likely won't work with w9x systems as many are compiled with VS's or GCC's too new, use SDL2, or remove important "dead legacy code" that should still be there)

Is there an opengl32.dll in the Quake 2 directory by any chance? If so, try to delete it. It could be the remnants of some MiniGL driver for some specific hardware, preventing Quake 2 from loading the regular Radeon OpenGL driver.

Thanks all.

I'll give the config text thing a go. With regards to the dll file, there's not one called opengl, but there is one there called ref_gl (could be wrong I'm not at the pc now, but its like that).

Would it be worth seeing if Quake 3 suffers the same issue?

Strange quake2 suffers from the extension limit since all manufactures know about it
try renaming quake2.exe to mohaa.exe if it still doesnt work its unlikely to be an extension bug problem
there is also quake2xp which is an updated port
Catalyst 3.7 run quake2
ps: you havnt slected 3dfx opengl in q2 have you ?

I don't know if I've ever tried Quake 2 on a R300 class Radeon.

I usually just drop in a NV card if I'm going to run a OpenGL game because it will be less problematic, faster and prettier most of the time because 1) ATI couldn't write drivers back then 2) ATI never prioritizes OpenGL 3) developers didn't like to use ATI. Games that use a Bioware engine will be the most trouble.

Will try that shortly Davros thank you.

And definitely not using the 3dfx version sadly.

I would use my TI4200 for Quake 2 if the worst comes about, but weirdly my 9800 is far better when it comes to DOS with my monitor. It supports the correct refresh rate over DVI and respects the aspect ratio whereas neither of my Nvidia cards do.

Have you tried it in 32bit color? Have problems with GLQuake on ATi chips - broken image when i run it in 16bit color. Needs to be switched to 32bit or run in window, not fullscreen. And if youre using W9X, you need to set desktop color depth to same as game you trying to run.
But never tried it with Quake 2, might be some other issue.

sketchus wrote:

Would it be worth seeing if Quake 3 suffers the same issue?

Shouldn't.

FYI ref_gl.dll is the renderer backend module Quake2 uses to implement OpenGL rendering, it is NOT like 3dfxgl.dll/pvrgl.dll/opengl32.dll. It is a vital file.

Davros wrote:

quake2xp

NO

You can fix the "too much gl extensions" crash in qengine games manually. Open the renderer (main .exe or ref_gl.dll), find the "GL_EXTENSIONS: %s" string and replace "%s" to "%p".

And yes, Quake III and q3engine games are affected too.

I can confirm. Sometimes video cards crash in Quake 3 with old config file.

Well I fixed it.

I was getting tired of my 98 install so I did a fresh reinstall and installed Catalyst 5.9 and DirectX 8.1 (previously only 7).

Not sure if anyone of that was what did it but now it works great.

I appreciate all the help, troubleshooting these older games can be a right kick in the nuts.

The Radeon drives it at 120hz too @ 1024x768, which I have to say is absolutely lovely!

ok leileilol I'll bite whats the problem with Quake2xp

I had the same issue recently with an R300 card and the 6.2 Catalyst drivers.

For me, I had to define a monitor. With a DVI connection, the default "Plug and Play" specification wasn't negotiating available resolutions to the OpenGL driver and/or Quake engine. Oddly, other OpenGL and all Direct3D content worked fine. I changed my monitor to the "1600 x 1200 Super VGA" spec in the default provided list and all was fine.