i got quake3 for linux and when i start it i get this message:
Sys_Error: Couldn't load default.cfg

i saw here http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/q3a/#pk3 that i might have forgotten the pk3 files but they were all in the right place and i even changed perms on everything just in case but i still get the same error
system: slackware 9.1

i had the same problem when i installed quake 3 on gentoo.
the first time i ran it i had no problems, but the second time i also got that error.
however, i didn't get the error when i launched quake3 from the /opt/quake3 directory.
i just made a _very_ simple script to first cd to /opt/quake3, and then launch quake 3, and i don't have the problem anymore

i hope this will be of any help.

maybe you could try going to the quake3 root dir and execing quake3 from there?

i tried doing that but it says the same thing

hmm i've looked around and these could be the the causes of your problem.
1 - your pak0.pk3 file is corrupt
2 - you need to copy the default.cfg in your home dir to q3a/baseq3

this is all i can find for now.
hope it helps...

i don't have a default.cfg anywhere at all

just to make sure:
did you install the latest point release, and then copy the pak0.pk3 file from your cd to the q3a folder?
i think something went wrong with the installation when you dont have a default.cfg

it's that bin file you can download i can't remember from where

here i got a link for ya:
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/qua....32b-3.x86.run

install that, then copy pak0.pk3 from your quake3 cd to /opt/quake3/baseq3 and it should work (assuming you installed quake 3 in /opt)

I can't understand. So i can't run the game by only installing the linuxq3apoint-1.32b-3.x86.run? I need a Quake 3 CD too?

Yeah you have to own a copy of quake lol. First copy the pak0.pk3 from your cdrom then install the point release

The hell? Then why do they call it a demo? I get the same problem for both Q3 and Point demos!

I assume this is what you installed:

http://ftp.yars.free.net/pub/softwar...11-6.x86.gz.sh

ie the demo.

If not thats why your not able to run it, the point release is for full quake3.

Sonofa.... Anywho, when I try to run the Quake3 demo, I get the same error, something about how it can't load default.cfg, mostly because it never made one, blah, blah blah.... At least Unreal Tournament's demo works, as does UT2k3's demo....

I used to have this problem years back, and i eventually tried copying the default.cfg from pak0.pk3 to ~/.quake3/demoq3/. Even that didnt work, so in the end i just installed it to my home dir, at 60 or so meg its not a big deal.

The main reason i think i had the problem was the game used to install to /usr/games instead of /usr/local/games and that borked all the symlinks up. i now have full q3 without a problem. When you install, check the install dirs, also its possible that the files are corrupted somehow.

Also the default.cfg seems to come up if you have videocard probs a lot. So this is possibly the problem also.

On a side not i have all 3 of the UT games running, full version wise and ive not seen any of these crashes that people have been complaining about, apart from a slight fubar with the sound on UT 2K3, which required a little messing about in SDL.