Installing Custom Maps on a Quake 3 Arena Server

Upload and install custom community maps on your Quake 3 Arena dedicated server using .pk3 files.

Quake 3 Arena has lots of great base maps, but sometimes you want something different. This guide shows you how to add custom maps to your server.

Some websites with custom Quake 3 Arena maps include:

⚠️ Warning: Players must have cl_allowDownload 1 set or Allow Downloading turned on under Setup, then Options to join a server with custom maps. This must also be set for any mods they play, so load the mod first, then run the command or enable Allow Downloading.

How to Add Maps

Download Your Maps

Download the maps you want. These should be in .pk3 format.

Open the Panel

Access the XGamingServer Panel and select your Quake 3 Arena server.

Navigate to the Game Folder

In the sidebar, click Files and open the baseq3 folder.

Upload Your Map Files

Upload your custom map .pk3 files. You can drag and drop files from your local computer, or use an SFTP client to upload them.

Restart Your Server

Restart your server for the new maps to be available.

After restarting, you can load a map from the server console. For example, if your custom map is called 2fastcomp003.pk3, type map 2fastcomp003 into the console and press Enter.

💡 Tip: Once you have uploaded your maps, you should create a map cycle or levels config. See the Mapcycle guide for instructions.

How is this guide?

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