Super new to Quake, any bad habits I should NOT be getting into?

[Synthesize]

So I just started, and am having a blast... I want to get good, are there any bad habits I should from the get-go be aware of?

Also, what keybinding is good to have jump on? I'm trying to learn strafe-jumping but it's pretty damn tough...

In terms of mousepad recommendation, are there any clear winners for cloth mousepads? I'm using the qck+ currently and am relatively pleased, except I feel as if it requires a tad too much force before the mouse actually starts moving, and it doesn't always stop where I want it to.

Finally, I understand there are a lot of tweaks that can be done to the config. For now, I seem to be happy with the default. But are there any "no brainers" that definitely should be changed?

Thanks

[*DogDriller]

I use the Razer Goliathus mousepad and after trying a few others I keep coming back too it.

For config tweaks I would recommend to turn music off, weapon viewmodels off, auto record demos, viewbob off, trueshotgun on, weapon smoke off and predict rail shots off. The cvars for all that are:

"s_musicvolume 0;cg_drawgun 0;cg_autoaction 3;cg_bob 0;cg_kickscale 0;cg_TrueShotgun 1;cg_smoke_sg 0;cg_smokeradius_rl 0;cg_smokeradius_gl 0;cg_smokeRadius_NG 0;cg_predictlocalrailshots 0"

[FlashSoul]

Bad habit to avoid : using mousewheel to switch weapons. Unbind it completely and use your keyboard.
/bind MWHEELDOWN ""
/bind MWHEELUP ""

[Synthesize]

Bad habit to avoid : using mousewheel to switch weapons. Unbind it completely and use your keyboard.
/bind MWHEELDOWN ""
/bind MWHEELUP ""

Haha! Thanks for this one, I am totally guilty of only using the mousewheel... Up until now that is Thanks!

[FlashSoul]

No problem. There are a few things that a lot of people use in their config :

Here are a few ones that I think most people use :
com_allowconsole 1
cg_autoswitch 0
s_musicvolume 0.0
cg_bob 0
r_noFastRestart 0
s_ambient 0

Useful (or fun) binds :
bind g "dropweapon"
bind h "dropflag"
bind j "droppowerup"
bind m "+acc"
//taunt
bind b "+button3"

Change the numbers according to what you prefer, those are mine :
cg_speedometer 1
cg_drawFPS 1
cg_lagometer 2

This can help timing items :
cg_drawItemPickups 7

Models are forced by default, aren't they? If that's not the case, I strongly suggest that you use this :
cg_forceEnemyModel keel/bright
cg_forceTeamModel crash/red
cg_forceEnemyWeaponColor 1
cg_forceTeamWeaponColor 1

This one is neat, it allows you to see the railgun trail longer :
cg_railTrailTime 1000
You can set it to 1500 to have the exact railgun reload delay.

If you want to record demos automatically (recommended) :
//Demo
cg_autoaction 1
cl_demoRecordMessage 0

[Synthesize]

This one is neat, it allows you to see the railgun trail longer :
cg_railTrailTime 1000
You can set it to 1500 to have the exact railgun reload delay.

Not sure if that truly is as awesome as my mind just thought it was, or I've smoked too much for tonight **** that is too awesome.. Have to try it out! Although perhaps it disappearing ~200ms BEFORE the reload delay is better - so you can use it as a mental-queue of when to pull the trigger

[FlashSoul]

To be honest, with experience, you shouldn't need that at all to know when you can shoot again. It's more about having a better chance of seeing the trail before it disappears, therefor knowing where it was shot from.

[iSuckz]

OP:

not particularly. at least not "in chair not in computer"; bad is using 1 gun only, ingoring your HUD, ignoring teammates, camping, etc..

-----------------------

my simple advice .. well, two advices. ok, 3 max:

1) your sensitivity is too high. don't even need to know what it actually is, chances are it's too high. *everybody* starts QL with a sens too high .. then they learn.

2) grab a "generic pro player" cfg from the forums and load it, see how it feels.

3) when you seem to have hit a wall in your skill development, come back here with specific questions ... like "what weapon", "how to LG", etc ..

4) aaah you caught me. i said 3 max;
if you have a bad connection ...
hardware *does* matter in QL. good conection, good cfg, good mouse, mousepad, etc ...

[GauntletMan]

Bad habit to avoid : using mousewheel to switch weapons. Unbind it completely and use your keyboard.
/bind MWHEELDOWN ""
/bind MWHEELUP ""

Hum hum, I know what you mean but it's not clear: what's bad is to use the mousewheel to CIRCLE the weapon, as set by default and in most of games => you need a bind for every weapon, in order to be able to instantly switch to the weapon you need.
Still, it does not mean you can't bind weapons on mousewheel (for exemple I have gaunt on down and machinegun on up).

Synthesize > You asked about key for jump, the most popular are space and mouse2 (right button). Test both (or something else) and make you choice.
I personally find strafe jump easier using mouse2 (not to speak about double jump).

Last but not least: read this guide, it covers most of what you need to know.
edit: this one too (actually it might be more what you need than the first link I gave)

[Lorfa]

So I just started, and am having a blast... I want to get good, are there any bad habits I should from the get-go be aware of?

I can think of a very important good habit, and that's to pay attention and learn. Every game event that transpires holds information about what you are doing right/wrong. If you're able to remember events clearly and adapt to more correct actions within every game, your progress will likely be linear.

cg_autoaction 1 will autorecord your games to augment this process.

Also, what keybinding is good to have jump on? I'm trying to learn strafe-jumping but it's pretty damn tough..

I recommend mouse2 jump, mouse3 zoom.