Multiplayer Authorisation Problems

First be sure to check that you have entered the CD Key correctly, it can be found on a sticker attached to the CD jewel case and contains letters and numbers only. The length of the key is usually 16 letters|numbers and must be entered into Quake3's CD key menu in lowercase.

Can you ping the id software authorisation server at authorize.quake3arena.com ? If you cannot check that your lmhosts or hosts file in the windows directory has not been altered and is redirecting requests that should go to id software's authorisation server. It can also be the case that routing is redirecting requests, check the routing table. Try another ISP if you can as some block the IP address and/or ports to stop online gaming.

Have you modified the Quake3.exe executable? Some no CD patches cause problems with multiplayer, replace the quake3.exe file with the original untouched quake3.exe from the latest point release.

If you are on a dialup connection, played on a server less than 5 minutes ago and you have redialled your ISP wait a few minutes before trying the server again. Your IP address is tied to the CDKey for a short time, the timeout being around 5 minutes.

Check that the CDkey is being written to the q3key file correctly, the file can be found in your baseq3 directory. If it is not you can create it manually, in the example shown replace yourvalidkeyhere with your key and save it to a file called q3key in your baseq3 directory. You may wish to write protect the key so it cannot be deleted.

yourvalidkeyhere
// generated by quake, do not modify
// Do not give this file to ANYONE.
// id Software and Activision will NOT ask you to send this file to them.

If you have a file called q3key in directories other than baseq3 then try deleting them.

Do you use network sharing software such as Winroute? If so check that the sharing software is configured for NAT mode.

If you have a firewall then make sure you have opened the Quake3 authentication server and utility server ports 27950, 27951 and 27952 as well as the game ports 27953 to 27970.

Not CDKey related but still an authorisation problem, if the server is running OSP and has the OSP anti-cheat protection enabled you may need to download the OSP client pack. Place the downloaded file z-osp-cgamexxx.pk3 in the OSP directory. Macintosh users will need the updated Quake3 .bin file which corrects problems with the QVM to authorise correctly on OSP and Q3COMP

Make sure you have installed the latest point release as the network code has been updated. There were also some issues with GameSpy and the CDKey with Quake3 versions prior to 1.16n.

Point release 1.32 added a new anticheat cvar to control Punkbuster, if you are playing on a Punkbuster server make sure that cl_Punkbuster is set to 1