Quake 2 KEX multiplayer

Hey
Quake is the business to me
Quake is where it begins and ends
Although in 2025 the multi-player is limited when your friends are casuals…

To my delight, if I host a deathmatch in Quake 2, I have friends that will join it
And also a regular amount of other users.

I wish to maximize this experience.

What are some good maps that use the original textures?

I have run servers with some classic old maps like Icarus but players report checkerboard textures.

Is this a limit of the Quake 2 PC build? Can the server not send assets? (for example if I download a map it will have custom textures - it is very laborious for other users to have to download the same archives)

Tips or advice welcome

I’d love to do the same for Quake, get my Steam friends playing - but they aren’t interested in source ports sadly
And the numbers don’t seem to be there…

But hosting a Kex server in this day and age seems to me something I can further explore.

I tell you what, railgun instagib in q2dm1 is a hit in my circle