/vr/ - Retro Games

>>9055463
Huh? Ironwail is a superset of Quakespasm and much faster to boot, if you can run it you always should (the meme oldschool effects are optional and not even enabled by default). In terms of mod compatibility it's identical to Quakespasm.
vkQuake also stems from Quakespasm and has support for some advanced mod features (custom HUDs and particles), otherwise very close (filters textures by default which is a sin though). It's my default engine to play mods/maps, for the HUDs and particles (and the performance - it's also a lot faster than Quakespasm).
Darkplaces is kinda abandoned since 2014 (dev trooned out - literally), many new mods including Arcane Dimensions just won't work on it anymore. If you need a "kitchen sink" engine (disregarding all taste), FTEQW is essentially your only option.
The "KEX engine" Steam rerelease port is kind of broken - worse compatibility than Quakespasm, trouble with framerates over 60, not that fast. Not really interesting in my opinion. It does have some fancy shadow effects, but nothing major. It also has steamworks multiplayer and a horde mode if you're into that (Quakespasm and derivatives can play the horde maps to some extent).
And then there are specialty engines (Mark V, JoeQuake which is mostly used by speedtrannies) and multiplayer (quakeworld-based) engines.