For assets (data files), I recommend buying the game. Steam would work well since you'd get instant gratification and everything would already be patched - don'

For assets (data files), I recommend buying the game. Steam would work well since you'd get instant gratification and everything would already be patched - don't forget, Q2 dates back to well before automated patching in games. Admittedly, it's unlikely assets themselves got patched, but it could pop up as an issue after you compiled your own source. There are community-made data files, and these were called "total conversions" since all assets - models, textures, sound, maps - were original. You could go find those, but they often had original game code as well so you'd be effectively playing a different game at that point.