Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

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Kasjer
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Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Kasjer »

Hi!

My (real) name is Kamil and I'm thinking about starting playing UT, but I have some questions about state of the game first. I'm 30, a father, work full time, run a website and work as a writer of products descriptions for friends shop in spare time, trying to learn java. So as you can see I don't have much time on my hands for videogames, however I have this "arena shooter itch" I cannot shake off.

Back in the day I have played a lot of Quakeworld online, but always only casually. I loved the game and still love it for fast paced action and great movement, but my skills are rusty and I wouldn't bunnyhop my way out of paper bag nowadays. I know people in current (small but active) community do have very high skill and it would be hard to keep up with them without regular practice. So I won't even try to get back, I know the taste of RL in to the face all too well, haha.

The reason why I like QW is not only the speed of gameplay, but even more importantly, the purity of it. The physics, the weapons, the rules and even set of maps are untouchable, sacred things. You can alter the look of the game as you wish, using console commands, custom HUD, skins, even texture packs for maps. But QW community very rarely use gameplay altering mods. To the point that nailgun, a crap gun which is worse than starting shotgun, is still left untouched.

While I like mods, I don't really like chaotic approach present in original Doom games and netQuake communities, where it feels like most of the servers are running different mods which alter the game to the point it's nowhere near original gameplay. I don't mind gameplay enhancing mods like brightskins, new modes like clan arena or instagib or quality custom maps with balanced gameplay, but when you'll throw in like 100 imbalanced weapons, some game-breaking powerups and have playlist filled with half baked glitchy maps, this is not my idea of fun.

I have played UT back in the day when it came out, but always on LAN with friends or with bots. I am familiar with basics of movement, how guns work and I think I still remember layout and spawn points on Deck 16, but not the items spawn times (never learned them in the first place). I have played with some mods/mutators like Chaos UT and Relics, liked the twist they gave but been put off by things like excessive weapons (or whatever it was called) and neo cario. Thievery was great, thought, but because it was basically a whole different game.

If you haven't fallen asleep by this point, I have some questions for you:

1. How active is UT community? Is it hard to find pub game of TDM or CTF (my favourite game modes)? I don't think I can invest time in to pickup games, as I won't have time to play regularly.

2. Do you girls and guys play mostly "clean" UT or mod the game to hell on most active servers?

3. Are there maps which are essential (apart from Deck) and played most of the time or you simply don't care after 18 years and load your servers with dozens of custom maps of varying quality?

4. Is there a place for noob like me, who most likely won't have time to play more than a hour of two per week?

5. Can I use my Unreal Anthology CD to install the game or is it better to buy on Steam/gog? Do digital releases contain any significant tweaks over original release when it comes to compatibility with Win10? I'm aware that there is a guide to proper setup of UT, I just want to know what would be the most hassle-free starting point.

6. Is physics tied to FPS in UT like in Quake games? Aka are some of jumps not possible unless you hit certain number of frames per second? In QW physics FPS used by new source ports was 77, in Q3 number was 120 I think. I'm asking because I game on 60hz TV, most of the time with gamepad in hand. Of course I plan to use K+M for UT but I'm so used to v-sync without ugly frame tearing artifacts I'll rather use v-sync which will lock frame rate down to 60hz. In many single player games I even go for 30 vsync if I cannot hit consistent 60. If running at really high frame rate is necessary nowadays, I'm sure my PC will fare just fine, with 1050Ti on board. Just wondering if settling at my screen refresh rate will put me at disavantage.

The reason for all of this is because I feel UT is a classic I've never gave a go properly and that it put more emphasis on tactics and in-combat movement (dodging) than going as fast as possible around the map and trickjumps like Quake games. This should allow me to at least have decent fun without having to build up muscle memory required to bunnyhop/strafe jumping, which takes a lot of practice - in QW there was no "hard" jump I couldn't pull off, but after 3 years break I can barely build up my speed... Also, I'm looking for a shooter from simpler times as I'm allergic to cosmetics items, hats, paid skins (I always forced player model to one which fits hitbox best tbh), lootboxes, XP progression, hero-shooters, irrelevant classes (last class based game I've liked was Wolfenstein ET), pay to win, shoehorned MOBA elements, 100 players on poorly designed map idiocy and so on. What I'm looking for is a game with solid gameplay foundation, good depth and consistency. What do you say? Is modern UT a home I'm looking for?
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Hook »

I can only answer briefly, but I think you would be pleasantly surprised.
Yes, I think it would be good for you.
There are still many UT servers running, and of just about any type you would like.
From vanilla to heavy modded. :tu:
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Feralidragon »

Welcome Kasjer :tu:
Kasjer wrote: 1. How active is UT community? Is it hard to find pub game of TDM or CTF (my favourite game modes)? I don't think I can invest time in to pickup games, as I won't have time to play regularly.
The community is still fairly active.
It doesn't compare to some years ago of course, let alone with other games, but you can still find a fair number of servers to play on.
However, the vast majority of these servers are modded in some way, so you will have a rather hard time to find a vanilla server with just the standard weapons, but there's probably a few at least.
Kasjer wrote: 2. Do you girls and guys play mostly "clean" UT or mod the game to hell on most active servers?
Personally, I play mostly iCTF (instagib CTF), which is fairly "vanilla" except that the only mods which run there are things like ACE (anti-cheat), announcer mods and the like, and the instagib is the normal instagib but better in terms of netcode.
Other than that, I also play Siege sometimes (a custom gametype, with building in the mix, but which runs mostly on normal weapons if you wish to give it a try), Monsterhunt, DM (mostly modded in some way, but sometimes a vanilla server appears).

Kasjer wrote: 3. Are there maps which are essential (apart from Deck) and played most of the time or you simply don't care after 18 years and load your servers with dozens of custom maps of varying quality?
Depends on the server, but most servers use custom maps.
And from the ones which use custom maps, some tend to restrict themselves to good quality ones (Siege, CTF), while others not so much (MH).
Generally the maps with the highest quality are found in BT serves (Bunnytrack, also a community gametype, which is all about passing the map itself to score, no kills involved, which can be very very hard).
Kasjer wrote: 4. Is there a place for noob like me, who most likely won't have time to play more than a hour of two per week?
There's a place for everyone. :mrgreen:
But it all goes down to what you seek. You gave an introduction on that, but you will have to look for yourself, try a few servers, maybe participate in one discussion or another if you like, and decide if you like what you see and either stick around, or not.
It's all completely up to you.

Also, this is a game which is mostly filled with veterans nowadays, and many of those are in a similar situation as yourself, with kids, full job and stuff, and they just come and play a few matches almost every day. It's a good stress reliever as well.
Kasjer wrote: 5. Can I use my Unreal Anthology CD to install the game or is it better to buy on Steam/gog?
Yes, you can use the Unreal Anthology CD one.
Kasjer wrote: Do digital releases contain any significant tweaks over original release when it comes to compatibility with Win10? I'm aware that there is a guide to proper setup of UT, I just want to know what would be the most hassle-free starting point.
You may have to apply the v436 patch (if it's not already), but from there it's completely up to you too.
You may run into some problems concerning Win10 indeed, so what I suggest is for you to follow such a guide to set it up. Many of the problems stem from an outdated renderer driver, mouse problems with Win10, and generally that guide solves all of them at once.
And if you run into anything that doesn't work or works badly, and you can't seem to fix it, you can always ask here and you will generally get answers and have a working game from there, almost for sure.
Kasjer wrote: 6. Is physics tied to FPS in UT like in Quake games? Aka are some of jumps not possible unless you hit certain number of frames per second? In QW physics FPS used by new source ports was 77, in Q3 number was 120 I think. I'm asking because I game on 60hz TV, most of the time with gamepad in hand. Of course I plan to use K+M for UT but I'm so used to v-sync without ugly frame tearing artifacts I'll rather use v-sync which will lock frame rate down to 60hz. In many single player games I even go for 30 vsync if I cannot hit consistent 60. If running at really high frame rate is necessary nowadays, I'm sure my PC will fare just fine, with 1050Ti on board. Just wondering if settling at my screen refresh rate will put me at disavantage.
The physics is tied to a "tick rate", which in the client is the same as the FPS, but this tick rate also exists in the server and runs independently from the client, and servers always set it up to anywhere from 30 to 120.
And whether or not a jump "works", strictly speaking, it only depends on the tick rate of such a server, but I have never heard players having any issues with it other than how "smooth" the server feels when played on.
So you don't need to worry. :)
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Kasjer »

Thanks for the replies!

I think I'll give it a go as it won't cost me anything, and see for myself. As for custom guns... as I said, Chaos UT was pretty okay, mostly because additional weaponry was not over the top. Sword was fun, so was the claw and crossbow, black hole was nice replacement for redeemer (which is over the top in vanilla, just like BFG in Q2 and I imagine it gets turned off in competitive play). As long as the modded guns are sensible and not pile of imbalanced pew pew bs, I think this could be fun in teamplay game modes;)

As for renderer, I know there are some updated DLLs as I used one for Rune and seen there are UT versions too. Quick question, though, I know that it is possible to tweak a lot in ini files, but is nVidia control panel any good for forcing certain settings like FXAA (or other AA solutions) or 16xAF and so on? With Quake engines like ezQuake and Darkplaces I got nasty gfx glitches when forcing FXAA for example, I know you shouldn't expect a lot from older games, but possibility of eliminating stepping artifacts and texture blur is always nice, esp. when you game sitting in front of 48 inch 1080p TV like me. And from my experience nVidia settings can do wonders here!
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Feralidragon »

I never tinkered much with the nvidia settings themselves, as far as UT is concerned, and I am not familiar on what and how exactly nvidia applies those.
But it probably works just like with any other OpenGL or DirectX application, at least I don't see any immediate reason for it to not to work.

So I would say you can go ahead and tweak the nvidia settings to your heart's content. :)

I will say this though: while the updated renderers work fairly well, they still have bugs and a bit of instability with some settings, which may be more or less pronounced depending on the system.
For example, in one of them, whenever I activated AA, the renderer would either crash or render some stuff incorrectly at times (at least in a specific system), so the nvidia settings may indeed be more stable in this case.
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esnesi
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by esnesi »

Make sure you fix your original masterservers.
GameSpy is down for a while now, 333networks got a mirror up.

Fix your masterserver by following the steps here:

Code: Select all

Open your games configuration file, usually gamename.ini (unrealtournament.ini), find the sections below and edit them as described:

Code:
[UBrowserAll]
ListFactories[0]=UBrowser.UBrowserGSpyFact,MasterServerAddress=master.333networks.com,MasterServerTCPPort=28900,Region=0,GameName=ut
ListFactories[1]=UBrowser.UBrowserGSpyFact,MasterServerAddress=master.noccer.de,MasterServerTCPPort=28900,Region=0,GameName=ut
ListFactories[2]=UBrowser.UBrowserGSpyFact,MasterServerAddress=utmaster.epicgames.com,MasterServerTCPPort=28900,Region=0,GameName=ut
bFallbackFactories=False
This is also very important to make sure that the updateserver does not mix up your settings.

Code:
[UBrowser.UBrowserMainClientWindow]
bKeepMasterServer=True
Save your config and browse through the game as fast as light can't get 
Happy Fragging!
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by rjmno1 »

you can install ut 99, but depens on wich version you have.If you have a older version then 436 you must patch ut99 with the 436 patch founded on this forum on a other section.
If you have the 2 cd goty edition of ut99 you can add some higher textures quality by installing the high compress textures on the second cd.
And patch the section of the textures with the s3tc patch found on the url.
And remember ut99 is one of the fastes game on the internet, sinds it was made back in 1999.
So when you busy and want to game, trust me ut99 is the game for you.imo best game they made.

You can found more information in this page:

https://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=373

happy editing and reading.
If you choose to come back to ut99 and maby the ut99 community again.
happy fraggin. :rock:
unreal tournament 99
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by EvilGrins »

Kasjer wrote:My (real) name is Kamil and I'm thinking about starting playing UT
No... run away!! It's too late for us but you might still escape!!!!

Actually, you're a member here now... so you're already doomed.
rjmno1 wrote:you can install ut 99, but depens on wich version you have.If you have a older version then 436 you must patch ut99 with the 436 patch
Kamil says he has the Unreal Anthology collection (same as me) which has all the patches incorporated into it. So he's covered there.
http://unreal-games.livejournal.com/
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medor wrote:Replace Skaarj with EvilGrins :mrgreen:
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by rjmno1 »

well i have the anthologie collection also but i Always install the goty edition.
I think that the anthologie collection ut 99 version is in stock version 436 i think.
I realy dont know if the compressed textures on that version also.

only the bonus packs1-3 ,well he can download the higher resolution textures also for more visual upgrade for your ut99.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Anthology

extreme end depens on wich videocard he has:ut texture project.

http://www.uttexture.com/UT/Website/Dow ... emeEnd.htm

also a topic here

https://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?t=11414&p=87089

happy reading and downloading :tu:
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by esnesi »

EvilGrins wrote:which has all the patches incorporated into it. So he's covered there.
All the patches ?
MasterServer-Fix as well then ?
specfix?
1920 crosshair?

Just to name a few..:whistle:
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by EvilGrins »

iSenSe wrote:
EvilGrins wrote:which has all the patches incorporated into it. So he's covered there.
All the patches ?
Most of the normal patches, then.
http://unreal-games.livejournal.com/
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medor wrote:Replace Skaarj with EvilGrins :mrgreen:
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by JimmyCognitti »

Even if there's nobody to play with online, this game is still incredibly fun playing solo against bots.
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Re: Thinking about getting back (kind of) in to UT

Post by Hook »

JimmyCognitti wrote:Even IF there's nobody to play with online, this game is still incredibly fun playing solo against bots.
This is very true!
Even though there are still plenty of players and servers online and running just about any mod, or not any mod at all (vanilla servers).
Basically, we still have a very good variety of UT servers running online, or you can also play offline against bots all set up the way you wish. :wink:
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