[FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Discussions about UT99
Post Reply
User avatar
Neon_Knight
Adept
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:31 pm
Location: Junín (BA - Argentina)
Contact:

[FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by Neon_Knight »

  • UT started development as just an expansion towards Unreal called "Bot Pack", when it was realized that the multiplayer aspect of Unreal was popular and something that people sought after, so the first priority was to fix the problems with online play. However, at some point during its development, it became clear that the number and extent of the changes to the Unreal codebase that Epic was required to make made UT too incompatible with Unreal. Thus the expansion pack was broken off from Unreal and made into a standalone game.
  • UT wouldn't have been released when it did, hadn't id Software's own John Carmack announced Quake III: Arena and its release date, which made the development team to shift their focus upon refining and fine-tuning the multiplayer experience of Unreal. And thus, one of gaming's biggest rivalries was born.
  • Gametypes:
    • There was going to be a teamless Domination variant.
    • There was going to be a version of CTF that used all four teams. This was dropped early in development, however the assets remained so other people could implement the modes as a Game Mod (the results being MultiCTF and CTF4/CTF+).
  • Maps:
    • Early in development, The 10 default Unreal Deathmatch maps, the Fusion Map Pack and the Special Edition exclusives, were considered for the game. In the end, only Curse, Deck16 and Morbias found their way onto the final game, with Cybrosis, HealPod, Mojo and Shrapnel making it as part of the Bonus Pack 1.
    • Several Assault maps originally had voiceovers explaining the objectives, with the ones still present in the files also indicating that the final objective for AS-Overlord is a combined version of two similar but separate objectives in an earlier version of the level.
    • DOM-MetalDream was originally going to be an Assault level, set in daylight.
    • The beta version of AS-Frigate lacked the boxes in the Cargo Bay, the Compressor objective, many weapons for the attackers, the Minigun turrets and the door above the Compressor room was opened.
    • The beta version of AS-Guardia had, as the only spawn room, the first one. Also, there was no deck, but instead there was a submarine.
    • The empty cave near the starting location in AS-Mazon had a Redeemer in the betas.
    • Two regarding AS-OceanFloor: there used to be a Bio Rifle, but was cut because it was too potent of a weapon for the map; the only remains from this are a single biosludge cartridge still present in the level. Also the beta version had a hidden level entry text: "Go Get Them!!" which later got changed to "Control the underwater base!" in the retail version.
    • The beta version of AS-Overlord lacked the defence teleporters, with long way corridors guiding into the defence spots.
    • The beta version of AS-Rook had underground cells as the starting spawn point of the attackers. There were also two objectives: destroy two pair of chains located in different rooms and then escape from the castle. It also lacked a lot of rooms.
    • Too many regarding CTF-Coret: The beta version of the map had the connection between the side approach of each base and the central area's main entrance separated, so translocating between these areas wasn't possible. Also, in place of the jumppad between the overhead area and the flag base there was a ramp entrance to the defense area, and the overhead area could only be accessed by translocating onto it. There was also a hidden entry text in the beta version of the map: "Welcome to Coret Training Center". It got changed to "Welcome to Coret Facility. Enjoy your stay." in the final version. Finally, the beta version had a player count of 4-8.
    • The beta version of CTF-Dreary has the flags enclosed in fields.
    • Alan Willard wanted more Assault maps to be shipped with the main game, however they had to compromise because making maps for the gametype is "really hard". According to him, making one is like "making a single player map in the size of a Deathmatch map".
    • According to Cliff Bleszinski, the Inoxx Pack is composed by either arenas that were not finished in time to ship with the game, and map ideas that Fiorentino was tinkering with after UT was shipped.
  • An early version of Xan's mugshot indicates he was originally supposed to be named "Bane".
  • There's also a "default" mugshot, a black and white picture of game designer CliffyB, that's supposed to be used for character models that don't have a defined separate mugshot, but in the unmodified game only shows up in an Easter Egg in DM-Codex.
  • Player/Announcer lines and sounds:
    • CliffyB wanted the Announcer to yell "Nice Catch" when you grabbed someone's gun out of the air after you smoked them and their weapon went flying (there's a "Nice Catch" announcement among the game's files).
    • He also wanted the announcer to yell "Combo Reversal!" if you managed to get your foe to accidentally shoot your Shock Ball with their primary fire, blowing themselves up.
    • There's an unused announcer line called "Assist!".
    • There were a few cut taunts, including Xan calling you a "jackoff" and the Male Commando voice making a Fantastic Four reference.
    • There was an extra death sound for male characters that was used in an early demo.
    • There are several callsigns based on the US' pre-1955 phonetic alphabet which voice lines would refer to each other as. This would have been tied to another feature called "Commander", which in the final game is not used.
  • Mutators:
    • CliffyB wanted a "dodge in midair" (basically a Video Game Dash) mutator that allows you to jump off a ledge and double tap and move laterally in midair.
    • CliffyB also wanted a mutator that prevented you from accruing momentum when you toss your Translocator up in the air so you can keep translocating up in any given level.
    • There were supposed to be Arena mutators for the Minigun and the Impact Hammer, much like the existing mutators for the Shock Rifle, Pulse Gun, Flak Cannon, Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle; later games would cut out the middleman and have a single configurable Arena mutator to pick any weapon.
    • According to the localization files, the "Jump Match" mutator started as a regular game option.
  • Weapons:
    • The Enforcer was supposed to reload after every twenty shots like its inspiration, the Automag from Unreal (supposedly, its spread was widened to compensate after reloads were removed)
    • The Pulse Gun was originally called Pulse Blaster, it was supposed to reload after fifty shots, and had an overall gray skin rather than the released game's green, as can be seen in one of the official screenshots. The manuals for both retail v400 and Game of the Year Edition v432 keep those features in their description of the weapon.
    • The Ripper also had a different model in earlier versions, with the gun itself appearing like a more "squashed" version of its final model, and the blades themselves just looking like giant CDs before the much more intricate sawblade model used in the final game was created.
  • Single-player:
    • According to localization files, the maps DM-Phobos, DM-Gothic, DM-Zeto, DM-Peak, DM-KGalleon, DM-Conveyor, DOM-Sesmar, DOM-Cinder, DOM-Condemned, DOM-Olden and DOM-MetalDream were all considered for the demo version, and there was no CTF ladder as well. In the end only DM-Phobos and DOM-Sesmar survived of the original lineup, while being accompanied by DM-Morpheus, DM-Tempest, DM-Turbine and CTF-Coret completing the Demo lineup.
    • The localization files also hint to DM-Zeto being in the Deathmatch ladder and DM-Tempest being in the Challenge ladder. In the end, these two maps switched ladders.
    • Also according to the localization files, the player in the Demo DM ladder would have fought Darhl thrice, in rungs 1, 2 and 4. In the final ladder, Darhl is fought only in rungs 2 and 4, wrongly assuming that the player would have fought Darhl before.
    • Drimacus as one of the default bots in the customizable bot list and Drimacus at the end of the Deathmatch ladder are two different characters, however, the latter has the appearance the former had in the early betas.
    • Ice Weasel, one of the deathmatch ladder combatants, started as a customizable bot.
  • According to a post-mortem released by Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart, the editor that shipped with the game could have contained better features if it wasn't implemented in Visual Basic.
  • Epic worked on the demo until the last minute and it was going to be uploaded when hurricane Floyd hit Raleigh the day prior and Epic's offices lost power, fortunately, the demo was uploaded at the end of September 17, 1999.
  • A Version 338a demo intended to test a server map change problem was accidentally released but rapidly disowned by Epic.
  • According to Tim Sweeney, the reason of why UT didn't have good OpenGL support is purely because of market share (at the time, DirectX was the main API used for development).
  • Regarding the DE Bonus Pack: initially only the maps were available as separate downloads in December 23, 1999, with the relaunch of DE's website; the mutators (created by Steve Sinclair and Adriano Bertucci) were announced and released later in January 04, 2000, but due to an error regarding the original .umod installer, were later repackaged and re-released in January 17, 2000. Eventually all of this content was solidified onto a single pack.
  • Console versions:
    • The PC version's maps DM-Conveyor, DM-Gothic, DM-Peak and DOM-Leadworks were considered for both console versions, but were nixed.
    • CTF-Command was considered for the Playstation 2 version.
    • The development team not receiving the Internet documentation from Sony's behalf is the only reason why the PS2 version of UT didn't had online multiplayer.
    • There was also consideration for updates to be downloaded onto the Playstation 2's memory cards by connecting the PC to the PS2 via USB port, as well as support for custom user content.
    • Local multiplayer in the PS2 was meant to support 4-player split-screen play.
    • Secret Level got to develop the Dreamcast version of UT after refusal from many other development houses.
    • Memory concerns and framerate issues prevented many levels from appearing in the Dreamcast version.
    • The initial idea was to release the Dreamcast version of UT without any kind of Internet support.
    • Assault was dropped from the DC version months prior to its release. Initially, Domination was also dropped, but its support was restored weeks before release.
    • The Dreamcast version's original release date was set to the end of 2000, but it got delayed so the team could work on optimizing the game for 8 players, as well as adding more features such as the return of Domination and Team Deathmatch.
    • Every model not called "Male Soldier" was cut from the Dreamcast version. The four final bosses even use repurposed Male Soldier skins.
    • DM-Gutter by Mike Bastien, a map created for the console versions, was cut because the map had a lot of vertical gameplay, something that didn't suit well with the console version.
  • The Unreal Tournament Preservation Group (UTPG) was the first group of community members who began developing community patches for the game, releasing patches for versions 440 and 451, the latter being an infamous patch that broke the Level Editor. A third patch for version 468 was in the making when the group went AWOL and their page was taken down. This is why the OldUnreal team's patch has the version number 469.
  • Steven Polge designed the Reaper Bot for Quake.
  • Lani Minella is a highly prolific voice actress with an enviable CV.
  • Jack Porter created the UWindow mod for the original Unreal, a.k.a. the nowadays memorable Windows-like interface for UT.
  • As mentioned before, the game itself was going to be just an improved multiplayer addon for Unreal.
  • DM-Gothic was being developed as far as the early Unreal betas.
  • Cut console map CTF-Fortress by Inoxx would be later remade for Unreal Tournament 3 as CTF-SearchLight.
  • Visse's description in the Deathmatch ladder of UT mentions that the female Necris (the "Blademaiden") favor cruelly formed bayonets and energy swords. While the game doesn't feature bayonets, said energy swords were added as the starting melee weapon of the female Necris in Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict.
  • According to Cliff Bleszinski, one of the many ideas he was toying with with a well-known coder nicknamed Eavy was "Domination, but with two points which both teams would have to control over X seconds". This eventually found its way into Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 as the Double Domination gametype.
  • CliffyB wanted a "two way Assault" mode, similar to CTF in that both teams play both Attack and Defense but with objectives rather than flags. Ideas closer to this description eventually came to fruition in the form of Unreal II's XMP, Unreal Tournament 2004's Onslaught and Unreal Tournament 3's Warfare gamemodes.
  • Instead of a remake, the map which was released under the name DM-Deck16][ was going to be a sequel under the name DM-Deck17. This sequel, however, ended up appearing in 2004, albeit created by a different author (Teddie "Teddabod" Tapawan) and with a different theme (instead of a slime storage, a molten magma refinery).
  • According to early developer interviews, the "Head to Head" mode, where you challenge an enemy team leader for currency which was implemented in the Single-player ladder of 2004, was set to appear as far as the original UT.
  • CTF-Gauntlet is mentioned as one of the few arenas built for Tournament purposes. This is also given a nod in Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict with CTF-Gauntlet][ (The Steel Gauntlet) being a Liandri base map.
  • There's an announcer line for a "triple kill" which was probably replaced by the "multi-kill" you get for three kills in a short time. The clip would later be used in Unreal Tournament 2004 with the "Classic" announcer.
  • The Game of the Year Edition was meant to include an early, mod-like version of Tactical Ops. It eventually settled for Chaos: UT and Rocket Arena, with Tactical Ops becoming its own game instead as Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror.
  • According to a post-mortem released by Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart, there were plans to have true cinematics for the Ladder mode. The final game features flyby sequences where the player and their trophies are displayed. However, future games of the series such as Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 and especially Unreal Chmapionship 2: The Liandri Conflict used indeed matinees/cutscenes for their SP modes, making big deals about their modes.
  • A fifth Bonus Pack was in the works, involving Digitalo Studios. The pack was announced on May 14, 2000, but according to Mark Rein, it was cancelled due to UT still selling well and existing other more important Unreal-related projects. This pack was eventually shaped into the standalone game Devastation after Digitalo Studios switched engines from Unreal Engine 1 to 2.
Other
  • UT is the only Unreal game banned in Germany, to the point of being the only entry not included in that local edition of the anthology. And yet, it still manages to be very popular.
  • The Dreamcast version of the game comes with a 19-track soundtrack, as well as two playable maps for the PC version: the DC version of DM-Barricade, and DOM-Hood.
  • The song "Room of Champions" was never featured in any map or scene. The same is true, at least in the PC versions, of Alexander Brandon's "Organic".
  • In a very, very rare instance of a Fanwork Ban, not only was the development team against the ZeroPing mod for considering it unfair, but also coded the ngStats servers in such a way that it prevents stats from being recorded from servers running it.
  • Lead animator James Green put a weapon slot on top of the Nali Cow just for kicks, but the rest of the team liked it. And that's how the Nali Cow made it into a playable character for the Epic Bonus Pack and the GOTY edition.
  • The game has criminals and deranged psychopaths fighting for their lives and "fighting in the Tournament" as a penal sentence, basically doing what Gamer did several years later.
  • Malcolm being called "FenTech's finest creation" in his description. In later Unreal games, he became the nine-time champion of the Tournament and became the Series Mascot. He is, indeed, their finest creation.
  • One of the hall of fame champions in the Trophy Room is called Pariah. Several years later, a videogame called Pariah, made by Digital Extremes, would be released.
Anything else I'm missing?
Last edited by Neon_Knight on Sun May 30, 2021 5:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.
OldUnreal U1v227/UTv469 Localization Project coordinator/spanish language maintainer - Unreal Wiki
ProTip 1: anybody using the phrase "I'm a True Fan and You're Not!" is an obnoxious, self-centered, egotistical, elitist, narcissist douchebag.
ProTip 2: anybody who uses the "Royal We" when making a demand wants to pass their own opinion as everyone else's.
ProTip 3: Only the people that do nothing but criticize don't make mistakes. Do things. Make mistakes. Learn from them. And screw those who do nothing but throw poison and criticize.
ProTip 4: If the Duke Nukem Forever fiasco wasn't enough of a lesson, perfectionism leads to nothing positive. Don't be afraid of releasing a buggy product. Even the most polished product has its flaws.
User avatar
PrinceOfFunky
Godlike
Posts: 1200
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:31 pm

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

  • The first reported cheater was LilTinyChessPiece, a tiny 1-inch tall player (probably a pawn sprite).
  • Warp zone native code is intended to work with multiple maps at once (even between multiple servers), but the unrealscript side of the code is commented out, I guess nobody ever tried to uncomment it.
  • Cedric "Inoxx" Fiorentino was in his early twenties when he worked for EpicGames.
  • The game was publicly released with the patch version 200.
  • There was no chat before the patch version 219 and the beep was added in the patch version 220.
  • You couldn't know who you were shooting at before patch version 220 because the name of the opponents didn't appear on screen when aiming at them.
  • People believe there are no references to Matrix (the movie) because it wasn't released yet, but I'm convinced there are, and I'm convinced it is UT99 to have references to Matrix and not the other way around.
"Your stuff is known to be buggy and unfinished/not properly tested"
User avatar
Neon_Knight
Adept
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:31 pm
Location: Junín (BA - Argentina)
Contact:

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by Neon_Knight »

PrinceOfFunky wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 3:18 am
  • People believe there are no references to Matrix (the movie) because it wasn't released yet, but I'm convinced there are, and I'm convinced it is UT99 to have references to Matrix and not the other way around.
Is this true? IICR one of the devs explicitly mentioned this, lol!
OldUnreal U1v227/UTv469 Localization Project coordinator/spanish language maintainer - Unreal Wiki
ProTip 1: anybody using the phrase "I'm a True Fan and You're Not!" is an obnoxious, self-centered, egotistical, elitist, narcissist douchebag.
ProTip 2: anybody who uses the "Royal We" when making a demand wants to pass their own opinion as everyone else's.
ProTip 3: Only the people that do nothing but criticize don't make mistakes. Do things. Make mistakes. Learn from them. And screw those who do nothing but throw poison and criticize.
ProTip 4: If the Duke Nukem Forever fiasco wasn't enough of a lesson, perfectionism leads to nothing positive. Don't be afraid of releasing a buggy product. Even the most polished product has its flaws.
User avatar
PrinceOfFunky
Godlike
Posts: 1200
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:31 pm

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

Neon_Knight wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:28 am
PrinceOfFunky wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 3:18 am
  • People believe there are no references to Matrix (the movie) because it wasn't released yet, but I'm convinced there are, and I'm convinced it is UT99 to have references to Matrix and not the other way around.
Is this true? IICR one of the devs explicitly mentioned this, lol!
viewtopic.php?t=12386
As you can see most people there said that was not possible.
I believe there was somebody in EpicGames who had some contacts with someone from the Matrix cast who passed information about the movie.
"Your stuff is known to be buggy and unfinished/not properly tested"
User avatar
Neon_Knight
Adept
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:31 pm
Location: Junín (BA - Argentina)
Contact:

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by Neon_Knight »

Jack Porter wrote:"We came back from watching The Matrix, and the “jump program” inspired DM-Morpheus."
http://web.archive.org/web/201607281822 ... part-four/
OldUnreal U1v227/UTv469 Localization Project coordinator/spanish language maintainer - Unreal Wiki
ProTip 1: anybody using the phrase "I'm a True Fan and You're Not!" is an obnoxious, self-centered, egotistical, elitist, narcissist douchebag.
ProTip 2: anybody who uses the "Royal We" when making a demand wants to pass their own opinion as everyone else's.
ProTip 3: Only the people that do nothing but criticize don't make mistakes. Do things. Make mistakes. Learn from them. And screw those who do nothing but throw poison and criticize.
ProTip 4: If the Duke Nukem Forever fiasco wasn't enough of a lesson, perfectionism leads to nothing positive. Don't be afraid of releasing a buggy product. Even the most polished product has its flaws.
User avatar
PrinceOfFunky
Godlike
Posts: 1200
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:31 pm

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

Neon_Knight wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 12:35 am
Jack Porter wrote:"We came back from watching The Matrix, and the “jump program” inspired DM-Morpheus."
http://web.archive.org/web/201607281822 ... part-four/
Thanks! Now I finally have the confirmation .o. So basically the dev team watched Matrix and changed a lot of things in the last 8 months of development. At this point it's reasonable to believe that the double enforcer was also inspired by Matrix.
"Your stuff is known to be buggy and unfinished/not properly tested"
User avatar
papercoffee
Godlike
Posts: 10443
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:36 am
Personal rank: coffee addicted !!!
Location: Cologne, the city with the big cathedral.
Contact:

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by papercoffee »

The Unreal equivalent was already useable in akimbo style.
User avatar
PrinceOfFunky
Godlike
Posts: 1200
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:31 pm

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

papercoffee wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 4:48 pm The Unreal equivalent was already useable in akimbo style.
Uh, that's true, unless it was implemented later like the translocator but the double enforcer isn't that much ground breaking unlike the translocator.
"Your stuff is known to be buggy and unfinished/not properly tested"
User avatar
Neon_Knight
Adept
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:31 pm
Location: Junín (BA - Argentina)
Contact:

Re: [FanTopic] UT99 Trivia and unknown bits

Post by Neon_Knight »

Bump!

Updated with some new bits.
OldUnreal U1v227/UTv469 Localization Project coordinator/spanish language maintainer - Unreal Wiki
ProTip 1: anybody using the phrase "I'm a True Fan and You're Not!" is an obnoxious, self-centered, egotistical, elitist, narcissist douchebag.
ProTip 2: anybody who uses the "Royal We" when making a demand wants to pass their own opinion as everyone else's.
ProTip 3: Only the people that do nothing but criticize don't make mistakes. Do things. Make mistakes. Learn from them. And screw those who do nothing but throw poison and criticize.
ProTip 4: If the Duke Nukem Forever fiasco wasn't enough of a lesson, perfectionism leads to nothing positive. Don't be afraid of releasing a buggy product. Even the most polished product has its flaws.
Post Reply