Epic has ended Master Server Support for all Unreal Tournament Titles - How to play Online

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

I have no words. This just keeps going better and better. The franchise is dead for sure until someone buys the Unreal license from Epic and revitalizes the stuff. And to make sure the engine and game is different. Hell why doesn't Epic rename the Unreal Engine to Epic Engine so that people won't confuse the games for the engine? I mean...this is just ridiculous. Who the hell remembers the games now when everyone says "Unreal 3 4 5" in relation to the engine?

[darksonny]

I have no words. This just keeps going better and better. The franchise is dead for sure until someone buys the Unreal license from Epic and revitalizes the stuff. And to make sure the engine and game is different. Hell why doesn't Epic rename the Unreal Engine to Epic Engine so that people won't confuse the games for the engine? I mean...this is just ridiculous. Who the hell remembers the games now when everyone says "Unreal 3 4 5" in relation to the engine?

tencent+tim+money+fucknite=money-grubbers

[darkbarrage99]

• EDIT Feb 5th, 2024:
  I'm a little late for this, but since there is still no news from Epic about UT3X, I found a working and safe Openspy patch for UT3.
  
  -Download here: https://ut3-ultimate.com/ The easiest and cleanest way to install the patch is to use the first option, which is to download the UT3.EXE on its own.
  -Simply open your "Unreal Tournament 3/Binaries" folder, make a backup of your default UT3.EXE, then drag and drop this modified UT3.EXE into the folder to replace it.
  -You will then need to create a new account when you log in, which will register your login with Openspy.
  -Voila, you are connected to the New Master Server.
  
  Fun Fact discovered by UT3 Aficionado and regular Youtube Uploader DickBird(lol), as of a year ago it was still possible to directly join Epic's US UT3 servers via IP address despite Epic shutting down the master servers. I'll be checking it out for myself to see if it's still the case and report back when I can.
  
  Check out his video here:
  

I went ahead and added some info and a download link to the original post about connecting UT3 to the new Openspy master server.

I Also found an interesting video showing that it was still possible to connect to Official Epic UT3 servers last year despite the master server being destroyed.
I'm not sure if it's still possible. I might see about it later. If it is still possible now in 2024, then wtf lol.

[Shade]

@darkbarrage99 As you completely reorganized your first post, including mostly information about other UT versions but UT99, I decided for the following:

- The title was missleading after all. So I changed the title.
- As the first post is now mostly Off-Topic, the thread was moved to the Off-Topic category.

Please, in the interest of the community, refrain from heavily altering the first post of popular threads (especially in Announcements) and therefore changing the topic.
This thread was in the Accouncement category and was originally used to be a place to discuss how the UT99 community is dealing with that matter, including giving new / returning players quick information about how to solve that problem on their end.
This first post is just chaotic now. I suggest to start separate threads in the future in the appropriate categories.

[darkbarrage99]

That's fair, it's old news at this point and I wrote most of it months ago when we were all still in our feelings. And I apologize, I meant to condense the title down to "UT99 etc" but I must have forgot. I wasn't trying to be misleading, but I was being a scatterbrained moron while editing.

You are absolutely right about the original post being chaotic, so I rewrote and reorganized it. Since we're all past our collective anger at Epic and there are now solutions for all online support, I condensed everything into just those multiplayer solutions and removed all the fluff.

I think it's a good idea to have a list of solutions for all the UT games in one place since there doesn't seem to be one anywhere else, and it helps to have something to throw at confused redditors since the ut subreddit lacks moderation. Ultimately this should be the final edit unless something new comes about involving UT3X, which will most likely never happen. Again, I apologize for being a ninny.

[Shade]

Thank you for reorganizing the first post. I made this thread sticky in Off-Topic.
If someone has a better idea where the information of the first post should be located, let me know.

[darkbarrage99]

_
I made some big updates to the original post over the past few weeks, highlighted in Red including:

• - Brand New North America Community and Install Guide Links for UT3, all thanks to the incredible uch1gatana a.k.a. NVZ: https://discord.com/invite/EnHrMBzyY9

• - Link to alsehir's Unofficial Patch for UT2004: https://github.com/aldehir/ut2004-patches

• - Link to Metallicafan212's Editor Selection Lag Fix: https://github.com/metallicafan212/UE2SelectionFixes

• - Lots and lots of ***Discord links

OP here: viewtopic.php?t=15589

If anybody out there has any suggestions or links, especially discord links, please feel free to share them so I can add them to the lists!

[Dark191]

These two masterservers have been up for a long time already for unreal tournament 2004
https://333networks.com/announcements#f ... 04-support!

ut2004master.333networks.com
ut2004master.errorist.eu


Can you specifically add instructions for adding these to the ini? the owner of https://ut2004serverlist.com/ refuses to link to any other masterservers for some reason.
https://333networks.com/instructions/ut2004

Also, can please you add in the discord invite link for 333networks?
https://discord.gg/qbbTaGA

[darkbarrage99]

These two masterservers have been up for a long time already for unreal tournament 2004
https://333networks.com/announcements#f ... 04-support!

ut2004master.333networks.com
ut2004master.errorist.eu


Can you specifically add instructions for adding these to the ini? the owner of https://ut2004serverlist.com/ refuses to link to any other masterservers for some reason.
https://333networks.com/instructions/ut2004

Also, can please you add in the discord invite link for 333networks?
https://discord.gg/qbbTaGA

from what I understand, unlike ut99, there can only be one master server used at a time by ut2k4. it is best to simply use openspy as the new master server as it is already the most populous.

please, somebody correct me if i'm wrong, but please provide evidence.

[Dr.Flay]

No, the issue was because of the lack of synchronising across separate domains run by other people (no load-balancing), so players would not all see the same servers.
Epic running the 2 originals meant they could keep them both showing the same results.

333networks is the only traditional masterserver service that synchronises the masters so no matter which you use, you see the same results.

[Dark191]

These two masterservers have been up for a long time already for unreal tournament 2004
https://333networks.com/announcements#f ... 04-support!

ut2004master.333networks.com
ut2004master.errorist.eu


Can you specifically add instructions for adding these to the ini? the owner of https://ut2004serverlist.com/ refuses to link to any other masterservers for some reason.
https://333networks.com/instructions/ut2004

Also, can please you add in the discord invite link for 333networks?
https://discord.gg/qbbTaGA

from what I understand, unlike ut99, there can only be one master server used at a time by ut2k4. it is best to simply use openspy as the new master server as it is already the most populous.

please, somebody correct me if i'm wrong, but please provide evidence.

No.

The game itself simply just flip flops between two masterserver entries. They just need to have matching server entries. It's a lie that you can only use one masterserver with ut2004. And since the masterserver list is both synchronized with other masterservers (errorist.eu) and with Openspy, the serverlist actually stays in sync and shows all the servers that are up right now.
(https://ut2004master.333networks.com/ << see this if you want "evidence" ).

This means that you can both use 333networks with Openspy, or use it without it and you'd still see every servers that are up right now (these have the same serverlist). If you use two server entries, if one were to go down, you would still be able to see the serverlist.

[Dr.Flay]

The issue is a misunderstanding of the reason for the original legitimate claim.
However it is built on the faulty assumption that all master servers are their own islands.

Yes, lesser masterservers do have that limitation, but that is due to their design and preference to not share results and to be Kings of their islands.

At 333networks we take approach that we cannot afford to leave communities without support even if we are offline.
If we (the main master) are offline, you will still see all the server results on any of our other masters around the world.
Being an island is not an option.

----Edited for clarity----
Note: The newbie on the block OpenSpy is the only other masterserver system that syncs with 333networks, and also makes their results available to use in other masterservers.
This also means you can use it for load balancing in UT2004 with any of the 333networks masters, and you should always see the same aggregated results.
For that we are grateful, and wish all the others would be as "open".

[noccer]

As i tested this now, i can say, yes the game ut2004 definitely DOES use at least 2 masterservers.
Not at once, but always one of them.

Everytime i refresh, one of the MS is being used.
A simple log entry show it:

Spoiler

Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173

The number of connections displays the number of refreshes in the serverbrowser. One can see, it changes between the MS.

What the way bigger fun is, i tested with 3 masterservers and that worked fine for me. The whole day the game chooses between all of them.

So, it is completely wrong, that one could only use 1 MS. It is best, to have at least 2, so if one would be offline, you just need to refresh and another will show the same servers, as far as they are sharing the gameservers list.

[darkbarrage99]

This is what I was going off of just fyi, from the openspy website:

Screenshot 2024-10-14 021325.png

As i tested this now, i can say, yes the game ut2004 definitely DOES use at least 2 masterservers.
Not at once, but always one of them.

Everytime i refresh, one of the MS is being used.
A simple log entry show it:

Spoiler

Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.errorist.eu...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.errorist.eu -> 150.230.23.146
Log: Connection established.
Log: Resolving ut2004master.333networks.com...
Log: Resolved ut2004master.333networks.com -> 81.205.81.173

The number of connections displays the number of refreshes in the serverbrowser. One can see, it changes between the MS.

What the way bigger fun is, i tested with 3 masterservers and that worked fine for me. The whole day the game chooses between all of them.

So, it is completely wrong, that one could only use 1 MS. It is best, to have at least 2, so if one would be offline, you just need to refresh and another will show the same servers, as far as they are sharing the gameservers list.

ah gotcha, so what I understood originally is that the original 2 epic master servers existed so the secondary would take over if the main server went down, which is not correct. my apologies. but what you're showing here is that refreshing provides results from other master servers? or is it just displaying everything now?

[noccer]

I think this is what epic did, simply choose one or the other MS when startig up the game and then changing after one or more refreshes. Might be for load balancing.At least, if one is offline, they would provide the same list since they were synchronized.

I believe, there was not a "mainserver" from epicgames, but 2 equal which just worked together by synchronizing the lists. 333networks and openspy seem to bring the same results and that works fine to me.