UT99 Community Edition?

[ProZeidon]

Hello everyone
Have you seen that you can download an "Unreal Tournament-GOTY-UT99-469C-FullGame" edition with Bonuspack 1-4 on archive org?

I've also noticed that most reviews of UT99 criticize the game for not having a focused single player campaign with a story.
For me, OldSkool is almost a must have for UT99, which makes me wonder that no reviewers include it in their view of UT99.
UT99 offers some fantastic single player and co-up experiences with OldSkool, so even though the game shines in its multiplayer part, it also has something to offer for those who prefer to play by themselves.

I've made some tutorial videos on how to patch your UT99, install HD textures and the like, but still there are several well-functioning people who opt out of the game because it's too time-consuming and difficult to get started.

This has got me thinking about whether the UT99 community should put together a version and agree that this is the one we recommend to new players?
Basicly I think that easier accessibility will get more people to try the game.

We can even create a special background image that contains some useful information.
My experience is that many new players need instructions for most things

UT99 can be customized to a great extent. So my idea for this version is to show the player what UT99 can offer and if you want more of one or the other, you should be able to download it yourself from the web as you become more familiar with the game.
I have made a draft for such a version, with the hope of we, as a community, will complete it together.

I would really like to know if I am the only one who thinks it could be a good idea that we bundled together a "UT99 Community Edition" on archive org?

[OjitroC]

Simple question - does the 'UT99 Community' have the (legal) right to create and distribute a version of UT99? The copyright resides with Epic and the common EULA for the game forbids copying or distribution (amongst other things) of the UT99 software.

[ProZeidon]

Simple question - does the 'UT99 Community' have the (legal) right to create and distribute a version of UT99? The copyright resides with Epic and the common EULA for the game forbids copying or distribution (amongst other things) of the UT99 software.

Nope, but companies that share abandonware have already decided on their moral position in relation to sharing software that is no longer easily available.
I have also seen some private individuals share the complete game on their websites.

The ulterior motive is whether if it is alright to encourage them to share a version that is optimized for a modern computer and new players, now that they are already sharing anyway?
A version we estimate will give a new player the best possible start and experience with UT99...

But if it is not quite ok to share a link to a website that offers such a download, then I can see that the project or idea is not possible.
It would otherwise have been an interesting project - and probably a challenge to agree on something/anything

[Berserker]

Yes, that is an excellent idea and I do agree with it. However, I don't think UT99org admins will be happy with this. But, we have to realize that the situation is different now. Epic has removed the whole UT series and UT99 is no longer available from anywhere to get (legally), we really have no other choice but to figure out a way to distribute it in a not so legit way.

I want UT99org admins to reconsider this and at least allow us to post the external link to the UT99 Community Edition (if we ever get to release one). Treading lightly and posting external links of an abandoned game which no one could get their hands on will surely not get the UT99org forum in danger. To give an example, old abandoned games (like UT) have been uploaded on sites like Archive.org, which is a very famous site known for their "WayBack Machine", which preserved snapshots of websites on the internet since the 90s. You will find a lot of UT copies on there and other old games, they are posted on there with the sole purpose of preservation. And just to give an example, have a look at /details/ut-goty in Archive.org and see the Download options. No one is giving them any issues for posting full games like that on their site.

With that being said, we should be less more paranoid and just give it a shot. The worst case scenario would be if Epic gets mad about it, but the most they can do is just a request to remove the external links to the full game, that's it. The forum will be still fine afterwards after the links are removed. But let's face it, Epic does not care anymore and will not do anything about it.


Back to the topic about UT99 Community Edition, I can give some ideas on what we can include with it.
The most important part is to provide a full game with essential customizations (but not too overboard please). I would not recommend including the HD textures with it. For one - the filesize will be humongous and second of all, they do change the game a lot and some people prefer to play the game with the original textures for better nostalgia. Installing the HD textures is easy enough on its own, so I believe we can leave it. We should also include more high quality maps for the UT99 Community Edition as well.

[papercoffee]

I don't think UT99org admins will be happy with this. But,

It's not that we are not happy with it we simply can't ...We don't want to jeopardise our community.
UT99.org became the biggest UT community and the now "official" place (and face) to represent this game.

If we (or Oldunreal because of the patches) would get the green light to share the full game we would not hesitate to put it up for download.

But right now it's too dangerous. We have member from Epic in our forum

[TankBeef]

I've also noticed that most reviews of UT99 criticize the game for not having a focused single player campaign with a story.

You probably already know this, but the reason it does not have "campaign" or "story" is because it was originally supposed to be a multiplayer expansion to Unreal, but it evolved to the point it was no longer compatible. So they had to release it standalone. Plus, Quake 3 was also coming out, and so they had to beat the release date.
To me, the game is perfect as it is. I rarely play single player campaigns these days. The great thing is you can just fire up a game with bots, or start a server, and mod it the way you want. Most of the time I do not care about story. I just want to get home from work and frag stuff.

[ProZeidon]

You probably already know this, but the reason it does not have "campaign" or "story" is because it was originally supposed to be a multiplayer expansion to Unreal, but it evolved to the point it was no longer compatible. So they had to release it standalone. Plus, Quake 3 was also coming out, and so they had to beat the release date.
To me, the game is perfect as it is. I rarely play single player campaigns these days. The great thing is you can just fire up a game with bots, or start a server, and mod it the way you want. Most of the time I do not care about story. I just want to get home from work and frag stuff.

I haven't missed the single player either. Most of the time I feel the same way as you describe. That's one of the great things about UT.

But I recently completed the Unreal campaign via OldSkool. I had never played it before. I used UT weapons in the campaign. It was a really cool experience and it felt like an Unreal Tournament game.
An experience I can definitely recommend. It has made me want to try the other single player campaigns out there
If that's what a reviewer is looking for, it's really easy to add to the game... which makes it crazy that they always review the game without OldSkool

[Smick_Dibbly]

Yes, that is an excellent idea and I do agree with it. However, I don't think UT99org admins will be happy with this. But, we have to realize that the situation is different now. Epic has removed the whole UT series and UT99 is no longer available from anywhere to get (legally), we really have no other choice but to figure out a way to distribute it in a not so legit way.

I want UT99org admins to reconsider this and at least allow us to post the external link to the UT99 Community Edition (if we ever get to release one). Treading lightly and posting external links of an abandoned game which no one could get their hands on will surely not get the UT99org forum in danger. To give an example, old abandoned games (like UT) have been uploaded on sites like Archive.org, which is a very famous site known for their "WayBack Machine", which preserved snapshots of websites on the internet since the 90s. You will find a lot of UT copies on there and other old games, they are posted on there with the sole purpose of preservation. And just to give an example, have a look at /details/ut-goty in Archive.org and see the Download options. No one is giving them any issues for posting full games like that on their site.

With that being said, we should be less more paranoid and just give it a shot. The worst case scenario would be if Epic gets mad about it, but the most they can do is just a request to remove the external links to the full game, that's it. The forum will be still fine afterwards after the links are removed. But let's face it, Epic does not care anymore and will not do anything about it.


Back to the topic about UT99 Community Edition, I can give some ideas on what we can include with it.
The most important part is to provide a full game with essential customizations (but not too overboard please). I would not recommend including the HD textures with it. For one - the filesize will be humongous and second of all, they do change the game a lot and some people prefer to play the game with the original textures for better nostalgia. Installing the HD textures is easy enough on its own, so I believe we can leave it. We should also include more high quality maps for the UT99 Community Edition as well.

Was this written with ChatGPT or some similar alternative?

[Barbie]

Was this written with ChatGPT or some similar alternative?

How to make Bots using ChatGPT?

SCNR

[esnesi]

Insane to think that people are often now mistaken for AI, just by mastering good writing, while the goal is of AI to be mistaken for people!

[Berserker]

Was this written with ChatGPT or some similar alternative?

I'm not sure if I should be offended by this or take it as a compliment. I am quite familiar with ChatGPT and the GPT models from OpenAI. ChatGPT would probably never write a post like this, because it has boring regulations and ethics. Me ranting about Epic games and being negative about them will probably not sit right with ChatGPT. ChatGPT will always try to write passive arguments while trying to be respectful and not offend any people. With this in mind, it should be relatively easy to spot posts that are likely from ChatGPT.

Anyways, lets not get off topic.

[Smick_Dibbly]

Was this written with ChatGPT or some similar alternative?

I'm not sure if I should be offended by this or take it as a compliment. I am quite familiar with ChatGPT and the GPT models from OpenAI. ChatGPT would probably never write a post like this, because it has boring regulations and ethics. Me ranting about Epic games and being negative about them will probably not sit right with ChatGPT. ChatGPT will always try to write passive arguments while trying to be respectful and not offend any people. With this in mind, it should be relatively easy to spot posts that are likely from ChatGPT.

Anyways, lets not get off topic.

This just confirms it for me. Anyway, this was off-topic, I am sorry. I should have done this in a DM.