Unreal Tournament 2004 Goes Gold

psyco484 writes "Unreal Tournament 2004 has gone gold, the game will be in stores on March 15th. After an impressive demo, I'm certainly looking forward to this one." There are several improvements over UT2003, but my favorite is the ability to carry dual assault rifles.

Re:It looks really nice...

[big daddy kane]

Could be that you set your direct36 settings to max preformance, or set your textures too low, happened on me mates box, try nudging up the texture quality a bit and compensate with lower values on other settings, that should help some. Good luck!

Turn off "performance" DirectX options

[pslam]

But I had a problem when I tried playing it at a resolution other than 1280x1024. I couldn't read some of the text (especially when trying to join an internet game).

I had this problem but discovered it was because the display settings for my Ti4200 were at "performance" rather than "quality" (right click desktop, settings, advanced, directX, blah, blah). It's probably because fonts are treated just like textures and are reduced in resolution along with everything else. It seems to me there's no difference in speed between performance and quality settings, so it's no loss - and it looks way better anyway.

Hope that helps... it certainly had me puzzled for a while. I think they need to at least add this to the FAQ.

Re:Which versions?

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux binary will be included in the pc/windows package.

Re:Hardware requirements?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can read the requitements on http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004.
Also, while you are there, read the forum thread on n00b Raptor camping and the posters that the fans have made up. You'll laugh up a lung, guaranteed!

Regarding systems, I had been on an Athlon XP 1600+, with PC133 SDRAM and an NVidia Ti4200 64MB card. When I started playing the demo a couple of weeks ago in Linux and Doze, I decided to upgrade. The demo is soo awesome. I never played UT before, as it always ssemed to be a bunch of bunny hopping clowns. But, I digress; I did buy the SE DVD edition.

My new system isn't anything extreme, as I always go for the sweet spot on the price/performance curve. I got an Asus A7V8X-X motherboard with 1.25GB of PC2700 333MHz RAM. AMD XP 2800+, same GF4 4200, added cooling and overclocked it to 4400 speeds. And I got a nice Lian Li case to put it in, and keep it cool. ~$250 for everything but the case. The gorgeous LianLi 6077 from Directron.com was $165 with PS.

I play in 1280x1024 or 1600x1280 at 32bit color and get ~75FPS. The benchmarks give me between about 45FPS and 350FPS, depending on what's going on.

It plays well on an 1800+ (~1600MHz). I'm sure it plays very well on 3200 systems, but it's not necessary. though maps like Onslaught and the physics models are very CPU intensive, and the performance is not bound to graphics processor. Build a system with a good balance of memory, internal bandwidth, CPU and graphics,and you should be fine.

Plays beautifully on Mandrake 9.2 with NVidia modules.

I can't wait to get my boxed set. My studies are really suffering.

Re:Hardware requirements?

[Sarojin]

Nothing more than UT2K3's

Re:Linux???

[Lord of Ironhand]

As already pointed out, it will run on Linux, in fact, there is a 64-bit version for Linux. Download all versions of the demo here [unrealtournament.com].

Re:Including Linux?

[vogel]

There is a penguin on the box this time around and a Linux32/64 bit installer on the CD/DVD. It's actually quite prominent as it's one of three files in the root directory - autorun.inf, setup.exe and linux-installer.sh :)

Big thanks to Ryan (http://tehgordon.com, he "loves" it when I post this link ;)) for making it happen in time for inclusion on the retail CD/DVD!

-- Daniel, Epic Games Inc.

Don't complain about performance...

[KalvinB]

...if you can't be bothered to post the specs of the machine you're trying to run it on. It's completely meaningless.

"The pistol is gone; it was highly accurate"

Pistols aren't supposed to be accurate. You cannot snipe people with pistols. If a game allows you to do such a thing it's rediculous even for a fantasy world.

If you like unlimited firepower with "can't miss" weapons, feel free to use cheat codes in single player or continue playing the original. It's not like there's a shortage of maps or players.

Ben

Re:assault rifles

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, they're not assault rifles, but I've shot two fully automatic Uzi's at once. Both my brother and I own one each. The first time we had them both at the range, one of the things I had to do was shoot them both at the same time. Fun to say you've done it, but that's about it. Can't hit shit because you can't use the sights on either gun.

And to answer the question I'm sure some of you are asking yourself, they are legal for private citizens to possess in most US states, if you jump through all the legal hoops. Here's the place that sold them [vectorarms.com], until they ran out.

Re:Mac

[floamy]

He is, MacSoft contracted him. He did UT2003 for MacSoft, too.

Re:Vehicles

[mog007]

I own the original UT, UT2k3, I have the UT2k4 demo, and I've got UT2k4 pre-ordered. I bought UT because it looked good, and it was. I bought UT2k3 because of name recognition, and it was a severe disappointment. They took out assault, fucked with the weapons, and even yanked the sniper rifle.

After I tried the demo for UT2k4, I realized that UT2k4 is what UT2k3 SHOULD have been. It's a true sequal, not an ugly stepchild sucking on the name that brought success.

Re:everybody interested in having more games on Li

[vogel]

Actually the best way to make sure your copy is associated with Linux is to play the retail version online as our masterserver keeps track of the last OS used to connect to it (per CD key).

-- Daniel, Epic Games Inc.

Re:everybody interested in having more games on Li

[ImpTech]

I wish they'd push Linux support a little harder. I mean, you can't find concrete verification anywhere that if you buy the Windows copy it will work on Linux. Now, I know it does, but thats because I found a screenshot of the back of the box somewhere. No online store mentions it.

Re:emphasis on gameplay?

[Lumpy]

you obviousally dont have a god grasp on onslaught "link the power nodes" game.

you can easily turn the tide towards the end of the game if your team is skilled enough... one camper in a tank on the hill overlooking the enemy's vantage point blowing to hell every vehicle that re-spawns will allow you to overrun that power node quickly.

I suggest you play it with some people instead of AI only.

oh and nothing feels better than driving a pickup recklessly into the enemy base and jump it into their power supply, jumping out of the vehicle in the air and watching it crash into their cell as you launch a few rockets into the truck and target winning very VERY quickly.

Re:Vehicles

[zerocool^]

I totally agree; however, I do have a bone to pick with Onslaught, or mabey it's just the Torlan map.

Once you're losing, and you're down to your base and only one or two power nodes, it's damn near impossible to fight your way back. The vehicles are simply too powerful, and your base doesn't spawn the two most useful vehicles (the scorpion and the tank). And the ability to spawn at any power node you have captured means that even after you kill everyone rushing your base, they're right back there (they don't have to run across the playing field).

Needs tweaking, but inspite of the downfalls, I've been playing the crap out of it.

~Will

Re:Including Linux?

[13Echo]

UT2004 has a lot of new game modes and features. In general, it's just a more polished version of UT2003 with new stuff. In addition, the OpenGL render on Linux is *much* more refined, and seems to run very well with videocards from nVidia and ATI alike. Most people experience substantial speed improvements over UT2003.

It's a better game. If you weren't quite sure about UT2003, suggest you try UT2004. It seems to be a good upgrade. I didn't buy UT2003, but I'll probably pick up this one, especially since I now have a better system and the game runs with all of the details cranked.

Re:Speed Hack

[Kelerain]

Actually, they have mentioned specifically (like at the bottom of this Mark Rein [ataricommunity.com] post), that the demo has NO cheat protection at all, because it would give that crowed a head start on the final version. They also mention that they will update the demo once the full game has been released for a little while, to include cheat protection. Its good to see that they are not only serious this issue, but they have put some thought in thier strategy.

Re:Which version will you pick up?

[kundor]

They're the same price at ebgames.com, or at least they were last week.

So the DVD pack, which also includes a logitech headset to take advantage of the new voice command (yes! you can give voice commands to the bots!) has my preorder.

Re:Vehicles

[IamNotWitchboy]

UnrealScript ins incredibly modular and object-oriented. Implementing such mod would be extremly simple and you wouldn't have to touch a single line of OpenGL or C/C++ code even.

It would be a very interesting initiation to UnrealScript and would serve as a very educative experience. You should really try it

http://unreal.epicgames.com/UnrealScript.htm

Re:Vehicles

[Snaller]

But some of the cars in DesertCombat play Iraqi folk music!

Re:Vehicles

[kundor]

It's possible to fight your way back, with luck, even from holding only your base. I've seen it done.

Plan 1: Send the raptor up the tower and get the redeemer. take out the node by your base. have someone standing by to build a node there immediately.
Take the raptor down and get the next node over from that, have one person delay people coming through the middle and converge everyone on the other corner node.

Suddenly the tables have turned.

Re:Misleading hardware req.'s

[shadowcabbit]

Agreed. UT2K3 worked just fine on my old P3 700 MHz and a GeForce2; boosting the RAM from 128 to 256 made it almost flawless. I'm now running a P4 2.8 GHz and 512 RAM with an onboard Intel graphics set and the game still runs beautifully; I imagine that uninstalling 2K3 to make room for 2K4 will cause no noticeable difference in performance (no broadband for the duration of my unemployment, so I haven't picked up the demo).

It's been my experience that missing one or two of the "minimum requirements" by a short amount (say, having a 733 MHz when it says 1 GHz) is still within acceptable limits when checking out. It's also been my experience that if a game's demo is out first, it does a hell of a lot in the way of allowing potential customers to gauge what they'll need. I applaud Atari and Epic for bothering to care about their customers, and you can bet that the next game I buy is going to be the deluxe DVD set.

Re:Vehicles

[Geccoman]

Version 1 - Win/Linux
Version 2 - Mac

You're cool, don't cancel.

Re:Macintosh performance issues

[green pizza]

I've seen a few posters comment about rendering speed increasing if sound is disabled, but that's not really an option for a serious player

I totally agree... and hope that it's more of a threading bug than anything else!

Also, just in general I'd say the frame rates on the mac are a lot slower than on the PC. Are they even bothering to use hardware accelleration?

Both the Mac and Linux versions run slower than the Windows version... mostly because the game's 3D engine was written for MS Direct3D... the Mac and Linux versions have been hacked to use OpenGL.

That said, you're going to need a modern Mac (or Linux PC) to run this game... newer than what would be required to play on a Windows PC. The game runs more than fast enough on my 15" Aluminum PowerBook G4 (1.25 GHz G4, Radeon 9600 Mobility). Performance dops a bit when I run higher than 1024x768, though... it may be a fillrate issue with the GPU as this game makes heavy use of multipass rendering. Hopefully the new Radeon 9700 Mobility will fix that! The same game on a similar iMac 17" (1.25 GHz G4, GeForce FX 5200) runs quite a bit slower dispite similar system architecture. My guess is that the FX 5200 can't pump the pixels as fast as the Radeon 9600. Disabiling audio speeds up both machines, so there might be room for improvement.

I had an opportunity to play the demo on both a monster pc gamer rig and on a dual processor G5 at a local mom-and-pop computer store. The PC, with a Radeon 9800, showed about 3x the FPS frame rate as the Mac (dual 1.8 GHz G5, Radeon 9600) but game play felt about the same on both machines. Though the numbers are smaller on the Mac, the game didn't feel any "choppier" than the PC.

Re:Hardware requirements?

[shadowbearer]

Link [ataricommunity.com] to the n00b raptor camping posters. There's some really good ones in there....

SB

Re:6 CDs and a ~6GB install!

[ChaosMog]

Unreal Tournament 2004 is expected to be available worldwide on March 15, in both a standard and a "Special Edition" format. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition will ship as a double-DVD set - disk one will include all of the game content while disk two will include hours of Video Training Modules (VTMs) from 3D Buzz that teach fans and amateur mod makers how to use the Unreal Editor to create custom game content. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition will come in a limited edition metal box and will contain a Logitech Internet Chat Headset for use with the game's exclusive voice-over-IP (voice chat) technology, as well as an Unreal window sticker.

According to this, the game also is in a 2-disc DVD edition with extra goodies. It is available at the same price at most retailers.

Source [unrealtournament.com]

Re:UT 2004 is good, but consider...

[AGTiny]

There is a $10 rebate in the box!

Re:Vehicles

[InShadows]

If you press semicolon ( ; ) while driving a vehicle it will play the horn! There is a different horn sound for each vehicle.

Also, if you bind a key to 'playvehiclehorn 1' it will play a second, slightly more funny horn for each vehicle. Do that by entering:

set input "key" playvehiclehorn 1

At the console, where "key" is whatever key you want to bind it to.

Re:Vehicles

[Pxtl]

I liked the changes. The rocket launcher caused huge problems with its 5 loading in original UT. It made the assault levels totally circumventable by "launching" your teammates. It meant that it was by far the best weapon in any mode involving superscalar monsters. 3 missiles fit it back in the spread.

The ripper was stupid, so its gone. It was easier to kill someone by accident than deliberately.

The biorifle was underpowered. Its not anymore.

The flak cannon was overpowered. Its not anymore.

The alt-fire of the minigun was unclear to newbs. Explosive bullets are hard to miss.

The shock-rifle was used as a spammy weapon, and its not now. Besides, the shock-beam in UT was dumb - it was a hitscan weapon that didn't look like one.

Runs on TNT2

[G3ckoG33k]

Yes it does!

PIII-700 with a TNT2 M64

Low-end...

I may have 15-20 fps but runs with a fair amount of visual goodies anyhow!

Amazing, considering the age of the card.

You are correct about maps

[Sycraft-fu]

The Unreal Engine, be it orignal, UT2003, modified, whatever, was made to host maps on a speperate server. The UT server itself will send maps and other files, if it must, but at the same max rate as whatever the max client data rate is. This is done so the server doesn't screw people playing because someone is downloading.

What you are supposed to do is setup a web server that holds all the maps, textures, sounds and such that you need. You then set a redirector in the UT config to the web server. When a client needs a file, they get sent there, which then proceeds to send at the maximum rate possible as ber HTTP.

An additonal advantage is that the HTTP redirect supports compression. You can zip up the files (50% size on average) with the UCC program. They then download compressed and decompress on the client side, saving bandwidth and time.

So if you run a UT server, of any version, host the maps on a web server and setup a redirect. It can be on the same physical hardware if you like, or a completely different host, whatever works. However don't have the UT server itself serve up the data, it isn't efficient.

Re:Vehicles

[Anonymous Coward]

developed in tangent

That should be "developed in tandem". No flame, just thought you should know the right word.

Re:Vehicles

[RickL]

Ah yes, "pancake". For those who haven't tried it yet, the Manta is hovercraft of sorts. It usually flies just high enough to pass over people's heads. But then you can always suddenly descend..."pancake".

The announcer commentary is one of the things that makes UT series fun. It always makes me happy to be acknowledged for doing something nifty. Even if the acknowledgement comes from a computer. With the vehicles you get some new ones:

"pancake"
"Road rage"
"Vehicular mansaughter"
"Hit and run"
"top gun"

And of course the series:
"double kill", "multikill", "ultrakill", "megakill", etc. is still there.

Re:linux geeks please help me

[cthulhubob]

Easily, I'd say:

1) Mozilla (http://mozilla.org)
2) Mplayer (http://mplayerhq.hu)
3) GIMP (http://gimp.org)
4) OpenOffice (http://openoffice.org)
5) Cinelerra (http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3)
6) K3B (http://www.k3b.org)

Not knowing anything about Linux, I would recommend having a friend help you set up your computer and having him available once in a while to ask how to do stuff. You'll get the hang of the OS pretty quickly though. I got my friend up and running with Fedora Core 1 a couple of weeks ago, and he just installed the mouse gesture plugin for Mozilla by himself yesterday. I'm so proud. *sniff*

Re:Why no Vehicles in CTF?

[kiddailey]

Are you certain that they're not in DM and CTF? As with UT2003, putting vehicles in maps was as simple as loading up the editor and adding a spawn point, so I don't see why it would be any different -- especially considering the weaponry is available to take down the vehicles while on foot.

If it isn't that easy, you can bet a mod will be made that makes it so shortly after it's released :)