News archive

December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas


(-: Merry Christmas! :-)

December 16, 2009

JCoopZ1 Build 130 released

Zombie released an updated version of his Unreal coop game type JCoopZ. Build 130 comes with an improved support for Unreal 227f as well as many general improvements.

Zombie wrote at the forums:
This is the fourth update to JCoopZ1 since initial release. Only the server side files jCoopZ1SSF.u, jCoopZ1NPTP.u were updated, but there is a new jCoopZ1GRP.u file. Since 227 seems to be in perpetual development in RC phase I thought it was finally time to have an interim release. This update fixes the notable client anomaly problem for some 227 users. Also, as expected there has been a number of general improvements and additions listed below. Build 130 will have the most compatibility and support of the 227 patch so I recommend all users, not just 227 server administrators to update. For 224/225/226 users they are required to update to Nephthys v1.4 or greater.

Download JCoopZ1 build 130
Read the full change list in the forum thread

November 9, 2009

RTNP2U updated

Dinwitty updated his Return To Na Pali: Search-Prelude (RTNP2U) map pack to fix a few problems. The new file has been added to the downloads.

Download the updated pack

Download from FilePlanet (Full map pack updated)
Download from FilePlanet (Fixed files only)

October 30, 2009

RTNP2U installed and a quick review

I installed Dinwitty's Return To Na Pali: Search-Prelude (RTNP2U) at my custom map server. It had some issues towards the end so I set my server to skip the last few levels. But the full RTNP experience is playable, with all of Dinwitty's additions. Generally it is a good map pack, but I also have some criticisms:

Pros

  • + RTNP playable in coop, no need for RTNP of Unreal Gold installed
  • + Nice scripted events, like flying space ships
  • + Many RTNP maps have been improved over the originals
  • + Nice set of new pawns and effects

Cons

  • - It took extremely long to build, many release dates passed without result (It would be ready in 2003, it is now 2009)
  • - Some files are missing from the archive, which is a bit strange after all those years of testing and building. I would have expected better quality.
  • - The rain effect is buggy on my u227f machine and crashed my client.
  • - Annoying and time consuming 'security system' in Gala's Peak. It will frustrate coop play.
  • - Confusing lay-out of the final mothership maps.
  • - The inclusion of a few Unreal beta maps does not give significant advantages over Dot's Unreal beta conversion. They should have been left out in my opinion.

Verdict: 6/10 (For the current state. A few fixes can easily raise this to a score of 7/10, 8/10 or in potential 9/10.)

October 30, 2009

Geocities down, site backups

As I warned before, Geocities.com is now down. A few sites have been relocated, but I also did some archiving myself. Masstadon's Unreal site and Wooper's World are now archived here and available for your viewing pleasures.

Masstadon's Unreal site < Check out the map here, it would be a waste to lose this site!
Wooper's World

For more archived maps, check the Infobase > Archive

October 10, 2009

Return To Na Pali: Search-Prelude has been released

Dinwitty released his modified Return to Na Pali coop project Search Prelude (Also known as RTNP2U). It allows you to experience the Return to Na Pali, modified and new maps on any coop server. It is compatible with Unreal 224v to Unreal 227f and requires no RTNP expansion.

Readme file:
Return To Na Pali: Search - Prelude

Your Comrad, known to you as Prisoner 849 is missing. You agreed to the mission to return to the Planet Na Pali in hopes of tracking down 849. However, Inuit is also on the trail of the missing prisoner ship Vortex Rikers. You must encounter the dangers of the planet as the Skaarj have also found the resident Queen killed and are out for revenge and have re-established themselves on the planet and mining for the rare Tarydium crystals vital to their systems. Na Pali is more dangerous with Space Pirates lurking and Inuit Recovery crews.

You have an anonymous mentor helping you along the way.


Dinwitty has worked on this project for many years and the beta's always looked promising. Because of many delays I have had some doubts if it would ever see the light, so I am glad this project finally reached the 'final' state. Congrats Dinwitty! I will update my custom map server with this version between now and a few weeks.

Download the mappack.

October 6, 2009

Shivaxi started an Unreal podcast!

Shivaxi started an Unreal podcast! Episode 1 is now available:

Shivaxi wrote:
Unreal Podcast 1

-Hosted By:  Shivaxi and LOL_PEANUTS
-Recorded Live On:  October 4th, 2009
-Run Time:  1 Hour and 25 Minutes
-Quality:  CBR - 320 kbps
-Size:  195 MB

Unreal Podcasts Web Page


Description:

The first, unofficial, Unreal podcast, hosted by Shivaxi and LOL_PEANUTS.


In this podcast, we have featuring:


7 songs being played in the beginning:

-Flight Castle by Shivaxi
-I'm Cyan by ThexDarksider
-Nothing Left (Feat. Transycom) by Shivaxi
-Great Juggernaut by KillerSkaarj
-Lab by Transycom
-Astronomical Mindf*ck by Lacrymosa
-Taitronix: 2010 Ultra Megamix by RoninMastaFX


and 3 Interviews:

-Qtit interviewed about ISV-Dragonfly
-Mr.Prophet interviewed about Residual Decay
-Turboman interviewed about Firestorm


Many other things are talked about/discussed in this podcast.  Enjoy

 

October 1, 2009

A final memorial to (Meow)Dellkat

Hybrid released his memorial map to Unreal player Dellkat who died a few months ago. You can download it here. It requires Unreal 227 to run and 7zip to decompress.

For more information about Dellkat's death and Dellkat's life, visit this forum thread, these youtube video's and this website.

September 20, 2009

A trip down the history lane of high end 3D graphics

I just came across this marvellous video on YouTube: A collection of the nVidia TechDemo's from the GeForce 256 to the GTX 200 series. With every new generation of graphics accelerators, nVidia published a few demos to showcase the new technologies. Each demo excels in artistic value and technology. The video gives a nice impression of the progress that has been made in the field of cutting-edge 3D graphic during roughly the last ten years.

 

With every new 3D card that I installed, these demo's were the first thing that I ran. Just to watch in awe. It has cost me a great amount of money over the years, but it was worth every penny. The possibilities with today's 3D accelerators go far beyond what we could have imagined in an earlier age. Thank you nVidia for inspiring us. Thank you for altering our 3D computed reality...forever!

Click the video for a HD version.

By the way: I recorded most of the individual nVidia TechDemo's to YouTube HD. If you're interested, why not take a look at my video page:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Hypernl&view=videos

September 14, 2009

Tentacle-Hunter & SrBassalot's RTNP coop pack released

Tentacle-Hunter & SrBassalot are proud to announce the release of THS RTNP 225 Mission Pack for Co-op.

Although other RTNP conversions have been done, they feel this one is unique.
Their goal was NOT necessarily to do a "1 to 1" conversion of the original RTNP mission pack; that was literally impossible. Their goal was to do a conversion that was specifically designed to work right AND be fun for a 225 engine Co-Op server.

In that respect, they did take some artistic license with some content adding their own flavor to this conversion.

Some unique features of this conversion include:

- Basic RTNP gameplay & theme was preserved.
- 225 Engine compatibility & All known Client/Server bugs were fixed.
- Upak actors/pawns were fixed/improved where appropriate.
- Special attention was paid to ensure all maps were Co-op friendly (Player Blocks removed, pickups, pawns, etc.)
- The first part of "Eldora's Well" map has been included as a separate map restoring original continuity.
- It can also be played in single-player mode, if desired (including on a 225 install).

THS-Conversion project: All new 3D modeling, textures, sounds, & scripting
Copyright (c) 2009, by Team THS - which is: Tentacle-HunteR & SrBassalot.
What are you waiting for? Download it already :-)

Update 2009/09/16: A few last-minute changes have been made to the map pack. You may want to download it again.

Download

Talk about this project in the forums

August 25, 2009

Standalone server query program released

TheDarkSider released UQuery, a small standalone program to query Unreal servers with.

OldUnreal forum post:
Ok I put this here because most people don't check the projects section. I've made a program for querying Unreal servers. Shivaxi gave me the idea when he said that he needs something to save statistics on his server. I first made a PHP script for this but now a real program.

I didn't take any screenshots because there is really not enough material, go check it by yourself. Smiley

http://thedarkside.net63.net/downloads/UQuery-0.1.4.9.rar
^ There is something wrong with the server, it'll respond to "UQuery.rar" and you'll get an old version, so I decided to put every version in its own rar. Lol.

NOTE: You need to have .NET framework 2.0 or higher installed in order for the program to work.

ANOTHER NOTE: Please, if don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I'm sick of downright vile comments to my stuff, a friendly suggestion/tip and of course a bug report is very welcome Smiley, but flaming isn't. So if you are pissed for any reason, please keep your ignorance and hate to yourself. I haven't done anything bad to anyone. Thank you.

BUG TRACKER
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
[+] Menus
[√] Some available properties (including mutators) were showing "N/A"
[=] 2 text boxes are now 1 combo box
[?] Master server query
[?] Contents of combo box are not saved after program restart
________
Legend:
[+] Added
[√] Fixed
[=] Changed
[?] Still Missing

Version numbers are pretty much random, what comes to my mind. Wink But they are increasing so biggest numbers = newest version.

Download link for old version:
http://thedarkside.net63.net/downloads/UQuery-0.1.2.11.rar
^ Only for reference and formality. You should always get the newest one because it contains fixes.

Keep an eye on the OldUnreal thread to obtain the latest version.

August 1, 2009

Geocities going down on October 26th

It has been announced some time ago that one of the best know free webhosts, Geocities.com, is shutting down. I see that there are still quite a few Unreal-related websites are hosted here, so if that is one of your sites, make sure you backup all your data and prepare to move to a new host.

Check this FAQ at Geocities for more info about the closure.

It's quite disappointing to see that Geocities is going to die because it is a valuable part of the history of the internet itself.

August 1, 2009

Jolt.co.uk Unreal server shutdown

After many years of service the Jolt higherups decided to pull the plug on the Jolt Unreal servers.

UKBikenut wrote:
Very very sad news and yet another nail in the coffin.
This came right out of the blue to me with no forewarning . [Cry]
It is totally out of my hands now as the plug has been pulled on both the Unreal AND UT servers.
Its sad,but comforting to know that i managed to persuade those higher up to keep the Unreal servers as long as they did(about 9 years,as long as the UT ones) and i bear them no malice whatsoever in there decision.
For me and lots of Unreal players its the end of a very very long era.
I know a lot of you on this board didnt play on Jolt,but it was always reasuring to know that the servers where perrenially there.
Oh well,nobody can shut down the memories. [Cry]


Jolt has been one of the most reliable server providers for which I thank them. Now it is up to us as Unreal community to keep hosting some good servers. Fortunately bandwidth is much more affordable now allowing many of us to do so.

July 1, 2009

StarGate Unreal mod coming soon

An interesting notice was posted on the OldUnreal homepage:

News release:
A new mod called StargateUnreal ( SGU ) is coming soon! [30-06-2009]

It has many features and a awesome storyline. It also has RPG style players, Awesome inventory like a Radar, Camera's, Awesome guns, Online savegame meaning you can do whatever you want, and it will stay regardless of traveling or a servercrash.
SGU is based on >20 servers. Linking it all together in a huge network you can travel using Stargates.
In the StargateCommand you can dial any server. This is also the main place where you can enter the game.
Also we got external tools, like a external player radar so you can actually track the players outside of the game.
And because of the many servers we created a chat for easy communication.
This game is coop! Teamspirit is needed!


Keep an eye on their site at http://www.stargateunreal.com.

July 1, 2009

Alert: Rabbit invasion

Planet Na Pali is about to be swarmed with rabbits, because the mod Rabbit has been released:

Description:
Biological description:

About rabbits:
- Rabbits life 5 minutes, after that they just vanish
- They will drop on the ground instead of floating in the air
- Natural enemies: Human and any that can hurt
- They will try to run away from humans
- They are more quiet than NaliRabbits
- Male and female just need to touch each other to get "babies"

About female rabbits:
- Female is the white rabbit
- Female can product max 6 rabbits in lifetime
- Female products 3 rabbits per birth
- Sex per single "baby" is randomly chosen
- Female looks black-n-white when old (after max births)
- Female is always adult (productable)
- Female looks fat when pregnant
- Pregnant takes 10 secs

About male rabbits:
- Male becomes adult (productable) after 30 seconds of lifetime
- Male looks brighter when young (less than 30 secs of living)
- Look carefully to see the difference between female and young male
- Male looks like NaliRabbit (brown skin) when adult (productable)

About "babies":
- There is no real "babies", rabbits will born in adult size

How to take care of rabbits:
- Be careful when you leave male and female together and forget them
- Kill any black-n-white rabbits; they are useless
- Quickly lots of rabbits: Summon many males and females same place
- Even more quickly lots of rabbits: Make time flow faster (slomo)
- They will die out if you are unlucky (or lucky Smiley)
- Nuke them if your computer becomes too slow
- They product faster if you scare them (just bypass them)
- They product even faster if you scare them by shooting one
- They product faster in complex (NaliC) than simple (SpireVillage) maps

Tip:
- Rabbits will invade Nali Castle or anything if you keep scaring them

Simple description:

Basically this is a mod which has male and female rabbit which can do babies.


Quickly warp to SKW's website to get your Rabbit today. Also visit this link for some nice screenshots :-)

July 1, 2009

EnhancedDM 6 available

Smartball released a new version of his Deathmatch gemtype EnhancedDM. The most important change of EDM6 is that it supports Unreal 227 now.

Change log:
 * Compatibility Changes
--> EDM6 is fully compatible with OldUnreal's 227f patch

* Structural Changes
--> EDM6_Base now exists an open source API that EDM is built upon, and which other modders can use to create their own EDM mutators
--> EDM's package checking system has been completely removed
--> Mutator voting is now incorporated into EDM
--> End game voting is now incorporated into EDM

* Functional Changes
--> The mapvote window no longer automatically closes after the player has voted
--> EstablishedMutator array size has been increased to 50
--> Color rendering system has been revamped


Head over to Smartball's site to download the latest update.

June 23, 2009

UnrealTexture axed...again. (update)

Once more has site of the Unreal Re-Texturing project been taken down because the provider failed to deliver it's promises. All I can say about this is: Come on hosters - Don't offer any "unlimited" or similar packages if you don't have the resources to truly provide services like that.
 

DieHard wrote:
As people may have noticed, the Unreal Texture site is down.

And i look like its a repeat from what happened to my previous host. This time the site was suspended because it took to much resources from the server its running on.
I got an e-mail from the host upfront the suspension, and i took actions with the removal of a certain script, while i also gave a reply to them.

They missed my email and thereby my actions, and i got a mail today the site was suspended, and now they also complain about the size of the site.........

I decided to take drastic actions myself to prevent further problems, and i decided to have the site go back to the core activities which are Unreal and UT since i make textures for those games.
It also means that i deleted out all other sections being:
Unreal II
UT2004
UT3

And its unlikelly they will be back............

In addition to that i dissabled hotlinking with the exceptions of a few sites:

www.UnrealTexture.com
www.CelticWarriors.net
www.OldUnreal.com
www.BeyondUnreal.com
www.UnrealSP.org

At this moment of writing the entire site is suspended, which also means that the main download mirror for patch 227f as well as all the links to the S3TC packages are down and unavailable.

The problem now is, they try force me to upgrade my account to a VPS server. If they do force me to that, than the answer is simple, UnrealTexture.com is no more Sad The price for the cheapest VPS server is 40 dollars per month which is something i simply cannot afford, not even remotelly...... And that also wont be enough to host the site because that package is limited to 20 gigabyte of space while the current(stripped down) site is 75 gigabyte.

The only option for me that is left, is to split the site up into 2 domains and pay for 2 seperate hosting packages. Obviously this will double the costs on the site and will be a huge drain on my already almost empty wallet.

So lets see what happens next days, but count on being the site down for a couple a days even when the outcome might be positive. Where possible ill try keep briefing everybody here.


GL DieHard with solving this mess...again.

-A frustrated Hyperl out-

Update: Site is back again: Unreal Texture

June 11, 2009

New Return to Na Pali coop project nearing completion

Tentacle Hunter and Srbassalot are currently working on a 225 fully Coop compatible RTNP map pack. The project has been well under way for some time now and is very close to completion. The main goal of this project was to keep it close to the original content and make it fully 225 Coop compatible but the developers also added their own artistic content which they believe will enhance the gameplay. They expect a release very soon :-)

Click for screenshot

June 4, 2009

PhysX is coming to Unreal!

.:..: (Dots) has been working on an extension to enable nVidia/Ageia PhysX to Unreal and Unreal Tournament. PhysX allows highly accurate and hardware accelerated physics calculations for a much more realistic object interaction than the Unreal 1 engine currently provides.

For info and some early downloads, see the UnrealSP Forum Thread.

June 1, 2009

June 4-7: European Elections - Please Vote!

I want to start with a quote from the Pirate Bay blog:
The 4-7th of june it's time for elections to the European parliament again. Some say it doesn't matter if you vote, some say it's just an election between a douche and a turd and all the politicians try to convince you that they all know what's best for you.

No matter what you think of the above, we have seen a lot of new very disturbing laws and directives from the EU these last years (telecom package, ipred, the data retention directive). Laws that each member country then are obliged to follow. So yes, it does matter who we elect! We at The Pirate Bay have our different political views and don't want to shove any politics down your throat, but we want you to vote! After all, it only takes a few minutes of your time. [...]


So, if you're citizen of the EU: June 4th to 7th it is time for the elections for the European Parliament again. Please consider some actual topics like the Telecommunications Data Retention, Net Neutrality, (Internet) Privacy and the File sharing debate when you vote. But no matter what your ideas or ideals are: Don't let your vote be wasted: Go Vote!

May 22, 2009

Unreal 227f UnrealScript documentation now available.

I've added the current Unreal 227f UnrealScript documentation to the library. It will be updated when a final or an Unreal Gold version has been released.

May 21, 2009

Cancelled PSX version of Unreal

It seems that once there has been an Playstation version of Unreal in the making, with all new levels. But this game was cancelled and never released. Leo(T.C.K.) has been digging up some information about this cancelled game and found some screenshots, a short movie and even a few playable levels:

Leo (T.C.K) wrote at the BeyondUnreal forums:
Unreal PSX was cancelled Unreal port with all new content(unlike N64 version I think which was handled by Epic themselves during 97), also Unreal PSX was a working title and by the time the game was cancelled it was 50 percent complete or something...but they made the framerates smooth etc..the lead designer was Eric Reuter, who originally worked for Unreal(credited only a additional level design, because his whole levels (like amethyst skycity level) didn't make it to game, but he helped designing other aspects of game (perhaps some of jeremy war's work include some of his work too or leftovers) and also on a cancelled level pack for Unreal.

Unreal PSX had all new levels and also some new features (there was revealed even one new weapon). And the levels were unfinished, so it is very possible it would look much better in final version.

But excuse the quality of these levels, they had to make sure it will run smooth on PSX with rather high FPS.

I found 4 persons who worked on that game so far, one of them is this designer, which he shows some of his levels in screenshots and video:

http://www.nathansilvers.com/copperm...ls.php?album=8

Also download
http://www.nathansilvers.com/demo.php

It has shown unreal psx in action.
The video is dating back to 2004, so it does not show his most recent stuff.

Head over to the BeyondUnreal forums for more info.

May 14, 2009

Unreal patch 227f released

Unreal patch 227f has finally been released. This sub version "F" of patch 227 has left the beta stage and can be considered as a release candidate of a final patch 227. The Return to Na Pali content is not yet supported, but you CAN install this patch on Unreal Gold. Doing so will disable the Return to Na Pali content of Unreal Gold. From my experience with extensive server testing I can say that Unreal 227f is very stable and feels mature. Many hard-to-find bugs have finally been fixed in this release. All my servers have been updated with this public release.
 

Description from OldUnreal.com:
The current release is 227f. It's a release candidate. Although we worked very hard and fixed everything which was reported it is possible that still some (hopefully minor) problems appear.
227f left beta stage and can be already used for creating mods and maps, but in the contrary to the common opinion the "f" in 227f does not mean "final". Its just a release number like in any previous version before. A final version will be made once we are really sure to have fixed any bug even the small and this is only possible after 227f was released and tested for some time.

227a,b,c,d and e are the older test releases which still can be found here to help finding and fixing remaining bugs.

Please note that this release does NOT contain the UnrealGold/Unreal Anthology "Return to Napali" extension yet.
The patch can be applied, but after installation the expansion pack does not work anymore!!!
This is temporary during the development phase and the final version will contain all necessary files. 227f is already a release candidate, so the patch for these versions will probably follow soon now.

Files: UnrealPatch227fWin.7z (For Windows only) | UnrealPatch227fWinLin.7z (For Windows and Linux)
Release notes at OldUnreal wiki

For more info, head over to OldUnreal.com. If you happen to find any bugs, be sure to report them at the OldUnreal forums.

May 4, 2009

"Release Patch 227f this week" (update)

Smirftsch announced that Unreal 227f should be released this week. He even planned to release it last weekend but did not make it because of some last-minute issues. The planning is now to have it released next weekend or earlier. From my experience as beta tester I can say that Unreal 227f is running very well; this is going to be the biggest update since 227a. Please note that the f in 227f does not necessarily mean "final". If needed, based on the feedback of public testing, there may be more releases in the future. Anyways, here is what Smirftsch wrote:


Smirftsch wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
Although planned I can't make the release of 227f this weekend. There are still some localization problems, such as missing fonts in classic menu for other languages - such as German umlauts and probably all other language specific chars for French/Italian/Spanish.

Another UED2 fix needed to be done which caused another delay in the progress, as well as some S3TC bug which was caused by a typo.

Anyway, we are closer than ever and I think its better to make it right instead of causing some last-minute bugs because of to much hurry.
 
In the last time it was always some unpredictable new bug suddenly appearing which caused the long time span between 227e and 227f.
Indeed I think it was worth it, because some bugs have been fixed which seemed "unfixable" for quite a while and stability and security have been improved.
Now for quite a while there were almost no new bugs found and even a lot of small glitches have been removed.
One thing now is if or if not to fix this problem with the localization and how much work it is.
So if no (critical) bugs are found anymore it will be a few days, I want to check everything carefully again (like .ints and ini files, release notes etc. etc. ) - things I couldn't do yet.
I think next weekend at maximum.

As always: keep an eye at the OldUnreal forums for the latest news.

 

Update 2009/05/10: Smirftsch just missed the release for this weekend, but don't worry, it should be here tomorrow:


Ok, couldn't finish my work on the release notes yet and the Italian translation needs to be copied in yet. Its maybe to late to make the release for today, but tomorrow I think should be possible.
Just sry I couldn't make it for the weekend as promised.



Update 2009/05/12
: It has become clear that the 'tomorrow' release also has been missed. There seems to have been a slight change of plans because the wait is now for an extra translation to be included. Everything else should be done. :)


Seems the Italian translation is missing yet the latest changes and additions for 227. No sure yet about Spanish, but worth to have a look at it for sure.
It needs to be compared to the .int files and missing entries need to be added yet it seems...

Its a hell a lot of work and pretty annoying, I know :(

But anyone could do the comparison and add the missing entries in English already so that those who translate it in the end don't need to do everything alone- and it would be a lot of faster.
227f is ready except the complete translations, so HURRY :)

 

April 23, 2009

Airstrike mod in the making?

Why fight monsters on the ground when you can achieve the same from the air with a fighter jet? :D

April 22, 2009

Commando and Boss (Xan) models converted to Unreal

Gizzy converted the UT player models Commando (male and female) and Boss (Xan) to Unreal. Download them here.

March 29, 2009

Demo's are still here

Whoops! When redesigning the downloads 2 weeks ago I forgot to add a menu button for the demo's section, on which the Unreal Shareware, beta and technology demo's can be found. It has been fixed now.

March 22, 2009

Archive updated

A few websites which went offline recently have been added to the web archive.

March 21, 2009

C&S beta server

I'm experimenting a bit with Dots' Command & Skaarj mod (Inspired by Command & Conquer: Red Alert) A test server is available at unreal://hyper.dnsalias.net:6666. I'm not sure yet if the server will become permanent.

March 15, 2009

Download center and InfoBase redesign

The download center and for lesser degree the InfoBase sections of Hyper.nl Unreal Services have had a redesign for better navigation. The old design still came from the time that the download page only served a few mods and maps for use on the HyperCoop server. The new download center has separate pages for maps, mods, skins, media, cache etcetera. A few sections of the InfoBase were changed as well, but nothing dramatically different there.

March 12, 2009

The state of Unreal 227f

Okay, people keep asking me about the state of Unreal patch 227f and why is hasn't been released yet. I can tell you this:

  1. First, you need to know (and probably already know) that Unreal 227 is a project of OldUnreal (Smirftsch). So, the best place to ask this is probably at OldUnreal.com and especially the OldUnreal forums.
  2. If you did this, you also already know that Unreal 227f is still in development. You can see bug reports being posted and there is a growing changelog of bugs that has been fixed already.
  3. In earlier updates here at Hyper.nl Unreal Services you could have read that Smirftsch has had a number of serious health issues, for which he needed to undergo treatments in hospital. This is still in progress, which means that his time to work on Unreal 227 is still severely restricted. Still he managed to free some time for the project.
  4. Smirftsch knows that 227f should have been released already, but of course he has (even) more important things to work on now. I don't know a release date. The date of the release will of course depend on the health recovery of Smirftsch and the amount of bugs that still need to be fixed before 227f is ready for a public beta / release candidate.
  5. From my position as beta tester I have seen enormous improvements to the stability of the game engine. We're now at the 18th (unreleased) beta version of Unreal 227f which is powering the 4 game servers I run. Smirftsch and the other developers have really been working very hard to improve the game, and they are winning the battle against the bugs. Throughout the years, the HyperCoop servers prove to be a true challenge for the game engine, with more action, monsters, weapons, items, projectiles, light effects and mutators than the original developers could ever imagine. For me, this was the key reason to become beta tester: If 227 runs stable at HyperCoop, it probably will run fine at the other servers as well. And I can tell you this: the recent beta's of 227f are stable as a rock. Many issues that have been causing crashes over many years have finally been fixed.
  6. Because I run 227f beta at my servers, you still cannot join with your 227e client. I know this is a great pain but this testing has to be done. If I don't test 227, many bugs would never have been fixed. It's as simple as that. Remember you can still play at my servers with Unreal Gold and Unreal 225 for the time being.

That's about all I know. For now, keep hoping and praying for a swift recovery of Smirftsch' health and keep an eye on the OldUnreal forums for any developments on the long-awaited patch.

March 12, 2009

Full HyperCoop playthrough video available at YouTube in HD

I finished recording and uploading my HyperCoop playthrough from NyLeve to QueenEnd. I recorded it on a per-level base in the new 1280x720 YouTube HD resolution. I hope it will give anyone interested a preview of the gameplay at the server and show one of many ways to find your way through the monster-infested realms. Go take a look!

March 12, 2009

3 Unreal remixes added

I found 3 new (?) remixes of the Unreal tracks at YouTube and recorded them to 192 kbit MP3 with my Soundblaster X-FI because there were no downloadable MP3 files available yet.

You can find them at the music section of the files page.

March 10, 2009

Unreal Mission Pack Zero announced

Team Vertex Team Axis announced a new Unreal singleplayer and coop map pack called Mission Pack Zero. The pack will have 12 new levels and will feature high quality scripted sequences:

UnrealSP Upcoming maps entry:
Developer: Team Axis (updated)
Status: Developing

Synopsis: You were assigned the duty of guarding the weapons bay inside Vortex Rikers. As you slowly awake from the crash, aches and pains run throughout the body as you think about the last conversation you had before lights went black. Unconscious at the time of the crash landing on an unknown planet, explore the once restricted areas of Vortex Rikers as a security guard in a brand new chapter of Epic Games' award-winning title, Unreal.
Features: 12 new maps; professional scripted sequences; new sounds; custom music; co-op compatible.

See the UnrealSP.org project thread for more info.

March 8, 2009

HyperCoop Unreal playthrough at Youtube started

I've started work on a full Unreal HyperCoop playthrough video on YouTube. I'm recording the gameplay of every level in 1280x720 YouTube HD. It will take some time to get everything done but the first video's are available already.

Watch preview

February 28, 2009

Work on WTF Series 2 started

Shivaxi started a continuation of his WTF Series map pack: WTF Series 2. The project is still in very early development, but it looks promising again.

Changelog:
Synopsis: Continued from WTF Series 1, you must continue your journey in finding the last team member, Fetel, and a way to contact your team aboard the USS Shiva. As easy as that may sound, you best watch your back. The Nali are NOT happy.

Features: Current map count is 4, as well as another 2 in the thought process. (More to come). New weapons include a few U4E weapons, as well as a few new weapons in the making. (More to come). There will be newly scripted AI, light actors, and triggers. Also, new music and sounds, including some dialogue and voice acting, is in the works.

Latest News: Jackrabbit has now joined in the production of WTF Series 2, and is working on a series of sounds, textures, and some AI scripting.

Links: http://www.freewebs.com/shivaxi/

See the project thread at OldUnreal for screenshots and more details.

February 27, 2009

Web relocation completed

Hyper.nl Unreal Services slowly but surely moved to a new webhost. Both the website and the game servers are now being hosted at my own server machine. This allows me to have nearly unlimited webspace and management/uploading with gigabit speed and be independent of anyone. The relocation was purely my own decision. I hereby thank TheNerdNetwork (TNN) for the many years I could use their hosting. TNN allowed me to go from a bunch of interweaved unreliable free hosting accounts to a much larger and more reliable website. Without TNN, I could not have been where I am now.

I removed all my content from the TNN web server, except for a few redirects to the new location. If you still have links or bookmarks to my site at TNN you may want to update them. My domains have been updated.

http://www.hypercoop.tk
http://www.hyper.nl.tt
http://hyper.dnsalias.net (Direct link)

February 6, 2009

Nephthys 1.4 released

Zora released Nephthys 1.4. Nephthys is a native mod for Unreal1 engine based servers allowing for efficient attack blocking, banning, player logging and other features. Nephthys also is a client-side mod to profit from web hosted downloads. Joining servers with custom maps/mods using Nephthys is by a multiple faster than without Nephthys. Please note that Nephthys does not support Unreal 227, so don't try to install it to your Unreal 227 beta clients or servers. Unreal 227 has it's own updated networking subsystem and download redirector.

Nephthys provides (full list see the Nephthys-Documentation):

* Full integration into any game configuration
* Advanced attack blocking
* Bug fixes / work arounds to avoid crashes
* Banning
* Kicking
* Player IP log
* Customized file Upload
* Fast Web Download for Clients
* Advanced Server Query
* Advanced Master Server Uplink
* UScript Interface allowing for custom mods

Nephthys supports:

* Unreal 224v, Unreal 225f, Unreal 226b (Gold), Unreal 226f
* Deus Ex 1110 (1112fm)
* Rune 107, Rune 108 (108 HoV)

Nephthys requires:

* Windows 98/ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
* Linux running Wine
* Linux natively (Rune only)
* Nephthys is NOT natively available for Mac.

Key changes since Nephthys v1.3 (complete list in the included manual):

* Nephthys is now available for Unreal1, Deus Ex, Rune
* Challenge/response connection checking
* Support for web server introduced (separate package)
* Packages are checked before loading; new commandlet
* Self-deleting bans (after a configurable time)
* Subnet attack detection and banning
* First detections of attacks towards clients
* Bug fixes
* Archives of type .uz are now supported
* New uscript API functions

For the complete list of features, please read the included manual.

Downloads: Nephthys 1.4 | Nephthys 1.4 Rune 107 Linux

Online manual

January 4, 2009

UteamFix 10g released

}TCP{Wolf released an updated version of his universal Unreal gametype UTeamFix. For the change list, please see the online manual.

Download

January 1, 2009

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year from Hyper.nl Unreal services! This video was made by JackRabbit at Age and SKW's coop server. New Year's wishes here at OldUnreal. May Unreal stay strong in this year!

December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas, happy new year!


Hyper.nl Unreal Services wishes you happy holidays and a prosperous (and healthy!) 2009 from DMDecyberXmas :D.

By the way: DieHard made a small Christmas release for the Unreal ReTexturing project. Click here for details.

December 18, 2008

Forum restored!

It took some time but the forum is online again! Because the old host went down without warning, a few posts were lost as they were not backed up. Everything else is online again at a new domain and on a new host. I think BrakeDanceJ/UnrealDestination again for his service.

Go to the forum

December 14, 2008

WTF series 1 added to custom map server

Shivaxi's new map pack 'WTF series 1' is now part of the map cycle at the HyperCoop custom map server. You can download the map pack here.

December 13, 2008

Testing Unreal 227f; Unreal 227f status

I decided to update the servers with a private prerelease build of Unreal 227f to allow it to have a good testing before a public beta is being released. Because Unreal 227 builds are incompatible with each other, this means you cannot connect with Unreal 227e at the moment. For now, use your old installation of Unreal 225 or Gold to play at the Hyper servers. You can use 227 again as soon as a public version of 227f is available at OldUnreal.

About the current state of 227f: Again many work has been done by the development team, but due to Smirftsch' medical conditions the release has been delayed more. Smirftsch is getting a treatment in hospital at the moment so I cannot say when he will be in good enough condition again to continue on the patch. Keep an eye on OldUnreal.com and the forums there because any news will be posted there. For now we can give Smirftsch our best wishes for his recovery.

December 5, 2008

Beta: Shader Model 2 and 3 support

It is now possible to use Shader Model 2 and 3 in Unreal via an external mod together with Unreal 227's DirectX9 renderer. The new mod allows new graphics features to be used like per-pixel lighting and high dynamic range rendering. (HDR) The mod of which I am talking is called ENBSeries and is made by a Russian developer called Vorontsov Boris. This mod is still in beta state, so expect some glitches here and there.

Download here

How to use:

  1. Make sure you have a supported videocard with up-to-date drivers. See site for details.
  2. Download the mod. There are different versions with preconfigured settings for specific games. For now the one for Deus Ex may be advisable because Deus Ex also used Unreal Engine 1.
  3. In Unreal 227, switch rendering engine to Direct3D 9 if not already.
  4. Install the mod to your Unreal system folder. (Install the files d3d9.dll and the enbseries.ini to the system folder)
  5. Start Unreal and press shift+F12 to activate the new rendering mode. You may want to disable any Unreal binds to F12 in advance.
  6. New rendering mode should be active now. If it is not your graphics card/drivers may not support it. Enbseries.ini can be edited (for advanced users). This also includes an option to disable Shader Model 3 and revert to Shader Model 2.

For more experiences and some screenshots, see this OldUnreal forum thread.

November 29, 2008

forum downtime

As you probably noticed: the forum is down. The hosting partner of UnrealDestination seems to have gone out of business. BrakeDanceJ is working to restore the forum again from a backup.

November 24, 2008

WTF series 1 updated

Shivaxi updated his newly released WTF series map pack to version 1.1.

Changelog:
Fixes/Changes (also in readme)

- All maps updated in various ways
- Not being able to save & load (Fixed)
- Infiltration removed
- Custom game type removed (Any game type now works)
- Castle1.utx removed
- RealCrouch Actor/Mutator added
- UDSDemo removed (was not even needed in the first place....accidently added)
- INFIL_Grenade added
- You can now hear the Dynamic Sounds in Wtf1

Download from:
http://evolutionrevolution.s3.amazonaws.com/site-downloads/WTFSeries1v1.1.rar

 

November 18, 2008

WTF series 1 released

Shivaxi released a new map pack for Unreal. WTF series 1 was announced earlier at UnrealSP's forums. Click the link for some background information about the project and the story. The map pack is now available for download:

Shivaxi wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
SUPRISE!!! You all thought I died and that the project was never to be continued.....but GUESS what!?

You were wrong. :lol:

This has been tested, edited, re-worked, tested again, and raped thoroughly...so this is now the final release for WTF Series 1.

Please feel free to post any comments, positive or negative...i shall learn from both.

Also on a side note....i do know that this map pack may seem a little short to take 5 years in the making....well....thats what u get for this being my first map pack.

Enjoy

http://evolutionrevolution.s3.amazonaws.com/site-downloads/WTFSeries1.rar

P.S. First map is wtf.unr....sais so in the readme incase u don't read the readme lol

Download from:

http://evolutionrevolution.s3.amazonaws.com/site-downloads/WTFSeries1.rar

 

October 31, 2008

New Firestorm trailer!

Turboman's Firestorm project is still in development and a new trailer has been released, showing a few all-new area's and even attacking airships. Cool!

The first trailer is also still available here.

October 23, 2008

Unreal.com offline, mirror available

Epic's old official Unreal website at http://www.unreal.com/index2.html has been unavailable for a few weeks now, so I decided to add it to the archived website backups. You can view the site again here.

Update: Unreal.com is back online. I'll keep the mirror for just in case it disappears again.
http://www.unreal.com/index2.html

September 21, 2008

Khajiit Rankin's Unreal FAQ updated

Khajiit Rankin sent me a new version of his Unreal FAQ (Right-click to save). This version 2.30 is probably the final version of the FAQ.

September 17, 2008

Master server troubles

The default Gamespy master server for Unreal (responsible for the server list in the Unreal server browser) has been down since yesterday and is still unavailable. This is quite an unusual situation, downtimes were usually shorter in the past. I hope the issue is temporarily. (There could be maintenance to the server etc.) I the unfortunate case that the server stays down, we have enough alternatives to replace Gamespy.

The latest beta of Unreal 227 already has support for the backup master server at TheNerdNetwork and the admin community can host additional master servers with the Master Server package.

For now it's probably the best option to use Unreal 227e, my Enhanced Unreal Server Browser or the standalone QTracker browser.

For the latest happenings, please check this topic at the OldUnreal forums.

Update Sep 21: Both OldUnreal and the HLK clan are now running additional backup servers, and my own backup server is also still available to use. Techies can go to the OldUnreal main page for the configuration settings. These settings will most likely also be used in Unreal 227 final.

September 10, 2008

Downtime forum (update)

The forums for this site, hosted at UnrealDestination.com, are currently unavailable because of an issue with the domain. BrakeDanceJ knows about the problem and is working on a solution with his provider.

Update Sep 13: The forum is online again, at UnrealDestination.net.

August 26, 2008

Raven released UnrealEngine 1 preprocessor

Raven released an useful tool for UnrealScript programmers. This preprocessor can examine and optimize UnrealScript source code before it is being sent to the compiler (ucc.exe). This preprocessor is inspired by the one existing in Unreal Engine 3.

Readme:
Currently supported directives are:

`process - should be in the first line of .uc file. Tells preprocessor to parse file
`include file - embade file in the currently opened .uc
`inc_process file - embade file in the currently opened .uc and parses it
`define variable - defines empty variable (used in `ifdef and `ifndef directives)
`define variable=value - defines variable with specified value
`write variable - writes defined variable
`ifdef variable - evaluates to true if variable is defined
`ifndef variable - evaluates to true if variable is not defined
`else - part of conditional statement
`endif - ends conditional statement
`check definition==value - evaluates to true if defined variable (definition) equals value. Used in strings, floats, integers.
`check definition<>value - evaluates to true if defined variable (definition) does not match value. Used in strings, floats, integers.
`check definition>value - evaluates to true if defined variable (definition) is greater then value. Used in floats, integers.
`check definition<value - evaluates to true if defined variable (definition) is less then value. Used in floats, integers.

Download | Discuss at OldUnreal

August 14, 2008

New location, double bandwidth

A few days ago I moved the server with me to my new home where I have a new, faster internet connection (2mbit upload). This allowed me to double the bandwidth per player (MaxClientRate, NetSpeed) from 6000 to 12000. This should provide a better playing experience at times when lots of action occurs. (For example at large open spaces with many monsters and players shooting) Of course, the results still depend on your own ISP and connection speed as well. I'll monitor the servers for the coming weeks to tweak the NetSpeed when needed.

I also took the opportunity to install a small fix for a bug that caused a series of server crashes at certain maps.

July 23, 2008

Unreal patch 227e beta released

Smirftsch (OldUnreal) released an updated beta version of the upcoming Unreal patch 227. Again many bugs have been fixed and improvements made. For the full change log, please refer to the release notes. As always, report bugs in the OldUnreal forums.

Download Unreal 227e

Downloads, release notes and discussion forums at: http://www.oldunreal.com

***I will update my servers tomorrow or in a few days, I'm a bit busy atm.***

Update 2008/07/25: Servers are updated now.

July 23, 2008

MentalPack1 released

MentalHunter released another big weapon and monsterpack called MentalPack1. Mentalhunter told me that this new pack requires his GrimReaper mod so I included it in the archive. See the readme file for details about the contents of this pack.

Download

July 7, 2008

Servers updated

All servers received an update. I added the following new and updated content: DZMapM update, UMSSPaceMarine update, Unreal Hidden skin pack, Necris and Necris 2 skin packs and the Aura music box. I also updated the cache packages and the u227 redirection files.

Please note that the server still runs Unreal 227e beta pre-release, so the current Unreal 227 clients cannot join.

July 4, 2008

DZMapM v2.2 released

Zombie released a new version of his all-purpose server tool DZMapM (DeadZone Map Mutator). This version included a few bug fixes and some additional map fixes.

Changelog:
07/2/08 Version 2.2 - Fixes to mutator, RTNP, and more levels.
* Fixed a bug that could cause player inventory replication failures on some server setups.
* Fixed creaturecarcass safety handler bug that caused replacements by a mutator to be destroyed.
* Fixed 'bPreventLevelBlocks' option not staying disabled when configured to be.
* Fixed an RTNP CrashSite2 client crash near a forcefield as well as other possibilities in maps.
* Added to PawnReplacer a 'bUseCreatureFactory' setting to use an entry for changing the pawns that will spawn by a creaturefactory actor in a map.
* Added another map fix for Passage.
* Added another lamer map fix for SkyBase.
* Changed RTNP and "The Gateway" teleporter fixes to a better method.
* Improved MapSequence feature so that the current map and its URL can be specified in the 'OriginalNext' setting separated by a colon. This optional format can allow the function of multiple identical OriginalNext URLs in the list.

Download DZMapM 2.2
Discuss DZMapM 2.2 in the forum.

July 1, 2008

UnrealTexture is back online

UnrealTexture.com

July 1, 2008

WTF map pack

Shivaxi announced a new map pack for Unreal Single player and cooperative.

Shivaxi wrote at the UnrealSP forums:
Hello everyone...I've been working on a project for Unreal called WTF Series 1. Originally called WTF Map Pack but no longer because i am not going to release all of the maps at once...so there will be series...WTF Series 2 and even 3 perhaps.

This project has taken me well over 2 years already (going on and off not constant) and i thought it was about time to present it to the biggest single player map forum ever Smile Since it is almost complete...

First I'll start out with some screen shots:

See Shivaxi's project thread at UnrealSP.org for details and some promising screenshots.

June 19, 2008

Forum downtime

The forum is experiencing some downtime. I don't know the reason yet but I contacted the host.

Update: The problem is solved and the forum is available again.

June 12, 2008

DCoop public beta released

Ikuto released a public beta test version of a new coop game type for Unreal servers. It comes with a large number of new features and a new HUD which has been inspired by Unreal 2.

Info and download links
List of features
Screenshots

Especially the screens look very well.

June 8, 2008

Servers incompatible with Unreal 227a, b, c, d.

I have received a few messages of players who could not connect to any of my Unreal servers with Unreal 227 clients. This is caused by an incompatibility between the current Unreal 227 beta releases. I'm testing a version of Unreal 227e which is not yet released by OldUnreal. For now you can still connect with Unreal 225 and Unreal Gold. I know this is not much but remember that it is only temporary.

June 3, 2008

UnrealTexture.com is down

The website for DieHard's UnrealReTexturing Project (UnrealTexture.com) is down. Appearantly the host decided that the unlimited hosting is not so unlimited as they advertise it to be...

DieHard wrote at the BeyondUnreal forums:
Hi all,

At this moment the entire site is down because the host decided to entirelly suspent the account. Apearently they dont like to have a succesfull site running from their servers.
In any case, it means the entire site is gone for the moment and I am negotiating with a few other hosts to get the site up and running asap. Aside the fact this is a financial blow for me, its an uncool situation for all the people that uses the site to get their Unreal stuff.

I hope indeed its possible that to get another host because the site is large. It contains over 6,222 htm files, 20,414 gif's(buttons and texture database), 24,659 downloadable zipfiles and another 33,106 various files.
Together that makes over 80.000 files which means in server terms it uses over 80,000 inodes, while most providers have a 50,000 inode limit. And I estimate when the entire site is done it might take up some 200,000 inodes. For that, it might be difficult to find another host. It also means i cannot give a real timeframe when the website will be up again, but hopefully I get it online again within a couple a weeks.

On top of that, if I get a new host it will likely take me a few weeks to reupload the 200+ gigabyte of data, since upload is always limited to a lousy 120kbs

In the meantime www.celticwarriors.net is of course available for all the Unreal downloads. I will see if I can upload the S3TC files for Unreal to that site, and if needed I reinstall my FileFront account and have all those files for download available from there.


So I hope that DieHard will be able to resurrect this important project and find another host.

Update 2008/06/06: The core texture packs are available again from Diehards FileFront account.

May 22, 2008

1998-2008 Celebrating 10 years of Unreal

Today 10 years ago Unreal was released. It turned out to be the birth of a highly successful series which could easily compete with ID software's siblings. Unreal rocked the gaming world with it's gorgeous graphics. Unreal brought to life not only highly-detailed indoor environments, but also easily the most impressive outdoor landscapes ever seen at the time. Unreal supported many new technologies like 3DFX, PowerVR, MMX, Aureal A3D and Creatives Environmental Audio Extensions. But the game engine also allowed users without the latest hardware to enjoy the game in a fully-featured software renderer. Unreal featured a rich set of playing possibilities, with besides the obvious single player game a nice set of multiplayer possibilities including a cooperative game and a few deathmatch variants. The multiplayer possibilities of Unreal turned out to be the base for Epics first true multiplayer game "Unreal Tournament".

But perhaps the most successful part of Unreal were the powerful tools for content creation. Included was UnrealED, a powerful level editor. In spite of some buggy parts it allowed any developer to create high quality environments with the same quality as the original levels. The included programming language UnrealScript allowed programmers to change many parts of the game and create whole new game types. Anyone who owned the game and had the right internet connection could host game servers. Quickly the Unreal community was born. Many fansites appeared, clans were formed and tons of levels created. It is because of the tools that Epic gave us and the community who picked them up that we are still here. 10 years after the release. In the first years Unreal stayed in development. Epic worked very hard and added several renderers, greatly improved the multiplayer capabilities, integrated a GameSpy browser and fixed many bugs. But the game was still buggy and slowly but surely Epic lost it's focus and moved on to it's newer games. But the community did not fall down. Many initiatives ensured the survivability of the game. Kerberos and Nephthys gave network security, OldUnreal provided updated 3D and sound support. High resolution textures transformed the looks and many many programmers provided new dimensions to the game. And now finally a first version of the long-awaited Unreal patch 227 is available.

My first time I saw the game was the Unreal Castle FlyBy demo running in a local computer shop to show of the capabilities of the 3DFX Voodoo card. Unfortunately, my computer (A Pentium 133 without 3D accelerator) was not able to run the game at that time. I had to wait until 1999 when I gathered enough money for a brand new Pentium 3 with OpenGL/D3D acceleration card integrated. I still remember seeing the NyLeve falls for the first time, with the beautiful animated high detail skies, crystal clear water and 3D ambient sounds. For me Unreal evolved with me for many years. It was the first 3D accelerated game I played, the first online multiplayer game and later the first (and only) game of which I decided to host a server. Nowadays the importance of the game faded a bit since it has to compete with many modern games and other interests. But still it has played quite an important role in my life during the last ten years and it will keep playing it's role for quite some time. For that I can surely say that Unreal altered my reality...Forever.

May 14, 2008

Asgard's updates

Asgard released a set of updates for his mods. New versions of UMSSpaceMarine, NaPali, Spinner and Predator are available for download. The updates contain mostly bug fixes.

The mods can be downloaded from Asgard's site. I also added them to my downloads.
 

April 26, 2008

Unreal server web interface

Dots released a new server tool that allows you to manage your unreal server remotely via a web interface.


Dots wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
This is a sequel for http://www.unrealdestination.net/clients/hyper/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=756.
A WebServer administration page.

Features:
-Restart map - Restart currently playing map.
-Switch map - Switch map to selected map/game/mutators (note that maplists configure must be enabled to access maplist).
-Current game - You see list of players (ID/Name/Ping/Score/IP) and controls to Kick/Ban them.
-Server console - See a list of chat messages in server aswell a command line where you can chat with the players to execute a command on server.
-Banlist - See a full list of all banned clients, also lets you unban them.
-Defaults - Server configure page:
 * Main Game config - Lets you configure basic game rules (such as max players/server packages/server actors/redirecting etc).
 * ServerInfo config - Lets you configure public server rules (such as server name/admin name/MOTD).
 * Maplists - lets you configure maplists (for DeathMatch based games, NOT for Coop).
 * Mod Configures - Custom mods configures page (by default it contains configures for DeathMatch, TeamGame, Cooperative).
Read the included UWebReadme.txt for more info.

*Download from here: http://www.klankaos.com/downloads/UWebAdmin.zip

*Bugs/ToDo:
-Untested with Internet Explorer (bugs?).
-Untested with Linux client/server.
-Very ugly interface (someone with HTML coding skills, please update WebAdminHTML.int and e-mail it to me or something).


I added the server mod to the download page.
 

April 18, 2008

HTTP redirect enabled; improved download speeds

I enabled HTTP download redirection on all my Unreal servers. This allows Unreal 227 clients to download the content of the servers with at least double speed of the previous Unreal-based downloading method. I also enabled compression on the downloadable files to speed-up the process also.

I'm redirecting to my home http server which has been capped in speed. Still you will notice quite an improvement. The download speed should be increased further this year when I get a higher bandwidth connection.
 

April 7, 2008

Unreal patch 227d beta released

Smirftsch released the Unreal patch 227d for public testing. This patch fixes several issues including a but that caused a server to disappear from the master server list.

Fix list:
* Slithprojectile not vanishing on dedicated servers - fixed.
* Skaarj Player Bots - fixed
* Inventory with big charge - should be fixed also (no way to test myself, since it doesn't appear for me)
* translator message for hints - added.
* server wandering port fixed - essential fix for server admins
* DmRetrospective - fixed
* Quadshot no pickup sound - fixed
* Quadshot display size adjusted
* changed console behavior to safe messages without being called first.
* Quadshot not being able to select/deselect when 0 ammo but still ammo loaded in the barrels - fixed.
* not directly connecting after downloading a map - fixed (thx shambler Wink)
* Black screen bug caused by division by 0 fixed, an obscure bug will help a few mods. Also will help against poorly done admin abuse to clients :p

Download from OldUnreal:

http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227dWin.7z
http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227dWinLin.7z

I'm also uploading the patch to the the downloads here.

Be sure to post your (detailed) test results at the OldUnreal Bug Report forum.

 

April 6, 2008

New Crystal Castles site, development on project continues

I've got some good news from Bozo: The Crystal Castles site has been updated and he is working on a new version of the game type. The new site is now hosted here because the old location went down. I also have a copy of the old site in the section with archived Unreal sites.

April 1, 2008

Unreal patch 227c beta released

Smirftsch released the third beta version of Unreal patch 227 for public testing. This patch has quite some major stability improvements and new features also like a Direct3D 9 renderer.

Smirftsch wrote:
227c is out now, can be found in download section.

227c includes a lot of news and tons of fixes- for details just read here in the forums or in the new ingame news window.

There is a new high quality map included (made by Krull) which shows 227 specific features.
Check it out!: DmRetrospective.unr

Bugreports as usual here (OldUnreal bug report forum - red), just place something like [227c] in front of it.

Download from OldUnreal:

http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227cWin.7z
http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227cWinLin.7z

I'm also uploading the patch to the the downloads here.

Be sure to post your (detailed) test results at the OldUnreal Bug Report forum.

March 29, 2008

AWS mod released

Shadow Hunter released a first 'final' version of his weapons pack AWS - Advanced Weapon Systems. The pack can be downloaded from the files page as always.

For screenshots and a development log of this project, please go to the project thread at the forum.

March 18, 2008

Unreal is coming to Steam

Unreal Gold is now available at Valve's well known game distribution platform Steam. Epic released a total of 5 Unreal games to steam: Unreal Gold, Unreal Tournament GotY, Unreal II, Unreal Tournament 2004 (Editors Choice) and the latest Unreal Tournament 3.

Steam news:
Steam Welcomes Epic Games
March 17, 2008, 12:10 pm - Eric Twelker

World-renowned developer Epic Games makes its debut on Steam today, delivering the award-winning Unreal and Unreal Tournament franchise to Steam gamers everywhere.

The Epic hits now available on Steam include the debut classic Unreal Gold, Unreal 2: The Awakening and the Unreal Tournament series: Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition, and the recently released Unreal Tournament 3, which has shipped over a million copies to date. For the ultimate Unreal experience, nab the Unreal Deal Pack, an incredible value at just $59.95.

To celebrate the launch, all of Epic’s games on Steam are available for 10% off their regular price (offer ends March 24).


http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=1489

March 15, 2008

Matrix' mods available for download

Matrix (*UaS*Matrix*) released four of his mods. His 'Fun Pack', 'Haunted Items', 'Halloween items' and the mysterious 'Tim Sweeney' mod are now available for download. (See the files page, mods section at the 'Matrix' mods' entry.

March 3, 2008

Server upgraded

My Unreal servers are running on a new system now. The system is 64 bit now (64 bit OS and CPU) with improved memory management for better multitasking. The performance also should be slightly better because of a dual-core processor and the RAID 1 disk array should give a better protection against disk failure. Don't expect any spectacular improvements; It's an evolution rather than a revolution. However, this system is a lot more future proof and allows me to continue availability for years to come. For people interested in the tech stuff behind the upgrade: see here. By the way: the upgrade of my workstation has been delayed due to a failure with the new hardware.

February 19, 2008

Dots' next-gen vehicles

Frequent visitors of the OldUnreal forums already know Dots' new Vehicles and Unreal 2 Vehicles mods but I now mirrored them here. If you haven't tried them, be sure to head over to the download page and give them a try. It's a big progress over any Vehicles mod that Unreal 1 saw before.

February 13, 2008

HyperCoop servers back online

The HyperCoop servers are back online (running u225f) awaiting the slightly delayed Unreal 227c beta patch. I'll continue to test u227 as soon as I can get my hands on it, so don't try to get a record breaking ingame score now. :p

February 10, 2008

Unreal patch 227b beta released

Smirftsch released a new beta version of Unreal patch 227.

Newsposting at the OldUnreal forums:
I'm just uploading 227b.
You know, this is still a test release, and don't be angry with me if some of the things mentioned here in the forums are not in (yet).
Its a huge project for one man alone, and although I always take care, and double-check everything, it may be always possible that I missed something, that I built in maybe new bugs by accident.
So please check everything again, and report.

227b still has no UPak support, I didn't get permission to inlcude it into 227.
For the following release I will have 2 possibilities:
1. Keep as is without UPak (any UGold and Anthology user will lose it)
2. Build a separate version for UGold which contains UPak. Notice that the server admins will have to remove it from serverpackages to have a server compatible with all versions then. Aside the Upak stuff, both versions will be still compatible.

I think "2." is the only real way to go here, but still you have a bit time now to state your opinions.

I'm really sorry that I couldn't convince Epic to integrate it, but we will have to live with that...

Download u227b beta from the files page or grab it directly from OldUnreal:

http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227bWin.7z
http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/UnrealPatch227bWinLin.7z


I'll update all of my Unreal game servers soon to continue testing. So be prepared for some downtime and restarts there.
Update: Because of a compatibility issue between Unreal 227b and JCoopZ my coop servers are not available at the moment. (fail to start) I hope to continue operation soon with a quick fix. If not, I may need to restore the older version.

February 10, 2008

Static1 final released

StaticNova sent me Static1, a new pack mod with many items (Weapons, inventory items, monsters) for your Unreal server. The new version is available for download at the files page.

February 9, 2008

Unreal 227 release notes posted

Smirftsch posted the release notes for Unreal patch 227. View them here.

February 8, 2008

Enhanced Unreal Server Browser updated

A new version of the Enhanced tab-layout for the Unreal Server Browser is available for download. This is a small update to support new game types, and incorporates feedback from the OldUnreal u227 development forum.

Changelog:
Version 1.21: February 8, 2008.
Changes:
Support for TN Serpentine DM games removed because it was not being used anymore
Support for NU Serpentine DM games removed because it was not being used anymore
Support for Serpentine Deathmatch MonsterMash games added
Support for Capture The Flag games added
Renamed CO-OP tab to Cooperative

Download

February 3, 2008

Revising the website

I'm working on an evolutionary redesign of this website. The links and downloads have an updated lay-out because the growth of last years made it slightly hard to navigate. I'm also working on a new section called InfoBase, an Unreal information database where I can store any interesting information and an archive of old  websites. The links page has fully been cleaned from the ever dangerous "404 error" devils, and I found quite a bit of sites that were not listed yet. The new InfoBase allows me to easily add more content when needed; the old lay-out did not have space for additions. I also gave the about page an overdue update.

For now you can see all the improvements at my local webserver http://hyper.dnsalias.net (slow!). I hope to have the main location at TheNerdNetwork updated soon.

Update: TheNerdNetwork has been updated as well.

January 22, 2008

Vandora: The end of a Legend

The Legend of Vandora is no more. The website is down and Winged Unicorn confirmed to have left the Unreal community.

Winged Unicorn wrote:
Hello Hyper,

you're right, the domain has expired... and I have no intention to re-register it. It wouldn't make much sense at this moment.
Unfortunately, I left the Na Pali planet a couple of years ago and I see no way back.

Thanks for everything,

- Winged


So we can safely assume that the previous plan of a restart with the Unreal Engine 3 is no longer on the schedule. Also, since the website is down I see little chances that the concept/alpha material will ever be released. The Legend of Vandora project always kept me interested; the idea of Unreal-like environments with the excellent quality of uNr3ALITY's soundtrack promised to become a great experience. So I surely regret to hear is ends here. To remind you, here is a small description from the old LoV project site:
 

About the Legend of Vandora:


Legend of Vandora is going to be a modification for Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004. This means that we will start development in UT2003 and move on to UT2004 once it's released. So we guess you want to know what this modification is all about, eh? Well, it's a Unreal 1 based coop/single player modification with a big emphasis on coop. I guess you want to know what we mean with Unreal 1, right? Well, we will use the rich universe which is Unreal 1. The story takes place after the events of the mission pack "Return To Na Pali". The stories of Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal 2 will not be used for this mod. We feel they ruined the Unreal universe and that's why we stick with the Unreal 1 universe.

I can already hear you thinking oh great, Unreal 1 with upgraded visuals... well that's not what we are aiming for. We will take a lot of the elements from Unreal 1 and expand them. Here are some examples of what we wish to include:

* vehicles
* aircrafts
* ability to play as monsters
* some totally new weapons
* custom Unreal 1 style music
* non-linear levels
* and, of course, a lot more...


I thank Winged Unicorn for everything he did for the Unreal community, and especially his excellent software (MCoop, MCoop2 etc.) and support. It surely was a great time. I wish Winged the best for the future.

January 18, 2008

Trouble at BeyondUnreal forums

BeyondUnreal has been experiencing serious problems with recovering from a serious drive failure in their server. While there have been several contradicting reports about the successfulness of the recovery process, it now looks like there has been a significant of forum data lost:

Sir_Brizz  wrote at the BeyondUnreal main page:
As you know, BeyondUnreal has been down for a few days and we wanted to bring you up to date on the situation. This weekend, we suffered multiple simultaneous drive failures, including the drive with our database backup. Thankfully, after a great effort we've been able to recover a lot of the database by salvaging what we could and from older independant backups. Unfortunately, we did lose all of 2007 and part of 2006 from the forums. New drives are on order and when they arrive will need to be installed and we anticipate being up a few hours after that.

Too bad they don't seem to have had an external backup...

January 18, 2008

Update of Dots' Vehicles

Dots' (.:..:) made a first release of his next-generation Vehicles mod. The new generation vehicles have a much more complex physics and begin to feel like real vehicles. Development has not been finished yet, but it's certainly recommended to try it and experience the new possibilities.

Dots wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
This would be my first public release of this mod (version 1.0).
Download link: http://www.unrealshredder.com/redirect_ut99/Vehicles.zip

Vehicles it contain:
U_Vehicles.Jeep (mesh by Jojje)
U_Vehicles.CivilCar
U_Vehicles.SportsCar (mesh by []Pcube[])
U_Vehicles.MicroSportsCar
U_Vehicles.TigerTank
U_Vehicles.SkaarjHoverJet
U_Vehicles.SkaarjSpaceJet
U_Vehicles.AirShip (mesh by Kajgue, aka. Ice-Lizard)
U_Vehicles.Submarine
U_Vehicles.UFO (idea by SoulRaver)

And VehicleFactorys (respawn points for vehicles):
U_Vehicles.JeepFactory
U_Vehicles.TigerFactory
U_Vehicles.SkaarjHoverJetFactory
U_Vehicles.SkaarjSpaceJetFactory
U_Vehicles.AirShipFactory
U_Vehicles.SubmarineFactory
To change their spawning vehicle class you can type "Admin set <Vehicle Factory> VehicleClass <some vehicle class>".
To change respawntime for the vehicles type "Admin set <Vehicle Factory> VehicleRespawnTime <time in seconds>".

@ request from Hyper.nl, heres a beta release of Unreal 2 Vehicles, only contains 1 vehicle for the moment:
U2Vehicles.Raptor
U2Vehicles.RaptorFactory
Download from here: http://www.unrealshredder.com/redirect_ut99/U2Vehicles.zip

P.S: Not to worry, I will still make new version(s) over this to fix some possible bugs.
 

Download Vehicles v1.0 public (UnrealShredder.com)
Download u2 Vehicles beta (UnrealShredder.com)

January 15, 2008

Phasing out GigaCache as public project

Long-time visitors may remember my GigaCache project, an experiment to bring the largest Unreal cache collection to public use. This project was never realised to public because of the obvious logistic problems that a 10+ gigabyte archive give. Now with the upcoming release of Unreal 227 and it's byte-by-byte verification I have to abandon this project at all. Many servers have spit out modified cache files for years. These files also made their way into GigaCache. This used to be no problem because the signatures of the files did not change. But with Unreal 227 clients and servers these modified cache files will give version conflicts and possibly cause you to be kicked.

From now on, I consider GigaCache as private-only project again...

January 13, 2008

UnrealSP: re-reviews of Panic2 and The Sky Shard

UnrealSP.org has two new reviews of the Unreal map packs Panic2 by Atomic Pop and The Sky Shard by Edward "EddX" McRobbie. The maps are reviewed according to the new scoring system and therefore the scores have been lowered. Here are the conclusions:

Panic2:
Overall Panic 2 is a fun little romp that detours nicely from just about everything else you'll ever play on Unreal. It doesn't outstay its welcome and isn't very difficult to play. It really just comes down to a question of how much its charm works on you and for how long. Remember kids, music is the weapon!


The Sky Shard:
I enjoyed this pack immensely many years ago. Today, even if the poor build and lack of scripted sequences are now extremely noticeable, I still managed to enjoy it, and I dare to say even more than Zero Black due to the much more balanced gameplay.
The well-portrayed, huge scaled areas, especially the Giant Abyss (a relic in Unreal history), are something that everyone should experience.
Unique level design and an interesting story makes The Sky Shard worth of a play. It's much more than you'd usually expect from a "first attempt with the Editor".
 

You can read the reviews at UnrealSP.org.

January 1, 2008

Happy New Year 2008! HyperCoop is now 5 years old!

Hyper.nl Unreal Services wishes you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2008!

HyperCoop is now 5 years old! Around the beginning of the year 2003 I launched the Hyper.nl Unreal Gold server which became the base of today's HyperCoop. Back then, Hyper.nl Unreal Gold was an Unreal Gold server that allowed everyone to summon. It provided a great degree of freedom to the players which unfortunately became quickly to be abused by Klingons. But the experiences learned it gave me allowed me to take HyperCoop to the next level time after time. After 5 years I'm proud to still serve the loyal Unreal community. Unreal is here to stay. Unreal altered my reality...Forever!

For those interested: I uploaded my old website again. Click here to go back to the dawn of HyperCoop. Interested in what happened here through the years? Take a look at the News Archive.

December 31, 2007

HyperCoop returned to u225f for now

Because of stability issues (Unreal.exe unhandled application crash) with the Unreal 227 beta test I restored the Unreal 225f setup. The testing resulted in quite a few useful bugreports already and a few bugs have been fixed already. With the next beta release of u227 I'll do some public testing again. Thanks for your reports.

December 29, 2007

Testing Unreal 227 at HyperCoop, HyperDM and Hyper.nl CC

After basic compatibility testing on a test server I made a big move and upgraded all my servers to Unreal 227. Generally I can say that I'm very pleased with the compatibility, except for Nephthys my rather complex setup ported to 227 without anything major breaking down.
Now the servers are upgraded it is time for stability testing, bug hunting and learning about the new options.

I deliberately chose to test at my normal (live) server setup because this is the best way to encounter issues, bugs will show up much quicker at a server that is frequently used by many different players than a separate test server that is only used for playtesting. I hope I can contribute in this way to make Unreal 227 the best Unreal experience ever.

As with earlier periods of testing at HyperCoop, players should be prepared for more restarts than normally. For this I ask your understanding.

December 27, 2007

Unreal patch 227 public beta released

OldUnreal released the long-awaited public beta of Unreal patch 227. This beta version allows enthusiasts to test the patch at their Unreal installations and servers. I recommend to make a backup of your current installation so you can easily switch back if needed. Please check OldUnreal.com and the OldUnreal forums for more details as they arrive.


Smirftsch wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
After a long day again, I made it finaly to produce a working installer. Files can be found in the download section, Oldunreal Patches.
I'm pretty tired now, so I hope I didn't miss something. Please use the 227 section to report any problems and bugs.
Please remember, this is a testrelease, to find bugs, so bugreports are very needed to make a final version.
 
Its late now, and I wanted to release it for Christmas. Now, I missed Christmas here half an hour (local time), but still I wish you all a merry christmas, and I hope you enjoy this patch, it includes years of work, thousands of E-Mails and many many hours of arguments with my girl.
 
PS: don't forget, any donations, to help me with this page, and to buy the hardware I need for testing the patches are very welcome.



Smirftsch wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
The first release is a beta release!
Because of the many fixes, the hundreds of changes and many different additional work from friends and Oldunreal members its likely that I have not caught all bugs or maybe even produced new bugs.

To create a bug-free and fully operational version I need test reports and information to fix what is left.
Please test for known 226 bugs also!!!
So even although maybe already posted in 226 bugs, please report again in here if still existent.
NOTE:
Only bug-reports with detailed information will be considered here. Any bug-report like: "Blabla is not working" will be simply deleted.
I need specific information WHEN a bug appeared, if it can be reproduced, and HOW it can be reproduced.
If there are grafix problems, I need detailed information about the current system you have and what grafix-card driver is used.

The more I get, the faster the final version will be out.

Currently known problems:
Windows:
NVidia's driver 163.75_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe crashes OpenGL instantly

Linux:
UBrowser.UBrowserConsole won't accept key changes use the new UMenu console for now
No advanced preferences, sorry folks, to much work at the moment, you have to change the settings in the ini
No UED - currently unable to realize, would need to recode a complete gui
Currently only OpenGL with SDLDrive is tested and running without troubles, couldn't make glide because I lack glide sources, other drivers are in, but not completely or not working at all, just for testing purposes.
FMOD is default driver, works maybe best, including surround, ALAudio lacks still EAX support in Linux, need to wait for EFX support.
Start Unreal.bin for Unreal and ucc.bin for UCC - other files for testing purposes only
To install it, you have to rely on the UnrealPatch227aWinLin.exe installer for now. Install in Windows and copy over the files, or try with wine. Experiences very welcome. No native installer yet.

Os-Independent:
Maybe footprints need some tweaking (proposals welcome)
lacks RTNP support yet
No footprints for monsters yet
UED crashes AFTER exiting...

UGold and Anthology
delete upak and udsdemo files after installation. Otherwise it will cause dll errors.
I can't check Anthology right now, don't have a copy of it yet. But should work as well.
Upak isn't supported yet for this test, will follow soon.

I used google for Italian, French and Spanish localization. Please don't blame me, send me some corrections instead Tongue

Support for footstepsounds is in, but need to finish the sounds (uax) file yet. Any custom sound is possible however.


Installation package is compressed with 7Zip, if you don't have it, you can grab it here:
www.7-zip.org

Download Unreal 227 beta from OldUnreal.com (Windows version)
Download Unreal 227 beta from OldUnreal.com (Windows + Linux version)
Unreal 227 bug report forum

I'm currently uploading the patch to my own webspace, so you can find it soon at the downloads > patches section.

December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

Hyper wishes you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Be sure to keep an eye on OldUnreal.com these days, because Smirftsch indicated a beta release of Unreal 227 this month.

December 14, 2007

UnrealTexture.com

DieHard launched a new website dedicated to the Unreal Re-Texturing project. UnrealTexture.com also hosts the (ports of the) re-texturing projects for Unreal Tournament, UT2004 and UT3.

Diehard wrote:
The site is ment to host 4 Unreal Retexturing projects being:

- Unreal Retexturing Project (URP or URProject)
- Unreal Tournament Retexturing Project. (UTRP or UTRProject)
- UT2004 Texturing Project (UT2004TP or UT2004TProject)
- UT3 Texturing project. (UT3TP or UT3TProject)


The first two are actual retexturing projects, while the last two are ports from the high resolution textures to UT2004 and UT3.

Gears Of War was also supposed to be in that list, but Microsoft decided to make it that much a commercial product that no one wants to have the game. You cannot run a server on your own and rely on Microsoft to do so. Next to that you have to have a Gold or Silver Live account to even go play.

Will they ever learn..........

So for now GOW is off the list.


All together the projects should asure it will keep running for upcomming years.


The site also hosts all info and downloads for creating textures and editing in general. But at this moment only the Unreal section has been completed for the bigger part. The other games will follow little by little.


http://www.unrealtexture.com
OldUnreal forum thread

Diehard also released some new textures; An updated SkyCity package and the brand new RealCTF package RealCTFtxtrs.

December 14, 2007

Custom Map Fix Mutator

Zombie has been working on a nice mutator for custom map (coop) servers. His CMapFixM (Custom Map Fix Mutator) fixes bugs, annoyances and crashes on many popular maps and map packs. The fixes are automatically applied at level start, so no map editing is needed. I've been running a few beta versions of this mutator at the HyperCoop Custom Map Server and I'm impressed with the results.

Zombie wrote:
CMapFixM is a TrueType mutator that is designed to fix custom singleplayer/coop maps that could easily become blocked by players. It also fixes custom maps with critical server or network compatibility issues. Its initial purpose began with fixing Drew's SkaarjTower & SkaarjCastle maps for 224/225, but now it has grown to fix other popular custom map packs as well.


Please head over to the project thread at the forum for more info, discussion and of course the download link.

December 2, 2007

UMSSpaceMarine 1.06 released

Asgard released an updated version of his UMSSPaceMarine mod. This release fixes a few errors and supports a new difficulty setting.

Change log:
Added further fixes to the scriptedpawn class
Added fixes carcasses
fixed voices where they werent displaying the player name correctly
Spacemarines can be used up to dificulty=6


The new version has been added to the downloads.

November 27, 2007

Unreal Firestorm news

Unreal Firestorm, Turboman's highly anticipated Unreal singleplayer/coop project is scheduled to be released in (early) 2008. Turboman posted many new screenshots in the new UnrealSP forums. Highlights are the awesome level design, high-polygon vegetation and some very interesting locations.

Turboman wrote at UnrealSP:
The story will be a direct follow up of the final events of RTNP, and you find yourself yet again on the hunt by the Skaarj, aswell the UMS.

At the ending of RTNP the player finds as shuttlecraft with trans-light travel capabilities, and uses it as an opportunity to escape the planet.
In orbit the shuttlecraft encounters the UMS-Bodega Bay and a short skirmish follows, with the player ultimately victorious.
This seems to be the last thing that was holding the player from escaping this planet forever, however the shuttle was caught by surprise by another UMS ship that wasn’t identified before,
quickly outgunned you fall captive to the UMS yet again. and this is where your journey begins…

My goal with this expansion mappack was to create something as closely possible to the original Unreal/RTNP,
retaining as much as possible from the original feel yet introducing a few new elements. The idea came mostly from the fact that
i felt RTNP was incomplete as the succesor to Unreal and this mappack merely serves to expand on that...

   Features:

An arsenal of original and remastered weapons from Unreal/RTNP, aswell as exclusively new weapons.
The return of the original Unreal/RTNP enemies, aswell as exclusively new enemies.
A journey through 20+ levels of anything that Unreal/RTNP offered, aswell as some new innovations too!
A completely new intro flyby including its own startup and menu (optional!)

   Requirements:

Atleast a copy of Unreal 224+ or Unreal Gold is required
An UT version is definitely in too, which currently requires Oldskool. I’m still unsure whether it will be a combined with the U1 version, or a separate version (I’m open for suggestions here).


   Release date:

Currently planned for early next year!


Head over to the UnrealSP forum thread for details, screenshots and updates.

November 26, 2007

Mutants monsterpack now available for download

Mental Hunter proudly notified me of his new monsterpack which contains 284 summons. You can see it in action at the MentalCoop server. The new pack can be downloaded from the files page.

Discuss about the Mutants pack in the forum

November 16, 2007

Gott pack update

Leo TCK released an updated version of his GOTT pack. This release fixed some bugs and brings some extra content as well. Interestingly tho the version number seems not to be changed, it's still reading v 1.1 pre-final. In spite of the confusing version numbering, current users are advised to update to this release. My advice: Be sure to do your own playtesting to see which components work well in your setup.

Leo TCK wrote::
Here is new gott release, I am sending two parts. It is an incomplete release, most of stuff was done early this year, but I am not able to work on it now, so this is just a package of all the stuff. I didn't use everything what I made like some sounds too, etc. But it is much stabler than previous release, incompleted is only the new stuff.

 

November 9, 2007

Unreal 227 news

Smirftsch (Of OldUnreal.com) plans to release a public beta version of Unreal patch 227 in December. At this point no new features will be added anymore, just testing and fixing of issues. Remember that quite a bit of features are already in Unreal 227 as it is being developed. More features may find their way into Unreal 228 but the last one is a long-term project.

Quote from the OldUnreal forums:
Codefreeze now. No new features will be built in.
All necessary things have been built in, and tested as far as possible. Now its time to release a beta to give you the chance to find all bugs I missed and maybe find new ones. Expect a release at the early of December. Maybe there will a short pre- test with a few chosen people before, need to discuss this with all people involved.
When I wanted to release it last year- yes, I know, it has been more or less a year now- I didnt expect so many things which will appear. But it was worth it in my eyes, I even made it to create a complete linux port.
I will create a new forum section especially for this purpose.

 

October 23, 2007

JCoopZ1 - Build 120 Public Release

Zombie released a new version of his coop game type JCoopZ.

Zombie wrote in the forum:
This is the third update to JCoopZ1 since initial release. Only the server side file jCoopZ1SSF.u was in need to be updated. This update fixes those admin login/logout crashes that some users may have had. I would have released a fix sooner to that, but plans and events changed. :/ Also, there has been a number of other general improvements and additions listed below. I recommend updating for the improved user experience and control.

The Update List (10/22/07):

-Fixed the 'adminlogin' and 'adminlogout' commands after success to avoid an unreal memory management bug that might crash a server (apology to this being late).
-Fixed pawn interpolation online to avoid an unreal bug that could crash a server.
-Fixed a custom bot incompatibility from Zora's maps that would crash a server.
-Fixed mutated DefaultWeapon bug that can cause more then one default weapon to spawn for a player at start while bRetainInventory is enabled.
-Fixed creaturecarcass safety handler bug that caused replacements by a mutator to be destroyed.
-Fixed weapon deathmessages for pawns when bClassicDeathMessages is false.
-Added 'admin Addbots' command support that can be enabled by the 'bTeamGameMode' option.
The bTeamGameMode option forces a single default team restriction on players and bots.
A custom BotConfigSSF class can be specified from the game control if desired.
-Added IsBossScoreBonus setting to the game control to change the amount of extra score points a player may receive for killing a scriptedpawn that is set as bIsBoss.
-Added bAllowPrivateSay option so that users can choose to disable the 'PSay' command.
-Added support to load obscure player skins on the server from the Unreali package.
Players must use option "?Skin=" in an 'open' command or specify the skin in the User.ini file.
FemaleTwo: Unreali.F2Female2, Unreali.F2Female4
MaleOne: Unreali.JMale2, Unreali.JMale3, Unreali.JMale4, Unreali.JMale5
Unreali.JMale6, Unreali.JMale7, Unreali.JMale8
MaleTwo: Unreali.JMale22
-Changed 'advance' command to be able to initiate level travel even when a minimum map timer or bVoteEnding is enabled.
-Changed PlayerReplicationInfo handling for bots to use JCoopZ's replacement if they have the default.
-Changed mover block detection so that users can choose to disable it by configuring AllowedMoverBlocks to -1.
-Improved client check routines to better detect anomalies.
-Improved some server side routines.
-Updated Readme for Build 120 and to included more 'Bugs and Issues' information such advice to solve mod incompatibility problems, and supporting custom PlayerPawn classes.

Download the new release here. I will update my coop servers with the new version next week or so.

September 23, 2007

Testing ChatLink

On popular request I'm doing a test with Pcube's ChatLink software. This allows in-game chat to be displayed over any participating Unreal server. Basicly it redirects chat to a master chat channel. So, if you see chat appearing from players who are not there, this is the reason. Note that your public chat will be visible on other servers as well. For now I'm just testing if it works nicely. If the test succeeds, it may continue, or maybe I'll join another master chat server or host my own.

For more details on the ChatLink program, see Pcube's website.

Update: More info about the testing at the forum.

September 20, 2007

Updates to custom map server

Thanks to a new project of Zombie I'm able to host a few additional map packs at the HyperCoop custom map server. For now this is StrangeWorld and Drew's huge SkaarjTower / Castle v2 pack. These maps used to crash the server, get stuck in coop or have other issues, but thanks to a real-time 'magic' fix mutator they can be run now. Zombie's mutator is still in development, so there may be some more changes and testing. However, I'm already pleased with the possibilities.

August 24, 2007

UGHStats goes public

UGHStats is an advanced server tracking and statistics solution for Unreal servers. It keeps game statistical information in a database and does automatic ranking for all players. UGHStats also keeps match and player data including efficiency kills / deaths ratios, kills / suicide ratios, time played, ping, etc... It also includes a live server monitor, searching abilities, and more. UGHStats has been in development for quite some time, but the developers decided it was ready for a first public release with version 1.0.0.
 

TheNerdNetwork.net:
UGHStats is the first and only stats keeping software specifically designed for Unreal 1. It uses 3 different engines to run, Java, PHP, and Uscript.

It can be installed locally on the Unreal 1 server and you can automatically keep track of every single match played in your server! It also automatically ranks and keeps awards for users.

UGHStats was developed by }TCP{Wolf, Smartball, and AcidRain. The web interface was built in conjunction with The Nerd Network LLC.


System Requirements
Of course there are requirements in order to run this awesome little tool. Here they are:

- Webserver (Preferrably IIS, or Apache, but your on your own with configuration of webserver)
- PHP 5.x (On Webserver AND Unreal 1 Serverside)
- Java Runtime Environment
- MySQL 4.x/5.x
- Unreal 1 Server running EDM5+ or UTeamFix10C+
- 2 MB Diskspace MINIMUM (Databases grow large, 1 GB would be suffice)

UGHStats can be downloaded from TheNerdNetwork.net at http://www.thenerdnetwork.net/?target=ughstats

 

August 16, 2007

Unreal ReTexturing project update

DieHard released a new pack of high resolution textures a few days ago. Shortly after release two texture files were withdrawn again because of some issues, but the rest is still downloadable. The updated files are:

PlayrShp.utx
Starship.utx
Langs.utx
DecayedS.utx
Mine.utx
Skaarj.utx

*Update*
I forgot adding the second update to the project, so here it goes:

ShaneSky.utx
SkyBox.utx
GenFluid.utx
GenFX.utx
JWSky.utx

(Downloads link to file locations at CelticWarriors.net as posted in OldUnreal forums)

For more details, consult the update thread at the OldUnreal forums.

July 25, 2007

BeyondUnreal launches cross-engine Unreal documentation wiki

BeyondUnreal opened a new wiki site called "The Liandri Archives". It is is an Unreal Game documentation wiki. It's not only about Unreal 1, but it covers all Unreal games. The BeyondUnreal staff invites everyone from the Unreal community to contribute, following their basic regulations to maintain quality. The Liandri Archives does not intend to replace the Unreal Wiki site, which turned out to be a wiki focussed on the development side of Unreal.

The Liandri Archives can be found at the following address:
http://liandri.beyondunreal.com

July 4, 2007

Unreal Gold's weapons finally available for Unreal 225

Cheese wondered why nobody extracted the Unreal Gold weapons yet for use with Unreal 225, and then did the job himself. His UpakGuns contains all Unreal Gold weapons: The Combat Assault rifle, the Grenade Launcher and the Rocket Launcher.

Available from the download page.

June 26, 2007

EPack: Exiled's new pack

Exiled released a new 2 MB large pack of custom items for his coop server. He worked on it for quite some time, and it has been used for quite some time at his coop server. Now it's available for anyone.

From the readme file:
To sum it up, this package contains all the outrageous crap that the members of Eternal Chaos take so much pleasure out of using.

This was originally just supposed to contain the custom weapons of the members in EC. Over time, it developed into this 2 megabyte monster. It contains 5 custom member weapons, 7 more standard weapons that aren't attributed to any one person, items, custom member items, and a few monsters.


You can download EPack at the download page.

June 18, 2007

Unreallity - the wrath of the Skaarj - Final

Bleeder91 sent me his an all-new game type: Unreallity. The game takes place 2 years after the last human left the planet, and the Skaarj begin their final revenge against the Nali. Unreallity comes with some special features like a night mode, a new scoring system and a way to use score to obtain in-game items.

Some details from the instruction:
Final
Including gametype, Mutator, Scoreboard, can carry 2 automags, rifle has scope, night game possible, can level and can adjust difficulty.

Story
2 Years after the human left, the Nali's lives began to grow back to normal. But as soon as the Nali's have learned that they must fight, for they don't want to be slaves anymore, the Skaarj raised a whole new army to destroy the Nali race, for they helped the human to escape. Now the Nali know, that this will be their last chance to defeat the Skaarj and save Na Pali, because the new race of Skaarj will be more fiercer, more filled with hate then ever before...
Unreallity, the wrath of the Skaarj

Special Features

For the scores to be kept, place this under the ' serveractors= ' lines in your Unreal.ini file:
ServerActors=Unreallity.UnreallityScoreKeeper

Advanced Options - GameTypes - Unreallity
NightGame: if True, game will be shown as if it were night.
Difficulty: select the difficulty the pawns will have.


For more info, go to  Bleeder91's website.
I mirrored the file at downloads.
Keyword: Unreality

June 9, 2007

UTeamFix 10f released

}TCP{Wolf released a new version of his famous UTeamFix gametype. UteamFix is an all-purpose Unreal game type which is frequently used by admins of Unreal Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and MonsterMash games. But generation 10 also supports other game types like coop.

Changelist:
* Added CALLVOTE feature so players can vote on arbitrary admin commands
  (Requested by Smirftsch and Kasima for Oldunreal)
* Security: Server Side chat logging
  (Requested by {KDS}Rewind)
* MM: Monsters can be spawned as swarms now
  (Requested by Smirftsch and Kasima for Oldunreal)
* Epic BUG: A long thorn in my personal eye, the imprecise mouse control has finally been nailed and fixed clientside.

The new UTeamFix has been added to the downloads. For more information, go to }TCP{Wolf's website.
 

May 31, 2007

Free Unreal server hosting

[B@D]Thug provides a limited number of clients to host an Unreal coop server for free. At the moment of writing ha has capacity for 4 additional servers at his home server machine. While a home server surely has limitations like a limited bandwidth, I still think this is a very generous service. This may just be what you need when you always wanted a server but don't have the capacity or technology to host one yourself. Please note that there are only 4 hosting slots available at the moment of writing.

From the website:
H.A.S.F Is short for " Host A Server Freely ". With all the mods available in my server you probably wont need to ask. If you want a server, you can email my hotmail. My contact is <see website for e-mail>.

H.A.S.F Information

[Server host time]- I host servers on a daily basis, I do not host hourly. I assign you're server to a day of the week or weekend. If you do not like this schedule you will have to manage another way.

[Server Configuration]- You will be provided with you're own mods, maps, skins, server name, etc. And by further adu, You will have a personal Unreal.INI file used to have you're server.

[FireWall and Server Security]- My computer can run a very stable server. I have separate passwords for each admin. There will only be 4 admins per person. Why? Because you don't want to spill the beans to hackers and noobs. Or at least I don't want you too. The admin passwords are for the following. [SecurityGuard], [ServerAdmin], [ServerModder], [ServerHoster], [ServerAlternativeAdmin]. The server is protected with the following security. A Security Guard ( Keeps the server in hand ), Nephthys ( Keeps the server from getting hacks and problems ), JCoopZ1 ( The only gametype stable enough to make the server stay on all day ).

For more information, be sure to visit [B@D]Thug's website:

http://www.freewebs.com/declaredunreal/hostaserver.htm

Also check his posting at the forum.
 

May 18, 2007

Servers updated

I updated my servers with the new UMSSpaceMarine version (see below) and I did a few very small tweaks. I also took the opportunity to install the latest updates to the firewall/IDS software and the usual stream of MS security fixes.
 

May 17, 2007

UMSSPaceMarine 1.05 released

Asgard released a new version of his UMSSpaceMarine mod. Version 1.05 fixes a few bugs and adds new features and improved functionality.

Changelist:
Added fonts so that when In high res the chat, menus and messages can be read easier.
Menus and radar now scale to whatever res you run at.
Added more voices. Added around an "extra" 40 male and 40 female voices (comments and taunts).
Taunts and comments are now louder.
Added a couple of extra voices to the marines themselves.
Further fixes to the scriptedpawn class
Changed radar so that it now had power bars instead of the digital read out.
Changed int so that the mutator reflects the package ver (1.05)

You can download the new version from the files page.
 

May 13, 2007

Unreal 1 mapvoting handler

.:..: (Dots) posted about his new Unreal 1 map voting mutator that allows admins to add map voting functionality to many game types:

Dots wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
This is a mutator which should more or less work with all gametypes to add mapvoting/gametype voting for the server.
You can configure up to 10 different gametypes to vote for and 500 maps. For players to bring up the menu in mid-game just type 'ShowVotingMenu', a reminder message of that appears once for every new player who connect to the server.

Download link: http://www.utarea.com/test/VotingHandler.7z

It includes instructions how to install it to the server. I added an option for starting end-game voting once Level.Game.bGameEnded goes to true, but I'm not so sure how many gametypes works with that. Then it can also be triggered to endgame through event 'BeginVoting'. Once end-game voting starts it stops game from timer and tick to avoid possible timed mapchange.

Current problems/bugs I noticed so far:
- Unreal gold players get some wierd blue background on their voting menu which makes it a little harder to see the voting selections.
- 226f, 225f and 224 players lose their UBrowser serverbrowser if they havent opened it at least once before the voting menu.
- Voting menu wont work for players who play with Engine.Console (but who would do that?).

And things to make:
- Add admin menu to configure the maplist in server?
- Add serverpackage modification feature for game voting, but its impossible with current unreal versions.

Check the forum thread at OldUnreal to post and read comments about this mod.
 

May 12, 2007

Jukebox mod released

Bleeder91 released a new music player mod. Jukebox is a more advanced 'auramusicbox' (Red: a music player mod by Boodaflow). you can add your own songs in the advanced options.

From the readme file:
install:
place the JukeBox.u file in your Unreal/System folder

summons:
summon JukeBox.JukeBox

commands:
ShowMusicList - Shows the list of available songs.
Music # - Play a song.

activating the JukeBox plays the next song on the list.

Adding a song:
Type the song name correctly in the advanced options. Example: Music'Opal.Opal'
If the songsection is more then 0, you can adjust it.
Set the songs after eachother and set NumberOfSongs to the amount of songs you want, or have to be on the list.

You can get the player from the download page.
 

May 04, 2007

MentalHunter's new packs

MentalHunter submitted quite a number of mod packs again, with all kinds of summons for your Unreal game/server. You can download them from the files page.
 

April 28, 2007

Shrakith'a Sequel

Makkura (A.k.a Geoffrey Field and Mad Martigan) posted an interesting announcement at the UnrealSP forums about a sequel for the highly rated Unreal SP/Coop map pack "The Tower of Shrakith'a". There are not much details yet, except for that "Work has begun. Details coming soon...", but a sequel for an excellent Unreal map pack is always great news.
 

April 28, 2007

Another Unreal speed fix added to help page

I added a fourth fix for the Unreal overspeed / choppy performance issues  to the help page. It seems that the nVidia multi core driver optimizations can give some issues at some systems. See the help page for details.
 

April 18, 2007

OldUnreal Community Map Pack released

Ok, a small news message this time since I'm held busy with some computer troubles: OldUnreal made available the Unreal Community map pack. The map pack consists of a best-of selection of the many freely available deathmatch maps for Unreal.

Project thread at the OldUnreal forums
Download from OldUnreal webspace
 

April 14, 2007

New releases *update*

NecrisPack: Exiled released a new hybrid weapon pack together with a Necris themed coop- and a deathmatch map. The 'Nanoblack' Weapons pack also includes a few new armors.
LmTPack I: LymphoCite T submitted a large pack with many new items, weapons and a few monsters. Also contains separate flamethrower mod.
And Cheese got another new mod, this time a summonable teleporter which allows admins to summon a teleporter start and destination. This can be quite useful for those coop games where the admin is playing.

 You can find the releases at the download page.
 

March 16, 2007

Battle for NaPali trailer

I found a nice movie of the upcoming UT-SP map pack Battle for Na Pali by Team UnrealSP. While I normally do not post any news about UT-related maps, I thought this movie deserved an exception:


Another honourable mention goes to The Chosen One. Please note that the developers did not make the mentioned release date of December 2006, now they focus on Summer 2007. But as always with game development: it will be released "when it's done".

 

For more interesting UT-SP projects, keep checking UnrealSP.org.
 

March 6, 2007

The return of Shinigami

After Shinigami's Level Pack 1 for Unreal it has been silent for a long time, but to the surprise of many he is back for a sequel. Be sure to check out his thread at the UnrealSP forums. There are some very nice screens there as well.
 

March 3, 2007

Massive Mod release

Cheese has been quite active again and released a series of new mods for your entertainment.


Cheese wrote in e-mail:
Hey Hyper, It's been a long time since I have released any of my mods to the public, so I have quite a bit here for you.


Electric Krall: A very powerful Krall that shoots fast and lethal electric bolts.
Flying Fish: A fish that flies around and attacks you.
iCBelts: Belt pack. Belts come in 25 different hues.
iCHealth: Item pack with new Health, SuperHealth, and flavoured Nali Fruit.
iCJumpBoots: Jump boots with configurable Air Control and JumpZ.
iCSpawner: Item Spawner, spawns up to 200 items within 5 different spawners, 40 items each.
MultiStinger: Shoots randomly colored Dispersion Ammos.
Psychedelic: A pack of Psychedelic looking Monsters, Items, and weapons.
Sonic Shotgun: A golden shotgun, very powerful.

All new mods can be downloaded from the files page.

March 2, 2007

MentalHunters 100 monster pack released

MentalHunter released his 100 monster pack. This is probably the largest monster pack for Unreal out there, although it has many monsters with uninteresting names like Monster58. It also comes with a monster spawner mutator. (By the way: since monster spawning is generally a but tricky for the weak Unreal engine, you might want to try one of the existing monster spawners instead, DZMapM or MonsterSpawn since they exist longer and are proven to be quite stable.)

Download the monster pack from the files page. If you downloaded the pack, you'll also find some screenshots inside. If you have any comments, you can post them in MentalHunters project thread.

Here is the 'story' which is included in the package:
When the Skaarj finally took over NaPali, they went go to visit other planets and take over their whole existing on their planet.
But what the skaarj didnt know was, that there were some really weird monsters out there. It appeared to be so that those monsters were planning to do the same thing with the Skaarjs as what the Skaarj did to the Nali.
The monsters appeard to be knows as: ' The Flying Inventory's '. Like flying SuperHealth and Flying dampener and all that stuff. The Skaarj started building retarded mixes of the Mercenaries, Kralls, Sliths, Skaarj and brutes. Finally they made thousand copies of the also known Skaarj merc, Mercwarrior, Krallslith and Slithkrall.
With that team they thought they could defeat the weird Flying Inventories. But smart enough were the Skaarjs, they thought by theirselves: We need much more! And so they start making more, they finally made the flying pupae but darn enough almost all of there projects after the Krall Slith mercwarrior skaarjmerc slithkrall appeard to turn against them and started there own army.
Those creatures were: Flying razorfish Flying babyfish, Flying Pupae. And all of those creatures. Lately the Nalis woke up as zombies and came taking revenge on the Skaarj, and because they did not had theirself under control, they kill everything on there path. And of course we dumb humans had to stop this. President George Bush was taken away by the Nali, and a Nali melted together with him and became a: 'NaliBush'.
Lately the Nalis visited the Unreal Tournament GOTY area. There the saw the nail Nali warrior. They also took him and made thousand copies of them. And the Nali's started making thousands copies of theirself. 100 Nalibushes and Nalibutchers 0_o!
50% of the world was happy to have bush away, but the other 50% wasn't. So the whole world put all there money and energy in for making a friendly Brute. It was a great succes. He is almost undefeateble and doesnt turn against humans. And we werent dumb, we started making thousend copys of them!
Now the war begun, its all up to you and the Friendly Brute Berserkers to win this biggest universal war ever....

February 25, 2007

HorrorSeries: New screenshots

Hybrid posted a few new screenshots of a level he is working on. This level will be part of the HorrorSeries map pack for Unreal. See the new screens here.

February 22, 2007

.:..:'s (Dots) unreleased mods available

Dots released his previously unreleased Unreal game types, mods, maps, beta's and unfinished projects. You can download things like the unfinished UnrealRPG, CooopG3 and an unfinished Pack 7 mod. The website is temporary and will stay open during this year, so you have quite some time to download what you want.

Dots' Unreal 1 scrapyard

February 22, 2007

Unreliable power issues

As part of the January 7 announcement: There has been work on the local electricity at my home which caused some downtime of the server. See the January 7 announcement or the forums for details.

February 20, 2007

Interesting original Unreal preview / review videos

[B@D]Thug posted a links to an original Unreal preview and review by the German PC Player. The preview shows parts of the Unreal 1997 beta version and a never seen before technology demonstration level. There is also an interview with Mark Rein about the new technologies. The review shows the final game running on 3DFX Glide. Please note that the movies are in German language, except for the interview which is in English.

PC Player - Unreal Preview


PC Player - Unreal Review

February 18, 2007

More Unreal singleplayer maps (re) reviewed

The good people of the popular Unreal mapping community at UnrealSP.org made quite a few new reviews of the classic Unreal 1 SP map packs. Some of the maps were already reviewed a long time ago, but since UnrealSP switched to a new scoring system the reviews have been updated. Generally the new reviews give lower scores then the old ones, but this does not mean that these maps are low quality. The main reason for the new scoring system is that the overall quality of the new custom maps improved so much that the old scoring table did not suffice anymore.

Here is a quick list of the reviews that were added during the last few months:

Review of The Crash
Review of Strange World
Review of The Tower of Shrakith'a
Review of Iphigenia
Review of Shiningami
Review of Shamu Quest

UnrealSP also has some good reviews of UT singleplayer map packs, so if you like to play SP in Unreal Tournament make sure you check out UnrealSP's full custom map review list. Also, keep an eye on the UnrealSP main page for new reviews.

January 30, 2007

MentalHunter's packs available for download

MentalHunter released a few 'pack' mods with various items / weapons and monsters for use with your Unreal server or single player game. As always with 'pack' mods, you can use a general-purpose mutator like DZMapM to automatically add them to your game.

You can find MentalHunter's packs at the download page.
 

January 17, 2007

MonsterSpawn 3 released

Asgard put up version 3.00 of his monster spawner tool. MonsterSpawn is a Mutator designed to add just about any type of Monster to just about any type of Unreal 1 or Unreal Tournament type game.

Features include adding Modded Monsters or Standard Unreal Monsters. Monsters can be set to respawn after the amount of time you choose, starting a new wave of monster attacks. Up to 60 monsters at a time of your choice can be added to any map of a possible 1200 random choices from 20 different monster lists. Monsters always Spawn in random places. You make your own lists or comes with lists pre-configured. Monsterspawn can in theory add up to 1200 different monsters to the game.

Changelog:
Monsterspawn now spawns up to 60 monsters in a wave with a possible 20 waves.
Ver 3 as it requires a full reinstall.
Added scoring feature for UT ONLY
Improved spawn checks and spawn safeties
Further repairs to the scriptedpawn class
MSDevilfish and MSSquid now attacks bots aswell

I added the new version to the download page.
 

January 8, 2007

Unreal soundtrack available in MP3 format

Chronos converted all of Unreal's music modules to high quality MP3 files. He uploaded all first generation Unreal soundtracks to his website, including the soundtracks of Unreal Tournament, Return to Na Pali and the unreleased soundtracks of the Unreal beta versions.

Chronos wrote at the OldUnreal forums:
As a fan of the first unreal generation, I released three albums :

Unreal Beta Unique Tracks
Unreal Original Soundtrack
Unreal : Return To Na Pali Original Soundtrack
Unreal Tournament Original Soundtrack

You can hear it and download it on my web page.

Enjoy !

Download the soundtracks at Chronos' website: http://savagesteel.free.fr/unreal/

 

January 7, 2007

Unreal server downtime this month

Because of construction activities in my house which require a shutdown of the main electricity, the Unreal servers will be down from time to time this month. Please be prepared for lost inventories at the coop servers. I'm sorry that I can serve you no better, but this is a factor not under my control. I hope you'll understand. It is also possible that the unreliability lasts until the first weeks of February.

January 5, 2007

Enhanced Unreal server browser updated

The Enhanced Unreal Server Browser (EUSB) received a very small update to support the new King of the Hill variants. In total, EUSB now supports 66 different game types and variants.

Download EUSB from the lab page. Check the included manual for more info and a list of supported game types.

January 3, 2007

Return to Mars project restarted

TheEmperorStalwartUK restarted his Return to Mars project. Return to Mars will be a new mission pack for Unreal which will take place at the Red Planet.

TheEmperorStalwartUK wrote at his website:
Return to Mars (RTM) is now officialy in development! As we speak, RTM is being planned and designed throughly. It has been given a clean slate to ensure that it'll be turly a great, epic adventure. The only definite information right now is that you will be Prisoner 849, the protagnist from Unreal and RTNP and that you will be on the red planet.

For those of you who don't know what RTM is, RTM is to be the true sequel to Unreal that it has not recieved to date. The project has had a long history, with the idea being around for a good few years at least and was in fact at one point in development for the original Unreal, but technical limitations and other issues killed it off... until now. Utilizing Unreal Tournament 2007's Unreal Engine 3, I feel that RTM will be given justice and will be worth it.

Although other failed sequels to Unreal have existed, Return to Mars will be made! Whatever it takes, it'll be around one day in some form. You can't keep a good idea locked up forever! So be sure to bookmark this page! A forum will be around soon with a site to follow, just wait!

The new Return to Mars project website.

The old Return to Mars site can still be found at the Web Archive.

December 31, 2006

Happy New Year


Happy New Year from Hyper.nl Unreal Services!

Another year passed by. I hope it was a good one for you too. I'm delighted by the many progress we all made and I want to thank everyone for being part of the Unreal community last year. For the coming year I hope to continue my services and being a stable factor in the community. Probably not as fast-paced as last years but certainly there. Good luck to all of you, and be careful with fireworks!

December 30, 2006

Nephthys web download disabled

Nephthys Web Download has been disabled at the HyperCoop servers. The feature reduced the uptime of the servers too much. Unreal seems to have a memory leak which causes it to allocate a large amount of memory over time. The cause of this leak I never found, but I discovered that with Nephthys web download enabled the server gives much more out-of-memory crashes. Because the physical server machine has plenty of memory (both physical as virtual) it should STILL have an excellent uptime, even with the memory leak present. For some reason Nephthys web download is very sensitive for this bug and causes the server to crash prematurely.

Now the web download has been disabled the uptimes have improved (even more), but of course, the fast downloading is no longer possible. The fastest way to download is to manually download and install the cache packages and (eventually) the custom maps.

Note: The original memory leak is still present. This means that it will still crash at one time, it just takes longer now. Hopefully OldUnreal can fix this for Unreal version 227.
Also, not all crashes are caused by out-of-memory problems. The server can still crash because of other software/programming errors.

December 25, 2006

UTeamFix 10E released

}TCP{Wolf released a new version of his famous UTeamFix game type. UTeamFix allows you to run many Unreal game servers with new features and fixes for many Unreal bugs and other weaknesses in the original game.


}TCP{Wolf wrote at the Green River forums:
The total patch mod in its 10th generation has reached version 10E which is hereby made public.

Download and manuals at the usual location:

http://ws.online.de/projects/Unreal/UTeamFix.html


This one comes with a UT build again and fixes a number of bugs. One puzzling bug remains when using Co-op and use jumpboots, you may lose your ability to jump entirely. Not sure whether or not this ONLY happens when MM is active. If you have NOT ended the current map yet and you just got the problem, simply disconnect and reconnect - you will lose some of your items but keep your score and your jump will be restored. If you got the problem on the last or older map and you travelled on a new one then you must disconnect and rename yourself so when rejoining you are NOT recognized as an existing player. You will then lose all your items and score but your jump will be fixed. This is the ONLY currently known bad bug.


Important additions are:
- client caching of map listings
- pure koth mutator (can run in 'classic koth mode' too)

Important CHANGES are:
- the license has changed: you are now allowed to run single-map servers (for those boring Deck16 only noobs)


For all the juicy details and instruction, please take a look at the UTeamFix Manual website. The new version has been added to the downloads.

December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas


Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays from Hyper.nl Unreal Services!

December 23, 2006

DZMapM updated

Zombie's DZMapMutator has been updated to version 2.15. This is a small update that fixes a few bugs:

Change list:
* Fixed an ItemReplacer conflict with custom map ThingFactory actors that were configured for spawning inventory.
* Fixed RTNP Abyss' end teleporter to enable from the control panel trigger while bLevelBlockPrevention is enabled.
* Fixed ItemReplacer bug that caused RTNP upak decorations to drop 3 replacements when originally configured to drop one item.
* Changed ItemReplacer decoration content replacement to operate more appropriately.
* Changed an RTNP CrashSite2 level fix to reduce the chances of conflict with any modified map versions.

Download the updated version

December 14, 2006

Particle Emitter for Unreal

Raven ported his Particle Emitter mod from Unreal Tournament to Unreal. It allows mappers to create extra realistic particle based effects like fire, which was not available before in Unreal 1.

For further details, and of course the download link, check Raven's forum posting.

The mod has been verified to be fully compatible with Unreal 225 and 226.

Update: I've been notified with the fact that Dots (.:..:) also has a particle emitter available for Unreal 1, which as I heard was released earlier this year. Dots' XEmitter is available from his website at: http://www.geocities.com/mhulden/olddownloads.html. Thanks Kajgue for the correction.

December 12, 2006

Forum / link page updates

The forums and the links page have had a few small updates. The forum was attacked by spam bots again; so I had to make another minor change to the registration page to basically make it a little different from the standard phpBB lay-out. (For which the bots are programmed) I hope this will keep the spammers away for some time. I also banned the accounts from which the spam was posted.

The links page also has had a quick update; the eternal war of the 404 monsters has claimed a few sites again. A positive and honourable mention though is the totally redesigned site of the CelticWarriors clan. Diehard invested much time in here. The site has some excellent information for new players as well as veterans and tech enthusiasts. Last but not least: CelticWarriors has a large number of mirrors for interesting Unreal websites that went down.

Celtic Warriors

December 12, 2006

Project 236 pack available for download

Shadow Hunter released a new 'pack' mod with a bunch of new items and weapons for use with your Unreal server or for some local summoning fun. You can also use one of the general purpose mutators (Like DZMapM / JDec) to automatically spawn the items into the game.

Get the pack from the download page.

November 26, 2006

RTNP2Unreal beta 3 released

Dinwitty released a new beta version of his RTNP2Unreal advanced map pack.

Dinwitty wrote at the UnrealSP forums:
http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/planetunreal/vortex/RTNP2Ubeta3.rar

see for yourself

let me know if it DL's ok, and unpacks OK.

This is NOT final and there can be changes yet.


Download RTNP2Unreal Beta 3 from Fileplanet.

PS. I haven't been able to download it myself because some changes at the side of File Planet seem to have broken the download functionality with my browser config. My Custom Map server is currently running the working parts of RTNP2Unreal beta2 and I plan not to update until there is a final.

November 25, 2006

Unreal Anthology fix v1

It seems that the Unreal Gold version of Unreal Anthology introduces a new online compatibility problem. This is really a shame because they seem to have learned nothing of the Gold/226 compatibility problems. Fortunately the CelticWarriors clan released a patch that makes the Unreal Anthology gold compatible with the normal Unreal Gold. The patch contains a few files of the original Gold that you can use to overwrite the Anthology versions.

Diehard wrote at the BeyondUnreal forums:
Today we had the chance to try the UnrealGold from the US Anthology boxset. We installed the complete game and tried to enter our Unreal server. We got a mismatch on the Unrealshare.u package. After adding a normal UnrealGold version from Unrealshare.u we got the next mismatch, this time UnrealI.u gave an error.

As it seems they altered the files mentioned in favor of the new menu, and disregarded the mismatch it causes online, or they simply did test it witrh another Anthology boxset server. All together its just incredible they got this done, actually i have no words for ..............

To fix the problem you need to download the AnthologyFixV1

Instructions:

- Download the zipfile.
- Unpack (unzip) the file.
- Paste the two files into your C:\UnrealAnthology\UnrealGold\Sytem folder and overwrite the two files inthere.

Note 1: We only did a limited test, but we asume that this will fix the problem and leaves the other games being UT, Unreal II and UT2003 unharmed.
Note 2: This is a thirdparty fix given out by celticwarriors.net, however Celticwarriors.net does not take any responsibility if using this fix on your end goes bad ! Use is at your own risk !


Download Unreal Anthology fix v1 from CelticWarriors.net

November 25, 2006

Alexander Brandon's .MOD music pack

}TCP{Wolf got his hands on a music pack of Alexander Brandon, the musician who did a large part of Unreal's soundtrack as well as the soundtracks of other games by Epic. This pack contains all of his work from 1994 to 1999.

}TCP{Wolf wrote at the OldUnreal forum:
I was actually looking for Michiel Van Den Bos' music but he seems to have gone missing. But like Michiel, Alex was (and still is) a great musician who contributed a lot of songs to Unreal and UT.

Alex has released a zip archive containing all mods he made from 1994-1999, about 70 songs in total, a download of 25 MB.

http://brandonfamily.blogs.com/club_silicon/files/AlexMODs.zip

Thank you Brandon for sharing that treasure with the public.


Download the pack from Alexander Brandon's weblog.

November 25, 2006

Zounds mod released

Zounds is a voicepack mod for Unreal by Zelk0wy[PL]. It is based on the experience of the Player-to-player sounds in games like UT2004 where you can use a set of predefined sounds and audio taunts to send to your fellow players. Zounds makes this possible in Unreal 1.

From the readme file:
>> What are Zounds??

The idea for Zounds is taken right from UT2k4 - if you haven't played it before you won't know what i'm talking about and if u have.... well, anyway you don't have to.

Zounds are tiny sound messages that players can play to other players during the game. There are messages like 'Hello' or 'Cya', but also some more crazy ones.

Download the mod here. (From Anarchy's webspace)
 

November 22, 2006

Gemdagger manual update

Gaizoku wrote a nice addition for the Gemdagger manual: A list of all items that you can buy with it's saying, prices and descriptions. The updated gemdagger instruction can be read here. Thanks mate!

November 22, 2006

Killahundead's mods added to downloads

Killahundead released 3 small mod packages which have been added to the download page. There are 3 mods:

Books: Various books for lethal purposes, book surfing, and book surfing on the water.
Cowgun: A gun that I accidentily made messing around with my first mod (That's why the file is so small)
KillaA: Many different item such as Cowarmour, Fatfield, NoBombGun (there is no such thing as a bomb gun), stinger1 (A stinger with eightball projectiles) and I think there is more but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

For more details, see the corresponding forum thread. You can also post experiences and feedback there. Read the readme files for the summons.
 

November 20, 2006

Enhanced weapons

.:..: (Dots) released an optimized version of the standard Unreal guns. The new weapons are more bandwidth-friendly by executing things like visual effects and sounds at client-side only. This reduces the bandwidth usage, especially when a lot of action is going on. The mod is still in beta stage and can be downloaded at Dots' website.

 .:..:' website:
 Latest updated 20 November 2006:
An update again at last for Unreal 1. A weapons mod called Enhanced weapons:
The main purpose of these weapons is to give low bandwidth weapons for server and clients, which means lesser lags and easier to use. But it also fixes a whole bunch of bugs so check it out here.
This mod is still in beta stage, so I may still update it and fix bugs.

 

November 16, 2006

Servers updated

The HyperCoop and HyperDM servers have been updated with the latest UMSSPaceMarine version (1.04) and the Windows server system had it's monthly bunch of security updates and intrusion detection updates. Server owners can download the new UMSSPaceMarine version from Asgard's site (see link in newsposting below) and clients are advised to only download the cache version. (Download from server or install cache package)

November 1, 2006

UMSSpaceMarine updated *again*

Asgard and Turboman updated their UMSSpaceMarine mod again. This realease fixes a few bugs that slipped through the last build and added support for future Unreal maps with space zones:
 

Here is the change log:
******************
Whats New in v1.03
******************

Fixed (in ver 1.02 ) wrong skin for carcass
Fixed large collisionradius for suits
Suits are now able to accept protection types to be used in Painzones etc.
Default protectiontype2 is "SpaceWalk" which allows maps to be set up as an "Outer Space" design.
Fixed hud from clearing a back log of all messages.
Spacemarines themselves are also protected from "SpaceWalk" damage


I'll install this version at my servers at the next maintenance cycle.

Download the mod from Asgard's HQ.

October 31, 2006

Unreal Anthology released

Midway and Epic games released the ultimate Unreal collection under the name Unreal Anthology. The set contains the original Unreal game with the Return to Na Pali expansion pack , Unreal Tournament GOTY edition, Unreal II, and UT2004 Editors Choice. The release is very welcome because it was almost impossible to find Unreal or Unreal Tournament in the general retail channels. A re-release like this one might also bring some new blood to the small Unreal community.

Even when the pack is officially released now, it might still take a few weeks before you see it on the shelves. But it is already available at the major internet shops.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/unreal-anthology
 

October 20, 2006

UMSSpaceMarine updated

Asgard and Turboman updated their UMSSPaceMarine mod to version 1.02. This version has a few tweaks to the 3D models and the behaviour in water zones has been improved. The mod will be used in the upcoming Unreal map packs RTNP2Unreal and Firestorm.

The new version can be downloaded at Asgard's site.

I'll update my servers with the new version, but this has no priority because the current version 1.01 is running fine.
 

October 20, 2006

Unreal Titanic screenshots

Nathan posted a few new screens of his Unreal Titanic project. This project aims to rebuild the titanic in the Unreal editor. With a lot of research and measurements he has been able the achieve an impressive accuracy. Of course, the model uses all-new textures.

The project is not jet finished; but it's worth to take a look at the screens at the project thread. (Clan Phoenix forums)
 

October 15, 2006

HyperCoop G4.5 final

Now the final versions of Nephthys, DZMapM and JCoopZ are installed, the HyperCoop servers lost their beta status. The evolution of generation 4 to 4.5 has taken much time and effort. It is easy to make a coop server with many cool mods, but getting it to run stable and with a balanced gameplay is often forgotten. This is the difficult part. Unreal is still quite buggy, and non-standard things like custom mods tend to trigger these errors more easily than the original Unreal content.

Generation 4.5 focussed on stability, security and gameplay. Many issues have been addressed and I'm quite content with the results. While I probably never will be able to provide you with a 100% stable server, I'm sure HyperCoop is the best (highly) customized coop server out there. The last remaining issue is with or around the download redirection at the custom map server. Somehow this feature tends to trigger errors in the Unreal memory management code. I disabled download redirection on this server and if this helps, I'll keep it disabled until there is a solution for the problem.

My thanks go to Zombie and Zora for their support. Their knowledge of the deeper and darker parts of the Unreal engine helped me a lot in investigating those cryptic errors I was faced with.

I have no plans for new major updates in the short future. It's now time to enjoy the game without the repeated restarts as they occurred during the beta testing. For me this is a good time to reduce my Unreal related activities a bit; Real life needs quite a lot of time, and I also want to invest some time to a few other games. But I won't leave.

Enjoy the servers!
 

October 15, 2006

JCoopZ 1 build 115 released

I know many coop admins have been waiting for this: Zombie released an important update to his JCoopZ game type.

Here is the change log:
-Fixed an Unreal vulnerability that could have been exploited to DoS/crash a server.
-Fixed the broken PackageException>PackageName entry so that it works as intended when no PackageLink is provided.
-Fixed a tiny GiveItem bug that gave weapons 2x the normal pickup ammo when given.
-Added a new required server-side package 'JCoopZ1NPTP' that now handles processing between JCoopZ and Nephthys. This package allows patch 227 or greater compatibility in case any available Nephthys versions are not.
-Added a 'Moderate' setting in the PackageScan option. Users can now have complete scanning like 'Full' but without the need to add PackageExceptions for S3TC players.
-Added full support for 'MapVote' and 'VoteEnd' commands. Users can now allow players to map vote for the next in order and/or to vote when ready for the level to end.
-Added RestrictedKeyword support to the 'switchlevel', 'switchcooplevel', and 'giveitem' commands.
-Changed GiveItem to not report pickup messages and sounds for items already owned by the player.
-Changed JZCLogger.ini to be renamed to JCZLogger.ini as it was supposed to be.
ATTENTION: All users should either copy ALL contents over to the new INI or rename the existing file!
-Replaced the Nephthys v1.1 distribution with the Nephthys v1.3 distribution in archive.


This is the game type that I have been testing last months at the HyperCoop servers, and I'm impressed by the quality of Zombies work. JCoopZ is the most robust coop game out there, and especially a "Trinity server" (Nephthys, JCoopZ, DZMapM) provides the best available base for a coop server.

Download JCoopZ 1 build 115 | Discuss at the forum
 

October 5, 2006

DZMapM 2.1 released *Update*

Zombies well-know all purpose mutator DZMapM (DeadZone Map Mutator) has been updated to version 2.1. This release has several new features and a few bugs were squished.

Here is the change log:
* Fixed a bug in decoration handling for RTNP that caused decorations to destroy on UPak 226 servers.
* Fixed 'MonsterKillRequirement' specialmode to work better on a few original coop maps and to count monster pawns more accurately.
* Fixed ItemReplacer to properly replace weapons by SkaarjTroopers and handle other custom weapon carrying monster pawns appropriately.
* Fixed an incorrectly named PsInventory class.
* Added AI hang prevention and pawn stabilizer based on the JCoopZ implementation. Should prevent most hang instances.
* Added another map fix for IsvDeck1 and DasaCellars.
* Added to MonsterSpawn a 'bConsiderPlayerLoad' setting to dynamically regulate monster spawn times according to RespawnSeconds / NumPlayers.
* Added support to destroy an original class without a replacement. Users must specify "None" in the ReplaceWithClass or PDropWhenKilled settings. * Changed PawnDWKChanger, ItemReplacer, and PawnReplacer array list sizes to support up to 128 configuration entries.
* Changed PawnReplacer to not replace pawns within a SkyBox.
* Changed MapSequence feature to work and behave identically to JCoop Sequence feature.
* Changed MonsterSpawn 'bSpawnRandom' setting to use a different method that does not use rounding.
* Changed DZMapM.int advanced options menu layout.
* Improved and changed ItemReplacer replacement routines to intelligently determine inventory that is safe to handle. In most cases this prevents gametype player GiveItem conflicts on misconfigured servers.
* Improved MonsterSpawn pathnode finding to work in maps that do not have pathing properly built.
* Improved MonsterSpawn spawn testing for pawn collision sizes slightly over 200 UUnits.
* Improved AutoRunCommands to execute immediately after the first player joins a level.
* Optimizations to much of the PawnDWKChanger, ItemReplacer, and PawnReplacer routines. Less load early during level start.


I can recommend users of previous versions to update, but it is important to know that you have to remove (Backup) your current configuration before setting the new options. This is necessary because the structure of the .ini (options) has been changed.

Download DZMapM 2.1 from the files page.

Update:
There were two bugs found in the final. Zombie fixed them and released version 2.1.2. The download page has been updated.
 

October 1, 2006

Nephthys 1.3 final released

After many beta versions and release candidates, Zora decided that Nephthys 1.3 is now ready for a full public release. Nephthys is a network and security tool for Unreal servers with many features like:

  • IP logging
  • Banning
  • Automatic detection and blocking of many attacks and hacks
  • Bandwidth management (Prevents lag if configured correctly)
  • Programmable interface for game types and mods

An important new feature of version 1.3 is the possibility to redirect downloads to a http (web) or FTP (download) server. This greatly improves the download speed. In order to get this feature working, both the server and the client need to install a Nephthys part. (There is a client and server install). Other changes in this version include several bug fixes and a few new attack detections/protections.
This version also features an all new installer, which guides you through the installation steps and automatically updates your .ini files.

Remember that Nephthys is quite a complicated tool, so take some time to read the manual (Which can be found in the help folder after installation) and make sure you install the right version corresponding with your Unreal version.

Download Nephthys 1.3

September 25, 2006

Unreal 227 (private) beta delayed

Smirftsch, the man behind the site OldUnreal.com and the upcoming Unreal 227 announced that the first beta of U227 has been delayed:


Smiftsch left a short message at the OldUnreal forums:
sorry because of some unfortunate circumstances i have to move to another town until the end of the month. Because of that i lack the time of 1 month, means everythings delayed for that time


So in short, don't expect any releases in the near future, also keep in mind that difficult and complex projects like this one usually tend to take more time than expected. Therefore, I would be not surprised if there would be more delays in the future. But I also know that Smirftsch is one of the most reliable members of the Unreal community, so the U227 patch is not something to vapourize in sight. Remember, Epic makes it's patches with a large team of developers, while Smirftsch has to do large parts alone.

September 19, 2006

Alexander Brandon interviewed

Frieza arranged an interview with Alexander Brandon, who composed a big part of Unreal's soundtrack as well as the soundtracks of other games like Tyrian, Epic pinball and Deus Ex.

Read the interview here at UnrealSP.org

September 17, 2006

Legend of Vandora status update

Winged Unicorn posted the long awaited status update of the Legend of Vandora project. In short: There is still an intention to finish the project, but both the available (free) time to work on the project and skilled members are very limited factors. Because of this, the project is now officially set on hold.
There might be a resurrection for Unreal Tournament 2007.


Winged Unicorn wrote at the LoV main page:
2 years. Wow, such a long time since last update.

Well, no need to say that the project has not been much alive in the past two years. Most of the team members have been too busy with personal life to dedicate any time to LoV. All of you will now think that this project is dead - or better - it was never born. And I honestly feel it wouln't be fair to contradict you.

But, not all hope is lost. Some of us are still willing to go on and finish this project. The storyline is simply too amazing to be trashed. Thing is, we'd need A LOT of talented man power. And a lot of free time. Unfortunately, both things are very rare these days.

Who knows, maybe UT2007 and the new promising Unreal Engine will give LoV a new life. If that's not gonna happen, we might eventually release some of the concept work we have done, in case any other team is interested in realizing our dream.

Until then, if that day will ever come, Legend of Vandora is to be considered on hold.

The Legend of Vandora

September 10, 2006

HorrorSeries Preview movie

The HorrorSeries project team released a preview movie of their project. It shows some impressive scenry. It's quite different from the earlier releases, in my opinion a positive development.

Watch video at YouTube
Project thread

September 10, 2006

The return of the Dragon: FireStorm trailer

Unreal Incorporated posted a new trailer of Turboman's Firestorm project. It shows a quick flyby over a varied landscapes and Unrealish structures. Believe me when I say that this project is going to rock the Unreal universe when it is released. It also has a few surprises inside...

I mirrored the trailer at my downloads.

September 8, 2006

JCoopZ UMSSpaceMarine HUD fix released

Zombie released a compatibility tool to allow the custom SpaceMarine HUD of Asgards UMSSpaceMarine mod to be used together with the JCoopZ game type.

See his forum post for more info.

September 4, 2006

Unreal remixes and fan music added

I uploaded a few more Unreal remixes / fan music from my harddrive. You can find them at the files page.

Added files:

  • LoV - Bad Dreams
  • UnReal Techno Euro Dance Mix
  • Mines of Metal (Dig remix)
  • Unreal world (Fan music)


I also found out that Vampirus released the first part of his Unreal Remix Project:

Boundary.umx, Chizra1.umx, Crater.umx, DigSh.umx, Dusk.umx, FlyBy.umx, Found99.umx, Sacred.umx, UTemple.umx and Vortex.umx

Vampirus at his main page:
Unreal Remix Project restore all music from Unreal series in high quality. The how of it. First, music file split into samples. Then I make samples 16 bit and make digital noise cancellation. In some case I manage to find 16 bit analog. Third, all samples insert back into music file. After that, I exactly set up begin and end looped part of samples to remove specific tracker crackling.

Download the music at Vampirus' site:
http://unrealmod.nm.ru/

August 30, 2006

Update on the HyperCoop G4.5 progress

As said before, I reserved the months July and August for the task to reconfigure, balance and stabilize the Unreal servers. Now it's at the end of August, so it is time for a status update:

Basically everything what I could do has been done. In terms of gameplay and configuration of the servers this project reached the final status. Some points are not finished though:

  • Some of the mods and server tools (Nephthys, JCoopZ, DZMapM) I use are still in a (far) beta or release candidate state. They already run fine but as long as these mods/programs are still in development, the G4.5 project can not be finalized too.
  • There might still be a memory usage issue with the Unreal servers. This only surfaces after a relative long server uptime, and because of the many 'maintenance' restarts last months I could not do much testing here. I'll keep paying attention to this.

Now it's time to focus on real-life again, which also needs my time now. However, in my spare time I'll still be linked to the game and I hope I can finalize this project soon. Updates will be posted in the forums.

August 30, 2006

Server issues

One of the last updates introduced a new (compatibility) problem with the server query, so I undid the update for now. I hope a final update can be applied later. At the moment you read this, the Unreal servers should be back online, but you can expect more updates later on.

August 28, 2006

Unreal Deathmatch game statistics

A team within the Unreal Deathmatch community is busy with an interesting project I would like to share with you. UGHStats is a project to allow DM server owners to collect and publish game statistics to an online database. The project has been running for some time and is currently in beta phase. UGHStats will be supported by the EnhancedDM and UTeamFix gametypes. AcidRain already has a server equipped with the current beta of which the statistics can be viewed at the link below.

http://ughstats.thenerdnetwork.net
Any feedback or suggestions are welcome in the UGHStats forum at TheNerdNetwork.net

August 23, 2006

More mods added

I added 18 more mods to the files page, many of them are 'pack' mods with all kinds of new and modified weapons, items, monsters etcetera. Because the mods section of the files page was getting cluttered, I re-arranged them into a table ordered by author.

Here are some of the added titles:

  • Exiled's Celled2 and his old mods
  • Dots Vehicles
  • Venox packs
  • AgeUkkeli's packs and living things mods
  • Dynamite
  • Cookie's weapons
  • ZDec2
  • Bolke's flags

For the full list, check the files page.

I also gave the tips page a small update, a few links were dead and some tips were outdated.

August 23, 2006

New old mods

I added a few old mods to the download page. The first ones are well-know, The others are not.

AkimboMM: Banes famous enhanced AutoMag mod.
LightSaber: The well-known Jedi Saber. Updated version by Zora.
Frying Pan: Have you ever had an uncontrollable urge to run around whacking people with a huge iron frying pan? Well, now you can.
DSPCC: The infamous Dynamically Synchronized Particle Collector Cannon mod by Crescent. Very versatile weapon with radar HUD and many firing modes.

Interested in (one of) these mods? Get them from the files page.

August 22, 2006

Uber 5 released

Cheese mailed me the fifth incarnation of his Uber mod. "The fifth mod of uberness!  mostly weapons this time, but it also has a couple items. and an enemy." Get if from the files page.

August 21, 2006

Privacy policy and remote linking policy added

I added two new sections to the about page: A remote linking policy and a privacy policy.

The privacy policy tells about the use of your information on this website and the other services offered. Read it here.
The remote linking policy gives information about making external links to parts of this website and it's downloads. Read it here.

August 16, 2006

Enhanced Unreal server browser 1.19 released

The Enhanced Unreal server browser (EUSB) has been updated to version 1.19. EUSB is a new tab lay-out for the Unreal server browser that supports all known Unreal game types. The current version supports 64 different Unreal game types and variants. This version offers an update in the tab lay-out and has a better manageability of the Unreal 224v version. EUSB is planned to become the standard tab lay-out for the Unreal 227 server browser. In Unreal 227 the browser will have more lines of tabs, making it more convenient to navigate from one tab to another.

[ Screenshot]
[ Download ]

August 16, 2006

New project: Unreal beta 97/98 conversion

Delacroix is starting two new projects of which the first one is a new and updated conversion of the famous Unreal 97/98 beta. There are two conversions of this beta already, one by Dots and one by Zora. Delacroix plans to use one of them to make a final and perfected version.

Delacroix wrote at the OldUnreal forum:
Foreword
 
There is a beta of Unreal, that features many levels that were cut from the final game, as well as lots of differences in the levels that did make it into the retail release. There are already two conversions of this, both imperfect (in a matter of ways). Instead of making a new one, I decided that one of the existing conversions is now going to be ultimately debugged. In my opinion, it would be better to correct Zora's conversion.
 
Needed files
 
Zora's Conversion
Flare.utx (missing from the archive
BetaStuff.u (from Dots' Conversion)
Tarwel, a music file from an early Unreal build
 
What needs to be done
 
 - change all monsters to those inside the zcu97Unreali.u package - some show up in retail skins, especially if a script summons a monster
 - change all guns to these from BetaStuff
 - add skyboxes to all maps that require those
 - fix scripts on maps (some doors should open, they don't; some buttons should be pressed, they can't)
 - fix water (on some maps, water exists, but is not visible, or is visible, but obviously, the physics remain unchanged upon submerge)
 - eliminate all BSP holes
 - fix Dusk.umx (the sections don't loop)
 - two or three levels are empty, monsters need to be added
 - in Nexus, Magnus.umx doesn't seem to create the mood, needs to be changed to another music theme...
 
Requirements
 
Two or three mappers will be enough to finish this project relatively fast.


If you are interested in joining this project, check the project thread at OldUnreal.com

August 16, 2006

New project: Unreal: The Lost History

Delacroix second project also has to do with the history of the Unreal game, but goes even further. He plans on re-creating (some) of the beta levels and monsters that were never leaked, including the beta Unreal girl and the dragon. Again he asks interested mappers/level designers,  programmers/coders, 3D modelers and 2D texture artists to join.

Delacroix wrote at the OldUnreal forum:
Foreword
 
As you all know, lots, I mean LOTS of stuff were forever lost as the game was developed. It cannot be retrieved, but it is possible to create something in that mood. The expansion will consist of 40 levels in 4 episodes, with 2 or 3 secret levels, and will contain the famous U95 female, the dragons/gargoyles and 4 new weapons.
 
Needed files
All the above files (for use of music themes and weapons/monsters)
Screens & Movie
The old AutoMag screenshot
XS Weapon Pack - includes WORKING QuadShot
Unreal'95 single-map remake
Unreal XMas 97 trailer
 
What needs to be done
 
Mappers' tasks:
 
 - all locations visible on screenshots, that didn't make it to the final version are to become parts of new levels
 - all locations that were severely changed in comparison to the screenshots are to become parts of new levels
 
Coders' tasks:
 
 - QuadShot is to be extracted out of XS and ported to this mission pack
 - The old AutoMag visible on the screenshot given and inside the UXmas trailer is to be recreated. Akimbo feature must be added.
 - Inside Unreal Beta (97/98) there is a peacemaker weapon that is to be remade. Screenshot will be given.
 - also, in the same beta, there is a sentry gun. This also must appear in the pack.
 - create Dragon, Gargoyle and Big Man pawn, based on the screenshots given
 - create Female player, based on the screenshots given
 - create a Boss
 
Modellers' tasks:
 
 - cooperate with Coders and Skinners in creating weapons and monsters
 
Skinners' tasks:
 
 - cooperate with Coders and Modellers in creating weapons and monsters
 
Texturists' tasks:
 
 - create textures based on the screenshots given, so that Mappers may use them in the creation process
 
BOSS CONCEPT: This is supposed to be a huge, flesh monster, that cannot be wounded from the outside, sort of Shub Nigurrath from Q1, but a lot more scary. After getting inside, the player will be presented with final level which will be the monster's entrails. The final battle will be fought there.
 
Requirements
Three or four mappers, one coder, one modeller, one skinner, one texturist. A single volunteer may choose several of these roles, not just one.
 
Please contact me at: delacroix02@tlen.pl
 
PROJECT MEMBERS LIST:
 
 - Delacroix (me, hehe) - Team Leading, ideas & some concept
 - Deadkatz - mapper
 - Kaka - mapper (he's still thinking about it)


If you are interested in joining this project, check the project thread at OldUnreal.com

August 15, 2006

EnhancedDM 5 released

After a number of (beta) test versions Smartball released the new version of his Enhanced Deathmatch (EDM) gametype. The new version has an updated console, a number of security fixes and more features. Server owners who are currently running older versions of EDM are advised to update as soon as possible.

The full changelog can be viewed at Smartballs new site.

For more information about the new EnhancedDM, please consult the online manual.

Download EDM5 from the files page.

August 14, 2006

URP Monter update #2

Diehard released part two of the S3TC texture monster update. Six texture packages have been updated with professional quality and highly detailed versions of Unreal's textures. The updated packages are:

GenIn.utx
NaliCast.utx
NaliFx.utx
ShaneSky.utx
Skaarj.utx
SkyBox.utx

Not all textures in these packages are high-res yet, but the update is certainly worth the download.

Here are a few screenshots: Nali Castle rug, A skybox planet

More details can as always be found in the Unreal ReTexturing project forum at OldUnreal.com. You can also download the new texture packages from there.

August 13, 2006

Javascript footprint reduced

Because nowadays more and more people disable javascript on their browsers for security or privacy reasons, I improved the navigation for this group. A few features like the sidebar still require javascript to work, but overall the site is very useful with script disabled. The site will give a helpful message when a javascript-powered feature is blocked. I also no longer use any cookies or javascript for the visitor statistics, just an image is used now.

By the way: Firefox has a nice browser extension that allows you to disable javascript by default an enable it only for trusted sites on a domain-basis.

August 13, 2006

Uber 3 and 4 released

Cheese released two more incarnations of his Uber mod. The Uber mod globally fits in the same category as Boodaflow's Aura and Dots' packs, with many modified weapons, items and monsters.

Get the packs from the files page.

August 12, 2006

Server updates

The work on HyperCoop G 4.5 progresses steadily. Slowly but surely things get close to the final state. Here is the change list again:

  • Solved a version mismatch on UMSSpaceMarine in the RTNP2Unreal map pack
  • New balance in the gameplay, with a slightly higher difficulty
  • No more Dragoon boots
  • New Aura shieldbelts available in the GemDagger shop
  • Updated translator and serverinfo messages
  • Updates on Dots' Unreal 98 beta map pack
  • Updates on the HyperCoop game engine (DZMapM) and the network subsystem Nephthys

Again a number of crashes have been fixed or avoided.

August 5, 2006

Two useful tools added

I added two useful tools to my site. The first tool is the server restart script and log saver I made for my HyperCoop servers. Now I translated it into English and wrote an instruction to make it useful for everyone who needs this functionality for his/her own Unreal server.

Download the server manager script called UServer from the Lab page.

The second tool is a dual core fix for Unreal and other games. Because I have a dual core PC myself now, I discovered that Unreal can run rather choppy on these new processors. The problem is that the main game thread is being rapidly switched from one processor core to the other, resulting in performance loss rather than gain. Use this tool to force the program to use only one of the available processor cores. The program is NOT written by me, I just wrote the instruction.

Download the dual core fix from the files page.

August 4, 2006

Server updates

All Hyper Unreal servers have been updated. Here is the change list:

  • Several Nephthys web redirection issues have been solved
  • All weapon-carrying Skaarjs (SkaarjTrooper etc) added to the MonsterSpawner
  • Weapon carrying Skaarjs use custom weapons, have more health and a double sight radius
  • The maximum number of exploding boxes/barrels/chests has been greatly reduced because some (custom) levels had tons of them.

August 1, 2006

Forum currently unavailable

The domain UnrealDestination.com on which the forum is hosted seems to be down for a couple of hours already, so you'll have to do it without the forums for now. Because in the past issues like this were usually fixed soon, I recommend to keep trying from time to time.

Update: UnrealDestination.com or any of the forums are under DDoS attack. We will have to wait until the attacker(s) decides to stop his/her/their bandwidth overflow.

Update2: UnrealDestination.com and the forum are back online.

UnrealDestination.com owner:
Concerning our downtime:

Our systems are back online. We installed a new intrusion detection system and hardened the box with stricter anti-dos rules. The sites are accessible at full speed. The datacenter's network was not brought down like last time, and thank goodness it was only a minor attack.

Note: Be careful with repeated login failures or page requests for a while, the new temporary rules may add an entry in ip-tables to block you if it detects an attack attempt. You should be able to browse and download fine, just don't get o.c.d. with a web form and click submit 100 times :-X .

I would like to thank the Comcast and Charter Communications network operations team for their work all last night. They got back to me right away even though it was 1 in the morning. Thanks to them, a good portion of the zombie hosts were blocked at the ISP level.

Thanks for your patience everyone, and those who worked overtime to get the problem resolved

July 30, 2006

Unreal servers back online

I've done a lot of work again to the Unreal servers. Last two days when the servers were offline I extensively tested the new Nephthys download redirection and it's finally working now. When you have  the Nephthys 1.3 client installed you can download the highly compressed server packs from a high-speed web server. Required packages will be extracted to cache by the Nephthys client, so it will not cause version conflicts. The Nephthys download redirection works parallel with the old Unreal downloading method, so people without Nephthys can still download the files from the server as if nothing was changed. Also, when a download is not yet available on the web server, Unreal will download the remaining missing files from the server. Please note that Nephthys 1.3 is still in development, Zora will come with a final version later.

Here are the other changes:

  • The Klingon / Wooper weapons have been removed from the Klingon maps. They were useless anyways because the standard Aura weapons are more powerful.
  • A few maps had hard coded bots in them, but because bots are useless in coop they also have been removed.
  • The custom map server now also supports map voting. Because the number of maps are larger than the mapvote list allows, I made an overall selection, spread evenly over the different map packs.
  • An incompatibility with the monster spawner and the map SkyBase has been fixed by Zombie. The level has a bug that caused a few crashes earlier.
  • A number of smaller changes and improvements.

July 30, 2006

Unreal ReTexturing project: Massive update

DieHard released 5 new or updated texture packages for the Unreal ReTexturing project. The updated packages are:

SkyCity.utx
GenEarth.utx
GenTerra.utx
Cytizen.utx
Frescos.utx

The last two packages are no standard Unreal textures but texture packs belonging to a few custom deathmatch maps. Go to the project forum at OldUnreal to download the updated packages and read the release notes.

Special thanks go to DieHard who spent many hours of many days working with Photoshop to create these high quality textures. Additional thanks go to the CelticWarriors clan who have been hosting the large texture packages from the beginning.

Check out the super-hires screenshot of the SkyTown level with the new textures.

July 29, 2006

Unreal servers offline

The Unreal servers are currently offline because of software updates and testing. Today I did some second tests with the Nephthys download redirection but it's not yet working as it should. I also expect another update to the beta DZMapM I'm using so I don't think it's much useful to relaunch the servers now when they will be shut down again soon. I'll decide tomorrow (or today depending on the time zone) when I'll restart the servers. But as long as the server title reads "Work in progress" there can and will be more restarts.

The work on the servers of the last month is already paying off; quite a number of bugs and crashes have been analysed and fixed or avoided. Many of them are Unreal engine bugs that are triggered by custom mods like Aura. Most of the time the Aura objects are not buggy themselves, but the extreme nature of mods like this tend to come in trouble with the engine earlier than the standard Unreal objects.

July 27, 2006

Nephthys 1.3 rc2 released

Edit August 7 2006:

*** News posting removed on request of Zora***

July 27, 2006

Cookies' Unreal site added

I added a link to Cookies' Unreal site to the Links page. Cookies offers a number of Unreal mods like several coloured versions of the Jedi LightSaber, an extension for Dots' Vehicle mod, a new monster spawner, several new weapons and a number of maps.

July 27, 2006

Archive conversion to 7-zip

I started the process of converting all archives to the open source 7-zip format. 7-zip has a superior compression ratio over ZIP and even the RAR format. This is the second and probably last large scale archive conversion. Earlier I made the move from ZIP to RAR as primary format. Nowadays almost every archiver can handle the 7-zip archives. When you need a tool to decompress 7z archives: I can recommend the freeware IZArc archiver. Of course, you can also use the original 7-zip program (freeware) or a commercial solution like WinRAR and PowerArchiver.

As long as the conversion is in progress, you will get a lot of 404 file not found errors on the site. These should all be gone as soon as the conversion is completed and the files are re-uploaded.

Update: The conversion has been completed. File links should be working again. You may need to refresh the download page in case the old version is still in your browser cache.

July 19, 2006

Extra maps for HyperDM

The HyperDM server has been blessed with a number of extra maps. You can download the maps from the download page or from the Unreal server directly.

July 18, 2006

Crashes

The new server config has a serious stability issue which seems to be related to an old Unreal bug. I'm still uncertain why it appears to often with the new config and not with the old one. Fixing this issue has priority for me because it's worthless to have a server that's crashing so often.

More details here.

By the way: The Aurapack has been updated with Boodaflows updated files. (AuraArmy3, Aura4 and AuraGame1) I will update the cache packages later, but for now the server config has priority.

July 16, 2006

The road to Generation 4.5

Last days I made some great progress with the server upgrades. A few possibly unsafe weapons have been removed. WMutate2 which has been the 'engine' of the HyperCoop games has been replaced by a new DZMapMutator version (Still in development). Only a small part of WMutate2 is still in use to assign DropWhenKilled items to the monsters. Things like item, weapon and monster replacements and monster spawning are all done with DZMapM now. You might also notice a few new Aura parts which I got from Boodaflow; He is back in Unreal and once again started development of his Aura universe. You might see him from time to time in his server called AuraPalace.

With all the upgrades, I also had to find a new balanced gameplay. I'm still not finished with this, so you might see some changes in difficulty from time to time. When everything is finished, it should be the best HyperCoop / HyperDM experience ever. As always, feel free to post feedback in the forum.

July 12, 2006

Unreal Service Reloaded

I received an IM from Micro that Unreal Service is back online. The last years Unreal Service has been knocked from the internet by his old ISP and for a long time Unreal Service only had it's forum. Now the Polish site is back and the first content is translated to the English language. Not everything has been translated yet. There is much Polish content. I can remember that Micro once asked for volunteers to translate parts of the site, so when you are good with both the Polish and English language you can contact Micro.

UnrealService.net main page:
I wish to welcome again on the Unreal Service. After a serious problem, most of Unreal Service was LOST, all texts and files as good as php engine, my sweet domain even. Here we are new one, update your bookmarks. Let's hope I won't be forced to shut it down ever again. Once more, Unreal Service is ONLINE. Enjoy :)

http://unrealservice.net

July 6, 2006

Servers offline for update

I'll take the Unreal servers offline today to update their configurations. After this I will be a few days out of town, and will leave the server offline. The HyperCoop servers will come back as Generation 4.5 beta/test. I also tested for possible stability issues that possibly could be caused by extensive use of the Aura weapons. I found a claim that it was exploited to cause server crashes lately. In my own testing I found out that these crashes are very unlikely, but certainly not impossible. By the way: I really appreciate it that players test my servers for possible stability / security issues, but ONLY when this is in deliberation. At least contact me with the result of your testing. Otherwise it's just a denial of service attack.

(By the way: This player "-=skw=-Skaarjlord" (with IP 216.18.18.116) has also be spamming the server with foul language, and he is banned now.)

July 3, 2006

Links page updated

I once again gave the links page a full update. First I checked all links to see if they were still valid, and I also checked all linked pages for links to new sites. A few links have been removed and a a surprisingly large number of new sites have been added. Most of the newly added sites are still quite small, but many of these sites have new mods and other projects. My target is to have a full list of all Unreal 1 related websites, so when you have a site that should be added / updated or moved to a better category, let me know.

One especially interesting site I found is The Votrex Rikers which is a cartoon-like Unreal story by Essjay Campbell made with screenshots.

An interesting detail is that almost all new sites are hosted by Freewebs. It seems that the old 'big three" (Geocities/AngelFire/Tripod) are losing terrain in the area of free web hosting.

July 2, 2006

HyperDM server back online

After a long time the HyperDM server is back online. In September 2005 I took the server offline because of ongoing stability issues. (Freezes) But most of these issues should be fixed now with Zombies new AI server hang fix for DZMapM. This fix is already included in JCoopZ, but because HyperDM uses a different game type (UTeamFix) I could not use it here. I also took the opportunity to update the server with a long list of enhancements that were applied to the HyperCoop servers last year.

For now, take a look at the server at unreal://hyper.dnsalias.net:8888 and tell me what you think of it at the forum.

June 30, 2006

Finally graduated

I'm finally graduated for my study "Business Administration and Computer Science" (Bachelors degree). In the last years I specialized in the subject of Information Security and also my final project was in in this direction. For now this means that I have more time again for my Unreal related activities and especially the servers. I plan to do a resurrection of the HyperDM server which is still down at the moment because of stability issues. Everything should be running stable before September because then I'll start with my first job and will thus have no time for large scale testing and configuring.

June 29, 2006

Unreal Anthology

Midway and Epic games are about to re-release Unreal as part of the Unreal grand collection bundle "Unreal Anthology". Besides Unreal and Unreal Mission Pack 1: Return to Na Pali, Unreal Anthology will also include Unreal®II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament® (Game of the Year Edition) and Unreal Tournament® 2004 (Editors Choice Edition). For the Unreal community this may be great news since it can bring new lifeblood into the community. For years it's extremely hard to find Unreal 1 in the retail stores, so many players were unable to join the community or got the game via warez channels. Hopefully this will make the game generally available again.

I'm not sure in which state Unreal will be released; the old game has compatibility issues for some players, and has many unsolved bugs. Fortunately, the Unreal community and especially Smirftsch from OldUnreal.com did a great job in improving the hardware compatibility and quality of the game (OpenGL/OpenAL patches etc) but at this moment it's unclear if an enhanced version will be added to the Unreal Anthology disc(s).

Press release by Midway Games inc.:
Midway Announces Unreal(R) Anthology Coming Fall 2006
Thursday June 15, 8:30 am ET  
Epic Games, Inc. and Midway Reach Publishing Agreement for Select Unreal(R) Catalogue Titles  
 
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2006--Midway Games Inc. (NYSE:MWY - News), a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer, today announced it has acquired the retail publishing rights to select games from Epic Games' catalogue of existing Unreal® PC titles, including critically acclaimed and top-selling titles Unreal Tournament® and the original Unreal. Since its debut in 1998, the Unreal franchise has sold more than seven million units worldwide. Midway also announced plans to publish the first-ever compilation of Unreal and Unreal Tournament titles, Unreal® Anthology, scheduled to ship this fall for personal computers at a U.S. suggested MSRP of $29.95.
 
Unreal Anthology will include:  
 
Unreal® (including Return to Na Pali expansion pack)
Unreal®II: The Awakening
Unreal Tournament® (Game of the Year Edition)
Unreal Tournament® 2004 (Editors Choice Edition)
 
"Since its beginning, the Unreal franchise has always been about the amazingly loyal community," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Unreal Anthology will allow fans the opportunity to get this incredible compilation of some of the franchise's best titles for a great price point. Unreal Anthology will also include the Na Pali expansion pack for the original Unreal, the Game of the Year edition of Unreal Tournament and the Editors Choice Edition of Unreal Tournament 2004."

"We're excited to continue working with Midway to expand the audience for Unreal franchise" said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. "A whole new set of players will get to play these fantastic games for the first time and those who have already played them will be able to get the definitive boxed set for a great low price. Midway is going to publish the future of Unreal, with Unreal Tournament 2007. So it's only fitting that they're helping us pay homage to the rich history of the Unreal universe as well."
 
For more information on Unreal Anthology or any of Midway's other products, visit www.epicgames.com or www.midway.com.

About Midway
Midway Games Inc. (NYSE:MWY - News), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices throughout the world, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for major videogame systems and personal computers. More information about Midway and its products can be found at www.midway.com.
 
 
About Epic Games
Epic Games Inc, based in Raleigh, NC and established in 1991, is a developer of cutting-edge computer and video games. The company is best known as the creator of hit PC 3D action games Unreal and Unreal Tournament, both award-winning blockbuster hits having each sold more than one million copies. Games created with the Unreal Engine include: 2002 Console Game of the Year winner, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell(TM) (on PC and console platforms) from Ubi Soft; PCGamer's 2000 Game of the Year, Deus Ex from Ion Storm/Eidos; America's Army: Operations, from the United States Army, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PC) from Electronic Arts - and many others. Prior to their 3D success, Epic Games was well known for the hit shareware games Jill of the Jungle, Jazz Jackrabbit and Epic Pinball. Additional information can be obtained through Epic's Web site at www.epicgames.com.
 
Unreal and Unreal Tournament are registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. Used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Midway has provided the www.epicgames.com link solely as a convenience for you. The information on this site has been prepared by third parties, and Midway does not monitor, endorse or accept responsibility for the content on non-Midway sites.
 
"This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning future business conditions and the outlook for Midway Games Inc. (the "Company") based on currently available information that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the financial strength of the interactive entertainment industry, dependence on new product introductions and the ability to maintain the scheduling of such introductions, the console platform transition and other technological changes, dependence on major platform manufacturers and other risks more fully described under "Item 1. Business - Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and in any more recent filings made by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each forward-looking statement, including, without limitation, financial guidance, speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and Midway undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances."

Contact:
Midway Games Inc.  
Tim DaRosa (Media Relations), 773-961-2445
tdarosa@midwaygames.com
or
Geoffrey Mogilner (Investor Relations), 773-961-2222
gmogilner@midwaygames.com
or
HighWater Group PR
Ann Mangold, 212-338-0077 ext. 312
ann@highwatergroup.com

 

June 21, 2006

Instability

The HyperCoop Custom map server has experienced a number of freezes what caused all other (Hyper.nl) servers and services to lag. The server was frozen with full CPU usage, probably an endless loop in the software. I'm still testing to find out what's the cause. It might need some time. The issues probably came with one of the changes / updated I added to the server recently.

The coming time I will focus on improving the HyperCoop servers to "Generation 4.5"

Important changes are:

  • Security fixes
  • The Spinner/Predator/UMSSpaceMarine mods (Asgard)
  • Map/end voting (JCoopZ feature, Zombie)
  • No more 'ending without asking' problems (JCoopZ feature, Zombie)
  • A hands-off server: No admin intervention needed for gameplay

Of course, none of the new features are allowed to cause stability problems, so a lot needs to be tested here. On the roadmap to G4.5 there will inevitably be more restarts, but in the end I'm sure it will be better than ever. News of the developments will always be posted in the forum.

June 16, 2006

Dots' Unreal 98 beta pack update

The custom maps server received an update for the Unreal 98 beta map pack by Dots. The update can be downloaded from his host at RapidShare. I'll add the pack to my download page later.

June 15, 2006

Unreal Security Warning

PCube's (Pravin Prabhu) Unreal server is exploiting a large number of security weaknesses in Unreal clients. His server from time to time online and located at IP 71.80.228.202 can perform the following unwanted functions upon any visiting player:

  • Data mining of (admin) passwords which can be used later by him to take over your Unreal server
  • Remotely changing of keybinds
  • Remote corruption of settings from the .ini files
  • Remotely overwriting of .ini files with log content
  • Remote mass suicide
  • Changing the player name of the victim
  • Remote execution of any console command over the victim
  • Remote webbrowser launching to any site
  • Remote crashing of the Unreal client, and maybe even the players' PC
  • Remote restarting of the client

Because there is currently not a patch that protects against these attacks, it's advised to add PCube's server and IP to the blocked zone of your firewall. This will ensure his attacks can not reach your Unreal client.

At the moment of writing his IP is: 71.80.228.202 with the DNS name of "71-80-228-202.dhcp.mghl.ca.charter.com". It's highly recommended to stay away from any server called PCube's. These incidents show that's also a good idea to have backups of your .ini files.

It's possible that his IP will change. If so, you can block the changed IP as well, or the entire netrange. Be aware that blocking a netrange will also block many unrelated IP addresses of that ISP.

For more information about his IP, do a whois checkup here.

June 9, 2006

Coop servers updated

The coop servers received a number of updates. After many delays, the UMSSpaceMarine radars and communications module is finally working. I also installed a few security and maintenance updates.

As promised I hereby updated the HyperCoop cache package. This package contains all the files you need to play at the HyperCoop servers, except for the custom maps. (Which can be downloaded separately)

June 4, 2006

Necris skin pack

Exiled created a set of nice skins for your Unreal server. The skin pack is called 'Necris' and can be downloaded here.

"This race of white-skinned aliens has long considered the human race a thorn in their side. The humans started the fight with the Necris - and the Necris intend to finish it." (source)

Preview

May 29, 2006

Unreal beta 97 deathmatch pack released

Leo(T.C.K.) released a pack containing the converted the deathmatch maps from the Unreal 97 beta version. Here is the map list:

DMDeathFan_b97
DMAriza_b97
DMDeck16_b97
DMMorbfanza_b97
DmMorbias_b97
DmSplash_b97
Found98_b97final
DmSky11_b97
DmSky12_b97
DmTundra_b97
DmVilla_b97

Download the map pack here.

May 26, 2006

Command & Skaarj update

Dots (.:..:) updated his Command & Skaarj gametype. Command & Skaarj is a Command & Conquer like game for Unreal which allows players to build bases and armies. Dots website reads that he "added some new units and other improvements" in this version.

The updated mod can be downloaded from the files page.

May 24, 2006

Blackout

Some workmen decided to cut the power cable to my part of the town, which caused a blackout of several hours. This was too much for the UPS so the server got a forced shutdown after 15 minutes.

May 21, 2006

Some delays

The updates to the server with the SpaceMarine mod and the cache package will have to wait for the Space marine HUD fix. Zombie is quite busy with multiple projects so it might take one or two additional weeks before we can see the SpaceMarine mod in all it's glory.

Meanwhile I did some small updates at the HyperCoop custom map server. See the planned updates thread for more info.

May 18, 2006

UMSSpaceMarine 1.01 released

Asgard released an updated version of his UMSSpaceMarine mod. This update comes with a number of bug fixes and the is now fully JCoopZ compatible. I'll update my coop servers and the cache package shortly.
Update- Notice brought to me by Zombie: This version is not yet fully JCoopZ compatible, it still needs a fix from Zombie itself, probably in the form of a mod or mutator.

From the ReadMe:
******************
What's New in v1.01
******************

* added new mutator settings TripWireMaxCopies, TripDestroyPlayerDie, TripDestroyPlayerExits, TripDestroyTime So that servers can limit the amount of tripwires that might be on the server at once and help stop abuse from players in certain game types.
* Tripwires no longer block movers (lifts)
* Tripwires by default have a maximum of 5 copies that a player can carry, more or less can be set in the spacemarinez mutator
* Fixed Carcass bug in Unreal/UT for the marines.
* fixed message spam bug
* Further work on the HUD so it can be made compat with gametypes such as JCoopZ where the HUD is destroyed.
* Suits now return to the on/off previous setting after passing through a waterzone. eg. if you have your suit off then jump in the water the suit activates(switches on), after leaving the water the suit turns its self back off.
* For games such as coop the suits remain off if off at level change and on if on for the new level.
* added drawscale checks for when the collision height might be changed by an admin eg. the skaarj player, suits now auto adjust their drawscale to suit.

The updated mod is available for download from the files page.

May 17, 2006

United Defence Research

Wolf announced a new project that both involves mapping and modding called the United Defence Research project. You are a high ranked Security Officer who has been promoted and relocated to planet NaPali. The Skaarj have taken control of the United Defences Research center on NaPali, they have taken hostage several of the Teleportation Scientists, one of them, Cervaka, is your wife. Cervaka has been developing a means of mass teleporting troops, not just individuals, this knowledge is vital, the chance that the Skaarj can extract it from her is high. Your job, as the newest, and now only, member of the UDR Security Team is to recover the stolen goods if possible, or destroy them before the information can be extracted.

On your mission you will have access to new inventory items like an endless power amplifier, Ident cards which are essential to get access to special area's and optical data disks.

Wolf made a well-designed site for his project which can be found here.

More information can be found at the project thread at the forums.

May 17, 2006

Unreal 223 available

The long time lost Unreal version 223 is available again. At the moment there is only one very slow mirror available, but ScarBelly has plans to add it to his site in parts. Special thanks to Delacroix for uploading the file and ScarBelly for his search work. I'm still trying to get my hands on the file so I can't give any first-hand experiences yet.

Unreal 223 can be downloaded from MooLoad:

http://multiterra.mooload.com/file.php?file=files/160506/1147794632/u223m.rar

May 12, 2006

Unreal Winamp skins added

A few Unreal themed Winamp skins that I collected over the years have been added to the files page. You can find them in the music section.


UnrealAmp, one of the skins.

May 8, 2006

Frieza's Unreal remixes

Frieza released four MP3's of his Unreal Remix project. Unlike other remixes Frieza aims to not change the soundtracks, just the quality.

Frieza at UnrealSP.org:
Hey everyone, let me tell you something about this Unreal Remix Project I've been working on Surprised I started it a while back as a sort of restoration project of Unreal songs to give them a better sound quality so I could put them on my mp3-player. But I figured other people might also be interested in having them (I know Scrag is Smile). Compositions haven't changed but sound quality is better and the songs overall sound richer imo. This thread is basically a place where I will dump patched-up songs when I've completed them. Without further ado here they are:

Black Wind: http://www.filelodge.com/files/room18/455919/BlackWind.mp3

Starseek 2006: http://www.filelodge.com/files/room18/455919/Starseek.mp3

Eroded (Unreal4.umx ss1): http://www.filelodge.com/files/room18/455919/Eroded.mp3

Foundry: http://www.filelodge.com/files/room18/455919/Foundry.mp3

Oh yeah, if you have any specific requests about which song should come up next post them here and I'll do those earlier then the rest. Surprised

Up next:
1. Watcher ss0
2. Spire ss0
3. Gala ss1

To get the remixes, copy the links in your browser/download manager or visit his thread at the UnrealSP.org forums.

May 4, 2006

FireStorm news

Turboman posted a status update about his upcoming Unreal coop and single player map pack FireStorm. The project is still in development and he posted a number of screenshots about the progress he made lately.

Visit the Firestorm thread at UnrealSP for the latest info.

April 30, 2006

Server updates

I've done some updates to the server again:

- The noisy Pentium 4 retail cooler has been replaced with a silent Zalman model
- Installed the JCoopZ update (Read below for more info)
- Installed the updated Spinner and Predator mods by Asgard

There seems to be some delay with the UMSSpaceMarine update so I was unable to include it in this maintenance cycle. For more info check the Network / Server status messages forum.

April 29, 2006

JCoopZ security update released

Zombie released a new version of his Unreal Coop game type JCoopZ.

Zombie wrote at the forum:
This is the first update to JCoopZ1 since initial release. Only the server side file jCoopZ1SSF.u was in need to be updated. All administrators or users of JCoopZ are strongly encouraged to update to this build release because it fixes one critical flaw which 'might' cause server crashes. Plus, there are a number of small annoying bugs fixed so why not?

Update List (4/29/06):
Quote:
-Fixed some flaws in client check routines that could sometimes cause a server crash when a "clientside anomaly" is detected.
-Fixed SkaarjPlayer not being able to pass important paths in Vortex2, Chizra, IsvKran32, and a few other regular coop maps.
-Fixed issue of extra ServerTravel calls to switch maps than what was needed.
-Fixed an automatic temporary ban action that could add multiple identical TempBanPlayer entries.
-Fixed bReturnToCrashMap so that it does not take action (if true) in offline standalone games.
-Fixed AllowedMoverBlocks so that the player's own counter resets after death.
-Fixed bTravelScores issue of a new player's current level score not being restored after rejoining. Negative scores are also restored when traveling to new maps.
-Fixed GiveItem bug so that amplifier based inventory initialize as they should to make weapons do more damage. Also, a small "Ammo#" bug fixed for first to join new players.
-Fixed NumSpectators not lowering when a spectator leaves a ListenServer mode game.
-Added the 'NoURLMap' setting to the sequence control for maps that lack an end teleporter or have no URL. Users must configure 'NewNext' for this, and set a map timer.
-Changed score loss back to one point when a player craters, drowns, burns up in lava, or blows self up. Players will still lose five points if they 'suicide'.
-Changed query rules so that map TimeLimit is displayed when above zero in a query to the server.
-Improved bKeepScores support for BoodaFlow's GemDagger hardcoded score recovery feature so that a player's cummulated score is more accurately restored.
-Improved AutoRunCommand feature to also be executed immediatly after the first player joins the server.
-Improved other server side routines, and minor unnoticable fixes.
-Updated Readme for Build 110 and to included forgetten information such as the summonable jzPlayerStart, commands restricted for Secondary Admins, GiveItem notes, and some more explainations for the packagescan features.

JCoopZ is that game type that I run at the HyperCoop servers and it's by far the most stable Unreal coop game available. When you (want to) run an Unreal Coop server you should check this out. I can recommend it. I'll update the HyperCoop servers shortly with the new version.

Download the new JCoopZ 110 from the files page.

April 22, 2006

UnrealScript Source Code documentation added

The UnrealScript source code documentation has been added to UnrealBase. The documentation has been created with UnCodeX and it has a greatly improved readability over plain .uc files. When you are interested in programming in UScript or just want to know how Unreal works, it's definitely worth to take a look.

While making the documentation I also took the opportunity to add the public Unreal source code to the files page.

April 22, 2006

UnrealBase launched

A new site section has been opened: UnrealBase is meant to provide all kinds of information, documentation, tutorials and guides about the Unreal game. With the addition of this new section I can be sure the site is ready for more content when it arrives.

April 19, 2006

Unreal's History

The user )bee(scarbelly.nl of the BeyondUnreal forums is doing a great job in unveiling Unreal's rich history, including a working Unreal 1991 adventure game (Not made by Epic) and some interesting developers notes about features that did not or not completely make it to the final game:

Scarbelly's quote from unknown site:
What is UNREAL? That's the question that everyone has been asking. UNREAL is more than your average first person action game. It places players in a stunningly lifelike three-dimensional world, where they can pratically smell the stench of dank dungeon caverns, feel the hot breath of menacing creatures, and experience the sensations of falling, swimming and flying. Running on either Windows 95 or Windows NT, UNREAL delivers:

The Environment: The UNREAL environment is continuous. Though levels do exist, you travel between them smoothly. The entire world, whether you're playing by yourself or you're on a large network game server, is melded into one continuous global environment.

[...]

The UNREAL environment uses a full six degree of freedom geometry and physics model. This means you can look at the world from any angle and explore complex architecture with features like multiple overlapping bridges and domed ceilings. If a designer can envision a level, he can build it in Unreal.

History: In 1990, UBI Soft brought out a game for the Amiga called Unreal, which is a registered trademark of UBI Soft. Now Epic Megagames is bringing out an Unreal. UBI Soft's Unreal used stunning 2D and 3D graphics and environments, five different types of interactive music, "incredible sound effects, such as the rushing waters of a river, the crackling of a fire," a "completely interactive environment where you can run, jump, crawl, slip on snow or be blown off a cliff."

No this game is not the same plot, but we wonder about the trademark now being used by Epic MegaGames. The UBI Soft Unreal involved a dungeon, but one where the protagonist's love Isolde is imprisoned by Polymorph and must be rescued from a vast continent. I wonder if anyone else remembers the original Unreal.

[...] Special items found will allow you to morph into the monsters and fight as them similar to that seen in the Origin classic designed by Victor Penman of Raven Software.

Graphics: Unreal's visuals set a new standard for realism. Water is transparent, flames randomly flicker, moving clouds cast shadows while dynamic lighting. Buildings and dungeons are actual structures on the three dimensional landscape meaning that there is no transition or level loading when going in or out doors or portals. The graphics will feature true three dimensional features, such as dynamic lighting, shadows, and 16-bit graphics. "What we are shooting for is something half way between Quake and Myst," says Mark Rein, vice president of Epic MegaGames.

Artificial intelligence: Epic hired Steven Polge to do the AI for Unreal's monsters. Steven was the programmer who designed the Quake Reaper Bots, the only thing that makes Quake exciting in single player mode.

Utilities: The UnrealEd level editor will enhance game play. The 3D level editor will make it easy to design 3D action game levels. Liam says the game editor will be sold separately in his preview.

Multi-player: Unreal puts one or multiple players via the Internet, in a highly detailed 3D alien world populated by two warring races.

Head over to the "Unreal beta the beginning" thread for many more interesting facts and more interesting info + downloads.

April 16, 2006

HyperCoop updates

Today I fixed some bugs and issues at the HyperCoop servers. A server crashing issue with the Spinner carcasses has been fixed and TentacleHunters anti-lamer pickups have been added. For more information and details, see the server maintenance forum.

I wish to thank Zombie for his support at the forums.

April 16, 2006

HorrorSeries demo released

The HorrorSeries project team released a demo from their new Unreal modification. There is not too much information available in the readme file, but you can check out their website and the forum threads. The screenshots at their site look very promising at least.

Download the demo from this external link.

April 9, 2006

UnrealClassic mod: Unreal 1 to UT2004

Vampirus is working on an interesting project: a mod that allows mappers to re-create any Unreal singleplayer map in UT2004. It should also be possible to create Unreal mods in it running on the UT2004 engine. There is already a demo map available: CU-Chizra2k4 which is a remake of the classic Unreal singleplayer/coop map Chizra. There is a thread about this project in the UnrealSP Projects forum. Be sure to check it out.

Vampirus made a website where you can download the mod and get more information. He also has an Unreal Remix project there, which aims to re-create all Unreal music tracks in CD quality.

April 2, 2006

New mods added

The HyperCoop servers have been updated with 3 new mods: UMSSpaceMarine, Spinner and Predator. These mods contain all Return to NaPali pawns like the Space Marines, spinners and predators. The UMSSpaceMarine mod also comes with a few nice goodies like the marine suits. The Spinner and Predator are made by Asgard and the UMSSpaceMarine mod is made by both Asgard and Turboman.

The Marine suits come with many nice features including an communications unit. Unfortunately, the screen is not visible at my server. To use the built-in voice chat functions you can use these commands.

The mods can be downloaded from my files page. (Warning, there are servers with different Spinner and predator mods, so you are advised to NOT install spinner.u/predator.u in your system folder. Otherwise you will get conflicts.)

April 1, 2006

Operation NaPali for Unreal?

I found an interesting note at Dots' site. He seems to be busy with the monstrous task of converting the well-know UT singleplayer map pack "Operation NaPali" to Unreal. When this pack is getting released and works as it should, I would love to run it at my Custom Map server. But it's not that far yet. As always Dots is working on many mods so there is a real chance that it may never leave the alpha or beta stage. But it's certainly one of the major projects to follow.

.:..::
Currently I am converting ONP (Operation NaPali) for Unreal 1. May take some time before I can release it or give out beta versions.

Keep checking Dots' website.

March 31, 2006

Enhanced Unreal Server Browser 1.18 released

The Enhanced Unreal Server browser has been updated to v.1.18. This release supports 5 additional Serpentine game types.

From the included Readme file:
Enhanced Unreal Server Browser is a new tab-layout for the original Unreal Server Browser. The problem with the default Unreal Server Browser is that it only has tabs for DeathMatch, Team DM, Dark Match and Coop games.
The enhanced server browser supports all current game types.

Version 1.18: march 31, 2006.
Changes:
Support for Serpentine Deathmatch games added
Support for Serpentine GravityMatch games added
Support for Serpentine CloakMatch games added
Support for Serpentine TerranWeaponMatch games added
Support for Serpentine MarineMatch games added

The new server browser is available from the Lab page.

March 31, 2006

UGH Stats - Statistical add-in for UTeamFix 10C

}TCP{Wolf released a new statistical add-in for his deathmatch gametype UTeamFix. It can be used to extract game stats from an UTeamFix operated game server. The software is not finished and still in alpha state, but it can be used for testing and evaluation purposes.

}TCP{Wolf at the QuickDog.net forums:
UGH stats - for lack of better name and I always vomited thinking of stats (lol) - has reached alpha stage.
I had been asked to do stats by several people in the past and always refused. I have changed my mind, but my work will be to deliver the stats OUT OF UNREAL, not to evaluate them.

How it works

UGHstats consists of 2 parts:
UGH stats consists of 2 programs:

1. A UScript mutator that collects stats and sends them over TCP/IP to a listening stats server
2. A listening stats server, this can be any self-written program that can parse GameSpyProtocol messages using TCP/IP

The UScript mutator sends its data load at the end of every match. The stats server takes them and whatever it wants with them. The UScript mutator must be installed on all server that want stats evaluated, the listening server only needs to be installed on ONE machine somewhere in the world! You don't need one listening server per Unreal server.
For demonstration purposes and because I am such a nice person, I have written a small java program as a listening server that creates logfiles out of the received data streams. This simple server can run on any java-capable machine and can handle an infinite number of attached Unreal servers.
Everything else is in the manual in the download which I have just enabled.

http://ws.online.de/hidden/UGHstats.zip

March 26, 2006

Live Cumulative Statistics For Unreal 1

AcidRain from TheNerdNetwork has started a new project to gather all kinds of statistics from Unreal servers and present it in the form of a web page. The aim of the project is to have a way of handling game statistics similar to Unreal Tournament's ngStats. The project is still in pre-development and AcidRain made a thread to allow anyone interested to give feedback and ideas. There is already a tryout available at utstats.thenerdnetwork.net.

AcidRain at the TNN forums:
Hey guys,

Thanks to Pitbull from over at KDS for helping initiate this process, and another great thanks goes out to Wolf for wanting to create this mod.

Some background behind the mod:

Basically I have seen this attempted for Unreal 1, and I know UT has the ability because we are running UTStats for our UT Deck Only server.

So basically I talked to Pitbull about this stats utility, and he said he would talk to Wolf about it. Wolf seemed interested and we discussed things.

So he has started writing the ability into UTeamFix as an add-on I believe. He has showed me some rough drafts of what logs will look like, and they look like something I can work with.

So basically, I am posting this for open discussion among the community to get some ideas on what exactly you want to see in this statistics utility.

Full info is available at the TNN forum.

March 26, 2006

Cache recovery service

I have a new service available that can become handy when disaster struck: A cache file recovery service.

From the forum:
It sucks but it happens: You have been working on a particularly file / mod / map / texture etc. and you lose it. Maybe your harddisk crashed, maybe your dog ate it or you just deleted it by accident. If you want to have the file back I can maybe help you out of trouble. For many years I have been collecting any file that I downloaded from any Unreal server in a huge cache archive. (GigaCache). If your missing file has been downloadable from any Unreal server the chance is big that I harvested it into my GigaCache. Note that I cannot recover server-side-only files since they are not being downloaded to my cache.

But there is still a difficulty, cache files are saved with file names like "0205373C413BC8E8990C36AE8CEADCF1.uxx" which does not tell anything about the contents of the file. Therefore, I can only find your file with a lengthy search for a string inside it. This is a search for a certain text string through all cache files.

If you want a file to be recovered from cache, you have to know a text string that is unique to your file. For example, when you made a mod called "MyAuraStinger", this can be a good identifier, but a search for "Dynamite" will probably give plenty of unrelated results. It's up to you to find a good text to search for, it does not need to be a class name, it can be any text that's likely to exist only in your file.

If you want to use this service, you can make a request at the forum, but you can also drop me an e-mail. my mail address can be found at my main page.

You can request a file recovery from cache at the forum.

March 26, 2006

Forum updated

Today I created two new sub forums; A new projects forum for all your unreal related projects and a server admin forum for everything regarding Unreal servers. I also went through the other forums and moved a large number of topics to the right sub forums, so it should be a little easier to find your way to the wanted information now.

Go to the forums. If you need any help with registering, just drop me an e-mail.

March 25, 2006

Unreal FAQ updated

Khajiit Rankin sent me an updated Unreal FAQ. It has been checked for more than 10 times and some sections are completely rewritten. There are also a number of typo's and spelling errors fixed.

 --==[Table of contents]==--

[1] Introduction
[2] Basics
[2.1] What is Unreal?
[2.2] Game modes
[2.3] Weapon guide
[2.4] Armor ramblings
[2.5] Item info
[2.6] Tips & tricks
[2.7] Basic fighting tactics
[3] Walkthrough
[4] Cheats
[5] Miscellaneous stuff

Go to the new FAQ here. (Right click to save)

March 24, 2006

AgePack 3 publicly released

Ageukkeli's weapon and pickup item collection AgePack3 is now available for download. It contains many new items and modified weapons. These can be used in your coop game but can also be used in other game types like Deathmatch. Use the built-in mutators or an universal mutator like WMutate/DZMapM to add them to the game.

AgePack3 can be downloaded from the files page.

March 18, 2006

Unreal Reference updated

}TCP{Wolf updated UnrealReference with a new page about Unreal's patches. When you want to (re) install the game or set up a new server, you surely want to check this information out.

UnrealReference
UnrealReference\Patches

March 18, 2006

Nuke the world

SkaarjWarrior's (skw) nukes and packs are now available for download from the files page. There are s number of different nukes and redeemers, some even with a large scale radiation effect to wipe out the entire area at once. Thanks goes to Mental-Hunter for obtaining the files and the permission.

*Click*

March 17, 2006

Aura pack updated once more, probably the last ever update

The AuraPack has had one final update. This is the update that Boodaflow sent me some months ago and that is used at the HyperCoop servers. This is probably the last Aura update since Boodaflow seems to have moved away from Unreal. This update contains a few bugfixes to the freeze guns as well as a few new items like the BabiRabbitGun. The readme files also have been updated so there might be some interesting new things to discover about this versatile mod. The term 'final' does not mean that Aura is free of bugs: it is not. While many items work excellently, you are advised to stay away from anything that teleports or changes your dimensions, since this can crash your game very quickly.

For optimal stability it's also advised to use JCoopZ which has a built-in protection against server hangs by monsters. To place the Aura monsters in your game you can use a tool like DZMapMutator, MonsterSpawn or JDec.

Go to the files page to download the Aura pack.

March 12, 2006

Invasion updated

.:..: (Dots) updated his Invasion game type. It is a port of the UT2004 game type and has some similarities to MonsterMash. You can download the new version from the files page.

March 12, 2006

OldUnreal fully available again

OldUnreal is fully available again. After the attack last month the administrator had to remove a number of large files to avoid the site going out of bandwidth. There is also a complete website mirror available that's hosted in the United States.

OldUnreal
OldUnreal mirror site

March 10, 2006

HTML optimized

The HTML code of the entire site has been optimized again. Here is the change log:

  • All files set to the correct language (EN-GB)
  • All sidebars are moved to separate files now
  • Code clean-up
  • Layout rebuilt
  • Illegal tags removed
  • Bookmarks fixed
  • Redundancy removed
  • Incorrect absolute links removed

Still no W3C compliant code or CSS style sheets though. Implementing these would take massive amounts of time because of the relatively complex style of the pages and the amount of table code.

The site is compatible with Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla Firefox. Opera has some minor problems but still performs quite decent on the code. All pages are built to scale excellently to both small and large browser windows.

Update:
There still were a few issues with the sidebar in Internet Explorer and Firefox 1.0x browsers. It should be working flawless now. You might need to de a refresh [F5] though. Any comments are welcome at the forum.

March 5, 2006

Enhanced Unreal server browser 1.17

I made a small update to the Enhanced Unreal Server Browser (EUSB). This version supports the new master server of TheNerdNetwork as backup. Download it at the lab page.

March 4, 2006

TNN restored

TheNerdNetwork is back online. Or actually, it never was offline but the move to the data center of Salsgiver is completed. Their server is now better than ever, no more shared hosting but a dedicated Xeon machine. All sites are moved with almost no data loss. Depending of the provider it still might need some time for the DNS servers to update, but here at the Dutch internet provider XS4ALL everything is fine already.

March 4, 2006

More news from TNN

AcidRain is working very hard to prevent the blackout of his network. Here is the latest news:

TheNerdNetwork.net:
I apologize to anyone whose site I host. We were struck by a very serious blow by a very unprofessional webhosting provider who made very harsh decisions regarding our master account. You may have read we will be shutting down or blacking out. I am working my hands to the bone to prevent that from happening. I have been on the computer since 10 am this morning, I was supposed to get off at 6 pm, It is now 10:30, and I see no sign of my getting off this thing anytime soon, I anticipate being able to leave to go home about 3 am in the morning, possibly later. DNS propagation will take effect immediately after I get all of our hosted sites transferred to our new server located at the TNN datacenter. Special thanks goes to Loren Salsgiver from Salsgiver INC. In helping me at this dire time of need. Thanks to him, TheNerdNetwork will live to see another day. I have spent hours installing Linux, CPanel, and moving accounts. I apologize for any issues this causes, and I thank you for your support.

Update: With some help from the good people of Salsgiver Inc. TNN can make a restart. They got access to a blazing fast dual Xeon server in their datacenter. AcidRain prepares to update the DNS records of thenerdnetwork.net to point to the new location. But before that, he first needs to do some more work to the new server to make sure the transition works smoothly.

March 3, 2006

TheNerdNetwork in trouble in 20 hours - great consequences for the Unreal community

The Nerd Network, host of many Unreal sites and game servers is in big trouble. According to TNN owner AcidRain their account will be terminated in 20 hours. Because many Unreal community websites and many Unreal game servers are hosted here this is going to be a major blow for the community. For example, unrealdownloads.com, celticwarriors.net, Hyper.nl Unreal Services, newbiesplayground.com, and iamhellraiser.com are all hosted at TNN and the TNN game servers are managed and monitored via their CPanel. The trouble began when someone complained about illegal content (warez) at CelticWarriors.net and reported it to the provider of TNN. Now the provider is about to terminate the entire account of the TNN network.

AcidRain is doing his utmost to prevent the shutdown from happening, but I can recommend all TNN clients to make sure everything is backupped in case it goes down. It seems that TNN has problems to obtain backups their selves at this moment of chaos. In the case TNN cannot stay with their current provider, AcidRain will look for a new host. But this will take time and the outcome is uncertain.

Any downtime of TNN will directly affect this website as well because the primary mirror is hosted here. I however am prepared for downtime and have a complete website mirror available for more than a year. As you could have read at the news massage of February 26th (read below) I updated the mirror system completely. But when the primary TNN mirror was hosted on a fast 100 MBit network, the backup mirror is located at my home ADSL connection which also hosts my Unreal servers, so the speed is going to suffer. In order to keep the Unreal servers run without lag, the webserver is limited to 32 KByte/sec. This is more than sufficient for the webpages and images, but downloading of larger files will be slow. My Unreal game servers will not be affected because they are hosted at my home ADSL connection.

For now, let's pray for a good outcome, otherwise tomorrow might be a black day for the unreal community.


Update
: There appeared a bit of news at TNN main page:

TheNerdNetwork.net:
Within the next couple weeks, we plan on changing our website over to a new machine due to some uptime issues we have intermittently with the current servers. Also some files were deleted, and I want to take caution and fix any issues before they get out of control. I will post a message before I change sites over for propagation.

Update2: AcidRain is preparing a backup server

March 2, 2006

TheNerdNetwork launches official community master server

AcidRain, owner of The Nerd Network launched a master server for the Unreal community. The master server is based on the master server installer package from Hyper.nl which uses stable Nephthys technology by Zora and Winged Unicorn. This master server can be used as backup for the Gamespy master server in case it's temporarily down or in the unfortunate case that the Gamespy master would go down forever. AcidRain plans to keep up the master for years with a reliable connection. The master server address is:

master.thenerdnetwork.com

The master is located at that standard master server ports. (Same as the current Gamespy master) Admins who want to uplink to the master server can use my master server instruction. Be sure to use the right master server address: master.thenerdnetwork.com. it's also important to know that you NEED to have Nephthys 1.1 on your server to uplink. Players can also use the players' part of the master server instruction to learn how to query the new master, but as long as the Gamespy master is working, there is no high priority to do so.

Future versions of the Enhanced unreal server browser will also use the TNN master as secondary master.

For background info and support, check the TNN forums at http://www.thenerdnetwork.net/forums/index.php

March 1, 2006

Downloads restored

All downloads have been uploaded again. If you would encounter any problems, let me know.

March 1, 2006

Forum fixed, TNN download problems

For more than a month there has been a problem with the forum: It was impossible to register a new account. Because the rest of the forum worked without problems I did not notice it myself. But I received an error report two days ago, and now it has been fixed by BrakeDanceJ, who hosts this forum.

But at the same time a new problem arrived. All downloads from the primary mirror of this site at TheNerdNetwork have been deleted. I don't know why and I'm already uploading all files again. But there are many files to upload so until it has been completed you will get 404 (file not found) errors. Sorry for the inconvenience.

February 26, 2006

Website mirror updates

Hyper.nl Unreal Services has slowly but surely grown out of it's webspace again. Especially the AlterVista mirror of this site became so scattered over many different locations that site maintenance had become a difficult task. Therefore, I shut down the AlterVista mirror and transferred it to my own webserver, which is located at the same machine as the Unreal servers. The site is still a bit scattered, but at least I don't have to maintain two different download pages for the mirrors.

I updated my redirects, so anybody who clicks one of my domain names should be redirected to an available mirror automatically by the MirrorManager. However, when the old pages are still in your browser or proxy cache, you might get the wrong page for a short time. In that case, a forced refresh [F5] should help.

When you still have old bookmarks or links pointing towards the AlterVista mirror, you should update them to use the domain name instead.

The primary domain is: http://www.hyper.nl.tt

Other working domains are:
http://www.hypercoop.tk
http://www.hypernl.tk
http://www.hypercoop.nl.tt

February 26, 2006

Server restored

The maintenance has successfully been completed and the server is online again. I'll do some more work to the site later, but that will not affect the game anymore.

Meanwhile I discovered a new Unreal site with a few useful downloads like game backups and some useful skins for online play at some servers.

Take a look at it here: http://www.unrealfreak.com

February 24, 2006

Server downtime

The Unreal servers will be down soon for planned maintenance. What needs to be done?

  • An update to the Apache server to fix a security hole
  • An update to the intrusion prevention security
  • A few Windows security updates
  • A new bandwidth manager which should prevent lag and packet loss at the Unreal servers when the web server is used

I will not do any significant changes to the Unreal servers their selves since they are performing excellently with a better than ever stability.

February 22, 2006

Unreal S3TC Demo maps available

It has taken me years to get my hands on this: A truly unique collectors item for all Unreal technology enthusiasts. This is the set of levels that S3 bundled with it's Savage video cards to showcase their S3TC technology. The beauty and the detail of these textures is amazing. While these demo levels are from late 1998, the amount of detail is still unparalleled by any other game. Even Unreal Tournament 2004 with the highest texture detail settings is less detailed than these maps are.

I made a few screenshots which you can view here. Click the thumbnails to get a larger screenshot.

I want to thank Delacroix from the BeyondUnreal forums for sharing these maps via BitTorrent.

The maps can be downloaded from my files page. The file size is 163 MB.
There is also a bittorrent link and an EDonkey 2000 (Peer-to-peer protocol) URL.

Note: In order to play these levels you need to have the OldUnreal Multimedia Patch (OMP) with OpenGL rendering installed and have the option UseS3TC enabled.

February 22, 2006

UTeamFix 10c released

}TCP{Wolf released a new version of his universal deathmatch gametype UTeamFix. UTeamFix is the leading Unreal deathmatch game type and it also supports a number of deathmatch variants via it's GameBridges and built-in mutators. All UTeamFix users are advised to upgrade to the new version to avoid version conflicts while travelling between servers.

The change list for this release is quite big, so I don't post it here. If you want to read it, you can visit these links instead:

Introduction to UTeamFix
Release notes for this version
Available mutators
Entire online manual
}TCP{Wolf's projects page <== learn about other cool projects by }TCP{Wolf

UTeamFix has been added to the files page, or can be downloaded via this quicklink.

February 10, 2006

Dots new website

.:..: (Dots) opened a website for his Unreal projects. You can find info and download mods like Command & Skaarj, Invasion and JCoop5. The site has a low bandwidth capacity, so it might be offline from time to time.

Invasion is a port of the UT2004 gametype to Unreal. It includes the original UT2004 sounds and the radar.

Visit dots' site at http://www.geocities.com/mhulden.

February 9, 2006

OldUnreal's resurrection

OldUnreal has had a partial resurrection; Many pages are available again, including the forums. Even some smaller downloads are back. The other parts of the site will remain offline for this month.

You can see at the OldUnreal webserver stats page how the site was hammered with download request for a certain file.

February 9, 2006

PHX MonsterHunt tournament

The Phoenix (PHX) clan launched a small MonsterHunt Unreal coop tournament. The three best players can win a few small prizes in U$D. It's a run through the original Unreal coop where your goal is to complete the game with the highest score. The tournament will take place on Friday February 10 or Saturday February 18th.

&#208;&#174;&#227;k3_&#199;&#174;0w&#239;nd wrote:
That's right, I'm hosting a Competitive Coop Challenge for Unreal 1 Friday February 10 or Saturday February 18th. (Time of start depends on work schedule and player availability but I want to say at least 6PM EST.)

It's a run through the original Unreal coop where your goal is to complete the game with the highest score. Here's the details:

-Completing the map has a 25+ Score bonus for the person who makes it.
-Killing things adds onto your frags which will be counted toward your final score.
-You can slow the competition of other people from getting to the end by killing them, but by doing so you're under the mercy of a score penalty which will be taken from your frags.
-The difficulty we'll be playing on is "Unreal" and for a lot of vets that's not too difficult at all, but when it comes down to being competitive to reach that final goal, the difficulty of monsters that stand in your way, as well as players, could very well change the outcome.

You will NOT be getting summoned weapons, or any of that. This is pure survival, and competitive gameplay. The server will not be running any other mods other than our clan skins and MCoop 2.3 on Unreal version 225.

1st Place Prize: 20$ US and the Competitive Coop Championship

2nd Place Prize: 10$ US

3rd Place Price: 5$ US

Transferred through Paypal and no I wont use anything else. You don't need a bank account to register a Paypal account, nor do you need to be 18 years old.

More details can be found at the Phoenix Clan forum.

February 7, 2006

OldUnreal down: Out of bandwidth

OldUnreal, one of the leading Unreal websites is down because it ran out of bandwidth. Only one the main page is still there, all other content is temporarily offline. Smirftsch suspects someone to deliberately downloaded files to consume all bandwidth. Also the OldUnreal forums are down, which are one of the primary forums for the Unreal community.

OldUnreal main page:
Offline [07-02-2006]
Due some idiot(s) mass downloading an unreal video, even after I renamed it, I ran out of traffic for OldUnreal. Looks like sabotage. Will be down for this month, maybe longer until I can pay it again. I'm really sorry, but can't afford to put more money into here. This is the second time I have to take down the page since I created it, and it hurts me very much. But every MB costs me now additional money, which I don't have. Even the donations made so far wouldn't be enough to catch it otherwise. Truly it seems, that it doesn't matter how bad a situation is, it always can become worse.

Looks like it really was only one guy. Special Thanx dude, I already reported it to your Provider.

Smirftsch

http://www.oldunreal.com/

February 5, 2006

Downloads added

The download page ahs been updated with several handy tools, like a global player notifier from }TCP{Alice, an UScript reference builder and a music extractor. Head over to the download page for the whole list.

I also uploaded a new version of the HyperCoop cache package. Install this to have direct access to the HyperCoop server without downloading from the server. (Note: For the custom map server you'll also need to download the maps.

February 4, 2006

More S3TC Textures released

Today DieHard released several updated texture packages as part of the Unreal ReTexturing project. Some packages were released earlier, but in the new ones there are even more textures added. They are still not final, which means that there are still textures that need to be added.

As ever, Go to the project forum at OldUnreal to download them.

January 30, 2006

S3TC Texture release

Today DieHard released two new texture packages as part of the Unreal ReTexturing project. One of them SkyCity.utx is a monster update, more than 120(!) MB of textures have been added to this package. The other new texture is Langs.utx.

For both of the releases there is a thread at OldUnreal where you can download them. I also posted a few screenshots there. But if you want to see the full glory of this update, you need to download it yourself.

Thread for SkyCity.utx
Thread for Langs.utx

January 29, 2006

Wooper's map pack disabled on the custom map server

Today I experienced another occurrence of the disappearing inventory problem. Like before it happened at exactly the same map switch within the Wooper pack. Azure, who was also playing experienced the same. Because of this, the Wooper maps are disabled. When the Wooper maps appear to not be related to the problem later, I can easily put them back in the cycle.

I also uploaded a different GemDagger version that no longer needs a password. This should make it easier to use, especially for inexperienced players.

January 28, 2006

Working on disappearing inventory problem

I started work on the disappearing inventory problem which seems to occur at the coop servers. I'm also testing a *possible* change that would fix the need for logging in with passwords to get a gemdagger. Because of this, the servers might have a few restarts.

January 28, 2006

New Unreal coop and single player project

=Evolution= started work on a new project called Horror Series. The project's aim is to include 26 all new maps with several game types and mods included. There are already a few maps in beta phase. Check the site for screenshots.

Story (part one):
[Narrator]= You've been travelling on a space ship for 15 years. You haven't evacuated spaces because of a virus detected in the atmosphere I brought in from the red planet called West Syxor. Finally spaces made it back up to background level and the virus was removed safely. You evacuate eventually and find out there is no life on board. You move on into the control room for any information gathered between the accident.

[UASC Log]= '(UASC Log Activated : This is Lieutenant Varez speaking at the D-Deck on board of the SS-Volocia cargo hold. We've found a bit of a problem here... We've found a time leak and its getting larger and larger by the minute. We need back up, switch on the alarms and call for help. If this goes on any longer we might as well close are eyes and rot to death. -EndLog-)'

[Banjeen]= "It all makes sense now. Time had speed up at the range of 50 million years forward. That's why were crashed and everyone's dead. Luckily I was safely unharmed in spaces. I've decided to get off this ship and look for help. No matter the risk's ahead of me."

Visit the project's website.

January 23, 2006

The war against the 404's

All pages (except for the news archive) have been checked for dead links. (404's) There were tons of dead links at the download page, where I have links to mirrors of the patches. But also at the other pages were a few dead links. All dead links have been fixed so you can use this site again in the way it's meant to be.

January 22, 2006

Downloads converted to RAR format

All ZIP files at the files page have been converted to the RAR format. The RAR format has a better compression ratio than the ZIP files, allowing me to save some valuable hosting space. To decompress RAR files you will need a RAR capable archiver like WinRAR (shareware) or IZArc (freeware)

You might need to refresh the files page to force it to update the links.

Q: Why RAR when there are other formats like 7z which feature an even better compression ratio?
A: Those other formats are relatively new, and not many people can decompress them. RAR is a good compromise between the well-known zip format and the more unknown 7z.

January 21, 2006

OldUnreal has a new main page

Well, I can describe it here, but why not just see it for yourself?

January 16, 2006

TNN hosting problem fixed again

You might not even noticed it, I had a small problem with the hosting of the site. (FTP out of space) All has been fixed now and both mirrors are available again.

More info here.

January 14, 2006

Links page updated

Once again the links page has been updated. I removed a few dead sites like Unreal Downloads and updated a few others. As always, when you know an unreal site which has not been added to the links yet, feel free to drop me a mail or leave a message at the forum.

January 8, 2006

CC server security S3TC fix

Because I had not played at my Crystal Castles server for some time I had not noticed that it was kicking users with the new S3TC project textures installed. This incompatibility has now been fixed by allowing custom S3TC textures.

January 8, 2006

Unofficial Unreal FAQ added

I found an excellent Unreal FAQ written by Khajiit Rankin (Przemek Orlowski) it covers many subjects and includes a walkthrough of the game. Current version (2.05) has been released 1 Oct 2005.

Go to the FAQ

January 8, 2006

Unreal logo pack

I made a small package with a few new logo's to use as splash screens for the game. it also contains the OldUnreal logo's and the original logo's.

Head over to the forum to download and view them.

January 7, 2006

Unreal Upgrade project news

The ones who visit the forum probably read something about the Unreal Upgrade Project. This project aims to upgrade the Unreal weapons with new effects and possibilities for online play. Today Bozo released a first beta version of this project allowing others to try it out.

Read more in this forum thread. You'll also find the download link there.

January 7, 2006

Doom monster pack released

.:..: (Dots) converted all Doom and Doom 2 monsters to Unreal. Like in Doom, the monsters are based on 2D animated sprites, so it might look a bit odd, but still fun, especially in coop games.

Get it from the files page.

January 5, 2006

Server updates

Boodaflow gave me a mysterious new Aura update which finally has a fix for the 'freeze' weapons (projectiles) to no longer freeze trees and other decorations. This update allows me to add these guns to the server again without the fear that they are being used to lag.

I also removed the NaliSage because one of it's attacks (spells) caused lag. There is also a small chance that the sage has been involved in many server crashes which might be related to teleporting monsters.

Besides of the game server updates, a few other things have been updated like the web server and the firewall software.

January 2, 2006

Enhanced Unreal Server browser 1.16 released

My Enhanced Unreal Server browser (EUSB) has been updated to version 1.16. This release supports two more game types: CTF games and Serpentine Team game standoff.

EUSB is a new tab lay-out for the original Unreal server browser with support for many more game types than the original one. The original browser only supports Deathmatch, Coop, Team games and DarkMatch. EUSB supports 59(!) different game types, all tabbed into categories.

Download it from the lab page

January 2, 2006

EnhancedDM 4 available

It seems that a new version of Smartball's Enhanced Deathmatch game type is available. I found it at the main page of The Nerd Network (TNN) The files are dated 15 December 2005.

From the EDM4 readme:
...It was supposed to be done with EDM3...I left the Unreal scene and announced my retirement from coding. Out of boredom one day (and the fact that I have no life), I reviewed the EDM3 code and noticed some things that needed changing. I changed them and saved them as EDM4, but never mentioned nor released it since I figured everyone was tired of updates, and most people complained about EDM3 anyway. Soon enough, a necessity for EDM4 on the TNN servers came about, and so I helped out by releasing this....

---===Changes from EDM3===---

&#183;Absolutely NO new features - EDM4 is a simple bug fix for EDM3, mainly fixing that crash between level switches. All known crashes and errors from EDM3 have been resolved.

Download EnhancedDM4 from the files page.

January 2, 2006

JCoopZ server admins kick users with S3TC project textures installed

Now Zombie's JCoopZ game type is released, many admins switched to this new game type. One of the new features of JCoopZ is the 'package scan' which scans the client installation for any unknown packages (files). This is an important feature to prevent hacks from being used.

but I also found out that many admins turned the package scan to 'full scanning' mode, which also scans texture packages for unknown versions. With the release of new S3TC texture packages from the Unreal ReTexturing Project this gives problems. Many admins forgot to add the new texture signatures to the 'package exceptions' and are actually kicking any player with the new textures installed. I am one of these players.

To avoid this issue, I recommend all JCoopZ server admins to switch their package scanning to basic mode or add the signatures of newly released textures to the package exceptions.

I did a quick scan and the following servers are kicking me for using S3TC textures:

December 31, 2005

Happy New Year from Hyper.nl Unreal Services

I wish all Unrealers a prosperous and healthy 2006. Don't forget to play some Unreal from time to time. Also in 2006 you are most welcome at my servers.


Be careful with fireworks.

December 29, 2005

Maintenance takes longer as expected

Today I spent many hours at the servers again:

  • The 'Suicider1' also was involved in a crash so I removed it.
  • Some of the map packs at the custom map server did not behave well at the server and have been uninstalled:
    • Attacked caused client crashes
    • Strange world locked up in coop play and caused a version conflict on 'nbspecials' for some players
  • One of the links in the map chain was not working > fixed
  • Added the "Tower of Shrakith'a" map pack
  • Added the "ShamuQuest II" map pack" (Partially)
  • Added the "White Palace" map
  • Removed AmpMiniGun from the DropWhenKilled list because it's a default item already
  • Added Aura items IceStriker, SuperNova and TeleKinesis
  • Added Aura monsters DemonFog and Phoenix

December 28, 2005

Maintenance at the coop servers

Both coop servers are down for maintenance. There seems to be an issue with the 'suicider' monster from the Aura pack which caused some crashes the last days. I'll also use the downtime to review the settings and do some small fixes, including an unification of the configuration of both HyperCoop servers.

December 27, 2005

New maps at the HyperCoop Custom Map server

The new maps have been uploaded to the custom map server. The new map packs are:

  • Attacked
  • Hexephet
  • Illhaven Saga
  • Klingon's pack
  • NaPali Odyssey Episode 1: Sky Escape
  • Strange World

The new maps can be downloaded from the files page. I also updated the HyperCoop cache package with the mod files used. (Note: My cache packages only contain mod files, for the custom maps get the map downloads.)

December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas


Merry Christmas from Planet NaPali!

The HyperCoop custom map server is being updated with a few new map packs. I'm still testing some of the maps, so the packs are not available for download yet. For now the maps can only be downloaded from the server directly, or when you know them you can dl them from OldUnreal. When I finished the testing the maps will be added as soon as possible. for now, enjoy the new maps and don't forget to enjoy your holidays!

By the way: The new S3TC textures (see message below) are allowed at the servers now.

December 21, 2005

New S3TC textures give compatibility problem at Unreal server

The HyperCoop servers are not compatible yet with the new texture pack. I will fix this problem this weekend.

December 20, 2005

Unreal ReTexturing project: New texture release

Diehard released his promised Christmas update for the Unreal ReTexturing project. This is quite a big release so be sure to check it out.

Diehard wrote in the OldUnreal forums:
As promised, some updates before Christmas.

I updated all the S3TC files on the website, meaning all single files but also the master files. The master files do contain all S3TC textures that are present at this moment.
So for your own convenience, just download the 2 master files

Unreal_S3TC_Textures_01_V_01_01_2006.zip

Unreal_S3TC_Textures_02_V_01_01_2006.zip

Most updates are in the Mine package, but there's also a bunch of updates in other packages, I had planned to add more updates but the xmas map did take longer than expected. But still there's some cool updates in there

For remarks, post in the High-Res Textures for Unreal forum. (<At OldUnreal, editor.)

For comments, please visit the OldUnreal S3TC project forum.

December 20, 2005

Power loss caused downtime

Someone decided it was a good idea to cut off the power. The server did not agree. Anyways, the server is restarting and should be online in a few mins.

December 17, 2005

HyperCoop 4th generation now enters mainstream phase

With the official release of JCoopZ (See below) the long testing stage of the 4th generation (4G,G4) HyperCoop servers has ended. The main targets for the 4G HyperCoop servers are to be stable, secure and can run without the need of supervisors, admins or guard players. The gameplay has also be re-balanced. There are more monsters and the chance of getting goodies is a bit smaller. This because in the previous generation the game had become too easy. To avoid the problem that new players are being scared away by the monsters, their default health and inventory has been strengthened. The Server Info extension also helps new players by giving useful information during the game. This allows new players to learn while they are exploring the world.

The move to a more stable and secure server also comes with a few drawbacks: features like monster players and some of the Aura items are no longer there.

What is the history of HyperCoop?

  • Pre-HyperCoop: Hyper.nl Unreal Gold, My first Unreal server. An Unreal Gold server where every player had the rights to summon. It was fun while it lasts, but the mass summoning made the server an easy target for (Klingon) lamers who crashed it.
  • HyperCoop G1: The first dedicated server, first with Unreal Gold, later with Unreal 225f. Both servers were running JCoop4 and parts of the Aura mod. Also, the first mutators were included.
  • HyperCoop G2: HyperCoop made the switch to Winged Unicorn's MCoop and later AKMCoop gametypes. It also ran several mutators to manage custom mods.
  • HyperCoop G3: HyperCoop running under the MCoop2 game type and even more custom mod mutators. (DZMapM) The GemDagger adds a new dimension to the coop game, allowing players to build their score and use it to buy special goodies.
  • HyperCoop G4: The current state of the HyperCoop server running the JCoopZ gametype. Focussing on stability, security and manageability.

December 16, 2005

JCoopZ released

After 9 months of testing, Zombie released his new Unreal Coop gametype JCoopZ. JCoopZ builds forth on Joss' JCoop4 and comes with many improvements not seen in ANY coop gametype before.


JCoopZ readme:
JCoopZ is an Unreal 1 coop game mod to sequel JCoop4 and the JCoop5 releases from Joss Liu and Maniac. This mod consists of nearly 3 years of research, bug fixes, server security enhancements, and new features for unreal initially developed for the private DZCoop game mod. It also builds on some of the goals Joss had set out for JCoop5 but were never finished. It provides a new level of server stability, and security unseen in JCoop4/5 or any coop gametype mod to date. Much of the base source code to JCoop was re-written so JCoopZ is not only a sequel, but it could almost be considered a totally new coop game mod except for containing original JCoop commands and feature options.


JCoopZ features:
  • MANY fixed security holes both in JCoop AND what was normally flawed in Unreal. As many as what is currently known by me, and from my own debugging/exploit experiments.
  • MANY fixed crash bugs (both client and server) and a 99% fix on unreal AI server hangs.
  • Quite a number of new admin commands, as well as a few normal player commands. Use 'help' in-game to view a list and their short descriptions.
  • A new enhanced client replacement console with coloured messaging. Plus it the fixes garbage ghost bug and saves chat text from each level. Console can also work as a default console.
  • A number of new gameplay and player control configuration options, some should be self explanatory. Options to reduce player cheating or malicious actions.
  • A client checker package scan capability to detect unknown client packages or possible cheats.
  • New admin password handling. Admins can reduce the risk of leaked passwords or hijacked servers now.
  • Improved JCoop's CustomMapTimer, and GiveItem features to provide new capability.
  • Includes a strong player ban/logger, and is better than only using Nephthys by itself with the powerful logging and banning capability of it.
  • Built in relogin protection (legacy with Nephthys in place).
  • Internal mutator support (hook mutators) so that mutators no longer need to be added to startup command line options.
  • Travel Scores ability. Server can keep total scores of unique players as long as the server doesn't shutdown or crash.
  • Scoreboard has subtle enhancements to the score fields and adds local time keeping.
  • Many more changes, some subtle and others bigger.


I have been testing this gametype at my coop servers since early August, and I can say that it's truly an unique piece of software. For me JCoopZ fixed 100% of the server freezes and around 80% of the server crashes. A really superb result. Especially when you consider the amount of monsters and action that is taking place at the HyperCoop servers every day.
JCoopZ's player control, anti-lamer and anti-cheating features allow admins to run their servers without the need of permanent supervision by admins. It's a big step towards the set-it-and-forget-it server. (where the server manages it's own gameplay)

I hereby want to express my thanks to Zombie for the many hours he spent in analysing my server logs and fixing those deep-lying bugs in the original Unreal code. Your gametype gives me the freedom to run highly customized coop servers without paying the bills with crashes and freezes every day.

I can recommend JCoopZ to any coop server admin, especially when faced with problems like lamers, crashes and freezes. It will not fix everything, but this gametype goes far beyond what any version of JCoop, MCoop or Cooopg offers. However, when you make the switch from MCoop(2) to JCoopZ you will lose the support for monster players.

JCoopZ can be downloaded from the files page. Discuss about this game type in the forums.

December 07, 2005

MML X-Mas II released

The Moo Moo Land server crew released a second version of their MML X-Mas mod.

MML II features:
*25 New Pawns/Monsters
*10 New Weapons
*3 New Items
*5 New Ammo Pickups
*Snow Generators [Make it snow in over 40+ DM and Coop maps!]
*4 Different Mutators to set your server the way you want it
*New Decorations
*New Sounds
*11 Favourite X-mas time music tracks
*13 Themed Maps, 3 of them new maps

Go to CooperativeWhores to download and read this thread at UnrealSP.org for more info.

December 04, 2005

}TCP{Wolf's new website

}TCP{Wolf created a new website for his projects. it gives an overview of the Unreal projects he worked on during the last years.

Visit }TCP{Wolf's projects page. I also added it to the HyperLinks page.

December 04, 2005

New Unreal music remixes

I found two more Unreal remixes:

  • On the Run (Dig Action remix) by Elisha
  • Above and Beyond (Hub2 - Harobed Village remix) by Elisha

Both remixes are of high quality and highly recommended. Download them from the files page.

December 03, 2005

Large Unreal demo's online again

Unreal Shareware (Creative bundled Special Edition demo) and the Unreal 97/98 beta demo are available for download again.

I also fixed a few dead external download links at the AlterVista mirror (secondary) of this website.

December 03, 2005

HyperCoop updates

Both HyperCoop servers have been updated with Zombie's latest JCoopZ beta. This and the previous update include various bug fixes and an advanced stability update for buggy Unreal code. This is another important step to improve the stability of the (Hyper)Coop servers. With the new beta release, JCoopZ slowly but surely comes closer to a final state. There is no release date yet however.

I also did a small tweak to the DropWhenKilled setting: The chance of getting an item after killing a monster has been increased a bit to make the game easier/less hard for players who just joined.

December 03, 2005

Custom S3TC texture packages released

DieHard released a few new, non-standard S3TC texture packages which are used by some custom maps. Download them from the OldUnreal S3TC forum. Be sure to read the warnings, because they are only intended for client-side use. (Mappers and server admins should stay away from S3TC to avoid compatibility problems.

November 29, 2005

Legend of Vandora forum has been hacked

The LoV forum is currently unusable because a lamer decided to hack it. The hacker probably exploited a bug in the forum software phpBB but we have to see what Winged can say about this.

November 27, 2005

New cache packages

All cache packages have been updated with the latest mods running at the servers. A cache pack contains all files which are needed to play at the server in question, except for the maps packs of the new HyperCoop custom map server. The map packs are available separately.

Go to the files page to download the new packs.

November 27, 2005

New HyperCoop server

There is a new HyperCoop server online. It's the same as the 4th generation HyperCoop server, but then with many custom maps:

All map packs are in rar format. You need a rar compatible archiver like WinRAR (shareware) or IZArc (freeware) to extract the files.

It has been a long time whish to host a big custom map server, but my limited connection speed always prevented it from realizing. But over the years, the connection has received many upgrades, so my upload speed allows much more than it did in the beginning. (From 128 KBit/sec to 768 KBit/sec) But even with this faster connection, there still can be some lag when many players are downloading.

*** Please note that this server is still in beta stage. It runs a beta version of JCoopZ and the maps also need some testing to see of they are stable enough to stay. ***

November 25, 2005

Power problems

The server has had a few restarts today because of power problems. Apparently, a bit of storm and some heavy showers are too much for the Delta network. Maybe I need to buy a UPS.

November 25, 2005

Celled 3 pack released

Exiled released a new Celled pack with new items and monsters. It also has a mutator to automatically replace original Unreal items with Celled items.

New items and monsters:
[INVENTORY BELT]
Celd3.Celd3Inv - This is the inventory belt that you can summon. When used, it spawns all the weapons and items in Celd3.

[MONSTERS]
Celd3.Cold (Brute)
Celd3.Pixie (Fly)
Celd3.Rogue (Krall)
Celd3.Error (Pupae)
Celd3.BloodQueen (Queen)
Celd3.SixTrooper (SkaarjTrooper)
Celd3.Aizer (SkaarjTrooper)
Celd3.Roamer (SkaarjWarrior)
Celd3.Ghost (Tentacle)
Celd3.Ragebeast (Titan)
Celd3.Slave2 (WarLord)

[LIGHTS]
Celd3.WhiteLight
Celd3.BlueLight
Celd3.RedLight
Celd3.GreenLight
Celd3.YellowLight
Celd3.OrangeLight
Celd3.PurpleLight1

Get it from the files page.

November 19, 2005

Scheduled downtime

The server is currently down for an upgrade and reinstall. I'm not sure how long it will take exactly, but expect something between a few days and a week.

What is down?

  • The Unreal servers
  • The master server
  • The web server (only used for the PHP server status)

The website will stay online.

Update: Server is online again, but a few restarts can still be expected.

November 11, 2005

Command & Skaarj development continues

Dots has continued development to his Command & Skaarj (C&S) gametype. C&S is an Unreal implementation of the Command & Conquer: Red Alert game. The gametype is still in beta stage, but you can play it from time to time at Dots public coop server.

Current features include:

  • Build a base with different buildings
  • Make money
  • Build defensive structures, including a real Tesla Coil.
  • Train an army of Unreal units, including human soldiers and monsters
  • Sidebar
  • Artificial Intelligence (computer) players
  • Original Red Alert sound effects
  • Client crash base recovery

Screenshot

November 10, 2005

Coop servers updated

The coop servers have been updated with a new beta release of Zombies JCoopZ. The most important new features are improved stability and a cuss filter.

Zombie wrote:
Newest implemented fixes and changes (11/10/05):

-Fixed crash problem with the virus (and possibly vortexeffect) in the aura packs.
-Fixed a taunt control bug that could allow custom console users to freely play non-standard animations.
-Fixed rare instances where the scoreboard spat out accessed none scriptwarnings.
-Fixed JCoopZ1.int file to display JCoopZ1 in the in-game unreal menus.
-Added 'bAntiProfanity' message filter feature.
-Added banword admin commands to compliment the filter.
-Added mapvote and voteEnd commands for possible future support (won't be listed in 'help').
-Improved clientside UScript to