OldUnreal (Engine)

Thanks to Michael for notifying me this...
Steam does now support Unreal/Unreal 2/UT/UT2004/UT3, which could mean that Unreal could get some more players. You can now buy Unreal Gold through Steam for $8,95:
[url]http://storefront.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=13250&s=0,1,11,482&i=0,205,211,215,220,240,320,904,916,2147483646&cc=US&client=1#[/url]

Noiiice

the real question is what are these "enhancements" they speak of for unreal gold?

Someone on steam forums mentioned the 227 patch worked on this install, so it's not anthology.

thinking about buying it jsut to see what they did.

Woah, now that's much. Anthology costs $15, and UT2004 costs $10, UTGOTY costs $4 so UGold should cost $1. And they put up $9 for everything except UT2004 and UT3. Way too much!

saw this earlier on epic games forum... and yes they 'should' lower the price , because i guess some will see it when the login and want to try it again after several years , without paying much.

lower price = more players

the real question is what are these "enhancements" they speak of for unreal gold?

Someone on steam forums mentioned the 227 patch worked on this install, so it's not anthology.

thinking about buying it jsut to see what they did.

It would not surprise me that these 'enhancements' are the new OpenGL/Direct3D/OpenAL/FMod drivers from OldUnreal. But then Smirftsch would now about it. (probably)

Indeed nice, however the purchase link seems to be broken.  :-?

You need to have steam loaded for that to work, no steam = no buy :p

I tried buying it just to see if you could see multiplayer on it...

I have steam for source and cs 1.6... but whenever I tried buying it, it just said could not connect to steam servers....

And if I buy it, and cant see multiplayer, I will def. want my money back, but they probably wont refund it... so I am concerned..

But on the forums I saw like 20 posts of users that bought Unreal Gold...

pfft....

I bought it thru steam finally...

UnrealI version mismatch...

Disturbing... yes I know they can fix the problem... but still... im going to contact steam and complain!

I hate Steam, not because I think it's a bad idea, but because it's way too intrusive. Also when I buy a game, I want the PACKAGE, not just download it. I return all games that require a STEAM account to activate (otherwise I would have kept Half Life 2). Requiring you to be ONLINE just to play OFFLINE is not a good selling argument .... or what happens when the activation servers fail or are removed one day and you reinstall the game? You can't play it anymore...? Brilliant...

Yup. I agree with you Mr. Wolf, 1000 precent. I hate it too.

I hate Steam, not because I think it's a bad idea, but because it's way too intrusive. Also when I buy a game, I want the PACKAGE, not just download it. I return all games that require a STEAM account to activate (otherwise I would have kept Half Life 2). Requiring you to be ONLINE just to play OFFLINE is not a good selling argument .... or what happens when the activation servers fail or are removed one day and you reinstall the game? You can't play it anymore...? Brilliant...

There is an offline mode where you can play all games without an internet connection, obviously you cant use online portion of the game, and the non-hl games usually are packaged in full, with an exe that doesnt require you to have steam loaded

There was discussion like the one wolf mentioned...

Steam is OK because if you lose your disk for Unreal, or any game... your SOL... But with Steam, you just login and download again...

But what if you lose your username and password, or the email that you registered with? Your in the same boat...

Steam is simply a content delivery service... It really helps people who want to grab a game instead of going out to a store to buy the game, which requires too much social interaction... or... they bring hard to get games to the surface...

But still, no one even took a PEAK at the Unreal 1 multiplayer...

So tell me why they did this?

They released a new version of the game, and said F U to the rest of the community that already owned the game... they should have an OFFICIAL patch to bring everyone up to par, so everyone can play together... it is borderline wrong to break compatibility for people who OWNED the game first, and who really are the Unreal 1 multiplayer community, to create this new messed up version of the game that doesnt allow new players, and old players to interact, unless the old players purchase a new copy of the game...

Epic is totally wrong with this release, and I am infuriated.

Epic is totally wrong with this release, and I am infuriated.

It's Midway's fault IIRC.

Yea, don't think Epic's behind that. Maybe it's even Steam themselves...
And what a strange system... Not 56k friendly, you know... Couldn't do anything with internet like this.

I found this quite funny thread @ Epic forums:
[url]http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=606428[/url]
6 days before it was put on Steam it were only rumors.

Well there's a major issue here.
Steam doesn't allow users to patch online games by themselves.
If you do, the cheat detector will prevent you from logging in.
It basically means that since 227 isn't official, people who buy Unreal through Steam won't be able to play online.

you can most likely just export the install folder somewhere else and completely bypass steam anyway

The regular Steam user doesn't know that. Or at least shouldn't. Otherwise Steam wouldn't be happy about that.

Actually no, you can't.
Apps won't run if they're not monitored by Steam.
Games are updated and patched every time you run Steam.
If you move the folder and start a game, if will ask you for the path to Steam and run it before starting. It's a way to make sure you actually bought the game. Of course there are ways around this but they qualify as actual cracking.
Opposite to what most people think though, you can play games offline. They just need to be verified once afer install.

I actually have it thru steam...

Maybe I can try patching it and test it out?

What patch should I install?

Food for thought, steam isnt directly tied in with Unreal Gold. It starts the same as normal, but we will see.

Try the 227B patch and see if the game still works.

All in all Steam and Unreal just do not quite match. I have steam with all of the older Half-Life games but, to my dissapointment, my account has been hijacked. I can no longer register my CD-KEY, etc... and thats another threat to the unreal community. ~~All in All~~ You get h4x3d, you get screwed.

Opposite to what most people think though, you can play games offline. They just need to be verified once afer install.

That is not really true.  I have studied Steam's DRM system in depth, and it uses a cryptographic hash based upon the PC's hardware to activate/authenticate a PC for offline play.  That is how Valve prevents users from using an activated/authenticated Steam installation on another PC without activating/authenticating.  This activation/authentication is only needed once IF the following conditions are met:

1.  The PC's hardware never changes.

2.  The base hash stored in the Windows registry never changes.

3,  The Steam user account under which the game was activated/authenticated never changes.

4.  The user chooses to locally store his Steam login credentials (by checking the dialog box option) and NEVER unchecks it regardless of whether he is already offline.

5. The PC is NEVER again connected to the Internet and contacts the Steam servers.

So, in summary the notion that this activation/authentication only occurs once is in itself a myth.  Offline play via Steam is unreliable and a joke.  If you upgrade or replace your PC, if you connect it to the Internet, if you use more than one Steam account, or if you ever accidently uncheck a dialog box option, you will have to authenticate with Steam to play even in offline mode.

Steam is a game subscription service not a service to purchase games for permanent play.  The fee paid for a game merely entitles a user to play it only so long as Valve says so.  Read the Steam Subscriber Agreement and Valve's other policies regarding Steam especially its "zero tolerance" terms of use if you don't believe that.