Unreal Image and Video Collection (Magazines, Beta & Pre-release shots, UT Beta, Box covers and much more!)

[Gamesharder]

Found a short Unreal footage from the 1997 ECTS event.

'SkyDM' gameplay at 1:44

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... r/ECTS.AVI

[Leo T_C_K]

nice find, didn't think there was a footage surviving from that. This is one of the few things that were publicaly previewed that we do have (the ectsmaps) for build 0.874d, though they probably had a slightly different version of 0.874 on the event and not the codedropped ver.

what was in the original zip was arizax, skydm8 and tundrax plus the map break. The converted 0.871 maps were not part of the distributions that was something by me personaly that delacroix included in the repacks.

[Gamesharder]

Little update:

I uploaded the original master art files & promotional screenshots of Unreal Tournament 2004 because I thought they are a bit rare and cool to see.



Source:
https://archive.org/details/UT2004fansitekit

[Leo T_C_K]

Michael Bay would be pleased with the explosions on those ut2004 posters...anyways

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... CTSbig.avi

[Leo T_C_K]

I had to hurry so I didn't get to finish the post, either way that shows different things at the 2000 Unreal Engine demo, different angles. If it was posted already then I apologize. I wish someone had a backup of those maps and stuff.

also while viewing the readmes
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... anctum.txt

I noticed that there was a level called DmAware in RtNP, which means that is probably the original name of DmDespair.

[Leo T_C_K]

Is it me or is this one even having clearer quality than the one uploaded to youtube a while back?

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... rs/UNR.MOV

its unfortunately not the full one like unreal.rm showed but still

[Gamesharder]

Is it me or is this one even having clearer quality than the one uploaded to youtube a while back?

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... rs/UNR.MOV

its unfortunately not the full one like unreal.rm showed but still

This is already known, it was actually extracted from this TGM CD.

[Gamesharder]

Kinda sad this footage was cut and has this ugly ahh green filter on it lmao
Though there's another (even shorter) version on DiscMaster, so not only one magazine got it.
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... Unreal.mov

[Leo T_C_K]

Is it me or is this one even having clearer quality than the one uploaded to youtube a while back?

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2 ... rs/UNR.MOV

its unfortunately not the full one like unreal.rm showed but still

This is already known, it was actually extracted from this TGM CD.

Well if thats the one on youtube then he applied further filters to it like its all wobbly like fisheye or something, this is the original quality at least.

[Gamesharder]

Well if thats the one on youtube then he applied further filters to it like its all wobbly like fisheye or something, this is the original quality at least.

That's YouTube's fault. It can automatically put this like zoom adjustment or what it's called on videos.

[TigerTheGreat]

I finally scored the Polish edition of PC Games CD 4/99 magazine with the UT beta article from which I've learned of the beta's existence to begin with. When it arrives, I'll do a scan + translation.

[Gamesharder]

Here's the scanned images provided by TigerTheGreat. Thanks again!
It has some exclusive screenshots to this issue.




Here's the text translated to English:

► Show Spoiler

P01:

Finally we have decent multiplayer in Unreal! Competition for Quake 3 maybe?

P02:

Signatures under screenshots:

Top right:

Our teammate is attempting to deal with an opponent. Even though she is decently armed, she may need help. After all, women deserve a helping hand.

Bottom left:

Oops, too close! Gotta run coz this lady is from another team and she seems to be a really good shot. I think she doesn't see me yet though. I'm lucky.

Bottom right:

Oi, pal! Don't get in my sights! His outfit is the latest model of a bulletproof vest. Very fashionable.

P03:

Signatures under screenshots:

Top left:

Here's our most prized possession - the red flag. We need to guard it like our own eye because the enemy is just waiting for a chance to snag the pretty piece of cloth. Naturally, we have the same goal.

Bottom left:

Hello, my friend. Is something the matter? Wha'chu lookin' at, never seen another man before? Ya think that just coz you have a bigger gun than I do, you can do as you like?

Bottom right:

Green flamethrower in technicolor. In my hand, a Pulse Rifle. If I pull the trigger now, there'll be nothing left of him to pick up.

P04:

Signatures under screenshots:

Top right:

The battlefield, seen from afar. Fascinating corridors, trapdoors, surrounded by chasm. Incredible. Now, where are this hut's inhabitants?

Middle right:

My faithful rifle has gotten me out of many difficult situations. Perhaps someone will come out of this green goo?

Bottom left:

I see green... Frag Cannon ready to use. Now, where's an opponent?

Bottom right:

We just captured a control point. Now, if that sucker thinks he'll take it from us, he's sorely mistaken. That's the emotions of Domination - a fight to the death for a couple holograms.

P05:

Signatures under screenshots:

Top:

That little lost man down there is about to face an Eightball missile. Should I score a hit, little will be left of him, but on a large area.

Bottom:

Beautiful locations are one of Unreal Tournament's strong suits. Some look like taken straight out of regular Unreal.

P06:

Signatures under screenshots:

Top:

If you have a good GPU and lots of RAM, your wonderful PC machine will generate such sights. Lights reflected on floors and walls, halos around bulbs - what a sight to see.

Bottom:

Hmm, everyone's gone. Shame, because it looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. Surely they'll come back soon - they're not going to leave me alone on this server, are they?

P05/P06:

What should we offer guests?

In Unreal Tournament there's several new weapons alongside others known from the regular Unreal. They were designed anew though. The aesthetics of the shots was also improved - the sounds, the projectiles' travel, the explosions. Enemies die beautifully too, either spinning around their own axis, falling down face first, or messing up an entire hallway with their corpses. Everything looks quite pretty and it's a shame that ammo just ran out... But, on topic! Here are the weapons that we can use against enemies:

HANDGUN
Standard single-handed weapon. After finding another, you can fight "John Woo style", firing both at once. Sub-par firepower, usually give these a rest.

PULSE GUN
A pulse rifle. An energy weapon with a high fire rate, firing green orbs. Not very dangerous in an open area, but lethal in cramped hallways.

ASMD
Fires blue bolts, very good weapon for long-range combat. Very good aim, very effective.

EIGHTBALL
Eight-barrelled grenade launcher. Not as effective as the Quake equivalent, but it can do some serious harm. Decent range, particularly useful on large, open spaces.

GES BIORIFLE
A very interesting weapon. It's a cannon firing green, toxic, corrosive substance. Very difficult to use because of short range, however it compensates with huge firepower. Green goo can latch onto the victim, causing damage over time.

FLAK CANNON
In layman's terms, a kind of a shotgun firing pellet, nails, shards of metal, etc. An excellent short range weapon due to large scatter.

MINIGUN
A machine gun, nothing more, nothing less. A very, very high fire rate weapon, surprisingly effective on long range.

RIFLE
Well, a rifle. It looks a bit like a helicopter-mounted machine gun, but what can you do. Huge damage but you need to reload after every shot which takes time.

RAZOR JACK
A launcher? A cannon? A weapon (an universal word) firing spinning discs. Discs ricochet off walls and overall wreak decent havoc. Surprisingly, the launcher isn't very dangerous for the user, a shame really.

SNIPER RIFLE
A sniper rifle located on some maps. Featuring a mounted scope, it's a perfect weapon for every "camper". All you need is enough of a high ground and no-one can stand up to you. They'll be dead long before reaching you.


MAIN TEXT:

At the end of the 22nd century, humanity is well on its way to colonize the universe. Megacorporations develop mining operations for minerals on far-off planets and moons. Under alien suns, people dig in rock in order to build their race's empire. Intergalactic vessels sporting subspace hyperdrives are as common as today's SUV cars and brazilian telenovelas of the 20th century are now mandatory classical works of culture for grade-school-aged children...

In these times, deep space miners started going on strike. No thirteen-payouts, simvision programming is more of the same and hazard pay bonuses aren't paid out at all. Shouts for money and better insurance become more and more common. Authorities have little say because all knowledge of this has been received and kept under wraps by one of the corporations - Liandri Mining Corp. Due to errors in message decoding, its board members have been under a misconception that people need a really good show. So, their idea was (well, not theirs alone but with the help of multiple consultants) to set up a proper competition. No rules, full of brutality, guaranteed high viewing ratings. Perhaps if the show's good enough, people will forget money? And so it happened. A new simvision production called Deathmatch has attracted the attention of the entire inhabited space. Profits from licensing the show has far surpassed mining profits. Several decades later, you, raised on Deathmatch, signed up for the tryout eliminations. And you won! You were surprised greatly, after all dreams of a lifetime don't come true every day. After several dozens of fights you were promoted to the first league where only most violent and ruthless competitors can get into. Today, you're the famed champion of Deathmatch. A new series of matches is about to begin. Are you ready to prove yourself? Then, Let the fight begin! Uhh... wrong movie.

WHAT IS THIS?

Unreal Tournament is still the same great game we've been playing entire nights for a few months now. Excellent soundtrack, monumental locations, excellent graphics, tantalizing lighting effects - simply Unreal. The game that set new standards in the FPP genre has permanently inserted itself into every listing of the finest productions for the PC, even despite the terrifying system requirements. UT is no nasty sequel though. It's just a huge composite of several game modes, variations of one topic - multiplayer Unreal. As you know, when the game released, it was almost perfect. Almost - the ability to play against living opponents was scandalously underdeveloped. Everything lagged, servers crashed and burned. Evidently, Unreal requires huge server bandwidth. Apparently, setting it up was beyond financial capabilities of most. Now, we have multiple servers to choose from, and the goal is to have dedicated servers available for every continent. But, one thing at a time.

UNREAL WINDOWS?
The first thing that attracts attention is new interface. Yes, that's right, please stop rubbing your eyes - it's based on Windows. Ergo, we have a toolbar on the top of the screen, and from it we can access proper options. I believe it's clear and logically set up, certainly it will make things easier for players who don't enjoy sitting while glaring at the title screen, trying to figure out what to click in order to start playing. Too bad the interface color can't be changed - these slightly creepy golden-blue menus quickly become grating. They make it up with the amount of options - essentially we can configure the game the way we see fit. Primarily, what seems logical, multiplayer options were expanded upon. We can join a server, or set up one for ourselves. We can also set up our player character with no effort. Now, I'll digress a little bit. In Quake, an unsurpassable barrier for beginners was the console which we could use to enter commands in order to set up all the options and parameters at will. Naturally, for hardcore players Unreal has a console as well. However, it is indeed a hardcore way to optimize a game, but when there's a will, there's a way. I think though, that consoles and text modes are slowly going out of fashion in FPP games, a relic of the past and of old computers. Now, after that digression, back to the options (we welcome the returnees with flowers, bread and salt): in Preferences we can set up our control device, which hand to hold the weapon in, crosshair, gore level (reduced gore) and graphic settings. Of course, for weaker machines (below P200 MMX and below 64 MB RAM) our settings of choice should be modest. The game won't be much uglier and at least the gameplay will be fluent. Other options are: key bindings, weapon priorities (you define which weapon is next after your current one is out of ammo).

TIME TO FINALLY PLAY

Although UT is meant for online multiplayer, you can play alone. The basics of this is playing against bots, opponents which are controlled by the program. It's an awesome training, especially if your phone bill reached critical values (credits low). There are as many as six game modes available. Standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, One Man Standing and Assault. I'll explain now what those names mean.

DEATHMATCH

It's the best way to relieve every day stress. A large location, several characters, lots of guns - and you've got a good recipe for a decent deathmatch. The rules are simple: you run around and kill anyone you stumble upon. If you don't stumble upon any, you need to look for 'em yourself. Every kill means a point (called a frag). A ranking list showing amount of frags everyone scored is available at all times. A situation when stupid bots have a higher score than you is very motivating.

TEAM DEATHMATCH

A variant of Deathmatch that introduces team play. Two or more (max 4) teams attempt to beat one another. You can tell your friends apart by outfits or nicknames. Targets are identified when you aim at them. It's easy to make a mistake when you're running around labyrinthine hallways all tense. Suddenly you encounter some dude and you fire an entire series of shots at 'im and he shouts "Same team!" Damn him, he could wear a different outfit, no?

CTF

One of the most well known military exercises, known also from the real world. Many military formations utilize CTF during training. The rules are as follows: two teams have flags in their bases, in the relevant color. Who infiltrates enemy base, takes their flag and carries it to their home base, gains a point for their team. It's not easy because the opposing team is guarding their base at all times and at the same time they attempt to infiltrate ours. You can imagine what's going on at midpoint. This game mode requires superior team cooperation. One person with heavy gear guards the base, the others attempt to steal the flag from the enemy. Sick fun, especially if someone proudly announces "I've got the flag" and promptly gets a bullet to the head. Now, why was he boasting, the idiot.

ASSAULT

This mode offers different objectives to the two teams. One team defends a territory, the other attacks. E.g. team A defends a racing train, team B is attempting to stop it. I don't think I need to tell you what happens when someone falls under the train's wheels? In this mode you can order your teammates around, as long as you play with bots: hold this position cover me, etc. The gameplay is amazing and the scenarios are fitting. In Assault you have no time to sit and think - you need to work fast. Naturally, attackers will use different tactics than defenders. They will attempt to reach their objectives with no care for personal losses. Meanwhile, the defenders need to cover all strategic positions and get to know the map accurately. They have little time to do so because the attackers waste no time in breaching these defenses.

DOMINATION

It's a mode similar in its principles to CTF. There are several points on the map that are of strategic value and you need to capture those. They are marked with icons. All you need to do is pass through the icon for it to change to the one relevant to our team. Those who take over all control points, score and the game continues. Superior knowledge of the entire map and ruthlessness is required. You need to figure out the tactics by yourselves because each map requires an individual approach, but there's one golden rule - you can't give the opponents any leeway - it just might turn out that they scored the final control point. And all you're left with is regret and despair.

LAST MAN STANDING

Very similar to deathmatch. No teams, total carnage. Usually played until a specific frag limit.

PERHAPS WITH FRIENDS FOR A CHANGE?

UT has excellent online capabilities. You can choose from three options: modem, ISDN or LAN (via cable). You can also include bots into those matches, depending on your computers' power. I advise against including more than 10 players per map, because it will lag terribly. All of the mentioned game modes and maps are available here as well. And there's a lot of them, what needs to be very clearly stated: close to 100. The one I liked most was the one Młynek recommended to me, the Galleon map - a match on board of an ancient ship is very impressive. In the cargo hold, with water reaching your ankles, you can see the water moving. Incredible! And in the captain's cabin, a massive globe. Awesome. Going back to online play - UT has a built-in server browser. When a server is detected, you get to see the ping, amount of players and the game in progress. So, everything an online player needs. Currently there's just a couple servers but their numbers rise regularly. The developers are mentioning world Unreal championships, with eliminations on individual continents. Just imagine! Champion of Europe vs Champion of Australia. It's clear they intend to decrease the range of Quake's success. With Unreal Tournament, it may be possible.

BOTS RULE

In this add-on, which is essentially a standalone game, bots reached perfection. Let's start with the options. Every bot may be configured individually - pick a skill level (out of four, fourth makes them nearly unbeatable), name and skin. We can also pick the bot's gender and race (and similarly for ourselves). We have three types of males and females, eight skins each, an ability to play as Nairl and a member of the Skarrj race. The last one is a huge individual, making him easy to hit. He doesn't have to fit in too low doors either. Bots play extremely well - one can see their algorithms developed to perfection. Everyone would want such a tight-knit, capable team in a CTF match but surely nobody would want to be on the wrong side of those guns. These guys have their own initiative, they can snag the flag on their own. Essentially, you can just sit and watch how well they handle themselves.

CREDITS etc.

UT is just about the most feature-rich online FPP I've ever seen. Multiple configuration options, six game modes and the creation of both an excellent training ground and giving the old game a completely fresh coat of paint in one fell swoop - for that, gentlemen of Epic Megagames, you have my thanks. Oh and I almost forgot: thanks to Jay Wilbur of Epic for both spiritual support and knowledge.

Grzegorz "Gregorious" Miller

Facts:

Genre: FPP
Developer: Epic Megagames / GT Int.
Publisher: LEM
Release: April 1999
Internet: www.lem.com.pl www.gtgames.com

And these are the exclusive screens. Does anyone know what map, mod or whatever they might be?