Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

292 ratings
DirectX11 & High resolution textures for UT99
By Vyrium

A step by step guide for configuring Unreal Tournament to run on modern hardware.

Note: Previous versions of this guide made use of OpenGL. These sections have now been marked as (Archived).
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Getting Started
Finding your UT99 installation folder for Steam users:
  1. Find Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition within your Steam library
  2. Right click on it and select Properties

  3. Click on Local Files then select Browse…
This will open up a new File Explorer window within your installation folder!
Installing OldUnreal’s Unreal Tournament 99 Patch
The first thing you should do is install the OldUnreal patch for Unreal Tournament 99 to better leverage the capabilities of modern gaming systems.

The benefits:
  • Fix hundreds of stability, security and performance problems in the game client, the server, and in Unreal Editor
  • Support for modern platforms and operating systems (such as macOS Catalina)
  • Add new 3d renderers, audio drivers and minor features (such as raw input and high-resolution font/GUI scaling)

OldUnreal took over maintenance of the Unreal Tournament code base after reaching an agreement with Epic Games in 2019

Download the latest release for your system here:
OldUnreal Patch Releases[www.oldunreal.com]
Latest releases on GitHub[github.com]

Installation:
For windows 7 or later users it is recommended to download and run the .exe

If you have downloaded the .zip extract the zip on top of your installation of Unreal Tournament

For steam users this will typically be under:
\steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament

After starting the game you can verify you’re running on the patched version (e.g. 469d) by checking the top right corner of the game window!
Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack #4
Official Bonus Pack, containing 12 new maps and 2 new player models!
Note: Bonus packs 1-3 comes pre-installed as part of GOTY edition

Bonus Pack 4 Contents
Models
  • Xan - Mark II
  • WarBoss
Maps
  • CTF-Beautitude
  • CTF-EpicBoy
  • CTF-Ratchet
  • DM-Bishop
  • DM-Closer
  • DOM-Bullet
  • DOM-Cidom
  • DOM-WolfsBay
  • DM-Grit-TOURNEY
  • DM-Viridian-TOURNEY
  • CTF-Face-SE
  • DOM-Lament][

Downloading UT Bonus Pack 4
Download Bonus Pack 4[unrealarchive.org]

Installing UT Bonus Pack 4
To install from the .zip package (aka the non UMOD version)
  1. Extract the .zip (e.g. to a new folder on your desktop)
  2. Copy the Textures, System, Maps and Help folders to your Unreal Tournament folder
    e.g. \steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament
Setting up the DirectX11 Renderer
Download the Unreal DirectX11 Renderer

Download the Unreal DirectX11 Render

For Unreal Tournament be sure to download version 1.6.1!

Versions after 1.6.1 of the renderer no longer support Unreal Tournament!

Installing the Unreal DirectX11 Renderer
To install the renderer we'll need to place the following files into the System folder:
e.g. \steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament\System
  1. Extract the .zip (e.g. to a new folder on your desktop)
  2. Copy the contents of the Common folder to your Unreal Tournament\System folder

  3. Copy the contents of the Unreal_Tournament_436 folder to your Unreal Tournament\System folder

Using the Unreal DirectX11 Renderer
  1. Launch the game
  2. Click on Options
  3. Click on Preferences
  4. Click on Video
  5. Under Video Driver click on Change
  6. Click on the button to Show all devices
  7. Select Direct3D 11 Support

Comparison screenshots:
DM-Fractal
OpenGL

Direct3D9

Direct3D11
Installing Texture Normal and Height maps for DirectX11
By installing texture normal and height maps we can enhance the game textures to provide a sense of depth.

Before installing any texture mods I would recommend first backing up your Textures folder within your Unreal Tournament folder.

Download the Texture Normal and Height Maps
Download the Normal and height maps for Unreal Gold and UT 99 for Unreal DirectX 11 Renderer

Installing Texture Normal and Height maps for DirectX11
  1. Extract the .zip (e.g. to a new folder on your desktop)
  2. Copy the Textures folder to your Unreal Tournament folder
    \steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament

Comparison screenshots
By comparing the wall to the right of the player in both screenshots - we can clearly see the difference the normal/height maps make! By visualizing a texture's depth, textures appear less flat and more '3D'!
Map: DM-Codex / Codex of Wisdom
Without Normal/Height maps
With Normal/Height maps
Installing HD Textures for DirectX 11
By using higher resolution textures we can greatly increase the level of detail and sharpness of the in-game textures.

Before installing any texture mods I would recommend first backing up your Textures folder within your Unreal Tournament folder.

Download the HD 4K textures for Unreal and UT99 - DX11 renderer
Download Unreal HD Textures for the DirectX11 renderer

Installing HD Textures
  1. Extract the .zip (e.g. to a new folder on your desktop)
  2. Copy the Textures folder to your Unreal Tournament folder
e.g. \steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament

Now if we load up DM-Codex / Codex of Wisdom - we can see how much sharper the game looks!
Installing HD Skins
By using the Unreal HD Skins mutator we can improve the look of our weapons, pickups and more!

Downloading High-Resolution Unreal Skins
Download UnrealHD

Installing UnrealHD
  1. Extract the .zip (e.g. to a new folder on your desktop)
  2. Copy the Textures folder to your Unreal Tournament folder
  3. Copy the System folder to your Unreal Tournament folder
e.g. \steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament

Adding the mutator
To enable the HD skins and to be able to see them in-game we first need configure our match mutators.
When starting a new game you should see the 'Mutators' button under Match settings


Add the Unreal/UT: HD Skins Full mutator
You can also optionally add the UnrealTournament: Random HD Armor mutator too.


If we tick Always use this Mutator configuration we can be sure HD skins is always added.

Using mutators everywhere (except network play)
If you'd like to play any map with HD Skins you can also use MutatorsLoader!

Comparison screenshots
Not enabled


HD Skins enabled
Tweaking the DirectX11 Renderer Options
If you want to further configure the renderer we can do so in-game!

  1. Start the game
  2. Click on Tools → System Console
  3. Type the following into the console:
    preferences
  4. Select Rendering → Direct3D 11 support
This will open up the Advanced options menu from where we can configure the renderer options. Here we could optionally turn off HDR, set an FPS limit, enable precache and more!
Configuring Screen Resolution
If your screen resolution does not show in the game menu or does not appear to configured correctly try changing the viewport values below.

To set your desired screen resolution open the 'UnrealTournament.ini' file found in
\steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament\System

If the game window is incorrectly sized try pressing ALT+ENTER to toggle between fullscreen and windowed modes
Fixing Mouse Input Delay
If you're experiencing input delay try the following:
Disable VSync

Disable Mouse Smoothing & Use Raw Input
Set Mouse Smoothing to Disable
Set Mouse Input to Raw Input
(Archived) Using the enhanced OpenGL renderer for Unreal Tournament
This section is out of date - it is now recommended to use the OldUnreal patch as this includes the latest in terms of OpenGL support (see previous sections)

This section of the guide is only for those that wish to will use OpenGL without OldUnreal

Download & Installation
After installing the game update the OpenGL render to the latest stable version which can be found here: http://www.cwdohnal.com/utglr/

Direct download
utglr36.zip (110 KB) [www.cwdohnal.com]

To install the renderer copy the OpenGLDrv.dll file to your game files under
\Steam\steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament\System

Changing Video Driver
Start the game->Options->Preferences->Change Video Driver

Check 'Show all devices' and select 'OpenGl Support' then press Next until you can run the game

UT will now use the updated OpenGL renderer
(Archived) Using High Resolution Textures (OpenGL)
Out of date but may be useful to those using the OpenGL renderer with S3TC textures and encountering issues.

Download
Recommended:
Mod DB - Unreal Tournament HD Textures

Alternate Links:
Old Unreal[www.oldunreal.com]

Download the 'Recommended version for UT99'
Unreal HD Textures[sites.google.com]

Alternate link[drive.google.com]

S3TC Stock UT Textures (Extreme End) [No longer maintained][www.uttexture.com]

Download each package and .utx using the download links on the site.

Installation
To install the textures extract the downloaded .zip files to
\Steam\steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament\Textures
and overwrite the original texture files (make a backup of the Textures folder to save the original textures)

Example Comparison
Original
High Resolution

I CAN'T SEE THE TEXTURES!!!11! IT DOESN'T WORK!!
If your game looks like this...

...this means that S3TC is not enabled as the textures are not showing up

Fixing missing textures
Navigate to the main menu and press ESC (Ensure you are not currently in a game) which should bring you to a screen looking like this
Press TAB to allow text input and type preferences then press ENTER. This will open up the 'Advanced Options' menu

Navigate to your renderer settings under Rendering

Then set UseS3TC to True
72 Comments
TyrλnnoWright 14 Jan @ 7:05pm 
DX12 and Vulkan are also available but still in experimental stages and not recommended for gameplay. https://github.com/dpjudas/UT99VulkanDrv
My one curiosity is potentially getting these old DX11 heightmaps to work with OpenGLX's parallax.
TyrλnnoWright 14 Jan @ 1:39pm 
Latest OldUnreal patch includes a better DX11 renderer that isn't scamware but doesn't include fancy graphical features. Use ReShade instead for that or wait for more updates.
Rich 9 Nov, 2024 @ 7:11am 
This doenst work. Ctd on startup with error "General protection fault
History: UWindowsViewport::ddSetMode <-
USoftwareRenderDevice::SetRes <-
USoftwareRenderDevice::Init<-
UWindowsViewport::TryRenderDevice<-
UWindowsViewpoert::OpenWindow<-UGEngine::Init<-
InitEngine"
gamerz31w 19 Oct, 2024 @ 10:35pm 
Nowadays Epic Games are too obsessed with Fortnite Battle Royale and it’s too problematic.
Barbavan 15 Oct, 2024 @ 5:28pm 
All my skins are bloated after installing the HD Skins mod, what should I do???
iaB The Zett 5 Oct, 2024 @ 8:24am 
excellent guide, well done!
gamerz31w 7 May, 2024 @ 2:22am 
I can’t even find such gametype as Capture The Flag in Jazz Jackrabbit 3D advanced settings.
Lifell 6 May, 2024 @ 2:09pm 
Great guide, thank you! ♥
gamerz31w 3 Apr, 2024 @ 10:34am 
I guess I don’t have to mess with it like him when he goes to the setting up server.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=kbe9Yt0fVYg
vee-kay 3 Apr, 2024 @ 10:27am 
@Vyrium: Hope you can add the "Mutators Loader" mutator in the "Add the Mutator" section of your guide:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/mutatorsloader/downloads/mutatorsloader
It's basically like making a permalist of favorite mutators, which become available for every gametype (except network play on community master servers).

"Mutators Loader" mutator:
[quote]
Load list of your "Always use" mutators everywhere (include campaign ladder), except network play on other servers With that mod you can play again UT campaign, with any custom weapons/items. Like NaliWeapon3. Or use SmartStockBots on it. Add monsters, make weapons and ammo volatile or any other change.
[/quote]