Back in January I decided that I wanted to bring back an old LAN party favorite for myself and some friends. The result was me setting up a dedicated Unreal Tournament 2004 server. I recently wrote a Getting Started Guide to assist anyone who might be interested in joining us. I also released the server’s first update today in the form of a community mod pack.

 

June upgrades

The mod pack adds several new content and mechanical updates required to play. Support for the following mutators, maps, and modes have been added to the server:

Mutators – All Modes

• MultiDodging2k4v4
  Dodge jumping from a wall will reset your jump options.
• CrotchShotPro_V3
  There’s no bonus to damage, but there is a “crotch shot” announcement, and a slight kick to their pride.
• SuperAerialView
  The 3rd person camera is given some upgrades to make it more viable.
• GibableCorpses
  Corpse pieces can be broken down even further with additional damage.
• HeadshotView
  Enables the headshot camera effect from UT99. Now when you get killed by a headshot, the camera will stay attached to your now detached head.
• MiA_HitSound
  A sound plays whenever you hit someone.

 

Mutators – Team vs Invasion

• UT2004RPG
  Gives players the ability to gain experience and level up during invasion mode. Character stats and abilities persist between sessions.
• BossWaves1_6
  Every couple of waves will spawn a boss monster that must be killed within a certain time limit.
• MonsterMutationsv5
  Individual enemies may randomly get buffs during an invasion, which also applies to bosses.
• VehicleInvasion-116
  Unlocks Onslaught vehicles for invasion mode and allows anti-tank weapons to lock onto monsters.
• MonsterScoreManager
  Awards players with additional adrenaline for each kill based on the monster type.

Maps

• DM-Sorayama
  A custom map authored by yours truly. Designed to be chaotic and quick to navigate with deft translocator use.
• DM-Reconstruct
  This excellent community map revolves around surfaces that construct and deconstruct anytime you’re within proximity.
• DM-Entropic
  A serene map that’s perfect for low gravity fire fights.
• DM-TrainingGael
  Two copies of DM-TrainingDay connected to DM-Gael in the center.
• AS-Osaka
  The son of Hideyoshi had come of age and his forces, loyal to the son of the late Taiko, were safely behind the stone walls of Osaka Castle.
• AS-Castle_2k4
  Break into the castle to stop the terrorist transmission.

Modes

• Deathmatch
  A standard free-for-all deathmatch mode.
• Deathmatch Instagib
  The classic instant-kill deathmatch variant.
• Deathmatch Berzerk
  Low gravity in a time dilated rocket arena. The rocket launcher gets a buff to rate of fire, and all pickups replenish ammo completely.
• Team Deathmatch
  Two teams try to kill each other more than than the other.
• Team Capture the Flag
  Capture the enemy’s flag and return it to your base to score a point for your team.
• Team Double Domination
  Hold two control points at the same time for several seconds in order to score a point.
• Team Assault
  A team follows and completes a checklist of objectives while the other team tries to prevent it.
• Team Onslaught
  Take over a series of control nodes to disable the power core shields in the enemy base. Destroy their power core to secure victory.
• Team vs Mutant
  One player mutates and becomes overpowered while everyone else tries to kill them. The player to kill the mutant becomes the mutant. Only the mutant can score points.
• Team vs Invasion
  Players team up against waves on enemies. Weapons gain randomized magical properties and players are able to spend experience points they earn to purchase skills and upgrades for their character.

 

Bringing it back

As far as gaming and technology standards go, Unreal Tournament 2004 is ancient. My friends and I used to get together nearly every weekend to play it though. Back in those days we had to drag our computers, monitors, peripherals, and cables over to someone’s house. We would spend hours setting everyone up before we could start up a LAN server and start shooting at one another. That was a lot easier when we were all in high school.

 

We’re all older now. Some of us have children, spouses, full time jobs, mortgages, and bills unending. In order to recapture that classic LAN party feel, I needed to work around all of these things. The game would have to be easy to start at any time, and everyone would need to be able to play it from anywhere. So in addition to planning games weeks in advance and making things as simple as possible for everyone involved, a dedicated server made sense.

 

But why 2004?

I’ve been asked “why not the new Unreal Tournament?” a handful of times now. The simplest answer is that the game is playable but obviously incomplete in many ways. Unreal Tournament 2004 works on old systems, and also boasts a much larger collection of existing mods to try out. That’s not to say that I’ll never get into the new Unreal Tournament, but for now the goal is to bring a classic back from the dead.

 

The Decktron server is online and currently offers modes for solo, cooperative, and versus games. Try it out and let me know what you think!