Update 14/11/2024 - 17:28 UTC: an Epic Games Spokesperson replied with a short statement:
We can confirm that Unreal 1 and Unreal Tournament are available on archive.org and people are free to independently link to and play these versions.
So there you have it, both games are officially properly free to grab. As approved by Epic Games.
Original article below:
Epic Games announced back at the end of 2022 that they were pulling a whole bunch of classics like Unreal Tournament and Unreal from stores, along with turning off servers, but now it's a bit easier to get them running again.
The news comes thanks to the OldUnreal team, who have been publishing patches for the likes of Unreal Tournament for a long time now. Shared in the GamingOnLinux Discord yesterday, was the news that the OldUnreal team are now providing easy installers for both the original classics: Unreal Tournament and Unreal.
However, to be clear, these installers actually pull the ISO downloads from the Internet Archive. OldUnreal's team said (via their Discord) yesterday they actually now have "Epic's approval to distribute the Unreal Gold ISO". A few days before, another OldUnreal team member also mentioned (via Discord) how "With Epic's permission" they were linking to the downloads from the Internet Archive for both games.
Pictured - Unreal Tournament
Their installers for Unreal Tournament and Unreal are currently Windows-only, so hopefully Linux builds will come eventually. For Linux, there's actually a Flathub installer for Unreal Tournament that pulls in OldUnreal updates too, but you still need to grab the content yourself (available in the Internet Archive). The OldUnreal team also pointed out there's Lutris installers for both Unreal Gold and Unreal Tournament.
Doing my due diligence, I've reached out to my Epic Games contacts directly to see if I can actually get a proper confirmation that Epic Games really did give their approval for all this. Will update on any reply I receive.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Really hope they incorporate the linix builds
Last edited by Doktor-Mandrake on 14 November 2024 at 2:04 pm UTC
Doing my due diligence, I've reached out to my Epic Games contacts directly to see if I can actually get a proper confirmation that Epic Games really did give their approval for all this. Will update on any reply I receive.
Thus, considering OldUnreal team's closeness to Epic, I am inclined to believe what they say here.
Edit after seeing the update: I am so, so glad to be proven wrong!
Really hope they incorporate the linix builds
And also UT2004.
If OldUnreal somehow gets to develop patches for UT2004, this will probably happen too.
Until then, you can take this news as "Epic won't touch the Unreal game isos hosted on archive.org", and download them games from there. :)
Last edited by LupertEverett on 14 November 2024 at 6:14 pm UTC
This is weird... wouldn't it just be simple to still offer the game in stores (GOG seems like a perfect choice) and/or make it Freeware?
I am also thoroughly baffled by this apparent lack of interest and/or pride in what they made.
...
or not. They can't peddle silly dances in the original unreal, after all.
Back on topic: I see on their github that they are also working on arm builds. That would be a raspberrypi port?
Also, I really hope someone from the team could also take a peek at implementing raytraced 3d audio similar to the good-old a3d, but using the recently open sourced steam audio api. What we have now, based on eax-like reverb effects in openal, doesn't quite reach the quality of a3d.
To end on a more positive note: don't forget the awesome texture packs, also available via the project's webpage: https://www.oldunreal.com/downloads/textures/
Last edited by emphy on 14 November 2024 at 4:43 pm UTC
Linux_Rocks Nov 14
Wow, Epic did something good? A blind squirrel finds the occasional nut, I guess. lol
ElectricPrism Nov 14
Then of course it could get the Doom and HL treatment and get RTX ray-tracing and other QOL improvements and kinder a modder community and cult following.
It's funny to think that their business partner's core values of chinese ideology are more in line with freely sharing inventions and not hoarding ideas or likeness.
It's great that people are free to play however I feel like the hole in the genre has been filled & replaced by GPL'd https://xonotic.org
Back on topic: I see on their github that they are also working on arm builds. That would be a raspberrypi port?
Or macOS silicon?
Updated with statement from Epic.
So basically... abandonware of sorts?
Back on topic: I see on their github that they are also working on arm builds. That would be a raspberrypi port?
Or macOS silicon?
Checked on the oldunreal website, and it is for Linux Cortex-A72. That includes pi4 and pi5?
If so, I expect there may be an install script on retropi in the not too distant future.
Last edited by emphy on 15 November 2024 at 2:22 am UTC
These titles are so old they should license the code as open source and dump it on the net. It would do well for their legacy and reputation to immortalize their roots.
Last I heard, Sweeney said he would, but there are too many libraries used.
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/epics-tim-sweeney-says-that-unreal-engine-1-may-one-day-go-open-source/
Well, that's plausible. If it wasn't Sweeney I might give the benefit of the doubt.These titles are so old they should license the code as open source and dump it on the net. It would do well for their legacy and reputation to immortalize their roots.
Last I heard, Sweeney said he would, but there are too many libraries used.
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/epics-tim-sweeney-says-that-unreal-engine-1-may-one-day-go-open-source/
These titles are so old they should license the code as open source and dump it on the net. It would do well for their legacy and reputation to immortalize their roots.
Last I heard, Sweeney said he would, but there are too many libraries used.
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/epics-tim-sweeney-says-that-unreal-engine-1-may-one-day-go-open-source/
That was nearly ten years ago. I am thinking that if, by now, they haven't hired a team to dig through the code to replace those dependencies, chances are that it will never be done.
The oldunreal team also seems to be too small for a project of this scope.
Last edited by emphy on 19 November 2024 at 4:02 am UTC
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