Games World

[0.0] Copyright :

The Unreal FAQ is Copyright 1997 by Kevin Stone. If you wish to use part of this document, please leave it intact, and show it belongs to The Unreal FAQ by Kevin Stone.

[0.1] Disclaimer :

This FAQ was not written by Epic Megagames or GT Interactive and they do not take any responsibility for what is said in this document. Any information in this FAQ can change at any time. Also, because the game has not been finished yet, the majority of this information is merely a planned estimation. Much of this information is from memory; any source that would like to claim responsibility for a certain piece of information, please e-mail me at stonage@unrealnation.com and you will be given credit.

[0.2] Distribution: (much of this was copied from the Unreal FAQ by Hendrick Mans)

This FAQ can be freely distributed as long as:
1)No price is ever charged
2)It remains in its digital form
3)It is not distributed with software
4)No modifications are made by anyone besides the maintainer (Kevin Stone)
5)Credit is given to the maintainer (Kevin Stone)

1. Introduction

1.1 About this FAQ

This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) covers all known information about Unreal. Newly added information is shown with a }*.
Info grabbed from Hendrick Man's Unreal Faq is marked with a *.

1.2 About the Author

Kevin Stone is a 17 year old high school student. He was first introduced to Unreal by a PC Gamer article. After an initial poor attempt at an Unreal web page, he opened his news site, UNN: Unreal News Network. It had a respectable audience and was shut down to pursue other interests. He now co-administers the web site UnrealNation located at http://www.unrealnation.com. You can find him frequently on #unreal on Gameslink (irc.gameslink.net) using the nickname stonage. If you have any corrections or comments, send them to stonage@unrealnation.com.

1.3 Where to obtain this FAQ

This should be located at many Unreal sites; its official home is UnrealNation,
http://www.unrealnation.com.

1.4 What I Plan to Add in the Future

-More Info as it comes in
-More Novice Information

1.5 Faq News

2. About Unreal

2.1 What is Unreal?

Unreal is the latest game from Epic Megagames. It features intense action from a first person viewpoint using a sophisticated 3d engine. With nearly 3 years spent in production, this game appears to have the detail to create an impressive experience. It has been designed, programmed, and playtested until they believe they have created the most enjoyable game possible. Tim Sweeney, Epic's owner and Unreal's lead programmer states his goal for Unreal as "Making a game that is cool and innovative enough that it redefines what players expect from games in general."

2.2 Who is Making Unreal?

Unreal is being made by Epic Megagames. Their previous works include: Jazz the Jackrabbit, Epic Pinball, and Fire Fight. They have offices located in Maryland and the United Kingdom. Digital Extremes is also contributing to Unreal, their previous work includes: Epic Pinball and Solar Winds. Their offices are located in Waterloo, Ontario.

2.3 Who is Distributing Unreal?

Unreal is being distributed by GT Interactive. They have distributed such games as Quake and Duke3d.

2.4 When will Unreal be released?

Epic Megagames' official statement is "when it's done" but the first half of 1998 is appropriate.

2.5 What is the storyline behind Unreal?

You awaken to the sound of screams and the smell of burning flesh. You shake your head and check your surroundings. The ship you were traveling on, Vortex Rikers, has obviously crashed. The force shield to your cell has been shut off and smoke covers the floor.

Other prisoners are missing, dying a painful death or they're already dead. Using an air duct you manage to escape the cell block. Passing through various parts of the prison ship, you heal your deep wounds with a med-pack and salvage some non-prisoner attire.

You come to a jammed door, partially open. A beam collapses behind you and blocking you in. Suddenly, desperate cries, gunshots and growling ring out from beyond the door. Then, silence...

The door slowly begins to open and from the corner of your eye you see something large, muscular and reptilian darting out. Everything is still.

Several prison guards lay eviscerated in front of you. They appear to have been dragged around the room, slammed into the lockers, and chewed to pieces. Lying on the floor is a Dispersion Pistol covered in blood. You grab it and make your way out.

You leap from the front of the ship onto soft grass. Vortex Rikers is dug into the ground and badly damaged. Flames spew from the craft and sparks shoot out of the side. You survey the landscape before you and see treacherous mountains and rolling, otherworldly terrain. You hear mechanical laughter behind you. You turn around to see an immense winged monster flying away from the body of one of your buddies.

This is Unreal.

2.6 The History of Unreal

After completing Epic Pinball, the decision was made to investigate 3d games as it was determined that this was the future of gaming. James Schmalz, now the lead designer, began hacking away, experimenting with a 3d engine. After a few months, James created an engine with flat-shaded 3d robots. Eventually he came up with the dragon mesh that appears in the early Unreal screen shots. The engine was originally designed for a cavern type game and was later changed to an outdoor, heightmap engine. At this time, Epic released what they could create. Tim Sweeney, Epic's owner/Unreal's lead programmer said "That's when we knew we had to do a game with a realistic, organic look." At this time, Dave Carter came on as a modeler. Tim Sweeney began creating an editor for the buildings they implemented in the engine. The editor was so advanced, they switched to indoor areas and Tim Sweeney became the head programmer. Around this time, Cliff Bleszinski, co-designer of Unreal, joined the team as a level designer but switched to game design later. At this time, the rest of the team was hired. The next big event was the decision to support MMX in Unreal, which allows the programmers to use new instructions on the chip to accelerate certain functions.

Epic showed its work on Unreal at the 1996 electronic entertainment expo. That was the first wave of publicity brought to Unreal. This created the beginning of the "Unreal Community." The first web page created entirely committed to Unreal was named Unreality, run by Hendrick Mans. It has re-located several times and recently merged to form unreal.org. The community rapidly grew with a scoop article in PC Gamer which introduced me to Unreal along with many others. Along with web pages, #unreal channels were created on both undernet and efnet. Soon Epic employees discovered this great method of communication, visiting #unreal frequently.

Soon, we began receiving screen shots of Unreal. We got our first glimpses of the Brute (known then as the Bigman), the Skaarj, and the dragon. We also got our first glimpse of the weapons. In the second half of '96, Epic hired Steven Polge, the creator of the Reaper Bot for Quake. Steven began hacking away creating distinct personalities for each monster, improving Unreal's single play immensely. For Christmas, Epic released two movies showing Unreal in motion for the first time. Another movie appeared a month or two later on the February Next-Generation CD. In March we first heard news that the Unreal engine had been ported to the Glide API (3Dfx's native programming interface). Another large article featuring Unreal appeared in the June issue of PC Games, featuring our first glimpse of the Kraal. The next big event in Unreal's development was E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) held in Atlanta from June 19-21. There, Epic received a mild welcome, though impressive to those anticipating it. Following E3 in september was ECTS held in London. There Unreal demonstrated it's multiplayer as well as many impressive effects including the ART Engine. In October, Epic launched the official Unreal website at http://www.unreal.com, containing plenty of information about their upcoming game. In November, Unreal was demonstrated at the Comdex show in Las Vegas. Again, it was very well received. Also at the show Unreal was demonstrated on the NEC PowerVR chip for the first time, showing promising results. On Christmas, we received a new movie showing incredible graphic detail that Unreal possesses. In january, those lucky enough to attend the Respawn lan party were treated to demonstrations and a chance to play the game. The response was tremendous, a very successful convention indeed. Respawn also publically displayed several new technologies recently implemented in Unreal including volumetric fog.

2.7 Will there be a Public Beta or Something Similar to QTest?

Straight from the bigman himself: "There will be no public demo, alpha, or beta. The first release will be the free, shareware version of the game, followed soon by the retail version."

3. Unreal's Requirements

3.1 What are the System Requirements for Unreal?

The current estimated requirements will be a Pentium 133 with 16 megs RAM. This is only an estimate as of now because Unreal is not finished. 32 megs is recommended for optimal play and is required for UnrealEd.

3.2 What Operating Systems does Unreal work with?

Unreal will work with Windows 95 and Windows NT4. It supports DirectX, including Direct3D, but they are not required to play.

3.3 Does Unreal support 3D Graphics Cards or MMX?

Unreal has been built from the ground up to support the new MMX instructions. MMX will increase the speed of color blending dramatically. It also allows them to use 44 kHz audio with 16-bit sound. MMX is not necessary to run Unreal. 3D Graphics Cards are supported by Unreal as well. Currently, Epic is debating between using Direct3D and OpenGL or neither. Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic, says "None of them are supported right now but we probably will support one or two of them with D3D being the most likely." Though it may support an API (such as openGL or Direct3D), Tim Sweeney states that the software renderer may be faster. Cards using the 3Dfx Voodoo 1 or 2, Voodoo Rush and PCX2 chipsets are natively supported in Unreal with others possible with the situation best described by Mark Rein: "Native card support depends completely on card vendors, the quality of their cards and the amount of money in their wallets."

3.4 What is MMX?

Intel engineers have added 57 powerful new instructions specifically designed to manipulate and process video, audio and graphical data efficiently. These instructions are oriented to the highly parallel, repetitive sequences often found in multimedia operations. Today's multimedia and communication applications often use repetitive loops that, while occupying 10 percent or less of the overall application code, can account for up to 90 percent of the execution time. A process called Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) enables one instruction to perform the same function on multiple pieces of data. It allows the chip to reduce compute-intensive loops common with video, audio, graphics and animation. As an analogy, consider a drill sergeant telling an entire platoon, "About face," rather than commanding each individual soldier one at a time. Intel has doubled on-chip cache size to 32K on the Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology. Now, more instructions and data can be stored on the chip, reducing the number of times the processor has to access slower, off-chip memory areas for information.

4. Unreal's Gameplay

4.1 What are the Weapons in Unreal?

There are currently few known weapons in Unreal. The first is the Dispersion Pistol. This is what you start with at the beginning of the game. It's primary mode fires and exploding projectile and requires no ammo. It can be upgraded with special runes to increase it's effectiveness. The second weapon is the Automag Handgun. It's primary mode fires a very accurate bullet. In secondary mode, it is shot "gangsta style" (gangsta style is where you turn it sideways, for those who don't watch enough rap videos), which has half the accuracy, but twice the rate of fire. The third weapon is the Stinger which fires Tardium Crystals making whoever is hit glow and become very unstable. They will then rupture if jolted hard enough. The longer you hold down the fire button, the harder they impact. The Razorjack fires spinning stars, cutting up anything in their path. In secondary mode, the weapon is tiled vertically and you can add a curve to the star's path, allowing firing around corners. The sixth known weapon is the 8-ball launcher. In primary mode, it fires rocket like 8-balls, with up to 6 8-balls loaded at one time in the launcher. In secondary mode, the 8-ball launcher fires grenade like projectiles with again up to 6 loadable at one time. The Goop Gun uses a syringe like mechanism to fire volatile green goop which explodes on contact with a player or monster. In secondary mode, you can adjust the amount of goop fired by holding down the fire key. This goop will drip from the ceiling or roll down steep inclines, so beware. The Flak Gun fires pieces of shrapnel in a shotgun like manner. These pieces of shrapnel may recochet of certain walls for additional strategic benefit. In secondary mode, the Flak Gun ejects a shell which explodes into pieces of shrapnel.

4.2 What Items are there in Unreal?

Currently, no items have been defined by Epic. You can expect health, ammo, and armor to be in the game though.

4.3 What Monsters are there in Unreal?

At this time, several monsters are known. The first is the manta. This monster flies similar to the way a stingray swims. It attacks by swooping down from above. The second monster is the dragon. This monster flies like a bird and attacks similar to the manta. The third monster is the Brute. Formerly known as the Bigman, this massive monster carries two massive cannons in his arms which fire missle like projectiles. The fourth known monster is the Skaarj. This monster will attack in packs using its agility and teamwork to destroy you. It fires these laser blasts and will slash you with it's claws. The fifth monster is the Kraal. It carries a spear like weapon and has bird-like legs. He will stab you with his staff and fires projectiles from it. The sixth monster is the Slith. It is an aquatic monster, and fires green projectiles at you. We are told that they are hated by the Skaarj. Mark Rein said that the registered version will have around 20 monsters.

4.4 What is the control like in Unreal?

Well, since they have not tuned the control, this question cannot be answered yet. But, Mark Rein did say "If Unreal has lousy control it is never going to beat anything. Rest assured, control is just as important to us as it is to you."

4.5 Does Unreal support Specific Damage?

Well, for those that don't know, specific damage is the ability to shoot a monster in the arm or leg and have different amounts of damage resulting depending on the location they were shot. This is not supported in Unreal because it requires a skeletal modeling sytem. To replace this, Epic has put in an advanced animation system which will allow them to do the 300-500 frames of animation per actor used. "coding that in QuakeC would be a nightmare!" Tim Sweeney stated.

4.6 Can Creatures with the Same Model but with Different Skins exist on the Same Level at the Same time?

Yes they can. This expands the number of monsters possible as each model could have many different skins allowing a larger number of monsters.

4.7 Will there be Different Sized Creatures/Players?

I asked Tim Sweeney this, and he said existing creatures range from fireflys (teensy tiny) to the 30-foot-tall Titan. In UnrealEd (the editing software), you can resize any monster you place in a level.

4.8 What is so Special about the AI (artificial inteligence) in Unreal?

The AI is being coded by Steven Polge, known for his quake-c patch, the Reaper Bot. This was the first bot (practice deathmatch opponent) to truly feel like a human opponent. This was due to the use of fuzzy logic, which allows the bot to weigh different factors and choose the best decision based on the situation. Now Polge has direct access to the code in Unreal. He plans on giving each monster it's own personality. Monsters will flee when outmatched or low on health. Certain monsters will coordinate an attack with others. Not only do the monsters want to kill you, they also have a hatred for other monsters in Unreal.

4.9 Will Unreal have a Console ala Quake?

Tim Sweeney answered this question for me: "We have one now for development. It will probably remain in the final game, but using it will be entirely optional."

4.10 Will the Status Bar in the Unreal Screen Shots remain in the Final Game?

No, it won't, here's Tim Sweeney with the low down: "we are going to redesign the status bar; it's probably going to be a small HUD thing but that hasn't been done yet."

5. The Game Engine

5.1 What different color depths does Unreal support?

Unreal supports from 256 to 16 million colors. The default color depth is 16-bit or around 32,000 colors and textures are being optimized for that color depth.

5.2 What different resolutions can I run Unreal in?

Unreal can run in any resolution at full screen supported by the DirectDraw driver for your graphics card. It can also be run in a window at any resolution though it is much slower. This means Unreal can be run as high as 1024x768 and above as graphics cards become faster. As in the color depth, Unreal is being optimized to run at 640x480.

5.3 What is DirectX and do I need it to run Unreal?

DirectX is an API (application programming interface) that is used to enhance gaming under Windows95 and Windows NT4. The most popular members of DirectX are DirectDraw, DirectInput, DirectSound, and Direct3D. DirectDraw allows the game developer to run in full-screen mode and have direct access to the video memory making programming similar to that of DOS. DirectInput allows the game developer to support a multitude of devices requiring the manufacturer of that device to only create a single driver that will then work in all games supported. It also allows faster access to the keyboard and the mouse than with the Win32 API. DirectSound provides direct access to the sound card similar to how DirectDraw does for the graphics card. It also allows hardware manufacturers to produce only a single driver and allows game developers to support any sound device that has such a driver. Direct3D is an API that allows universal support for all 3d accelerators that have the necessary driver.

Direct3D has recently been under fire for poor performance compared to another 3d API, OpenGL. DirectX is not required to run Unreal though you will have to play in a window because the lack of DirectDraw's full-screen mode.

5.4 How does Unreal determine VSD (Visual Surface Determination)?

Unreal uses a pre-computed BSP (Binary Space Partition) Tree which sorts every polygon into different planes (space partitions) forming a Binary Tree. Then, this tree can be recursively checked to display the polygons in the correct order. Unreal also uses Portals and Pre-Computation to determine VSD.

5.5 How is the Terrain created in the Outdoor Engine?

The terrain uses the same BSP rendering engine that indoor scenes use. This allows the level designers to create over hangs and ditches not possible with a heightmap based renderer.

5.6 How is the Music in Unreal?

Unreal uses Mod Files (S3M, IT, XM, MOD)*, these allow near CD-audio quality sound, from a highly compressed file. There is currently a team working on the music, named Straylight Productions. It is led up by Alex Brandon, who had this to say about the music: "we're using MODs. Why? Because MODS are the best way to do interactive audio right now. Don't worry, we'll prove this with little difficulty." Other titles they produced music for include: "Crusader: No Remorse" and "No Regret."

5.7 Will there be Shadows in Unreal?

Character shadows are unlikely at this point. The performance hit due to the shadows is just to great for use on today's PC's.

5.8 Is the Sky Rendered as an Infinite Plane Far Away?

I asked Tim Sweeney this and he responded with: "Right now it's modelled as two infinite sheets (above and below) but I may add an option for cube-mapping for projects like Wheel of Time, which want to have more scenic backdrops."

5.9 Will there be an Water Effects such as Splashes?

Yes there will be. Unreal will use several effects to simulate splashes and other water movements. One such effect is to use the ART Engine, to create random, non-repeating ripples on a texture to simulate waves in a pool. Also, the ART Engine can create little drops on water simulating water drops failing from the ceiling.

5.10 Will there be Reflections in Unreal?

I asked Tim Sweeney about this: "this looks unlikely at the moment. If I ever add support for this in the engine, it would probably be a '3d hardware only' effect."

5.11 Will Unreal Use Particles?

Quake used particles for such things as explosions. Unreal will not use particles, Tim Sweeney explains: "I'm not using particle systems as Quake does. Unreal will stick with transparent fractal texture effects for things like explosions and smoke, along with mesh-based animations which can be modelled/animated to look somewhat like particle systems but are more general because you have more control over them in UnrealScript."

5.12 What is the ART Engine?

The ART Engine for Animating Realtime Texturing or it's previous name, the Fire Engine is a fractal based texturing that is used for several effects in Unreal. Some examples include to simulate fire, water, and lightning. ART textures do not ever repeat themselves and look amazingly realistic.

5.13 Does Unreal Feature Volumetric Fog?

The answer is yes. One example use of Volumetric fog is to have smoke appear from malfunctioning equipment. No media has been released showing this volumetric fog as of yet.

5.14 What is Portal Technology

Portal technology is where the rendering engine will render the current room you are in, then, it finds the cracks (doors) leading outside the room and renders those cracks. It then finds the holes in the area it just rendered. It does this recursively until all holes have been rendered.

5.15 Does Unreal use Lens Flares?

Yes, Unreal features lens flares. Lens flares are caused by the lens in your, making bright lights appear larger. Lens flares cause headlights to appear large even from far away. Unreal uses them to simulate very bright lights such as fog lights. Unreal has features corona lights which create a halo around a light to simulate a glow. This is placed on candle like lights for the appropriate effect.

6. Unreal's Levels

6.1 How Many Levels are there in Unreal?

The definition of a level will change after playing Unreal because each one connects to the next continuously. During the game you can wander from level to level searching for the items required to complete the mission. The estimate on the number of levels is between 30 and 40. Each level will contain a mix of indoor and outdoor settings.

6.2 How big will the levels be in Unreal?

Tim Sweeney reports that an Unreal level will be from 10,000 to 20,000 polygons. Myscha, a full-time level designer for Epic, answers the question in terms of virtual size: "That depends on the theme of the map. I have some maps that I am doing that cover over 4 square miles if you were really there. Maps like those are really emphasizing the outdoor setting and introducing the player to this new setting as it builds into a series of structures. Other maps are compact and very vertical, invloving in some cases 7-10 floors on top of each other. The themes of the maps drives the design. We aren't limited by a "level" measurement whatsoever. Unlike in Doom or other games where most of these interior levels are all about the same size with the same features, Unreal carries the player across the planet to many different and unique scenarios. Be sure you get traveller's checks first. The interesting part to this is that although immense size does not make a great playing level, we are paying close attention to detail to insure that they do. When you play a level in games like Quake, you usually spend 20 minutes or less completing the map. Some maps in Unreal will allow you to experience over 2 hours of intricate gameplay that has a consistent driving theme to theme. There will also be maps that are very straightforward as well-for those who just want to get in and slaughter some monsters. The environment of Unreal is so stunning, you will be in awe as you play the game. It will take the concept of first person shooter and push it where it has never gone before. This type of thinking comes from the designers of the game, who strive to give you more than you can imagine."

6.3 How much of a level is Indoor and how much is Outdoor?

Again we turn to Myscha. "That has not yet been finalized - Our current thrust has been Artificial Intelligence and Scripting implementation. The exterior "world" is still to come."

6.4 Is it more Corridor or Open Spaces?

Guess who's answering this question? Yep, Myscha. "Neither - You must stop thinking in terms of "is it like Quake". Unreal is completely new concept in 3D first person shooter style games. It's structure is not a series of building blocks connected by an exit sign and a teleporter. Unreal provides outdoor terrain and interior structures." together, just like in real life, but much more dangerous.

6.5 Will Unreal Levels be Highly Multilayered?

Myscha? You want this one? "If you are referring to multi-story construction-then yes. Many of the themes of the map involve exploration into multi-story locations."

6.6 How is Level Editing in Unreal compared to that of Quake?

My Homie Myscha, take it away. "When the editor is made available at the release of the game, the way designers go about creating "levels" will all change. No longer will you simply come up for a concept for a map and lay out a series of interior spaces with texture consistency. The ability to create the entire setting now becomes part of the adventure as well. The designers who think in terms of a themes and story will be able to create truly amazing "worlds" The only limitation is your imagination and the current PC technology for displaying them."

6.7 What will the Outdoor Levels Contain?

The outdoor levels will contain many low polygon things such as lakes, mountains, plateaus, valleys - nothing that requires many polygons though, like forests.

6.8 How is the Transition between the Outdoor and Indoor Engine Handled?

Let's hear it straight from the big man, Tim Sweeney, head programmer for Unreal. "There are duplicated areas between the facades of levels (outdoors) and their interiors, and the level switching takes place at these areas by teleporting."

7. Editing Unreal

7.1 What is UnrealEd?

UnrealEd is the level editor used by Epic to build their worlds for the game. It features an incredible arsenal of tools to sculpt the perfect level. The most notable tool is the CSG or Constructive Solid Geometry. This feature allows you to create complex brushes from simple primitives by either adding them together, subracting one from the other, or creating an object from the intersecting points of the two objects. This allows a room to be created by simply creating two box primitives, one slightly smaller then the other. Then just boolean subtract the smaller from the larger and you have created a simple cubical room. T. Elliot Cannon, another level designer, explains UnrealEd's benefits: "The UnrealEditor is not like the many Quake editors... the entire approach to creating worlds is different. It is faster and easier to create unique custom brushes and if you are an ace in 3D studio or Lightwave-the Unrealeditor will be your ticket to unlimited possibilities in design."

7.2 Where can I get UnrealEd?

There initially will be a shareware version of Unreal. An unsupported version of UnrealEd will be included with the registered version of Unreal. This version will have any features deemed to be "buggy" or complicated taken out and will have little to no documation. A few weeks after the registered version of Unreal is released, a supported version of UnrealEd will go on sale for around $60-$70 dollars. This one will include all the features not included in the unsupported release along with a huge manual and plenty of pre-made brushes.

7.3 What is a Brush?

A brush is a term for any object in UnrealEd. A sphere primitive, for example, is a brush. A floor beam created from a rectangular primitive is a brush.

7.4 Can I import Brushes from other Programs?

Yes, you can import .dxf and .asc files into UnrealEd. Epic will not include a .map importer though one could easily be written.

7.5 What else can I do in UnrealEd?

Besides just placing and editing brushes, you can place textures on these brushes or on actors (models such as monsters, weapons, etc). You can write UnrealScript and compile your maps into .unr files which contain everything necessary to run that level (all new models, textures, code, and the level). You can also create outdoor levels in UnrealEd. {More info will be added later}

7.6 What is UnrealScript?

UnrealScript is a scripting language used by Unreal to allow a vast amount of customizations. Those familiar with Quake will be happy to know that it is very similar to Quake-C in function with an object-oriented design. UnrealScript has a syntax similar to Java or C++. It remains in text format until it is loaded by Unreal where it is partially compiled; similar to Java. Tim Sweeney explains the possibilities of UnrealScript: "You'll be able to use UnrealScript for just about any kind of enemy/item/inventory/weapon/bot/etc logic you can dream up, within the engine's limitations."

7.7 How do I Compile my Map?

While building a map, UnrealEd is creating the BSP Tree on the fly. This allows you to view your level as it would appear in the game itself, as you build it (minus the shadows, those take 30 seconds to a minute to compute). Upon completion of a map, you will want to Rebuild/Optimize your level which will compact the size to allow serious playtesting. Before releasing your map, you will want to run The Maximization Optimizer which could take several hours but will result in speed increases between 25-30%. Note that these speeds are considerably faster then of a comparable quake level.

7.8 How do I Create Outdoor Levels?

To create an outdoor level, simply create a grayscale pcx heightmap. Some 3rd party programs will export these heightmaps such as Bryce 2 by MetaTools. DMA Design is currently porting a separate terrain editor to the PC (it's currently on an SGI Onyx) which will hopefully be done in time to allow Epic to create impressive outdoor scenes.

7.9 How is Skinning a Model Handled?

Each model has one skin. A skin can be made up of one or many images. You can also skin models one polygon at a time, which Dave Carter brilliantly reasons: "That's actually how we get things to look so AWESOME. The creatures are textured one poly at a time."

7.10 Can I modify the Rendering Engine with UnrealScript?

To a degree, yes. Some changes, such as pixel by pixel changes would be too slow for UnrealScript and would require assembly language. Tim Sweeney explains what can be modified in UnrealScript: "A lot of the rendering engine's properties are exposed to UnrealScript, so you can control lighting, the status bar, effects, etc."

7.11 Will Unreal Support Plugins?

Yes, through a dll interface, plugins can be created for Unreal. Tim Sweeney collaborates: "However, it's really only for people who are very experienced C++ programmers and want to get deeply into the engine's internals. UnrealScript is the right tool for probably 95% of the people wanting to do custom stuff in Unreal. But for people brave enough to venture into the dll interface, it's really versatile, to the extent that you can add new objects to the engine which can be loaded/saved along with levels (as you can do with the 3DS Max plug-in interface). For example, this DLL interface is used internally for the fractal texture effects DLL. So you could add entirely new fractal or algorithmic texture effects to the engine this way."

7.12 Will UnrealEd Support Vertex Manipulation?

At the current time, no, it does not. But there are plans to. Tim Sweeney explains: "We have a little 2D shape lofter built into UnrealEd for extruding/revolving things, which gives you control over vertices. UnrealEd still lacks vertex manipulation in 3D brushes, though. I plan to add this at some point, but it will likely be following release. The UnrealEd brush code is the oldest code still left in the engine, and its days are numbered. I haven't completely decided on the cutoff point between the editing tools for Unreal, Unreal follow-on releases, and Unreal 2. Vertex manipulation is also tied very closely to one other feature which we'll be showing at E3 which I can't talk about yet..."

7.13 Can Skins be Animated?

Yes, they can. But they use a lot of memory to have animation, Tim Sweeney gives the details: "I really don't advocate texture animation. Textures take up so much space that storing multiple animation frames is really going to suck away CPU time. This is why we are focusing on fractal texture effects, because that gives you infinite variety animating textures without having to store any texture data. If you're thinking of something like animating a player/monster's face, that would best be done with geometry animation."

8. Multiplayer

8.1 What types of Multiplayer Gaming are Supported in Unreal?

Unreal supports Modem, Serial Link, Network, and Internet play. Currently, they are working on the Internet play and will include modem and serial link later.

8.2 How Many Players can Unreal Support on a Network?

The only limiting factor on the number of players is the power of the server. Though it is possible to have 100 players on a single level, it's not practical as the game will feel like a convention, not a deathmatch. (need estimates)

8.3 Can I Link Different Servers?

Servers can be linked by entering the URL of the other server, similar to a hyperlink in html. Then, when the player walks through the teleporter, they are transported to the new server.

8.4 Can I see what Weapon the other Players are Currently Using?

In Quake, the player model used only a generic looking gun. This made it impossible to tell which weapon opposing player currently had. In Unreal, they will use an "ultra-lo-res" weapon mesh. This will allow you to see what weapon the other players are using. Thanks to Dave Carter for that bit of info.

8.5 How Will Unreal Reduce Lag?

Lag is a fact of life. Epic has taken a few steps to try to reduce lag; here's Tim Sweeney explaining: "Unreal uses autonomous client-side movement to make your own movement as smooth as in a single player game. Movement of other players and creatures exhibits the same kind of latency as Quake and all other Internet games. It's not really possible to solve this problem; game developers will just keep getting better and better at hiding it."

8.6 What is Gatekeeper?

From Tim Sweeney: "Gatekeeper is a front-end for launching and maintaining local and remote UnrealServers. It's external to Unreal and designed for expandability; we'll be releasing a fairly bare-bones version initially which just allows launching levels, joining levels, and collecting stats. We will release the source code to it, and probably expand on it later. Some of the things one could do are: player account management (individual player passwords), setting up a global chat network. For Unreal, we're going with freeform movement through the world, like the Web, rather than having a master server controlling things."

8.7 Are there any Security Measures taken by UnrealScript when Calling Outside Programs?

Tim Sweeney says that scripts only execute on the server side, so a script can't screw a client over (my example was calling format c:). This is different than Java, which executes on the client side.

8.8 Are Files that are Dynamically Downloaded Compressed?

Currently there are not. The design team is currently contemplating this but because a 28.8 modem currently has built-in data compression, the gains might not be worth the effort.

9. Miscellaneous

9.1 Can Two Bots Act as One?

I asked Tim Sweeney this question and he said that "Steven's AI code handles all kinds of cool things, including enemies working together on attacks."

10. The Unreal Scene

10.1 What is the Unreal Scene?

The Unreal Scene is the name of a group of people who follow Unreal. It would must generically defined as anyone who attempts to remain "informed" on Unreal. A number of the more dedicated people spend countless hours in #unreal channels.

10.2 Where can I go to Talk about Unreal?

Though Unreal might be mentioned less then it would be preferred, Unreal followers can be found in #unreal on Efnet (irc.mindspring.com), Undernet (us.undernet.org), and UnrealNET (irc.unreal.org).

10.3 What Web Pages Are there for Info on Unreal?

There are a massive number of web pages out there covering Unreal, too numerous to put here. For a list of Unreal sites go to The Unreal Links at links.unreal.org or Slipgate Central's Unreal section at www.slipgatecentral.com/unreal. My personal favorite sites are: Unreal.org at surprisingly, www.unreal.org; Shadows, www.shadows.co.uk; Scorched Unreal at unreal.scorched.com; Immersion at unreal.telefragged.com. For Unreal discussion, go to Epic's WWWBoard at www.epicgames.com:8080. Don't send me an e-mail complaining that your site is not listed here, these are my preferences.

11. The Future

11.1 What Other Platforms will Unreal be Released on?

Unreal will also be released on the Nintendo 64 ported by DMA. It will be on the 64DD, an add-on to the Nintendo 64, which uses optical disks allowing up to 64 megabytes of storage with up to 32 megs being writable. This is still much smaller then the PC Version. Epic will have to reduce the number and size of the textures to fit Unreal on a disk. When asked if the levels will be different in the Nintendo 64 version, Mark Rein stated "Don't know. It's fair to assume the levels won't be 100% identical because of memory and texture limitations on the N64." A Playstation version was initially researched, but it was determined to be too slow for Unreal. There are also plans for an arcade port of Unreal, straight from the mouth of Mark Rein.

11.2 Will there be an Unreal 2?

There are definate plans to do an Unreal 2. This will not be similar to a Doom 2 or a Quake 2. Because of the public release of their level editor, UnrealEd, and the editing capabilities of UnrealScript, Epic believes they cannot just release new levels and a few new monsters and call it a sequel. They plan on making major modifications to the engine, creating a whole new experience once again.

11.3 What about a Jazz3D Game?

Epic have said they have definite plans to make such a game. No info has been released on whether they will use the Unreal engine or a new engine.

12. Credits

I would like to thank the following people for their help in the production of this Faq:

Pasha Phares-Editor
Tim Sweeney-Answering Questions
Mark Rein-Answering Questions, General Help
Elliot Cannon-Answering Questions
Dave Carter-Answering Questions
Hendrick Mans-Making me Work Harder
Rest of Unreal Team-Being Kick Ass Guys

Games:

UNREAL

DUNE 2000

NEXT GAMES

Screenshots:

Cheats:

Downloads:

Links:

Any comments mail to guardian@post.cz ..... thanks!