Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

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Nevander
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Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by Nevander »

Wanted to get back into Unreal and UT99 so I recently reinstalled Unreal Gold and then promptly installed the 227i unofficial patch which is practically required for modern enjoyment if I say so myself, however it looks like it may have introduced strange launching mechanics.

These days I like being disconnected from the internet and Steam when playing stuff, I have my own reasons so bear with me.

I want to be able to play Unreal completely offline, but I can't seem to do it easily. Trying to run Unreal Gold results in nothing happening, except something does happen. Checking Task Manager, I see that Unreal.exe, dllhost.exe, and rundll32.exe are all running but the game refuses to open. It doesn't even show up under running applications, so I have to end the processes manually. It stays like this until I close them, and none of them are even touching the CPU. Weird.

If I run Steam and try again (still not connected to the internet), the same thing happens. BUT... connect to the internet and suddenly it runs without issue.

So here's what I've found:
- Does not require Steam to run at all once patched and launched from the exe
- Requires an internet connection to start in one double-click
- Can be launched without a connection, but requires two double-clicks
- Attempting to run it again will actually launch it, but now there are two Unreal.exe's running (the unresponsive one and the real one)

So now I want to figure out why it hangs the first run and doesn't do anything. I suspect the patch added some kind of detection or some weird shit for internet connectivity checking or something and then doesn't run. I know the patch fixes a lot of stuff to make it compatible with multiplayer again and stuff.

Maybe there is some kind of launch parameter or INI tweak to prevent this hang up? I'd love to know, if anyone else has Unreal Gold 227i installed and can test stuff since I'm clueless about this kind of thing.

Also related, I noticed the game runs a shit load better if I run it in windowed mode. Any reason why this may be? I thought fullscreen was supposed to be better? Running windowed not only completely removes the input lag but also seems to remove any stuttering I get. I might start playing games windowed and hide my icons and stuff when doing so.
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leileilol
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Re: Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by leileilol »

The hold-up is Windows' Games Explorer recognizing the process and checking it out (so babbys on the computer with lower allowed ratings on their user profile can't run it for example. Unreal is rated M for Mature because theres blood and gores and a guy that says "shit" and "hell" behind a door and a mural with lot of br*asts & none of this are for babby and Windows is helping you to be a responsible gammer)
Nevander
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Re: Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by Nevander »

Ok now how do I stop that behavior? If it requires using Group Policy Editor then I'm SoL because I'm on W7 Home Premium.
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Rachael
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Re: Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by Rachael »

Nevander wrote:Ok now how do I stop that behavior? If it requires using Group Policy Editor then I'm SoL because I'm on W7 Home Premium.
https://www.itechtics.com/enable-gpedit ... s-10-home/
Little warning the site may be a bit ad-laden. Don't visit without an ad-blocker.
Nevander
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Re: Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by Nevander »

I'd only try that if GPE could disable this behavior. I heard you could rename the gameux.dll files in system32 and it would disable it but I'm not sure.
Nevander
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Re: Strange issues with starting Unreal Gold (Steam)

Post by Nevander »

Figured out a way to stop it:
1) Open regedit

2) Navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\GameUX\ServiceLocation"

3) Rename the "Games" key in the right pane to something else, like "Games_DEFAULT"
You probably could just delete this key, but it holds the address for the database and eventually
you might want to restore this path to normal. Why? I don't know but nevertheless...

4) Create a new string value in the right pane in the same place as the "Games" key you just renamed

5) Give it any local path on your computer to any folder (even if it doesn't exist)
It just needs to be a local path (not a web address)

Example: D:\NoUpdate\

When modified, the whole key should look like this:

Games REG_SZ D:\NoUpdate\

6) Done! All games from Games Explorer should now launch offline right away
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