Epic Games is de-listing and stopping sales of old Unreal titles

[Kinsie]

I wouldn't be surprised if these games came back at a later time, with fully featured and upgraded DRM and other shit, and of course incompatible with the old fan patches, Gotta abuse the dumb schmucks who shrugged off DRM when it first appeared and now know no other way to play. No matter what some people have stated here that these games are not DRM "protected", this action would not have happened in a DRM free world.

Of course with the general standing of these games, the ones who will really benefit from this are the pirates. Delisting such iconic titles won't reduce the demand for them.

Their plan, openly, is to re-release Unreal Tournament 3 (the one nobody likes) as a free title with the network integration/accounts system/other nonsense (initially gamespy, later steam) replaced with Epic Online Services, the account system used for Fortnite and Rocket League and a few other cross-platform games.

This will not make people like UT3 more, I'd wager.

[KynikossDragonn]

I suppose it would be a "DMCA violation" to figure out how to get a third party master list for UT2004 that doesn't care about someones CDKey. Assuming anybody actually wanted to take that dive to figure any of that out.

[Kinsie]

I suppose it would be a "DMCA violation" to figure out how to get a third party master list for UT2004 that doesn't care about someones CDKey. Assuming anybody actually wanted to take that dive to figure any of that out.

I believe the CD Key authentication has been intentionally lobotomized for years - I think the GOG version just gives everyone the same key? I'll be surprised if any replacement master servers give a care about it.

[NightFright]

It's amazing and confusing to see how a company can turn its back on a franchise that once helped to make them great.

[KynikossDragonn]

I believe the CD Key authentication has been intentionally lobotomized for years - I think the GOG version just gives everyone the same key? I'll be surprised if any replacement master servers give a care about it.

I don't think the CDKey thing was ever truly "lobotomized", I couldn't access the UT2004 master lists whatsoever until I went and found my original hard copy CDKey and used it instead of the one GOG's installer puts in place. No idea if it was just a coincidince on my part or not but it sure seemed odd it started working the moment I used my actual legitimate CDKey.

But, now I guess since Epic is pulling the plug on even the official UT2004 master list I can't really properly verify this again.

It's also worth mentioning, banning someone from a UT2004 server works via the CDKey of the client, I think? Rather than by the IP address or IP address range. (Even though UT2004 should *still* have the ability to ban someone via IP address)

It's amazing and confusing to see how a company can turn its back on a franchise that once helped to make them great.

Probably just what happens when "shareholders" get their hands on all the decision making.

[Nems]

Epic's recent behaviors (as in the past few years) are honestly so disagreeable with me that I go as far as to try and not buy anything using the Unreal Engine. I know that's not fair to small indie devs who use the engine. At the same time, I don't feel comfortable having my money go towards engine licensing fees they're probably paying Epic to use for their game.

No ethical consumption under capitalism, sadly. :\ Damn shame Epic's snuffing out their own history.

[KynikossDragonn]

Epic's recent behaviors (as in the past few years) are honestly so disagreeable with me that I go as far as to try and not buy anything using the Unreal Engine.

Funny, I used to have dreams of using Unreal Engine 1 to make a standalone game... and that pretty much is a dead lost cause.

Marisa, is the whole reason I came back to this community in the first place but trying to learn how Doom Engine works has been a constant struggle, at any rate I'm never going to be in any position to realize the game I've wanted to create.

[Gez]

Unity is probably a better choice for indie gamedev anyway. Though there are plenty of FOSS alternatives too, like Godot or OGRE. GZDoom is a valid choice if you don't mind having to deal with some of Doom's idiosyncrasies that are buried far too deep in the code to be factored out.

[KynikossDragonn]

GZDoom is a valid choice if you don't mind having to deal with some of Doom's idiosyncrasies that are buried far too deep in the code to be factored out.

I get the rough gist of DECORATE and ZScript, but the problem is the kind of levels I want to design are very much 3D and might not even translate properly to what GZDoom currently supports, unless 3D models have vertex collision detection?

I basically need something like this for movable level geometry. GZDoom's PolyObjects don't draw any flats so I can't really have things like realistic drawbridges or flip-up open doors with those. Stuff that I'm well inclined to make inside UnrealEd 1.0 are mostly things that would never work in a Doom Engine, even under Hexen format levels.

[Rachael]

GZDoom *can* do rudimentary forms of model collision but they have to be manually scripted in. ZZYZX once made a demonstration with a 3D model bridge that you could actually walk across and shoot rockets at. I would, however, stick with something a lot simpler.

Actually, physics calculations is one of the most CPU intensive tasks in any game - that's why some games use PhysX to drop the load to the GPU (but if you know what you're doing, interfaces like OpenCL can handle it too).

Without that, though, keeping physics shapes simple (when dealing with 3D physics) is always the best thing to do. And GZDoom can handle that, just fine, with just minimal scripting.

[Player701]

Not looking to start an argument, but in my eyes Unreal 1 is, quite simply, a masterpiece, period. Unreal 2 wasn't nearly as good as 1, but I still liked it somewhat. And as for the Tournament series, I've never been a fan of them mostly because I like single-player more than multiplayer (they have botmatches, but it gets boring after a while).

If Epic released a new single-player Unreal game, I'd buy it immediately. But alas, it seems the whole Unreal franchise is dead now. A man can dream, though...

[sinisterseed]

If Epic released a new single-player Unreal game, I'd buy it immediately. But alas, it seems the whole Unreal franchise is dead now. A man can dream, though...

It very much is, yes, even the development of the Unreal Tournament reboot was very troubled back when it was still in active development, before getting killed off entirely.

So the chances of a new game, much less a singleplayer entry, are below 0. Frachise is as good as dead, and damn sure they won't be selling it either. So, enjoy the memories, as that's the only thing we'll see in the future.

[Rachael]

So, enjoy the memories, as that's the only thing we'll see in the future.

Which is entirely why sites like archive.org exist.

I wish Epic would just release the games for free instead of trying to scrub them out of existence, though.

[Marisa the Magician]

We could always try and continue the legacy of the Unreal series, even if it's on a different engine entirely.

[AmissaAnima]

I honestly don't get why they would deliberately damage their income.