====================================================================== Unreal Release Notes ====================================================================== Unreal Developed by: Epic MegaGames & Digital Extremes Published by: GT Interactive --------------- Starting Unreal --------------- To start Unreal: 1. Click on the "Start" button at the bottom of the screen. 2. Move the mouse to the "Programs" choice. 3. Move the mouse to the "Unreal" choice. 3. Click on the "Play Unreal" icon. -------------------------------------- For the latest information and updates -------------------------------------- Visit the Unreal home page on the web: http://www.unreal.com/ http://www.gtgames.com/ On our web page, you'll find: * The latest updates & patches. * Up-to-date troubleshooting information. * Links to Unreal community web sites. * The master Unreal server list. * Links to more cool games using the Unreal technology. ----------------- Technical Support ----------------- Please see the manual accompanying the retail version of the game for instructions on obtaining technical support. ====================================================================== Troubleshooting ====================================================================== ------- Lockups ------- If Unreal locks up or crashes when you first run it, try starting Unreal via the "Unreal Safe Mode" icon available in the Start menu (Start/Programs/Unreal/Unreal Safe Mode). This mode is similar to Windows 95's Safe Mode. It runs Unreal with sound, DirectDraw, and 3D hardware support disabled. This way, you can modify the options in Unreal's "Advanced Options" menu that may be causing problems, then run Unreal again. ------- Crashes ------- If Unreal stops with an "Unreal has run out of virtual memory" message, you need to free up more hard disk space on your primary drive (C:) in order to play. Unreal's large levels and rich textures take up a lot of virtual memory. We recommend having 150 megabytes of free hard disk space for running the game, and 300 megabytes or more of free hard disk space for the editor. ------------ Video issues ------------ Some older DirectDraw drivers do not support low resolution 16- and 32-bit color modes (for example, 320x240, 400x300, and 512x384). If you are playing Unreal using software rendering, this is unfortunate because the higher resolution modes like 640x400 and 640x480 run significantly slower than the low resolution modes. If the only full-screen options shown in Unreal are high-res, you might try obtaining a newer DirectDraw driver for your video card. Some video drivers do not properly support DirectDraw full-screen in 16- or 32-bit color at any resolution. If you are unable to play Unreal full-screen, you should obtain a newer driver from your video board manufacturer. If you can't find a working DirectDraw driver, you can still play Unreal in a window, though the performance and immersiveness are not as good as playing full-screen. On nearly all machines, Unreal runs optimally in 32-bit color mode (rather than 16-bit color). You can select 32-bit color either from the main Unreal window. Alternatively, if you set your desktop resolution to 32-bit color, then Unreal defaults to 32-bit color. To maintain a consistent frame rate despite a large number of translucent surfaces and/or explosion effects in software rendering, you might want to set "SlowVideoBuffering" to "True" in the "Advanced Options/Display" menu. Known video issues: * Unreal does not work on many 3dfx Voodoo Rush based 3d accelerators, due to driver conflicts which we haven't been able to resolve. * On 3dfx under Windows NT, if you switch from the software renderer to 3dfx more than once per run of the game, you may receive an error message. ------------ Sound issues ------------ The sound playback rate defaults to 22 kHz, which is optimal for Pentium machines with MMX. If you have an older, non-MMX machine, you can get better performance (though lower sound quality) by setting the playback rate to 11 kHz in the "Advanced Options" menu. If you have a fast, shiny new Pentium II, you might try using 44 kHz for the ultimate in sound quality. If using an Aureal A3D 3D sound accelerator board such as the Diamond Monster Sound 3D, you need to go into "Advanced Options/Audio" and turn on "Use3dHardware" to enable 3D sound card support. You need to upgrade to the latest version of Aureal's A3D drivers in order to get acceptable 3D sound performance. Using Unreal in conjunction with earlier versions of the drivers causes severe performance problems (major slowdowns on the order of 30-50% while playing sound). If your computer is hooked up to a Dolby SurroundSound receiver, you should go into "Advanced Options" and turn on the "UseSurround" to take advantage of 360-degree Dolby sound panning, which rocks. Known sound issues: * A small number of computer configurations we've tested exhibit infrequent lockups when playing in full-screen DirectDraw (software rendered) mode using DirectSound for audio output. On most of these machines, going into "Advanced Options/Audio", and turning off the "UseDirectSound" option prevented the lockups. Playing in a window also prevented the lockups. * Because of the way the OS works, many Windows NT machines experience significant latency in their sound effects, sometimes up to 1/4th second. * If you have an Aureal A3D sound card with Unreal 3D sound enabled, you must disable the Aureal's "A3D Splash Screen" in the Aureal configuration utility. If this is not disabled, Unreal may be unable to go into full-screen mode because of the splash screen interfering. ------------------- Network play issues ------------------- The minimum speed connection for acceptable Internet play performance is a 28.8K modem connection to your Internet Service Provider. When you become disconnected from an Unreal server, you are placed in a small holding level (which looks like a jail cell). From there, you can use the menus to reconnect or join a new server. Known network play issues: * When a new player enters a network game, clients may experience a 1/4-second pause while the mesh, skin, and other data is loaded for that player. This is by design. * Unreal Internet play performance is highly dependent on the bandwidth of your connection, the latency (ping time), and the packet loss. The game is designed to be playable up to 300 msec ping times, 5% packet loss, and 28.8K connection speeds. Performance degrades heavily under worse latency, packet loss, and bandwidth connections. * When switching between levels in a deathmatch game with a frag limit or time limit, or in a coop game at the end of a level, players are temporarily moved into the holding level (a small level that looks like a jail cell) for 5-10 seconds while the server switches levels and informs the clients of the level change. * Coop savegames are not supported. Instead, the player who starts the coop game can specify the starting level. -------------- Control issues -------------- Known control issues: * Some PC keyboards can't recognize certain combinations of 3 or more simultaneously pressed keys. ====================================================================== Advanced Options ====================================================================== In Unreal, go into the "Options" menu then select "Advanced Options" to bring up the menu of advanced options. Some of the more useful options you can customize are: ----- Audio ----- AmbientFactor: Scaled ambient sound effects relative to regular sound effects. Can be 0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0.6. EffectsChannels: Number of simultaneously playing sound effects. Defaults to 16. Use a lower number to increase performance, at the expense of sound detail. LowSoundQuality: Increases performance and reduces memory usage, by substituting lower-quality versions of sounds. OutputRate: The sound playback rate. The higher the number, the better the sound quality and the slower the performance. 11025Hz is medium quality, 44100 is CD-quality. Use3dHardware: Enables support for Aureal A3D sound cards. UseDirectSound: Enables DirectSound support. UseReverb: Enables and disables echos and reverb. UseSurround: Enables Dolby SurroundSound(tm) support. Requires that your computer is hooked up to a Dolby SurroundSound(tm) receiver. Works with all sound cards. ------- Display ------- CaptureMouse: When enabled, causes Unreal to hide the mouse cursor when you are playing within a window. CurvedSurfaces: Enables smoothing of monster meshes. LowDetailTextures: Increases performance and reduces memory usage by substituting lower quality textures. Great for low-memory machines. NoLighting: Turns off all lighting within the game. Looks ugly, but increases performance on low-end machines. StartupFullscreen: Whether to start up with the game running in a window, or full-screen. UseDirectDraw: Enables DirectDraw full-screen rendering support. UseJoystick: Enables joystick support. ------- Drivers ------- GameRenderDevice: The driver for 3D rendering during gameplay. If you install new 3D hardware, go into Advanced Options and change this. ---------- Game Types ---------- For each major type of game supported by Unreal (deathmatch play, coop play, etc), you can set these options that affect gameplay. Very useful for internet UnrealServer ...
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