Proto:Unreal Tournament/Botpack220

Botpack220 is an extremely early prototype of Unreal Tournament that was last modified on December 13th, 1998, which is about a year before the game was released. This prototype was developed when Unreal Tournament was meant to be an expansion pack for Unreal instead of being a standalone game.

By default, Botpack220 is not compiled. If it is compiled, it will only work with version 220 of Unreal.

Botpack220 can be downloaded here.

Weapons
This prototype has almost all of the weapons that first appeared in Unreal Tournament, such as the Impact Hammer and Redeemer. The only missing weapon is the Pulse Rifle. No UT versions of Unreal weapons, such as the Ripper or Enforcer, appear in this prototype.

All of the weapons have a message that is played when someone is killed with that specific weapon, showing that specific kill messages were planned early on in development. Almost all of them are the same as they are in the final game.

Impact Hammer


The Impact Hammer looks mostly like it does in the final game, but there are some small differences. The cylinders on the sides of the weapon are bright yellow instead of orange and the left cylinder does not have text on it, like it does in the final game.

The fire modes are reversed. The primary fire rapidly-fires the “hammer”, while the alt-fire is used to charge the gun. The charging mode can be used to jump higher than normal, like in the final game. If the charging mode is used, the Impact Hammer will not automatically fire when the player gets close enough to the target, like in the final game.

The weapon uses existing sounds from Unreal, most of which don't match the gun. When the primary fire is used, the Flak Cannon's primary fire sound is used. When the charging attack is started, the game will play a bit of the Bio Rifle's charging sound, then use the Minigun fire sound until it's fully charged.

When an Impact Hammer is picked up, the game calls it the “Nut Buster”. Probably an in-joke.

The message that is used when someone is killed with an Impact Hammer is slightly different between Botpack220 and the final game.

Chainsaw
The Chainsaw is in the game and looks just like it does in the final game. When holding down the primary fire key, the Chainsaw will loop the moving teeth animation for a few sections, then restart the “cut into something” animation from the beginning. The alt-fire mode is the same as it is in the final game. Neither of the Chainsaw's attacks will hurt enemies.

Double Automags


The player can dual-wield Automags in this prototype, proving that the idea to dual-wield pistols was implanted very early in Unreal Tournament's development. Both pistols still need to be reloaded and behave the same as the Automags in Unreal do. Each pistol has it's own magazine and they cannot be reloaded by simply switching to another weapon, like the Automag in Unreal can. The player can also switch between dual and single Automags. In the final game, the player cannot use a single Enforcer again after they get dual Enforcers unless they drop one of the pistols.

One thing to note is how dual Automags are acquired. The dual Automag can only be acquired by picking up a special Automag spawned via the console when the player already has one. If the player already has an Automag and picks up another one that's been placed in a level, such as the ones in Nyleve's Falls, they player will not get dual Automags. In addition, if they don't have an Automag and the one that enables dual Automags is picked up, the player will receive a single Automag.

If the player has both double Automags and a regular single Automag found in a level, they will have two single Automags when they switch weapons in the second weapon slots. The first one is the regular single Automag, while the second one is the single Automag obtained from double Automags. It seems the game considers the double Automag pickup a separate weapon from the regular Automag, even if it gives the player a single Automag.

If the player grabs the Dual Automag pickup when they already have an Automag, the message “Time to kick some ass John Woo style!” appears on the top left corner of the screen and they will be given the dual Automags.

Translocator


The Translocator looks completely different than it does in the final game. Instead of being a grey, wrist-mounted disk shooter, it is a large disk with blue lights on it that is in a rust-colored holder that has some buttons on it. When the Translocator is thrown, the hand holding the disk holder hits a button, which causes the disk in the holder to quickly shrink until it disappears. The actual disk tossed is a green, vagulely-disk shaped object with several bits missing on it.

There are several functional differences compared to the final one. First, both the “toss disk” and teleport functions are bound to the primary fire key. There is no way to make the disk return to the player from a distance without teleporting. However, this is an animation for bringing the disk back from a distance in the model file. The disk can be picked up if walked over. The alt-fire takes out another weapon.

In-game, the only sound that plays for the Translocator is the beeping sound that plays while the disk is in the air on on the ground. However, the files show that it had a full set of sounds. These sound are the same as the ones that are used in the final game.

When the player teleports with the Translocator, they are taken to wherever the disk was without any special effects used to show that the player had teleported, nor does a sound play.

The disk doesn't go as far as the final's does, making it less useful. Finally, there is a brief delay between when the user teleports and when a disk can be thrown again, which does not happen in the final game.

When the Translocator is selected, the message "The fact that the translocator is fucked up is not Steve's fault!"; Steve most likely being Steve Polge, one of the programmers that worked on Unreal and Unreal Tournament. Looks like someone was trying to avoid blame.

Hidden inside the MODELS folder is a .doc file showing the amount of animation frames that were reduced via optimization that was last updated on December 8th, 1998. Looking at the chart, it seems they didn't do anything.

Redeemer


The Redeemer is in the game as well, but has a completely different texture. The Botpack220 version of the Redeemer lacks most of the details that appear on the final texture, such as the buttons on it. The pipes on the sides of the gun are less detailed than they are in the final. The right pipe has numbers on it, while the final one has a worn label. The nuke logo on the final's Redeemer is a vent in the Botpack220 version. The “Redeemer” text on the side uses a different font in Botpack220. Finally, the barrel has red running down it and black on the tip of the barrel in Botpack220, but the final version has two red stripes near the end of the barrel. There's also a square-shaped thing poking out of the upper pipe in Botpack220, but that's most likely an error.

When the nuke fired by the Redeemer explodes in Botpack220, the aftershock has a slight red tint. In the final version, it has no tint.

The nuke fired by the Redeemer is very basic-looking in Botpack220. The final nuke is much more complex and has a better texture.

There are two rendering issues with the Redeemer in Botpack220. First, if the Redeemer is being held, the model will be placed over any HUD elements (like ammo count) it touches. Second, the right slope in the center of the gun goes through the model instead of being placed on it. This is fixed in the final game.

The weapon behaves just like it does in the final game, but no sounds are played when the rocket is being remotely controlled. Each rocket is extremely powerful; everything except the Skaarj Queen or a Titan will gibbed in one shot if they are hit by the explosion.

The player can hold one nuke in Botpack220. In the final verision, they can hold 2.

Items
This prototype has only one Unreal Tournament item in it's code.

UDamage/Damage Amplifier


The UDamage/Damage Amplifier has the same shape as the final's, but uses a different texture. Instead of being solid gold, the BOTPACK220 UDamage has a stone-like texture on it's edges with red in the center of the “horns”. It also flashes. When picked up, the game states that the Mark of Chizra has been picked up, Chizra being one of the gods mentioned in Unreal.

Like the items in Unreal, the UDamage must be activated manually. In the final game, it is automatically activated when picked up. The player's weapon does not turn a translucent purple, like in the final game, when it is activate. They player does not glow purple either.

Botpack220's Udamage appeared in a pre-release screenshot dated January 12th, 1999.

Flags
There is code and models for Capture the Flag's flags. However, when spawned in, they are invisible and crash the game if picked up.

HUD Graphics
Botpack220 has a ton of unused HUD icons in it. Most of these are Unreal's HUD graphics, but modified to have a blue background instead of a stone-like one.

CTF and Domination icons
Note that all of these icons use Unreal-style background.

Colored Skulls
These are colored versions of the icon representing the amount of kills made in an Unreal deathmatch. These were to be used to show what team the player was on. The same icons appeared in Unreal, but with Unreals stone background for icons, not the modern blue.

Different Rifle ammo icon
One interesting thing to note is that the icon for Rifle ammo uses a different design in Botpack220 compared to the one used in Unreal. The Botpack220 icon uses three generic rifle cartridges on top of each other, while the regular Unreal icon uses a picture of a box of Rifle cartridges.

Icons in early Unreal Tournament screenshots
The CTF and Domination icons that appear in this prototype appeared in some early pre-release screenshots.

Levels
Botpack200 comes packed with two levels, Envirothing and Neptune. Envirothing's textures are not in the package, which makes it impossible to run the map. Neptune's are, allowing it to be run.

Neptune
Neptune is a tech demo level created by Erik de Neve, a programmer that was working at Epic at the time. It uses textures from a package called “ut_artFX”, which contains textures that were eventually used in the Version 222 Unreal Tournament prototype. It was last edited on December 17th, 1998, which is a few days after the rest of the content in the prototype was last modified. “ut_artFX', the textures used in this map, was last modified on November 22nd, 1998.

The text that appears when the level is loaded calls it the “eyecandy demo level”. It's a pretty fitting name, as, according to the texture names in the texture package this map heavily uses, it has features like phong shading and bump mapping.

Indoors area
The level starts in a small room with four differently-colored pillars and a jewel-shape on the left nad right sides of the room. Opposite of where the player spawns is a path that leads to the next room. Helpful arrows point the way just in case someone manages to get lost in a tiny room.

Outdoors area
The outdoors area is smaller compared to the indoors area. The first of two parts the player will be in is a medium-sized room with four pyramids. Two of them have arrows pointing up, while the other two have circles on them. A skybox is visible, but it consists of a black void with a blue sphere.

Envirothing
Envirothing's cannot be loaded because of missing textures, but the “Last Modified” date for it is January 4th, 1999; a few weeks after the content in this prototype was last edited.

Level Lists
There are level lists for Capture the Flag, Domination, and Assault in the code.

Capture the Flag
defaultproperties {	Maps(0)="CTF-Niven.unr" Maps(1)="CTF-Doria.unr" Maps(2)="CTF-Dreary.unr" Maps(3)="CTF-LavaGiant" Maps(4)="CTF-Phraela" Maps(5)="CTF-Coret" }

It seems that three of the final's CTF levels were already being worked on when this prototype was made. The list also mentions two levels that never made it into the final game; CTF-Doria and CTF-Phraela. These maps don't appear in any other prototype nor pre-release media.

The Capture the Flag single player ladder has a few more maps not listed in the regular level list.

GameClass=class'Botpack.CTFGame' Maps(0)="CTF-Niven.unr" Maps(1)="CTF-Doria.unr" Maps(2)="CTF-Dreary.unr" Maps(3)="CTF-LavaGiant" Maps(4)="CTF-Phraela" Maps(5)="CTF-Coret" Maps(6)="CTF-EternalCave" Maps(7)="CTF-TnaigAvla" TrainerMap="CTF-Trainer1"

CTF-EternalCave was already being worked on in this prototype as well. It also lists a map called “CTF_TnaigAvla”. Who knows what this was supposed to be. CTF-Trainer1 was most likely an early version of the final's tutorial level.

Domination
defaultproperties {	Maps(0)="DOMTest.unr" }

Just a test level.

Assault
defaultproperties {	Maps(0)="ASOne.unr" }

Looks like Assault only had a test level when this prototype was made.

GUI
Code and graphics for an early version of the final's menu GUI (Uwindows) can be found in Botpack220's resources. Perhaps the most interesting part of it is the background image. Instead of Unreal Tournament on a rusted steel background, Botpack220's background image is a stylized “U” on a blue background that has a circuit-like design on it.

This background appears in the Version 222 prototype, but has text in the center of the design.

Temporary background


The GUI graphics folder also contains an even earlier background called “TEMPBG”. It is a blue image with a marble texture on it. In the Version 222 prototype, it is used as the border when the screen size is shrunk.

Player model


Botpack220 contains only a texture for a player model called "PARIAH". It appears to be an early version of the male Iron Guard skin seen in the final game. Instead of being steel-colored like the male Iron Guard's armor is in the final game, PARIAH's armor is orange. The design is also different, as his abs armor appears to just be cloth and the front of his armor has markings that don't appear on the male Iron Guard design. Very early screenshots show what PARIAH would've looked like if his model was included with the prototype. Note: The Pariah skin is actually for the usual male three model from regular Unreal, this wasn't yet meant to be used by a different model, however it sure evolved into that slowly.

Unreal prototype Translocator
Textures for the Translocator found in some later Unreal prototypes can be found in the model folder. They probably used the old Unreal design as a placeholder before the Translocator model used in Botpack220 was made.

Nali, Translator, and Titan textures
For some reason, textures for the regular Nali, Nali priest, Nali gibs, Universal Translator when it appears on-screen, and a regular Titan are packed with Botpack220. Botpack220 requires the regular Unreal resources in order for it to be run, so why textures already in Unreal are packed with Botpack220 is a mystery.

Nali and Titan models are included in Botpack220's files as well.

Female1
The Female1 voicepack sounds the same as it does in the final game. However, it has some sounds that don't appear in the final game.

Female2
The Female2 voicepack is a treasure trove of unused content. It not only sounds completely different from the final game, it also has a ton of voices that don't appear in the final version!

Male1
Male1 has some unused lines, but not nearly as many as the other voicepacks.

Responses
In the final game, the voice used in the Male1 voice pack for the commands “Roger”, “On my way” and “Got it” appear to use a different voice actor from the rest of the lines in Male1. However, Botpack220 has those lines voiced by the actor that does the rest of the Male1 lines! It seems they had the original voice actor record them, but had someone else rerecord them a little bit after the original lines were done, as Botpack220 has both the lines done by the original voice actor and the different one that are used in the final game.

CTF sounds
Several sounds that were meant to be played during a CTF match are in the files. Only one of them, FLAGTA~.wav, appears in the final game. The ROCKON sound appears in the Version 222 prototype's sound files and in early preview footage released by GameStar.

In the code for CTF, only three of the sounds, CTF5, CTF6, and ROCKON, are used. All of them were meant to play when the flag was captured. ROCKON can be heard in this video that's showing an early prototype.

Domination sounds
The Domination sound folder contains two sounds that are both used, in one way or another. One is a renamed WarningSound, which is used in the final game, while the other is a different sounding take on ControlSound, another sound the final game uses.

Callsigns
All of the character voicepacks have sounds for the callsigns (such as Abel, Baker, etc) that were removed from the final game. It seems they wanted to use them as early as Botpack220.

Single player mode
Code for the single player ladder exists, but there are some differences compared to the final version.

Ranking messages
It seems that there would be a screen dedicated to telling you how you did after you completed a match in the single player ladder. The text for it can be seen below:

defaultproperties {	Menutitle="Recap - Tournament " Modifier(0)="an abysmal " Modifier(1)="a poor " Modifier(2)="a mediocre " Modifier(3)="a respectable " Modifier(4)="an excellent " Modifier(5)="an outstanding " Modifier(6)="an amazing " Modifier(7)="an unbelievable " SuccessMessage="Your challenge was successful, and you achieve the rank of " FailureMessage="You fail to advance." RatingMessage="Your personal rating for this match is " CompletedMessage="You have now completed all the ladders for " VictoryMessage="You are now an Unreal Tournament Champion!" }

In the final game, you are immediately sent back to the ladder menu after a match is complete. The next level or ladder will unlock depending on if you won or not. You are never given a “personal rating” for any match.

Titles
There are only four titles, Novice, Advanced, Expert, and Champion, defined in this prototype. The final game expands it to six and keeps only the Champion title.

Earlier titles?
Underneath the list of titles is this:

RungName(0)="Untested" RungName(1)="Amateur" RungName(2)="Adept" RungName(3)="Warrior" RungName(4)="Challenger" RungName(5)="Hero" RungName(6)="Master" RungName(7)="Lord" RungName(15)="GRANDMASTER"

It is unknown exactly what they was supposed to be for. Are they earlier title names, or were specific parts of a ladder meant to have names?

Single player game selecting
HelpMessage(1)="Hit enter to type a new Game ID, or use the arrow keys to select an existing one." HelpMessage(6)="Hit enter to configure and start a custom (non-Ladder) game."

Text for an early way to select a single player game.

Game modes
Capture the Flag, Domination, and Assault already have code in this prototype.

Names
All of the game modes in this prototype are prefixed with “Unreal Challenge”. This was dropped in the final game.

Capture the Flag
Capture the Flag seems to be the most complete game mode in the prototype, as it has the most code made for it, has several maps listed, and has code for a tutorial.

One interesting bit of information is that the code for CTF has flags for blue, red, gold, and green teams listed. In the final game, CTF can only be played between red and blue.

Domination
Domination has a good bit of code related to it as well. It seems that most of the code establishing the game type, the control points, and how bots use them exist.

Assault
Assault appears to have a bit of work done on it as well. Most of the code is for establishing things like objectives and telling the bots how to interact with them.

Last Man Standing
There is code for Last Man Standing. It appears to be functional. Interestingly, it is the only game mode that doesn't have “Unreal Challenge” in front of the game mode's name in it's description.

Command Control
Code exists for a gametype that never appeared in the final game. The below text is taken straight from the code for the game mode.

// Sort of like domination // Rules: You must get uplinks from your command center. // (can only carry one at a time) // placing an uplink at a controlpoint gives you control, plus // creates a warpzone link back to commandcenter // damaging enemy command center resets all controlpoints to neutral

It's basically a more complex Domination that forces the player to use an item to capture a point instead of walking over them and allows the team to reset the enemy's points if they attack the enemy's command center (their base?).

Unfortunately, no real code for the game mode exists. It might've been scrapped before any real work was done on it.

WWIIAssault
There is code for a variant of Assault called “WWIIAssault”. All it does is give the player dual Automags when they spawn in instead of one and gets HumansOnly to True. It does not appear in the final game.

Tutorial
As stated earlier, there is code for a CTF tutorial. The code also includes the text that would appear during the tutorial, which has some differences compared to the final text.

Team
At this point, the team the player was on would be indicated by the color of their frag count icon. This was changed to making the entire HUD the team's color. The colored skull icons can be found Botpack220's files.

Translocator overview
Botpack220's CTF tutorial does not mention the Translocator. It goes straight from talking about the HUD to each team's base.

Dropped Flag
This text was revised between the prototype and the final game to reflect the changes made to the HUD system. The icon mentioned in Botpack220's version of the text exists in Botpack220's files.

CTF ladder message
Botpack220's version of the CTF tutorial lacks the message that's supposed to appear after winning the tutorial match. The last message is the one stating that bots are being teleported into the level.