Miscellaneous Fixes and Gameplay For Unreal Tournament 2k4

UT2k4 is an old game at this point so there’s some stuff that didn’t translate well to things like monitors with triple-digit refresh rates. There are also some gameplay quirks that aren’t really well documented.

Various Fixes

Unlocking the 85 FPS Frame Cap

There are two ways to get around this by changing your netspeed. Since 120, 144, and 165 hertz refresh rates seem to be the most common, use 10001 for 120/144fps and use 10880 for 165fps.

1. Go into the User.ini file and change your netspeed

<In User.ini>

[Engine.Player]

ConfiguredInternetSpeed=;speed

2. Bind a key to the command Netspeed [speed]

Open the console (press the ~ key) and type [key]=Netspeed [speed] where key = some key on your keyboard (' or p are easy choices). You’ll have to press this key every time the server changes maps.

“UT2004 is not yet authorized to connect to the internet” message

On versions of Windows older than XP SP1, UT2k4 will panic because it detects the Windows Firewall. It’ll tell you that it can’t connect to the internet, but you can join a server via IP through the console (open [serverIP]) with no trouble. If you want to see a list of servers for whatever reason, jump into the UT2004.ini file and add the following section at the very bottom:

[FireWall]

IgnoreSP2=1

I wrote a program to automate these fixes, which you can >download here<.

Gameplay

Adrenaline

The in-game tutorial doesn’t cover this well. See this thing in the upper right hand corner of your screen?

That is adrenaline. You fill it up either by walking over the pill pickups scattered across the map (which give 2 adrenaline) or by getting kills (which give 5 adrenaline). Once you get 100 adrenaline, you can activate a powerup. There are four powerups:

• Speed
• Booster
• Invisibility
• Berserk

The Speed powerup is activated by pressing your forward movement key (default w) four times rapidly, so wwww if you’re using wasd. It boosts your move speed and jump height for 18 seconds, less if you’re carrying a flag.

The Booster powerup is activated by pressing your backward movement key (default s) four times rapidly, so ssss on wasd. It regenerates your health up to 199%, and then your armor shield to 150%. The actively regenerating value accumulates at 5 points per second. It lasts 27 seconds.

The Invisiblity powerup is exactly what it sounds like. Tap your left strafe key (default d) twice rapidly and then your right strafe key (default a) twice rapidly immediately after, and the ability will activate and stay active for 27 seconds. The input should be ddaa on wasd.

The Berserk powerup increases the rate of fire and knockback of your weapons. This isn’t terribly useful on some weapons, but amazing on others. Activate it by pressing your forward movement key (default w) twice rapidly and then your backward movement key (default s) twice rapidly immediately after, so wwss on wasd. It lasts for 27 seconds.

Shock Combos

One of the more famous weapon quirks of UT, the shock rifle has a 1-2 punch with its alternate and primary fire. First, fire a shock orb with alt fire, then hit that orb with your primary fire.