Unreal for PlayStation

[mdmx]

Unreal was announced for PlayStation. I can remember that I had read about it in a PlayStation magazine. Later it was cancelled due to unknown reasons.

Unfortunately I never saw any screenshots :( Did the conversion of the game ever started or was it just a rumour?

[Taemos]

I seriously doubt the Playstation could've done anything with Unreal. As I recall, they had a hell of a time getting Quake/Quake II to run on it. Unreal is a monster compared to those two.

I did read somewhere that it was supposed to be released for the Dreamcast or PS2. I don't remember where, though.

[Paulo]

Its out on the Dreamcast.

[cahaz]

unreal tournament is out on ps2 and dreamcast, but not unreal.

Unreal was suposed to be a 64dd tittle too.

[joehax]

Half-Life made it to the dreamcast too :D

off topic i know :p

[Claysion]

There still are a few fan made servers to play unreal and quake III online on dreamcast.

[Benedict_Arnold]

Sometimes companies just announce titles that really aren't in the works, especially when they aren't supported by actual screenshots. Giants was supposedly 50% complete for the PlayStation but when I contacted the developer, they told me that was total BS. At the time US Official PlayStation Magazine printed that article, the developer was still working on the PC version, plus they never owned a PSX dev kit, plus when they ported it to the PS2 they admitted the PS2 barely had enough power to do it.

[mdmx]

Sometimes companies just announce titles that really aren't in the works, especially when they aren't supported by actual screenshots. Giants was supposedly 50% complete for the PlayStation but when I contacted the developer, they told me that was total BS. At the time US Official PlayStation Magazine printed that article, the developer was still working on the PC version, plus they never owned a PSX dev kit, plus when they ported it to the PS2 they admitted the PS2 barely had enough power to do it.


Giants for the PS1? unbelievable. I saw the PS2 version, it doesn't look very well. They also announced Messiah and Black & White for the old PSX. These games are too complex for the Playstation1.

But Unreal could be possible. Look at Quake II, Delta Force or the two MoH games.

[Taemos]

Not to throw this too far off-topic, but I know I saw screenshots of Black and White on the Playstation. They were extremely ugly...

As for Quake II, I don't know how they made that happen. It looks horrible, but as I recall it didn't play that badly (I owned the game for about a week).

As I see it, Unreal would've been possible on the Playstation 2, but most certainly not on the Playstation.

[mdmx]

I think Quake II looks very nice on the good old psx. ok, not as good as the pc version ;-)

But that's a problem with all 1st person shooters on every video game system.

[madhatter256]

Well if you guys doubted the PSX could handle Unreal 1 engine, then keep in mind that a studio was able to port the whole Quake2 engine onto the PSX. So, if they were able to do that, then maybe the unreal was possible.

[ASSEMbler]

I can see unreal, but it's not going to be the exact engine. No more than quake 2 was.

[sonik]

I see a video of Unreal PS1 in Cyber Net (program in SuperStation channel here in Brazil).
They say it was running on a real PS1.
As far as I can remember, the graphics are ok and the frame-rate was fast.

[Greatsaintlouis]

Well if you guys doubted the PSX could handle Unreal 1 engine, then keep in mind that a studio was able to port the whole Quake2 engine onto the PSX. So, if they were able to do that, then maybe the unreal was possible.
The thing is, though, that the Unreal engine is a LOT heftier than Quake 2, and there was still a lot of work that had to be done in scaling back Quake 2 for the PSX and N64, including a lot of the engine having to be flat-out rewritten for the machines. The colored lighting effects were exclusive to the console versions, and ended up looking really, REALLY good. The Unreal engine was a lot closer in power and performance to Quake 3 than Quake 2 - no mean feat, to be able to compete with Carmack for 2 games while running the same engine.

[Sally]

I seem to remember thinking back in the day that unreal would be running on a modified Duke Nukem engine... I don't know if that's right or not, as i don't remember why i think that.

[Greatsaintlouis]

Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood were the only commercial games as far as I know (may have been 1 or 2 more, I can remember) that ran on the Build engine. Build was essentially a slightly modified Doom engine: It could handle things like sloped terrain and floors above floors, but all of the ingame enemies and items were still sprites. The Unreal Engine (as far as I know, that's its name) was developed by Epic exclusively for the original Unreal and featured all sorts of fancy effects the Build engine could only dream of - colored lighting in software rendering, lens flares, volumetric fog, true sloped surfaces, and a ton of other things I can't list from memory.

[ASSEMbler]

It was probably unreal in name only. No more than URBZ on ds was close to the pc version.

[Funkstar De Luxe]

I don't see the problems here. Like Assembler said, it's not the PC game running on the PSX. Jesus, you could convert Unreal Tournament 2004 to the Gameboy if you wanted.

[Taemos]

I seem to remember thinking back in the day that unreal would be running on a modified Duke Nukem engine... I don't know if that's right or not, as i don't remember why i think that.

If anything, I think it looked a lot like the Quake engine. That's what I think when I look at early Unreal screenshots, anyway. I'm pretty sure they built their engine from the scratch.

As a side note: The final game was gorgeous. http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif Now if only I could find a decent Glide wrapper to use with it...

[AntiPasta]

Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood were the only commercial games as far as I know (may have been 1 or 2 more, I can remember) that ran on the Build engine.

Hmm, come to think of it, didn't good ole' Dark Forces also run on some sort of BUILDesque engine?

And BUILD is VERY different from Unreal-like engines. Basically, BUILD is 2D (or 2.5D) just like Doom, but instead of X & Y you have X & Z (i.e., the terrain is flat, no floors can be 'above' each other - I know, Duke 3D could do this, but it was a very nasty hackjob)

[sonik]

Hmm, come to think of it, didn't good ole' Dark Forces also run on some sort of BUILDesque engine?

Dark Forces don't use BUILD. It run on "Jedi Engine" (something betwen Doom and Build).

I recommend this site for info on the Build Engine:
http://advsys.net/ken/

OFF-TOPIC: Take a look at this voxel engine: http://advsys.net/ken/voxlap.htm

[AntiPasta]

Oh, good old Ken Silverman - now THERE's someone who's really 1337 :nod:
Try his voxel house where you can shoot holes in the walls and stuff... totally amazing!

[Greatsaintlouis]

To 'build' (pardon the pun) on what sonik said: The illustrious Dark Forces used Lucasarts' own Jedi3D engine. As mentioned before, this was fairly similar to Build, but wasn't such a bastard of a resource hog, and if I recall right, it actually had support for floors-above-floors without resorting to the scary hacks of the likes of Duke 3D or Doom 64.

[AntiPasta]

And not to mention cool-looking 3D models of stuff like ships!

[f2bnp]

Bump!
Guess it was actually on the works.Take a lookie here:
http://www.unseen64.net/2009/06/03/unreal-psx-cancelled/

This is awesome!

[Druid II]

Bump!
Guess it was actually on the works.Take a lookie here:
http://www.unseen64.net/2009/06/03/unreal-psx-cancelled/

This is awesome!
There is absolutely no way that this is real ps1 footage.

[Segafreak_NL]

Seems hard to believe indeed..

[iamaduck]

There is absolutely no way that this is real ps1 footage.

They seem to imply that they're the PS1 levels played through the PC version.

[f2bnp]

Why not?The resolution in these screens looks exactly like the one used in PS1 games and there is a lot of pixelation.The video must be from the levels running on the PC.Read the whole text.

[Barc0de]

I was under the impression that having an FPU was an integral part of any REAL Unreal Engine.

This is why Unreal was started not as a PC project back in the day, but for the 64DD. The PSX could have any first person shooter with unreal assets named unreal, but that don't me it a feat ;)

[f2bnp]

I downloaded the packs and used the instructions.I've been trying to load the levels using the console with no luck.Anyone knows how to load them?Btw I have Unreal Gold the one with the updated engine from Unreal Tournament if that matters.

Nevermind I changed the NPScript and it worked.

[Segafreak_NL]

Why not?The resolution in these screens looks exactly like the one used in PS1 games and there is a lot of pixelation.The video must be from the levels running on the PC.Read the whole text.

Ah, right. That makes sense. The lightning seemed too advanced for PSX to maintain a playable framerate.

[Carnivol]

Old thread is old.

But I see a lot of people have mentioned all sorts of things, so I'll just add 2 cent too:

1: A lot of ports of games carry the same name and even identical looks as their counterpart, but aren't really running on the same engine (Duke Nukem 3D, anyone?)

2: The PS1 holds a lot of impressive titles. People have already mentioned Quake II (which was, although choppy, running in hi-res, iirc, more or less sported the exact same looks as the PC version, just with more load points spread out across the levels), there's Forsaken (which also ran in hi-res, which sported some impressive light effects and nice framerate, iirc) and let's not forget the streaming Soul Reaver (which I also seem to recall running in hi-res, streaming stuff, so no loading, and is quite possibly one of... if not THE best looking PS1 game) and there's also Dark Forces (with its simple Doom-like map system, sported some incredibly huge and somewhat "rich" levels)

Doing something based closely on Unreal and/or assets from it probably wouldn't be impossible. Though, it might've been impressive. Also, didn't know Giants was planned for PS1 (knew about Black & White, though.)

[skavenger216]

There was also a N64 version in the works, i cant recall the exact issue but an old issue of Nintendo Power had a little article and screenies in the Pak Watch section of that issue. On a side note, i think the PS1 could have handled Unreal.

[PhreQuencYViii]

I remember this. I think I have an OPM talking about it and Giants and Black and White.

[Rawit]

I was under the impression that having an FPU was an integral part of any REAL Unreal Engine.

This is why Unreal was started not as a PC project back in the day, but for the 64DD. The PSX could have any first person shooter with unreal assets named unreal, but that don't me it a feat ;)
The development of Unreal started on the 486 platform :nod:, I ever had a demo cd with Epic Pinball on it, that contained screenshots of "Unreal", saying it would be available soon :110: .

[Druid II]

Why not?The resolution in these screens looks exactly like the one used in PS1 games and there is a lot of pixelation.

A ps1 game with that high polycount would have either low viewdistance, or horrible crappy textures, or a very low framerate (or all of the above).

The lack of texture disortion is a dead giveaway that its not ps1. Heck, I think I can see bumpmapping there.

Yeah, I understand that these are psx levels running on the pc version, just thought I'd point this out.

[Taucias]

I seriously doubt the Playstation could've done anything with Unreal. As I recall, they had a hell of a time getting Quake/Quake II to run on it. Unreal is a monster compared to those two.

I did read somewhere that it was supposed to be released for the Dreamcast or PS2. I don't remember where, though.

The Quake thing was not really true, it's just the right developer didn't get their hands on it, like Doom on the Saturn.

Quake 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYc5TC2QwAE on the PS does not look that different from the Unreal trailer to me.

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Sorry for the bump, but I feel the need to revive this topic for some real info. The PSX Unreal was indeed being made, but cancelled. The video on unseen64 comes from one of the developers portfolio videos, showing only his levels he has made. He has recorded the video using the developement version of PSX Unreal on software rendering, which ran on modified 220 engine build and with extra low res textures with no detail filtering and stuff (the resolution and color depth of the textures were about the same as the textures of doom) except for the skins, still on the PC though, the level designers didn't have acess to the real psx build which existed and was inhouse only. The skins on the models and stuff, including the gun were not changed or different, it is the map textures which were the low res and I beleive in the PSX hardware version the skins were changed internally to low res versions too. They did run it well on the psx hardware though, from the reports.

The levels some of you have played are simply personal unfinished remakes of Matthew Kagle's levels from the PSX version, using normal textures instead, although he has not rescaled everything right in those, making the maps look a bit odd and his maps were notably one of the more low poly ones.

SegaFreak, do you know what cybernet episode that was? The programme was worldwide and I do remember watching it over here as well, but not that one episode. I remember an episode where they showed early version of Unreal or something though.

Also there was a promotional screenshot and artwork being on one website, that stuff is long lost though, http://www.bluesnews.com/s/3178/playstation-unreal-shot

Also, I have managed to recover most of the game content, the indevelopement versions, I have contacted all the designers who worked on the game except one, who couldn't be contacted anymore.
Sadly most of them didn't have anything anymore or only part of the content, still 70 percent of the game was actually recovered and maybe there is more to come in future, although the chances are not that high.

I am working on a remake also, retexturing the maps and finalizing them and making it all form a mappack for the original game, one map was already finalized and have been put up for download.

This is an example one of the final maps from the game under a facelift by me, using normal res textures instead:
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8615/shot0145j.jpg
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/201/shot0146.jpg

[Shambler]

Wow! I remember getting the original Unreal on PC (as a demo) and it blew me away! I would have hardly expected it would be possible to run on a PSX! These in development versions you speak of, do they actually have any code/build that could potentially run on a PSX? Or are they purely assets? Either way that's fantastic!

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Wow! I remember getting the original Unreal on PC (as a demo) and it blew me away! I would have hardly expected it would be possible to run on a PSX! These in development versions you speak of, do they actually have any code/build that could potentially run on a PSX? Or are they purely assets? Either way that's fantastic!
There wasn't a real demo of original Unreal, only shareware versions avaiable with creative cards, it was never put up to download until 2005 though, it was kind of rare, it also had three brand new deathmatch levels which didn't appear in the full game.
The in-developement version is purely asset/running on PC, I don't think it has code to be potentially running on PSX, besides even if the project leaders still had it, they wouldn't give me the PSX hardware version and it would be like giving out a free game, this way it requires original Unreal to run at least.

Btw there are some screens on one of the designers website which is where the original video came from too, he didn't have any of the stuff anymore as it was lost in harddrive failure just few months before i contacted him:

http://www.nathansilvers.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=8

[Celine]

Mmmmh ?
This bump reminds me that I have an article about Unreal PSX.

Will upload.

EDIT:
What's really interesting was that the game ( that wasn't a direct conversion of the PC game at all ) was actually restarted again from scratch around 2000.

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Mmmmh ?
This bump reminds me that I have an article about Unreal PSX.

Will upload.

EDIT:
What's really interesting was that the game ( that wasn't a direct conversion of the PC game at all ) was actually restarted again from scratch around 2000.
Well originally it was to be handled by someone else but never really started I believe, (the N64 version was by DMA and I don't have much info about that one), it was restarted in early 1999 but by pterodactyl ltd. which is what this salaged content is about, but it was cancelled in early 2000 by infogrames (when they took over GT Interactive and GT Interactive had the rights for the console ports of Unreal) only with plans to make it missionpack but that never went true.
What article is it btw?

[Celine]

From OUKPSM #55:

http://www.iouppo.com/life/1101/d88b2672dfc45252f9ccc39b97f09e37.jpg
http://www.iouppo.com/life/1101/22914af02b67797b86890256a3b0d70b.jpg
http://www.iouppo.com/life/1101/5129826ef5daf81d1463eb0c0c6617a6.jpg

As you can read, it was ( supposed to be ) pushed back to November for a complete makeover.

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Thanks for that dude. I recognize the levels, they are the ones by the beginning of the game except one shot.



http://www.fgnonline.com/news/14280.html (http://www.fgnonline.com/news/14280.html" [URL="http://www.fgnonline.com/news/14280.html) Unreal No More PlayStation: It seems as though Infogrames doesn't even know which games it is and isn't publishing. The PlayStation port of Unreal has been whacked and the developer is "stunned". Even though an Infogrames PR representitive told FGN Online yesterday that Unreal for PlayStation was still in development, several other sources has confirmed it has indeed been canned. Here's why: According to a source close to the developer, "The game was canned six weeks ago. U.K. developer Pterodactyl is feeling stunned right now as the game was running at around 15 to 18 fps." The source continued, "The stories of not getting it to run on PlayStation are rubbish. The only major downside was the fact that the PS version of the engine couldn't display huge distances like the PC version. Also, the maps were segmented like the PS version of Quake II


They had also hub system in some earlier versions of the levels, but beacuse HUB system isn't supported by default they dropped it and had to make the levels more linear that way, although it still isn't bad.

[CanOfTheRelics]

So, about Pterodactyl ltd, do you had some friends, contacts in there who could give a helping hand?

[Twimfy]

Wow! I remember getting the original Unreal on PC (as a demo) and it blew me away! I would have hardly expected it would be possible to run on a PSX! These in development versions you speak of, do they actually have any code/build that could potentially run on a PSX? Or are they purely assets? Either way that's fantastic!

It was an impressive game to look at for it's time, and it would have been really interesting to see how it would have turned out on PSX. As a game though I really didn't like it.

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

So, about Pterodactyl ltd, do you had some friends, contacts in there who could give a helping hand?
Not of the inner UK team no, only the contractors and designers who worked on it. Nick Pelling never talked to me personally too, although he talked with Matthew Kagle back when I asked for the levels. I tried contacting another guy from the Pterodactyl but failed. They did under different name the Duke Nukem playstation port too.
One of the designers later stopped talking to me too, although he said he had the stuff still, so I wonder what's up with him. But there is a chance one of the designers will still have it(the rest of the in developement files and assets, not the PSX hardware version and I am frankly not really interested in that one becasue of the legal issues), in fact I am waiting for more, once he gets a chance to get to the files.

Here is a video I made some time ago, on the indevelopement version, I didn't show all the levels and I had to fit it all in one 10 minute video, also it was the first bunch of stuff I received, I later received some newer versions of the existing levels and some other levels I had missing (still some of the stuff remains missing, they didn't have a real file control there(except the leaders who had all the latest stuff for sure, but the lead level designer didn't have anything anymore plus other people, so that was dead end), it was just upped to a secure ftp back then, so practically I can be only sure that only the stuff of two designers at all I have latest, because the other designer had only CD stuff and not his own latest files either, becasue it turned out the old harddrive with it was broken).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHS5k-u7j_U

[Delacroix]

http://www.multiupload.com/391EWTGUES

These are ALL the maps and resources we've been able to recover. Update since Leo's post:
- the designer that stopped talking to Leo eventually got convinced to give out what he had. It was not much, but it was IMPORTANT: we received a proper set of design docs, never-before-seen concept arts for the AIs and two full development trees of two his maps. For one of them it was especially worth the mention due to the fact that he started the concept several times and abandoned it, creating several distinctively different versions in the process.
- the designer that gave us files off CD eventually fixed the hard drive and got all content from it. Multiple repetitions with what we had so far, BUT -- 300 MB (!!) of new content nevertheless and almost all missing levels are in.

The thing linked above still requires Unreal's sounds, music, textures folders as well as maps: Entry.unr and Unreal.unr from the original game. The NewGame option won't work unless you rename one of the maps to Vortex2 (I recommend latest E1L1A), but you can still use commandline or ingame console to launch the levels.

[APE]

Which version of Unreal PC should the files be pulled from? There are several.

EDIT: I think I've got a handle on this.

[Delacroix]

Any, really. They vary mainly by System directories, so unless you're switching versions... Unreal initial release version is the best bet tho :P