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Originally called UTEngine, Surreal Engine is a community-made attempt to reimplement enough of the original Unreal Engine to get games like the original Unreal Tournament (99) working.

An interesting project that's been around for quite some time now, but it does appear to be progressing nicely. It can currently detect certain versions of Unreal Tournament, Unreal Gold, Deus Ex and Klingon Honor Guard. Although they say currently only Unreal Tournament v436 is in a "relatively playable state".

From the GitHub page:

The engine can load and render the maps. The Unrealscript VM is almost feature complete - only arrays and network conditional execution are not implemented yet.

It will attempt to load all level actors and initialize the map. However, while the menus and the HUD will appear, there are still many native functions not implemented yet. It is also quite possible some events aren't firing as they should. You will therefore see exceptions shown if you interact with them and that is where the project is at.

Picture credit: Surreal Engine team.

There's also OldUnreal which patches up the original Unreal Tournament, but it's not open source as it uses the original from Epic whereas Surreal Engine is open source under the zlib license.

It's worth noting that Epic Games don't support their classic games in any way now, they even entirely removed a whole bunch of them like Unreal Tournament from all storefronts. Not even keeping them to their own store, just killing them off. Oh and don't expect Fortnite to run on Linux / Steam Deck any time soon.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
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based Jan 23
Still disappointed Epic removed the UT games for no real reason
Pengling Jan 23
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The name of this project really made me smile - "Surreal Engine" is just such a great name.
Ehvis Jan 23
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Quoting: basedStill disappointed Epic removed the UT games for no real reason

Would you say it was an unreal reason?
Talon1024 Jan 23
Ooooh, interesting!

Good thing I still have Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and Unreal Tournament on my GOG.com account. Seeing this makes me wonder if it will ever be possible to play Rune on this engine.

And speaking of Rune, the developers announced a new game in the series years ago, but it seems like nothing has come of it.
I got the old wheel of time game, which uses the Unreal Engine. It works fine on Linux, but it would be interesting to see what a new game engine would do.
Quoting: Talon1024Ooooh, interesting!

Good thing I still have Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and Unreal Tournament on my GOG.com account. Seeing this makes me wonder if it will ever be possible to play Rune on this engine.

And speaking of Rune, the developers announced a new game in the series years ago, but it seems like nothing has come of it.

So, Rune II was released. But it has also been delisted. Not sure what happened, but it seems that no one really enjoyed this version.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/821290/RUNE_II_Decapitation_Edition/
rea987 Jan 23
Though I managed to run Rune on modern distros, I would love to have Rune AND Deus Ex implementations. That would be the most anticipated engine reimplantation project!
Curupira Jan 23
There is a nice selection of games that runs on Unreal Engine 1. There will be excellent news when/if Surreal manage to run some of them.
wvstolzing Jan 23
Quoting: rea987Though I managed to run Rune on modern distros, I would love to have Rune AND Deus Ex implementations. That would be the most anticipated engine reimplantation project!

Absolutely; it would obviate the need for Kent's Launcher over wine.
"It's worth noting that Epic Games don't support their classic games in any way now, they even entirely removed a whole bunch of them like Unreal Tournament from all storefronts. Not even keeping them to their own store, just killing them off. Oh and don't expect Fortnite to run on Linux / Steam Deck any time soon."

The worst online game store, please do not give your money to this store, do not accept their free games...Epic does not deserve any attention from Linux community...

Recently I would buy "Alan Wake remake" and "Alan Wake 2" on Steam --> Not possible, Epic exclusive
I liked to play Rocket League on Steam --> game is now Epic exclusive
I would like to buy old Unreal games like Unreal, Unreal Tournament 99, Unreal Tournament 2004 --> no more available anywhere, like explained in article, they put off this games from Steam, GOG etc...and they are also not available on their Epic store. You want to play this games again: buy an old CD on EBAY or (censored idea).

And don't forget this tweet from his founder:

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/964284402741149698

As a Linux gamer I buy my games firstly in Steam because if I can play AAA games today on my computer, ​it's largely thanks to Valve, they deserve my support. I buy games on GOG too. But never on EPIC until their founders show support for Linux platform.


Last edited by legluondunet on 23 January 2024 at 4:58 pm UTC
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