Reliable Steps to Play Unreal Tournament 2004 on Linux in 2024

[xolorl]

Hey Beyond Unreal, I'm massive fan of UT!
I have amazing memories of playing this at a friend's LANs when I was arguably too young and UT2004 has been my go-to nostalgia game across the decades.

I own 'Unreal Tournament 2004' on (2 of) my Steam account(s) and 'Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition' on GOG.com.
It used to play fine on Linux (Ubuntu / PopOS!) via Steam w/ Proton, but seems to have stopped working, maybe because Epic disappeared the franchise .

There's no shortage of guides and forum posts about issues around this (eg this) but they have broken links to scripts or patches or just don't work.

The error I'm facing is with DRM. When I launch the game (from Steam or GOG via GameHub), all that is displayed is a grey box with "Your CD key appears to be invalid. You will need to reinstall the game and enter your CD key to fix this problem OK".

I've tried adding a file named `cdkey` in the `System` folder of the game install (with the CD key as contents).
I've also tried using `wine regedit` but `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Wow6432Node` does not contain an 'UnrealTechnologies' folder.

I'd be immensely grateful if you could answer these questions:
1 - Is this true? The Steam and the GOG versions of the game already have the patch necessary to play on Linux installed
2 - Reliable steps to play on Linux via Steam w/ Proton
- Steam Settings > Compatibility > Enable Steam Play for supported / unsupported titles (and for argument's sake lock other titles to Proton 8.0-5)
- Install 'Unreal Tournament 2004'
- Launch
- Do what to fix the CD key error?

 

[xolorl]

Well hello,
I've been able to get some more time debugging and the Steam side is solved. I'd switched from a `.deb` Steam installation to a Flatpak, which doesn't have the same permissions to the system. I assume these permissions were necessary for Proton to do wine regedit to make it work.

This is really not closed though, as I can't play with my friends next LAN, as they can't buy the game on Steam (or anywhere). Therefore, GOG version on linux, probably via GameHub will be necessary. I might be able to compare Proton's working registry against my issue with GOG / 'wine regedit' to figure it out, but any help will be appreciated. Happy fragging!

 

[xolorl]

Useful Links:
- Beyond Unreal looks perfect but links are dead https://www.beyondunreal.com/main/ut2004/ut2004essential.php
- Proton DB is always helpful https://www.protondb.com/app/13230

 

[azn]

Believe it or not but I came across this topic and it was the only reason why I registered on these forums . Just wanted to help you guys a little bit. Using Linux Mint 21.3 here so pretty much up to date and this solution should work on Ubuntu, Linux Mint and debian based for sure - only on plain debian some package names can be different. Yet, I hope you will figure a way out if that's the case.

I have original UT2004 DVD, basic version so I will be using ISO made by me from original DVD. If you have version that includes Megapack etc just skip the steps that gets it installed. If you happen to have version below 3369 you can do the Megapack steps as it should do no harm and you will get updated to 3369 anyhow. Just in case make a copy od your UT2004 directory before proceeding.

Create /mnt/iso directory where we will mount the .iso file
sudo mkdir /mnt/iso

Mount the .iso file in /mnt/iso directory
sudo mount -o loop /path/to/iso/file.iso /mnt/iso

Enter the directory where you mounted the .iso file:
cd /mnt/iso

Run the Linux installer:
./linux-installer.sh

Now what you must do is to answer questions, choose installation directory etc. and enter cd-key.

Download UT2004 Megapack for Linux (not sure if we really need Linux version, maybe linux patch files are also in regular archives but I did download Linux version just in case) - it contains all the bonus content added in later releases of the game; as well as 3369 patch.

I found it here:
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/167-unreal-tournament-2004-mega-pack-linux/

Extract archive and move all UT2004 directories to your UT2004 directory overwriting existing files if asked.

Now go to your UT2004 installation directory, enter System directory via terminal and execute:
./ut2004-bin-linux-amd64

POSSIBLE ERRORS:
./ut2004-bin-linux-amd64: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

SOLUTION (on Linux Mint 21.3 at least):
sudo apt install libstdc++5

In case you happen to hear no sound in my case using 'aoss' command. In Linux Mint it is in package alsa-oss. So you do:
sudo apt install alsa-oss

And try to run game from within System directory again with:
aoss ./ut2004-bin-linux-amd64

Te set proper resolution in case you cannot select proper one within the game menu go to ~/.ut2004/System and open file UT2004.ini. Look for section [SDLDrv.SDLClient] and change lines FullscreenViewportX and FullscreenViewportY according to your desktop resolution. Save changes, run the game.

STEPS REQUIRED TO PLAY ONLINE:

Edit file ~/.ut2004/System/UT2004.ini and and replace these lines:

MasterServerList=(Address="ut2004master1.epicgames.com",Port=28902) MasterServerList=(Address="ut2004master2.epicgames.com",Port=28902)

with this:

MasterServerList=(Address="utmaster.openspy.net",Port=28902)

Hope I helped someone, if you have any questions please ask, not really planning to look here often but I will try to check for updated here once in a while.