UT2004 Tweak Guide
[Page 4] Official Patches and Bonus Packs
Epic and Digital Extremes have a history of providing some very cool content and upgrades for the Unreal Tournament series of games for absolutely nothing, nix, nada. These upgrades are most commonly released in two forms: Official patches and Bonus Packs. Patches usually contain bug fixes, performance improvements and game refinements designed to address any major issues identified by the UT community. Bonus packs are exactly that – a bonus downloadable package with new maps, new skins, new voices and new gameplay modes.
Unreal Tournament 2004 is no exception to this rule. A new patch is currently under development for the game and will be released shortly. As for Bonus Packs, the first small Onslaught Bonus Pack has been released, containing two new Onslaught maps which can be downloaded here or here. I have a strong hunch given UT2004's popularity that you'll see more Bonus Packs sooner rather than later. In any case, the best place to keep an eye out for these goodies is the Official UT2004 Website and of course make sure you come back often to this guide for updates on the impact of any changes.
Since UT2004 comes with the easy-to-use UnrealEd game editor, you don't have to wait for Official Patches or Bonus Packs to be released before you try new content for UT2004. Just go to an Unreal Tournament community site (See the Credits & Links section below), or places like the FilePlanet UT2004 section to download one of several free user-made maps or modifications ("mods") for UT2004. If diving into using UnrealEd takes your fancy, then a tutorial such as one of those listed here might be what you need. If you're fortunate enough to have the DVD edition of UT2004, it comes with a second DVD which has tutorials on using UnrealEd in full step-by-step DVD-quality detail.
No-CD Cracks
I've made the decision not to provide any information on where to obtain, and how to install No-CD cracks in this guide. This is purely for legal reasons, as in a recent Halo Tweak Guide I initially included No-CD details but then received a friendly but firm email from the President of Bungie Software thanking me for the guide and asking me to remove the No-CD information. Copyright laws differ in various countries, but essentially you can't modify executable files or bypass copy protection without the author's permission. Morally I support the use of No-CDs, but legally, I am going to take the safe route, especially since TweakGuides.com is a new site and I don't want to jeopardize its existence.
What I can tell you is that No-CDs and Virtual Images don't improve game performance for UT2004. They reduce the initial loading time, since the CD/DVD doesn't have to spin up to be checked prior to starting up the game, but the copy protection used on UT2004 isn't the kind that will affect framerates. In the past, Epic/DE have recognised the annoyance caused by CD/DVD-checking copy protection systems on Unreal Tournament games and have eventually released a patch which removes the CD/DVD check. Once the initial period in which sales are at their peak is over, expect to see such a patch for UT2004.
Cheats and Hacks
Just a quick note that any modifications to game files, or use of scripts or utilities which give players an unfair advantage online (i.e. cheats/hacks) are simply not on. Epic/DE and Atari have made it clear in a recent announcement that the use of cheats is against the End User License Agreement you explicitly agreed to when installing UT2004, and if you're discovered cheating your unique CD Key will be banned from all servers, and you will be legally required to fully uninstall the game. The moral of the tale of course is don't cheat, no matter how tempting or fun it may seem. It's lame, it's pointless and now it's illegal. Stop it, or you'll go blind.
The next section describes all the UT2004 in-game settings, and their impact on performance.