Ver. 4.0 of the HD S3TC Textures are here!
Use the auto-installers from OldUnreal.com for both games. These include the latest patches.
Current patches:
Unreal Gold — Patch 227k
UT99 — Patch 469e
These ensure modern OS compatibility, bug fixes, and renderer support.
If you have enough disk space and a more powerful GPU, go with 4K edition for maximum visual quality.
If you want a lighter footprint, quicker load times, or less GPU stress, pick LE edition.
Both editions are version 4.0+. LE versions cut down the texture sizes in certain assets (big walls, distant or rarely seen textures) but preserve a lot of the visual fidelity.
Visit the ModDB (links below)
Get the version 4.0 HD remastered pack for Unreal Gold or UT99, choosing either the 4K or LE edition.
Copy the .utx texture package files from the 4K or LE pack into the Textures folder of the game installation. Overwrite original files.
If using UT99, UT 2nd CD S3TC textures are not needed when using this pack. If you have them installed, overwrite with this pack.
When using the latest 227 and 469 patches, updated renderers will be included.
Check rendering options in game settings to enable full resolution / texture quality.
HD Skins mod (by Lightning Hunter / others) for weapons, character models, pickups etc.
Techdemo BetaTextures Edition (Unreal)→ gives you the earlier style HD textures (older look) if you prefer that aesthetic. Can be used in place of v4.0 depending on your taste.
If you have limited GPU / VRAM: use LE version. Maybe reduce texture filtering or disable extra detail (if renderer allows).
Be aware 4K textures will increase load times, memory usage.
Adjust brightness / gamma if needed—HD textures sometimes make visuals darker.
Launch game, check a few maps (especially ones with large textures or far geometry) to see if visuals are sharp.
If some textures look low-res or blurry, check you have correct renderer and are not using “low-texture” settings.
Compare 4K vs LE in your setup if possible—for example a wall with ornate textures or distant scenery.
Download lower res LE version - 2gb
Compatible with Unreal 227, online servers, and modern renderers
Download lower res LE version - 3gb
Compatible with UT99 v436, 469, online servers, and modern renderers
You can use these instead of the normal HD textures.
This pack for Unreal has all of the earliest HD textures restored, done by Epic and Diehard. The remaining missing textures are by AHaigh01. The v3 pack replaced or altered most of the oldest textures with updated ones. Here, you can see all of the originals in action, but now with no missing HD textures.
There have been HD textures for Unreal for a very long time now. In fact, within a year or so of the game's release Epic "remastered" many of the most often seen textures to showcase the new S3TC high res features. But making the game textures fully S3TC HD was far from complete. Diehard took on the work of trying to complete them, and spent 10 years making textures, but still about half of the textures were low res. In the last few years AHaigh01, who had already contributed some HD textures and skins, finished off the entire HD pack. In the process, many of the older HD textures were updated or replaced to make them closer to the originals.
The visual style difference in this pack is most noticeable in maps like the Vortex Rikers, the outdoors levels, the mines, the castles, and some others. Epics HD textures from 20+ years ago tend to have vivid colors and a more cartoonish style compared to the low res originals. Epic did about 250 of the textures in HD, which were often the most frequently seen textures. Diehard did more than 1000, notably many of the Vortex Rikers (PlayerShp), DecayedS, SkyCity and lots of the environmental textures. There were many levels that were never completed in HD in the early years, like the temple maps and ISV Kran. These are now all filled in from the main release of the HD pack.
The full games are now available to download legally via OldUnreal and Internet Archive
Unreal Gold online install and 227 patch
Unreal Tournament online install and 469 patch
If you are running UT99 436, it is highly recommended that you apply the '4GB memory aware patch' to avoid out-of-memory crashes. The UT 469 and Unreal 227 patch have already fixed this issue.
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