Unreal: Gold
Windows - 2000
Description of Unreal: Gold
Unreal: Gold is a compilation that includes both original Unreal game and it's expansion Return to Na Pali with all official patches. It is recommended to use this version of the game if you want to play Unreal on modern systems.
Unreal still has very active fan community, people are still discuss the game and make reviews for new mods and maps on fan websites like BeyondUnreal and UnrealSP. Also, the game has a lot of mods, including Unreal Evolution overhaul mod that enhances original game in may aspects. You can find most of mods on ModDB or OldUnreal. Plus, the game is still playable in multiplayer, check Unreal Admin Wiki for instructions how to manage multiplayer servers
External links
How to play Unreal: Gold Windows
The game with OldUnreal patch and UGoldFix has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11, it works fine. With that mod the game supports widescreen and ultra-high resolutions up to 4K. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for details
Install & play guide:
- Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite
- Install the game (if autorun doesn't work - simply launch the installation from Setup.exe inside the disc)
- It is recommended to install the game not in default path, but in some other, non-system folder, like
C:/Games/Unreal Gold
, so you won't have troubles with fixes. The installation path should have only the English letters, otherwise you couldn't install OldUnreal patch! - After you installed the game - install OldUnreal patch, simply run the installer and show the path to the game folder
- Then install UGoldFix, just copy all files from the archive and put in game folder
- Launch the game. When you run the game with OldUnreal patch for the first time, the launcher will ask what settings you want to use. If you will want to change the settings later - you can do it in Options in main menu
- After you ran the game - in main menu click on "Mutators" and activate "UGoldFix". After that just start the game & play
If you can't install the game from the disc - use attached Full-Rip, it is the archive with pre-installed version of the game, just extract it somewhere and run REG-file to add Windows Registry paths (make sure to edit REG-file in Notepad and change the path to the folder first). As alternative, you can use repack by Magipack - it has simple installer and includes all content of the game plus OldUnreal patch v227j
What is OldUnreal patch:
- OldUnreal patch is an unofficial patch for first Unreal game, with a big list of new features, such as: full support of modern Windows systems, including 64-bit systems; support of Linux systems; implementation of new renderers, such as DirectX 8, 9 and OpenGL 2.0 rendereres; restoration of 3D Surround sound through OpenAL; the working online mutliplayer after GameSpy servers were closed; new languages; multiple bug fixes, and many other additions. So it is must-have if you want to play Unreal on modern machines. For full list of changes and solutions of possible troubles check OldUnreal Wiki and official FAQ
- The latest version 227j (2.27j) of OldUnreal has full support for 32-bit and 64-bit systems and also adds XOpenGL renderer, it is new future-proof renderer based on OpenGL. However, version 227j doesn't support 16-bit systems; so if you need to use OldUnreal patch on 16-bit systems - use version 227i or older
- The authors of OldUnreal patch are currently working on the next update - version 227k, you can check the progress on OldUnreal Wiki, GitHub page or OldUnreal forums
Notes:
- If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe in compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP) and as administrator
- It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of in-game videos
- The game has support of Glide, OpenGL and DirectX renderers. If you're using Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 and want to play with DirectX renderer - you need to enable DirectPlay: Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
- If the game crashes with a General Protection Fault upon start-up or doesn't start at all - add Unreal.exe to the DEP exceptions list: go to
Control Panel -> System Properties -> Advanced System Settings
. From theSystem Properties
dialog, selectSettings
. Select theData Execution Prevention
tab. Select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select". ClickAdd
and use theBrowse
feature to browse to the program executable you want to exclude -> show the path to Unreal.exe inside game directory - For users of Windows 10 & 11: if the game still doesn't run after you added Unreal.exe to the DEP exceptions list - that means mandatory ASLR prevents game from running. To disable it open Windows Defender, in
App & browser control
, openExploit protection settings
. InProgram settings
, add an exception for Unreal.exe and disable "Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR) in addition to DEP" - UGoldFix by Masterkent resolves several issues related to single-player and multiplayer modes, like fixes the bugs in Return to Na Pali that prevent player progress, Audio Logs not playing or some scripts not triggering. To use it simply copy all files from the archive and put in game folder, then run the game and in main menu click on "Mutators" and enable "UGoldFix"
- There's no framerate cap in the game, and framerate is tied to monitor refresh rate, certain effects like water and shadows have issues at high framerates. That troubles were fixed in OldUnreal patch, but if you play without OldUnreal patch - edit the game files like in this guide, to fix that issues (the guide is for Deus Ex but both games use the same engine)
- For NVidia users: if the game is lagging - open Nvidia Control Panel, go to
Manage 3D settings
->Vulkan/OpengL present method
and change it to "Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain"; save the changes - For Windows 10 & 11 users: if you have low framerate in the game - select 32-bit color depth in game settings. If it didn't help - use DDrawCompat, extract it in
Unreal Gold/System
folder (DDrawCompat should be compatible with OldUnreal too) - If Brightness slider in game doesn't work - use same DDrawCompat, extract it in
Unreal Gold/System
folder - The game has support of 3D Surround sound, through OpenAL API. However, OpenAL doesn't work on modern systems without additional tools. Install OldUnreal patch (it includes a working 3D Surround sound) and select "OpenAL 3D Audio" in setting, to enable 3D Surround sound. If for some reason it didn't work and you don't hear 3D Surround sound - follow this guide. If you hear that music is peaking when you use OpenAL 3D on patch v227j - open Unreal.ini, find the line
[ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem]
and changeMusicAmplify=2
toMusicAmplify=1
- If you don't want to use OldUnreal but want to play with 3D Surround sound - you can use alternative variants, like DSOAL, to make OpenAL audio work through DirectSound, here's the full list of such utilities
- To change Field of View (FOV) in game install OldUnreal patch; or use
fov
console command with number of FOV you need (likefov 100
), check PCGamingWiki for FOV calculator - The game with OldUnreal patch supports ultra-widescreen displays and even multi-monitor setups, check WSGF page for more details
- You can install HD Textures and High-Res Skins mod to get better graphics in the game, plus additionally ReShade. But note that these mods are not compatible with software renderers, such as Glide, Direct3D 6 or 7, and others. For more details check PCGamingWiki
- All of game settings can be edited through Unreal.ini inside
Unreal Gold/System
folder; plus you can enable different setting through Command Line Parameters and console commands, a complete list of commands is listed here - It is possible to change the difficulty level mid-game, follow this instruction if you want to change the difficulty
- OldUnreal patch adds support for DirectX 8 and 9, but it is also possible to run the game on DirectX 10 and 11. If you want to run the game on DirectX 10 - use DirectX 10 renderer by Kentie, if you want to run on DirectX 11 - use DirectX 11 renderer. But please note that this renderers are not compatible with OldUnreal patch
- If you have any graphical glitches when you play the game with OldUnreal patch, or DX10 or DX11 renderers - try to run the game with another renderer. It seems that depending on your video card, the game may not display correctly on some renderers, like having wrong textures for water or lava
- OldUnreal patch includes multiple different languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Castilian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish & Russian. The languages can be switched in game options. Some of languages have only the text translation. If you want to play with Russian language - you can use this translation patch with fully translated audio & text
- You can install & run the game on Linux systems with Linux Installer; or with OldUnreal patch (here's the complete Linux FAQ for OldUnreal). Additionally, you can use Lutris script, it works with OldUnreal patch
- Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles, it's very useful!
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
my! 2025-01-29 0 point
Hierdie speletjie het my belangrike lĂȘers beskadig en nou sal my rekenaar nie begin nie
Titanic4 2024-09-28 0 point
The whole series is unlisted for over 2 years and it's highly unlikely this will ever change. Maybe it's time to get the download link(s) for them... @Admin
RawSteelUT 2024-09-04 0 point
I appreciate the caution when it comes to re-releasing the game here. Must admit to some mild surprise that you're not using the GOG installers that others have linked to here.
admin 2024-09-02 7 points
We've returned download links for Unreal Gold, since it's been already 2 years after the games were removed from digital stores. Let's see how it goes, if nothing happens, we will do the same with other Unreal games
Moohoo 2023-11-09 8 points
You can still download this game as well as every other Unreal game formerly on GOG through this link: https://archive.org/details/Unreal-GOG-Collection
RawSteelUT 2023-02-19 3 points
Here's another one that'll work:
https://archive.org/details/Unreal_Anthology_USA
Hopefully someone on this site will notice the fact that this game's been abandoned again and puts it up.
Maxwell C Crowe 2023-02-18 5 points
FYI - the downloads posted by 'THE MAN' work. it's a good idea to install patches once you have the game downloaded
The Man 2023-01-04 11 points
I have no idea if any of these work, but the Unreal games appear to be available on the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive has slow download speeds, but if you want to try and get these working, be my guest. I already have the Unreal games on Steam.
https://archive.org/details/UnrealGoldUSA
https://archive.org/details/unreal-tournament-2004-editors-choice-edition-gog-igg
https://archive.org/details/epic-games-utgoty
https://archive.org/details/UnrealIITheAwakeningSpecialEditionUSAInstall
https://archive.org/details/ut3-ce-pc
Wtf epic 2023-01-01 14 points
A monumental milestone in PC gaming history and Epic's own fucking history, and they couldn't be bothered to keep it up for sales. The game is absolutely incredible.
I am so thankful sites like this exists.
A disappointed gamer 2022-12-29 14 points
So the game has been delisted from every store front along with every other Unreal game. Reasoning: Online services are being shutdown so there apparently is no point in keeping the games on sale I guess
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