Making Unreal Gold look better

This guide shows you how to make Unreal Gold look better.

Getting a better renderer

A renderer is what makes the game look the way it does. The game's default renderers aren't the best, but there are some custom renderers out that that make the game look great.

There are two ways to get modern renderers. The first one is by downloading them from http://kentie.net/article/d3d10drv/ (DirectX 10) or http://www.oldunreal.com/specialpatches.html (OpenGL). The second way is to download and install the 227i patch, which I documented over at http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129354519.

I would personally recommend the 227i patch. It not only has better renderers, it also fixes a ton of bugs, lets you play on any server you want, use nnearly every map and mod out there without any problems, and has a much more stable editor. However, it's your choice.

Changing the renderer

After picking and installing the renderer of your choice or installing the 227i patch, you'll need to activate it.

To do this, start Unreal Gold. Then, press the ~ key to activate the console. When you're there, type in "preferences" and hit Enter.

When you've done that, a menu will appear and the game will get smaller if you were in Fullscreen mode. Now, look for the "Drivers" option, then click on it. A group of small boxes will appear underneath "Drivers". This is what you should be seeing:



You're almost there! Click on the text to the right of "GameRenderDevice" twice and a dropdown menu will appear under the text. Browse the list until you find something like "Direct3D9 Support" or "OpenGL Support". Here's what you should be seeing:



Click on it, then close the options menu.

Now, the game will activate the renderer of your choice! Hooray!

Finding and downloading high resolution textures

Now that you have a modern renderer, it's time to put in some nice-looking textures.

Go to http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Website/Downloads/Textures/HighEnd/StockUnreal/UnrealHighEnd.htm and download all of the packages there. Unzip them, and you'll find that each one has a single file with .utx at the end of them. These are the textures.

Finding your Unreal Gold folder

Now it's time to install your textures.

You'll have to go to your Unreal Gold folder to install them. To find it, follow these steps:

1. Go to your C drive.
2. Click on Program Files (X86) (or Program Files if you don't have Program Files (x86)).
3. Look for the "Steam" folder and click on it.
4. Click on the "steamapps" folder.
5. Find the "common" folder, then open it.
6. When you're in the "common folder", look for the "unreal gold" folder and click on it.

This is what you should be seeing when you're done:



If you've installed it somewhere else, ignore the above steps. You know where it is.

Installing the high resolution textures

Now that you've found where your Unreal Gold folder is, its time to install the textures!

Copy the high resolution textures you downloaded earlier. Then, go back to your Unreal Gold folder and click on "Textures". Here is what the "Textures" folder looks like when you're inside it:



When you're there, paste the high resolution textures you copied earlier. You'll probably have to do this one at a time for each texture set unless you put all of the ones you downloaded into one folder.

After you're done, start the game. If everything worked right, the textures will be much larger and higher resolution! Congrats!

Bringing the default textures back

If you want the default textures back, you can get them by downloading the default textures at http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Website/Downloads/Textures/Normal/StockUnreal/UnrealNormal.htm, then installing them like how you did with the high resolution textures.

Done!

Enjoy!

[Carbon]

Yeah, well, I tried. OldUnreal has everything you need. Look around in the forums.

[Carbon]

Textures: {LINK REMOVED}https://sites.google.com/view/unrealhdtextures/home

227i: {LINK REMOVED}https://www.oldunreal.com/downloads/unreal/oldunreal-patches/

ALAudio: {LINK REMOVED}https://www.oldunreal.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=458

High res monsters and weapons: https://www.moddb.com/mods/high-resolution-unreal-skins/downloads/unrealhd-v30-full

[kitten2021]

Does anyone know if there are any updates to any of this for the more modern systems? Like an updated 277 or 276 patch for Unreal Gold for the render? Or maybe an update to the textures or anything like that? The websites are either down, no longer hosting the downloadables, or just plain no longer valid due to the prior mentioned links not working issue.

[Hollow]

unrealtexture.com seems to be a dead/squatted website. Guide should be updated

[StixsmasterHD4k]

what needs to be updated is the fact that the DX10 and 11 renderers are NOT compatible with the unofficial fan patch for various reasons.

sad peeps still are maken guides acten as if they are

[Nihilanth]

Since the directx11 mod is now available perhaps you could update this instruction?
It is really worth it in combination with the high res pack! :D

[Charlie Chaplin]

moonbreaker isnt wrong

[Wulfas]

But why would you? It defeats the spirit of Unreal

[Death7086]

in do time this wont be a great problem do to a small team doing a Redux mod for this game link here ---> https://www.unrealredux.com/

[Seseorang]

I can not find Steam in C: anywhere