Setup

You don't need to do anything special after installing RealCTF in order to run an Unreal 224+ server. Note that all RealCTF-specific game settings are now located in
RealCTF.INI instead of UNREAL.INI. This includes GameInfo stuff such as Password, AdminPassword, etc. You can either use the Multiplayer menu to setup your game options, or edit RealCTF.INI manually; but you cannot use the
Unreal Advanced Options dialog. 

There are three game types: RealCTF.RealDMGame, RealCTF.RealTeamGame, and RealCTF.RealCTFGame. There are no command-line options other than the ones that already work for regular Unreal Deathmatch like "?AdminPassword=" and so on.

Custom Skins

It's very important that any custom packages you install containing team skins also be listed with a ServerPackages entry in the
[Engine.GameEngine] section of UNREAL.INI, just like the default skin packages. For example, one of the default skin packages is:

ServerPackages=Female1skins

NOTE: Do not list anything for the RealCTF team skin packages (Male1RealCTF etc.). They are loaded automatically.

A team skin is any skin that has a T_Blue or T_Red suffix in its name. If you have team skins in the Textures folder on
the server which do not have a corresponding ServerPackages entry, this can cause a problem where players that choose an unlisted skin will be seen in game with the default non-team skin for their player mesh (e.g. Kurgan, Dante, etc.). 

Note: This rule applies to the default skin packages as well. If you really want to remove the default skin packages (the
default team skins are pretty lame after all), you can do that but you have to move or delete not only their ServerPackages entries, but also the corresponding .int file in the system folder and the .utx file in the Textures folder,
for example:

  • delete the line ServerPackages=Female1skins from UNREAL.INI
  • delete the file Textures\Female1skins.utx
  • delete the file System\Female1skins.int 
Bots

If you want to run bots on your server, you must add this line to the [Engine.GameEngine] section of UNREAL.INI:

ServerPackages=RealBots

Otherwise the bots will be invisible.

Recommended Settings

For a general-use public server, the recommended settings for the RealCTF game type are:

Fraglimit=150
Timelimit=20

Setting both of these will ensure that the game doesn't drag on if the teams are badly unbalanced; nor will it end too
quickly if they are a closer match. Setting GoalTeamScore is an option but it's not recommended for general use because it doesn't scale well to the number of players in the game. So a large game would end much more quickly than a small one.

For the RealDeathmatch and RealTeam game types, use the same settings you would for the equivalent Unreal game
types. Beamer is recommended for all game types but Artifacts are only recommended for team games.

Competitions

RealCTF doesn't include any features that make it especially suitable for competitions. However it is possible to start a match fairly using the Pause console command. The referee must login with the admin password for this to work. The referee should join the game first (before any other players), as a regular player (not a spectator), and immediately pause the game. After all competitors have joined the game and set their team color appropriately, the referee can execute the Pause command again to start the match. The referee should then leave the game to rejoin as spectator.

The stylized U, Unreal(tm) textures, images, and other graphics Copyright © Epic MegaGames All Rights Reserved. All Original Content and Compilations are Copyright © 1998-1999 Necrotic Software Inc.