UT Expanded Multiplayer

[Crowbar]

Shortly after Unreal II was released, a free add-on called "Unreal Expanded Multiplayer (or U XMP, for short) was released. It was short-lived, however, due to Atari closing down it's developer's, Legend Entertainment.

Now, a team of incredibly talented individuals, all with some serious experiance under their belts, are working with former Legend Entertainment employees to release XMP for Unreal Tournament 2004.

The mod looks to be much like Team Fortress or even Tribes II. There's even some hints at UT2k4's Onslaught. It is definatly a mod I am going to keep a sharp eye on. As of now, there is no release date.

 

This is the UTXMP Promotional Video (Divx5.1 format, plays fine in VLC Media Player). Definatly give it a look, it's only 24mb. It shows off some of the vehicles, the player models, the turrets, mines, a few maps, and lots of combat.

 

While you're downloading the video, here are a few screenshots I pulled off their website.

 

 

 

 

[hyperactiveChipmunk]

Holy excessive HUDs, Batman!

 

-hC

[bullet-401]

I like it!

[Brillow_Head]

I played Unreal 2 XMP religiously in anticipation for UT2k4...I loved the gameplay. It was capture the flag on steriods.

 

Example: You have three classes

Sniper: Sniper rifle, pistol, smoke grenades

Tech: machine gun, shotgun, emp grenades

Gunner: Flamethrower, rocket launcher, concusion grenades

 

Each class had abilities:

Sniper: drop health packets, dropped health recharge machines

Tech: repaired teammates personal shields, dropped sheild recharge stations, set up shield walls

Gunner: dropped ammo packets, refilled personal ammo supplies, set up machine gun and rocket turrets

 

Each class had characteristics:

Sniper: thin and quick moving, smallest personal shield, highest vertical rocket boost

Tech: Medium build and more shielding than sniper, medium rocket boost slower run speed

Gunner: Big and lumbering, slow running, beefy sheilds, short rocket boost (too heavy)

 

When it came to vehicles they are unlocked to teammates, the same with doors. However if you wanted to enter an enemy vehicle or enter an enemy door you have to "hack into it" which takes time. (Tech quickest hack time, gunner slower, sniper slowest...cumulative effect if more than one hacker). Once an item is hacked then you control it and an enemy must hack it to gain access.

 

The powerups that I listed for the class characteristics are availible depending on how much power you have in your core. You gain power by controlling spawn points (like power nodes in ONS). You have to hack a node to gain controll of it. The more nodes you have the more power you have then the more bonus equipment can be deployed...too much equipment deployed (30 gun turrets) the higher drain on the power and things start to stop working (shield walls go down, turrets take dammage, you cant repair health armor..ect)

 

Also the control points (spawn points/power nodes) spawn vehicles to use (some of which are really powerful). However when you die you get to select which node you wish to spawn at and each node will spawn durring certain time intervals...its not a instant spawn...you may have to wait 20 seconds to respawn, and you can choose a node to spawn at based on spawn time. Also when you die you can choose which class you want to respawn as.

 

In the mean time back at your base (aka power core) you have a number of "artifacts" at your core...2 artifacts at each core to start off with in U2 XMP...which can be stollen like a flag in CTF. You can only steal one artifact at a time and you must register the artifact at you're core before you gain the artifact. You must controll all 4 artifacts to win the map.

 

Here is the kicker...you can't register an artifact unless you have a certain amount of power. This means that you have to control a certain number of control points (nodes) in order to be able to register an artifact and take control of it. Again...too many gun turrets/sheild walls ect ect and you will have too much of a drain on the power to be able to register an artifact.

 

This type of gameplay is so balanced that you need pure skill and teamwork in order to win these maps. I loved this type of gameplay and I would be willing to be on the foreground if this mod goes live...

Edited October 7, 2004 by Brillow_Head

[hyperactiveChipmunk]

That sounds awesome. Wonder if they need any help.

 

-hC

[Fatty]

WOW that video is cool.

[Crowbar]

yeah, that video is pretty sweet. Thanks for the info on how XMP works, Brillow! I don't think it's a question of "if" this mod goes live, but when. PC Zone magazine featured this mod in it's latest issue, and gave it a wonderful review. Also, some of the refugees from Legend Entertainment who developed U2XMP are working with this team to create this mod. The team itself is amazingly talented, as a quick read through their "Team" page will tell you. They are all veterans of Unreal Ed and other modding tools, and many worked on the Community Bonus Pack for U2XMP and/or beta tested U2XMP.

[Crowbar]

PC Gamer did a preview of UTXMP in their latest issue. Read the article and take a look at the screenshots.

[Fatty]

Is it released?

[Crowbar]

not yet