The Linux version of the 3D shooters and other games are sold by Lokisoft (sadly, now defunct), so the user gets support during the - sometimes - difficult installation.
If you own the M$Win version, you need'nt buy the Linux version again. Just downloaded the Linux binaries from the Internet after first installing the game using the M$Win CD.

Unreal modular

The program design of UnrealTournament or Quake was chosen in a way that the components of the game can be changed by using modules.
Thus new weapons, player models or levels can be added and event the whole "game" can be changed.
New game ideas can be created without any programming of the complicated 3D engine.
Up to now there is a flight simulator that uses the engine and the network features of UT but has nothing else that reminds of its origin. Unfortunately not all MODS work with Linux.
The advantage of this modular technique is that even if the original game no longer interests you, there are other "games" you can choose which give a complete new attraction.
A quite complete list of all MODS for UT can be found at www.planetunreal.com and many other links, too.

Installation

The installation of UT on Linux works so simply that you could think you're using M$Win. Even a GUI is used to copy the files from the CD to the hard disk.
The installer can be obtained from LokiSoft at http://www.lokigames.com/products/ut/updates.php3 .
After downloading the installer you have to sign it be an executable:

  >> chmod +x ut-install-436.run
  

and then you start.

If you want to save disk space, you don't need to copy all data (Maps, Textures, Sound, etc.) to the disk. It will work fine if you linked the directories which the installer created to the mounted UT-CD.
Unfortunately this would only work if you don't install any MODS later because these have to be installed in these directories which in general would not work with a CD.

The GUI already offers a selection of a 3D accelerator card withe Glide libraries or un-accelerated OpenGL which also is quite fast.

After a successful installation the game could be started by

  >> ut
  

if the installation path was declared in the $PATH variable. Otherwise you cd into the program installation directory and there execute ./ut,
Unreal starts with messages which may help you find any problems that might occur.

  Unreal engine initialized
  Bound to SDLDrv.so
  Joystick [0] : Unknown Joystick
  SDLClient initialized.
  Bound to Render.so
  Lighting subsystem initialized
  Rendering initialized
  LoadMap: Entry
  Bound to Fire.so
  Case-insensitive search: Botpack -> ..\System\BotPack.u
  Bound to IpDrv.so
  Game class is 'UTIntro'
  Level is Level Entry.MyLevel
  Bringing Level Entry.MyLevel up for play (0)...
  InitGame: 
  Base Mutator is Entry.Mutator0
  Browse: CityIntro.unr?Name=Player?Class=Botpack.TMale2?team=255?...
  LoadMap: CityIntro.unr?Name=Player?Class=Botpack.TMale2?team=255?...
  Case-insensitive search: genfluid -> ..\Textures\GenFluid.utx
  Collecting garbage
  Purging garbage
  -0.0ms Unloading: Package Render
  Garbage: objects: 16419->16416; refs: 224671
  Game class is 'UTIntro'
  Level is Level CityIntro.MyLevel
  Bringing Level CityIntro.MyLevel up for play (0)...
  InitGame: ?Name=Player?Class=Botpack.TMale2?team=255?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?...
  Base Mutator is CityIntro.Mutator1
  Initialized moving brush tracker for Level CityIntro.MyLevel
  Created and initialized a new SDL viewport.
  Bound to UWeb.so
  ...
  

The complete configuration of UT is placed in an *.ini file which can be found in the directory at ~/.loki/ut/System/UnrealTournament.ini. There the graphic mode is set.

  [Engine.Engine]
  GameRenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
  WindowedRenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
  RenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
  AudioDevice=ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem
  NetworkDevice=IpDrv.TcpNetDriver
  DemoRecordingDevice=Engine.DemoRecDriver
  Console=UTMenu.UTConsole
  Language=int
  GameEngine=Engine.GameEngine
  EditorEngine=Editor.EditorEngine
  DefaultGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
  DefaultServerGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
  ViewportManager=SDLDrv.SDLClient
  Render=Render.Render
  Input=Engine.Input
  Canvas=Engine.Canvas
  

The variables GameRenderDevice, WindowedRenderDevice and RenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice determine the mode.
The exact configuration of the different modes is found in the UnrealTournament.ini further down.
If problems occurred while starting UT, you should update your SDL-libraries first (www.libsdl.org) and then try to change the .ini file.

Infiltration

A quite new MOD with network support for UT is "Infiltration". This is not a simple add-on to the original game but a complete new game which uses the UT engine. This can be surmised by the size of the files of about 120MB.
Compared to UT, Infiltration wants to be as realistic as possible so you see and "feel" the breathing of the actor and the teams do not have different colors, but appear slightly differ in the look of their war suits.
This overwhelming program seems to be very brutal due to the high realism, although less blood is seen than in other games.
But this real environment let you forget that you are in a game. The installation on Linux is theoretically simple but this need not to be the case in real life.

First you need the MOD and level files. Since the automatic installation of umod-files is not supported you have to download the package to be installed manually (the files with the suffix .man.zip). The links of the corresponding files can be found on the homepage of Infiltration at www.planetunreal.com/infiltration. You unzip the Game Files and copy these to the Unreal Tournament UT directory. There, a few files are overwritten (e.g. Core.u) but the main parts land in seperate directories.

The last configuration concerns the .ini file of Infiltration. An example can be found here .
The infiltration.ini has to be copied to the ~/.loki/ut/System/  directory where you installed UT.
By default, SDL-OpenGL is configured which is optimal if you do not own a 3D acce lerator card. All others can take the Glide driver for [Engine.Engine]:

  [Engine.Engine]
  GameRenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
  WindowedRenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
  RenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
  AudioDevice=ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem
  NetworkDevice=IpDrv.TcpNetDriver
  DemoRecordingDevice=Engine.DemoRecDriver
  Console=INF_Console.INFc_Console
  Language=int
  GameEngine=Engine.GameEngine
  EditorEngine=Editor.EditorEngine
  DefaultGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
  DefaultServerGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
  ViewportManager=SDLDrv.SDLClient
  Render=Render.Render
  Input=Engine.Input
  Canvas=Engine.Canvas
  

The infiltration.ini you get here is slightly different from the one you get from the Infiltration homepage; we had problems with it. With our .ini file a few more links are necessary:

  cd ut-installation-path
  ln -s Infiltration/System INF_System
  ln -s Infiltration/Maps INF_Maps
  ln -s Infiltration/Music INF_Music
  ln -s Infiltration/Sounds INF_Sounds
  ln -s Infiltration/Textures INF_Textures
  ln -s Infiltration/Web INF_Web
  ln -s Infiltration/Help INF_Help
  cd INF_Textures
  ln -s Camos INF_Camos
  

Now everything should work fine and you can start your new game:

  >> ut Entry.unr -userini=InfiltrationUser.ini -ini=infiltration.ini
  

Here's a hint at teh end: The search for Infiltration servers with the network browser can be accelerated by adding a line to the infiltration.ini:

  [UBrowser.UBrowserUpdateServerLink]
  UpdateServerAddress=www.sentrystudios.com
  

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