Dark Earth

A large Unreal Gold mappack loosely inspired by the pre-reboot (1995 to early 1997) concepts of Unreal. It provides a mix of combat, platforming and puzzles. It's based on some recovered content (we didn't have much of that), reconstructions based on screenshots, videos and concept documents, and lots of original content.

System requirements:
	Unreal 227k is recommended (227i may work with some glitches).
	Should mostly work online.
	A CRT monitor running at a low resolution is recommended for that warm tube so--*cough* image.
	Recommended renderers: OpenGL, D3D8, D3D9. Not XOpenGL because of posterize fx and UnderwaterWarp problems. Not SoftDrv because of static meshes.

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                  - Story -

After escaping from Na Pali and blowing up UMS Bodega Bay, I’m lost again, swirling through the space and beyond borders.

What’s next?

The fuel of my spaceship is running low, there's not much food or water left. Unless something miraculous happens, I’m left for dead. After 48 human hours, I’m starting to get mild headaches and it's just getting worse and worse. Then I hear a faint voice...

"You must go back"

I think, this must be because of my condition and it's not something real.

The voice speaks again: "I am Jrath, once one of the rulers of the planet, Gryphon. The one you just came from."

I ask the voice inside my head: "This is crazy. What do you want?"

"You must go back to the planet. It's in more danger than you think" — says Jrath.

"I'm not going back there, I just escaped for the second time..." — I tell the voice angrily.

I try to suppress the voice by any sound source nearby, but I can't seem to stop it.


"You are the only help I can get to stop an ancient evil spreading through Gryphon.

Droth, my alter ego, was angered by what the Skaarj have done and cast a curse on this planet, causing it to be in permanent night. Through that, all life would wither away, including the Skaarj. That was the first darkening, and it was barely fought away.

That happened in the past. Now, in the present, signs appear of a second darkening coming, which this time, would mean a certain end of this solar system.
The only way to prevent it is to travel to the past and ensure the first one is fully defeated.

If you accept this quest, I will help you on it and further to your destiny."

Since I’m in an almost empty escape pod with no destination whatsoever, I have to accept this final mission. Whatever it takes to survive. I’m not up for another nightmare to go through, but I might have no other choice.

"A rare rift in space-time has opened that leads to the distant past. Use your remaining fuel to turn 8.5° left" — Jrath commands.

I turn up full thrust and make this ship’s final manouver. The space distorts strangely and the stars seem to paint lines as they pass by. This is it. A window into the lost era. The era from which only four landmarks remain today. The time before time. The end has become the new beginning.

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		       - Getting started -

- Copy the contents of Dark Earth from their individual folders into your Unreal Gold folders.
- In Player Setup, choose "Alpha Female" if you want.
- Choose "Dark Earth" from the New Game menu. Alternately, start the "DE00_Intro" map.

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                    - FAQ -

Q: I don't like the underwater screen warping effect / it doesn't work correctly. How to disable it?
A:
	- Go to Options -> Advanced Options -> Mutators -> U96Mutator -> bUnderwaterWarp -> False
	- To disable it immediately, type "killall UnderwaterWarp" in the console.

Q: I don't like or want to change the dither/posterize/etc effects.
A: Go to Options -> Advanced Options -> Mutators -> U96Mutator. Some changes will only take place after restarting the game.

Q: Is it possible to achieve "software rendering"-style brightness?
A: Kinda. Type in the console e.g. "set levelinfo brightness 1.5", then "flush". It'll probably last until the game is closed.

Q: Is the underwater puzzle in Ascension broken?
A: No.

Q: Is the story canon?
A: Not really. It's more like an "alternate universe" than something that should be reconciled with existing canons.

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                 - Known bugs -

- Weapons that can stab without ammo can't be selected with mouse wheel, only with number keys.
- Weapon Hand settings besides "Right" aren't supported.
- When you're not in human form, using "viewclass" will reset behindview, so you may want to re-enable it with "behindview 1".
- Sometimes skins are masked where they shouldn't and vice versa. It seems slightly better with MaskedTextureHack.
- Online, sometimes tarydium shards get stuck in mid-air or become very bright.
- Sometimes the player's light randomly turns off.
- When underwater with god mode, the player will make drowning sounds.

227j:
- Galaxy 3D Audio Driver won't repeat the custom songs
- Direct3D9 & XOpenGL makes weird color glitches when the player goes up from underwater (workaround: type in the console "killall UnderwaterWarp" then "flush")

227k (j?):
- Sometimes the game will randomly think you're stepping on water or lava when you're not.

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		   - Construction Information -

Editors used: UnrealEd 2.1 & UnrealEd 2.2
  Build time: A LOT
 Other tools: Photoshop, GIMP, Blender, YTexBrowser, Cylinder Aligner, BSP Tool, U3DBinRead

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		         - Credits -

	Remake by:
		Yrex
		András Hajdu "GamesHarder"
		Balázs Molnár "makemeunreal"
		
	Based on mostly lost work by:
		John W. Anderson ("Dr. Sleep")
		Eric Curtis Reuter
		...and possibly others.
		
	Uses parts of work from:
		Akage "THEBaratusII" Megane
		AlCapowned
		CodeX
		Daewon
		Gizzy
		MasterUnreal
		Nick Pelling
		Leo(T.C.K)
		Pcube
		Simon McVittie (Psychic_313)
		Skerion
		SUP
		Turboman
		...and whoever I forgot.
	
	Custom music used:
		mudeth - Subterranean Homesick Malign
		mudeth - Fault Lines
		mudeth - Marble Forest
		Danny Baranowsky - Peace Be With You
		JAde Wii - Drifting Sands
	
	Additional thanks to:
		ISV Clan
		Krull0r, for his tutorials.
		Skerion & Delacroix, for the 1996/1997 beta woman model and skins.
	
	Testing:
		Akage "THEBaratusII" Megane
	
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	           - License -

You can do whatever you want, including making and distributing derivative works of this, as long as the authors are credited.

Authors are not responsible for any losses resulting from use of the mappack, including frustration from the unusual gameplay. Remember, easy mode and god mode is a thing!