UT99 NW CTF bible by ginz

I made this bible because I got really tiered of explaining so many things and I thought that this could be a good update and compilation of a lot of bibles and tutorials. The bible is made for less experienced players, but I recommend walking trough parts like ‘demomanager’. I know that there are more possible binds and tweaks, but I tried to make to only discus the really useful ones or must knows. There are no universal rules about how to use teamspeak. The examples I give you about how to use it show how I think that it is used in a very efficient and effective way.

Abbreviations that are often used are:

• Efc : (Enemy) Flag Carrier

• Ffa : Free For All (online public server)

Keyboard and mouse settings

 

To improve your game play a lot you need to have your ut keyboard and mouse settings optimised.

 

If you have your keyboard settings right then you can play a game and you won’t have to move your hand only your fingers. It should also enable you to switch fast between weapons and use teamsay binds and other useful commands.

Your mouse should have the right settings for your playing style and it can also be used for getting weapons (I’m not talking about scrolling to them though).

 

My keyboard settings look like this:

 

Movement

 

Movement
W	Forward
A	Left
S	Backwards
D	Right
Shift	Duck
Control	Walk
Space	Jump

 

I think most people have the same movement keys. I have a walk key for two reasons: I can move absolute silently, so I can hear what the enemy is doing, but the most important reason is to make small jumps even if you have the boots. If you hold control and you jump you make a small jump (almost as high as the normal jump) and you won’t waste your boots.

 

 

 

 

 

Weapons

 

Weapons
Q	Translocator
1	Impact hammer
2	Enforcer
3	Bio
4	Shock Rifle (also ASMD)
E	Rocket Launcher
R	Sniper rifle
F	Pulse gun
Mouse Wheel up	Flag cannon
Mouse Wheel down	Minigun
6	Ripper

 

It’s a must to have a key for every weapon. Using the Mouse Wheel to switch between weapons just takes to much useless time. As you can see I have all weapon are easy accessible. Only the ripper requires me to really stretch a finger, but you hardly use it anyways. The Translocator has its own key because it’s not a weapon and now you won’t get the impact hammer by accident.

 

Talking

 

Talking
Y	Talk
U	Teamsay
\, Z, X, C	Teamsay binds: (Example) X = You say the taunt: “On my way” and at the same time you say: “<100 Health> <100 Armor> <Attacking>”
Left, up, down, right	Teamsay binds: “Enemy flag carrier is going left / high / low / right”
Page Down	Teamsay bind: “Where is the EFC???”

 

Teamsay binds are very useful in FFA games. To set a teamsay bind you need to go to en tweak your user.ini file (it’s at your system map C:\UnrealTournament\System). If you open the file then you will see all your key binds under the [Engine.Input] section. The file is quite easy to understand. Take W=MoveForward for example, it means that W is your key for moving forward. Now I’ll explain how I have my Teamsay binds by explaining the following settings (this is how I edited them in my user.ini):

 

“Enemy flag carrier is here”

 

JoyZ=speech 4 12 0 | Teamsay <--- EFC!!! | Teamsay <%H> <%A> <%P>

 

JoyZ is, unlike most things in the user.ini, a little hard to understand, but it stands for the ‘\’ key (see the keyboard picture, left to your ‘1’). If I hit this key you will hear: “Enemy flag carrier is here” see the following in the chat box:

“(middle) <--- EFC!!!”

“(middle) <100 Health> <100 Armor> <Attacking>”

“(middle) Enemy flag carrier is here”

 

Now if you look at the line above:

 

 

“Amp Taken!”

 

 

“On my way”

 

“Shield Belt”

 

“EFC is going…”

 

 

Useful Keys

 

Useful keys
Alt	Throw
F1	Scoreboard (hit F1 to see it and hit it again to make it disappear)
Caps Lock	Scoreboard (hold the Caps Lock key to see it)
` (~)	Console
B	Suicide
/	Mapvote menu

 

You can see that I have two keys for the scoreboard. The F1 key is the normal one, but I also have the Caps Lock one. I use the last one a lot more. You can look at the score or (e)fc a lot faster and easier. In the early days you also needed the key to time. I have the following command for this:

 

CapsLock=ShowScores | onrelease Showscores

 

You also see that I have a suicide key. If you fall off at face then it’s a waste of time to wait until you are death or if you are a defender and you just returned the flag in the enemy base, then it’s often faster to just suicide and start over again with 100 health and get new weapons in your own base then that you go all the way back, which takes time, while getting your health and ammo back. I have the following command for this:

 

B=Suicide

 

I don’t have this, but you can bind a key for dropping the flag. You can also just teleport or

 

E=Grab | onrelease Cap

UT settings

 

Now that we are done tweaking our keyboard and mouse settings we can work on the UT settings. Having optimal settings does make a big difference. Your goal is to run ut as efficient and effective as possible. UT might look worse because of this, but you get a lot back of this. Check the differences at the next two pics of ctf-lucius:

 

(Default settings)

(My settings)

 

Start up ut and go to console. In console you type ‘preferences’ (without the ‘ of course). A small menu called ‘advanced options’ will start.

 

Audio

 

All of these settings can also be found and tweaked in your unrealtournament.ini (also at C:\UnrealTournament\System) at the [Galaxy.GalaxyAudioSubsystem] section (or maybe you have it at [Audio.GenericAudioSubsystem] section).

(My audio settings)

Display

 

All of these settings can also be found and tweaked in your unrealtournament.ini at the [WinDrv.WindowsClient] section.

 

(My display settings)

Game settings

 

All of these settings can also be found and tweaked in your unrealtournament.ini at the [Engine.GameInfo]section.

 

(My game settings)

Rendering

 

I think most of you play this game with direct3D, unless you have a sucky graphics card. If you don’t run this game by direct3d then you should change the settings at one of the other options. All of these settings can also be found and tweaked in your unrealtournament.ini at the [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] (this is for direct3d) section.

 

(My rendering settings)

Other settings

 

Change the following things in ut:

Timing

 

Timing is one of the keys of becoming an advanced player and clan. I can give you a simple example: This (fun) match was played just after I joined PmP, I was spectating blue on both matches. The first map was a lot of chaos. There was hardly any control of the timing. PmP won the map, but it wasn’t very convincing.

This match I coached PmP in the timing and now this time they dominated the match.

Timing is a lot easier then you might think it is. Here are the (important) respawn times and ways to time them.

 

 

The top 3 (amp, keg and belt) are the most import ones and must haves. If you look at the way to time them then you see that it’s actually quite easy. Just add 10, 30 or 5 secs and you know the next one. Don’t forget that as a attacker it’s often useful to wait as the armor before you enter the base, it really doesn’t take that long to respawn and it does make a big difference in attack.

 

At teamspeak you must communicate about the item timing. If you take the top item or you see or hear the enemy taking it, then you must communicate about the time it will respawn again. You only have to say the second it will come at again (your team can figure out the minutes by them selves). You should also remind everyone about 10 to 5 secs before it respawns again so that the mid and attackers have enough time to meet at (and defend) the spawn point. If you lost control of the timing then you should ask your teammates if they know it and / or guess yourself when it will respawn.

 

I’ll give you an example on how it should go with belt:

CTF Rules

 

In CTF you have defenders, mid(s) and attackers. I’ll walk trough all positions, a lot should be clear to you already, but you still see it going wrong. I’ll also discus some basic teamspeak rules. For all positions the rule is that when you talk about a position, then you rather talk about a weapon or item, then saying someone is going left or right, because you that’s a lot more confusing and it’s a recipe for mixing up positions. You should also point out if you are on our or their flag, sniper, etc. The word “base” can have two meanings: the complete red or blue base or the flag spot.

 

Defenders

 

Defenders defend the flag and seal the base. If the flag is taken then they return it. Defenders communication should be like this (example is on ctf-orbital):

 

 

Mid(s)

 

The mid player is responsible for getting backing up attackers and defenders. He’s also the first one responsible for timing, because he can do it easier. When your fc is about to pick up, then the mid should respawn kill or kill defenders on mid to keep the road free for attackers. If there is no fc, but there is (almost) an efc then he should back up defenders. The basic rule is that if there is an fc and efc then mid should keep to covering, but you can also make the mid more defensive giving priority to recover.

On teamspeak mid should tell if one side is clear or not.

 

Attackers

 

Attackers take the flag and cover the fc. They don’t recover unless it’s a cap. There are two ways of attacking:

• Play by the shield – Attackers wait for each other and the shield before they enter the base. This means that the enemy defenders don’t see to much assaults on the base, but if there is one, then it’s a heavy one.

• Pressure play (or cap over cap) – Main focus is pressure on the defence. At this method you’re trying to constantly have attackers in the enemy killing defenders and picking up. The attackers don’t focus on the belt here. Covering is also less important because attackers also sometimes wait at the enemy flag spot to have the flag being returned.

Every attacker prefers its own style, but the enemy defence also prefers a kind of attack. I remember one war very well, where I was ‘playing by the shield’ and then my former clan leader Gast said that we should change to ‘pressure play’ because they could not handle that and that made us win the match.

 

Attackers communication should be like this (example is on ctf-orbital):

 

Skillz

 

Here are some useful tips on improving your skills.

 

Spammy vs hitscan

 

First of all you should determine what kind of player you are. You should set your mouse sensitivity to that too.

If you are a spammy player then you should aim for the body. With flag your aim at full body and with rocketlauncher, mini and mini you aim for the body.

If you are more of a sniper (hitscan) player then you should not aim for the person, you should aim at a certain point. You don’t chase someone with your aim, you wait until the enemy comes into the spot you think he will come. With teleporting people often go from the left to the right, so you either search the middle or you wait for him at right when he comes back from left. It’s also about aiming at items, like a dropped weapon, which the enemy intends to pick up. Watch an instagib demo and you’ll see that those players don’t dodge a lot. They don’t do that because the place you move to when you make a dodge is easy to predict. Practicing your sniper aim is something which you do very well at sniper servers.

Try to figure out the weaknesses of players. My weakness is that I’m a bit of a assrunner, so you can trap me if you play smart.

 

Aim for the head

 

I still see so many players who walk around like they have their heads down. They have a aim pointed at someone’s body instead of the head. I really recommend having your standard aim at the level of your enemies head. This way you have a better overview over the map and you can easily switch to sniper to make an instant headshot.

 

Weapon choice

 

One of the first rules I learned when I joined my first clan is to pick to right weapon in every fight.

 

 

Now I do use sniper and shock in short range battles, but I’m also very sure about my aim. Play DM, LMS or RA to force yourself to learn to play with all weapons.

 

Combo’s

 

Crouching at combo’s is also useful to kill someone. You shoot the ball en then you sit still in crouching position and make the primairy to finish it, 9/10 times your enemy will be in front of you ball when you shoot. I don’t know why, I think it’s because you think that you can kill him fast and easy.

Another smart tip is to stand still just a fraction of second before you want to hit your shock ball. It will give you the time and rest to aim and if you don’t stand still very long then you’re changes of getting hit are not that big.

 

 

 

Movement

 

You have to practice dodging a lot. It is good for movement in combat and it makes you faster. Play DM, LMS or RA to force yourself to learn this. Also learn how to make a dodge or jump in the air, just after you teleported.

As an attacker you should know all trick jumps on every map. It compensates fragskills a lot. Also remember that defenders are often snipers, so they are less good in short combat.

Learn how to make an air jump or dodge right after you came out of your teleport. It takes some practice to learn this, but it’s very useful. You will be harder to hit; you can make it to places when you only just missed it by teleporting and you have more air time, which is good for having a quick look around.

Use the boxes, obstacles or levels in a map to switch between weapons or hide for enemy fire. A golden rule is: when you’re at a higher position then your opponent, then you are harder to hit and he becomes an easier target.

 

Camping and respawnkilling

 

Camping and respawnkilling are not lame. They are both a tactical part of the game which you should learn how to deal with.

If you defend on shock at ctf-revenge then you often sit at the same position (sniper) for 80% of the whole game. It is not lame because that’s the best way to keep your base clean and that’s your job as a defender.

Respawnkilling is a very powerful tool to turn an organised defence (or team) into chaos. Let’s take ctf-revenge for an example. You kill the defender at shock / sniper and you start respawnkilling at the shock. At all the time it happens the complete shock entrance is open and everyone who gets killed by the spawnkilling is enable to do anything. Your fc can pass trough now that the shock entrance is clear and you’ve created a recipe for chaos at the enemy team since they don’t know what happened being to busy cleaning up the spawnkiller. A spawnkiller can also be very useless since he doesn’t walk with the (becoming) fc to cover. So he can be a great miss in the fights for the battle or covering the fc at other points then that shock entrance.

You should not spawnkill if the rules don’t allow it or if you are at a situation (ffa) where your team has one member more.

 

Crosshairs

 

Play with a custom crosshair. I’m playing with a custom crosshair which is a golden dot. It’s almost the same as the standard crosshair dot, but this one is corrected. The standard crosshair dot is just a little of centre. It’s yellow because it’s a nice collar that stands out well. You can find crosshairs here: http://www.accesswave.ca/~seburges/ I’m playing with “golddot” from this package “g1bhairz5”. If you download one of the crosshair then it’s readme or the site can explain you how to get it working. In my user.ini I have these set now (I have several crosshair packages):

 

[Engine.HUD]

HudMode=0

Crosshair=1

 

[Botpack.ChallengeHUD]

bUseTeamColor=True

FavoriteHUDColor=(R=0,G=7,B=16,A=0)

CrosshairColor=(R=16,G=16,B=4,A=0)

HudScale=0.600000

Opacity=16

StatusScale=1.000000

WeaponScale=1.000000

bHideAllWeapons=False

bHideStatus=False

bHideAmmo=false

bHideTeamInfo=False

bHideFrags=False

bHideHUD=False

bHideNoviceMessages=false

bHideFaces=True

CrosshairCount=31

CrossHairs[0]=g1bhairz4.Static.X0

CrossHairs[1]=g1bhairz4.Static.X1

CrossHairs[2]=g1bhairz4.Static.X2

CrossHairs[3]=g1bhairz4.Static.X3

CrossHairs[4]=g1bhairz4.Static.X4

CrossHairs[5]=g1bhairz4.Static.X5

CrossHairs[6]=g1bhairz4.Static.X6

CrossHairs[7]=g1bhairz4.Static.X7

CrossHairs[8]=g1bhairz4.Static.x8

CrossHairs[9]=g1bhairz4.Static.n1

CrossHairs[10]=g1bhairz4.Static.n2

CrossHairs[11]=g1bhairz4.Static.n3

CrossHairs[12]=g1bhairz4.Static.n4

CrossHairs[13]=g1bhairz4.animated.1

CrossHairs[14]=Botpack.CHair1

CrossHairs[15]=Botpack.CHair2

CrossHairs[16]=Botpack.CHair3

CrossHairs[17]=Botpack.CHair4

CrossHairs[18]=Botpack.CHair5

CrossHairs[19]=Botpack.CHair6

CrossHairs[20]=Botpack.CHair7

CrossHairs[21]=Botpack.CHair8

CrossHairs[22]=Botpack.CHair9

CrossHairs[23]=CHair.CHair7

CrossHairs[24]=CHair.CHair8

CrossHairs[25]=CHair.CHair9

CrossHairs[26]=CHair.CHair10

CrossHairs[27]=CHair.CHair11

CrossHairs[28]=CHair.CHair12

CrossHairs[29]=CHair.CHair13

CrossHairs[30]=CHair.CHair14

CrossHairs[31]=CHair.CHair15

FontInfoClass=Botpack.FontInfo

 

Demo’s

 

Watch demo’s, utv and movies from skilled players and clans. They are inspiring and they teach you a lot about how to play maps or how to kill someone.

You can watch demo’s with Demomanager. It’s a simple tool which always you to play demo’s or auto record demo’s. I will also try to download cache files for you, if you don’t have them. I’ve edited my udemo.ini (which you get after installing demomanager) so that it’s able to find more cache:

 

RedirectServers[0]=www.snakeservers-redirect.net/

RedirectServers[1]=redirect.osg.cc/~osg12/ut99/

RedirectServers[2]=ut.isp4p.net/redirected/

RedirectServers[3]=www.clangos.com/redir/

RedirectServers[4]=redir.serverox.fr/UT99/

RedirectServers[5]=66.98.150.197/ut99/

RedirectServers[6]=www.icequake.net/ut/redirect

RedirectServers[7]=www.utctf.jolt.co.uk/downloads/redirect

RedirectServers[8]=www.cpti.org/uz

RedirectServers[9]=fragged.yerbox.org/UTfiles

RedirectServers[10]=dma.no-ip.org/ut

RedirectServers[11]=www.belgames.com/servers/utpackages

RedirectServers[12]=www.i4games.net/download/ut/redirect

RedirectServers[13]=www.organized-evolution.com/ucc

RedirectServers[14]=66.28.180.9

RedirectServers[15]=69.56.133.239/Baiter/

RedirectServers[16]=www.apollo3.com/~elouw/ut/

RedirectServers[17]=www.thelatebar.com:16080/utfiles/

RedirectServers[18]=turkeyfiles.escapedturkey.net/ut/redirect/

 

You can simply copy past this in your own udemo.ini. If demo manager can’t find the cache then you can try find it at one of the links at the end of this document (at links). If that still won’t start the demo then you might be playing with an old patch. If you want to keep the old version, just make a copy of you unrealtournament and install it in the other map. If you still can’t play them then check on one of the links if they know something about it, or ask on irc.

 

UTV

 

UTV is very nice tool to watch matches life. A lot of high skilled ctf matches are on utv. They will probably be announced at clanbase or in irc channels like: #ut.coverage

 

Movies

 

A lot of ut99 movies have been made. They are very inspiring to watch. Check Own-age.com or Levitation Gaming to find them.

 

Servers

 

If you want to get skills fast, then you should play at high skilled servers. You’ll get owned bad at the beginning, but improving a lot plays back. If you can’t play because the server is full, then spectate a player you can you view by typing in console: behindview 0 (inside view) or behindview 1 (3th person).

High skilled ctf servers are (you can add these in your unrealtournament.ini by placing them on a free numer. Don’t forget to increase you FavoriteCount):

[UBrowser.UBrowserFavoritesFact]

Favorites[x]=.de .:[old Friends]:. Publicserver by Fast-GameServer.de\82.96.91.13\6201\False

Favorites[x]=.de iNzanE FFA by Fast-GameServer.de\82.96.91.3\6101\False

 

DM and RA servers:

Favorites[x]=Multiplay.co.uk :: Rocket Arena Public\85.236.100.43\8860\False

Favorites[x]=-- {Çø£}`s Classic Deathmatch Deck-only --\82.165.40.92\9501\False

Favorites[x]=jolt.co.uk - Deck 16][ Only\195.149.21.71\7898\False

 

Pick Up Games (pugs)

 

Playing at lots pugs is also good for your skills, especially your teamplay and teamspeak skills. There are two main pug channels:

#ctfpug

#ut994funpug

 

A pug channel for ctf sniper arena is:

#sactf.pug

Conclusion

 

That was about all I can think of which you should know to improve your skills with this game. I really hope you liked this bible, because I spent a lot of time working on it. If you just change lots of stuff because of this bible, then remember that it will take time to get used to them. GL with it :D