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by Philipp Rüegg
"Unreal Tournament 2004": Community patch wakes up arena shooter after 20 years
19/2/2026
Translation: machine translated
A classic is reborn: the Community has done what Epic Games gave up long ago. "Unreal Tournament 2004" now runs on modern systems, supports 4K and even works on the Raspberry Pi.
The fans have done it: The team at «OldUnreal» has released a major Community patch for «Unreal Tournament 2004». It is the first update in over 20 years. The patch bears the version number 3374 and brings the legendary arena shooter into the modern age. Epic Games has even officially approved this step.
What was necessary?
You probably know the problem: Many older games only run on today's Windows systems with tricks or not at all. This also applied to «Unreal Tournament 2004». Epic Games ended active support back in December 2005 with patch 3369, and since then the shooter has been left to its own devices.
The «OldUnreal» crew had already enjoyed success with «Unreal Gold» and the original «Unreal Tournament» (1999). Both games were already playable on modern systems. With the new patch 3374, they are now devoting the same passion to «UT 2004». The patch supports ARM64 CPUs and therefore runs on everything from inexpensive single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi 4 to modern high-end systems.
The technical improvements
The update fundamentally modernises the shooter. «Thanks to the Community patch, Unreal Tournament 2004» now supports resolutions up to 4K, achieves more stable frame rates and should crash less frequently. The patch also includes a new OpenGL 3.3 renderer.
Source: Epic Games
Especially important for Linux and macOS users: the team has written a new SDL backend for Linux and macOS and even implemented a new renderer. The entire codebase has been migrated to modern build systems. So you're not getting a half-hearted solution, but a thoroughly reworked code.
At the same time, the team is cutting old habits: support for 32-bit CPUs, DirectX 8 and Windows versions prior to Vista has been dropped. The game now requires DirectX 9.
Play for free - with Epic's blessing
The game itself is available free of charge. Epic has given the Internet Archive permission to host the files online. «OldUnreal» provides you with an installer that first downloads the images from archive.org and then patches the game with the Community Update. So you don't need old CDs or dodgy sources. You can find detailed instructions here.
Important for German players: In Germany, the international version of «Unreal Tournament 2004» is on the index. Instead, a cut version was released with a USK 16+ rating.
Online back to life
The «OldUnreal» patch integrates modern Community Master Servers, via which «Unreal Tournament 2004» can still be played online. So you can compete with other players. Just not on the official Epic Games servers, which were shut down in 2022. However, servers with the AntiTCC anti-cheat system are not yet fully supported, but support will follow.
A classic lives on
The project shows what is possible when fans care. The patch is currently still labelled as a preview version. Further improvements will follow. For you as a gamer, this means that a 20-year-old shooter works smoothly again on the latest hardware, runs on more platforms than ever before and doesn't even need money to do so.
«Unreal Tournament 2004» was once the arena shooter par excellence, long before battle royales took over the genre. This classic is making a comeback with patch 3374.
Header image: Epic Games
My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.
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