While the concept of UMOD installers is a very convenient one, there are a variety of things that can go wrong creating or using them.
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Problems using UMOD installers
When I double-click the .umod file, nothing happens (or: Explorer asks which program I want to open it with).
Your .umod file association is most likely broken; that occasionally happens for arcane reasons. You can either download this tool, run it, enter your Unreal Tournament path and click "Speichern" and everything should be working again, or check this FAQ entry for a manual way to fix the problem.
Psychic 313: That ego-creations link seems to be broken, here's a similar utility I wrote: Paradox Productions UT registry fixer
Wormbo: Here's another tool created specifically for problems with UT2003 registry entires: UT2k3 Regcheck
Jan: Link is fixed
Tyrian: I found a convienent link: UMODTool This is a very powerful UMOD installer, for all UT versions unless I am mistaken. It displays version, creator, and a variety of options.. No registry mods required. Enjoy!:)
(some of this will be moved to a page on Unreal and the Registry)
- Uninstall path
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\UnrealTournament
- Main Registry entry
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Unreal Technology\Installed Apps\UnrealTournament
(...\Installed Apps\UT2003 for UT2003, ...\Installed Apps\UT2004 for UT2004)
Check the Folder value if the UMOD installer keeps suggesting the wrong directory. Or download and run MeshMaker (UT only) – if your registry path isn't set correctly, it'll conveniently let you select the right one and update the Registry.
UT2003 also requires the CDKey value which must contain the CD key like you'd normally enter it in the setup program, i.e. in capital letters, with all the hyphens and no spaces anywhere in the key.
GRAF1K: If explorer can't find which program to open the umod/ut2mod with, just select Setup.exe – that fixed it for me.
I can start the UMOD installer, but it keeps complaining that I don't have Unreal Tournament installed.
Seems somebody messed up your Manifest.ini (see below). Assuming you do have Unreal Tournament installed, proceed as follows: Make a backup copy of Manifest.ini in your System directory and create a new Manifest.ini containing the following lines in its place. That'll make the UMOD installer rightfully believe that you do have Unreal Tournament installed.
[Setup] MasterProduct=UnrealTournament Group=UnrealTournament [UnrealTournament] Caption=Unreal Tournament Version=436
For UT2003 the Manifest.ini should contain the following lines:
[Setup] MasterProduct=UT2003 Group=UT2003 [UT2003] Caption=Unreal Tournament 2003 Version=2225
For UT2004 the Manifest.ini should contain the following lines:
[Setup] MasterProduct=UT2004 Group=UT2004 [UT2004] Caption=Unreal Tournament 2004 Version=3186
If you installed a different patch, change the Version value respectively.
Installing on a Mac stops partway through with an error.
The UMOD installer probably contains a file whose name is longer than 31 characters, the current Mac limitation.
Problems using UT2MOD installers
Basically UT2MOD files are the same like UMODs, but for UT2003. UT2MOD installers don't work correctly with pre-2166 builds.
If you have a working installation of UT or any other game that uses UMOD installers, then you could also rename the UT2MOD file to UMOD and install it via that game's setup program. The installer will detect that the file installs UT2003 content and usually you don't even have to enter the UT2003 directory yourself.
The UT2003 free dedicated server doesn't seem to associate .ut2mod files when it installs. I don't know if the free server's setup program is even capable of handling them, although it probably does. If you have the free dedicated server and want to install mods on it that are packaged in a .ut2mod, you'll have to set up the filetype using the info below.
Localized versions of UT2003 may have minor problems, too. They have a file Manifest.det, Manifest.frt or another INT File like that in the UT2003\System directory. This file should be renamed or deleted to prevent UT2MOD installers from installing their content as "Unreal Tournament 2003". This name will also show up in the uninstall dialog window. Don't delete Manifest.ini from your UT2003\System directory!
ZxAnPhOrIaN's cure
If your *.UT2mod has that windows symbol paper as the icon, follow these steps:
- Press on the taskbar: Start >> Settings >> Folder Options...
- Go to the File Types tab once the window comes up
- Press the New Type... button
- Once a window pops up, press the Change Icon... button
- Go to the folder that you installed UT2003 in and double-click on UT2003.exe
- Select the icon that shows up in the white icon field
- Press OK
Now the fun part starts! ;)
- Type in what ever you want in the Description of type text box. I used UT2003 umod installer as the description (the default is UT 2003 Module, though)
- Content Type (MIME) stays empty (put in "application/ut2mod" if you like, but the default value is empty)
- Dont worry about the Default Extension for Content Type:.
- In the Actions: box, press New...
- Action: is anything, what I use is Install the UT2003 umod files (the default is Install this UT 2003 Module)
- In the next box, find your UT2003 system folder, and double click on Setup.exe
- At the end of that string (after any quotes that might appear there) type in install "%1" (with the quotes around the %1)
- Press OK
- Select the action, and click on the Set Default button, it will make the action bold
- If you like, check the box, Enable Quick View
- Press OK
- You have just set up the UT2MOD registry!
- Double-Click on the *.ut2mod file and go on from there! :)
These steps also work for UMOD ("Unreal Module") files.
Installing UT2003 mods in UT2004
To install a UT2MOD file under UT2004 you have to change your UT2004\System\Manifest.ini.
Add Group=UT2003 in the [Setup] section and add a [UT2003] section with the key/value pair Version=2225 as shown below.
[Setup] MasterProduct=UT2004 Group=UT2004 Group=UT2003 <– add this entry ; add this section [UT2003] Version=2225 [UT2004] ...
If you also have UT2003 installed simply open the UT2MOD file as usual and specify the UT2004 directory as destination, the UT2003 setup won't mind. :)
If you don't have UT2003 or the UT2MOD file extension doesn't work, rename the file to UT4MOD to let UT2004 handle the installation.
Problems creating UMOD installers
Accidentally installing Manifest.ini
The file Manifest.ini that's contained in every UMOD installer describes where files are to be copied to; however, installing Manifest.ini itself completely messes up the user's Unreal Tournament installation. Be sure to always include the statement Copy=(Src=System\Manifest.*,Flags=3) in the .ini file when creating a UMOD installer in order to prevent that.
Install directory box is initially empty
Since the concept of UMOD installers spans the entire range of games based on the Unreal engine, you'll have to tell the UMOD installer which game to look for in order to automatically fill in the install directory. Simply add a requirement for UnrealTournament (versions 413 or 436 are commonly used) or UT2003. Use version 2107 for unpatched (all version) or one of the official patches, i.e. 2136, 2166 or 2186 for now.
The UMOD's ini needs to contain the following lines:
[Setup] Requires=UT2003Requirement [UT2003Requirement] Product=UT2003 Version=2186
For UT the product is "UnrealTournament". The section's name is irrelevant, as long as it doesn't collide with any other sections' names.
Localized versions of the game show the mod as "Unreal Tournament 2003"
To prevent this problem as the UT2MOD creator simply copy the INT File used to create the UT2MOD to al the localized versions, i.e. DET, FRT, EST, ITT, KOT, SMT and TMT. This will override the localizatized version of Manifest.* in the UT2003\System directory.
Ben2500: Is there a way to install umod files from ut2003 on ut2004. It doesnt work, it says ut2003 isn't installed.
Jan: Only rename your umod file from *.ut2mod to *.ut4mod.
Wormbo: Many UMODs specify the game they require to be installed. In this case renaming only helps finding a UMOD installer, but doesn't solve the requirement problem. See "Installing UT2003 mods in UT2004" above for a fix.
RegularX: I coulda sworn Epic mentioned that the format itself had changed for 2k4, but naturally those changes might be minor. Is the UMODWizard going to be updated shortly?
xumwun: If i try to install a ut2003 mod in ut2004 by renaming the file to .ut4mod the
game tells me my cd key is invalid while the normal game runs fine. What can i do?
amitakartok: Not every UMOD can be fixed this way. For example, VehicleInvasion keeps complaining about UT2004 v3204 not installed after a full reinstall, applying v3204, v3369, then finally the ECE Bonus Pack, to no avail (if the game weren't installed, the patches wouldn't install in the first place). UMODTool tells the same (v3204 needed when v3369 is up), manual unpack does nothing (no entry in Manifest.ini, I think?).
amitakartok: Correction, double-clicking on the UMOD does nothing after installing v3369. Association isn't broken, setup.exe just does not run. I can't install it as a normal .umod either, because I get "ChaosUT2_PR376_Full.umod: not a Win32 application." UMODTool has installed it.