III: Start CaveUT For the First Time

Step 1: Setup for a Multi-Player Game
In the main menu, select "Host Game" and you should see a screen like the one to the right. Select a game type, any will do at this point.

Step 2: Select a Virtual World
After choosing a game type, in this case "Death Match", you should now see the screen to the right. From the list, single-click on a name to get a preview image on the right.
We recommend "DM-Antalus" for making things look pretty--the naturalistic shapes tend to cover up problems. For calibrating your CaveUT-based installation, CTF-Face3 is good, because it has both interior and exterior spaces, and lots of nice sharp geometry which brings problems out.

Step 3: Start the Server
In the lower-right-hand corner of the screen, click on the "Listen" button. This will launch the server AND a client on the server machine. When the virtual world first appears, press the physical button designated in the Controls menu/screen for "fire," meaning "fire your current weapon." Usually, this is just the left mouse button. You must do this for your server-player to enter the game, and the CaveUT Mutator on each client needs that player to function properly. There is an approximately thirty-second wait before the player appears. When s/he does, a swirling light effect will briefly appear on the screen and there may be a sound effect.

Step 4: Connect Each Client to the Server
Start up UT2004, and from the main menu, click "Join Game". If the server and the network are working properly, you shuld see the screen on the right. Click the "LAN" box/button near the middle of the top.

Step 5: Connect Each Client to the Server
Next, you should see this screen. Single click on the line that starts with "CaveUT Server". Be very careful NOT to double-click it.

Step 6: Connect Each Client to the Server
Next, you should see this screen. Click in the word "Spectate" in the middle of the bottom. You should see several message indicating that your client is connecting to the server and that it's loading a virtual world.

Step 7: When the Virtual World is Visible, Press the Fire Button on the Client

This will change the client's view to be co-located (in the virtual world) with the view of the server player. At that moment, the rotation and offset effects from CaveUT will begin. The perspective effects should already be visible. If the server player is not in the game yet, this won't work. Just wait a few seconds until s/he is.

Clicking the fire button actually shifts the client's view from one player or bot to another. If there is only one player in the game (on the server), the fire button effectively toggles between the CaveUT view from the player and a non-useful flying view.

If there will be more players and/or bots in the game, its helpful if the player on the server machine enters the game first. That way its view is the first on the list, so the first fire button click will give you the server player's view. Otherwise, you have to keep pressing the fire button until the client shows the correct view. This will also happen if you accidentally skip past the server view.

Step 8: Test Movement and Synchronization

On the server machine, as the game's only player, run around a bit in the level. All of the client views should change in tandem providing a rougly integrated image across all your screens. If movement displayed on the server's monitor is jerkey, try reducing the screen resolution, color depth, etc., to improve performance. If the server is quick and the clients displays are jerkey, you probably need to get them better video cards. If you can play UT2004 on a client, as a stand-alone machine at the same video resolution settings, and you get good performance, then it's a networking problem. If you are using a wireless network hub, get rid of it. Strining the network cables may be a chore, but they are much more reliable.

Most likely, everything will work fine, except that the projected images from the client machines don't quite line up. The following sections will show you how to compute the correct settings for each client and fine tune everything.

Last updated January 16, 2004.
URL: http://www.planetjeff.net/ut/CUT4Install3.html
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