Surreal 98

Surreal 98 acts as a bridge between old and new. 

Using Surreal 98, you can experience select Unreal Engine 1 games with a new coat of paint and added VR support. Or drop into the editor plugin to create new assets for your beloved games using a modern asset workflow in Unreal Engine 5's editor.  

Surreal 98 comes with support for several late 90s to early 2000s PC games. For Surreal 98 to work with your target game, Surreal 98 needs to have support for it, and you need to own the target game. 

Surreal 98 attempts to have the least number of clicks required possible to go from install to playing your old games. 

What does Surreal 98 do? 

Surreal 98 automatically finds target games on your computer, that you own and lays down a little framework for it to do its magic. You launch your target game from within Surreal 98, the two applications establish a connection, and then the magic happens! 

• Automatic runtime upscaling of target titles 

  • VR Support (coming soon) 

  • Lights are translated to modern replicas, allowing for dynamic lighting and shadowing effects! 

  • Optional Path Tracing using Unreal Engines built in Megalights feature (experimental)

  • Modern Realtime global illumination using Lumen 

  • Textures are translated at runtime to modern materials

  • Supports adding new asset types to old games, like Skeletal Meshes, Niagara Particle Systems, Volumetric Fog Volumes and even entirely replacing actors

  • Modern Anti-aliasing and upscaling technologies, including, FXAA, TAA, TSR, DLSS, XeSS and FSR 

• Preservation of Original Gameplay:

  • Surreal 98 does not modify the core gameplay or mechanics of the original games, ensuring the nostalgic experience remains intact

  • Acts as a renderer, enhancing visuals without altering game logic or assets unless modded

  • Compatible with multiplayer

• Added convenience features you'd expect from modern games: 

  • FOV control 

  • Accessibility options (e.g. lights flickering, an issue for people with seizures) 

  • Pick and choose what mods you want to play with

• Benefit from multiple fixes that have stopped these games running optimally on modern hardware and software, including, but not limited to: 

  • Frame rate issues (running at super speed) 

  • Windows integration issues, like alt-tab support 

  • Modern Resolution Support 

• Surreal 98 provides a robust modding system, with support for Steam workshop (coming soon) that allows anyone to make new assets for old target games using modern asset pipelines. You're no longer stuck using old esoteric tools to mod your beloved games. 

• Optional Raytracing Support - even if you have a non-RTX card, you won't be forced to upgrade 😊

• Continuous updates and support for latest versions of Unreal Engine 5, meaning the features keep on coming🕺

• Surreal 98 is non-destructive, adding supplementary files without overwriting your game files. It runs independently, so your games remain unchanged if you choose to stop using it.

You get all this, while Surreal 98 attempts to keep the original vibe of target games intact. 

Currently, Surreal 98 ships without any AI generated content

Surreal 98 will ship with a modding SDK to allow anyone to create new assets (coming soon) 

By focusing on runtime enhancement and modding, Surreal 98 offers flexibility for community-driven improvements.

Surreal 98 does not contain any target games, owning and installing target games is up to the user.

Supported Target Games:  

Unreal Tournament 

and other Popular Unreal Engine 1 titles

Future Support:  

Unreal Gold 

Rune  

Disclaimer

This title does not ship with any content not owned and produced by Bad Chair Design Limited, and does not contain assets from targeted games. 

Unreal Tournament is a trademark of Epic Games, Inc. the Unreal Tournament IP is owned by Epic Games, Inc.