Urban Terror is a FPS (First Person Shooter) free online game, which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. It is totally free, no spyware and does not need to register: download, install and play immediately. We find easily over a thousand servers on Internet constantly.
The playground is generally urban and weapons are realistic, but the movements are not (super jump, slides, etc.). The action is fast and violent.
Installation
Under Windows
Download the installer (.exe) on this page.
Under Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty)
There is a deposit for Urban Terror in getdeb.net:
wget -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo bash -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu jaunty-getdeb games" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install urbanterror
Other systems
See the website of Urban Terror:
http://www.urbanterror.net/page.php?6
Vitality and damage
In Urban Terror, the damage is different depending on where you are hit. If you’re hit in the arm, you’ll have more trouble to shoot straight. For legs, you will walk and run slower. For the chest, you will be breathless faster.
Once you’re injured, it is important to heal quickly, otherwise you will lose blood and vitality will continue to decline.
Once healed, you bleed more but of course your vitality is more than you and more easily succumb to following injuries.
Equip yourself
Before starting a game, you can choose your weapons and your equipment.
You have the choice of automatic and semi-automatic weapons (machine guns, sniper rifle …), handguns (pistols), medkits (to heal yourself), silencers, laser sights, tactical glasses, explosive or smoke grenades, helmet, jacket …
Caution: The more you are loaded, the slower you move.
Moving and endurance (stamina)
In addition to the normal movement (forward, backward, left, right), you have 3 speeds: walk, run and sprint.
In Urban Terror, nobody walks. Besides, Urban Terror is normally configured to run once you press the button “forward” (If this is not the case, change it in configuration). You can run as long as you want without being breathless.
Sprinting is faster, but limited: You can sprint as long as you still have the stamina. Endurance is displayed in your health bar. And of course unless you’re healthier, you can less build endurance, and therefore less time you can sprint.
If you have no longer it, you have to wait until it recharges (ie that you return to your breath). Sometimes the color bar of stamina is not always the same, but the operating principle remains the same.
For sprinting, press the “sprint” key (that you defined in the configuration) at the same time you press “forward” key.
Game modes
There are different game modes.
- Free for all (FFA): It’s every man for himself. The one who kills the most wins. This mode is recommended for beginners because it helps control the basic functions (movement, combat).
But the whole point of online FPS, it’s teamwork. That’s why there are more interesting game modes:
- Team Deathmatch (TDM): Like Free for all, but with a team. Two teams, each team must try to kill a maximum of enemies of the opposing team. You score for your team. The team that wins is the one that did most of the victims. It is important to partner for progress on the ground to cover, etc.
- Capture the flag (CTF): Each team has a flag that should protect against thieves. You have to take the flag of the opposing team and return it to your base. You can choose and defend the flag, or go look at the enemy. The team that captured the most flags wins.
- Team Survivor (TS): Like Team Deathmatch, but until total elimination of the opposing team (when a player dies, it re-enters the game when one team is completely eliminated).
- Follow The Leader (FTL): At the beginning of the game, one of your team is elected “leader”. You must help him stay alive and let him go and touch the enemy flag.
- Capture & Hold (C&H): Each team must capture strategic positions and hold them. A position captured becomes in your color. If you hold it for a minute, you score a point. The team that scores the most points wins.
- Bomb/Defuse (Bomb): The red team tries to place a bomb at strategic locations. The blue team must prevent or defuse bombs.
Start the game
Launch Urban Terror and click “Play Online“.
Then select as Source: “Internet” and click to select the type of game you want (Free for all, Team Deathmatch …).
Then click on “Get New List” and wait for it to finish recovering the server list.
Simply choose a server. Prefer the servers which have a low ping. Then you will arrive in the game:
It is better to choose “Auto-join” to better balance the teams.
List of servers without launching Urban Terror
You can also consult the list of servers on the Internet without launching Urban Terror, just with your Web browser.
To connect to a server, run Urban Terror, press SHIFT+ESCAPE to display the console, then:
/connect adresseip:port
Automatic download
Tip: Enable automatic download. So if you want to play on a server that you do not have the map, it will be downloaded: If you see the next screen, just press ENTER to start downloading the map.
The map will be downloaded and the game starts just after.
To enable automatic downloading, go to the configuration from the main menu: Setup > Game Options > General settings > Auto Download: Enabled.
Some Tips
- Don’t despair: In the beginning, you will die often. Very often. Sometimes very quickly (less than 30 seconds). You will die dozens of times per game. Do not be discouraged, this is part of the game.
- Move all the time. Motionless, you’re an easy target. Even the snipers can not stay in place as in other FPS: The eye glued to glass, you’ll quickly shot in the neck.
- If someone shoots you, do not try to escape or you stash: Shoot to respond.
- Do not stay open: Hide yourself. Behind a wall, a box. If you remain uncovered, you are an easy target. If you cross a zone uncovered, made him sprint and with difficult to predict movements (jump, slide …)
- Remember to heal yourself immediately when you are injured (before reloading your weapon). Otherwise you will lose blood.
- Helmet and bulletproof jacket slow you down and reduce your jumps. In any case, before a Remington rifle with telescopic sights, you’re dead, even with a helmet. They may provide little protection at first, but then you slow down and make you an easier target. You decide if you want to keep them or not.
- Use a silencer. This is not just for the noise: without noise, you will see a big flame out of the weapon, which makes you very easy to spot when you shoot. The silencer is not very heavy and will not slow you down.
Without a silencer, the flame out of the barrel is very visible:
- Listen: With headphones, you can hear the footsteps, the rattle of weapons that recharges, the breathless players or automatic doors that open and close. It also means the difference if a player walking on concrete, wood, in the grass, in the water … This can provide information on the proximity of an enemy and his location. Compare with the minimap to see if it’s a friend or an enemy (the minimap only shows teammates). Some levels even have features that can help you (in Elgin, we heard a dog barking when we pass some doors).
- Learn special movements: Whether the circle-jump (jump repeated with rotation), jump against the walls, slides … they will give you an advantage in battle. You also see many players do: They do not cheat and you too can do (with practice). This site will help you.
- In Urban Terror, the damage is different depending on the body parts you touch. Aim for the head! Aim for the head!
- We are stronger as a team: Try to team, you will be stronger against the enemy. It’s the whole point of online FPS. Especially in the way Team Deathmath and Capture the flag.
- Heal your teammates when you can (touch carefully when you’re ready for a teammate).
- Be careful not to shoot your teammates is very quick when we are in a group.
- Everyone is different. Feel free to try different weapons to find the one that is most suited.
- Drop the trigger. The longer you hold down, the more you lose accuracy. You miss a cow in a row. Short bursts are often more effective than completely emptying his clip. The loss of accuracy is seen with the viewfinder (cross) becomes greater. Moreover, some weapons have more mode (blow by blow, burst, automatic …)
- In the heat of battle, if your magazine is empty and yet the enemy before you, do not try to reload: Change your weapon (such as your handgun). It’s much faster to switch weapons than reload.
- On public servers, use the “Auto-join” instead of choosing your own team (red or blue). It is more correct.
- Be polite and respectful to other players (Otherwise you might be kicked from the server, sometimes for a long time.)
- Stay cool. It’s just a game You’re there for fun. If you shoot a violent manner is not bad. There is nothing aggressive to you in this gesture is just the game.
- You will die often, do not be discouraged (I’ve already said that?)
Equipment
For the main weapon, you can choose: From the Kalashnikov automatic rifle to the Remington SR8 sniper rifle, through the heavy Negev (like Rambo) or G36.
Note that each weapon has its own specifications that may affect the game: accuracy, dispersion, frequency of fire, magazine capacity, weight, reload time, power impact of the bullet …
You can take a secondary weapon, but it is not mandatory. Remember, the more you load, the more you will run slower and less high you jump.
The handgun is a good ally, not too heavy, and useful in close combat (eg corridors). The Desert Eagle has an excellent strength impact.
The explosive grenades can be useful for dislodging an enemy behind a wall, but they are dangerous and have to be handled with care.
Smoke grenades can help to mask an attack or protect you.
And the rest of the equipment:
- The kevlar jacket reduces the damage caused by an impact, but it is cumbersome and slow you down.
- Similarly, the helmet will protect you a little, but you increases.
- The silencer reduces noise, removes the flame coming out of barrel and somewhat reduces the dispersion.
- The laser improves the accuracy but also makes you identifiable.
- The medkit you can better assist you, but also to better heal your teammates (up to 80%). Without it, you can heal up to 40%.
- Tactical goggles help you find people (and grenades), but reduces your field of vision and increase the risk of confusing friend and foe (you do not see colors). Furthermore, you are more easily blinded when a grenade exploded.
- You can take additional ammunition not to be short.
Remember that all this equipment is optional, and that you are more teams, more cumbersome and you will move slowly, making you an easier target.
Communication
You can communicate with other players by various means.
The game includes commands for sending text messages to all other players, or just those of your team: just press the corresponding button, then type your message and end with the ENTER key.
- chat: send a message to everyone
- team cheat: send a message to your team
- target chat: send a message to the one you are targeting
- radio: Send a pre-defined radio message.
However, in a match, we rarely have time to type a sentence without getting killed. So there are pre-defined messages that may activate the radio button. Examples of preset messages: I need a medic, Thanks, Incoming!, Cover me, Requesting backup …
To save time (and avoid going through the menu “radio”), you can redefine some keys.
Simply create the file autoexec.cfg in the same directory as q3config.cfg, and add “bind” commands.
For example, to say “thank you” by pressing F10, it would:
bind F10 “ut_radio 9 9 Thanks.”
or to request a medic by pressing F5:
bind F5 “ut_radio 3 3 I need a medic!”
When a teammate asked a medic, his arrow flashes on the mini-map and a caduceus appears above his head to indicate he needs help.
The list of radio messages is available at Urban Terror.
It is also quite common for clans to use external software like TeamSpeak or Mumble to interact verbally. These softwares are free.
You can then log onto the server of TeamSpeak or Mumble of the Urban Terror server on which you play (if it has one).
Abbreviations
To save time, players use acronyms. You’ll see for example:
- gg: Good game.
- no or n1 (nice one): Nice shot.
- wd: Well done.
- bb: bybye.
- thx : Thanks.
- l2p: Learn to play.
- sry: Sorry.
- nop or np: No problem.
You can also predefine keys to send these messages or longer sentences with the bind command, for example:
bind F5 say “Urban Terror is so cool!”
and the message is sent when you press F5 during the game.
Note that you can attach many other commands to different keys. See the manual for Urban Terror.
Teams, clans, competition
You can play Urban Terror for fun … or to compete.
Some players are grouped into clans (or teams) and play as a team. A cohesive team will of course be much more effective on the ground. Some clans recruiting players, others not.
There is even competition between clans, with organized games and divisions, like football.
The players belong to a clan are usually preceded by an alias with few specific letters that represent the name of the team.
Most of these clans have their own game server (and often a TeamSpeak or Mumble server). Most are members of the UAA and shall carefully remove the cheaters (and more generally also those who have bad behavior, like those who kill members of their own team).
Notes
- The parties are usually limited in time (the time remaining of a match is displayed in the upper right corner. After time expires, the team with the most points is declared the winner.
Display of the time remaining until the end of the match:
- Wave respawn: When you die, you re-enter the game after a few seconds. Some servers are configured in “wave respawn“, meaning that all the players dead reappear at the same time. This encourages the team to play together. You can see if this function is active (and remaining time) with this icon:
- Avoid attacking the point where the players appear (spawn points). This is considered a lack of tact (even if it is practiced on some servers). This is particularly annoying to enjoy the game.
- When you reload your weapon, any unused ammunition loader is lost. Example: If you have 12 ammo in the magazine and you change the magazine, you lose those 12 ammo.
- Please note behind which you hide: The bullets pass through certain materials like wood, not concrete. You can also take advantage when you know a player is hiding behind a wooden fence or a crate.
- If you hurt an enemy, but you have lost sight of, follow the bloodstains on the ground.
- After a storm, we must often be cured and reload his weapon. First you heal and begin immediately to reload your weapon: The weapon will reload while you are healing (The opposite is not possible).
- Movements and jumps are so advanced in Urban Terror that we find teams that do only that, and even servers dedicated exclusively to the jump.
- Historically, Urban Terror was a modification (mod) of Quake 3, and therefore needed to run Quake 3. Now, Urban Terror can operate without Quake by using ioQuake, an open source 3D engine which brings some improvements (such as automatic downloading of maps). You may even find here references to Quake 3 on the Internet.
- If you’re running Ubuntu (or other Debian-derived) and the sound cut without explanation during the game, de-install the package libsdl1.2debian-alsa and install the package libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio (This is of a bug in the package libsdl1.2debian-alsa, which affects several games, including Urban Terror and Tremulous.)
- To improve yourself, consider switch to spectator and follow the players with the best score. You’ll see how they play and maybe learn some tricks and techniques of combat (movements, choice of weapons in different environments, angles of attack, …)
- Urban Terror is often shortened to UrT (not UT not to be confused with Unreal Tournament).
Cheating
Although Urban Terror does not use systems like PunkBuster, there are relatively few cheaters.
- Firstly, on many servers, a player can propose to kick a player from another server, and Internet users currently participate in the match vote. Cheaters are usually kicked very quickly.
- Then you must know that any director of game server, and even any Internet user may save a match or the game of a particular user. (Just to put a spectator, left-click to select the player and press F12 to save). These videos (*.dm_68) are used as evidence.
- Many servers are members of the UAA, a group of administrators of the game. If a player is caught cheating, the video player is subject to the UAA and – following a vote – the player is banned. The list of banned players is then published by the UAA. Player who cheat can find themselves banned from all servers of Urban Terror. Sometimes permanently.
- And the best servers (those of clans) tend to have people dedicated to tracking down cheaters. These people are also members of the UAA and submit the list of players to banish and demos.
- The most common cheating are:
o aimbot: a modified version of Urban Terror, which targets automatically every enemy in the field of view.
o wallhack: which allows to see through walls (example of wallhack + aimbot here).
Don’t cheat. Players of Urban Terror are there to have fun, not for their stats, but you risk a permanent ban.
(Note that some very good players can give the impression of cheating, but it is not.)
Performance
Urban Terror can work even if your computer is not a powerful gaming computer.
However, if your computer is really slow, the number of frames displayed per second will be weak, and this may be disadvantageous to play online.
The number of frames per second is displayed in the top right of the screen, and it varies depending on the scene displayed:
Try to have at least 30 fps when possible. Please lower the resolution or texture quality. You must go in the configuration (Setup):
Then System > Graphics: There, change the resolution and quality textures.
In particular, begin to lower the texture quality: It can have a significant impact on performance.
Note that we can play without problem with textures set to “Very Low”.
(Note: This screen is also available during the game, but it will require you to return again in the current game.)
Tags: FPS, Gaming, Tips and Tricks, Urban Terror
