some time ago I've started writing some collected information about ET for beginners including an installation guide.
I did so because over time the problems installing and using ET have stacked and I really didn't find it easy to properly install it (including key submission, etc.).
Some of the problems I encountered:
- no more etkey creation
- no punkbuster for et
- no widescreen support by default
- not easy to find a clean and unmodified installer for et containing ET 2.60B
- no master-server (meanwhile this has been remedied)
I've released this guide on our old clanpage and also some time ago, ququ asked me whether I could share it with this community.
Today I've finally translated the major part of it - the installation guide - to English.
And meanwhile, everything has been translated to English.
So... here it is:
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Because it isn't very easy to get and install ET in recent time, I tought I'd create a collective thread for all those who want to install it (especially on Win7 and newer) and who have problem doing so, also to possibly create a relatively comprehensive guide to troubleshoot newcomer problems.
I've treid it on Windows 7 (Professional 64Bit) right now, and after some expected obstacles, it works relatively well.
These are the problems (known to me) by installing ET:
ETKEY: To identify players, ET uses the so-called ET-Key. Similar to the CD-Key of RtCW, it consists of numbers and letters and should be a relatively unique combination. It's being saved in "...\Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory\etmain\etkey" (without an extension).
Former it has been created by first connecting to server with PunkBuster enabled. Meanwhile the ETKEY allocation system has been stopped and you have to get one by another way. If you don't do so, you will have the following problems:
- Many servers reject players that have no or an empty ETKEY.
- ServerAdmins can reject players, that have an ETKEY which is younger as their time set (I don't know if this feature is still working after the stop of the ETKEY allocation system).
- Your XP saved on the server can no longer be assigned to you and your (especially in the beginning) hardly earned skill-levels are getting lost.
- If someone want to give you admin rights on the server, he can only do so if you have an ETKEY.
Where you can get such an ETKEY is described in the Installation Instructions at item 3.
PunkBuster: Anti-Cheat-Software which continues making problems in ET, but which is being used to transmit your ETKEY to the server even when turned off partially.
EvenBalance (creator of PB) has discontinued the support for ET. Fortunately the community made their own on (or recycled an old one).
How to install PB meanwhile is described in the Installation Instructions at item 2.
ET-Master-Server: It was down for a long time. It's providing the game with the Ingame-Server-List.
To get a Server-List anyway, you had to use server-browsers like QTracker, ASE or HLSW.
meanwhile it's running again and so it also works again.
No Sound: Unfortunalely it's a relatively frequent problem. I never had it by myself and therefore I cannot provide a troubleshooting guide. But in this subforum (btcclan) there has been a few which solved this problem. As far as I know it occurs either because the Windows-7-volume-control for ET.exe is set very low or ET has been installed without admin privileges.
If there exists a general troubleshooting guide, I'd be happy to add it below.
No appropriate WideScreen-Support: ET (despite some MODs) doesn't support WideScreens, deal with it!
Because meanwhile the most might have a screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 and ET doesn't have this option to select in its list, you have to add it by hand. Therefore you set r_mode on -1 (=custom) and the parameters r_customheight and r_customwidth.
After this ET is running with the correct resolution, but is displaying a 4:3 image streched to 16:9 (it's very distorted). Definitely that cannot be fixed completely (despite by the said MODs).
Many "profi-gamers" are using the parameter cg_fov to enlarge the horizontaly visible area so to don't loose track of the enemy so easily in close combat or to be able to see enemies standing besides.
Exactly this value can be used to partially correct the streching. It's set to 90 by default. When you set it to 107-108, (according to my picture comparisons) squares in the middle of the screen in the order of magnitude of the crosshair, are besing displayed as real squares again. Unfortunately this setting (at values despite 90) keeps distorting the border areas of your screen very fast very strong, because the Quake3-Engine is calculating the visible area spherically (you will see what I'm talking about by playing with this value).
The stuff with the resolution and the Field.of.View is done best by an autoexec.cfg (see Installation Instructions, item 6).
Hints/Informations for Newcomers:
Minimizing: ET cannot be minimized without additional applications. There are miscellaneous ET-Minimizers that do the job (much better as a press on [Windows] or [Alt]+[Tab] does in newer games: It's acting in real-time!).
I'm using etmin.exe by myself (see Installation Instructions, item 4).
It minimizes ET by the key combination [Alt]+[Z], but blocks the key combination [Alt]+[Tab] as long as ET is running. (ET.exe, not etmin.exe!)
But it seems like it doesn't work for everyone. I can't say under which circumstances it doesn't work (I'd be happy if we could find it out in here).
Console: You can open it using [~] (on an english keyboard; please feel free to investigate which key is below your [Esc] key on your keyboard by your own). Though "^" is also the color-code-prefix for ET - which is written (hidden) in the beginng of the console by opening it (because you have pressed the button; I'm not sure if this also applies for non-german keyboards). If you now type in "/connect bla.blubb.de", "^/" is being treated like a color-code and the command is not being understood. Therefore: Alwqays delete the "^" in the beginning of the console after opening it.
If you really want to use color codes, you have to enter the "^" by using the key combination press [Alt], press and release [4(NumPad)], press and release [9(NumPad)], release [Alt], because an addition press on [^] would close the console and delete the text you've typed in (very annoying...).
In the console [Ctrl]+[V] is working, but not [Ctrl]+[C].
If you type in "cg_" (without "/") and press [Tab], you will see a list of parameters beginning with cg_ including their values.
A value can be changed temporarily by example by typing in "/cg_fov 107" or "/set cg_fov 107". It can be set permanently (so that it is being saved into etconfig.cfg) by using "/seta cg_fov 107".
If you type in a text without a leading "/" while being connected to a server, it is being displayed in the main chat (like /say).
Directory-Cleaning: Once in a while it ocurs that ET needs ages to start, doesn't start properly, the menu after start is completely strewed with sounds and additional menus, or textures are missing.
In this case you should delete everything ET has downloaded during its lifetime. The best way to do this (according to my expierience) is to sort everything in etmain by the date of creation and delete everything that has been added after the installation (nearly all PK3s; you will see which ones to keep by date). Additionally you delete all MOD-folders added afterwards. The needed files are usually being downloaded while connecting to a server.
Why are textures missing (surfaces are covered with a black-yellow pattern instead of images)? Therefore one has to describe how ET is treating its files:
PK3-Files are renamed ZIP-Files. If you start ET e.g. with the ETPUB-Mod, at first the etmain directory is being precossed. In the process all PK3-Files are being virtually extracted (like you'd press "extract here" in WinRar). of course the files are not being extracted literally, it's more like the creation of an index of the containing files to tell in whcih PK3 ET can find which file if needed. Afterwards the etpub directory is being processed.
The order of extraction is alphabetically. And here comes the problem: If you have 2 PK3-Archives, both containing an image file with the same filename in the same path (inside of the PK3), ET will only be able to find the file that has been scanned at last. Hence it is possible that a wrong texture (from a wrong PK3-File) is being used, that doesn't match to the model it should be fitted on at all, which is looking cruel.
Additionally the most servers are only allowing to access PK3-Files which are also placed on the server (I think it's caled pure server check; without it everyone would be able to remove textures from a modified PK3 and "cheat"). If the server doesn't have the PK3-File which has been loaded at last and which has overwritten the proper texture, the access on the wrong texture is besing denied and the object will have a black-yellow pattern.
autoexec.cfg: Some MODs (I don't want to tell names, but it would be a shame to name and shame NoQuarter for it) preventing the execution of autoexec.cfg on start, even if you explicitly tell ET to do it by using a link file (which usually isn't necessary at all).
In this case you have to manually execute "/exec autoexec.cfg" (for complicated scripts after every start of ET).
Some very hard cases even deny the execution of the correct autoexec.cfg in etmain, because they have an own script creating an autoexec.cfg or other problems. In this case renaming (e.g. to "_autoexec.cfg") and additional manually executing is the only help. But please notice: Only the file called "autoexec.cfg" is usually being executed automatically after start.
Installation Instructions:
1. Download and install the actual ET 2.60B.
(NOT into C:\Program Files or another directory with restricted access rights!)
(Alternative Download-Link: http://www.wolffiles...filebase&fid=17)
2. Download and install PunkBuster for ET.
3. Generate an ETKEY: Either generate one on etkey.org and save it, or use this ETKEY-Generator.
The file ETKEY has to be placed in "...\Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory\etmain\" or in "...\AppData\Local\Punkbuster\ET\etmain\" (like described on etkey.org) - I don't know in which case you have to use which directory, you have to try.
4. (optional) Download etmin.exe and let it run while you're playing the game to minimize it using ALT+Z.
5. Run ET.exe, create a profile and make all settings. The settings made at this time are being copied to later downloaded mods - everything you change later has to be changed for every mod seperately.
6. Create an autoexec.cfg file for 1920x1080: Open NotePad.exe, enter the following lines
seta r_mode "-1" seta r_customwidth "1920" seta r_customheight "1080" seta r_fullscreen "1" seta cg_fov "107"and save it as autoexec.cfg in "...\Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory\etmain\".
Additional Suggestions:
- You can add etmin.exe into your autorun to make it start after windows starts, so you won't have to start it manually every time you play ET. (suggested by ququ)
- After your work is done, make a backup of your ET installation directory. You can copy/paste it later if you re-install windows without having to re-install ET. You can also give it to friends - but you should delete the containing ETKEY file and the configs containing your name, etc.. (suggested by ququ)
Well, that's it so far. Please feel free to post any suggestions, problems and ammendments in here!
(The original thread (which might be updated by me some occasionally) can be found here: http://forum.btcclan...php?f=2&t=8169)
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Changelog (Bunker):
2015-10-16: Added suggestions by ququ, formatted caption
2015-10-23: translated rest to english
Edited by Rhino Cracker, 23 October 2015 - 03:52 PM.
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