S3TC: How and Why 

What is S3TC and why do I need it?

    S3TC is a texture compression method developed by  S3 Graphics, Ltd. While no longer a major compeditor in the hardware market, those that are have been known to aquire licenses to take advantage of this technology. Simply put, an S3TC enabled game is clearly set apart by crisp and defined textures and brings an entirely new level of detail to 3D acellerated gaming. Not simple enough? Take a look for yourself.

    This is actually the floor in the last room in Xidia. The left side is what the surface would normally look like. The right has S3TC enabled. Texture clarity is obvious.

    S3TC does come with it's disadvantages. Even if you've taken all the steps to enable S3TC, in the end it depends if there's an available texture for it. Unreal Anthology owners are at a huge disadvantage since it does not include the high resolution textures Epic shipped with the original and GOTY releases on their second CDs. If you have purchased the Anthology and want the 2nd disc textures from the original retail versions, there are links to those available within the community. You can find a link to the 2nd disc S3TC texture packages below if you are an owner of a UA copy of Unreal Tournament (Links provided by Diehard). 

Package1

 Package2

    S3TC texture packages include two images for the same texture; a low resolution for when S3TC is disabled and a high resolution for when it is enabled. Not every texture in Unreal Tournament includes a high resolution S3TC version. This is clear by looking at the two images below.

    The image on the left is normal, the right has S3TC enabled. As you can see only some of the surfaces have high resolution textures. Some people will argue that it unjustly changes the "atmosphere" of the game because it's no longer displaying the blurry low resolution textures. Not only that but there are a (very) few high resolution textures that look different than thier low rez counterparts. This can cause a scene to display differently depending if S3TC is enabled or not.

    The left image is normal, right S3TC is enabled. The differences are minor but obvious. 

What do I need?

    Firstly, you need the hardware. This shouldn't be an issue unless your system is dated or only has onboard video. If you only meet the minimum requirements for Unreal Tournament this isn't going to cut it. Even if you meet the "Awsome" system requirements for Unreal Tournament, forget about it. The documentation written and released with Unreal Tournament is very dated. The minimum tested system requirements for playing modern content with S3TC enabled are:

    Pay mind that these are the minimum tested requirements. Most maps will be playable with minimal frame rate loss.
You'll also need to get some updated drivers for Unreal Tournament that include S3TC support.  You still have a choice between OpenGL and Direct3D so you can experiement using each one to see which is the best for you.

Updated OpenGL and D3D8 renderers (both with S3TC support)

How do I do it?

    If you haven't installed the S3TC textures, go ahead and do that now. This is a very important step, if skipped you'll see no difference even if everything else has been completed. S3TC textures are included on the second CDs for the original and GOTY Unreal Tournament releases. As mentioned before, Unreal Anthology owners will need to find these textures available from community downloads (inquire through the links we provide on our site, they should not be too difficult to track down). Luckily there are some community maps and projects that use custom texture packages that include high resolution textures for S3TC users. 

    Next you'll want to install the newer game drivers. Feel free to make backups of your existing OpenGLDrv.dll in case you experience any problems with the newer driver. D3D8Drv.dll is an entirely new addition so you shouldn't need to backup anything for this driver. You're going to want to place the new driver(s) in your \UnrealTournament\System\ directory.

    After that start Unreal Tournament. Once the game is started bring down the console and enter "preferences", this should window the game and present a list of options. All you need to do here is locate expand the Rendering section (at the bottom) and then the appropriate subsection (OpenGL Support or Direct3D8 Support). After this section has been expanded scroll further down and you'll see the line, UseS3TC. To the right change the value from False to True.

    That's all there is to enabling S3TC but while we're here let's also check if other basic details are enabled. All the following should be True: Coronas, DetailTextures, HighDetailActors, MaskedTextureHack, ShinySurfaces, UseDetailAlpha, UseMultitexture, UseTrilinear, UseTripleBuffering, VolumetricLighting. MaskedTextureHack is a must. Some textures have transparent areas. Someone forgot this when making a few S3TC textures. If MaskedTextureHack is left false these textures will be flat black where they should be transparent.

    Once that's finished close the window. Back in the game, go to the top menu and click Options then Preferences. On the Video tab if you're not already using OpenGL or Direct3D8, click Change and hit Yes to restart UT. The game will now exit. Before it restarts you'll be presented with a screen to select your video render device. If you dont' see OpenGL or Direct3D8 make sure show all devices is checked and then select the appropriate device. Once that's done finish it off by going back into the options/preferences menu and adjusting the resolution, color depth and brightness to your liking.
    S3TC is now enabled and UT should be looking pretty hot.