Damnation!

So here's something pretty wild to check out over the weekend -- Damnation -- a single player mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. That's right, single player, as in a entirely original game with characters, maps, weapons, and even a story.

I gave Damnation a run-through, and was pretty impressed with the amount of work that went into it. Graphically, it's loaded with all kinds of fantastic maps, textures, skins, and sound effects. The controls were a little funky, and the AI of the bots wasn't all that great, but for a third-party mod it wasn't half bad.

Right now the Damnation site only offers instructions on how to install and play the mod on Windows. But being the resourceful guy that I am, I figured out how to get it up and running on my PowerMac G5 [screenshot on a 20" Cinema running at 1680x1025]. If you own a Mac and want to give it a run, here's what you do:

1. Download the zip file from one of the links on the Damnation site.

2. Unzip the Damnation zip file (I would use StuffIt Expander).

3. Grab Santaduck Toolpack.

4. Using the "DropUModOut" function of Santaduck, install the unzipped ut4mod file to your UT2004 package installation.

5. Once that completes (it can take a minute or two), select the UT2004 package, right click on it, and select "Show Package Contents."

6. Open Terminal (Apps > Utilities > Terminal). Type "cd " (note the space) but don't press return. Bring the Finder window with your UT2004 package to the front, and drag the "System" folder to Terminal window. When you release, you should see the file path to the System folder in Terminal. Now press return.

7. Again in Terminal, type: ./ut2004-bin -mod=damnation

8. You'll now see the UT2004 startup window, and immediately after that, Damnation begins!