Whilst sorting through some files on my archive server following a recent drive swap, I was cleaning out a few duplicate files and directories from the 2005-2010 era, when I stumbled upon a folder called ‘rtcw-saves’.
Yes, it was a folder of saved games from the 2001 game ‘Return to Castle Wolfenstein’. This game is so old they even open sourced the code back in 2010.
I then had a look through my CD spindle (remember those?) where I keep old install discs (anyone need Mac System 8 disc?) and there it was, the original install CD from 20+ years ago.
Next I needed the key - no problem, deep in my home directory I knew I had a spreadsheet of all my software keys going back a long old way, and yes, one for RTCW. Software keys existed back in the day when you bought something, installed it, and owned it ;) .
I was in business; the game installed and ran fine, but there were some issues - firstly, it had no widescreen support, and secondly, online reports said it crashed a lot on Windows 10. I also knew I had v1, and there were several patches, and this is where the open sourcing gets useful - a team had produced a patch (1.42d) based off the final official patch (1.41) which fixed some compatibility issues and enabled wide screen modes as well as some other fixes.
After I put that in the game didn’t look half bad at 3440*1440, and played very nicely. I could also use those game saves, and it seems I was about 75% through the game, so I’ll see if I can finish it at the weekend. There are also a lot of graphic upgrades available, so perhaps I’ll give them a look in the future.
I have to say it doesn’t look awful - for its time it was revolutionary, and whilst the cut-scenes look very dated, the in the in-game graphics simply look basic, and it plays very well - no weirdness due to playing on a far faster system, so the patches seem to work. Overall, it’s been some almost retro fun. Will update here when I finish it.
(One caveat: I have to play it as admin or it crashes on save - there’s likely just some file permissioning I need to sort out on that front.)
