Old Games Kept Alive By Community?

[Spacedeck]

A guy on YT goes into old games to see how they are doing today. I find them pretty interesting that people are keeping these games going.

I wasn't there at the original time it launched but I play fairly badly at Links 2003, and attempt to play the online tournaments that's still being run in the community.
I play HALO PC and HALO CUSTOM EDITION (not MCC). Official servers long gone but have been replaced. You usually find around 100 or so players on each game.
COD2, another one which tends to always have people playing, not super popular anymore, most likely no more than 100 or so, but I have a blast every time I go on.

Do you still play any old games that are being kept alive by a community, big or small? If so, which games are they?

List of mentioned games with active communities
Links 2003 (Game Purchase ¦ Links Corner Forums ¦ LSPN Online Tournaments)
IL-2 Series (Mission4Today Community Site)
HALO Combat Evolved (physical disc version)
HALO Custom Edition (Custom Edition Homepage) *Requires CD key from physical disc*
Soldier of Fortune II
Supreme Commander: FA (Forged Alliance Forever Homepage)
Freelancer (Crossfire 2.0 Mod)
Warzone 2100 (Warzone 2100 Homepage)
Total Annihilation (Total Annihilation Forever Homepage)
Quake (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ QuakeWorld Homepage)
Project 1999 (Project 1999 Homepage)
Wildstar Nexus (NexusForever Server Homepage (WIP))
Earth and Beyond (Earth & Beyond Emulator Homepage)
Planetside 1 (PSForever Homepage)
Echovr (Research Project Server) *server might be picked up later down the line*
Star Wars Galaxies (SW Galaxies Homepage)
Master of Orion 2 (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ MOO2 Mod)
Legends of Mir 2 + 3 (LOMCN Homepage)
Hellgate London (London 2038 Homepage) *requires original physical disc copy*
Unreal Tournament (Old Unreal Homepage *Github Patches Here*)
HALO 2 (Project Cartographer *requires CD key from physical disc*)
Battlefield 2 (BF2Hub Homepage)
NHL 2004 (Main Forums)
Grand Prix 4 (GrandPrixGames Forums)
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (ETLegacy Homepage)
Enemy Territory Quake Wars
Falcon 4.0 (Steam Store ¦ BMS Mod)
XCOM: UFO Defence (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ OpenXCOM)
Call of Duty 2 (Steam Store & works with disc version)
CoD: BO2, MW3, WaW, BO1 (MP by Plutonium *requires original games on Steam Store*)
Call of Duty 4 (Steam Store ¦ COD4x MP Servers)
Grand Prix Legends
Doom
Freespace 2 (Steam Store)
Star Trek: Bridge Commander (GOG Store ¦ Mods)
The Matrix Online (Matrix Online Server)
City of Heroes (CoH: Homecoming Server)

 

[labbby]

I watch this guy all the time now, only came across his channel a few months ago.

It really is quite amazing, I must get back into SOF2. Apparently there are still servers about.

 

[LostCorpse]

some that come to mind are :
Supreme Commander Forged Allienace forever
freelancer
warzone 2100
total annihiltion

ones i dont play but aware of :
quake
project 1999 - original everquest
wildstar nexus
earth and beyound
planetside 1
echovr - saw this as a proof of concept
star wars galaxies
the endless mods the community create for every single game thats had a mod mad for it (aimbots and hacks dont count)

the community has stepped up to a lot of older games and supporting them

 

[tamzzy]

master of orion 2 https://moo2mod.com/
released 1996 and still being community updated!
(one of my nostalgic games from my pre-teens lol)

 

[tuftyfella]

the 2 i know are:

https://www.lomcn.net/forum/ keeping Legend of Mir 2 + 3 alive, in the west at least, on private servers.
https://london2038.com/ keeping Hellgate London alive on a private server, needs the original physical copy to play, not the Steam version.

 

[Armageus]

Not tried it recently but the original version of Unreal Tournament is now getting community updates

GitHub - OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches

Contribute to OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Spacedeck]

Some exellent games to have a look at in this thread!

HALO 2: being worked on with Project Cartographer.
Battlefield 2: available through BF2Hub, don't play too often but still installed.
NHL 2004: still seems to have a modding community that bring out updates on the roster and such, pity there isn't a newer/better NHL game on PC.
Grand Prix 4: Did anyone play this? Community still going over at grandprixgames.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

I'd love a night of Enemy Territory, or Quake Wars. Loved those games.

 

[Spacedeck]

I'd love a night of Enemy Territory

What's stopping you? The game actually came to my mind yesterday, so checked to see how it was dong. Apparently at some point the game moved to Steam, and player base is now almost dead, reaching no more than 53 in the last 24 hour peak.
There is still good news though, just head over to https://www.etlegacy.com/ and you will find a more active game. It's built on an earlier version of the game..

ET was my first introduction to online multiplayer gaming on PC when I started, it was either around 04 or 06. I very much remember seeing the "Connection Interrupted" pop up often on my screen, or the long downloading times when entering a new server. The gameplay was some of the most fun I've ever had.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Have a scan at Falcon 4. The community update is called BMS, and gives an amazing overhaul, including new maps, aircraft, and updates to all sorts of systems.
They even added VR support. Amazing

 

[Megahurtz400]

Some exellent games to have a look at in this thread!

HALO 2: being worked on with Project Cartographer.
Battlefield 2: available through BF2Hub, don't play too often but still installed.
NHL 2004: still seems to have a modding community that bring out updates on the roster and such, pity there isn't a newer/better NHL game on PC.
Grand Prix 4: Did anyone play this? Community still going over at grandprixgames.

Is BF2Hub still working?

I remember a few years ago (probably at least 5 ) there was a project to get the game running standalone but EA put a stop to it, was that BF2Hub?

 

[Bubo]

Surely the granddaddy of all old game being kept alive is the original XCOM: Ufo Defence with its OpenXCom Extended mod scene. I've literally just started yet another playthrough of this, it is just a superb game made even better with all the QoL improvements and mods OpenXCom allows.

 

[jeffspuds]

call of duty 2 multiiplayer still lots of players on numerous servers i still play frequenty.

 

[Nasher]

One I do miss is Tribes 2, but I think that is pretty dead.

It's annoying that developers now don't have any interest in the longevity of a game. No mod support and private servers means they don't last long at all.l Aso, they just aren't anywhere near as fun as the oldies.

Some of the HL/HL2 mods which turned in to entire games themselves and still very popular (CS, Garry's mod). You just don't see that happen anymore.

 

[SPG]

Gonna fire download and fire up ET again.

Too many hrs playing RTCW and ET, multiplayer gaming at its best.

 

[CapitalOne]

Someone posted here a while back on keeping SOF2 MP alive.

Favourite game of my entire 49 year existence.

 

[throwaway4372]

I played a retro game for 20+ years still run by the community. Most toxic people I've ever known. I don't even want to mention the game because they'll google it and find this post and harass me on here. The problem with these old community run games is nobody is policing them, it's fine if they're nice, but when it goes wrong it goes very wrong. (theft, stalking, paedos, drugs, etc, basically like dark web) If the game has decent chat functionality then it's a great tool for criminals, law enforcement won't even know it exists.

 

[Gary*]

CoD2 and CoD4 are still on the go with frequent LANs, another oldie kept alive by the community is a terrible mmo called Thang Global. It's changed hands a few times but there's a newer version out now.

 

[McPhee]

I still play Warzone 2100 from time to time. I'm not sure if it's still being worked on though - the latest update was late last year (over 24 years after the game came out!).

 

[Columbo]

Not tried it recently but the original version of Unreal Tournament is now getting community updates

GitHub - OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches

Contribute to OldUnreal/UnrealTournamentPatches development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

This I didnt know and its 100% getting booted tonight when I get in.
My most fondest memories and most competitive games and were in UT99 iGib Leagues and Cups on Clanbase...absolutely loved the thing to death.