News | Info | Team | Screenshots | Downloads | Wiki | Bug Database | Forum | Links

About

The Ur-Quan Masters

The project started in August 2002, when Toys For Bob released the partially ported sources of Star Control 2 3DO version to the fan community. Our goal is to port this wonderful game to current personal computers and operating systems. It is and will remain 100% free of charge, and anyone can contribute to the project and thus help make it even better. For more information, look at our info page.


News

Nov 30th: Ur-Quan Masters 30th Anniversary Celebration

It's been 30 years since Star Control II — the Ur-Quan Masters was released.
While there hasn't been much activity from the UQM Open Source team lately, there is a lot of excitement coming from the other side of the Ur-Quan Masters universe.

You may have heard that the creators of the original game have started a new company, Pistol Shrimp, and that they are creating a sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters. Happy days and jubilation!

But also, to celebrate the 30th anniversary, there will be a live 30th Anniversary Celebration Twitch stream on November 30th, and you're all invited.
The stream starts at 1pm PST / 4 pm EST / 21:00 UTC on https://twitch.tv/x33n/.

More information can be found on the Pistol Shrimp blog, and the Reddit thread.

Finding the UQM Community Online(Tuesday, Jun 15 2021)

Over the years, we've maintained two major online communities of our own—the official forum and an IRC channel that was mostly about day-to-day development work.

In light of recent events, the IRC channel has been moved to #uqm at Libera.Chat.

There are also multiple active fan communities online unaffiliated with us; the Pages of Now and Forever maintain an active forum of their own, and The New Alliance of Free Stars hosts channels for UQM, some of its forks, and its related commercial games.

It's an exciting time, and if you're a fan, you're not alone!

Announcing The Ur-Quan Masters 0.8.0(Sunday, Jan 10 2021)

Happy 2021, Humans. It has been almost ten years since Version 0.7 was released, and a lot has happened since then. UQM 0.8 has now been released to catch up with that.

This newest release has a lot of changes in it, but the highlights are:

Overall, this release is part "years of deferred maintenance" and part "actually release the unpublished work that still fits in well with the popular mods".

Get the new release from the downloads page, or discuss it on the forum!

Compatibility Release for macOS 10.14 and onwards(Sunday, May 6 2018)

If you are using macOS 10.13.4, you may have noticed a warning that UQM needs to be updated to improve compatibility. Apple has announced that macOS 10.13 High Sierra would be the last version of macOS to run 32-bit apps "without compromise".

We have now created and released a fresh build of UQM 0.7.0 that has rebuilt not only the main program but also all of its libraries for maximum compatibility backwards and forwards. We have tested it on 10.7 Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, and 10.13 High Sierra—it is our belief that it should work even on 10.6 Snow Leopard. We also expect that this edition will work without compromise on future Intel Macs for some time to come. You can get it from our downloads page.

Compatibility Source Code Release for Modern Linux(Sunday, January 21 2018)

Recent releases of GCC have trouble compiling UQM 0.7.0 from its source release. We have created a new source update that has been tested on the current stable versions of Debian, Fedora, and OpenBSD. You can get it from our downloads page. Note that this is purely a change to build-time configuration and logic: nothing about this release has changed the the resulting program. If you have a working build of UQM 0.7.0, you don't need to take this update.

Compatibility Release for macOS Sierra(Sunday, September 25 2016)

The release of macOS Sierra has finally removed some of the old graphics and sound APIs that our releases of UQM depended on. We have created a new macOS package for The Ur-Quan Masters that has been tested on 10.12 Sierra and should work at least as far back as 10.7 Lion. You can get it from our downloads page.

Development migrated to Git(Saturday, November 2 2013)

After a number of requests from modders, we've converted the Ur-Quan Masters code repository over to use the Git revision control system. This should make it easier for modders to collaborate with one another and to track changes made in the vanilla development track.

The code page is thus available here. The Subversion repository will be kept available for the forseeable future, but it will not be taking additional updates.

If you are planning on creating your own personal mod of UQM, we encourage you to develop it in Git by creating a branch from one of the release tags of the vanilla UQM repository. That way, it will be easier to update your mod with new releases from vanilla.

Remix add-on package four 'The New Alliance of Free Stars' released(Wednesday, February 20 2013)

The official Ur-Quan Masters remix add-on package four: The New Alliance of Free Stars has been released.

Be sure to visit the download section to grab your copy!

This add-on pack includes almost 60 minutes of music in 16 tracks:

Check out the PRECURSORS web site for more information about the releases and future plans.

- Precursors

Announcing The Ur-Quan Masters 0.7.0(Monday, July 4 2011)

Hello everyone!

Guess what day it is today?
It is the fourth of July, the day when we remember aliens taking over Earth, beings from another solar system mining planets for resources, and the destruction of historic buildings (as well as tourism).
It is the day when we celebrate a brave few in a ship built with alien technology carrying a huge bomb into the alien mothership in a near suicide attack. It is the day when the shields went down.

Today is the day of the greatest science fiction of all time: Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters!

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team is happy to announce: The Ur-Quan Masters 0.7.0.

So what is new? Well, you can find the complete list here, but here are a few of the highlights:

So download the game from here and join us in the celebrations! And do not forget to *enjoy the sauce*!

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

Arts and Crafts for Star Control(Tuesday, August 12 2008)

The petition to get a new Star Control made has generated quite a bit of response, but more can be done. I would like to direct your attention to a cunning plan that Alex Ness from Toys for Bob has come up with. In his own words (from the Toys for Bob website):

First We Hit Them With Letters, Next Arts and Crafts.

After that, they won't know what hit 'em. Activision, I mean. As part of my multi-pronged strategy to convince Activision to insist that our next project be a Star Control one, I have come up with idea to harness the powers of arts and crafts as well as fans everywhere.

What I want to do is this: Make a giant map of the Earth. Maybe I should just buy one. I'm not map maker. If I were, I'd probably be instantly fired for my alternative spelling of the nation known as Uruguay as well as the fabrication of non-existent countries like Nutsack Kingdom and Nutsack Kingdom II. As a matter of fact, I have already been fired from previous jobs for these exact same reasons, even though none of those jobs involved making a map. So anyway, I'm going to buy a map. A real big one. Then I'm going to prominently display it somewhere in our office. Phase one of my plan will then be complete.

Phase two is where I once again, ask you wonderful community of fans for support. What I want is to put pictures of you guys up on this map. Not everybody but at least one from every country. This may be a problem for the magical isle of Greenland but who knows? There couldn't be all that much to do in Greenland, especially if you're unemployed like Andre the Giant's character in the Princess Bride used to be, so maybe someone who lives there has played a little Star Control. Anyway, what I'll do then is post your picture up over the respective country you live in. The idea being to show the fan base all over the globe. Will this help convince Activision to let us do another Star Control? I can't predict the future but I can tell you that if it's big and displayed prominently, it will help remind them every time they come to visit and be a real conversation piece. Plus it will just generally brighten our spirits. In Paul's case, this could lead to a level of congeniality rarely exhibited by man or machine. He's quite a bubbly figure, in case you don't know.

So if you've got the notion and a camera, can you send me a picture of yourself either playing SCII or at least standing near something SCII-related? Just send it right to old alexness@toysforbob.com. Or, if you really want the picture to get there extra fast, use my new other email address: nutsack@toysforbob.com. Somehow just the word "nutsack" does make things faster and better.

Thanks,

Alex

And in case you're wondering, it's not too late to show your support by signing the petition.

IRC Chat with Toys for Bob on 2007-06-13(Thursday, May 17 2007)

Those of you who visit the UQM forum or the Ultronomicon may have seen the occasional reference to the Words of Wisdom uttered by the Creators of Star Control in past IRC chats.
It is time to add another chapter. On Wednesday the 13th of June at 14.00 PT (that's 21.00 UTC), a delegation from Toys for Bob, including Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford themselves, will visit the IRC channel #uqm-tfb on Freenode , and you're all invited.
A lucky few of you may even get the chance to play a game of SuperMelee against one of them. (Be sure to test your setup in advance.)

So, bring your best questions, and see you then.

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

Edit: the chat is over; you can find the log here.

The Ur-Quan Masters v0.6.2 release(Wednesday, Jan 17 2007)

You may have noticed the presence of an increasingly large number of bugs which move with great speed and attack relentlessly. We are sorry to say that this is our catalog item UQM-0.6.1.
Yes, we've moved beyond the bugfixing stage into the lucrative bug creation phase. It seems that our bugfix release in fact introduced a new bug.

So now, we have 0.6.2.
In 0.6.2, you can save your game and supermelee fleets again, which is good.
And there are a few bonus small fixes, which shouldn't hurt anyone either.

The game data is still unchanged, so you won't have to redownload that, and you can just install 0.6.2 over 0.6.0 or 0.6.1.
You can find it here.

Have fun again,

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

The Ur-Quan Masters v0.6.1 release(Wednesday, Jan 10 2007)

The Ur-Quan Masters 0.6.0 has been so well received that we thought we'd do that again. We call it 0.6.1.
Now you may think, "There's got to be something more if they raise the version number.". But nope, there isn't.
There's actually something less. Bugs. We don't like them, so we got rid of some. So 0.6.1 is what you might call a "maintenance release". At least that's how we call it.

Fortunately, the game data is unchanged, so you won't have to redownload all that. You can just install 0.6.1 over 0.6.0 to enjoy all the benefits of having less.
You can find it here.

May the Ultron be with you,

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

The Ur-Quan Masters v0.6.0 release(Tuesday, Dec 19 2006)

Happy days and jubilation! It's The Ur-Quan Masters 0.6.0.

And The Ur-Quan Masters 0.6.0 means network SuperMelee!
And it means in-game key configuration.
And it means support for 64 bit systems.
And it means more bugfixes.
And it means more internal improvements which you won't care about.
Read all about it in our WhatsNew file.

To download it, we gladly direct you to our download page.

And if you haven't already, support a new Star Control created by Toys for Bob (the creators of the original Star Control and Star Control II, but not Star Control 3) by signing the petition.

And if you're in search of people to play network SuperMelee against, you'll likely find someone ready to eat flaming plasma death in the IRC channel on irc.freenode.org.

Blow up an Ur-Quan for us, Captain,

The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

Toys for Bob want another Star Control and need your help! (Sunday, April 16 2006)

A few days ago, Toys for Bob, the creators of Star Control 1 and 2 (but not 3) made it known that they were in talks with the Powers That Be at Activision about what their next game should be.

They decided that the stars are finally right, and are trying to convince the Powers that their next game should be a Star Control game. And they're asking the fans for help.

If we could send them mails in support of a new Star Control, they could use those as a powerful argument in the discussion.

Read more about it on our petition page.

Precursors Remix pack 4 progress(Sunday, February 19 2006)

Here are all the tracks released for remix pack 4 so far. This list will be updated as new ones are released.

The Ur-Quan Masters v0.5.0 release(Sunday, Feb 2 2006)

Hello Human Earthlings!

Look what we've got here. It's The Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0!

Some things have changed, along with the version number.
We've got a searchable starmap, we've got a new scaler, we've got prettier planet landings, we've got a working setup menu, we've got better text input and we've got tons of bugfixes.
And a whole bunch of other stuff you can find in our WhatsNew file.

And you can have it too! Call 1-900-PKUNKRA, 24 hours a day! Or just go to the download page.

Frungy! Frungy! Frungy!

— The `The Ur-Quan Masters' development team.

New Precursors Remixes Released(Friday, January 6 2006)

It's been a looooong hiatus for The Precursors, but we're finally back in business. Despite not having completed the fourth remix pack (yet), we decided that we're close enough that we can start releasing the pack in smaller doses. From today, we'll strive to release at least one track from the new remix pack every friday. To kick this party off, we're giving you not only one, but two Utwig remixes, and to top it off they both play in the game during different circumstances.

Since we're not releasing these remixes in packages yet, you'll have to add them to the game yourself. This can be done by creating a folder called "comm" under the content folder in the Ur-Quan Masters install folder. Under the new comm folder, create another folder called "utwig" and place the two OGG-files there (the game won't play the MP3-files).

The first Utwig remix, Mask of Ultimate Embarrasment and Shame (OGG, MP3), was composed by Tore Aune Fjellstad and Espen Gätzschmann.

The other remix, The Ultron (OGG, MP3), was composed by guest composer Casey Monroe.

Keep an eye on this thread in the forum for updated information on new releases.

Enjoy!

— Precursors

Updates:

The Ur-Quan Masters v0.4.0 release(Saturday, May 21 2005)

Hello Hunams,

It's been a while, but here it is: The Ur-Quan Masters version 0.4.0. With all the features from the original Star Control II present, and as stable as a horse barn, there's nothing that should stop you from sharing it with all your friends.
Some mentionable improvements:

For a complete list, we direct you to this page.
When you're ready to start downloading, the place to go is here.

Enjoy.

The Ur-Quan Masters development team

Remix pack 4 preview(Tuesday, May 3 2005)

With the release of the fourth remix package still looming ominously on the horizon, we are releasing one of the upcoming remixes for your listening pleasure.

This time we're showcasing Frungy Party (mp3 version here), a remix of the original Zoq-Fot-Pik theme. This remix was made by Forevian, a newcomer to the project.

Enjoy!

- Precursors

Feature article in Retro Gamer(Wednesday, March 23 2005)

The UK retro gaming magazine Retro Gamer has a two-part feature about Star Control, and includes a copy of The Ur-Quan Masters on the accompanying CD-ROM. It ought to be interesting to anyone who wants to know everything about Star Control, and to those who are on a slow internet connection and want to play the full game.

You can talk to the writer of this story, John Szczepaniak, on our UQM forum.

To those of you who found this page through the article, welcome (the rest of you too). You may want to upgrade your copy of the game to the most recent version, by downloading a snapshot here. The improvements are worth it.

Announcing the Ultronomicon(Friday, September 3 2004)

The Ultronomicon, our new wiki database, is now officially open. We've chosen the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license for all its text.

The goal is to make it a complete reference work for everything relating to The Ur-Quan Masters, including the Star Control universe, gameplay, technical tips, and developer info.

I encourage everyone to write a bit about their favourite Ur-Quan Masters subject, so that we will have something to show soon.

Remix add-on package three 'Ur-Quan Hierarchy' released(Wednesday, June 30 2004)

The official Ur-Quan Masters remix add-on package three: Ur-Quan Hierarchy has been released.

Be sure to visit the download section to grab your copy!

For your listening pleasure, we have:

Check out the PRECURSORS web site for more information about the releases and future plans.

- Precursors

Up-to-date Windows binaries (Saturday, February 28 2004)

Can't wait for the next The Ur-Quan Masters release?

From now on, new Windows binaries will be created automatically within a few hours after changes have been committed into cvs.
You can find them here.
To use them, just replace the uqm.exe file from your existing The Ur-Quan Masters installation by one you download here.

Keep in mind that these are snapshots of a work in progress, and bugs may be lurking (or just openly bite you in the face).
If you report such a bug in bugzilla, be sure to mark it as being from up-to-date cvs.

- SvdB

Remix add-on package two 'Neutral Aliens, Don't Shoot!' released(Monday, November 10 2003)

The official Ur-Quan Masters remix add-on package two: Neutral Aliens, Don't Shoot! has been released.

Be sure to visit the download section to grab your copy!

This add-on pack includes over 40 minutes of music:

Check out the PRECURSORS web site for more information about the releases and future plans.

- Precursors

Remix add-on package one 'Super Melee!' released(Monday, October 27 2003)

The official Ur-Quan Masters remix add-on package one: Super Melee! is released.

Be sure to visit the download section to grab your copy!

The first add-on pack includes over 40 minutes of music:

Check out the PRECURSORS web site for more information about the releases and future plans.

- Precursors


Webmasters: mk at kapsi.fi, mcmartin at gmail.com, serge at vdboom.org

SourceForge.net Logo Valid XHTML 1.1! Powered by PHP