Unreal Tournament 2004 Dedicated Server (Docker)

This repository provides a Dockerized Unreal Tournament 2004 dedicated server suitable for running multiplayer UT2004 servers in a clean, reproducible way.
The image is designed for headless operation, automatically downloads game assets on first startup, and supports bind-mounted configuration files.

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Features

• Runs the Unreal Tournament 2004 dedicated server (ucc-bin)
• Automatically downloads and extracts game assets on first startup
• Tracks downloaded assets to prevent re-downloading on container restarts
• Non-root runtime using gosu
• Supports custom server configuration files

Docker Compose Example

services:
  ut2004:
    image: lancommander/ut2004:latest
    container_name: ut2004-server

    # UT2004 uses UDP for game, query, and beacon ports
    ports:
      - "7777:7777/udp"  # Game port
      - "7778:7778/udp"  # Query port
      - "7779:7779/udp"  # Beacon port

    # Bind mounts so files appear on the host
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config

    environment:
      # Optional overrides
      # SERVER_PORT: 7777
      # SERVER_ARGS: 'CTF-Face?Game=XGame.xCTFGame?MaxPlayers=16'

    # Ensure container restarts if the server crashes or host reboots
    restart: unless-stopped

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Directory Layout (Host)

.
├── config/
│   ├── ut-server/          # Game assets (auto-downloaded on first startup)
│   │   ├── ucc-bin
│   │   ├── System/
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── .assets-downloaded  # Marker file to track downloads
│   ├── UT2004.ini
│   ├── Default.ini
│   └── User.ini

The config directory must be writable by Docker. The ut-server directory and its contents are automatically downloaded and extracted on first startup.

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Configuration

UT2004 server configuration files should be placed in /config:

• UT2004.ini - Main server configuration
• Default.ini - Default game settings
• User.ini - User-specific settings

The server will use these configuration files if they exist. You can customize server settings, game modes, maps, and other options in these files.

Example server configuration in UT2004.ini:

[Engine.GameInfo]
ServerName=My UT2004 Server
MaxPlayers=16
GamePassword=
AdminPassword=changeme

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Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
SERVER_PORT	UDP port the server listens on (game port)	7777
SERVER_ARGS	Map and game type arguments (see below)	(empty - uses default: DM-Rankin)
UT2004_DOWNLOAD_URL	URL to download game assets from	https://s3.amazonaws.com/ut2004-files/dedicated-server-3339-bonuspack.tar.gz

SERVER_ARGS

If SERVER_ARGS is not set, the server will use the default map DM-Rankin with DeathMatch game type.

To customize the map and game type, set SERVER_ARGS with the map name and options. The format is: <MapName>?Game=<GameType>?<Options>

Common examples:

# Capture the Flag on Face map
SERVER_ARGS="CTF-Face?Game=XGame.xCTFGame?MaxPlayers=16"

# DeathMatch on Rankin map (default)
SERVER_ARGS="DM-Rankin?Game=XGame.xDeathMatch?MaxPlayers=8"

# Team DeathMatch
SERVER_ARGS="DM-Rankin?Game=XGame.xTeamGame?MaxPlayers=16"

# Onslaught mode
SERVER_ARGS="ONS-Torlan?Game=Onslaught.ONSOnslaughtGame?MaxPlayers=16"

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Running the Server

Basic run (recommended)

mkdir -p config
chmod -R 777 config

docker run --rm -it \
  -p 7777:7777/udp \
  -p 7778:7778/udp \
  -p 7779:7779/udp \
  -v "$(pwd)/config:/config" \
  lancommander/ut2004:latest

With custom server arguments

docker run --rm -it \
  -p 7777:7777/udp \
  -p 7778:7778/udp \
  -p 7779:7779/udp \
  -v "$(pwd)/config:/config" \
  -e SERVER_ARGS="CTF-Face?Game=XGame.xCTFGame?MaxPlayers=16" \
  lancommander/ut2004:latest

Ports

• UDP 7777 – Game port (default)
• UDP 7778 – Query port (for server browser)
• UDP 7779 – Beacon port (for server discovery)

Asset Download

On first startup, the container will automatically download the UT2004 dedicated server assets from the configured URL. The download is tracked using a marker file, so subsequent container restarts will skip the download if the assets are already present.

License

Unreal Tournament 2004 is distributed under its own license. This repository contains only Docker build logic and helper scripts licensed under MIT.