POSTAL 2 Windows, Mac, Linux, RTX game

Introduction

Hey guys, ManChrzan here. You might know me as the guy with the how-the-fu**-do-you-read-this? nickname who made xPatch and greatly contributed to the 20th Anniversary update for POSTAL 2. Well, here I am, and together with KeshaFilm, we are now helping out MarShil, the person who started the whole Postal 3 Unreal project and was pretty much the only one working on this mod for quite a long time.

Why the long silence?

It's been a while since anything was posted here, huh? The last piece of information was dropped in 2015. Well, there were some small updates posted on the VK page of the mod, on our YouTube channels and in the small POSTAL communities on Discord, but this page stayed dead until now.

There are quite a few reasons for that. First and foremost, the fact that this page was controlled by a "deleted" Anthology Production group and none of us or our friends from that group had access to edit it anymore. Thanks to the kind support from ModDB, we regained control of the page and created a new group solely for the purpose of developing this mod and sharing updates here.

So yes, the project is still very alive, and we have a lot of exciting stuff to share!
But before that we will give answers to some of the questions we are often asked.

Frequently Asked Questions

So what exactly is Postal 3 Unreal?

There seems to be some confusion about our project, so let's clear things up.
Postal 3 Unreal is a mod for POSTAL 2 Complete (the digitally released, updated version of the game you all have on Steam, GOG, Zoom, etc.) Currently we do not plan a standalone release or a port compatible with older game buidls and it's unlikely that it will change.

Our goal is to create a faithful 1:1 recreation of Postal 3 using the second game's modding tools, this of course includes all the bugs and issues with the infamous grenade crash among others!

TL;DR:

- IT'S NOT A FIRST-PERSON MOD FOR POSTAL III

- IT'S A POSTAL 2 TOTAL-CONVERSION. IS IT REALLY THAT HARD TO TELL?
THE MODDB PAGE LITERALLY TELLS YOU THIS - POSTAL 2 MOD!

- STOP CONFUSING IT WITH CATHARSIS REBORN
THESE TWO ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PROJECTS, BY DIFFERENT DEVELOPERS,
WITH DIFFERENT PREMISE, AND FOR DIFFERENT FREAKING GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfunny jokes aside, we are working hard to push the outdated Unreal Engine 2 to its limits and make it look, feel, and play better than both the broken and unfinished Postal 3 and the old and janky POSTAL 2.

While we are keeping the original story intact (and the grenade crash as a super-fun secret option to toggle), we've made several key changes to other aspects of the game. The most significant differences are the first-person perspective, new weapons, and an open-world environment you'll be able to fully explore in Freeroam mode and in between missions in Story mode, almost like in POSTAL 2.

Because of the structure of the Insane Path, the mission progression will be mostly linear, but for a big chunk of the Good Path, you will be able to choose the order in which you complete your missions, just like in the good old POSTAL 2 we all love!

Why not use more recent Unreal Engine?

If you think moving the project from one engine and a complete game base with an AI, Animations and other things that we can reuse to completely different bare engine or a different game that we we have zero experience with is a good idea then think twice...

Do you need voice actors?

No, why the hell would we need them if we are using the exact same story as original, there's no need for recording new voice lines or replacing existing ones.

What happened to the second demo?

In 2022, a new demo was announced...

Translation of the post, from Russian to English by a Polish guy - might not be 100% accurate.

And now some good news—the mod is still alive! For quite some time, I had nothing to publicly share about the project, which is why there haven't been any informative posts in the group for a while. But now the moment has come. I can confidently announce a new demo version of Postal 3 Unreal, which will be significantly different from the previous one in its scale! The demo will include three game modes:

1 - A cut location from Postal 3 completely stylized as the 2007 version, featured in the previous demo of the mod. The differences from the previous version are very striking.
2 - Free Roam Mode where you will be able to explore all game locations and all in-game weapons scattered around the game world.
3 - Story Mode including five story missions.

The release of the new demo version is scheduled for the third quarter of 2022!

So what happened to it? Why it never released?

We have work and personal lives, and Postal 3 Unreal is not a commercial product. Which means things don't always go according to plan. Yes, we were planning to release a new demo, but a lot has changed since then. However, this doesn't mean the demo has been canceled. It will come out at a later date as soon as the missions for it are fully completed and all the new gameplay mechanics are polished. It will be much better in terms of content and quality than it was originally planned, thus the delay.

We believe this was a good decision, hope you will like the new features we've implemented and understand why we decided it's worth waiting a little longer for.

Any estimated release date?

Creating a big and ambitious project like Postal 3 Unreal requires a lot of time - our free time, and life is unpredictable. Everything is done for the Postal community absolutely for free by a small group of passionate modders. Therefore, we ask you not to demand any dates or push for an early-access release. We will release the new demo and the full version of the mod when it's ready. Just follow our ModDB or VK page and wait for the news.

New Trailer!

Since the last trailer dropped (in 2021), and we've made some striking progress, it would be a crime to not make a new one to show how the mod currently looks and plays, and it's in whooping 4K quality!

The Progress Showcase

Okay, let's get into the juicy part, you probably want to know a bit more about all these cool new features and improvements we have implemented. So, here's a bit more details about them!

• New HUD
  The most noticeable thing in the new trailer is the new Postal 3 Beta inspired HUD, it's still unfinished so don't be bothered by some elements looking off. It's also worth mentioning that we didn't scrap the old P2-style HUD completely - it will be available as an option in the menu!
  
  
• Reworked Main Menu
  With some clever tricks, we have successfully managed to recreate the unique Postal 3 main menu and its interactive TV screen by using MaterialSwitch and extra code. This is something never seen before in any POSTAL 2 mod and probably not even in any of the Unreal Engine 2 games as far as I know! We made sure it works correctly with both Mouse and a Gamepad.

• New UI and Font
  Inspired by the Postal 3 concept arts, we have created a completely new UI, and of course, it comes with the iconic "Soup" font from Postal 3, which we have managed to import to POSTAL 2.
  
  NOTE: Work in progress, it might slightly change in the final version.

It wasn't easy, but despite the challenge, we managed to ensure that all font sizes display correctly and that there are no characters missing for English, Russian, and Polish languages. Oh, that's right...

• Localization Support
  We are creating the mod with localization support in mind. We are not sure how we will exactly approach this yet as it's too early to say, but there's a big chance that the mod will have Russian and Polish translations provided by us in some form. And of course anyone who would want to translate our mod to their native language will be free to do so with ease (after the mod release), please do not bother us with requests to translate the mod right now!
  
  
• Two Gameplay Style Options
  You will be able to choose between two gameplay modes. "Unreal" is very POSTAL 2-like, with powerups, some additional P3 beta weapons, open-world and no health regeneration. For the "Vanilla" purists, or the poor fortunate souls who have never experienced the original Postal 3 we have also prepared a mode that allows you to have a biblically accurate very close experience to the original. No open world, no additional weapons or inventory items, and of course, health regeneration instead. We might (or not) also add a "Custom" mode which allows you to mix these aspects of the game as you like.

• Addons Support
  The "Custom Maps" and "Mods" option might have caught your attention. Yes we do plan to support sub-mods for our total-conversion (or playing classic P2 custom maps with a P3U weapon replacer). However the source code will not be available when the demo releases. We decided to not share it until the mod is fully finished, for a few reasons.
  
  
• Fully Working Map of Catharsis
  Here's how the map looks. It was originally included in some of the retail collector's editions of Postal 3. Now it's translated into English and made its way into the digital in-game world! Yes, the navigation is fully functional; the arrow marker shows exactly where you are so you won't get lost. This may seem obvious, but let us point out that this specific map image is not showing the city from a straight top-down perspective like the POSTAL 2 map, but rather from a certain angle. We had to use double the map points and coordinates than you'd normally do to make it work properly!
  
  
  
  
• Fast Travel
  There's a good chance that you saw one of the videos I've posted some time ago. Well, here it is in case you didn't. We have added a simple fast-travel system between the city HUBs. No, it's not an idea taken from POSTAL 4. It's something that was planned for Postal 3 but got cut due to obvious reasons - the lack of an open world. We also plan to implement some more interesting ideas from P3 Design Docs in one form or another, for example using the Job Agency board to start or maybe even replay missions.
  
  
  
  
• Sprint and Stamina
  The most requested mechanic finally made its way to Postal 3 Unreal. It works pretty much the same as in Postal 3, with the small difference of a stamina bar being displayed on the HUD.
  
  
• Reworked Tazer
  In the last trailer or old gameplay videos, you might have noticed that the Tazer was basically working like a Pistol that deals shock damage. Well, now it's more like it's supposed to be, also it got a completely new reload animation!
  
  
• Non-Lethal Takedowns
  Now one of the, if not the, most important gameplay changes. There was already a somewhat functional "knockout" mechanic in POSTAL 2, introduced by the Paradise Lost DLC. Well, we heavily modified it to work just like it does in Postal 3. Now you can knock out people not only with the Tazer and Pepper spray but also with certain melee weapons such as Fists or Nightstick too! This will make pacifist runs way easier... or you could just cut off the legs of your enemies with a Machete and leave them crawling on the ground like a total psychopath. But hey, as long as they live, it counts!
  
  NOTE: This video shows all the three features mentioned above
  
  
  
• Shop Vac
  We can't forget the most iconic P3 weapon (well maybe after the Badger-Saw). How will it work in Postal 3 Unreal? Will the old engine allow for such physics manipulation? Well, it's hard to answer how exactly it will look like in the final release but as for now we have a fully functional improvised grenade launcher and that's pretty neat in itself! I think...
  
  
  
  
• Bees
  Honestly I almost forgot about these! They finally have been implemented and work mostly as intended, very deadly for both enemies and the player, only way to get rid of them is using fire and explosions, we also plan to make the Shop Vac able to suck them in, other than that you can also pee on them to temporarly scare them away. The only thing left to do is modify our human enemy AI to react to them more accordingly. Currently they are just shooting at them like crazy with no chances of survival making the bees truly the most overpowered weapon in the game haha.
  
  
  
  
• Old People
  We have increased the variety of bystanders by adding old people, and they, of course, come with their own unique dialogues as well!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Level Design and Optimization Improvements
  The Suburb was completely remade from scratch to achieve better optimization. The Grotto, despite some technical issues, was fully recreated without any cuts! There have also been many fixes to the previously made levels, and as of now, we can proudly say that all the locations are fully recreated and complete. Some even got expanded with new previously inaccessible interiors to explore!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Aiming Down Sights and Zoom-in Mechanic
  Some might love it, some might hate it, but we have modernized POSTAL 2 gunplay with aiming down sights or alternatively zooming in (toggleable in options). This works pretty much the same way as in every shooter: slows down your movement speed and increases accuracy.
  
  Aiming down sights
  
  
  Zoom-in
  
  
  
• Reworked Reloading
  We've put a bit of an extra effort and not only added proper reloading system but also decided to add a bit more realism and make sure that all the gun freaks over there won't be dying inside because of the M16 reload animation being incorrect or because a one bullet is wasted by unnecessary cocking.
  
  
• Dynamic Accuracy and Recoil
  Speaking of accuracy, we recently implemented a mechanic that decreases accuracy and worsens recoil if you fire the weapon for too long, just for a bit more realism. Oh, and yeah, the recoil itself was added quite some time ago. It was one of the first things I added when I started working on this project!
  
  This video shows all the three features mentioned above
  
  
  
• Leaning
  At some point, a thought crossed my mind: would it be possible to recreate Postal 3's cover mechanic in POSTAL 2? Well, that's not really a feature that I really liked, quite the contrary, but finding solutions to such problems is what I love about coding. Around that time, one of my friends from the POSTAL 2 modding community asked for help in implementing a lean mechanic for his modification. I took the challenge and successfully managed to implement a somewhat working lean mechanic into the game. At first, I wasn't sure, but in the end, I polished it up and added it also to Postal 3 Unreal as an alternative to replace the infamous cover mechanic.
  
  
  
  
• Weapon Sway
  Another small yet very noticeable change to the weapon system is the introduction of a Half-Life 2 inspired weapon sway. To put it simply, the weapon view model slightly moves after the camera to simulate somewhat realistic hand movements. Of course, we plan to make it optional in case it causes motion sickness for some players.
  
  
  
  
• Multiple Outfits and Hand Models
  Throughout the story, The Postal Dude gets to wear multiple outfits. They, of course, have made their way into Postal 3 Unreal and will be possible to collect and wear whenever you want in Freeroam mode. The neat new thing that comes with the new outfits is that they have unique first-person hand models as well. This was not easy to achieve in POSTAL 2 due to the weapon and hands sharing one skeletal mesh. We had to create four separate meshes for each of the weapons. If that wasn't tedious enough, there were problems with getting the code to work properly, especially after the level transitions. But with some glue and duct tape, we managed to get everything fixed!
  
  Dude's regular outfit
  
  
  Agent outfit
  
  
  Short sleeves outfits
  
  
  SWAT outfit
  
  
  
• New Catnip Effects
  Instead of telling you how cool the new catnip effects are, just see for yourself!
  
  NOTE: We do plan to implement catnip spray as a weapon at some point.
  
  
  
• Ammo Boxes
  These were suprisingly very easy to implement, I messed up the scale though but that will be fixed.
  
  
  
  
• Objective System
  Because reusing POSTAL 2's errands system for simple mission objectives was not an option, due to how unnecessarily hard it would be to set up, we have implemented a completely new system inspired by Devastation (an old and forgotten UE2 game) that works perfectly for Postal 3-style missions that in 99% cases are supposed to be completed in one single level, but we do plan to extend this system further to allow the objectives to stay even after level transition if needed.
  
  NOTE: This is temporary mission log UI - it is not finished, and will not look like this upon release.
  
  
  It can be easily set up from the level editor on the specific maps, and there's no need for any unnecessary coding. This creates a great opportunity for anyone who would like to create a custom map for Postal 3 Unreal with some cool objectives and doesn't want to, or know how to code ;)
  
  
  
  
• Text Screens
  Some think they are pretty funny; some think they are annoying. Despite that, we recreated the iconic Text Screens that pop up before every mission in Postal 3 in our mod as well. Funnily enough, something as simple as a "black screen with text on top of it" would seem to be easy thing to implement, but as it turned out - it was a complete pain in the ass to code to display, scale, align, and center properly. Not to mention making sure the text would fit in on every resolution, ultimately we added an feature that allows to scroll the text so it's not a problem if you play on a low resolution or the text displayed is a long copy-pasta...
  
  
  
  
• Less Crappy Pre-Rendered Cutscenes
  And last but not least, the pre-rendered cutscenes from Postal 3... Well, due to the technical limitations of POSTAL 2's version of Unreal Engine and no support for any other format than RoQ and a 512x256 resolution, we are forced to bear with it. But it's worth mentioning that we did, in fact, find a better method to convert the movies not only faster but also with noticeably better quality. Here's a comparison between the old cutscene converted with the Quake Video Marker and the new one with FFMPEG. I'd like to give my big thanks to Huanzone the creator of this guide.

Well, that would be it for this showcase, there's actually a lot more things we did (like fixing some base game bugs, changing some animations, or making the dead NPCs ragdolls work after the save is loaded) but it would take too long to show every little detail so these were the most important features and changes.

So, what's next?

Well, we will surely continue to push POSTAL 2 to its limits, adding even more cool mechanics from Postal 3 into our mod. We plan to add local achievements, and who knows, maybe even human shields and handcuffs will be implemented in some form? When the demo releases and Pre-Path is finished we plan to focus on the Insane Path. After that, we hope to make the Good Path as well.

If you have any questions regarding our project, feel free to ask in the comments.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next devblog soon!