Post by Hook on Apr 2, 2018 15:03:20 GMT -6
(1) BEFORE You Start Mapping! ... Tips! ...
Some General Mapping Tips!
(To avoid some pitfalls)
By “Hook” - 10/28/02
Before You Begin:
It’s not a bad idea to have a plan, either in your head, or better yet, a sketched out plan of what you want to create. You may also want to have an idea of what kind of theme or atmosphere your level (map) should convey. What textures you want to use.
Keep in mind that dimensions of areas you are planning on creating should be general dimensions in your plan. When planning, keep in mind that in Unrealed2, you should keep your room sizes & object sizes to multiples of 16 or 8 – (16 being better than 8 ). Examples would be 128 units x 512 units or 320 units x 160 units. Units being Unrealed2’s “world units”. This is known as “Building to the Grid”. The map will play much better and be far less laggy with less BSP errors, etc., when built to the grid, than a map built using odd sizes such as 290 x 413 or the like. Also, the map will fit together much easier & will be easier in general to build when you keep to the grid. If you are planning your first map, try to keep it on the small size. A large map can get confusing and overwhelming, especially if it has many objects and rooms in it. You can always add to a map or create a large one later when you are more experienced. Large maps are also more trouble to download & upload to and from the web, do to the map file’s size. They are also less desirable for online play if they are high in poly count, etc.
When you start your map:
First off, you should decide whether your map will be an indoor map or an outdoor map or some of each. In UnrealedII the default world is all solid. If your map will be totally indoors, you will be mainly and basically subtracting rooms from the solid world. If you are building an outdoor map, you will first be subtracting out an area (your outside area) to build your solid, additive objects and rooms into. Another aspect to consider is, will there be areas in the map that are alike? Or, can I make an area of the map, then duplicate it and add it on to or connect it to the original portion I duplicated it from? (See the "Duplication tip for making CTF maps" tutorial for more information on Duplicating portions of maps)
A few good things to remember while building a map.
Do NOT add music, sound effects or decorations until you are mainly finished with the map. These add quite a bit to the file size and can be very annoying when you are loading it into the editor, making changes then going back into the game to look at the map and test it and then back to the editor again. The same goes for Bot Pathing. Only bot path when you are really ready to play test the map with bots in it. Rebuilding the map takes quite a bit longer with the bot pathing in. Dynamic lighting also adds greatly to laggy play and file size. Keep dynamic lights and dynamic lighting to a minimum. Dynamic lights are any lights other than Steady lights. This setting is under light properties, light effect. (See your lighting properties tutorial)
When adding light fixture brushes, (actual lights you can see in the game that YOU create), add them as Semi-Solid brushes! This reduces BSP cuts & therefore reduces the Polycount!
BUT - Do NOT Intersect or De-Intersect Semi-Solids with anything!
*You can and should use the solid space between subtracted rooms as a wall.
If you have already made the rooms, you can move objects to create the solid space needed (thickness) between subtracted rooms.
When you are working on your map:
Have 2 or 3 versions in succession saved so you can always go back to an earlier version if something goes horribly wrong. Save version names such as: DM-KillerX, DM-KillerXX then DM-KillerXXX, with XXX being your most recent work. When you go to work on your map, open up XX and save it as X then open up XXX and save it as XX then finally open up XXX to do some more work on it.
Every time you do work on XXX, go and test that version. If it tests out to your liking, save XX to X then save XXX to XX and go back to XXX and do some more work.
This procedure has saved my you-know-what many times when I started going off on an idea with a map I am working on, only to find that it doesn't work.
I could easily go back to an earlier saved version I had saved before I had tried out some new ideas on the map.
Do not do too much at once! Rebuild and Save your map often when working on it!
Add a few objects, then rebuild and save the map. Many times I myself went on adding objects and doing work on a map only to have the editor freeze up and I lost all my latest work. I didn't rebuild and save it often enough.
Resizing objects is a big no-no! - It should only be used as a last resort!
It is much better to adjust the size of an object when you are first creating the object. Not after it has been added to or subtracted from the world. When you resize an object, often the texture that has been applied to it also resizes with it! This can look very bad.
If you want to adjust the texture size (or scale), right click on the texture, go to texture properties, then alignment. You will find a scaling tool there.
Resizing an object can also cause other problems at times if not correctly done.
It also changes the build order of the object that you resize. This can have a chain effect on other objects that may be associated with the resized object.
You can change the build order of an object by right clicking on the object and then go to order. But this is not part of this tutorial.
Duplication tip for making CTF maps. (Mirroring)
By "Hook"
If the team bases are going to be alike, it is best to create 1/2 of the map, or 1 side first!
Put in everything you can for the one side. Make it as complete as possible.
Then, when that one side is as complete as you can get it, Rebuild & Save it as ANOTHER version, in case something goes wrong! Then, in this new version, select that whole side, right click & select Duplicate. You may have to Drag Select to capture all of the area. *(See Drag Selecting below) The new Duplicated area will remain selected. Do Not Un-select it!
Now rotate and place the duplicated side where you will want the opposite team base to be.
Now, Rebuild & Save it again!
If you cannot connect the two sides as is, then add a connecting room between the 2 mirrored sides of the map. It is better to add a connecting room(s) between the two halves! Now, add in anything that you need to complete both sides. Make sure the flag bases are set to their team color, etc. You can also change some of the textures on one of the sides to make that side look different than the other.
This is a good way of doing a mirrored CTF map. It is often very difficult to build both sides at once and so that both sides are even.
Of course this technique can be used to build any map where you want to have duplicated areas or objects. You can hide or disguise these duplications somewhat by making some changes to the duplicate and/or changing the textures to give it a somewhat different look.
*Drag Selecting:
To drag select, hold down the Ctrl & Alt keys while holding down the left mouse button. Drag a box around the area you want to select in one of the 2D windows. You can only do this in the 2D windows!
If you select more than you want to, release the buttons, then hold down the Ctrl key and left click the mouse on the objects you want to un-select. The rest should stay selected.
Look at Existing Maps!
When you are stumped or confused a bit when trying to do something with a map you are building, you can open up an existing map in UnrealEd that has what you want to do in it.
Take a look at it. Open up properties of things that you may want to adjust or add into your map and see how the author did it. This can make it clearer as to how things are done or how the properties of things are set to achieve the effect you want.
A word of warning though! Do NOT Ever do a save on the existing map! Click NO if it asks you to save changes to the map. If you must, resave the existing map under another name and look at it under the new named map to be safe!
ANY time you do a save to a map, it changes the version of that map, even if you did not make any changes at all to the map. Doing this will make that map Incompatible when you want to play that map online! (Version Mis-Match error) Just a warning!
Before you Distribute your map to the public!
When you think that your map is fully finished and ready to release to the public, ALWAYS give it to some fellow UT Mappers and Players First, to Play-test the map for any problems.
This is called Beta Testing the map. Call the test or Beta map something like DM-NameBeta, with Beta after the name of the map. If you send out more than one Beta map, put a number or date after the Beta in the name, such as DM-NameBeta1 or DM-NameBeta6_14. Change that number or date for each Beta version you send out so you and the Beta testers will know the difference between versions. This way, when the Beta Testers are done testing your map, you can distribute the final version to them and the public without getting the Beta version and the Final, public release version mixed up. Make your final revisions to the map, if necessary, then re-save and re-name the map without the Beta after the name for the final version. Then release it to the public.
Beta testers can often find problems with your map that you missed. Beta testers can also give you some good suggestions or alterations to your map that you may not have thought of.
Happy Mapping!
Some General Mapping Tips!
(To avoid some pitfalls)
By “Hook” - 10/28/02
Before You Begin:
It’s not a bad idea to have a plan, either in your head, or better yet, a sketched out plan of what you want to create. You may also want to have an idea of what kind of theme or atmosphere your level (map) should convey. What textures you want to use.
Keep in mind that dimensions of areas you are planning on creating should be general dimensions in your plan. When planning, keep in mind that in Unrealed2, you should keep your room sizes & object sizes to multiples of 16 or 8 – (16 being better than 8 ). Examples would be 128 units x 512 units or 320 units x 160 units. Units being Unrealed2’s “world units”. This is known as “Building to the Grid”. The map will play much better and be far less laggy with less BSP errors, etc., when built to the grid, than a map built using odd sizes such as 290 x 413 or the like. Also, the map will fit together much easier & will be easier in general to build when you keep to the grid. If you are planning your first map, try to keep it on the small size. A large map can get confusing and overwhelming, especially if it has many objects and rooms in it. You can always add to a map or create a large one later when you are more experienced. Large maps are also more trouble to download & upload to and from the web, do to the map file’s size. They are also less desirable for online play if they are high in poly count, etc.
When you start your map:
First off, you should decide whether your map will be an indoor map or an outdoor map or some of each. In UnrealedII the default world is all solid. If your map will be totally indoors, you will be mainly and basically subtracting rooms from the solid world. If you are building an outdoor map, you will first be subtracting out an area (your outside area) to build your solid, additive objects and rooms into. Another aspect to consider is, will there be areas in the map that are alike? Or, can I make an area of the map, then duplicate it and add it on to or connect it to the original portion I duplicated it from? (See the "Duplication tip for making CTF maps" tutorial for more information on Duplicating portions of maps)
A few good things to remember while building a map.
Do NOT add music, sound effects or decorations until you are mainly finished with the map. These add quite a bit to the file size and can be very annoying when you are loading it into the editor, making changes then going back into the game to look at the map and test it and then back to the editor again. The same goes for Bot Pathing. Only bot path when you are really ready to play test the map with bots in it. Rebuilding the map takes quite a bit longer with the bot pathing in. Dynamic lighting also adds greatly to laggy play and file size. Keep dynamic lights and dynamic lighting to a minimum. Dynamic lights are any lights other than Steady lights. This setting is under light properties, light effect. (See your lighting properties tutorial)
When adding light fixture brushes, (actual lights you can see in the game that YOU create), add them as Semi-Solid brushes! This reduces BSP cuts & therefore reduces the Polycount!
BUT - Do NOT Intersect or De-Intersect Semi-Solids with anything!
*You can and should use the solid space between subtracted rooms as a wall.
If you have already made the rooms, you can move objects to create the solid space needed (thickness) between subtracted rooms.
When you are working on your map:
Have 2 or 3 versions in succession saved so you can always go back to an earlier version if something goes horribly wrong. Save version names such as: DM-KillerX, DM-KillerXX then DM-KillerXXX, with XXX being your most recent work. When you go to work on your map, open up XX and save it as X then open up XXX and save it as XX then finally open up XXX to do some more work on it.
Every time you do work on XXX, go and test that version. If it tests out to your liking, save XX to X then save XXX to XX and go back to XXX and do some more work.
This procedure has saved my you-know-what many times when I started going off on an idea with a map I am working on, only to find that it doesn't work.
I could easily go back to an earlier saved version I had saved before I had tried out some new ideas on the map.
Do not do too much at once! Rebuild and Save your map often when working on it!
Add a few objects, then rebuild and save the map. Many times I myself went on adding objects and doing work on a map only to have the editor freeze up and I lost all my latest work. I didn't rebuild and save it often enough.
Resizing objects is a big no-no! - It should only be used as a last resort!
It is much better to adjust the size of an object when you are first creating the object. Not after it has been added to or subtracted from the world. When you resize an object, often the texture that has been applied to it also resizes with it! This can look very bad.
If you want to adjust the texture size (or scale), right click on the texture, go to texture properties, then alignment. You will find a scaling tool there.
Resizing an object can also cause other problems at times if not correctly done.
It also changes the build order of the object that you resize. This can have a chain effect on other objects that may be associated with the resized object.
You can change the build order of an object by right clicking on the object and then go to order. But this is not part of this tutorial.
Duplication tip for making CTF maps. (Mirroring)
By "Hook"
If the team bases are going to be alike, it is best to create 1/2 of the map, or 1 side first!
Put in everything you can for the one side. Make it as complete as possible.
Then, when that one side is as complete as you can get it, Rebuild & Save it as ANOTHER version, in case something goes wrong! Then, in this new version, select that whole side, right click & select Duplicate. You may have to Drag Select to capture all of the area. *(See Drag Selecting below) The new Duplicated area will remain selected. Do Not Un-select it!
Now rotate and place the duplicated side where you will want the opposite team base to be.
Now, Rebuild & Save it again!
If you cannot connect the two sides as is, then add a connecting room between the 2 mirrored sides of the map. It is better to add a connecting room(s) between the two halves! Now, add in anything that you need to complete both sides. Make sure the flag bases are set to their team color, etc. You can also change some of the textures on one of the sides to make that side look different than the other.
This is a good way of doing a mirrored CTF map. It is often very difficult to build both sides at once and so that both sides are even.
Of course this technique can be used to build any map where you want to have duplicated areas or objects. You can hide or disguise these duplications somewhat by making some changes to the duplicate and/or changing the textures to give it a somewhat different look.
*Drag Selecting:
To drag select, hold down the Ctrl & Alt keys while holding down the left mouse button. Drag a box around the area you want to select in one of the 2D windows. You can only do this in the 2D windows!
If you select more than you want to, release the buttons, then hold down the Ctrl key and left click the mouse on the objects you want to un-select. The rest should stay selected.
Look at Existing Maps!
When you are stumped or confused a bit when trying to do something with a map you are building, you can open up an existing map in UnrealEd that has what you want to do in it.
Take a look at it. Open up properties of things that you may want to adjust or add into your map and see how the author did it. This can make it clearer as to how things are done or how the properties of things are set to achieve the effect you want.
A word of warning though! Do NOT Ever do a save on the existing map! Click NO if it asks you to save changes to the map. If you must, resave the existing map under another name and look at it under the new named map to be safe!
ANY time you do a save to a map, it changes the version of that map, even if you did not make any changes at all to the map. Doing this will make that map Incompatible when you want to play that map online! (Version Mis-Match error) Just a warning!
Before you Distribute your map to the public!
When you think that your map is fully finished and ready to release to the public, ALWAYS give it to some fellow UT Mappers and Players First, to Play-test the map for any problems.
This is called Beta Testing the map. Call the test or Beta map something like DM-NameBeta, with Beta after the name of the map. If you send out more than one Beta map, put a number or date after the Beta in the name, such as DM-NameBeta1 or DM-NameBeta6_14. Change that number or date for each Beta version you send out so you and the Beta testers will know the difference between versions. This way, when the Beta Testers are done testing your map, you can distribute the final version to them and the public without getting the Beta version and the Final, public release version mixed up. Make your final revisions to the map, if necessary, then re-save and re-name the map without the Beta after the name for the final version. Then release it to the public.
Beta testers can often find problems with your map that you missed. Beta testers can also give you some good suggestions or alterations to your map that you may not have thought of.
Happy Mapping!