Post by Hook on Apr 2, 2018 14:56:02 GMT -6
UT Map Portal Warp Zones:
By "Hook" - 7/12/02
Portals are Zones that teleport you from point to point. They also allow you to See through to the point you are going to teleport to, like a "window" to that area! The better terminology for these structures is Warp Zones. This is because they are actually zones that you can teleport between. Portal refers to the sheet that seals the warp zone and acts as the window to the other zone. There must be at least 2, (and only 2 - as far as I know), of these warp zones in order to work properly. These zones must be exactly the same dimensions and only 1 portal, or opening, in order to work correctly. Warp zones will work with 2 openings or portals, however the effect this causes isn't very good. The warp zones can however have different textures applied to each of them.
Building the Warp Zone Structure
I will assume that you at least know the basics of building maps.
To start with, build two unattached rooms. Make them both 256high x 512 x 512. Texture them anyway you like. You should now have two identical rooms, not touching and in 2 separate locations. Change the textures in one of these rooms so they do not look alike. Now build a workroom 512 x 512 x 512 off to the side. We will build the warp zone structure in this workroom. Make the warp zone itself 128 x 128. The actual structure around this warp zone will have to be slightly larger. Allow for an extra 16 units on all sides, so make the cube for this structure 32 units larger than the inside warp zone area. Size it to 160 x 160 x 160 units (or 128+32). Make sure your red brush is in the workroom, not touching any of the sides at all, and then add it to the world. This cube will be the outside for the warp zone so pick a nice texture for it. Now resize the red brush to 128 x 128 x 128 and position it so it butts or touches one side of the block. Now subtract the brush. This should "hollow out" most of the block, leaving one side open, like a window or door. Resize the red brush so that it completely surrounds the block and then intersect it. Move the new red brush to the first room we made and place it in the center of the room, butting or touching the floor. Add this brush. Now move the red brush to the center of the second room and add it the same way as in the first room. You now have your warp zone structures built. We now need to turn them into zones, and then warp zones. To zone them we need to add zone portals over the openings to seal them. Select the sheet brush tool. Make a sheet 128 x 128 (the exact size of the openings in the structures), and then select X-wall or Y-wall depending on which way your openings face. Apply this sheet to the opening on the block of one of the portals and make sure it is centered and butting all the sides. Place it back into the opening a bit so it is not right on the edge of the opening, but a little bit back. You may have to resize the grid to 8 units and move it back into the cube one "snap" or 8 units.
When it covers the opening, butting to all sides, click the Add Special Brush tool. From the predefined menu select "Zone Portal" and then add this brush. Move the red brush to the other warp zone (in the other room) and repeat. You can check to make sure you have the zones correct now by Rebuilding and then switching the 3D view to Zone/Portal view and making sure you have a different color inside each of the warp zone structures and different from the rooms they are in. There should be 4 separate colors corresponding to 4 zones total, besides the workroom zone.
We now have the portals zoned, but we still need to define them as Warp Zones and set their properties so that they warp to each other. Open the Actor Browser. Go to Info/ZoneInfo and then highlight WarpZoneInfo. Put a WarpZoneInfo inside each of the portals, not touching any walls. Select the first WarpZoneInfo you added and right click it to open its properties. You will see a heading called "WarpZoneInfo." Expand this and look at the last two fields:
OtherSideURL --The "name" of the destination portal.
ThisTag --the "name" of this portal.
Name one Portal Warp1 and the other Warp2. That is, set the above fields to Warp1 and Warp2 in one WarpZoneInfo and to Warp2 and Warp1 in the other, in that order. Now add some lights in each room and a player start in at least one of the rooms. Rebuild, Save and then Play the map. You should now be able to walk all around the portal warp zone structures and see from one room to the next. You should be able to walk through the portal and "warp" to the other room and back again.
Tips:
If you should get a HOM (Hall Of Mirrors) effect or other strange problems in your warp zone portals, try deleting the zone portal sheets, rebuilding, and then adding them in again, making sure they are lined up correctly and sealing the warp zone "air tight". Warp Zone Portals are fairly easy to make but can be kind of "touchy." Just remember to make the warp zones the same size and make sure the sheets are lined up correctly, and that you have the WarpZoneInfo properties correctly set and they should work fine.
Summary
You should have a pretty good idea of how to make a basic Portal or Warp Zone now. You can take this knowledge and experiment with settings and create different sizes and shapes of Warp Zones.
Notes TO SELF:
Check Out using more than 2 warp zones connected!
By "Hook" - 7/12/02
Portals are Zones that teleport you from point to point. They also allow you to See through to the point you are going to teleport to, like a "window" to that area! The better terminology for these structures is Warp Zones. This is because they are actually zones that you can teleport between. Portal refers to the sheet that seals the warp zone and acts as the window to the other zone. There must be at least 2, (and only 2 - as far as I know), of these warp zones in order to work properly. These zones must be exactly the same dimensions and only 1 portal, or opening, in order to work correctly. Warp zones will work with 2 openings or portals, however the effect this causes isn't very good. The warp zones can however have different textures applied to each of them.
Building the Warp Zone Structure
I will assume that you at least know the basics of building maps.
To start with, build two unattached rooms. Make them both 256high x 512 x 512. Texture them anyway you like. You should now have two identical rooms, not touching and in 2 separate locations. Change the textures in one of these rooms so they do not look alike. Now build a workroom 512 x 512 x 512 off to the side. We will build the warp zone structure in this workroom. Make the warp zone itself 128 x 128. The actual structure around this warp zone will have to be slightly larger. Allow for an extra 16 units on all sides, so make the cube for this structure 32 units larger than the inside warp zone area. Size it to 160 x 160 x 160 units (or 128+32). Make sure your red brush is in the workroom, not touching any of the sides at all, and then add it to the world. This cube will be the outside for the warp zone so pick a nice texture for it. Now resize the red brush to 128 x 128 x 128 and position it so it butts or touches one side of the block. Now subtract the brush. This should "hollow out" most of the block, leaving one side open, like a window or door. Resize the red brush so that it completely surrounds the block and then intersect it. Move the new red brush to the first room we made and place it in the center of the room, butting or touching the floor. Add this brush. Now move the red brush to the center of the second room and add it the same way as in the first room. You now have your warp zone structures built. We now need to turn them into zones, and then warp zones. To zone them we need to add zone portals over the openings to seal them. Select the sheet brush tool. Make a sheet 128 x 128 (the exact size of the openings in the structures), and then select X-wall or Y-wall depending on which way your openings face. Apply this sheet to the opening on the block of one of the portals and make sure it is centered and butting all the sides. Place it back into the opening a bit so it is not right on the edge of the opening, but a little bit back. You may have to resize the grid to 8 units and move it back into the cube one "snap" or 8 units.
When it covers the opening, butting to all sides, click the Add Special Brush tool. From the predefined menu select "Zone Portal" and then add this brush. Move the red brush to the other warp zone (in the other room) and repeat. You can check to make sure you have the zones correct now by Rebuilding and then switching the 3D view to Zone/Portal view and making sure you have a different color inside each of the warp zone structures and different from the rooms they are in. There should be 4 separate colors corresponding to 4 zones total, besides the workroom zone.
We now have the portals zoned, but we still need to define them as Warp Zones and set their properties so that they warp to each other. Open the Actor Browser. Go to Info/ZoneInfo and then highlight WarpZoneInfo. Put a WarpZoneInfo inside each of the portals, not touching any walls. Select the first WarpZoneInfo you added and right click it to open its properties. You will see a heading called "WarpZoneInfo." Expand this and look at the last two fields:
OtherSideURL --The "name" of the destination portal.
ThisTag --the "name" of this portal.
Name one Portal Warp1 and the other Warp2. That is, set the above fields to Warp1 and Warp2 in one WarpZoneInfo and to Warp2 and Warp1 in the other, in that order. Now add some lights in each room and a player start in at least one of the rooms. Rebuild, Save and then Play the map. You should now be able to walk all around the portal warp zone structures and see from one room to the next. You should be able to walk through the portal and "warp" to the other room and back again.
Tips:
If you should get a HOM (Hall Of Mirrors) effect or other strange problems in your warp zone portals, try deleting the zone portal sheets, rebuilding, and then adding them in again, making sure they are lined up correctly and sealing the warp zone "air tight". Warp Zone Portals are fairly easy to make but can be kind of "touchy." Just remember to make the warp zones the same size and make sure the sheets are lined up correctly, and that you have the WarpZoneInfo properties correctly set and they should work fine.
Summary
You should have a pretty good idea of how to make a basic Portal or Warp Zone now. You can take this knowledge and experiment with settings and create different sizes and shapes of Warp Zones.
Notes TO SELF:
Check Out using more than 2 warp zones connected!