Map Editing - hints and tips

[Adrena1in]

To all you map creators, do you know of any decent on-line tutorials to get one started on the road to map creation? I used to love making maps for DOOM all those years ago, and want to give it a try for UT99. I have a few ideas and want to see if they're possible.

Cheers.

[Pileyrei]

I'd be interested too.

I tried making a map and failed horribly.
Its one of those things you can do or cant do, no in between!

Piley

[Adrena1in]

Did you try UnrealED? I've not even tried loading that up yet.

[[CoW]J-Raw]

I used this mainly:
http://squacky.planetunreal.gamespy.com/unrealed.htm
and other random tutorials from searching google.

[Rocky®]

Hi

I've also tryed to make a map and I was learning to do it all by myself. It has taken me a long time. Now I'd made some maps in UnrealED, but they aren't finished yet. Well I can play them on the LAN, but I don't know how to get them on the internet as a server. My point is that I would love to know more about making maps for UT. And also I would be happy too help those who are interesting at this. I could tell them the basic stuff and how to add weapons or change textures, paths for bots, zones and soo on.

[R3plicant]

Ok folks some GREAT places to learn how to use Unrealed for UT99, can simply be found by searching, "unrealed +tutorials +UT99" into yahoo or google,.. However, if you ask me,.. the BEST place by a LONG shot HAS to be Unrealwiki,.. http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/ It has literally EVERY possible topic listed and how to set things up, what it does, how to's, also it even explains the editor itself! Thus making it GREAT for new mappers.

[Adrena1in]

Thanks R3plicant, looks like I've got some good reading.

One think I want to crack straight away is rotating rooms. There's a MH map where you start in a room and the walls rotate about a vertical axis to reveal new rooms with new monsters. Then, (and this is either the same map or a different one), there's another room which rotates about a horizontal axis, which is cool. Bit buggy in that some walls move right through other walls, but it's a good concept, and something I've been thinking about using in a map I want to try.

[superturboJET]

here you can find some basic tutorials: http://www.birrabrothers.com/drac/ued2.html

[Yazoko]

birrabrothers is good

[Adrena1in]

Okay, first problem I'm having is moving around the map. From what I've read, holding left or right mouse button and moving the mouse is meant to pan, move, and zoom if you hold both buttons...but I can't get ANY of this to happen. Not being able to do this means UnrealED is impossible for me.

Any ideas please? :confused:

[Crazy-drummer]

Do you have Unreal Version 451 installed? cause theres a known issue with that version that crews up the editor. Try reinstalling to version 436 (GOTY)

[Freelance]

one thing i like about the unreal series is how consistant they are (i'm sure killing will come and correct me) in how they work. unrealed for unreal1 is mostly the same up to ut3. what is relevant to one is not totally thrown away from one version to another.
i've got the video tutorials for ut2004/ut3, and they're good to watch, they won't tell you how to design a great fun level, but how to use the tools well and things to consider for making the end result not look like crap.
anyhow, 3dbuzz.com has a ton of stuff, find the forum from the menu on the left, as well as the epic forums (http://utforums.epicgames.com/index.php)

[Adrena1in]

Thanks Drummer, you were right...it works with version 436. However, in going back to that version I can't believe what a difference it makes in game. Unless I have all my settings wrong or something, but it seems sluggish. Mouse doesn't respond as quickly, and everything's just a fraction of a second behind, making it really quite hard to play. Sure I'd get used to it. Perhaps I'll just switch to 436 if I want to try some editing, then back to 451 for actual playing.

[Crazy-drummer]

You can install UT twice on your computer, one install for map editing and one for playing. Just keep them in different folders and it should work just fine

[Adrena1in]

Actually, I just copied my most recently accessed .INI files and such like, from the "451System" folder into the "System" folder, and that sorted out my control, and also all my missing key-bindings and stuff.

Now to get down to some serious editing. Early attempts have failed. Just as a simple test I created a map, put in some light sources and a Player Start-Point, but when I try to play it it says there's no Player Start-Point! Hmmmm.

[Crazy-drummer]

Did you build paths, geometry and lighting before trying to play?

[Adrena1in]

I used all the indivdual "Build" icons, and also the "Build All" icon, but no difference. I could see the Player-Start symbol on the map too.

[[CoW]J-Raw]

Is the player start in a spawnable area, it might look like it is but then checking in side view it may be floating somewhere in the blackness

Have you tried adding a re-spawn point too just incase?

[[TDC]B@dShot®]

Yes double check that, I have also noticed that some textures will mess up a spawn point.

[Adrena1in]

Thanks guys, I did double-check all three 2D views to make sure the spawn point was within the playable area, but I guess it might've been too near the ground or something.

As an aside, does anyone happen to know how high and wide a player character is? (Standing and crouching.) Just so I don't have to experiment with gaps and ceiling heights to find the limits. Ta.

[[CoW]J-Raw]

Good Q not sure :S can a player even crawl through gaps I thought the collision stayed the same whether crouching or not

[Adrena1in]

You're probably right...I'm probably thinking of HL2, which I had a quick blast on the other night, and had to duck down to crawl through a vent.

But I'd still like to know the values. I could always work them out though I guess, with a little patience. The "Play Level" icon could prove really useful.

[[CoW]J-Raw]

lol yeah, the default box is 256 I think, not sure how big that is in game though :P

[Crazy-drummer]

Scale – Just as in real world architecture, scale is very important in 3D world architecture. Here are some basic scale examples/guidelines for UnrealEd.



Staircases - A step on a staircase is usually 16 units in height. Anything larger may result in the player having to “jump” up the step.



Tunnels/Hallways - The dimensions of a rather spacious tunnel could be around 256 units in height and 384 units wide. A cramped tunnel could be around 128 units in height and 256 units in width. Ceilings lower than 128 may not allow for players to be able to jump.



Item Placement – Usually try to place items about at least 32 units from the nearest wall. Otherwise, players or bots may not be able to pick them up due to collision problems.




Stolen shamelessly from here: http://squacky.planetunreal.gamespy.com/unrealed.htm

[Adrena1in]

Thanks Drummer, that's exactly the sort of thing I was after. Back in my DOOM Map creation days I made several test maps to test various dimensions, such as what you said about steps. (I don't know if it will work in UT, but in DOOM you could make what looked like a vertical wall, but actually it was 16 units vertical and one unit horizontal, 16 vertical, 1 horizontal, etc etc. So basically a very steep staircase. In real life you wouldn't be able to walk up such an incline, but in game you could, and it was like you were running straight up a wall!)

I also tested how high a ledge had to be to allow your character to jump up onto it...how wide a gap a character could leap across, (various values for UT I expect, what with standard jumps and dodges). I guess values like that will just come with experimentation - create the gap, test it, if it's too wide or too narrow, change it.

(t's funny...I hate Bunny Track, but whenever I think about making a map I always tend to think about things which would be good in a BT map. Shame it's not around anymore!)

[Batty]

(t's funny...I hate Bunny Track, but whenever I think about making a map I always tend to think about things which would be good in a BT map. Shame it's not around anymore!)

http://forums.multiplay.co.uk/showpost.php?p=704355&postcount=6

[Crazy-drummer]

yeah to get the dimensions right, I suggest you open up a BT map to see.

Hmm... prolly a small one cause they can get pretty complicated.

[Adrena1in]

Just to update, I think a map probably needs a "PlayerStart" and a "SpawnPoint" for it to function. Am getting used to a few of the basic settings now and can make a functioning map. Can't use the "Play Map" button though, as it just crashes the PC after 10 seconds or so...I have to save the map and run it from Explorer. (UT, when I Start a New Game, doesn't find the map I've created, but I'm sure I'll get round that.)

Working on some LMS Instagib Arena Maps at the moment. :D: