Introduction to UnrealEd 2.0
By: Deathbliss
A comprehensive introduction to Unrealed 2.0:
OK, I've been a little lazy... I've also been involved more in my reviewing at UTUG and my map making. On top of this I've been feeling - well - directionless on how to teach this set of lessons. I want to follow a similar formula to my original set for UED, but I also want something different, unique, and cool. So I finally decided to try this - we are going to build an orbiting space station. It would be the easiest thing to light, and since my UED lessons used an Ancient theme it's fitting that my UED 2.0 lessons cover a Futuristic theme. It's still going to be hard to design something and stick with it, and it's going to be hard for you - the readers - as well as I intend to throw you into the virtual pool of editing so you can learn how to swim. I'll try to be descriptive, and I guess we'll just have to see if it's sufficient. So as always if you have any trouble understanding these lessons or any questions - send me an e-mail. Now, it may help you to be familiar with the basics of the editor, and you can so by clicking here. I also use a variety of custom brushes and textures, so be sure that you have Unreal Tournament patched to 436 and that you have all four bonus packs installed. It will also help you to have all the textures and music from the original Unreal on your machine - as we may use these as well. However, if you do not own Unreal don't worry - I suggest getting a copy (it's like $10.00 at EB) but it is not necessary for these lessons. I use Tarquin's Custom Brush Builders more than any other custom builder out there - and you can get them here.
Once you have everything installed and ready open up UED 2.0 (it's there in your UT directory under SYSTEM/UNREALED.EXE). I suggest adding it to your start menu group or placing a shortcut on your desktop for easy access. OK at this point you should see a confusing array of 4 windows, and a toolbar on the left side as well as a toolbar on top. Above the top toolbar are some menu items, and at the bottom of all this is an empty box next to the word Command with a few little icons next to it. In the top toolbar click on the little icon that looks like a scenic picture. You should be confronted with a window that says TEXTURES and it'll be showing the default textures for the editor and UT. Right under the word FILE is an icon that says TOGGLE DOCK STATUS if you hold your pointer over it. I want you to click on that - you'll see why in a sec. You may also want to see you textures at a bigger size - so while in the TEXTURE BROWSER go to VIEW/SET SIZE and use 128. A checkmark will appear next to the selected variable - use what you like best here. Click on the pawn icon to open up the ACTOR CLASSES BROWSER and do the same to it as you did for the TEXTURE BROWSER. Now you should have a box with a few menu items in it at the top, and two tabs that when clicked will switch between the two browsers we opened up. I use this layout all the time and I recommend you try it as well. Do the same for the MUSIC and SOUNDS BROWSERS, so you'll have 4 tabs in that box now. Click on any edge to re-size the box - I usually cover the TOP and SIDE views since I rarely use them. If you click on the little minus symbol on this box it'll reduce to a little tiny thing at the bottom of your screen. Clicking on the open box symbol will open it back up. Makes for very easy access to what you want when you want it. I'll explain the various icons we click on as we go along - if you listened to me you watched my viewlett so you'll have a pretty easy time understanding everything. Let's get editing shall we?
In that left toolbar resides an icon that when the mouse pointer is held over it reveals itself to be CYLINDER. Coincidentally, it shows a picture of a cylinder on it. This like all the other basic brush builders in the editor can be clicked on to build a default of that item, or they can be RIGHT CLICKED on so you can input your own values. We are only concerned with the first 4 numbers for now they are in order HEIGHT, OUTER RADIUS, INNER RADIUS and SIDES. I will refer to them from now on as H, OR, IR, and S. We will use this formula - H=256, OR=512, IR=512, and S=8. In English for the final time that is HEIGHT=256, OUTER RADIUS=512, INNER RADIUS=512, and SIDES=8:
Once you have inputted the numbers provided click on BUILD, and then CLOSE. In the editor in all the views you should see a bright red Cylinder. Pretty boring huh? Let's flesh this puppy out now...
Click on the tab that says TEXTURES. Go to FILE/OPEN/STARSHIP.UTX. DOUBLE-CLICK on this file and a new bunch of textures will appear.
NOTE: ALL TEXTURES FROM UNREAL/UNREAL TOURNAMENT (actually ANY Unreal Engine based game - such as Wheel Of Time and Rune) END WITH AN EXTENSION OF .UTX!
These go into your Unreal Tournament directory in the TEXTURES folder. So if you ever get a custom map and it has a .UTX file there that's where you put it. There are two drop down boxes right below the icons in our big box here. The top one lets you switch between the different texture packages you have loaded. The lower one just underneath it will let you browse the various sub-catagories of the texture package you have selected. Using the lower drop down box find WALL and click on it - we'll use SH_WL3 for now. Select this texture - and a greenish box should appear around it. Go up to BRUSH, and then click on SUBTRACT. Unlike Quake Engine games Unreal Engine games are solid. I picture them as blocks of wood. The RED BRUSH is your carving tool. So you carve your level out of the void. Please remember - the RED BRUSH is not going to be seen in your level. It is invisible, and is only what you use to create your level.
NOTE: In Quake Engine editing you add to the void. In Unreal Engine editing you SUBTRACT from it - REMEMBER THIS!!!
Well now you are in a Cylindrical room that looks cool but also kind of dumb huh? Here's where we learn about TEXTURE ALIGNMENT! RIGHT CLICK on any wall, then brows to SELECT SURFACES. Click on ADJACENT WALLS and you should have all 8 walls (remember we used 8 for the SIDES variable) selected. Now RIGHT CLICK on any of the selected walls and go to SURFACE PROPERTIES - it should say 8 SELECTED right next to it in parentheses. In the box that pops up this repeats again at the top and it also tell you what texture(s) are(have been) selected:
Find the tab that says ALIGNMENT and somewhere in there is an empty drop down box next to the word SIMPLE. Sometimes it's hard to switch between the FLAGS and ALIGNMENT tabs due to a glitch in the editor - just keep trying until you find what I'm talking about. Once you got that box click on the arrow next to it and find 2.0. Select that, and in the list of buttons to the left of this click on WALL DIRECTION. Now click on the APPLY button to the right of the drop down box where the value 2.0 is now displayed and walla! You'll see the wall texture get bigger and fit a little better. Now I thought it still looked funny - but I also saw that the bright area in the middle opened up some intriguing ideas, so after doing all this find the section here under the word ROTATION - it's right above the ALIGNMENT and SIMPLE SCALING options we just used. Click on the button with 90 on it and low and behold! Suddenly the walls look pretty neat. Now use your creative instinct and find a suitable FLOOR texture for the floor, and a CEILING TEXTURE for the ceiling. I suggest either BASE, CEILING, or FLOOR textures for these areas. For my floor I'm using SH_BS7 and for my ceiling PANEL3. Be sure to RIGHT CLICK on each of these, then under SIMPLE select 1.0. Then with those surfaces still selected (you can do both the floor and the ceiling at the same time by clicking on either one, and then pressing and holding CTRL while clicking on the other) select ALIGN TO FLOOR and finally click the APPLY button next to SIMPLE.
NOTE: ALL FLAT SURFACES ABOVE AND BELOW YOU SHOULD BE ALIGNED TO THE FLOOR, AND ALL FLAT SURFACES BEHIND AND IN FRONT OF YOU SHOULD BE ALIGNED TO WALL DIRECTION.
Keep this in mind as a GENERAL RULE - it does not always apply. OK, a few more steps and we're done. Well I guess we may want to explore our room - but first we need to go to BUILD/BUILD ALL. This step is very important - if you DELETE any brush or alter the level in certain ways IT WILL NOT SHOW UNTIL YOU REBUILD!!! So remember this. After REBUILDING you should go to FILE/SAVE AS. Call your level DM-SpaceStation1 and SAVE it. Now you need to go into our window where the TEXTURE BROWSER and the other assorted browsers are and click on the ACTOR CLASSES tab. Click on the plus next to ACTOR, the plus next to NAVIGATION POINT, and then find PLAYER START:
Click on that, and then anywhere in the 3D VIEW (the view that shows all your cylinder all dressed in pretty textures) ABOVE THE FLOOR RIGHT CLICK and ADD PLAYER START HERE. Moving around here (in the 3D VIEW) is done with the mouse, PRESSING and HOLDING the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON allows you to move backwards and forwards, and also gives you the ability to turn left or right. PRESSING and HOLDING the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON lets you look up and down in any direction. PRESSING and HOLDING both the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON will allow you to strafe left or right, and to move straight up or down. Once you got the hang of it RIGHT CLICK anywhere inside your cylinder looking at the ceiling and ADD LIGHT HERE. REBUILD, SAVE AS DM-SpaceStation2 and then under BUILD highlight and select PLAY LEVEL. You should be able to expore your room now. No, it's not mind bogling just yet but we'll be working on that in the next few lessons:
NOTE: To remember to SAVE use this simple phrase - S.O.S. - or for you denser types SAVE OFTEN STUPID!!!
Congratulations! You created your very first level for Unreal Tournament. Some of the greatest buildings were started with the smallest of bricks, and with the foundation we lay here and whatever natural talent you have you should soon be seeing some truly great things from yourself as a Mapper for Unreal Tournament. The next few lessons will continue to go over the basics and repeat a few important things so you grasp them better, I would assume that once you are familiar with the editor you will be able to take off on your own. I hope you follow through all of the lessons I'll be putting up first though as I learned the hard way that wanting to do something but not knowing how is the worse curse you can put on yourself. I intend to leave no mysteries with the editor here, I want to make sure there is nothing stopping you other than the limitations of the editor from creating whatever you want. The rest is up to you - see you in lesson 2!