Publishing your Level

By: cyberg][dan
[email protected]

 

Foreword:

This tutorial should successfully show you how to publish your finished level in a professional way, with screenshots and all. You won't even have to distribute your texture package.

Abstract:

Screenshots and Level Info... two of the most important but most often ignored parts of UnrealEd level creation.

Assumptions:

I assume that you have created a level and are completely happy with the geometry, textures, lighting, and overall playability. You should feel ready to put it "out there."

Introduction:

I'm sure you notice the level screenshots before you select a level to play when starting a game. It also provides you with the author's name (or alias), recommended number of players, and level title. You've also probably wondered how you can implement that in your finished level. This short tutorial will show you how.

Steps To Include a Screenshot:




1. Make a backup copy of the level you're about to wrap up, just in case something happens. Better safe than sorry.
   
   

2. Start up UnrealEd and open your backup copy.
   
   

3. Now take a really good screenshot of your level. This is *always* best to do in spectator mode, so you include more of your level and less of the HUD. Press F11 to bump up the brightness to a desirable degree and hit F9 to capture the screen. The screenshot will now be in your <TournamentDir>\System folder as a raw BMP file.
   
   

4. Now, open up your favorite *quality* image editor. You need something like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to handle the color depth conversions without pixellation and quality reduction.
   
   

5. Open your screenshot bitmap file.
   
   

6. Resize the image proportionally (or whatever works best for the image) to 256 by 256 pixels.
   
   

7. Decrease the color depth to 256 colors. Save it and go back into UnrealEd.
   
   

8. Choose Textures from the Browse menu on the side. On the bottom of the screen, click the Import button.
   
   

9. Choose your screenshot file and open it.
   
   

10. You will now get the Import Texture dialog box. Fill in "Screenshot" for the name, "MyLevel" for the package, and uncheck the "Generate Mipmaps" text box. Your dialog should look like the one below:
    
    
    
    

11. Click OK. Your screenshot will appear in a blank package in the Texture window.
    




Whew!

That wasn't so bad now, was it? But wait, we're not done yet. We just have our level screenshot ready to use.


Setting LevelInfo Properties

1. Now, navigate to Options menu -> Level properties... or hit F6 to bring up the Level Properties dialog box.
   
   

2. Expand the LevelInfo node.
   
   

3. You should now fill in the Author, IdealPlayerCount and Title fields. Author can be whatever you desire. IdealPlayerCount should be a single number or a general amount, such as 8-16. Title should be the name of your level--not the filename, but the title (e.g., DM-Peak's title is The Peak Monastery).
   
   

4. Now you need to set the DefaultGameType. Move to this field and press the ellipsis button (...) to move over to the Classes menu on the Browse toolbar. Navigate to *Info -> *GameInfo and within those nodes, find the game type your map is designed for. Click the game type once and move back over to the Level Properties dialog. Click the Use button in the DefaultGameType field to fill the field with your selected game type.
   
   *Note: All the Unreal game types will be found in UnrealGameInfo and all the UT game types will be found in TournamentGameInfo.
   
   

5. DefaultGameType is taken care of. Now move down to the Screenshot field and click the ellipsis button again. The Browse bar should load up the textures. Select MyLevel from the second drop-down list. Click on your screenshot texture (it should be called Screenshot) and move back to the Level Properties dialog. Click the Use button in the Screenshot field to fill in the information.
   
   

6. That's it! You're done for now. Below is an example shot of the filled-in LevelInfo node:
   
   
   
   

Publishing To The Web

Now that you have everything filled in, rebuild your map (as always) and save it. It's generous to zip your .unr map file with a .txt file describing release and copyright notices, as well as contact information.



Well, that just about wraps it up. I hope you've learned a bunch about zipping your level up cleanly and professionally.

Have a great time out there, and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.