Teleporters and portals
UnrealED2 Tutorials by EZkeel

E-mail:Ezkeel@nikodemus.co.uk
Accompanied files : Portals.UNR

Contents

1) Teleporters
2) Using teleports between levels
3) Warp Zones (portals)

Introduction.
I bunched Teleporters and WarpZones into one tutorial because both of these do similar things. Warpzones allow you to pass smoothly from one part of a map to another. They also allow you to see what you’re going into before you get there! Teleporters don’t look as neat, but they have the advantage of being able to transport you not just somwhere else within your level but to a whole new level altogether. First I will take you through teleports and then through WarpZones.

Teleporters

First we’ll look at a simple teleport that transports you from one room to another:

1) Create two very basic rooms with light in them and add a player start. (try and make them look different from each other somehow)

See some of my other tutorials if you’re not sure how to do that

2) Open the "ActorClassBrowser" and then open out "Navigation Point". A list of items should appear. Choose "Teleporter", and add one to each of your rooms (You can also use visible teleporter if you like). These are directional, so when someone comes out through one you can choose which direction they will be facing when they arrive. Just click on one and you should see an arrow stick out from it. Hold down the CTRL key and the right mouse button and when you move the mouse you should see the arrow move too. As teleport actors are invisible
when you play the level, it may be useful for you to put a boulder or some other decoration next to it so that you know where to head when you test your level (unless of course you're using the visible teleporter).

3) Both teleporters can act as either 2-way or 1-way its up to you. Click on one of your teleporters and press F4 to bring up its properties box. Under the section called "Teleport" you will find a field called "URL". This is where you want your player to end up when they enter your teleport. Type "Ping" in this field. Click on the teleport in the other area and give the URL field the name "pong".

4) You’ve now told both Teleporters where you want them to send people, but now you need to tell UnrealED where "ping" and "pong" actually are. In this case, we will make the teleports jump back and forth to each other. In the same way as most other actors in UnrealED, your teleporters have a "tag" so you can label them. Click on the teleport which has "Ping" in the URL field, then bring up the property called "Events" and type "Pong" in the "Tag" field. Likewise, the other teleport with "Pong" in the URL field, must have "Ping" in its "Tag" field.

If this sounds confusing, check out the map that comes with this tutorial

5) That’s all there is to it. Test your level and you should be able to run back and forth between each room as often as you like.

Using teleports between levels

1) If you're making an SP map you can use teleports using the same method to transport your player from one level to another. All that needs to be different is the name of the URL. Create two very basic levels. In each level build a simple room and do the same as you did in the previous example. Call one level "A.unr" and call the other level "B.unr". Put a player start in "A.unr" (it could be in B.unr if you like).

2) Both levels should contain a teleport. (just as the previous example had two rooms, each containing a teleport). In the level you call "A.unr" choose your teleport and type "Pong" in its "Tag" field. The formula for URL fields is "mapname#teleporter tag?peer". So, in the URL field for this teleport type, "B#Ping?peer". (Peer, tells Unreal to open a file). Now save your level.

3) Open up your other level called "B.unr". Bring up the properties for the teleport in this level. Type "Ping" in its tag field and "A#Pong?peer" in its URL field.

4) Once you’ve saved it, test it by playing A.unr and then see how you can
go back and forth through the two levels.

Warp Zones (portals)

This is where it really gets sticky! These are like teleports, but as I mentioned above, you can actually see into the other area of the map you are about to run into. They don’t, however, jump between levels. If you’ve not been editing for long, and you’re not too familiar with "zones" I strongly suggest that you become familiar with the tutorial on ZONES first, it will give you a better understanding of this particular tutorial. These are fiddly, but well worth it when you see the end result.

1) Create two rooms in the same way as you did for your teleporters. Make they are nice and large, say 1024 x 1024 x 1024, so that you have plenty of room to run around in there. Add all the usual stuff like lighting, playerstart and game info. Make sure that both rooms look different so you can see the full effect of the Portal you’re making.

2) Now you need to create some sort of portal gate that your player can fit inside (create one for each room). For this exercise we will use straightforward blocks. First, add a brush inside your room 292 high x 192 x 192. Then subtract another block from it sized 256 x 128 x 128. Rebuild and save. You should see a hollowed out cube in your room.

3) Now you need to turn this portal gate into a zone of its own. To do this you need to add a sheet to your cube so that the opening is completely covered. Right click on the sheet icon which in your left-hand toolbar. In its size properties change it to 264 in the height field and 136 in the width field. Then set it to X axis (so that it covers the entrance of your gate, it may be Y axis if you’ve faced them the other way). Line this brush up so that it covers the entrance to your gate with no gaps, as close to the edge as you can (set grid size to 1 or 2 if you want it really close).

4) Now click on the "Add Special Brush" icon. A box should appear. Where it says "prefabs", set it to "Zone Portal" and click on "OK". Now rebuild and save. In your 3D view choose "Zone/Portal view" from the end icon in the 3d view menu bar. Both of your gates should be a different colour. Your grid views should look something like the pictures below.

TOP VIEW SIDE VIEW

5) You’ve probably noticed that there is also a strange looking cube with a question mark inside the gates too. This is what you need to add next, this is the "WarpZoneInfo" actor. Choose it from the "ActorClassBrowser" under
"Classes/Info/ZoneInfo" and add this to the inside of each of the Portals.

6) Select each one of the "WarpZoneInfo" actors and press F4 to bring up its properties. This is similar to the teleports. You have a destination and tag. If you want a one-way portal, only give one of them a destination.

Under the field called "OtherSideURL" type "Ping", and in the field called "ThisTag" type "Pong".

In the other Portal type "Pong" in the "OtherSideURL" field and "Ping" in the "ThisTag" field.

Rebuild and save it. If you test it now, you should see the awesome effect of looking through
a portal into your other room.

You can now run backwards and forwards through them.

7) If you want to make it look even more interesting, try adding another sheet, one unit in front of the Portal sheet as a "Water" sheet and then give wavy, transparent properties. Also add an ambient sound to give it that freaky feel.

And there’s your portal.
If you’re having trouble try looking at the map that comes with this tutorial.

TIP: Don't try and make a portal that looks out into a sky area. The engine has difficulty showing you stuff through two zones!

EZkeel
(Simon West-Bulford)