Prefabs Made Easy

By:Rewind

rewind@planetunreal.com

http://www.avidgamer.net/

NOTE: This tutorial (like every other tutorial at Prefab Central) assumes that you have at least a basic knowledge of UnrealEd.

Tutorial:

Ok, all you people who email me 5 times daily asking this stuff had best be reading! This my all-purpose "Prefabs for dummies" tutorial. Its for all you people who just can not load those prefabs! First off, you will need to download a prefab (really?)... Any will do. Unzip it to some directory you will remember. I use \Unreal\System\3ds but you can use whatever you want. Then start up Unreal Ed. Now subtract a simple little square room (I used 512x512x512) and texture it any way you like. Now add light, a start location, and rebuild the geometry (F8). Next you will need to load whatever textures the prefab uses (unless you want to texture it yourself for some reason). NOTE: If you do not load ALL the textures the prefab requires it will NOT be textured when you import/load it!

Now for the fun part, importing/loading the prefab to your level! Look at the prefab you downloaded (in Windows explorer or whatever). If it has a .t3d, .dfx, or .asc extension you will want to import it to your level. If the prefab has a .u3d extension you will want to load it to your level.

LOADING A PREFAB

Ok, so you want a .u3d prefab in your level. Go under "Brush" on the UnrealEd menu and select "Load" (or press Ctl-B).

Now just select the prefab you want to add your level and click "Open". Since you are loading the file and not importing it, the brush of the prefab should simply appear in your level. Move the brush to where ever you want the prefab in your level and add it!

IMPORTING A PREFAB

Importing a prefab to your level is a little more difficult than simply loading one, but it is still really simple. To start, just go under "Brush" on the UnrealEd menu and select "Import".

Now go to the directory where you saved the prefab, select it, and click open. A menu (like the one below) should pop up. Unless the prefabs read me says differently, you should leave all the options on their default settings.

You should see a brush of the prefab. Move the brush to where ever you want it in your level and add it!