Beginners UnrealED2
Tutorial by EZkeel Part 1

E-mail:Ezkeel@nikodemus.co.uk

Contents

1) Preparation
2) The Interface
3) Building your first room and navigating
4) Textures
5) Adding objects
6) Level Properties
7) Rebuilding

Introduction

I’ve had a number of requests by people to explain the very basics of using the Unreal Editor. In this tutorial, I will assume that you know absolutely nothing about the editor or level editing in general.

Preparation

Before you even start to create your maps, you need to know if the editor is working. If you’ve got it straight off the CD then I’m sure it won’t be, and you’ll need some files to get you started. If you're reading this tutorial then I assume you already have UnrealED version 2, but just in case you haven't you'll need to get the latest patch for
Unreal Tournamnet. A the time of writing this, the latest patch is 418 and you can get that here.

Once you've got the patch (I'm also assuming you've got a zipping utility), just double click it and follow the instructions.

As you begin to use the editor, take care and don’t get frustrated with it. UnrealED2 seems fine so far but the original version was a Beta version, which means that sooner or later it would give you a hard time. If you did
something it didn’t like, it sulked and would crash without giving you a chance to save your work. So, make sure you save often, believe me, you’ll need to!

The Interface

Now you should be in business. Open up UnrealED and once its finished loading in (it can be slow), you should have a screen that looks like this:

If this is the first time you’ve done anything like this (like it was for me not so long ago), this must look like you need a degree in astrophysics to make your own level. Don’t worry! If I did it, so can you. It’s easy when you know how, and after this tutorial you’ll be running around in your own level :)

First you need to know the very basics of what you’re looking at. The screen is divided up into 2 main sections:

1) The toolbar on the left with all those strange squares and circles.
That’s your “browser” toolbar from which you can make "brushes". “Brushes” are things you need which make a variety of geometric shapes which are the basis for creating rooms.

2) The large area which is split into 4 smaller windows.
This is where you can actually see what you’re making as you progress. You’ll notice that 3 of them are grids, and one is a black window. The 3 grids are the 3 different ways of viewing your map straight on.
The top left grid views it directly from above. The top right grid views it from the side, and the bottom right grid views it from the other side (x and y axis). The black window is a 3D view of the map almost as you would see it in the game. You’ll soon see what I mean as you start building.

This might still sound like rocket science, so it will probably help to start building something right away.

Building your first room and navigating

1) First, find an icon in the left hand tool bar that looks like a pale blue cube (the 5th one up on the left of the toolbarabove the cylinder shape, if you hold the mouse over it, it will tell you it's a cube).
Left click on that and you should see the red outline of a square appear in the white 2D grid views. In the black 3D viewer, it will appear as a red outlined cube. This is your “building brush”.

2) Now look for an icon that looks like a dark blue square overlapping a light blue square (its called "subtract"). Left click on that and you should see the cube in the 3d view with white bubbly sides. What you’ve done now is “subtract” that brush from your world. What does that mean? Well, imagine that what you’ve started off with is
a gigantic solid block. By “subtracting” that brush you’ve just cut a big cubed hole into that block which has made your first room.

3) At this point you might want to have a closer look at your block with those 4 windows in the center of the screen. Left click in any of the 2D views and with the mouse button still pressed down, move your mouse
around. You should find that the grid is moving around. Now hold both mouse buttons down (still in one of the 2D grids) and move the mouse up and down. You should now see your red square zooming in and out.

4) Now for the 3D view. Left click and drag the mouse the same way as you did with the 2D views but this time in the 3D view. When you move left to right you will see it turning as if you swiveling on the spot. When you move the mouse up and down, your block should move back and forth. Now click both mouse buttons and drag the mouse from left to right. You’ll see the block mover from left to right as if you’re strafing. Now move the mouse up and down with both buttons clicked and you’ll see the block move up and down.

You may need to practice these moves for a while until you start getting used to it. With all those combinations you should be able to get a good look at your block from all directions.

Textures

I think you’ll agree that those white bubbly walls look pretty ugly, so now let's choose a nicer pattern for the walls, floor and ceiling. For this you need to open up the "texture browser"

1) There are two ways to open up the texture browser:

a) Choose "View" from the menu bar at the top and then select "Texture browser" from the drop down list, or

b) Click on the icon just underneath the menu bar that looks like a small portrait.

Once you've done that, a new window will appear which you can resize, minimise or whatever. From the menu bar you can choose how large the textures are to view by selecting an option from the "zoom" option.

2) Now you need to find some interesting textures. From the menu in the texture browser Choose “File” then "open" and you’ll see a browser appear. It will display a nice selection of files all which contain a wad of textures. Choose “Ancient.utx” (I like these ones) and click on “open”. You’ll then see a different set of textures appear in the window. You’ll also notice that the little display boxes above the textures have changed. One contains the word “ancient” showing you which file you’re using and the other one contains the word "Arches" which is showing you what type of textures you're looking at from that pack. Click on the arrow to the far right of the box that says "arches" and you'll see a drop down list showing you all the different types of textures there are such as "door", "wall", "ceiling" etc. You don't necessarily have to use a "wall" texture on your walls, but they're split up into these sections to make it easier for you to find specific textures.

Before going any further, make sure you can see the textures in the texture browser without obscuring the 3D view of your editor's main screen.

3) Now we need to actually apply that texture to our room. In the 3D view left click once on one of the walls and you should see the wall surface shade slightly showing that it has been selected. Now keep you’re finger on the Ctrl button and select another wall. You’ll notice now that the Ctrl button allows you to select more than one thing at a time. Select all of the walls (One of the walls will probably be obscurred from view so you will need to move around in there to select it). Now choose a texture you like and left click once on it, it should have a gray border around it now, and you should also see that the walls have automatically changed their appearance. You can use the same technique to change the ceiling and floor.

When you've finished using your textures, minimise the texture browser so that it won't be in the way for our next step.

Adding Objects

Now that you’ve got a very basic room created, you can add some “objects” to it. For the purpose of this tutorial we’ll add a light, a monster and a player start. The following steps will teach you how to add an object and move it around, and it will also introduce you to the way in which you can change its attributes.

1) First we’ll add our light. To do that, aim your mouse at the floor of your room in the 3d viewer and right click. You should now see a drop down menu. Choose the option called “Add Light here” and you’ll see a torch icon appear where your mouse was pointed. Click on it once again and you should see it turn green which indicates that you have selected it. Press the Ctrl key down and in the same way you navigated around the views by clicking and dragging you can move this torch around inside the room. Try moving it around in the 2D views too. You should start to get an idea now of how the different views relate to each other now. Position the light in the centre of your room.

2) Now lets add a monster. To do this you’ll need to use a new browser which shows you a selection of "actors". You can select this browser by choosing "View" and "Actor class browser" or by left clicking on the small icon that looks like a chess pawn.

Another new window will appear that should look like this:

Click on the little plus sign next to the class called “pawn” and you should see it expand some more. Do the same thing with the one called “Scripted Pawn”. Left click on “Slith” so that it’s highlighted. Now, in the same way you did with the light, point your mouse where you want the Slith on the floor of your room and right click. Because you highlighted the Slith actor, you should now see “Add Slith here” on your menu. Choose that and you should see one appear in your room.

Now, suppose you wanted the Slith to face a different direction. In your 2D view that shows you the view from above (the window above the 3d view), you should see the Slith as a brown outline. Left click on it and it will turn green. You’ll also notice that it has a red arrow pointing in the direction it's facing. With the Ctrl key pressed down, press the right mouse key down and drag the mouse from left to right, you’ll see your Slith swivelling.
Just put him in whatever direction you want him.

Lets go a step further! With the Slith still selected (showing as green), Press F4 or right click on it and choose Slith properties. Every actor (or class) you place in your level has “properties” that you can change to suit your liking.

We’re going to make this creature ignore you when you test your level.

Once you’ve pressed F4 you should see a window appear that says “Slith properties” at the top of it. (If it says “actor properties” It means you’ve got more than one item selected. Just left click on a blank place anywhere in your map and reselect the Slith). Don’t worry about that great long list of “properties” you can see for a minute, the only one I want you to select is the one near the top called “AI”, just click on the plus sign and you’ll see another list. Click on the one called “Attitude to player” and it will highlight it as well as revealing a dropdown arrow. Click on the arrow and you will see a list of options, choose “ATTITUDE_ignore” and close the properties window down, your monster is now ready! Every actor has a whole bunch of properties like this that you can
manipulate in this way.

3) Now the last thing for you to add for now is the player’s starting position. You can’t test your map without it. With your actor browser, find the class called “Navigation Point” and click on the plus sign next to that. Just over half way down the list is the player start actor. Select that by clicking on it, and in the same way you added the Slith by right clicking, do this for your player start, preferably far away from the Slith (they smell!). You’ll see a little joystick appear! Just like the Slith this is also directional too. You’re nearly there now.

Level Properties

By default Unreal Tournament assumes you are building a DeathMatch level which isn't very good if you want a casual stroll in your new creation. By changing the "level properties" you can tell UT you want to play something else. For the purposes of this tutorial we'll create an Unreal Single Player map because that's the easiest thing for you to walk around in.

To change the level properties all you need to do is right click somewhere on the main screen where the grids are and choose "Level Properties" from the list. You will see a new window pop up in which you should expand the section called "LevelInfo". The part we're interested in is the "DefaultGameType" which is currently empty.

Now you must choose your game type. To do that you need to bring up the Actor Class Browser again (the icon like a chess pawn). From the list, open up "Info", then, "GameInfo", then, "UnrealGameInfo", then left click
on SinglePlayer.

Go back to your level properties, click on the LevelInfo field and choose "use". The singleplayer game option will now appear in that field.

Only one more thing left to do now to test out your map! ...

Rebuilding

This is where Unreal will take what you’ve done and turn it into your level. Left click on the icon on the top menu bar that looks like two slider bars called "Build options". You should see a screen like this:

Click on the button at the bottom of the window that says, “Build”.

The editor will then “rebuild” and for a brief second you’ll see a status bar telling you how its doing (this takes a lot longer when you start building big maps). You’ll notice also that the lighting has now taken effect in your 3d view.

All you need to do now is go to the top menu, choose File and Save Level (or choose the save icon).
Give it any name you choose and then click save. Your level is now ready. Click on the icon that looks like a joystock on the top menu and you’ll find yourself in your level face to face with a slimy slith that isn’t the slightest
bit interested in you (unless you hassle him!).

In the next tutorial, I’ll be showing you how to add more rooms and make them into more interesting shapes and sizes with better texturing (and I’ll probably throw some other useful stuff in too).

E-mail:Ezkeel@nikodemus.co.uk