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RvS Mapping Tutorials
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Odds & Ends |
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Navigation |
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Tips & Tricks
for RvS mappers |
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| #1 - Reinstall
the game to c:\RavenShield\ |
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As we've all discovered, the editor
doesn't like file paths with spaces in them. When I'm building
a map, I like to test it constantly in-game. So rather than go
through the hassle of copying my .rsm file everytime I want to
preview the map, I reinstalled the game to c:\RavenShield\.
Now I can edit the maps directly and preview them immediately.
One added benefit of this approach is that it provides
a good test environment for your mod installer. Not every
player has the game installed at c:\program files\developer
name\game\ and you need to make sure your mod will work no
matter where the game is installed. |
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| #2 - Disable the
intro videos |
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If you test your custom maps as
often as I do, you're sick and tired of hearing that "the year
is 1945". And as many of you have discovered, if you delete
the .BIK files, the game will simply load the movies off of
the CD. To outsmart it, follow these steps:
Open the
"\RavenShield\Videos\" directory an create a folder named
"Backup". Move the file Logos.bik into the Backup folder. Open
Notepad, create a new empty file, and 'Save As' Logos.bik
(make sure you set Save as type to "All Files", not "Text
Documents [*.txt]"). Open the "\RavenShield\Videos\Int\"
folder. Move the file RS_Intro.bik into the Backup folder.
Open notepad, create a new empty file & 'Save As'
RS_Intro.bik. |
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| #3 - Backup your
map daily |
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If you're working on a large
project, be prepared for disaster. UnrealED is more stable
than it ever has been, but maps do get corrupted sometimes and
then your hard work is lost. Don't trust the editor to protect
you with autosaves. Once a day, copy your .RSM file to a
backup folder and rename it to the current date. |
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| #4 - Use unique,
consistent package names |
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The Unreal editor gets confused if
two entities are named the same. For example, naming your map
"mymap.rsm" and your texture package "mymap.utx" could cause
problems. A good standard to follow is to name all standard
texture packages as "mymap_T.utx", textures for static meshes
as "mymap_TSM.utx", and static mesh packages as
"mymap_SM.usx". The developers of the official RvS campaigns
followed this rule pretty closely. Also, it is highly
recommended that you always save textures and static meshes in
external per-map packages (as described above) rather than
packing everything into the built-in "MyLevel" package. |
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| #5 - Build
geometry in dimensions of base 8 |
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Whenever possible, build your rooms,
walls, and foundational geometry in dimensions of 8, 16, 32,
128, 256, etc. This rule is not written in stone, and there
are times when it will make sense to break it. But the
majority of the time you will save significant frustration by
following simple standards like making your walls 320 units
high and 16 units deep. (For more examples like this see my geometry
dimensions page.)
There are three major advantages
to this approach. First, you will maximize the value of grid
alignment (and you SHOULD utlize grid snapping whenever
possible to avoid BSP gaps or overlaps). If you follow this
guideline, you should be able to keep your grid set to 8, 16,
or 32 most of the time. Second, you will make it easier to
reuse existing textures and static meshes. For example, many
wall textures that shipped with the game were designed for a
wall 320 units high, and most window and door frames were
designed for a wall 16 units deep. Third, you'll make it
easier to create custom textures and static meshes yourself,
by following the same dimension guidelines in Photoshop and
3ds max. |
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| #6 - Minimize
additive brushes to avoid light bleeding |
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Dynamic light often bleeds through
additive brushes. So if you have the choice of carving out a
two room area and then adding a wall between the rooms or
carving out each room separately, choose to carve out each
room separately so that the remaining wall between them will
block light correctly. Note that this is difficult to pull off
in a large outdoor map with multiple buildings without a lot
of pre-planning. |
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| #7 - Assign all
actors to groups |
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Each time you add a new actor to
your map, assign it to appropriate groups. I recommend
creating groups based on object type, room name, floor number,
and game type. This may seem unnecessary at first, but it will
be a lifesaver when your map grows to 40 rooms across 3 floors
and you're trying to locate a particular window pane. |
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