UT2004 FAQ

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Q:  My screen looks white when I rebuild.  How do I fix it?

A:  From the menus at the top of the UnrealEd window, choose View>>Viewports>>Configure.  You don't actually have to change your viewport layout.

 

Q:  My screen gets much brighter when UEd starts.

A:  Right-click on the UEd icon, locate the Target field, and add " -nogamma" to the end of the target name.  Keep in mind, though, that you'll probably end up overlighting your map since UT changes the gamma as well.

 

Q:  I playtest the map and die immediately.

A:  Rebuild.

 

Q:  Acceptable Polycount?

A:  50,000 at a time for UT2003, 150,000 at a time for UT2004.

 

Q:  I can't select a BSP surface--why?

A:  Turn off AntiAliasing and/or Anisotropic Filtering on your videocard.

 

Q:  My latest map crashed and is now corrupted.  Is there anything I can do?

A:  Yes, check the autosaves.  By default UEd saves a copy of your map every 5 minutes.  They should be called Autosave0, Autosave1, and so on up to Autosave9.  Order them by Most Recent or Last Modified so you can figure out which one is latest--the first time you open UEd it starts saving at Autosave0, but it loops around once it gets to Autosave9 so the saves aren't going to be in chronological order by number.

 

Q:  I can't see any of my [insert actor here].

A:  Right-click on the grey bar above the problematic viewport, choose View from the context menu, and make sure that there's a check mark next to the items you can't see.  Also, check to make sure all Groups are visible in the Groups Browser.

 

Q:  I can't see any of the resource browsers.

A:  This is usually because the browser is located off-screen (open the browser first to make sure you didn't just close it).  Click an Open Browser button to switch focus to that window, press ALT+SPACE, then 'M' and use the mouse or arrow keys to move the window around until it's back on-screen.

 

Q:  What is the best way to share my level with others?

A:  First, make sure all of your resources (static meshes, textures, etc.) except music are MyLevel'd.  Then, place your map in a .zip file with a ReadMe.txt (try using NaliCity's Readme Generator) and maybe a jpeg screenshot that's no larger than 50KB and 1280x1024.  Then email the map to your friends or upload it on a site like FileFront, NaliCity, UnrealPlayground, or MapRaider.

 

Q:  I get this error when I start my map in UnrealEd that certain packages aren't being loaded.

A:  If the map still works in UT, you can safely ignore the warning.  If you want to get rid of it, find the resources that are using that package and delete them or MyLevel them and remove the faulty reference.  If the map doesn't work in UT, export the map to .t3d, open the .t3d file in Notepad, and do a search for the missing filename to find the actor using the bad package.

 

Q:  My Zones aren't working or they're giving me problems.

A:  Zones are notoriously troublesome, so most mappers put them in as the last step.  Note also that Zone Portals must cover the entire gap between the two zones and that Static Meshes don't count for the border of zones, i.e. the ZonePortal has to close the gap between BSP, not SMs.

 

Q:  When I close UnrealEd, it asks me to save "Package0," "Package1," etc.

A:  Ignore it - click "no."  It's a bug, you won't actually be saving anything.  If it's a valid package name, DO NOT save stock packages, but it's okay to save custom ones.  NEVER save the MyLevel pseudopackage.

 

Q:  How tall is an average UT player, and how far can he jump?

A:  See General Scale and Dimensions.

 

Q:  I can't see the bottom of my FluidSurface.

A:  Use a Shader to make the material TwoSided.

 

Q:  I want a certain surface of a Static Mesh to be illuminated.  How?

A:  Create a shader with the same texture for the Diffuse and SelfIllum.

 

Q:  My Static Mesh isn't lighting correctly--why?

A:  Static Meshes are vertex-lit, which means that lighting is calculated only for each vertex.  If you made the SM yourself, try tessellating it (adding more polygons) and if you didn't, make sure the vertices aren't blocked by anything (especially terrain).

 

Q:  I get this weird shadow near a door or BSP structure, or my texture looks like it has a seam where it shouldn't.  How do I fix it?

A:  It probably has to do with the lightmap size you're using for different zones.  Make sure they're all the same.  Also check the ambient lighting.

 

Q:  I see a Static Mesh I like in another map and I want to use it in mine.

A:  Copy-paste it into your own, or open the Display properties and figure out which SM it's using.  Note that it's not a good idea to copy-paste anything other than Static Meshes into your own map, and (unless it's a stock map) you need to make sure you have permission to do so.

 

Q:  How do I locate a certain actor?

A:  Use the Find Actor tool in the Edit menu.

 

Q:  Is there an easy way to scale my entire map?

A:  Yep.  Go to the Tools menu and choose Scale Map.

 

Q:  My movers don't collide with vehicles.

A:  That's right.  Sorry.

 

Q:  Where can I find good downloadable resources for UEd?

A:  If you find any, be sure to tell me.

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