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All actors have properties, which are accessed using the properties window. You can open the properties window of an actor by right-clicking on that actor and choosing "Properties" from the context menu, or (in most cases) by double-clicking on that actor (remember that you have to select brush wireframes to do this, not a surface--but you shouldn't be modifying brush properties anyway). Properties are divided into sets, the primary ones of which are outlined below. There are also several kinds of properties:
- String - you can enter in any text you want. The place where you enter in the text is known as a field.
- List - you choose which option you want from a drop-down list (doesn't include true/false).
- Boolean - often abbreviated as "bool" and denoted by a lower-case 'B' in front of the variable name, refers to true/false options.
- Byte - An integer value between 0 and 255
- Floating Point - Commonly "float," an integer value between -65535 and 65535
- Vector - Same as a Floating Point except mappers can specify X, Y, and Z scalars
- Array - for this single property, there is more than one accessible variable of the same type (the type can be any of the above).
- Dynamic Array - just like an Array, except that you can add more items to it.
If an Int property refers to the Team of an actor, zero equals the red team and one equals the blue team. Some of the above variables can sometimes be constant, meaning that even if a mapper changes them it will have no affect on how the actor reacts in-game.
The standard property sets are as follows (only important properties have been given, and the description of Booleans refers to the property when set to True):
Advanced
bCanTeleport - Actors will be able to travel through teleporters (really only relevant for moving objects, and you'll very rarely have to use this)
bDirectional - The actor will have a little arrow pointing out of it that changes which direction it's "looking." Only relevant (but then very useful) for directional lights.
bEdShouldSnap - Snaps the actor to the grid in the editor. While it's obviously possible to unsnap actors, it's highly recommended that you don't.
bHidden - Makes the actor hidden in-game
bHiddenEd - Makes the actor hidden in the editor. Before you set this to true, make sure that you give the actor a unique Tag so you can find it again with Actor Search. Some actors, like InventorySpots, have this set to True by default.
bLockLocation - The actor cannot be moved. Useful for Terrain and other stationary actors so you don't move them by accident.
bNoDelete - Usually constant, the actor cannot be deleted in-game.
bHighDetail - Will not render on Low World Detail, but its collision (if any) remains
bSuperHighDetail - Will not render on Low or Medium World Detail, but its collision (if any) remainsCollision (see also UnrealWiki)
bAutoAlignToTerrain - In theory, aligns the actor to the slope of the terrain; doesn't really work in practice
bCollideActors - Fires the actor's event when another actor comes within its radius
bPathColliding - The botpathing network will ignore the collision of this actor
bBlockNonZeroExtentTraces - Blocks players, movers, shock balls, redeemer missiles, and other large actors
bBlockZeroExtentTraces - Blocks most weapon fire, blocks non-corona lights
CollisionHeight - Half the height of the cylindrical collision, if relevant; this type of collision is always vertical regardless of the actor's rotation
CollisionRadius - The radius of the cylindrical collision, if relevant; this type of collision is always horizontal regardless of the actor's rotation
Note that EmitterParticles use special collision properties specified within each emitterDisplay
AmbientGlow - Increases the brightness of the mesh; 0 means the mesh is affected only by external lighting, 128 renders as unlit plus external lighting, and 255 renders twice as bright as unlit
bAcceptsProjectors - Projectors will be shown on this actor
bAlwaysFaceCamera - This actor will always face the camera; emitters have it set to true by default; can be a good effect for security cameras or spotlights that players can't walk behind
bShadowCast - This actor will cast a static shadow
bUnlit - External lighting doesn't affect this actor; it is lit as if its ambientglow were at 128
bUseDynamicLights - This actor will be affected by Triggerlights
CullDistance - For Static Meshes, causes the engine to stop rendering them if a player is further than this distance away (if zero, the engine always renders it)
DrawScale - Changes the size of the actor and its collision uniformly
DrawScale3D - Changes the size of the actor and its collision individually in all 3 axes; actors are first multiplied by DrawScale, so if DrawScale was .5 and the DrawScale3D X-vector was 2, the actor would render as normal-sized along the X-axis and the Y and Z axes would render the actor as half its size
DrawType - Changes how the actor is rendered--as a mesh, static mesh, sprite, etc.
Mesh, StaticMesh, Texture - Changes which Mesh, StaticMesh, or Texture is rendered based on whether the DrawType is set to Mesh, StaticMesh, or Sprite, respectively
OverlayMaterial - Specify shaders here which correspond with the Skins array
PrePivot - changes the location of the Pivot for the actor; most relevant to Static Meshes and Movers because it affects how they rotate
Skins - Allows the mapper to specify certain textures that the actor (usually a Static Mesh) will use instead of its default ones; corresponds with OverlayMaterialEvents
Event - The actor sends out a signal ("event") with this name under certain circumstances; used to trigger things
Tag - If an "event" is sent out with a name that matches an actor's Tag, it will usually be triggeredLightColor
LightBrightness - How bright the light is at its source
LightHue - The color of the light on a spectrum of 0 to 255; 0 and 255 are red, 128 is blue, and the other colors are in between (0-128 is orange/yellow/green and 128-255 is purple/pink)
LightSaturation - Affects how much white lighting to mix in with the LightHue; 0 is none so the color will be full; 255 turns the lighting whiteLighting
bActorShadows - This light will cause actors with bShadowCast=True to cast shadows
bCorona - Light becomes a Corona (uses Skin as texture)
bDirectionalCorona - If bCorona=True, the Corona texture doesn't turn to face the player
bSpecialLit - If the actor is a light, it will only affect other actors with bSpecialLit=True and surfaces with the SpecialLit flag set to True; if not, this actor will be affected only by lights with bSpecialLit=True
LightEffect - These affect how the light is displayed. Most of these options only work as expected with TriggerLights because they're mostly dynamic options and normal Light actors are static. It is interesting to note, though, that some of the effects will animate in UEd until rebuild, at which point the effect will be "baked" (it will become static) creating an interesting effect. Also, LE_NonIncidence and LE_QuadraticNonIncidence affect the falloff of all Lights - NonIncidence creates dramatic falloff (the light stays bright until near the edge of its radius) and QuadraticNonIncidence creates extremely dramatic falloff (the light stays bright almost up to the radius). With the default setting (LE_None) the falloff is constant.
LightRadius - How far away the light can illuminate, visible by right-clicking on the gray bar above a viewport and choosing Actor>>Radii View. There doesn't seem to be any usual scale to the distance here.
LightType - Sunlight, Spotlight, and None are the only options that work. Sunlight causes light to be emitted from all surfaces with the FakeBackdrop flag checked and ignores the LightRadius, Corona, and LightEffect properties; Spotlight is largely symbolic, and None is a normal light.Movement
bIgnoreEncroachers - Ignore collision with movers
Location - The location of the actor in the world
Rotation - One of the most useful properties, determines in which direction the actor is rotated
AttachTag - Specify the Tag of a mover here to "attach" this actor to a mover; when attached, the actor will follow this mover's motion. Useful for pretty much anything, and movers don't have to be inside the map for it to work. Actors will not move if bStatic or bStasis is True.
RotationRate - If the actor is bStatic=False, specifies how fast the actor will rotate around its Pivot. Note that this is a "float" variable.Object
InitialState - Affects a lot of things about how the actor reacts during the game; most relevant to triggerable actorsSound
AmbientSound - This actor will play and loop the sound specified here
SoundRadius - The radius of the AmbientSound
SoundVolume - The volume of the AmbientSound
SoundPitch - 64 is no shift, higher or lower changes the pitch of the AmbientSound
TransientSoundVolume - Volume used for sounds in the SoundEmitters array of an AmbientSound actor
TransientSoundRadius - Radius of sounds in the SoundEmitters array of an AmbientSound actorTop
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