This page contains general hints, tips and information about the devastation editor. it operates the same as any other version of UnrealEd out there, but there are a few unique features/bugs that you should be aware of.
This page does not tell you how to build a map for devastation, so if you are completely new to map editing you should check out Mapping Lessons.
Contents
The basics
The editor is accessed from Start->Programs->Devastation->Devastation editor. (this seems painfully obvious but i know people who had this game from the day it was released and never worked that out :Rolleyes: )
The first thing is the most commonly asked question ever about unreal ed- OMG my map dissapears when i open the editor! the viewports are white ( In Devastation editor they show the editor icon that you see when it loads up) . RELAX and do view-> viewports->configure and choose your desired layout.
And try to remember Team Numbers:
- Team 0=Conformists=Blue
- Team 1=Resistance=Red
When playtesting a multiplayer map from the editor it wont work properly. For example, if you playtest a DDM map through the editor if you kill yourself you will respawn with no weapons at all-even you hands will dissappear- but you can still pick up weapons fine. Dont worry though. It will work fine when actually running on the internet.
As with most other unreal editors out there, be prepared for it to crash. Ive outlined some things you shouldnt do in this page but still, it can crash and freeze up for no reason at all. Save, and save often under different filenames.
Information on static meshes, prefabs, textures and other resources
There is a very broad variety of resources available for you to use.
Static Meshes .USX
The most useful packages in terms on numbers of meshes and variety are the DDecoSm packages. Static meshes from individual maps can be found in thier respective packages, eg static meshes from rivers of waste can be found in the riversofwaste and riversSM packages. or, you could create a static mesh yourself. There seems to be collision bug with the DDecoSMestreetcleaner which allows you to walk through it like it wasnt there. Simply add a BlockingVolume around it to fix the problem. If you are creating a SkyBox you can look in most of the singleplayer packages, or in DSkySM.
As with textures (see below), you should press the "all" tab in the corner of the browser.
Textures .UTX
The skins for all static meshes can be found within the texture browser. There is actually many very useful textures, too many to list here, so have a look around in every package and see what you can find. In the texture browser, the exclamation mark button in the top left hand corner is used to preview what textures will look like when put on a surface, IE some textures display moving objects (like a rotating fan).
Its a good idea to press the "all" button, that way all groups will be displayed at once. Eg, if you open UTAPROPS, all you seen are some fan textures, until you press the "all" tab.
Note: DO NOT try to open the UTAcode or Scripted tex. They will crash the editor.
Some useful textures
- Zone portal texture BuildHelpTex.Zoneportaltex
(more to add when i have a proper look round later)
Prefabs .U
For some reason, you cannot access the prefab browser from directly under the view menu. So, go into the Actor class browser and select the prefabs tab. You can view most of the prefabs by pressing the AllPkgs button (i dont recommend pressing the AllGrps button though. It usually crashes the editor). Have a look through different decoration packages and see what you can find. You can add prefabs to you map using the middle mouse button, or by right clicking in a 3d viewport in wireframe mode.
Sounds .UAX
Most of the sound packages contain the character voices used in individual levels, eg SP1M1 cointains all the voice effects used in the first mission. . Use an AmbientSound to implement a sound in your level.
Most useful sounds (laser fence hacking alarm, flag capture etc) are found in UDAmbeint, although you will have to press the "all" tab.
Actor Classes .u
Most of the useful actors are found in the DTerritories package. If, when you go to select the Gametype,all you see is Dgameinfo, then you need to open the DTerritories package to see the full range of game types available. The territories package also contains many of the emitters.
You will also need to open this package in the browser to load the DLaserfence and DLoadout volumes.
A little note on occlusion
Devastation adds a new type of zone portal called an Zone antiportal. For more information see the Antiportal page.
Bugs
Brush add/subtract scaling.
From what i can tell, this is a very unusual problem which I encountered recently (not for the first time) that makes it impossible to build geometry. Its hard to explain, lets say that you make the red builder brush 512x512x512 and then add it to the world, the actual dimensions of the added brush will come out as maybe 512x512x480. That is, the added brush is smaller than the proper size it should be defined by the builder brush, in one or more directions.
I cant really be more specific, lets just say youll know if you encounter this.
You can fix it very easily by accessing the builder brushes properties ->dispay and resetting the "drawscale 3D" settings all back to 1. The last time this happened to me, one of the drawscale settings was 1.2 instead of one, making the actual brush added (or subtracted) 1/5 too big.
And the Finale....how to crash the editor
1: Right clicking on a brush and doing order-> sort order causes a crash
2: Opening certain packages causes crashes
3: Doing anything with fluid surfaces will cause a crash
4: Right clicking more than 5 times when you have more than 1 thing selected crashes you
5: And of course..doing absoloutely nothing at all can result in a crash :)
Comments
Ragdoll: If theres anyone on this wiki that owns Devastation apart from me, feel free to add more to this page and comment on it.
AJRAD: Yeah me, I'll take care of it^^