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Wanderer's Tips
This section is where our buddy Wanderer (UnrealExpert and The number one answer man on the Forums) will post tips and tricks and other goodies for you.
Tip #1
Read the Scripts
The first thing you should do is look at the classes in the Browser in UnrealEd and study the comment lines (in green) to get an idea of what the actor does and what variables you can set. Access the script window by double-clicking the actor in the Browser.
Tip #2
Don't Turn Off The Grid
Cut it out with turning off the grid! Sorry to be mean but I've been hearing
lots of people ask how do you turn off the grid. Trust me, leaving brushes
off the grid can seriously cause problems and lead to high node counts
(which is worse then a high poly count) and BSP holes galores. All of which
will be explained in an upcoming FAQ regarding BSP's themselves. At worst,
never lower your grid settings below 4 units unless it's involving an
Invisible Collision Hull. If you're normally working at such a low grid
setting odds are it's too detailed.
Tip #3
Define Paths
Remember to always perform a Paths Define
before play testing a map. This will eliminate a lot of problems right off
the bat like people starting in the wrong place, Dom control points not
working, etc.
To do a Paths Define press F8=>Lighting tab=>Paths Define button.
Tip #4
Group Objects
Next up, group objects to keep objects organized (especially if you're like
me). Just select the pawn/brush/etc and go into the
Properties=>Object=>Group and insert the name there. Then whenever you want
to select all of them again, select 1 of them, right-click=>Select All. I
tend to use this for lights, sounds, etc.
Bear in mind there's a hierarchy with Groups so naming something CornerLight
and another CornerLight_Corona kind of brings those 2 together. So when you
select a CornerLight group, you get the CornerLight_Corona's as well.
Tip #5
Selecting Brushes
Selecting an entire building is a pain. But there's an easy way out of it.
First make the Active brush big enough to encompass the building (or
brushes). Then press the "Select Actors Inside brush" which is right next to
the tool with "All" written on it. Then you will have selected all of the
brushes and pawns within the Active brush.
Tip #6
Texture Skewing
Anybody who has used the Sheer Brush button knows it has faults and that
vertex manipulation is in most cases easier. But if you don't pay attention
you miss the fact that it also skews a texture.
Example of texture skewing: (ignore the dots, HTML doesn't like spaces and
it's the only way it looks right).
Normal texture:
-------------
|...........|
|...........|
-------------
Skewed texture:
---------------
\..............\
.\..............\
..----------------
I love ascii art :)
Also note that once you align a texture to a wall there's no easy way to get
it skewed again. The only way to do this is by going into the console and
using the following command line
poly texscale UU=1 VV=1 UV=0.5 VU=0.5
...............|....|....|......|
...............|....|....|......|- Vertical Skewing (optional)
...............|....|....|- Horizontal Skewing (optional)
...............|....|- Vertical Texture Scale (required)
...............|- Horizontal Texture Scale (required)
VU and UV scale settings don't have to be used together. You can use only
one of them if you want but the UU and VV settings are required.
VU and UV scale settings are incremental (similiar to "poly texscale
relative"). That is if you keep using the line:
poly texscale UU=1 VV=1 UV=0.05
It will keep skewing the texture on a 0.05 basis. It also works with
negatives. I recommend adjusting in small steps so that you do a good job of
aligning the texture.