UnrealED2

UnrealEd 2.x features a new and nicer interface

UnrealEd 2.0 is the second version of UnrealEd. Unreal being the first game to use the Unreal Engine (in it's very first iteration) the included editor, UnrealEd (1.0) was an unsupported beta software developed in Visual Basic. Lack of certain tools prevented level-designers to achieve complex maps. UnrealEd 2.0, originaly introduced for UT99, is a rebuild editor written in C++. Subsequent releases of patch 227 introduced UnrealEd 2.1, similar in its looks, but significantly improved, with many bugs corrected, new functions and overall better stability.

Interface

The interface is a lot more polished and has been completely refunded. First, the Browser isn't a sidebar anymore, but a set of dockable windows. When a browser is docked, it can be accessed from other docked windows without opening a new browser, keeping everything at hand. Only the main buttons have been kept on the left side, and the width of this sidebar reduced to two icons. This leaves plenty of extra space for the viewports themselves. These viewports are configurable, lockable and can be set to cover the entire screen if needed. The interface is very easy to configure and very comfortable, and was reused with almost no change in UnrealEd 3.0 and 4.0 on later engines.

As a side note, many people do not know that the Texture Browser in UED2 is using the renderer as defined in Unreal.ini for WindowedRenderDevice. To switch it to OpenGL for better previews set in Unreal.ini WindowedRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice.

Features

Among other things, UnrealEd 2.0 featured a Vertex Editing tool wich greatly increases the possibilities of designers by allowing them to move not only one vertec at a time but as much as they want. The 2D shape editor is no longer a buggy beta one and can be used for about anything without problem. One noticeable thing is the possibility to use several Direct 3D rendering in the 3D viewport, but also working OpenGL, which means you won't get surprised by how it looks in the game compared to what the software rendering shows. Although the D3D supports is not fully supported and might not be fully working, especially if you're using and ATI graphic card, it can also be used without a lot of troubles. As of 227g, the OpenGl support is fully stable and supported.

Plugs-In

Though there is no "plug-in" as you might know, UnrealEd 2.0 and 2.1 can both be enhanced and expanded by adding new buttons, new fonctions, new tools. On the provided screenshot at the top of the page, you may notice purple builder brushes. These are custom builder brushes, the Tarquin tools. A lot of tools have been created over time for UT99's UnrealEd 2.0 and are completely compatible with Unreal 227's UnrealEd 2.1 : Quick camera alignement, new stairs builders, round shape creator, easy Skybox etc...

In 227

As of today (in 227g), it is not possible to keep UnrealEd 1.0 when installing the 227 patch. UnrealEd 2.1 is automatically set to replace it, which is a good thing because it has a lot more documentation, help and knowledge available since its immediate predecessor, UnrealEd 2.0, was used in UT99. Though it has been used for more than 10 years now for Unreal, UnrealEd 1.0 is really lagging behind in terms of everything, crashes a lot more, and, as a rule, is a lot less efficient than UnrealEd 2.0 and 2.1. Despite this, some people may not want to change their habits and keep the editor they like. In this case, you will have to keep a second installation of Unreal in it's 226 version (or before). This can be done by backing up the /System/ folder in your Unreal directory. Swap /System/ folders accordingly when you want to use Unreal 226 or Unreal 227.

Help & Tutorials

A lot of things have been written for UnrealEd 2.0 by the very large UT99 community, but over the years, much of this content has been lost.

• This wiki has some tutorials about the new features introduced by the 227 patch !
• Some tutorials by Hourences can be found at the bottom of his page.
• Drac Has a complete set of tutorials for everything concerning Ued 2.0.
• Lode might be useful, especially his famous light tutorials.

Unfortunately, as they moved to newer versions of the Unreal Engine, a lot of writers just dropped their UEd 2.0 tutorials. In case you need more help, explanations or advice on how to do a particular thing or how to use a tool, ask on OldUnreal's forums.