UnrealED2

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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++, which was ported back to Unreal by Smirftsch in order to provide better tools for the community. Subsequent releases of patch 227 heavily improved the tools, stability and ease of use of UnrealEd 2.0. Enough to deem it an almost different version : UnrealEd 2.1, similar in its looks, but significantly improved, with many bugs corrected, new functions and overall better stability. UnrealEd 2.0 was introduced in Unreal by Patch 227f and replaced by UnrealEd 2.1 in 227h. All information on UnrealEd 2.0 works with the 2.1 one, except for most known bugs and problems which have been fixed. UnrealEd 2 refers collectively to UnrealEd 2.0 and 2.1.

Interface

The interface was completely redesigned from UnrealEd 1.0 and is a lot more polished. 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:

[Engine.Engine]

WindowedRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice

Features

Among other things, UnrealEd 2 features a Vertex Editing tool which greatly increases the possibilities for designers by allowing them to move not only one vertex at a time but as many as they want.

The 2D shape editor is no longer a buggy beta implementation and can be used to create almost any shape without problems.

One notable feature is the possibility to use OpenGL and several versions of Direct3D rendering in the 3D viewport, which means you won't get surprised by how a map looks in the game compared to what the software rendering shows, as was sometimes the case in UnrealEd 1.0. Although the D3D implementations are not fully supported and might not be fully working, especially if you're using and ATI graphic card, they can be used without a lot of troubles. From 227g onwards, the OpenGL support is fully stable and supported.

Plug-Ins

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 functions, 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 alignment, new stairs builders, round shape creator, easy Skybox, etc...

In 227

UnrealEd versions

  • 1.0: Unreal, Deus Ex...
  • 2.0: Unreal (227f,g), UT99...
  • 2.1: Unreal, supported by OldUnreal, not Epic
  • 3.0: UT2004, UT3, America's Army, Gears of War...
  • 4.0: Unreal Tournament (2014)

As of today, 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 features, 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, preferring to keep UnrealEd 1.0. 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.