Unreal v227 Manual/New mod authoring tools

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Unreal v227 Manual
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Here we're going to take a look at the new features introduced by the v227 patch regarding mod authoring and editing.

UnrealEd 2.0

Introduction and history

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), by the original developers' own admission, was an unsupported beta software developed in Visual Basic. The lack of certain tools prevented level-designers to achieve complex maps.

UnrealEd 2.0, originally introduced for UT99, is a rebuilt editor written in C++ later ported back to Unreal by Smirftsch in order to provide better tools for the community. Subsequent releases of patch 227, with extra involvement from the OldUnreal community, heavily improved the tools, stability and ease of use 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 2.1, except for most known bugs and problems which have been fixed. UnrealEd 2 refers collectively to UnrealEd 2.0 and 2.1.

Interface

UnrealEd 2.x features a new and nicer 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 changes in UnrealEd 3.0 (the version that shipped with Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004) and 4.0 (the version that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3) on later engines.

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...

FAQ

If I don't like UnrealEd 2.x, can I switch back to 1.0 UnrealEd? For that matter, can I have both editors at the same time?
No, UnrealEd 2.1 automatically replaces UnrealEd 1.0. 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. Therefore, UnrealEd 1.0 will no longer be supported or updated; it was used in all versions before 227, but it needed a replace since it was written in Visual Basic, which isn't suited to the task at hand. From 227 onwards UED2 is used, mainly due to feature enhancements and improved scripts, which was necessary, and a hard decision to make.

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).

If I make a map in UnrealEd 2 with v227 features, will it be portable?
Maps created with older versions of 227 shouldn't cause problems on newer 227 versions, especially when created using 227f+. However, maps made with 227 will only be backwards compatible with earlier versions of Unreal when no 227 content is used. 100% compatibility can't be guaranteed, so be sure to test the map with older versions before you release it. If you want to avoid any trouble, you have to use 225 with UED1.

What version should I map with?
Maps created with 227 may work on older versions once the LevelSummary feature is stripped out (same problem as with UGold maps). If you use any of 227's new features, it won't work on older versions.

In short, if you need your maps to be playable on all versions of Unreal, you should continue mapping with 225, if however you want to use the new features, 227 is the way to go.

What changes are present in v227?
Almost everything requested, especially for server admin and mappers/scripters, has already been added, most work now goes towards finishing these features. We may strip the UScript based ParticleEmitter because the native C++ version requires a lot less CPU time, but we will probably keep it since the added flexibility may prove useful, and it doesn't cause any real harm anyway.

A detailed listing about all fixes and additions are in the UED2.1 Release Notes and 227 release notes.

Are we locked to Software Rendering on the Editor? Is there a possibility to use a more advanced renderer?
Yep. The Texture Browser in UED2 uses the renderer defined in Unreal.ini, option WindowedRenderDevice in [Engine.Engine]. In order to switch it to OpenGL for better previews, set in Unreal.ini:

[Engine.Engine] WindowedRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice

Zoning doesn't work as before and/or you get the following Log: Moving zone 0 to the bad place (63)
Zoning was changed in 227 was taken over from the method used by Legend in UGold:

// ZoneInfo-based zoning
//
// An alternative zoning algorithm developed by Legend to help control 
// merged zones.  Level designers must manually place ZoneInfo actors 
// (or subclasses) in all "real" zones.
//
// All zones that do not contain a ZoneInfo actor are forced to iZone==63.
//
// In levels with more than 63 zones, this algorithm can be used to allow
// the level designers to control exactly which zones are merged, and
// which are mapped to their own iZone.

Importing 24/32bpp bmp for DXT (S3TC) Textures crashes UED
UED2.1 is using libsquish internally for DXT compressing which uses SSE2 to speed up things. If your CPU doesn't support SSE2 it will crash on that. Only current solution is to switch to a more modern PC or to rely on 8bpp bmp.

Can't find Autoplay.unr
UED2 uses a command ShellExecute to launch the Autoplay.unr map. This function indeed looks up at first the already mentioned registry entry.

Unreal:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Unreal.exe]
@="C:\\Unreal\\System\\Unreal.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Unreal\\System"

Without checking for UT it is probably:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\UnrealTournament.exe]
@="C:\\UnrealTournament\\System\\UnrealTournament.exe"
"Path"="C:\\UnrealTournament\\System"

So although Unreal itself doesn't use any registry entries for that, the Windows function does. The problem only appears if you have more than one installation of Unreal (or UT). This maybe happens too if you have one regular installation and some copied over installations. It starts the version which is set in the registry key above - and is looking into the Maps folder of this version then.

If it doesn't find such an entry it falls back to the current working directory (means wherever where the UnrealED you are currently working with is installed) and uses the right Unreal.exe. So in order to make it work with every of your installations you can just delete the entry (maybe export it first if you ever want to restore it again for whatever reason). Of course it is also possible is to change the entry to the installation you are currently working with.

Further reading (Wiki only section)

Help & Tutorials

A lot of articles and tutorials 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.
• And of course there's the BeyondUnreal Wiki.

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 the OldUnreal forums.