The [FGS] Clan

Hi guys;

After never having Unreal Ed working for me (Using Windows XP it would always crash on start up) I decided to try it again today.

Steve Tacks basic introduction remains online but it refers to a more detailed tutorial elsewhere that has since gone offline.

Could someone point me to a newer tutorial that contains everything needed for a total UE newbie?

I'm having some specific problems with a map I'm working on.
1) I added a "sheet" but players cant walk on it.
2) I added components like cubes, staircases etc but I can't remove them, ditto for the sheet which I also want rid of. I've figured out (sort of) a way to move things, but in the case of staircases it seems to have left "tracks" in their old places.

1) You can't walk on "sheets", they will rip
Seriously though, why are you trying to make a sheet to walk on? Just make a normal brush, manipulating cube to make something similar.
Sheets are used to seperate zones. Example: Water has a sheet with the water texture and underneath there's an actor indicating that it's water. You can't stand on water either.

2) Are you pressing f8 and rebuilding after moving? Do you have a screenshot of these "tracks" it leaves?

Not very good at explaining things.

Edit: Tack's tutorials are amazing, doubt you need much else but these forums and practise after you're done learning those

I don't see the point of walking on a sheet but if you want a sheet to walk on, you could try to make a regular brush with all sides invisible except the top one. Furthermore you make the top one two-sided.
..just an idea.. I didn't try it tho.

Lol, I decided to try and start with something like New Yorks Grand Central Terminal, not such a good idea

Think I'll try again with something a lot smaller, like a rural train station. Or a street. Or just a big ass box

In a perverse sort of way I'm starting to think I might be getting it.

Might even have a map for FGS soon, a pretty basic one though

Fear about walking on semi-solids is unfounded 95% of the time, but sheets, no way hose, not in the practical sense.

I would say besides Tack ESSENTIAL are:

Using the grid properly, making sure everything is aligned to grid.

All the multiplayer aspects of design that Tack doesn't mention.

Sizing textures, play around with the properties controls.

If your brushes are neatly done and scale is accurate, all you have to do is concentrate on good emotive lighting and textures and you're half way there.

Powers of two for brush dimensions - 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, etc

Brushes aligned to grid (click on corner of brush to align to grid) - the higher grid the better - 16, 8 for example. (right click on square grid to select grid size)

Mapping takes ALOT of patience and time, it's probably best to edit single player maps to find your feet.

Also save often!

I can actually link you the best mapping set of tutorials available, I'm currently not at home but ill do it in the next few hours for you.

Other than that, sheets are used for zones and water only I think...

Open a basic map like smuggler and study it. Remember yellow brushes are subtract or cutouts, blue are addition brushes, purple are movers used for moving doors and also glass are made from movers to look accurate.

So in short "I want to create a huge cube...add brush to world / addition brush but hmmm I wanna cut a hole through the cube...you align a cyclinder brush to where you want and hit subtract.

That is the very basic elements to mapping.

I use 192 for my buildings... To remove brushes go into the grid and find it then right click and delete. If your Unreal Ed 1 crashes too much perhaps try Unreal Ed 2. I used Unreal Ed 2 a lot back when I was on my old PC because UED1 crashed so much.

My first map I ever made was done in a couple of days like you achieved, my next map was a noticable step up in quality and time spent on it (5x) and the third was another big step up. Keep driving on, I would say aim for more detailed smaller maps until you get the hang out the SDK basics. Don't try to do too many things like zones in your maps for now, concentrate on brushwork, don't make your maps too big for now as you'll struggle to fill them with detail and ideas, my first map was 2048 x 2048 and it was filled with enough things to make it somewhat interesting.

The video tutorials from this guy helped me a lot with the basics.