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Map Previeuw
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:28 pm
by {LE}Leon
Hi people,
i made a map.
but now i want to make a previeuw for that map
how do i do that?
greetz {LE}Leon :banana:
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:46 pm
by DW_Ant
1. Getting/preparing the screenshots
-First take some screenshots in game. Be sure to remove your HUD, and maximize your texture quality, highest world settings, and check detailed textures for best results.
-Locate these screenshots and open them in any photo editing program. You want to set the image's dimensions precisely to 512 (height) X256 (width) pixels.
-If you don't have Photoshop or Fireworks, then you might have to use MS paint. In MS paint, you can stretch/skew your image through the menu bar--->image--->stretch/skew. Unfortunately, you can't stretch your image on exact pixel, only by %. So, we'll need to find the right %. Get paper ready. We can only calculate one dimension at a time. The formula will be 512 (height you want it to be) / You current height dimension.
If you are playing the game at 800X600 resolution, your images dimensions will be 800X600. To calculate the % stretch, you'll take 512/800 only for the height. 256X600 for the width. Always round up when you result in a decimal. In this case, I got 42.66666% You can't do decimals in the stretch field in MS paint. If you round down, the stretch will overshoot your target, in the end, you'll need to stretch it back out (don't want to enlarge images). If you round up, you'll still be slightly larger than your target, and that's okay. We can still shrink again it without losing any quality.
Hit okay, and go to the bottom right corner (zoomed in). In the very corner, you may see a blue pixel outside your image, you can drag that blue pixel to resize your image to the nearest pixel. While dragging it, you may see your image's current dimensions changing in the lower left corner. You should be only a few pixels off, so it should be easy to adjust it to 512X256.
-Be sure to save your image as a bmp. (editor will not take Jpg)
2. Importing to the editor
-Open your map. Open the texture browser. Hit File--->import. Locate your images. Select them all. Hit import. A window will pop up.
package must be "mylevel" (no quotes). This is done so the images will be saved with your map
group: any name (I usually call it Screenshots)
name: leave it as it is.
uncheck generate mipmaps. Since these screenshots are only for the menu preview, there wont be a distance between the player and the texture. So there's no need to generate smaller textures for this one.
Hit okay to all.
-You should go you mylevel in the texture browser (You may find it in the drop box next to the all button). If you don't see it, then your images did not import properly. Please verify that you got the proper dimensions (512X256). It always must be in powers of 2.
-Now to save downloading time and memory size you should compress your textures before you forget. This is an easy process, and you wont notice any negative effects to this action. Right click your texture (must be one at a time), go to compress ---> DXT1. Done!
3. Creating your slide-show
-First you'll need to create a material sequence. Go to file ---> new.
Package: mylevel
Group: screenshots (should match with the group where your screenshots are saved)
name: Any distinguishable name (MySuperSlideshow)
Material: MaterialSequence
Leave everything else the same. Hit okay. Once this is done, the material sequence properties should open up. In the texture browser, select your first screenshot you want to show. Go back to your material sequence properties. In the SequenceItems array, hit add twice the amount of screenshots you have. (If you have 8 screenshots, hit add 16 times).
Follow this sequence:
[0]Action: ShowMaterial
Material: Hit use (once you hit use, another list of gray properties will pop up. Ignore that. That is simply your screenshot's properties. No need to edit that).
Time: Any int value (how long do you want this screenshot to show before fading?)
---Select your second screenshot---
[1]Action: FadetoMaterial
Material: Hit use
Time: Any int value (how long do you want this fade transition to last?)
[2]Action: ShowMaterial
Material: Hit use
Time: Any int value (usually it's best to keep the duration the same as other screenshots. So I would use the same int value you used in the [0] element's duration time)
---Select your third screenshot---
[3]Action: FadetoMaterial
Material: Hit use
Time: Any int value
[4]Action: ShowMaterial
Material: Hit use
Time: Any int value
---Select your fourth screenshot---
Keep repeating this process until your reach your last element.
---Select your first screenshot---
[n]Action: FadetoMaterial
Material: Hit use
Time: Any int value
The reason why I split the first screenshot to the ends of this array is so that when you're in the menu (browsing through the maps), your map will not start its slideshow during a transition. You may only have a split second to show a good first impression, so gotta make this split second impression a solid image on display ;)
Always be sure to use your best image as your first one.
4. Making the Material Sequence as your Map Preview
-Select your material sequence. Leave the browser. In the editor's menubar, go to View--->LevelProperties. A properties window will popup. Go to LevelSummary category. This is where you place information about your map: The author, the map description, the ideal player size, the real title (no DM- prefix needed), and your screenshot.
-To apply your material sequence, simply go to the screenshot field, hit use.
That should do the trick. Good luck :)
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:24 am
by {LE}Leon
aaah okay
well thats to much work for me :P
do you know how to make a secret room into the map cuz i am trying anything to get that
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:35 pm
by DW_Ant
Here's the simplified tutorial in making your screenshots to work.
- Take some screenshots
- Resize these screenshots to 512X256 pixels
- Import to editor
- Create a material sequence texture that'll be a slideshow for all of these screenshots
- Apply the material sequence as the level's preview.
If you encounter any problems, you can simply look in the previous post for details in how to do this.[/color]
{LE}Leon wrote:do you know how to make a secret room into the map cuz i am trying anything to get that
Well, I can tell you that a small hole in a wall is NOT a secret room. In my definition of a secret room is a distinguishable room, containing a balanced reward or an amplification to the map's unique identity, that may be difficult or a lengthy process to reach to.
Crap I'm sounding like boring person. Basically, be a little creative with your secret room. Have the players find some unique items and place it somewhere, blow up a wall, change the scenery, etc... It's up to you to be creative with this secret room.
Also be sure that you don't stuff your room with junk. If you just overload your room with a million adren and super weapons, it'll just look like a room full of garbage.
At the same time if you are going to include a secret room, you got to make sure the room is not "competing" with any other components of your map outside of the room. If you have adren scattered in your map, why would people bother for the secret if it only contains adren? Give your secret something that the rest of your map doesn't have ;)
Only then, you've created yourself a secret worth venturing, too. To spice things even more intensely. Make it an adventure to get there! It wouldn't hurt to make your secret interesting by adding a process/reason in why you got to do these things to get to the secret. (Think Indiana Jones, think puzzles, think creative)...
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:48 am
by {LE}Leon
and if i want teleports how i do that???
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:04 am
by JulianKingOfNothing
I'm quoting what Ant said to me:
Ant wrote:
TeleporterA (The place you want to go to):
Properties ---> Events ---> Tag: "Any name"
TeleporterB (The place you go to to teleport):
Properties ---> Teleporter ---> Url: Must equal to TeleporterA Tag property.
If you want the teleporters to teleport to eachother then simple take this extra step:
TeleporterB
Properties ---> Events ---> Tag: "Any name different from TeleporterA"
TeleporterA
Properties ---> Teleporter ---> Url: Must equal to TeleporterB Tag property.
Don't forget to find the right rotation for each teleporter, you don't want players teleporting to the other place, facing the wall. (Rotate through the Top Viewpoint): Yaw axis.
Re: Map Previeuw
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:12 am
by {LE}Leon
ok thx i think i can do it now ;)