MonsterHunt Mapping Guide v0.8 By:Timmypowergamer

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MonsterHunt Mapping Guide v0.8 By:Timmypowergamer

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:15 pm

Welcome to Monster Hunt Mapping Guide v0.8
By:Timmypowergamer


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:: Table Of Contents ::
page1:

Version History
Preface
Introduction
Beginners
Installing MH v503
Setting Up UnrealED For MH
Basic MH Mapping
PlayerStarts
Monsters
Weapons And Ammo
MonsterEnd Trigger
Setting The Gametype
Map Flow
Intermediate
Creature Factories
Dispatchers

Pages2:
Counters
Teleporters
Checkpoints
Advanced Trigger Systems
Advanced
Bot Support
Modifying Monsters
Compressing Maps
Contact Information
Credits
Legal Information
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Version History - Preface

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:20 pm

::Version History::

05/05/05 - V0.8: The first release of this guide. It looks a bit ugly and contains many spelling and
grammar errors. Several sections have yet to be completed, including: Checkpoints, Bot Support, Advanced
Trigger Systems, and Special Effects.


::Preface::

Thank you for taking the time to read this. This guide is intended to provide an in-depth explanation
of mapping for the MonsterHunt (MH) mod for Unreal Tournament.
Before we begin, there are a few things I would like to clarify. This guide will not teach you how to
use UnrealEd. By that I mean, before you begin with this, you must already know the basics of map creation
within the Unreal Engine. I am not going to waste time re-inventing the wheel. There are already hundreds
of other tutorials out there that can teach you how to map.
In other words; any emails I get asking how to add actors, or subtract a room, or anything else that
is essential to making a map, will be promptly IGNORED AND DELETED.

Now, if you are completely new to mapping for Unreal, and would still like to make maps for MH,
don’t despair. You can still do so; you will just have to learn a few things first. I recommend visiting a few of
these sites:
http://www.utmaniac.com/:
This site contains literally 1000’s of tutorials for UT, UT2003, and UT2004.
I recommend looking through their beginner’s tutorial section as a start.
http://www.leveldesigner.com/:
Excellent Unreal mapping site.
http://www.3dbuzz.com/:
Home of the Video Training Module. They have many forums dedicated to
all types of 3d editing, including Unreal.
http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/:
The Unreal Wiki. This site details practically every facet of the Unreal Engine.
They also have mapping topics for beginners and experts alike. I would visit this site last, as it is
more technical and they expect you to know a little bit about Unreal.
Also, if you happen to have a copy of the Unreal Tournament 2004 Editors Choice DVD lying around,
have a look on disc 2. There are hours of video tutorials on how to use UnrealED. Keep in mind however,
those tutorials are for UT2004, so several topics they cover are not applicable to UT99. However, the same
fundamentals still apply, and they are definitely beneficial.
Now then, if you feel you are competent with UnrealED, feel free to read on.
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Introduction

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:24 pm

::Introduction::

So you have decided you would like to try your hand at making maps for MonsterHunt, but you aren’t
sure of where to begin. Or you have been doing it for a while but would like to learn some new techniques
or brush up on some old ones. Either way, you have come to the right place. I wanted this to be an all-inclusive
guide for making MonsterHunt maps, as well as a place where mappers can share various secrets and
techniques that they have.
This guide is divided into 3 main parts. The Beginner section contains all of the necessary information
to get you started on your first MH map. It will explain step-by-step how to set up your map to work perfectly
with MonsterHunt. It also contains some general thoughts on MH mapping, which should be a good
read for experts and newbies alike.
The Intermediate section details various techniques of MonsterHunt that are commonly used in
maps. Things that are not necessary, but can add a lot of variation and gameplay to your maps.
Finally, the advanced section will explain some complicated techniques that can mean the difference
between a good map, and an amazing one.
I hope that this guide will constantly evolve and change and I encourage others to send me comments
to add. Anything you write will be credited, and it’s a chance to share your knowledge and expand
the community.
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Beginners

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:35 pm

::Beginners::

::Installing MH v503::

The first thing you will need to do is make sure you have the latest version of MonsterHunt installed
in your Unreal Tournament directory. Start by visiting the download section at http://hermskii.com/page4.html

Download “MonsterHunt503-Full.zip”. When
its done downloading, unzip it, and then run the .umod file inside. Tell it where your UnrealTournament directory is (usually c:\UnrealTournament). Then it will do the rest. You will now have all the necessary files to make a MH map.

Setting Up UnrealED For MH
Before you begin constructing your level, it will help to have all the MonsterHunt classes already loaded into the editor. Make sure that all copies of Unreal and UnrealED are closed, then browse to your "\UnrealTournament\System” directory, and look for a file called UnrealTournament.ini. Open it with the text editor of your choice (notepad will work just fine). Press ctrl-f to
open a search window, and search for “editpackages”. The first one it finds should say “editpackages=core”. After that there will be a ist of other editpackages. At the end of that list, add another line that reads
“EditPackages=MonsterHunt” (without the quotes).
Save the file and exit. Now when you open UnrealED the next time, all of the actors for MonsterHunt will already be loaded. This is mostly just for convenience, in case you begin working on a map and forget where all of your actors are.


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Basic MH Mapping

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:40 pm

::Basic MH Mapping::

Now you are ready to begin your map. I’m assuming you already have an idea for a map, or possibly
it’s already constructed. If so, great! If not, as you read this, feel free to create a small MH map just to
test some of these topics out. It doesn’t have to be pretty, just a few rooms and some hallways. This section
of the guide will attempt to explain a few of the basic rules for MH mapping.
In order for your map to be playable and enjoyable in MonsterHunt, there are several things you will
need to have. These include:

-PlayerStarts

-Monsters

-Weapons

-A MonsterEnd Trigger

-Set the gametype to MonsterHunt


::PlayerStarts::

MonsterHunt is a team based game that allows up to 32 players to play at the same time. However,
it is rare that this many players will ever join a game at the same time. However, certain maps and servers
can get really busy at times, and it’s not impossible to have 16 players at the same time. If your map only
has 8 spawn points, half of those players will be killed instantly upon spawning. Needless to say, this is very
frustrating for players and it will be looked upon as a bug. To avoid this, make sure you have at least 12
PlayerStarts at the beginning of your map, with ample room for players to spawn and move around.








.
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Monsters

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:44 pm

::Monsters::

What would a MonsterHunt map be without monsters? You will
want to make sure you have plenty of monsters in your map for the
players to duke it out with. Typically, this means you will start the
map fighting fairly weak enemies, and the difficulty should ramp up
as you get closer to the end. Most maps end with a type of “boss
fight” which is typically a Titan, Warlord, Queen, or other type of
exceptionally strong monster.
To add a monster to your map, simply open the Actor Class
Browser, and navigate to “Pawn > ScriptedPawn”, and select a
monster from the list. Several of the monsters have subclasses
that can be added as well, such as the RockTitan, and IceSkarrj.
Then, right-click in the Perspective viewport where you would like
your monster, and click “add (monstername)”.

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Weapons And Ammo

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:48 pm

::Weapons And Ammo::

Your map will have to have sufficient amounts of pickups so that it the players aren’t frustrated because they have nothing to kill that Titan with. At the same time, if there is too much ammo or too powerful weapons, the players will blow through your map in no-time, which is no fun either. Most likely, you will never have to worry about placing too much ammo, because it MonsterHunt, it always goes fast, especially with a lot of players. So make sure that you will always have enough for all the players.
Also, try to spread out ammo of the same type, so that no one player can reach an area and take all the ammo. If you spread it out, that ensures hat everyone will have a fair shot at getting some of it, without having to wait around for it to respawn.

Weapon placement is also VERY important when you are designing your level. Try to start the players off with weaker weapons, then add stronger and stronger ones as the map progresses. If everybody starts the map with a rocket launcher and a flak cannon, people will find it too easy. Not to mention that they will have nothing to work for. Usually, maps begin with weapons like biorifles, stingers, and sometimes shockrifles. Then toward the middle of the map give the player more powerful weapons such as miniguns, rippers, pulseguns, and sometimes sniper rifles. Then finish with flak cannons and rocket launchers.
Redeemers can be a nice addition on occasion, just so long as they are either hidden really well, or in a hard to reach place. NEVER NEVER NEVER, put in a supershockrifle (ESR). They totally ruin most MH
maps, as they make it waayyyy too easy to complete.
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MonsterEnd Trigger

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:50 pm

::MonsterEnd Trigger::

The MonsterEnd trigger
is what tells the game when
your map has been completed.
THIS MUST BE LOCATED AT
THE END OF YOUR MAP.
Place one in an area that the
player can run to once they
have defeated the boss, or finished
the last objective. It acts
just like a normal trigger, in that
it will go off when you enter its
radius. It is located under “triggers
> trigger” in the Actor
Browser. After you place it, you
will want to increase its collision
radius so that players are guaranteed
to hit it when they reach
the exit. To do this, open the
MonsterEnd’s properties (select
it and press F4), then expand
Collision, and set it’s CollisionRadius to a higher number. You can place as many of them as you want.

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Setting The Gametype

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:55 pm

::Setting The Gametype::

The last thing you will need
to set before your map is fully
playable with MH, is to set the
default gametype. This way, the
game will know that when this
map is started, it should be
played as a MonsterHunt map.

To do this, open the LevelProperties
(press F6) and expand LevelInfo.
For a start, fill out the fields
Author, Ideal Player Count, and
Title with whatever you would like.
Then click the field that says
DefaultGameType and click the
ellipsis button next to it (…). This
will open the Actor Browser.

Expand Info > GameInfo > TournamentGameInfo > DeathmatchPlus > TeamgamePlus, then select MonsterHunt.
Back in the LevelProperties, next to DefaultGameType, click use. Now our map is ready to be played in MonsterHunt.

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Map Flow

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:08 pm

::Map Flow::

I feel I should take a bit to talk about what makes a good MonsterHunt ap. There are far too many poorly done MH maps out there that suffer from bad design, lack of testing, and just plain bad ideas.
There are several different “styles” of MonsterHunt map that you typically see when playing on a server.
The 3 main types that come to mind are:
Godz-style maps,
Single Player maps,
and Spam maps.
Those are just names that I have given them for the purpose of explaination.

Godz Style maps are basically clones of the popular MH-Godz map.
The premise of these maps is that there are several different “courses” that must be completed. Each course is based on a different type of monster, where you must battle through hoards of that monster to face a super-strong version of it at the end (called the god). Once each god has been killed, players are transported back to a “loadout room” where they can fill up on weapons and ammo. In order to unlock new types of weapons, there are often “jumping courses or Bunny Tracks” that must be completed. These consist of a series of narrow platforms that must be traversed to the end, at which point a new powerful weapon is unlocked in the loadout room. For a good example, check out MH-godz (duh…). There are a lot of others, but most of them suck, and I cant think of any
names right now.
These types of map can be very fun if certain pitfalls are avoided. Often they are very ugly, with poor texturing and lighting.

Always make sure that your map looks good, because people get sick of looking at the same boring grey texture for half an hour. It also shows that you don’t care enough to put any effort into your map.
Also, the architecture of these maps is usually pretty basic with square rooms all over the place.
Try to throw in some variation by changing up the shape of different areas, rather than square rooms and hallways.

Finally, if you decide to add jumping courses (not necessary, but for some reason some people like them (im not a huge fan)) make sure that they are not too hard for beginner players. If all of the good weapons are hidden at the end of a ridiculously hard jumping course, then a lot of people will get frustrated real quick and wont want to play your map. Some maps also have jumping courses as part of the main path trough the level (i.e. MH-Herebeke). Its not recommended, but if for some reason you do it then provide a way to bypass the jumping course once its been done. Players get annoyed when they have to do the same jumping course over and over again each time they die. If you avoid doing these things, if can make for an extremely fun and playable level.


Single Player style maps are more along the lines of the maps that come with MonsterHunt. They are not intended for single player play, typically they have a linear progression, and sometimes a sort of story and objectives associated with them (much like you might find in a single player map). These maps often look the best; they have good texturing and a lot of attention to detail. However, quite a few seem to have problems with lighting. It seems that people try to make their maps feel really moody and scary, so they make the lighting very dim (or nonexistent) and justify it by giving you a flashlight. The problem is
FIGHTING ENEMYS IN THE DARK IS NOT FUN. It’s annoying and frustrating, avoid it if you can. Dark sections can be useful tools if used sparingly, just don’t place a lot of strong or fast enemies in them.
Other than that, just make sure that your map has good objectives and that it looks good. These types of maps are usually my favorite, because it really feels like you are playing a co-operative single-player game, which is what MonsterHunt was intended to be. For some excellent examples, check out the maps that come with MH, most of Derdak2rot’s maps, and I like to think that MH-MayanFuryV2 is good too (but that’s my own map so I’m just shamelessly self-plugging here.)


Finally there are Spam maps.
They usually consist of waves after waves of mindless slaughtering (it sounds better than it is). They are usually bland
and unimaginative, and get boring very quickly. The premise of a spam map is that you flood or “spam” the map with monsters from a creaturefactory. It’s not uncommon to fight hundreds of monsters at the same time, for an extended length of time. Also, the monsters on these maps are often so difficult that the only way to complete them is using UTJMH (a mod that makes you extremely powerful). The only tip I can give here is to stay away from this type of map. That’s not saying that they can never be fun, it’s just difficult to make a good spam map that people will want to play. Good examples of spam maps (well, ones that I enjoy anyway) are MH-Brutality and MH-MonstersOfSpam.

There are other ways to do MH maps as well, but these are the type that I see the most. The best tip I can give is to properly test your level. Its very easy to just turn on god mode while you are testing and assume that your level will be playable, but unless you actually take the map online and test it with a few people, you will never know exactly how it will play. Finally, just make sure that it looks good. Even if you are not a skillful mapper, there is no excuse for bad lighting and texturing. Make it look like you care, and your map will be 200% better.

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Intermediate - Creature Factories

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:14 pm

Intermediate

::Creature Factories::


Creature Factories are an
extremely useful tool for an MH
mapper. They are actors you
place in your map that when triggered
will begin spawning monsters
at predetermined spawn
points. This can be a huge time
saver as it keeps you from having
to place hundreds of monsters.
Also, because all of those
monsters don’t exist within the
game until you actually need
them, it improves the speed of
the map because the engine
doesn’t have to keep track of all
of them all the time. They can be
somewhat confusing to set up at
first, but I will attempt to make it
simple as possible for you.
The first step is to place a
CreatureFactory within your
map. It doesn’t matter where,
however you should keep it in the
same area as where you would like
your monsters to spawn, just for
easy access. The CreatureFactory
is located in the Actor browser under
“keypoints > ThingFactory”.
I should note here that a ThingFactory
will do the same thing as a CreatureFactory,
however a CreatureFactory has
some extra options and settings
that make it easier to use for spawning
monsters. So you might as well just use
a CreatureFactory, they are there for
a reason. I say that because I have
seen lots of people using ThingFactorys
to spawn monsters, and they wonder why
it doesn’t work perfectly all the time.

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Creature Factories continued

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:22 pm

Ok, so now you have a CreatureFactory
(I’m going to just refer to it as a “CF”
from now on cause I’m tired of typing
CreatureFactory) but you still need to
add some spawnpoints for the monsters.
The Spawnpoint is located under NavigationPoints
in the Actor browser. Simply add them
wherever you would like the monsters
to spawn, but you can only place up to
32 for each CF. Often it is wise to place
them out of view of the player, so that
they can’t see the monsters spawning,
but its not critical. When you are done,
select all the Spawnpoints you placed
and the CF, open their properties (F4)
and give all of them a unique tag.
So for example, if the monster you
want to spawn are pupae, call all of the
Spawnpoints and the CF “pupaefactory”.
This is a little different than most other actors,
in that you are linking several actors by
using the same tag, instead of tag and event.

Image

Next you need to set up the CF to
spawn the right monster. Select it and open
its properties, then expand “ThingFactory”.

There are several options here you can
change. I will explain which ones you need to
change, then I will explain what the others do.

The first field you need to set is the “prototype
field. Highlight it and hit the browse button, then
navigate in the actor list to whatever monster you
would like to spawn. So using my pupae example
again, browse to pawn > ScriptedPawn > Pupae and
select it. Then click “use” in the CF’s properties.
Next, you need to tell it how many to spawn. There are 2
fields that dictate this:
MaxItems and Capacity.

Capacity is the total number of monsters you want
to spawn from the factory before it shuts down.

MaxItems is the maximum number of monsters
from that factory that can be in the game at one time.
For example, if I wanted to spawn a total of 50 pupae,
I would set the capacity to 50. However, 50 pupae
on screen at the same time is a lot, so I would set
the MaxItems to 15. That way, there is only ever
at most 15 pupae on the screen at a time. Each
time one is killed, it will be replaced by the CF until
all 50 have been spawned, then it will never
spawn any more. If you set the capacity to –1, it
will continue spawning monsters forever.

The last thing you need to do is set something else
to trigger it. So in another actor (for example a trigger)
set its “event” field to the tag of the CF. You should
see a sort of spiderweb of red lines joining the trigger,
all your spawnpoints and the CF. When the
trigger is activated, the CF will begin spawning monsters.

Image

Here are some other properties you might want to change:

Interval: Sets the amount of time in seconds between each spawn. If you wanted all of the monsters to suddenly
appear at the same time, set this really low (like 0.01). If you wanted them to gradually appear set it
higher.

Distribution:
Changes the time betweens spawns, by changing the distribution pattern. You probably wont need to change this, as it doesn’t become noticeable unless the Interval is very high.

bCovert:
When set to True, this makes it so that monsters will only spawn at spawnpoints that nobody is looking at. If False, you will be able to see the monsters spawn. This is set to True by default on the CF.

bStoppable:
If set to true, then you can stop this CF from spawning its monsters by triggering it once again after its already been triggered.

bFalling:
When true, anything spawned from this factory will automatically fall to the ground. Change this to false if you are spawning flying monsters such as Manta

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Dispatchers

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:54 pm

::Dispatchers::

In MonsterHunt, there may be a lot of times
when you need to trigger a bunch of events in a
row, or at the same time. You may also need to
put a time delay between a few events. Instead
of having a big mess of red lines all over the
place linking each event to the next, use a dispatcher.
This handy little tool is incredibly easy to
use. Simply add one to your map in any location.
It’s located (oddly enough) under triggers in the
Actor browser. Then open its properties and give
it a unique tag. Then expand “Dispatcher >
OutEvents”. There are 8 Event fields. Simply add
any events you want to trigger to those fields in
the order you would like them to trigger.
Example:

Image

Now if you are trying to make all of them
trigger at the same time, then you are done. Since
you have not set any delays, when the dispatcher
is triggered, every event in the OutEvents list will
be instantly triggered. However, if you need to
wait a few seconds before one of those events
triggers, then you need to set up some delays.
Expand “OutDelay”, you will notice it has 8 number
fields, each one corresponding to the matching
OutEvent. You can set the time in seconds for
it to wait between each event. Keep in mind however
that delays are cumulative. This means that
if you set a 3 second delay on event 1, and a 2
second delay on event 2, then event 2 will trigger
5 seconds after the dispatcher is triggered. It will
immediately trigger event 0, then wait 3 seconds
and trigger #1, then wait an additional 2 before it triggers #2.
That’s all there is to dispatchers, if for some reason you need to trigger more than 8 events at a time,
simply set the #8 OutEvent to the tag of another dispatcher and keep going. Dispatchers are much cleaner
and more convenient that linking a string of events together.

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Counters

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:04 pm

::Counters::

Counters are fairly essential to a good MH map,
and are even easier to use than dispatchers.
Basically a Counter will (oddly enough)
count the number of times its been triggered,
then when a certain number has been reached
it triggers another event. This can be very useful
in cases where you may need the player to complete
multiple events before proceeding. For example, you
may need them to hit 4 switches to open a door.
Or kill a certain number of monsters.
One of the more difficult things that can be accomplished
with counters is to ensure that all creatures from a
CreatureFactory have been killed before proceeding.
I will explain how to do that in a later section
(it’s a little more complicated than you might think).
* see - section "Advanced Trigger Systems"

Anyways, to set up a counter you must first place one
in the map. Again, location doesn’t matter, but keep
it close to the area where its used for simplicity’s
sake. The counter is found under “Triggers” in the
Actor Class browser. Open its properties and give
it a unique tag, under “Events”.

Image

Also set its Event to whatever you would
like to have triggered. Then expand the “counter”
tag and set NumToCount to however many times
you would like it to be triggered. You can also set
messages that will be displayed in the chatbox
when it is triggered. The CountMessage displays
every time the counter is triggered. By default it
says “Only %i more to go...”. The %i is the number
of times it still has to be triggered, the counter
keeps track of that automatically. You can also set
the completed message which will display when
the counter has reached its limit. The messages
will only display if you have bShowMessage set to True.
By default it is false so you will not see anything
as it gets triggered. Setting messages are useful when
you want to inform the player that they should be
finding more switches/monsters to kill, or if something
about your counter is not working correctly and you
need to debug it.
That’s about it for Counters. Like I said, they are simple.
There are some interesting things that can
be done with them, and they are used all the time in MH mapping.

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Teleporters

Post by K » Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:12 pm

::Teleporters::

Most people that have done any other type of mapping
know how to use teleporters, as they are used extensively
in DM, CTF, and just about every other gametype out there.
MonsterHunt is no different either. However, there are certain
things that you may want to do with teleporters that
aren’t typically done in other gametypes, such as locking
them, or making one-way teleports. Ill go over how to do
each of those here, as well as explaining how to set up a
basic teleport for anyone that doesn’t know how.
To set up a basic teleport system, start by adding 2
Teleporter actors to your map, in the positions you would
like the player to teleport from/to. They are located under
NavigationPoint in the Actor Class browser.

Image

There are 3 types of teleporter.
The basic “Teleporter” actor can not be seen in game.
It is used when you don’t want the player to
know there is a teleport spot there (useful for 1-ways) or if
you have made your own teleport effect. If you expand the
“Teleporter” you will see 2 others: the VisibleTeleporter and
the FavoritesTeleporter. The VisibleTeleporter is what you
will probably use most often, as it shows up as several spinning
blue rings in game. They are used all the time in other
gametypes because they are quick and easy to use. Im not
sure what the FavoritesTeleporter does, and the Unreal
Wiki doesn’t even have a description for it. So just ignore it,
because it probably isn’t useful to you at all.

Once you have your teleporters in position,
you will need to tell them where they are teleporting to.
Select one and open its properties, and set its tag to
something unique. For this example we will call it “teleport1”.
Then expand “Teleporter” and set the URL field to the tag
of the second teleporter, which we will call
“teleport2”. Then repeat the process for the second teleporter;
Give it the tag “teleport2” and the URL “teleport1”.
That’s all there is to it, you should now have a working
2-way teleporter.

Image

In the case where you need your teleporter to only go
in one direction, you will need to set bEnabled to False on
the destination teleporter. I have seen many maps where to
achieve this the mapper simply leaves the URL field of the
destination teleport blank. This causes a small error in
Unreal and it will show up in the textbox as “destination
does not exist” or something similar. So make sure you set
bEnabled to false if you are doing a 1-way. Also, I recommend
making the destination Teleport a regular “Teleporter”
instead of a VisibleTeleporter. That way the player will not
mistakenly run into it trying to escape a monster, only to find
that nothing happens.
Lastly, if you have a Teleport with bEnabled set to
false, and you trigger it using another actor (like a trigger or
a monster or something like that), then it will become active
again. This is used when you have a teleport to be “locked:
at first, and then become active when a certain event has
been triggered (like pressing a switch).

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