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Beginner's Guide to SG Level Design

Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Thu May 24, 2007 4:05 am

This tutorial will be replaced with a new one when the standalone is released.

You can watch the following video in fullscreen at the YOUTUBE website.
High quality download at FILEFRONT

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This basic guide will cover what you need to get started & how to set everything up with a Windows operating system. This tutorial will likely not work for Linux & MAC, although there may be some similarities in the installation for those systems. Anyone who can put together a tutorial for getting started using alternate operating systems is encouraged to do so. Drop us a line in our forum if you can help. If you have questions or discover mistakes in this guide, please let me know. Keep in mind that my hard drive letters in these photos may be different from yours. For the purpose of this guide "X" will refer to whatever drive letter you wish to use. If you're not sure where to install these programs, just go with the default locations the programs suggest, which will most likely be C:/. Click the thumbnails in this guide to view the pictures in a full sized window.

I will not explain how to actually create a level since there are many tutorials available on line to show you how to get started using Radiant. One such site is Bubba's Arena. A good place to ask questions & browse around is the Map Center Forums. Any questions specific to our game can be posted here in the Editor's Forum on our website. After you get everything set up properly be sure to check out our other tutorials to learn how to use some special features unique to our game. (Having said that, our video tutorials will go into more detail & we may even post vid tuts that do not have a typed version like this one.)

You?ll need to download these tools & save them somewhere you can find them easily:
1. GTKRadiant (I recommend version 1.4.0 since 1.5 is tailored to newer games & buggy with Q3 afaik.)
2. Q3Map2Toolz (Use the latest version - Get the update too.)
3. You need to know how to unzip compressed files.
4. wq_test2_tut.zip (Small sample map I made for this guide.)

NOTE: I suggest you install a seperate wq3 installation for mapping purposes. That way if you do something bad it won't affect the install you use for gaming.

Install GTKRadiant. Make sure you point Radiant to the correct path for your Q3 installation when prompted. You will also be asked where you have RTCW & Enemy Territory installed. Don't worry if you don't have those games. Just keep clicking NEXT. You will be asked if you want a Typical or Custom installation. Choose Custom & uncheck the other games if you won't be mapping for them. Quake 3 is all you need to choose for Western.

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After installation is completed, start GTKRadiant and set up your paths. Choose the options I have in the screenshots below and leave everything else alone for now.

1. Go to File/Project Settings & type in what I have here:

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2. Go to Edit/Preferences, click on "Game Settings" & configure as shown here:

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3. Still in the Edit/Preferences dialogue, click on "Startup/Autosave" & do this:

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4. Still in the Edit/Preferences dialogue, click on "Paths" & do this: (Prefabs link coming soon)

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You'll have to restart Radiant for the changes to take effect, so just close the program for now.

Look in "X:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3" for some folders that should have been created when you installed GTKRadiant. Move the maps and scripts folders over to your westernq3 folder. Now open the scripts folder & with Notepad, Wordpad, or the text editor of your choice open the shaderlist.txt and add the lines:

spoon
frag
western
wq_test2


Go to File/Save and exit the text editor.

The reason wq_test2 is added to the list is because I made a custom shader for my test map. If you make a custom shader for your level you will need to do the same thing, or your map will not compile correctly.

Copy the "entities-WQ3.def" file from your westernq3/dev_tools folder into the westernq3/scripts folder. Double-click the wq_test.zip & extract wq_test2.map to "X:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\westernq3\maps"
If you don't have a maps folder, then make one before extracting the sample map to that location. Extract wq_test2.shader to "X:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\westernq3\scripts"

NOTE: The autosave feature in Radiant will malfunction when working from the westernq3 directory. See the following screenshot. As a work-around, create a maps folder in X:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3. Your levels' backup will be autosaved to this location from now on and you won't get the annoying error anymore. You should always manually save your work often, but if you ever need to revert to the backup just move autosave.map from baseq3/maps to your westernq3/maps folder & rename it appropriately.

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Install Q3Map2Toolz & the update. Start the program & configure it as shown below. Do not worry about other settings or tabs at this time.

1. Edit\Configuration Tool

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2. Edit\Set Paths

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That's basically all you need to do to get everything set up. To break the ice a bit, we'll do a few simple things with the test map. (Check out the video version of this tutorial for a better view of what's going on.) Start Radiant & go to File\Open & select the wq_test2.map
You should see something like this:

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You can resize the 3 windows any way you like. Right clicking in the 3d window (upper right screen) allows you to move around the 3d space by using the mouse & arrow keys. Right-clicking & holding the mouse button in the 2d window to the left will let you pan the 2d version of the map around. Scrolling forward or backward with the mouse wheel zooms in or out in either of those windows. The window at the bottom of the screen is a text output of everything that happens while you are editing & can be very useful. CTRL + TAB toggles your view in the 2d window along the XYZ axis. (IE: 3 different views. Left, right & top.) Go to Help\Shortcut List to open a new window with a complete list of keyboard combinations that will save you a lot of time if you get used to them.

In the 3d window, navigate to the boulder & select it by holding SHIFT & left-clicking the mouse. It should be highlighted in both windows as shown:

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Then select Textures\wq3\wq3_stone from the menu, like this:

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Choose whatever you like, but for this example I'll pick stone_rockwall10c. Hit ESCAPE on your keyboard to deselect an object.

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SAVE your work & minimize Radiant. I suggest you do not close Radiant because if something goes wrong or is not to your liking after the compile it is much easier to maximize Radiant & UNDO (CTRL + Z) your changes than it is to restart Radiant & manually correct your previous changes.

Now to compile the map & see how we did. (Never use the compile option in the Radiant menu because ladders, breakables & other stuff specific to this game will not work if you do.) Start Q3Map2Toolz & select map files in the drop down menu at upper left & wq_test2.map from the list below it. Under the Build Options tab to the right, choose BSP -meta. (You will ALWAYS need to choose this option for any compile you do for this game.)

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Under the LIGHT tab choose fast.

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This is the quickest way to compile a map in order to look at the changes you've made. Vis & bot support (BSPC) will be covered in video tutorials later, so don't worry about other switches right now. In the lower right, click on BUILD. A DOS box should open & begin compiling the map that will look like this:

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The DOS box will automatically close by itself upon completion. It should take less than a minute for this small map. Click on DEVMAP in the lower left of Q3Map2Toolz to open your newly compiled level & check out your changes.

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And here is the ingame view of our newly retextured boulder:

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The texture doesn't really fit well with the surroundings in the rest of the map, but you should get the idea. The point is you should make changes to the test map in order to learn. Change anything you like. If you manage to screw up the map beyond recognition, you can always download the original again.

When you are satisfied with your map & wish to see what it may look like for final release, I suggest the following switches as a general rule: -meta -vis -light -fast -filter -patchshadows -samples 3 -super 2 -forcesidesvisible -optimize -bsp2aas
I'll explain what each switch does in more advanced tutorials. In the meantime, hovering your mouse cursor over switches in Q3Map2Toolz will give you an explanation for each switch. Of course, every mapper has his own preferences & each map has it's own needs. Don't be afraid to experiment with compile options. Just remember to make a backup of your map before each compile. I cannot stress the importance of backups enough!

That's it for this beginners guide. I hope it gets you on your way to creating any map ideas you wish to see in game.

To any other mappers or beginners: Please do not hesitate to post corrections/suggestions in this thread. This topic will be cleaned up (or removed) once this tutorial is completed & integrated into the main website. Your comments are most welcome here in the meantime.
Last edited by ReD NeCKersoN on Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:15 pm, edited 19 times in total.
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:29 pm

Video version is now imbedded in the first post. It isn't as complete as the written version due to youtube's 10 minute file limitation. I simply couldn't squeeze everything into a 10 minute vid. :?
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Postby Clintstone » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:56 pm

...and so it found its way to my harddrive... Thanks, Red :P . I'll give it a try tomorrow – feedback will follow soon :wink:

Cheers,

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Postby haraldx » Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:46 am

Now I Know Whats The Heck Wrong ! I Dont Have XP ! :( Oh Man ! I Had About 4 MaP Ideas But Now Im Dead Guy !
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:03 pm

It should work for most (if not all) versions of Microsoft Windows. It may or may not work for Linux & Mac. I don't have those operating systems & can't test it. I believe Radiant will work with Linux but I'm not sure Q3Map2Toolz will. However, there are other ways to compile maps. A batch file is a common method. Try checking out our Mapping Links Page or search Google for more info. :wink:
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Postby hika » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:28 pm

Well, haraldx, if you are a Linux / *BSD / MacOSX user, then, I expect you might adapt this tutorial to an *NIX systems :D, such as :
- Installing GTKRadiant for *NIX
- Using the *NIX q3map2 version ... (you might check this thread)
- Using shell script instead of Q3Map2Toolz
... and so on :wink:

If you have a Windows version previous to XP (like 2000), I don't think you will have problems.
About Windows Vista ... hmm ... it is worth trying to see if Microsoft has screwed up something :lol:

Some time ago, I have successfully compiled the wq_test map on FreeBSD, so I might help you if needed.
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Postby L3th4l » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:00 am

I run vista and all the tools run fine on it..
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Postby lanceonastick » Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:20 pm

i dident have a script file so i made one i extracted the entileswq.def in the file i made but then you said to open the shaderlist.txt i dont have that
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Postby Pardner » Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:21 am

lanceonastick wrote:i dident have a script file so i made one i extracted the entileswq.def in the file i made but then you said to open the shaderlist.txt i dont have that

Both the "scripts" directory and the shaderlist.txt should have been created when you installed GTK Radiant. If you have Quake3 installed, these files will appear in your baseq3 folder. I have forgotten Red's instructions for the install, but make sure the GTK Radiant is installed properly.
Welcome to the forums and good to see another cowpoke interested in mapping!
~Pard

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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:25 am

Sorry for the confusion Lance. I read the tutorial again & noticed I left something out. I have corrected it now by adding the following information:
Look in "X:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3" for some folders that should have been created when you installed GTKRadiant. Move the maps and scripts folders over to your westernq3 folder.

I hope the tutorial is completely correct now. :)
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