Installation & Set Up

Installing the editor in the correct place is the first key to successful use. If you are working on a Quake III Arena project, the easiest way to work is to install the editor in the Quake III Arena directory on your computer. The instructions that follow assume that as a given.

Installing the editor

Extract the zip file for the game into your Quake III Arena directory.

Setting up Paths

This is done initially by the editor’s set up procedure. If you install it correctly, the paths will be automatically have been created to access the resources sitting in Quake III Arena’s .pk3 directory.

Improving Performance

If you find that the editor is sluggish on your system, try some or all of the following tweaks:

· On the View menu, check Cubic Clipping to be ON. This reduces the number of game components in view, by shortening the distance that the editor can “see.” Use CTRL + [ and/or CTRL +] to set the distance to 13 (a good number in this case).

· On the Textures menu, open the Render Quality option and select an option higher on the list than your current setting. We recommend not going below Nearest MipMap first. This reduces the amount of blending and filtering in the textures as they are seen in the Camera window, but still lets you see what the textures look like in a relatively undistorted manner. The Nearest setting will further improve performance, but textures may be distorted when seen in perspective.

· On View Menu, open the Entities as… option and select an option higher on the list than your current setting.

· Select Preferences … from the Edit Menu. Under “Camera”, deselect (uncheck) “Update XY views during mouse drags.” This will stop the 2D-map window(s) from being repeatedly redrawn during Camera window mouse drags.

· Select Preferences … from the Edit Menu. Under “Texturing Quality”, move the slider one or more settings to the left, reducing overall texture quality.

· Further performance can be gained by turning off curves (CTRL + p) or reducing curve displays to wireframe only.

Setting up Preferences

To set up your editing preferences, open the Edit menu and select Preferences. Use preferences to set a variety of options that tailor the editor to a specific game: Quake2 or Quake 3; and to set up certain editor behavior based on your personal preferences.

Optimize Interface for

Choosing Quake2 or Quake3 in this list will reset certain preferences to the appropriate defaults for the selected game. Currently, the default is Quake3.

Mouse

This lets you choose between two or three-button mouse operation. The default setting is three-button operation. A three-button mouse is HIGHLY recommended for Q3Radiant.

Views / Rendering

These preferences allow you to choose between one of four general layouts for the various editing windows and set the way that rendering is handled. If you are coming to Quake III Arena editing from a Quake engine editing tool (or from a tool for another game engine), you may want to select a layout set up that is familiar. That being said, we also suggest you check out the “id” way of working.

Split Window view

This is the QeRadiant default view. The Camera, XY Map, Z-axis Scale, Texture, and Console windows are constantly displayed. While the arrangement of the windows cannot be changed, their size is adjustable by pulling the window border splitters. The Entity and Group windows share a common pop-up window. This arrangement is one that may work particularly well for mappers using smaller monitors and slower computers.

Floating Window view

This is the view used by id designers. The position, arrangement, and size of the windows are all adjustable. The windows initially come up on top of one another (a known bug), but once positioned, this view offers the greatest flexibility. The Camera, XY Map, Z-axis Scale, and a shared Entity/Texture/Console/Group window are all displayed simultaneously. Changing the size of one window does not automatically affect the others (it can lay atop the others). Additional map layout views can be cycled from menu commands or bound keys. This view only works well if you have a 20+-inch monitor.

Make it Big! In floating windows mode (ONLY), you can double-click on any window’s Title Bar to enlarge the contents of the window to fill the screen. Double clicking on it again reduces it back to normal size.

Quad view

The display window is split into four equal-sized windows: Camera, XY Map, YZ Map, and XZ Map. This is similar to other editors and offers four-way viewing. You see the map components in three views simultaneously. The size of the windows (relative to each other) can be adjusted, by pulling the splitters. The combined Entity/Texture/Console/Group window is brought into view as a single, floating window that lays over the others. The Z-axis window is not used in this view. This is a popular editing configuration, but it has significant performance issues. The editor is drawing all the 2D map components three times (plus maintaining a camera view). Some mappers have notice significant performance slow-downs when working with curves. Using the Quad view is only recommended for mappers with more powerful computers.

Reverse Split Window view

Essentially the same as the Split Window view, except that the windows are all flopped left to right.

Use SGI OpenGL

This will cause Q3Radiant to load the SGI software OpenGL drivers. If you do not have hardware OpenGL, these drivers will offer better speed than the standard Microsoft drivers. You must download and install the SGI OpenGL drivers for this option to work. Here’s a link to a direct download:

ftp://ftp.qeradiant.com/opengl/sgi/opengl2.exe

Buggy ICD

If you see garbled text in your 2D view windows, check this. It changes the way Q3Radiant does font rendering which corrects an error in some ICD's.

OpenGL Display Lists

This is only used for patches (bezier curves) in Quake III Arena editing. Turning this on will speed up curve drawing by a large factor.

Solid Selection Boxes

Selecting curves, models, or large numbers of brushes causes a noticeable slowdown the Nvidia series. This is an uncorrected driver issue. Solid selection boxes are a workaround for that problem. Checking solid selection boxes reduces the performance hit by turning the dashed line boxes solid.

Camera

The slider allows you to set how fast the camera moves.

Update XY Views during Mouse Drags

When interacting with the camera (which you will do a lot), turning this off will NOT update the camera icon location in the Map windows automatically. This can help with speed but prevents you from seeing exactly where the camera icon is positioned.

QE4 Update Model

Leave this on unless you’re running on a very slow system with software OpenGL.

Texturing

Quality

This slider allows you to set the quality of the graphics displayed in the editor. The higher the quality setting the better the textures will look AND the more memory they consume. Setting the quality lower, reduces the overall visual quality of the textures (but ONLY in the editor, not in the final level), but can also drastically reduces memory consumption. If you are having performance problems, this is one option to set back right away.

Texture toolbar

This provides a texturing toolbar. This feature may or may not work. According to Robert Duffy, it hasn’t been tested in about 100 builds of the code. That means use it at your own risk. But here’s what it appears to do:

It puts a texture toolbar at the bottom of the program window. The toolbar has six data fields. Five of them have up and down scroll arrow.

Shift H: This shifts the texture horizontally in pixel increments equal to the current map grid. Values cannot be typed in.

(Shift) V: This shifts the texture vertically in pixel increments equal to the current map grid. Values cannot be typed in.

Scale H: Multiplies the texture’s horizontal size by a multiple of the current grid scale. Scaling of textures does not appear to function as it may have been intended.

(Scale) V: Multiplies the texture’s horizontal size by a multiple of the current grid scale. Scaling of textures does not appear to function as it may have been intended.

Rotate: This rotates the texture clockwise or counterclockwise (using the scroll arrows). The rotation increment (or decrement) uses the degree value set in the field (unnamed) to its immediate right.

(degrees): This value is only used by the rotate command on the toolbar and no others. It does not affect the information entered on the preferences field. The value must be typed in.

Texture Subset

This provides a texture edit window within the texture window. It is still buggy as of build 188. It puts a text field at the top of the Texture window. Type in the first few letters of a texture name and the window will only display the textures beginning with that letter or letters.

Texture Scrollbar

This adds a Windows scrollbar to the texture window. You can use it (or the customary right mouse drag within the window) to scroll the texture window.

New functionality

Right click to drop entities

This lets you to right click in a Map Window to get a Pop-up menu that allows entity dropping among other things. Remember that a click is different than a press since a right press allows you to move around the map as well (see Moving Around under Map Building Basics).

Face Selection

If this is checked, the surface dialogue references and pulls it contents from the selected face (ONLY if a face and not an entire brush). If this not checked, the editor uses the current default texture (selected in the texture window) as the source.

Rotation Inc

This is the default rotation increment used by the keyboard shortcuts and the button bars for all types of texture, brush, and patch rotation.

ALT + Multi-drag

If this option is checked, you must hold down the ALT key to drag multiple brush edges. This lets you resize more than one brush at a time.

Snap T to Grid

This snaps the Texture tweak size to the grid size. The texture tweak size is the amount textures are moved with the texture toolbar and the keyboard shortcuts.

Mouse chaser

Turning this on causes the view to chase the mouse if you drag something off the edge.

Patch Toolbar

This enables the Quake3 specific toolbar that contains patch (bezier curve) shortcuts.

Light drawing

This draws lights as shaded triangle things (octahedrons) instead of standard square entities. When enabled, the light entities also show their emitted light color.

Paint sizing info

This draws size information on the selected item(s). It also draws in real time when dragging out a new brush or altering the size of an existing one.

Hi Color Textures

This causes the editor to load 24 and 32 bit TGA and JPEG textures. This should be checked for Quake3 editing.

Startup shaders

Allows you to specify which shaders are preloaded when the editor starts. The default is None. Options are None, Custom, and All. Loading all of the shaders at editor load time is VERY time consuming.

Game Path/ Tool Settings/ Stuff that wouldn’t fit anywhere else

Game

Set this to point at the proper game executable (Quake3.exe, for example). This is not properly set up automatically, as of build 181 and must be set manually.

Use Internal (DLL) QBSP

This is for Quake2 only and is grayed out for Quake 3 editing. The internal DLL is not provided with Q3Radiant. If you want to use it, you will need to acquire it from an earlier release of QERadiant. To get the .DLL for Quake 2 usage, you will need to download QERadiant from this site:

http://www.qeradiant.com/files.cgi?dirin=qeradiant/latest/

Don’t clamp plane points

This turns off clamping of plane points. This allows for very precise brush/vertex manipulation but can make it difficult to get things properly aligned and can also cause the bsp process to take a LOT longer. In general, this should be unchecked.

Design Tip: Be warned, if at any point during design you change to a snap to grid setting, you may see everything you’ve worked on twist and deform to lock into grid coordinates. If you want to work to work in very fine detail, use a 1-unit map grid. But even then, you’re asking for headaches you don’t need.

Autosave

Checking this forces the editor to automatically save the map to the autosave name specified in project settings based on the selected time increment. This feature has saved more than one mapper’s bacon.

Snapshots

This saves an incrementally named snapshot of the user’s map based on the autosave time increment. The problem is it can quickly fill a hard drive, as there is no space checking in force. Current recommendation is to leave this feature turned off.

Run game after QBSP3

This will run the game pointed to by the game path with a +set map “yourmap.bsp".

Warning. With some video drivers, it is a bad idea to run Quake 2 or Quake III Arena and the Q3Radiant editor. The drivers just will not sustain two demanding OpenGL applications simultaneously. This feature is best left turned off.

Load last project on open

This causes the editor to load the last project file (.qe4) when it is re-started. This is a good thing.

Undo Level

There are a maximum of 64 levels or layers of Undo. This field lets you choose how many you want to use. Unless you are having serious memory problems, this it’s good to leave it set at 64 layers.

Use +set game for run

This is broken as of build 181. Its intended purpose is to allow mod's to run properly when the editor (using run game after QBSP3) starts the game.

Load last map on open

This causes the editor to load the last map when it is re-started.

Status point size

This sets the point size for the status bar font. A 10-point font is the default.

Use PAK/PK3 files

Checking this will cause the editor to load the specific PAK file for Quake2 or *.PK3 file(s) in the basepath for Quake3.

Prefab path

Allows the user to specify the path from which the editor will to load prefabs (premade map components).

User .ini path

Allows you to specify an INI file that contains custom key bindings. Most of the commands in Q3Radiant can be bound to specific key combinations. The .ini file should contain a section called 'commands' and a binding for each command you want to rebind under that. You use the normal character for most keys but there are special names for certain keys. You can modify each binding with a ‘+ SHIFT’ or ‘+ CTRL’ or ‘+ ALT’. You can also combine things like:

SurfaceInspector = F4 + SHIFT + ALT

And so on.

Here is an example keymap file (note that this is NOT the default keymap):

[Commands]

NextView = TAB

BendMode = O

UpFloor = PAGEUP+shift

DownFloor = PAGEDOWN+shift

TexRotateClock = PAGEDOWN

TexRotateCounter = PAGEUP

CameraForward = E

CameraBack = S

CameraLeft = Q

CameraRight = T

CameraUp = F

CameraDown = D

CameraAngleUp = A

CameraAngleDown = G

CameraStrafeRight = R

CameraStrafeLeft = W

CenterView = 0

CenterOnCamera = U

GridDown = [

GridUp = ]

ViewConsole = F1

ToggleConsole = F1

ViewTextures = F2

ViewEntityInfo = F3

SurfaceInspector = F4

EntityList = F6

MapInfo = F7

ToggleGrid = F8

ToggleCamera = F10

DragEdges = B

DragVertices = V

CloneSelection = SPACE+shift

DeleteSelection = BACKSPACE

UnSelectSelection = SPACE

NextLeakSpot = L+ctrl+shift

PrevLeakSpot = K+ctrl+shift

MouseRotate = R+shift

FlipClip = ESCAPE

ZoomIn = Y

ZoomOut = H

ZZoomOut = DELETE

ZZoomIn = INSERT

TexDecriment = END

TexIncriment = HOME

TexScaleDown = DOWN+ctrl

TexScaleLeft = LEFT+ctrl

TexScaleRight = RIGHT+ctrl

TexScaleUp = UP+ctrl

ToggleClipper = X

CycleGroupSelection = C

ToggleSizePaint = P

Copy = C+ctrl

FileOpen = O+ctrl

FileSave = S+ctrl

Exit = X+ctrl

Undo = Z+ctrl

Patch TAB = L

MakeOverlayPatch = P

ToggleView = V+shift+ctrl

ToggleZ = Z+shift+ctrl

ConnectSelection = K

ShowDetail = F9

MakeDetail = M

SelectNudgeDown = DOWN+shift

SelectNudgeLeft = LEFT+shift

SelectNudgeRight = RIGHT+shift

SelectNudgeUp = UP+shift

Preferences = F11

The Project File

The project file contains the paths for the various Q3Radiant file-processing functions. Using the installer to set up the editor should write these for you.

New Project

(Menu: FileèNew Project)

This creates a new folder (which you must name) in your Quake III Arena directory.

This is really only needed if you’ve messed up your project settings (without overwriting the original), and you want to reload the defaults.

Load Project

(Menu: FileèNew Project)

This opens up a browse directory pointed at the scripts directory. It is looking for a text file with a .qe4 file extension.

Changing the Project File

(Menu: FileèProject Settings…)

You can edit the project file by changing the pathnames to various functions in field of the dialogue window that pops up. HOWEVER, before doing this, you should make a backup copy of your Quake project file and give it a new name. Make your changes to this new file. If you mess things up, you can always reload the original. This is a good thing to do if you are making maps for a mod that uses a separate set of definitions for entities or directories for textures and want to easily change between types of projects.

Project Settings

Basepath: This traces a path, beginning in your root directory to the baseq3 where the editor expects to find resources.

Mapspath: This traces a path, beginning in your root directory, to the location where maps are saved and from which they are loaded. The default is the maps directory.

Rshcmd: The means “remote shell command.” Use it only if you are directing a remote processing device (not your editing computer) to compile maps. The syntax for the field is: “rsh [processor name]”

Remotebasepath: If you are running your compile from your editing computer, this should be the same as your basepath. If you are working off a remote compling device, this should trace the full path to the to the baseq3 folder where the compiler will find the resources it requires.

Entitypath: This traces a path to the definition file for your game entities. This can either be a .c file which contains the game code, or a .def file which contains more instructive information about the entities.

Texturepath: This traces a path, beginning in your root directory, to the location from which textures are loaded. The default is the textures directory.

Menu commands

These commands are your map compile commands. You can CHANGE these commands or ADD your own. Each new command must start with “bsp_” The following is the compile command string for “bsp_Fullvis” taken off one of our project files.

! q3map $ && ! q3map -vis -threads 8 $ && ! q3map -light -threads 8 $

Command parameters:

! The exclamation mark is replaced by the contents of the rshcmd field. It is the path to the processor.

$ The dollar sign is replaced by the Mapspath.

&& The double ampersand is the command terminator (end of command)

q3map This is the process command. Without a switch after it, it performs the .bsp compile phase.

-vis This is a switch to select the vis compile phase.

-light This is a switch to select the lighting compile phase.

-threads This is a switch to break the compile up into a number of different processor threads. The number of processors follows the switch parameter.

Other parameters

-onlyents Process only the entities in the map.

-fast A quicker process. However, it treats the map as if it were all one vis area.

-extra As in -light -extra. This is a second lighting pass that more finely subdivides the map into areas of light and shadow.

-nowater Compiled without liquids in the map. Used in the first compile phase only.

-nocurves Compiles without curves in the map. Used in the first compile phase only.

Misc settings

Use brush primitives in MAP files.

Once this is set for a map, the program converts the texture mapping to this format. Once chosen, there is no going back to the old format. Brush primitives are described in detail under the Working with Textures section.

Setting up the Windows

There are six configurable windows in Q3Radiant.

The Camera Window (CAM)

The Camera window initially shows a gray field. This is where the 3D in-progress view of your map appears. You can SHIFT + click mouse button 1 to select objects in this window. If the images in this window appear overly dark, you can adjust the gamma value. Open the Misc menu and select Gamma. Enter a value between 0 and 1 for the light value. Close the program. Reopen the program. Check the darkness. Repeat this until you have a value you like.

Entity/Texture/Console/Group Window

Depending on the Windows layout view that you’ve chosen, one or more of the following sub-windows share this window. They are selectable by the tab at the bottom of the window, or by shortcut keys.

Entity Window

(Shortcut: N)

The Entity window is one of four windows that share the same window space: Console, Entity and Texture and Group. The entity window is used to create and modify the properties of game entities. The uppermost box in this window contains the entity names. Use the scroll bar to find the one you want or for speed, type in the first letter of the class of entity you desire (“w” for weapon, “I” for item and so on). Refer to the Working with Entities section for more details on this.

Texture Window

(Shortcut: T)

The Texture window displays textures that have been loaded from the texture directories for easy use. The texture subset tool (set in preferences) allows you to quickly jump to a texture if you know the first few letters of its name. The scrollbar tool adds normal Windows functionality to the window. The most common method of navigating the window is to right-mouse click and drag through the window contents. SHIFT + right-mouse click and drag speeds up the rate of movement through the window’s contents. A thin green outline around a texture indicates a non-shadered texture in use in the map. A thin white outline indicates a shadered texture. A bold red outline indicates a selected texture.

Console Window

(Shortcut: O)

The console tracks the editor’s processes, like loading, saving, and compiling. When you compile (selecting an option from the bsp menu), the contents of the console are dumped into the junk.txt file in your Temp file folder on your root drive. In the Split Window view layout, the Console window is always in view.

Groups Window

(Shortcut: none)

This window will deal with the future grouping functions that will soon be a part of the editor. At this time, it is only a non-functioning window.

Z-axis Scale Window

This window is used by three of the four views to show the Z-axis position (height) of the Point of View and any selected map components.

Map Window(s)

The Grid

Think of the Map window as a piece of graph paper, neatly divided into squares. However, unlike graph paper, you can change the size of the grid to fit your needs of the moment. You can change grid size from the Grid menu, but it’s faster to learn the key shortcuts listed below.

Setting Grid Size

Grid size Key

1 unit grid (1)

2 unit grid (2)

4 unit grid (3)

8 unit grid (4)

16 unit grid (5)

32 unit grid (6)

64 unit grid (7)

Grid Down Decreases the size of the grid. [ key

Grid Up Increases the size of the grid. ] key

Grid and Window Layouts

There are four distinct ways of laying out the work windows for Q3Radiant.

Design Notes:

Try not to build architecture with a grid smaller than 8 units.

Use a smaller grid if you need to build small details.

Use a large grid (32 or 64) for roughing in a level.

Use a large grid for moving large chunks of architecture around.

Snap to Grid

When this is checked, the edges and vertices of brushes and patches will “snap” to grid coordinates. Unless you are attempting some very fussy maneuvering of a map component, Snap to Grid makes life much easier. In fact, if you are building objects out of curve patches, it is crucial that you be able to line up patch control points with the vertices of surrounding solid geometry brushes.

Colors

Q3Radiant allows you to select the colors of your grids and tools. Because the manual refers to the colors of some features, you may wish to wait until you are more comfortable using the editor before changing too many things. You can always revert to the Q3Radiant defaults, should you choose change too much.

To change Map window and Texture window colors, select the “Misc” menu and choose colors. The pop-up lists a number of options.

Themes

Brings up three options:

QE4 Original: The settings for id’s original Quake 2 editor

Q3Radiant Original: The default setting.

Black & Green: a black background with a green grid major.

Each of the following options opens the Windows color selector.

Grid Background…

The background color for the map window.

Texture Background…

The background color behind the textures in the texture window. This is probably best left a neutral color.

Grid Major…

These bolder grid lines mark 64 unit increments in the map window. These never change.

Grid Minor…

The finer grid lines in the map window.

Grid Text…

The color of the scale numbers along the left and top of the map window.

Grid Blocks…

These lines mark the 1024 x 1024 unit grids on the map.

Default Brush…

This is the color of unselected brushes in the map.

Selected Brush…

The color of selected brushes in the map.

Active View Name…

This is the text that says “XY Top” or “YZ Side” or “XZ Front” in the map view window(s).

Tools 2: Working with Brushes

The geometry brushes are the basic building block of the Quake III Arena engine. These are the tools to make them work for you.

Geometry Brush Handling Tools

Escape (ESC)

This is the all-purpose deselect key. Use it to back out of operations you don’t want to complete or to stop working on a brush or group of brushes.

Create New Brush

(Click mouse button 1)

(Shortcut: none)

While mouse1 clicking over the main map window (or any open map window) drag the mouse pointer across the grid. A brush will be created that has the height of the current map grid size. If you have the “snap to grid” function set in your preferences, the brush will start and stop on gridlines. The texture will be either the default texture (if none has been selected) or the most recently used texture. For all these functions, you will first need to select a brush in either the Map or Camera windows.

Move Geometry Brush

(Click mouse button 1)

The Undo command will return the brush to its original size (if the brush is still selected). If the brush has been deselected, the resized version will remain and another brush will be created at full size.

In the Map Window. In the map window, select the brush. Click on the selected brush. With the mouse 1 button depressed move the brush around the map to the position you desire.

In the Z (height) Window. In the map window, select the brush. Next, click on the selected brush in the Z window. With the mouse 1 button depressed move the brush around the map to the position you desire.

In the Camera Window. Select a brush in the camera window (see select single component above). Mouse button 1 click on the brush and drag it in the desired direction. You may need to adjust your camera view to make dragging easier.

Stretching the Brush

(mouse1)

Think of this as stretching the brush. The Undo command will return the brush to its original size (if the brush is still selected). If the brush has been deselected, the resized version will remain and another brush will be created at full size.

In the Map Window. In the map window, click next to the selected brush on the side you want to pull. With the mouse 1 button depressed pull in a direction away from the nearest edge. The brush will grow larger in that direction.

In the Z (height) Window. Use this to make the brush taller. In the Map or Camera window, select the brush. Next, click above or below the selected brush in the Z window. With the mouse 1 button depressed pull away from the select brush. The brush will grow in that direction.

In the Camera Window. Select a brush in the camera window (see select single component above). Mouse1 click near the edge of the selected brush. With the mouse 1 button depressed pull in a direction away from the nearest edge. The brush will grow larger in that direction. You may need to adjust your camera view to make dragging easier.

Shrinking the Brush

(mouse1)

Think of this as crunching the brush smaller.

In the Map Window: In the map window, select the brush. Click next to the selected brush on the side you want to pull. With the mouse 1 button depressed pull in a direction toward the nearest edge. The brush will shrink in that direction.

In the Z (height) Window: Use this to make the brush shorter. In the Map or Camera window, select the brush. Next, click above or below the selected brush in the Z window. With the mouse button 1 depressed, push towards the select brush. The brush will shrink in that direction.

In the Camera Window: Select a brush in the camera window (see select single component above). Mouse1 click near the edge of the selected brush. With the mouse 1 button depressed push in a direction towards the nearest edge. The brush will grow larger in that direction. You may need to adjust your camera view to make dragging easier.

Flip Brush

(Menu: Selection èFlip)

There are three separate actions here. They flip a brush along either X, Y, or Z-axes. A menu command and toolbar button controls each. The six flip and rotate toolbar commands are the second grouping (from the left) on the toolbar. The rotate command for the same axis is always next to the flip command. Flipping will not change the facing on non-model entities.

Flip X (Menu: Selection) (Toolbar: Leftmost button)

Flips brush along x-axis.

Flip Y (Menu: Selection) (Toolbar: left of center button)

Flips brush along y-axis.

Flip Z (Menu: Selection) (Toolbar: second button from the right)

Flips brush along z-axis.

Rotate Brush

(Menu: Selection èRotate)

There are three separate actions here. They rotate a brush in 90 degree increments around a brush’s X, Y, or Z axes. Both a menu command and toolbar button controls each action. The six flip and rotate toolbar commands are the second grouping (from the left) on the toolbar. The flip command for the same axis is always next to the rotate command for the same axis. The rotation will not change the facing on non-model entities.

Rotate X

(Menu: Selection èRotateèRotate X)

Rotates brush around the x-axis.

Rotate Y

(Menu: SelectionèRotateèRotate Y)

Rotates brush around the y-axis.

Rotate Z

(Menu: SelectionèRotateèRotate Y)

Rotates brush around the Z-axis.

Arbitrary Rotation

The Rotate commands accessed from the toolbar all rotate affected map components 90 degrees; no more, no less. Arbitrary Rotation allows the user to set angles individually for the X, Y, and/or Z-axes. Enter a number value for each axis you want to rotate. Value can be positive or negative. After the values are entered, select OK. This rotates the object and closes the pop-up window. If you don’t like the rotation, you can use Undo, so long as the brush is still selected, and the brush will return to its un-manipulated facing.

Free Rotate in Map Window

(Shortcut: R)

Press the “R” key. The selected map component(s) turns lavender. The purple square at the center is the center of the selection and the axis around which it will rotate. Left Mouse clicking on or near the selected component (in the map or camera window) and dragging will cause it to rotate. If the user does a SHIFT + middle mouse button click on the 2D map window, the axis square will relocate to the coordinates of the click. Deselecting and reselecting the component returns the axis to its original center.

Drag

There are two “drag” functions that involve control points or “handles” on the brush.

Drag Edges

(Menu: SelectionèDrag Edges)

(Shortcut: CTRL + E)

This highlights the edges of a geometry brush, marking those edges with a blue “handle” box at the center of each side. Press again and the feature will toggle off. Pull on a handle to resize part of a brush. If Snap-to-Grid is active (Menu: Grid), the handle will snap to the nearest grid coordinate as it is pulled. Undo functions with this effect.

Drag Vertices

(Menu: SelectionèDrag Vertices)

(Shortcut: CTRL + V)

This highlights the corner vertices of a geometry brush, marking those corners with a green “handle” box where the sides of each brush face connect. Press again and the feature will toggle off. Pull on a handle to resize part of a brush. If Snap-to-Grid is active (Menu: Grid), the handle will usually snap to the nearest grid coordinate as it is pulled. Undo does NOT function with this effect.

Design Note: Drag Vertices is a balky tool at best. It works well if the user is manipulating a triangular brush face, raising or lowering corners of the triangle. Work with care, it is quite easy to pull a brush out of useable (or recoverable) shape.

Scale

(Menu: SelectionèScale)

With Scale you can enlarge or reduce a brush, patch, or group of brushes and patches. You choose the axes to scale (X, Y, or Z) and the factor of the scale. The scaling factor can be different for each axis. Selecting this option brings up a tool window. The size of the brush or group of brushes is multiplied by the numbers in the boxes adjacent to the X, Y, or Z axes. Leave the value as 1 and no change occurs. If the value is a decimal less than one, the size of that axis shrinks. If the value is greater than 1, it grows. Hit OK to activate the scaling function with you chosen values. Undo functions with this effect.

CSG Operations

CSG stands for “Computed Solid Geometry”. The two functions here, CSG Subtract and Make Hollow, calculate the removing of sections from that geometry and breaking solid brushes (not curve patches) into smaller pieces. Although they are convenient to use for some operations, they often do things that the user may not care for. These “side effects” can include breaking brushes into inconvenient parts, cutting up adjacent brushes, and creating hard to find and remove micro brushes.

Subtract

(Menu: Selection è CSGè Subtract)

When you select this, the selected brush or brushes subtract its volume from all the geometry that contacts it. The cutting brush is not removed. Undo does not fix this action.

Design Note: Region off together the brushes that will be cut and the brushes which will be used for cutting. This keeps other brushes in the map from being affected by the action. It’s also a good idea to save just before doing the action, so the user can “back up” to an earlier version.

Hollow

(Menu: Selection è CSGè Hollow)

When the user selects this, the sides of the highlighted brush are turned into separate brushes. The thickness of these brushes is equal to the grid size. Undo functions with this action.

Design Note: This works best with rectangular brushes. The edges of the created brushes overlap each other.

Merge

(Menu: Selection è CSGè Merge)

When the user selects this, the highlighted brushes are turned into a single, convex brush. If the result of the merge would not create a convex brush, the following message appears in the editor console: “ Cannot add a set of brushes with a concave hull.”

Examples: Example “A” shows two brushes can be merged together. Example “B” shows two brushes that cannot merge.

Clipper

(Menu: SelectionèClipper)

(X toggles the clipper tool on or off)

If you think of this tool as being near the same as the miter box that a carpenter uses to cut wood or moldings, then you are not far from the truth.

Placing Clip Points

Clip points are placed in the map views by two methods:

(Mouse button 1 after Clipper has been toggled on)

(CTRL + Mouse button 2 at any time)

The figure below shows a square brush that has been “clipped” from the lower left (point 1) to the upper right (point 2). The editor creates a line between the first point and the second point. The piece to be kept when the brush is cut is always created in a clockwise direction from the line (assuming that the first point is the center of the “clock”)

In a two-point clip (shown here), the cut occurs perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) from the plane of the map view. Adding a third point, and adjusting its position in a different map view can change the angle of the cutting plane. This will take practice to master.

Toggle Clipper

(Menu: Selectionè ClipperèToggle Clipper)

(X)

This toggles the Clipper function on and off. After completing a cut, the tool remains active and must be toggled off before another brush is selected.

Clip Selection

(Menu: Selectionè ClipperèClip Selection)

(SHIFT)

If the “clip selection” action is completed the red portion of the brush will be discarded and only the yellow will remain. The brush is unselected. Undo currently returns the original brush and keeps the clipped off piece.

Split Selection

(Menu: Selectionè ClipperèSplit Selection)

(SHIFT + CTRL)

If the “split selection” action is completed the red and yellow portions of the brush will remain, split into two triangular brushes. The brush is unselected.

Flip Clip Orientation

(Menu: SelectionèClipperèFlip Clip Orientation)

The yellow and red hi-lights toggle so what was red is now yellow and what was yellow is now red.

Make Detail

(Menu: SelectionèMake Detail)

(Shortcut: CTRL + M)

In Quake 2, this was a surface flag. In Quake III Arena, it is used on the brush itself. Detail makes a brush non-structural. This means that it cannot be used to seal the hull of the map world. Don’t use it for wall, floors, or ceilings. If it is used as a hull, the map will “leak” when compiled. But it can be used on things that jut out away from the walls (as long as there is a structural brush behind it).

Detail has two beneficial effects:

1. Detail brushes are less likely to cause additional cuts to occur in non-detail brushes that they touch ... thus reducing triangle counts. This can help reduce frame rate.

2. When the compiler does Vis, it breaks the world up into many small volumes. Any break in the surface of the box that forms a room creates additional volumes that must be. Detail brushes don't create these breaks. Therefore, using them speeds up compiling.

Make Structural

(Menu: SelectionèMake Structural)

(Shortcut: none)

Structural is the Default State for brushes. Textures that are not manipulated by shader scripts to be transparent or non-solid) do not change this. Essentially, this is a change-it-back command for Make Detail. It removes the detail flag from the brush. This surface WILL block Vis when the map is compiled (so long as there isn’t shader content that says otherwise).

Func_Group

(Entity WindowèFunc_GroupèEnter)

Technically, this is a b_model (brush model) entity. However, it’s a great way to manage and handle related groups of map components for ease of selection. To use, select the brushes and patches you want to group and then open the Entity window (press “N”). Click on the entity list sub-window and type in “F” to move to the top of the “funcs”. Double-click on Func_Group and all the brushes and patches selected are bound together into a group. Select one and you select them all.

Thumb through Components

(Shortcut: TAB)

When you have a Func_Group b_model entity selected, press the TAB key to “thumb” through the component pieces, hi-lighting them individually, one at a time. This allows you to work on part of a multi-piece group without having to work on all pieces

Find Brush

(Menu: MiscèFind Brush)

Find brush allows you to locate a brush in the map by its identifying number. As the map is built, the editor assigns identification numbers to each map component. For brushes (and patches) these include an Entity number and a brush number. For any brush that is not part of a brush model (b_model), the entity number is zero (0). Each b_model will have it’s own number.

When the compiler outputs error messages in the console and junk.text file, an identification number will call out brushes with problems. Be prepared for them. Even when you do things right, you will get error messages.

Selecting Find brush pops up a dialogue window with two fields. The first field is the entity number. For most brushes, this will be zero. The second number is the brush’s individual number. Selecting “OK,” jumps the 2D map window(s) to the selected component and hi-lights it.

Brush scripts…

(Menu: EditèBrush scripts…)

(Shortcut: none)

The command allows you to perform multiple step operations that manipulate a single brush. Currently, only two of the list scripts function.

BuildSpiral This walks you through the steps of building a spiral staircase. Select a brush, then click on the map to locate the spiral origin. Click again to bring up a dialogue window that prompts you to enter the number of steps, the angle of rotation, and the height of each step.

BuildStep This clones the selected brush and moves it +X 16 units and +Z 8 units.

Brush Menu Commands

The Brush menu lets the mapmaker convert a selected brush into a brush of a different shape. Most of the commands change the number of sides that the brush possesses. It will also change the brush to a single color. There are individual commands for three through nine sides. The brush will be given the number of sides indicated by the command (Plus top and bottom). The “top” facing is always relative to the view in which it is created. The sides are always at right angles to the view facing.

Poly-Sided Brushes

3 sided (Menu: Brushè3 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 3)

4 sided (Menu: Brushè4 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 4)

5 sided (Menu: Brushè5 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 5)

6 sided (Menu: Brushè6 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 6)

7 sided (Menu: Brushè7 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 7)

8 sided (Menu: Brushè8 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 8)

9 sided (Menu: Brushè9 sided) (Shortcut: CTRL + 9)

Arbitrary sided…

(Menu: BrushèArbitrary sided…)

This command opens a dialogue window. You can enter a number of sides in the field from 3 to 64. Select OK to execute the command.

Primitives

(Menu: BrushèPrimitives)

Primitives are pre-made shapes other than squares or the polygonal multisided boxes made by the “number” sided brush commands.

Cone…

(Menu: BrushèPrimitivesèCone…)

This opens a pop-up dialogue window that lets you enter an arbitrary number of sides. The height of the cone is equal to the Z height of the brush. The cone is always made with its axis along the Z-axis. At first, the radius of the base of the cone appears to be unrelated, or at least unevenly related to the XY dimensions of the brush from which it is transformed. However, if you make a four sided brush, the point to point “diameter” of the resulting pyramid is equal to the longest XY dimension of the brush. Starting the same size brush as you used for the four-side cone, an eight-sided cone fits neatly within the volume of the four-sided cone, four of its sides congruent with the side planes of the four-sided cone. Do the same for a 16 sided cone, and the same again for both a 32 sided cone. However, the number of sides seems to max out at 56.

Sphere…

(Menu: BrushèPrimitivesèSphere…)

This opens a pop-up dialogue window that lets you enter an arbitrary number of sides. The maximum number of sides, which the editor seems willing to handle is 32.The diameter of the sphere, is roughly equal to the length of the longest XY side of the brush from which it is transformed. Attempts to create spheres with more faces than 32 may result in the brush disappearing and becoming infinitely tall. Use Undo to back up from this or hit backspace to discard the brush.

Torus…

Non functioniong command. No donuts for you!

Moving Selected Brushes

Moving the Brush

These keys move the brush around the map in discrete map grid increments.

Move Selection Down

(Shortcut: Keypad MINUS)

Each press moves the selected map component down along the Z-axis by one grid position (at current grid setting). Not affected by current 2D-map view.

Move Selection Up

(Shortcut: Keypad PLUS)

Each press moves the selected map component up along the Z-axis by one grid position (at current grid setting). Not affected by current 2D-map view.

Nudging the Brush

These keys move the brush around the map in discrete map grid increments. The movement is in terms of the selected window, not in terms of XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Down

(Shortcut: ALT + DOWN ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “down” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Up

(Shortcut: ALT + UP ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “up” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Left

(Shortcut: ALT + LEFT ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “left” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Right

(Shortcut: ALT + RIGHT ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “right” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Snap Selection To Grid

(Shortcut: CTRL + G)

If you are using the map grid to keep brushes in alignment, this is a great tool. Rotated brushes and brushes that have had their vertices tweaked can have vertices that no longer lie on map grid intersections. This snaps the vertices to align with the grid. Be warned that snapping to large grids may be hazardous to the health of your brush (Snap and it’s gone! But that’s what UNDO is for).

Efficient Brush Building Techniques

Developed from a Quake 3 World online posting by Astrocreep

Compiling a map is a necessary evil. It takes time, it ties up your processor, and in the early phases of map construction, comes up with construction errors as often as not. Nothing you can do about that … except the time thing. It is possible, through more careful construction (or perhaps reconstruction) to significantly reduce both map and bot compile times, and reduce map and .bsp file sizes (the latter being important for downloads). The following is based on reports written by Astrocreep that documents his extensive work to streamline the compile on one of the id sample maps.

Brush Construction

It cannot be overstressed. If you want shorter compile times and small file sizes, efficient brush construction is "critical" in building your map. There is one rule that stands above all:

DO NOT OVERLAP BRUSHES AT ANYTIME.

No matter what you have to do to build your map, do not overlap brushes. Overlapping means that all or parts of two or more brushes share the same physical space. If brushes overlap, you can expect to add time to your compiling, and add size to your .map, .bsp and, .aas file sizes.

Efficient map construction means that all brushes butt up against each other, but never intersect.

Brush Counts

The sample map to be reworked on had 1,100 brushes in it. Without changing the layout or appearance of the map, Astrocreep was able to remove 110, or 10% of the total brush count.

Learn how to do more with a single brush than with multiple brushes. Evaluate your map after you complete initial construction phases on all or part of it. Pick a part of the map, look at the layout and ask yourself if you could do that with fewer brushes. In all likelihood, nine times out of 10, the answer will be yes.

If you make a structure out of three brushes (or whatever) and have the same floor height and ceiling height (in some cases heights can be different), look at it in the "top view". Can you draw a line from each vertex and not cross out side of those three brushes? If you can, then that grouping of three can become one brush instead of three.

Example: here’s how the engine might look at this.

Using 3 square brushes, you have 18 faces (with a texture mapped on each side) to be calculated. This doesn’t take into consideration the number of in-game triangle faces that those brushes may generate. Even if two-thirds of those faces are not being drawn, they are still being calculated by both the compile process and the bot navigation compile process.

As compared to:

Using one brush (filling the same area), you have only 6 faces to be calculated. Here, you are compiling only a third of the total geometry. It should go faster.

Efficient map construction means using fewer brushes to build the world.

Caulking

It is possible to even further reduce the number of brush faces being calculated by applying a special non-drawing, but “solid” texture called “caulk” (common/caulk) to surfaces that cannot be seen in the game. When seen in the editor, this texture is a bright garish pink. In the game, it does not draw at all. Apply caulk to any brush face that either doesn’t form the “shell” of the world or can’t be seen by a player during play. Doing this may not improve your map’s frame rate, but since your are telling the compiler that as many as five of the six faces on a square brush don’t have to be calculated, it should have some significant effects on compile times. As long as you do not have any brushes that “share” the same space, caulking brushes should help reduce compile times. However, if you use caulk on a brush that “shares” the space of another, your compile time and all file sizes will actually increase.

Astrocreep compiled the test level nearly 200 times, many of those times were when he moved just a single brush, just to see what would change. Caulking seems to help the -light phase of compiling the most.

Efficient map construction means caulking all unseen brush faces.

Miscellaneous Tips

Lights: You can further improve compile times by careful use of lights. Entity lights, especially LOTS of entity lights can reduce compile time. If you need to reduce compiling time even more look to this.

Clip brushes: Clip brushes that have more than two sides not touching another brush appear to increase compile times.

Hint brushes: Use these only if you need to resolve a vis problem. Using them can significantly add to compile times.

Tools 3: Working with Curve Patches

Escape (ESC)

This is the all-purpose deselect key. Use it to back out of operations you don’t want to complete or to stop working on a patch or group of patches.

Curve Menu Commands

The next set of commands comes from the Curve Menu. Some are duplicated on the Patch Tool Bar.

Cylinder

(Menu: CurveèCylinder)

This creates the simplest cylinder. Cylinders are always drawn with their open ends facing up and down. It does not matter which map view is open when the cylinder is created.

More Cylinders:

(Menu: CurveèMore Cylinders)

Dense Cylinder

This is a cylinder with a set of extra rows. It allows a 180-degree bend into a half donut (half torus).

Very Dense Cylinder

This is a cylinder with two extra sets of rows. This allows a bend into a full donut (torus).

Square Cylinder

This is a cylinder whose columns have been adjusted so that a square, with flat sides, is formed.

End Cap

(Menu: CurveèEndcap)

This is a half cylinder.

Bevel

(Menu: CurveèBevel)

This is a quarter cylinder

More End caps, Bevels:

(Menu: CurveèMore End caps, Bevels)

Square Endcap

This is an endcap without the backside removed.

Square Bevel

This is a bevel with squared off back faces

Cone

(Menu: CurveèCone)

A cone is a cylinder with control points drawn together and welded at one end to form a point.

Sphere

(Not implemented)

Design Note: A curve patch sphere can be constructed from a cone. Start with a cubic brush. Convert into a cone. Go into edit vertexes mode and grab the control point at the peak of the cone. Pull it downward to half the height of the cone. Clone the resulting piece and flip it upside down.

Simple Patch Mesh…

(Menu: CurveèSimple Patch Mesh…)

The patch mesh is the basic building block use to create all curves. All the curve primitives are deformations of this item. For this to work, you must first create a brush of the dimension desired for the patch. Selecting this opens a Patch dialogue window. This lets you select the vertical (rows) and horizontal (columns) complexity of the patch. The more complexity means being able to perform more deformations on the patch. It also means adding a greater number of triangles that must be rendered.

Insert

(Menu: CurveèInsert)

Adding control points increases the complexity of a mesh. This action does not increase the physical size of a mesh. Additions are usually done before manipulating the patch mesh.

Insert (2) Columns

This adds two columns of control points to the left edge of a patch.

Add (2) Columns

This adds two columns of control points to the right edge of a patch.

Insert (2) Rows

This adds two rows of control points to the lower edge of a patch.

Add (2) Rows

This adds two rows of control points to the upper edge of a patch.

Delete

(Menu: CurveèDelete)

Deleting control points reduces the complexity of a patch mesh. Be warned that the features created by the removed points are also removed. It does not make the mesh a less complex version of the former design. Deletions also change the dimensions of the mesh, removing the area created by the deleted control points. A mesh cannot be reduced smaller than a 3 column by 3 row complexity.

First (2) Columns

This removes two columns of control points from the left edge of a patch.

Last (2) Columns

This removes two columns of control points from the right edge of a patch.

First (2) Rows

This removes two rows of control points from the lower edge of a patch.

Last (2) Rows

This removes two rows of control points from the upper edge of a patch.

Matrix

(Menu: CurveèMatrix)

This has nothing to do with Neo and Trinity. It’s the patch mesh taken as a whole.

Invert

(Menu: CurveèMatrixèInvert)

(Shortcut: CTRL + I)

This command inverts the normals of the patch mesh. The normals control the direction of facing for the texture skin and the clipping surfaces.

Re-disperse

(Menu: CurveèMatrixèRe-disperse)

This is used on a selected patch. When rows or columns are inserted or added to a patch, the dimensions of the patch are not changed. The distances between the new additions and the old points are not the same. This command averages out the distance between the points. It does not change the size of the patch. WARNING! Only apply this BEFORE adjusting the patch. Otherwise, you may lose your work on it. With some patches, selecting this command will destroy the patch itself.

Cols

(Menu: CurveèMatrixèRe-disperseèCols)

(Shortcut: SHIFT + CTRL + E)

The distance between columns is averaged and evened out.

Rows

(Menu: CurveèMatrixèRe-disperseèRows)

(Shortcut: CTRL + E)

The distance between rows is averaged and evened out.

Transpose

(Menu: CurveèTranspose)

(Shortcut: SHIFT + CTRL + M)

(Function undetermined)

Cap

(Menu: CurveèCap)

This command adds “cap” patches to the ends of the patch. The original brush and the caps are linked together as a func_group entity. A Patch Tool Bar button duplicates this command. The type of cap depends on the selected patch:

Cylinder The ends of the cylinder are sealed with circular patches.

Square Cylinder The ends of the cylinder are sealed with square patches.

Cone Both ends are capped (open and point). You will want to discard the cap on the point end.

Bevel If you select to cap a bevel, a dialogue window pops up.

A normal bevel cap covers the space between the curve and the center.

Inverted Bevel An inverted bevel covers the space between the curve and the outer corner.

Endcap If you select to cap an endcap, the same dialogue window pops up.

Patch Mesh The bevel/endcap window will pop up. Results will vary depending on the manipulations done to the mesh.

Square Bevel Capped in the same manner as a cylinder

Square End Cap Capped in the same manner as a cylinder

Cycle Cap Texture

(Shortcut: CTRL + SHIFT + N)

Press this repeatedly until the texture on the cap patch looks correct.

Overlay

(Menu: CurveèOverlay)

Overlay turns the grid of control points on for the selected patches and leaves them on until the Clear command is selected. By having the control points on a curve patch be visible, it is easier for the designer to align the vertices of adjacent solid geometry brushes.

Set

(Menu: CurveèOverlayèSet)

(Shortcut: Y)

This is the command to turn on the control points in a selected patch.

Clear

(Menu: CurveèOverlayèClear)

(Shortcut: ALT + Y)

This is the command to turn off all control points in all patches.

Thicken

(Menu: CurveèThicken)

(Shortcut: CTRL + T)

If you think about it conceptually, Thicken transforms a curve patch into a three-dimensional object. It does this by duplicating the selected curve and moving it a distance away from the copied curve, and, if the “seams” checkbox is checked, it will cover the space between the original and the copy with patches. The distance between original and copy is selected in a pop-up dialogue window. The direction is determined by the facing of the curve’s normals (the textured side). The duplicated curve appears on the opposite side of the textured face. The resulting object depends on the nature of the curve primitive being thickened. The following are some examples:

Cylinder A pipe is created. Checking “seams” caps the ends.

Bevel A matching bevel is created. Checking “seams” creates a bent square tube.

Endcap A matching endcap is created. Checking “seams” creates an arch.*

Patch Mesh A mesh that echoes the shape of the selected patch is created, but with XY dimensions smaller or larger by the measure of the thickness (smaller if the normals are on the concave side; larger if on the convex side).

· Thickening an Endcap is not the best way to create this shape. Bending a square cylinder will produce better results.

Patch Tool Bar

The patch tool par is turned on in the Preferences. Each of these buttons enables or disables a curve editing feature, or initiates a process on a selected curve patch.

Don’t Select Curved Brushes

This button toggles the ability to select or not select curve patches in the map. If turned on (depressed), the user will not be able to individually select curve patches. Group selections will still include any curve patches within their boundaries.

Show Patch Bounding Box

This button toggles the display of the bounding box that defines the limits of the patch. On (button depressed) shows the bounding box.

Show Patches as Wireframe

This button toggles the display of patches between a fully textured mesh (off) and a wireframe-only mode (on). The wireframe mode makes it easier to see the deformations of the mesh and allows the user to see some control points that may be hidden by the texture when it is mapped on the mesh. It can also be a performance-enhancer for the editor (by setting the view to wireframe until you need to see the brush textured).

Design Tip: When manipulating the control points on a patch mesh, using wire frame allows you to best see both the control points and the deformations.

Patch Bend Mode

If a curve patch is selected, this button initiates a multi-step bending procedure. There are tutorials available on several sites that address the fine points of bending a patch, whether it is a cylinder or a simple flat mesh. The ESC key will exit the procedure at any point. The following are just the steps:

· Select the patch (and only the patch).

· Press the Patch Bend Mode button. This brings up an instruction window that says:

“Use TAB to cycle through available bend axis.

Press ENTER when the desired one is highlighted”

This highlights (turns pink) a row or column of patch control points. One of these control points will likely be the axis for your bend. Pressing ENTER locks in your choice and advances to the next step.

· A second instruction window message appears:

“Use TAB to cycle through available rotation axis.

This will LOCK around that point. You may also

use Shift + Middle Click to select an arbitrary

point. Press ENTER when the desired one is

highlighted.”

This highlights the specific control point around which the patch will bend. Pressing ENTER locks in your choice and advances to the next step. You can also choose the control point by SHIFT + middle mouse button clicking on the map window. The click need not be within the bounds of the patch.

· A third instruction window message appears:

“Use TAB to choose which side to bend. Press

ENTER when the desired one is highlighted.”

This highlights the side or end of the patch (relative to the bend point) around which the patch will bend. Pressing ENTER locks in your choice and advances to the next step.

· A fourth instruction window message appears:

“Use the MOUSE to bend the patch. It uses the

same ui rules as Free Rotation. Press ENTER to

accept the bend, press ESC to abandon it and exit

Bend mode.”

Clicking and holding the Left mouse button on the map window and dragging it around will cause the patch to bend. Pressing ENTER or ESC at this point will accept any changes that you have made.

Redisperse Patch Points

This is used on a selected patch. When rows or columns are inserted or added to a patch, the dimensions of the whole patch are not automatically adjusted. The distances between the new additions and the old points are not the same. This command averages out the distance between the points.

WARNING: Only apply this BEFORE making adjustments to the patch, otherwise you may lose your work on it. With some patches, the patch itself will be destroyed.

CAP (put caps on the current patch)

This is used on a selected patch.

Design Notes:

Endcaps: Don’t cap endcaps with this tool. Make a pair of opposing bevel caps that match the arch of the endcap

Messed Up Texturing: If an inverted bevel endcap covers something other than an arc of a perfect circle, it is likely that the texture won’t appear right when you apply the CAP function to the texture. Press SHIFT + CTRL + P a few times until it looks right.

Weld Equal Patch Points (welds equal patch points during moves)

(Patch Control Bar only) This feature, when selected (button pressed in) causes control points to weld together if they are moved to the same coordinates. Undo will undo the move and the weld.

Drill Down (selects drill down rows and columns)

When this is toggled on (depressed), clicking on a control point in a 2D Map view selects all the control points in the row or column beneath it.

Moving Patches

Moving Selected Curve Patch

These keys move the curve patch around the map in discrete map grid increments.

Move Selection Down

(Shortcut: Keypad MINUS)

Each press moves the selected map component down along the Z-axis by one grid position (at current grid setting). Not affected by current 2D-map view.

Move Selection Up

(Shortcut: Keypad PLUS)

Each press moves the selected map component up along the Z-axis by one grid position (at current grid setting). Not affected by current 2D-map view.

Nudging the Curve Patch

These keys move the curve patch around the map in discrete map grid increments. The movement is in terms of the selected window, not in terms of XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Down

(Shortcut: ALT + DOWN ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “down” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Up

(Shortcut: ALT + UP ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “up” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Left

(Shortcut: ALT + LEFT ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “left” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Nudge Right

(Shortcut: ALT + RIGHT ARROW)

Each press moves the selected map component “right” the map view by one grid position (at the current grid setting). The movement is relative to the selected map view, not XYZ coordinates.

Snap Selection To Grid

(Shortcut: CTRL + G)

If you are using the map grid to keep curve patches in alignment, this is a great tool. Rotated curve patches and curve patches that have had their vertices tweaked can have vertices that no longer lie on map grid intersections. This snaps the vertices to align with the grid. Be warned that snapping to large grids may be hazardous to the health of your curve patch (Snap and it’s gone! But that’s what UNDO is for).

Tools 4: Working with Textures

There are three skill and knowledge components to working with textures as they regard Quake III Arena. They are Texture creation, Texture Manipulation, and Texture Application. Only the third, Texture Application, is absolutely necessary for making maps. You need not master all three.

Brush Primitives: A New Format

With the release of version 192, the Q3Radiant editor takes a new direction in the way textures are mapped to the surfaces of brushes. The texturing format will roughly be the same as the way textures are handled on curve patches. While there are no changes to the user interface within the editor, you should see a change in the way textures behave on brushes during transformation operations like move and rotate. Because textures are mapped to the S and T coordinates of a brush (as they are with curve patches), locked textures will now maintain their positions on brushes when they are moved or located. Even complex rotations should now be possible without the textures going askew.

Checking the Brush Primitives checkbox turns on this feature. (Menu: Project Settings…èUse brush primitives in map files). Once you change a map to Brush Primitives, you cannot go back to the earlier method of texture mapping with that map. The prudent mapper makes backups before making major changes to projects.

Texture Creation: Making new Assets

This is covered earlier in the manual.

Texture Manipulation: Shader Overview

Technically, each texture already has a default shader that passes it through the pipeline to appear much as it does in the graphic program that made it. A shader is a short script, separate from the texture file, that the game engine uses to make further adjustments to the texture's appearance or function. The shader is to Q3A what the surface properties flags were to Q2, only ever so much more powerful. If you plan on creating your own textures, you should get to know and understand how shaders work. The Q3A Shader Manual contains the information you need.

Shaders and Multi-Pass Texture Effects

(Drawn from an original essay by Small Pile of Gibs)

Shaders give the mapper control over special graphics effects that require multiple redrawing passes before they are finally displayed on the game screen. Every shader that changes the visual component of a texture uses these “Multitexture” effects. Multitexture is ON by default in Quake III Arena. It is turned off with the cvar, “set r_ext_multitexture 0 (entered in the console or bound to a key) – see the Debugging section in this document for more details.

To understand how multitexture works, you need to understand how the Quake III Arena graphic engine renders a scene. All the faces you see in Quake III Arena are made up of triangles – you can see this by using the cvar command “r_showtris 1.” Initially, each triangle adds one to the "tris" number in r_speeds (the numbers that are used to estimate whether a scene is too complex). With every frame that Q3A “paints”, it draws triangles onto the scene in layers, starting at the back of the scene and drawing every triangle visible until it reaches the front. It takes time to draw each triangle. If a triangle is painted with a texture that is “see through” in some way (either transluscent, transparent, or containing cut-outs), any triangles seen through that triangle must be redrawn one additional time for each stage in the the shader. If a single transparent triangle takes up the whole screen, for example, a glass window – The whole area of the screen has to be redrawn. Each triangle of glass takes an entire screen worth of “overdraw” and each extra stage on the glass adds another screenful, which is why glass can be such a big framerate hit.

The simplest form of multitexture is a Lightmap. In most cases, the Q3A engine first draws the lightmap (precalculated light and shadow information). Then, on top of that, it adds in the information from the texture art specified for that triangle using a special effect (blendfunc filter) – which blends the lightmap with the texture to make areas of the texture look light or dark. Using the cvar command “r_vertexlight 1” (Vertex Lighting instead of Lightmaps) stops Q3 from drawing the lightmap triangles (which is why many gamers use vertex lighting to gain additional playing speed).

Every extra stage in a shader is an extra triangle drawn over and blended with the first triangle in a special way. Like the lightmap example above, each additional stage requires an extra triangle to be drawn for each frame. On certain 3D accelerator cards (like the TNT - TwiN Texture), the multitexture effect cancels out the real cost of the first pass of blending. The blending for the first additional stage is done before the triangle is drawn. However, if the shader takes 3 stages (like all the shiny metal effects) it costs an extra triangle for every triangle it is used on. Every extra triangle used adds a triangle to the r_speeds triangle count. Because there are cards that don’t automatically handle this first blending pass, the map maker needs to occasionally check his r_speeds with the multitexture turned off.

Texture Application: Texture Handling Tools

These tools manipulate textures within the editor. They do not create textures or shader scripts.

Escape (ESC)

This is the all-purpose deselect key. Use it to back out of operations you don’t want to complete or to stop working on a brush face, a brush, a patch, or a group of brushes or patches.

View Textures

(Shortcut: T)

This is only used in the four-view and floating windows modes (as set in Preferences). It brings up the Texture selection window (also accessible from a folder tab). If the Entity window is open, you may need to click on a map view window first for the “T” command shortcut to work.

Show in Use

(Menu: TexturesèShow in Use)

(Shortcut: U)

This command affects the content of the Textures window. It filters the contents so that only those textures currently in use in the map are displayed in the window.

Show All

(Menu: TexturesèShow All)

(Shortcut: CTRL + A)

This command affects the content of the Textures window. It “un”-filters the contents so that all the texture directories previously loaded during the mapping session are re-displayed.

Surface Inspector

(Menu: TexturesèSurface Inspector)

(Shortcut: S)

This brings up a pop-up dialogue box. This is one of the more complicated interfaces used during map development and may take some getting used to.

Texture

This is the path/name (beginning in Textures directory) for the texture. You can copy from this field or paste into it. If you know the pathname of a texture, you can enter it here. It will load without having to first load the entire directory that contains it.

The next five commands work on both patches and brushes. However, the results of applying a Horizontal Shift to a brush and to a patch may be substantially different. When working with patches, the numbers in the fields do not change … although the texture on the map component may be changing.

Design Note: When a curve patch butts flush up against a piece of solid geometry, as if it were an extension of that geometry, it may be difficult to align the textures exactly. In fact is often extremely difficult to align a texture on a patch with the texture on an adjacent geometry brush. It works best when the dimensions of the patch are an exact multiple of the dimensions of the texture being used. Otherwise, you may want to consider designing your architecture in such a way that it is logical for a new texture to begin at that point. Use your judgement.

Horizontal Shift

This allows you to change the Horizontal texture offset (position of texture on a surface). You can type an offset value into field or use the scroll buttons on the right to shift the texture. If “Snap T to Grid” is set in Preferences, the scroll increments will move a number of pixels equal to the grid size.

Vertical Shift

This allows you to change the Vertical texture offset (position of texture on a surface). You can type an offset value into field or use the scroll buttons on the right to shift the texture. If “Snap T to Grid” is set in Preferences, the scroll increments will move a number of pixels equal to the grid size.

Horizontal Stretch

This allows you to change the dimensions of textures as they are mapped into the world. You can type a size value into field or use the scroll buttons on the right to enlarge or reduce the texture. The default value is 0.5. This gives a presentation in the game world of two pixels for each game unit. A Horizontal Stretch value of 1.0 would double the amount of area covered by a single repeat of the texture. Of course, doing that also reduces the apparent resolution of the texture by half (can you say blurry?)! Making the stretch value a negative number horizontally flops the texture’s normals (i.e.; flops the texture left to right).

Design note: Textures are “projected” onto brush surfaces. This means that if a surface is angled, the texture stretches to fit the space upon which it is projected. To make the texture look “unstretched” you need to change the dimension so that it looks correct when stretched. Example: If you want to map a texture on a 45-degree angle, it should be scaled to 0.35 along the direction perpendicular to the axis of the angle.

Vertical Stretch

This is the same as for the Horizontal Stretch, but along the vertical axis. Making the stretch value a negative number vertically flops the texture’s normals (i.e.; flops the texture up and down).

Rotate

This rotates the texture around the center point of the brush (or patch). If the texture is not centered on the map component, the rotation will not necessarily look correct. The increment of rotation is set by the value given for the Rotation Inc field on the Preferences window. The default value is 45 (degrees), roughly 1/8 rotation around the axis.

Value

(This Quake 2 function is not used by Quake III Arena)

Texturing

This next grouping of commands in the lower left corner of the window provides two separate sets of buttons. The top set deal with texturing geometry brushes. The lower set is for texturing curve patches.

Axial (Brush)

Realigns texture to the X and Y axes (removing the effects of rotation)

Fit (Brush)

The texture is stretched to fit the dimensions of the brush. The width and height fields to the right are the number of repetitions to be used in the S and T dimensions (S corresponds to X on the actual texture and T corresponds to Y on the actual texture). The default value for the height and width fields is 1. You can type a size value into field or use the scroll buttons on the right to enlarge or reduce the texture. Only integer values can be entered (meaning that you can’t enlarge a texture 1.5 times).

CAP (Patch)

This function is most often applied to patches used to fill in the gaps between curves and solid geometry. It can also be applied to flat patches so that the texture doesn’t appear to follow the arc of the patch. You may need to use the SHIFT + CTRL + N command to normalize the texture on the patch.

Set… (Patch)

This command functions almost like the “Fit” command above for brushes. The texture will be fit across the patch based on the X and Y values given. However, there is a notable difference. The X and Y fields will accept non-integer values (e.g. 6.4 x 3.8). It may take some experimentation to determine which dimension of your patch is considered to be “X” and which is thought to be “Y”. If a value of 1x1 is given, the texture will be “fit” to the patch.

Natural (Patch)

The engine does its best to map the texture onto the patch in a “natural” appearing manner. This means that the texture will curve and flow with the curves and bends in the patch. Unless you are texturing a cap, this should be your first choice when applying a texture.

Fit

The texture’s coordinates are mapped to fit the patch (with no repeats).

Find / Replace

(Menu: Texturesè Find / Replace)

(Shortcut: none)

This feature allows the user to replace a texture within a single brush, a set of selected brushes or globally throughout the entire map. Selecting the command from the menu opens up a dialogue window. The top line is for the texture path and name of the texture to be replaced. The second line is for the texture to be used for replacement. Several checkboxes allow fine control over what, exactly, is to be changed. This command does not respond to UNDO. If you accidentally mistype a texture name in the replace line, you will need to enter it again (as mistyped) on the find line and then enter the correct texture on the replace line.

Texture replacement is global (throughout the map) unless the selected checkboxes state otherwise.

Replace within selected brushes only. Only the hi-lighted brushes that contain the texture to be replaced will be affected.

Force replacement (ignore current texture name). All textures in the map will be replaced. Best if used with Replace within selected brushes only. Be very careful with this one.

Live Updates from Texture/Camera windows. Using Live Update the user can find and replace textures with a fully point and click interface.

Texture Replacement using Live Updates

Click on the Find box, then click on any texture in either the Camera window or the Texture window. The texture path/name for that texture appears in the box. Next click on the Replace box and click on the replacement texture. That texture’s path/name appear in the Replace box. Select “OK” and the replacement will occur.

Step-by-step for replacing a texture on a brush face (if live update is not used).

· In the Camera window, hi-light (CTRL+SHIFT+mouse1) the texture to be replaced.

· Open Surface Inspector. If the name of the texture is not hi-lighted, then hi-light it.

· Press CTRL+C to copy the texture name.

· Open the Find/Replace window.

· Paste (CTRL+V) the name into the find window.

· Hit ESC to deselect the texture in the CAM winow.

· Open the Textures Window. Find the texture you want to replace with and select it.

· Open Surface Inspector again.

(Menu: Textures)

This is not a command. The entries on the Textures Menu below “Texture Window Scale” are the names of the available texture directories (all whose filenames are listed in the shaderlist.txt script). Clicking on one loads the contents of the directory into the Texture window.

Texture Shift Key Shortcuts

A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected before using these shortcuts. This feature closely copies the function of the Texture Shift fields and scroll bars on Surface Inspector pop-up window. If Snap to T is selected in preferences, then the texture shifts in pixel increments equal to the current grid setting. Shifting textures on curve patches may produce unexpected results.

Texture Shift Down (SHIFT + DOWN ARROW)

Texture Shift Up (SHIFT + UP ARROW)

Texture Shift Left (SHIFT + LEFT ARROW)

Texture Shift Right (SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW)

Texture Rotate Key Shortcuts

A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected before using these shortcuts. This feature closely copies the function of the Texture Rotate field and scroll bar on Surface Inspector pop-up window. The texture rotates in degree increments set in Preferences. Rotating textures on curve patches may produce unexpected results.

Texture Rotate Clockwise (SHIFT + PAGEDOWN)

Texture Rotate Counter-Clockwise (SHIFT + PAGEUP)

Texture Scaling Shortcuts

A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected before using these shortcuts. This feature changes the scale of the texture (the amount of area that a single instance of the texture covers). The texture scale seems inconsistent, except that opposite directions appear to cancel each other out. The amount of increase delivered by the first use appears to be about a ratio of 1:15.

Texture Scale Down (CTRL + DOWN ARROW)

Texture Scale Up (CTRL + UP ARROW)

Texture Scale Left (CTRL + LEFT ARROW)

Texture Scale Right (CTRL + RIGHT ARROW)

Using Interactive Textures

Interactive textures are the shader-manipulated textures that have an effect on game play, not just the appearance of the map. There are two classes of Interactive Textures: Special Content Textures and Texture Entities. For more detail and instructions regarding shader manipulation of textures, refer to the Q3A Shader Manual.

Special Content Textures

Special content textures are textures where the “surface” parameters of the texture actually change the physical nature of the geometry brush and in so doing, affects the play of the game.

Water

Water is a content parameter that allows a player to “swim” inside a geometry brush, causes a pulsing visual distortion of the underwater geometry, and prompts the game engine to draw bubbles as projectiles pass through it. A player can only remain under water for a short time (without a battlesuit) and then begins to drown.

Water usage rules:

· A water texture is defined by the presence of surfaceparm water in the shader that creates it.

· Because water is typically a “transparent” surface, the shader passes used to create surface effects on water are added to the shader passes of textures seen through the water surface. This can significantly increase the number of redraw passes necessary to draw the game world and may negatively affect performance.

· If you place water brushes side by side, the touching sides must be marked with the common/nodraw texture.

· Both the top and the bottom surfaces of a water brush must be water texture.

· Water brushes cannot be stacked so they touch another water brush vertically, only set side by side.

· If you want to be able to exit water easily, keep the distance from the top of the water brush to the adjacent “shore” or pool edge at no more than 16 game units. Somewhat less is actually better.

· If fog is to be used as a part of a water volume, the water surface should not deform.

Fog

Fog content is used to block or diminish player vision and provide “atmosphere” for a level. Like water, fog can affect game performance, especially if one can see additional shader effects within it. The following information is taken from the Q3A Shader Manual regarding fog creation and usage.

fogparms <red value> <green value> <blue value> <distance to Opaque>

This surface parameter (or “surfaceparm”) defines the contents of the fog.

Note: you must also specify “surfaceparm fog” to cause q3map to identify the surfaces inside the volume. Fogparms only describes how to render the fog on the surfaces.

<red value> <green value> <blue value> These are normalized values (number range from 0 to 1). A good computer art program should give you the RGB values for a color. To obtain the values that define fog color for Quake III Arena, divide the desired color’s Red, Green and Blue values by 255 to obtain three normalized numbers within the 0.0 to 1.0 range.

<distance to opaque> This is the distance, in game units, until the fog becomes totally opaque, as measured from the point of view of the observer. By making the height of the fog brush shorter than the distance to opaque, the apparent density of the fog can be reduced (because it never reaches the depth at which full opacity occurs).

Fog usage rules:

· If a room (or rooms) is to be filled completely with a fog volume, it can only be entered through one surface (and still have the fog function correctly).

· The fog volume can only have one surface visible (from outside the fog).

· Fog must be made of one brush. It cannot be made of adjacent brushes.

· Fog brushes must be axial. This means that only square or rectangular brushes may contain fog, and those must have their edges drawn along the axes of the map grid (all 90 degree angles).

· If a water texture contains a fog parameter, it must be treated as if it were a fog texture when in use.

· Additional shader passes may be placed on a fog brush, as with other brushes.

· If a light-emitting fog brush is placed beneath normal brush geometry, the light may cause light artifacting on the solid brush surface. Use with care.

· Brush models (trains, doors, rotating objects, etc.) within, or partially within fog volumes will have drawing priority problems against the fog. It is best not to place these entities in fog volumes.

· There are unconfirmed reports of moving entities being made with fog shaders.

Lava

Lava content, for most practical purposes, is a variation of water content. The damage that it does to players in contact with it is defined by game code and cannot be directly affected by the map designer.

Slime

Slime content, for most practical purposes, is a variation of water content. The damage that it does to players in contact with it is defined by game code and cannot be directly affected by the map designer.

Texture Entities

There are a number of shader-manipulated textures that are used in an entity-like fashion. The shader files that manipulate the textures are what give them their game properties. These are the ones that id used and their relevant properties.

Areaportal

Color: Opaque Red Orange

Location: (textures/common/areaportal)

The bsp tool uses areaportals to create hard, visual breaks between areas in the map. Until triggered, the areaportal blocks geometry behind it from being drawn or seen. The area portal brush should be a thin (2 to 4 units thick) brush. It should touch all the brushes that form the hull of the opening being portalled. It must be placed inside a door. The opening of the door triggers the portal function. The closing of the door returns it to its former state. The areaportal texture must completely seal off a volume from another volume (although this can be in conjunction with other areaportals). If a door is being used to block off an area from view, consider placing an areaportal brush inside the door. Example in Quake III Arena: All the doors out of the central courtyard in Q3DM12, The Dredwerkz, are areaportalled.

Caulk

Location: (common/caulk)

Color: Opaque Pink

Game Function: Caulk, the miracle texture. It blocks vis. It seals the world off from the void. It doesn’t draw (so it doesn’t add to triangle counts). It keeps curves from competing with textures behind them. It looks like hell if you see it in your world. From the View menu (ViewèShowèCaulk), you can toggle on and off the display of caulk brush sides.

Design Tips: When you build a brush entity (a.k.a. b_model), mark all the brush sides that you will never see with caulk. Otherwise, the game draws every one of them. Even if you're only making a one-piece door, mark all the non-viewed sides with caulk. The same holds true for detail brushes. If you can't (or won’t ever) see a brush face on a brush that's been marked as detail, paint it with caulk. Next, whenever you build a curve, try to build the brush geometry immediately behind it out of caulk. Finally, look around your map for brush faces that you suspect are being drawn, but are never seen: door pockets, bars, underneath bridges or very low railings and so on. It may sound like work, but attention to detail like this buys you both the appearance of greater geometric detail in the map AND faster game running speed.

More Design Tips: Finally, and this should be used with great care, a caulk brush can be used to create an invisible support for entities. If you place a very thin caulk brush floating above a surface that would otherwise not support an entity (example: a grate made of clip brush), the brush will not draw in the world, but will support the entity. The reason for this is that SUSPENDED entities are not “seen” by bots unless they can be reached by a jump pad.

Clip

Location: (textures/common/clip)

Color: Transparent Red

Game Function: If you look at a professionally made map, quite often you’ll see that nearly every bit of wall surface is covered in a transparent red texture called “common/clip.” Clip is a nondrawing texture that blocks player movement. Clip does not block weapon fire. Entities, such as ammo or weapons, are not supported by clip brushes. If placed or dropped on a clip brush, they will pass through them.

Design Tips: Place clip brushes to smooth the passage of players through the world. This could mean creating a slope that allows the player to slip past a piece of architectural trim, or filling a window to keep players from getting into it. It can be used to create an artificial ceiling that prevents players from flying or jumping too high.

Cluster Portal

Location: (textures/common/clip)

Color: Translucent lavender

Game Function: Works like an area portal, but for the bot navigation file only. Cluster portal is used by the bspc utility to subdivide the map into smaller areas for calculating bot navigation. Appendix C: Bot Navigation Files contains the specific details for using cluster portal texture entities.

Cushion

Location: (textures/common/clusterportal)

Color: Translucent pale aqua

Game Function: A player falling on this does not take damage. They also don't make a "landing" sound, so use with caution.

Do Not Enter

Location: (textures/common/donotenter)

Color: Transparent Pale Orange

Game Function: It is a tool used to solve bot navigation problems. Use it like a clip brush, but sparingly. When you observe bots doing stupid things in your map, try to block off the area with this texture. The Bot Navigation Files appendix contains the specific details for using the Do Not Enter texture entity.

Hint

Location: (textures/common/clusterportal)

Color: Transparent Yellow Green

Game Function: Helps determine the vis portals. It is used as a suggestion to the compiler during the vis phase, when the world is subdivided. Generally speaking, they are used to correct vis problems, whose chief symptom is the “hall of mirrors” effect seen during game play. These can often be corrected by careful placement of a hint brush. If you fill the volume where the error is seen or the volume adjacent to it, the problem may be corrected in the next compile. This is really more art than science.

Invisible

Location: (textures/common/noimpact)

Color:

Game Function: This was used to create a surface that would be marked by weapon fire, but would not be drawn in the world. This was created specifically to resolve a problem where func_static brushes were being used to replace floor textures that marked the location of weapons in Q3DM8. Because the rocket launcher was located in different places between the team and the deathmatch games, the designer wanted to make floor markers that would not only change between game types, but would be marked like adjacent floor pieces.

Nodrawnonsolid

Location: (textures/common/trigger)

Color: Opaque light yellow

Game Function: This is the same as nodraw.

Noimpact

Location: (textures/common/noimpact)

Color: black

Game Function: Used to create a surface which does not block weapon fire.

Weapon fire will pass through this. This usually used as a shader key on other textures.

Origin

Location: (textures/common/origin)

Color: Opaque Orange

Game Function: Used to create origin point in moving b_models, such as trains, plats, and rotating objects. This texture, applied to a square or rectangular brush, is used to create the point of origin for moving b_models, such as trains, plats, and rotating objects. It is used by func_trains as the point that passes through path entities and the source for sound attachment

Skip

Location: (textures/common/skip)

Color: Transparent yellow

Game Function: Do not use in Q3A. This texture was used in Quake 2 maps to discard sides of hint brushes. It is nonfunctional in Q3A.

Slick

Location: (textures/common/trigger)

Color: Translucent Pale Blue

Game Function: Not stick coating for map surfaces. Reduces friction. Use like a very thin clip brush over surfaces you want to be low friction.

Trigger

Location: (textures/common/trigger)

Color: Transparent Dark Yellow

Game Function: Used to make trigger brushes.

Weapon Clip

Location: (textures/common/weap_clip)

Color: Transparent Red

Game Function: This version of the clip brush only stops weapon projectiles from passing through it. No marks are left on the surface.

Design Tip: Use to create clip surfaces for map object models.

Tools 7: Miscellaneous Commands

Feedback & Read-outs

The bottom border of the map window holds four clusters of feedback information.

Z-Axis Layers

(Shortcut: SHIFT + Middle mouse click on 2D map window)

If you are using any window layout that includes the Z-axis scale, you can see the vertical relationships between components with this function.

Cursor Coordinates

These three coordinates, found to the left of center, report the xyz position of the cursor in the 2D map window.

x:: 0.0 y:: 0.0 z:: 0.0

Brush & Entity Counter

This readout is located at roughly center position. It reports the number of brushes (including brushes forming brush entities) and the number of non-brush entities (items, spawn spots, lights, etc.)

Brushes: 0 Entities: 0

Pushing the Limits

This is a good place (as any) to talk about limits. Quake III Arena has an upper limit of 2048 entities (including entity lights!!) and while it’s not an upper limit, staying under 8000 brushes is a pretty good idea.

Selection

This readout temporarily replaces the Brush & Entity counter when a map component is selected. The numbers represent the dimensions of the selection.

Selection X:: 0.0 Y:: 0.0 Z:: 0.0

Origin

This readout temporarily replaces the Brush & Entity counter when a select map component is moved. The numbers represent the origin point of the selection (and track it as it moves).

Origin X:: 0.0 Y:: 0.0 Z:: 0.0

Cursor Travel Distance

These three coordinates, found to the right of the brush and entity counter, report the distance that cursor has traveled from the point where the user has clicked on the 2D map window.

Distance X:: 0.0 Y:: 0.0 Z:: 0.0

Control Settings

In the lower right corner of the editor window, you will see a string of letters and numbers that might look something like this:

G:8 T:16 R:45 C:10 L:MR

Each of these letter/number combinations represents the setting for one of the commonly used tools.

G Grid. Here, it’s set to 8 units.

T Texture Tweak. This the increment in pixels that a texture will shift. Here, it’s set to 16 pixels.

R Rotation. This is the amount of increment, in degrees that a texture or brush will rotate.

C Cubic Clip depth of field. When cubic clip is set, this is how far, in terms of 64 unit blocks that you can see into the map. Here, the setting of 10 would allow you to see 640 units into the map.

L Texture Lock. If M is showing, then it is locked for moves. If R is showing, then it is locked for rotations.

Viewing, Seeing, Not seeing, and Hiding

Toggles (hides or shows) the XZ map window.

Z View

(Menu: Viewè ToggleèZ View)

(Shortcut: SHIFT + CTRL + Z)

Toggles (hides or shows) the Z (height) window.

Center

(Menu: Viewè Center)

(Shortcut: END)

Centers the pitch (up and down) angle of the user view.

Up Floor

(Menu: ViewèUp Floor)

(Shortcut: PAGE UP)

This is a shortcut for moving up between “floors” in map. It changes the user’s Z height in the camera and map views. The view moves to a point where it appears that the user is “standing” on a “floor” (a brush with “air” space directly above it) directly above the user’s current position in the map.

Down Floor

(Menu: ViewèDown Floor)

(Shortcut: PAGE DOWN)

This is a shortcut for moving down between “floors” in map. It changes the user’s Z height in the camera and map views. The view changes to a point where it appears the user is “standing” on a “floor” (a brush with “air” space directly above it) directly below the user’s current position in the map.

Next (XY, YZ, XZ)

(Menu: Viewè Next (XY, YZ, XZ))

(Shortcut: CTRL+TAB)

(Toolbar: XYZ button)

Cycles the content of the XY map window with the other views (side and front).

Layout

(Menu: ViewèLayout)

XY (Top)

(Menu: ViewèLayoutèXY (Top))

(ALT + X when pop-up is held open, cycles with XZ, ENTER to select)

This returns the main map view to XY Top view.

YZ

(Menu: ViewèLayoutèYZ)

(ALT + Y when pop-up is held open)

Changes main (XY) map view to YZ Side view

XZ

(Menu: ViewèLayoutèXZ)

(ALT+ X when pop-up is held open, cycles with XY, ENTER to select)

Changes main (XY) map view to XZ Side view

Zoom

(Menu: ViewèZoom)

If the XY Top window is changed to display either XZ front or YZ side the XY commands below function the same way relative to the window, zooming in and out as commanded.

XY 100%

(Menu: ViewèZoomèXY 100%)

Changes zoom on main map view to full size.

XY Zoom In

(Menu: ViewèZoomèXY Zoom In)

(Shortcut: DELETE)

Zooms closer to main map. Working in smaller grid scale becomes easier.

XY Zoom Out

(Menu: ViewèZoomèZoom Out)

(Shortcut: INSERT)

Zooms out away from the main map. Working in larger grid scale becomes easier.

Z 100%

(Menu: Viewè ZoomèZ 100%)

Changes zoom on the z (height) scale to full size.

Z Zoom In

(Menu: ViewèZoomèZ Zoom In)

(Shortcut: CTRL + DELETE)

Zooms in closer on the z (height) scale.

Z Zoom Out

(Menu: ViewèZoomèZ Zoom Out)

(Shortcut: CTRL + INSERT)

Zooms out and away from the z (height) scale.

Cubic Clip Zoom In

(Menu: ViewèZoomèCubic Clip Zoom In)

(Shortcut: CTRL + ] )

This requires that the Cubic Clipping function be toggled on. It decreases the Depth of Field (distance in which map components are seen) in the Camera window. Less map components are seen at one time. Decreasing the distance seen in the Camera window can significantly improve editor performance when viewing large numbers of map components. See Cubic Clipping.

Cubic Clip Zoom Out

(Menu: ViewèZoomèCubic Clip Zoom Out)

(Shortcut: CTRL + [ )

This requires that the Cubic Clipping function be toggled on. It Increases the Depth of Field (distance in which map components are seen) in the Camera Window. Increasing the distance seen in the Camera window can significantly slow down speed at which your point of view moves in the camera window. Increase the zoom to maximum distance only if you have a relatively powerful editing system. See Cubic Clipping.

(Menu: ViewèShowèCurves)

(Shortcut: CTRL + P)

Shows all curve patches.

Caulk

(Menu: ViewèShowèCaulk)

(Shortcut: none)

Shows brush sides containing the common/caulk texture (does not affect entire brush).

Design Tip: When you optimize detail brushes by caulking unseen brush faces, isolate the detail brushes in a region then turn off Caulk. Brush faces that need caulking will show up clearly as you move around the brushes.

Angles

(Menu: ViewèShowèAngles)

(Shortcut: none)

Shows facing angle of player start spots by way of a white arrow.

Hide/Show

(Menu: ViewèHide/Show)

This is an immensely powerful and useful tool. It lets the user temporarily hide map components that may be in the way of working on other brushes. Hidden components are not affected by CSG actions.

(Menu: ViewèEntities as…èSkinned and boxed)

(Shortcut: none)

The skinned mesh for the model appears inside a wire frame of the bounding box in both the map and Camera views.

Cubic Clipping

(Menu: ViewèCubic Clipping)

(Shortcut: CTRL + \ )

(Toolbar: Cubic Clipping button, to right of XYZ & Texture view mode buttons)

This command toggles on (checked) or off when selected. Cubic Clipping may be the most effective way to improve editor performance. When turned on, only those map components near the player are displayed in the Camera window. Any map components beyond a certain depth of field will not be displayed in the camera window (it has no effect on map windows). As the user moves through the map in camera view, map components will pop into being as the point-of-view (POV) draws closer and disappear as the POV moves farther away. The shorter the distance “seen” in the camera view, the better will be the editor performance when moving through the map. Use the Cubic Clip Zoom commands (see above) to modify the depth of field seen in the camera view.

Open GL Lighting

(Menu: View)

(Shortcut: none)

This feature is not fully implemented yet. It toggles on (checked) or off when selected. When it is finished, all planes facing a particular direction will shade the same way (curves will shade like brushes) and the overall quality of the camera view will be better. It will be slower however.

Tip: As it currently is implemented, this lighting can be useful when working with irregular surfaces all covered with the same texture.

Show Brush/Patch Dimensions

(Shortcut to turn on: Q)

(Shortcut to turn off: SHIFT + Q or CTRL + Q)

When you select a brush, the hi-lighted image in the map window shows its dimensions, in game units. If multiple patches or brushes are selected, the size will be the dimensions of the grouping. If any kind of non-brush model entity is included in the grouping, the dimensions are not shown.

File Management Commands

New Map

(Menu: FileèNew Map)

(Shortcut: none)

This creates a new map file. If the current map file contains any unsaved changes, the editor will offer the option to cancel.

Open…

(Menu: FileèOpen…)

(Shortcut: CTRL + O)

(Toolbar: opening folder icon)

This opens up the Maps folder as defined in the preferences. It will show all valid map files in that directory. User may browse to other directories from here. Double clicking on a map file icon or hi-lighting that map and selecting Open will open the map. The user may also type in a map file name. Be sure to add the “.map” or “.reg” extensions or the editor will not find the file.

Save…

(Menu: FileèSave…)

(Shortcut: CTRL + S)

(Toolbar: disk icon)

Saves a new map file to the default Maps directory. A reopened map file will be saved to its source directory. Note, that it is usually a good idea to save the map into the directory used by the compiler as the source of its map data. Remember to give the file a name. The compiler doesn’t like to work with files called Unnamed Map.

Save As…

(Menu: FileèSave As…)

(Shortcut: none)

Opens the default directory for maps and prompts the user to give the map a filename.

Save Selected…

(Menu: FileèSave Selected…)

(Shortcut: none)

The selected brushes are saved as a map file. This is not the way to make prefabs, though.

(Menu: FileèLoad project…)

(Shortcut: none)

Make a new project file. This allows you to set up different preferences.

Project Settings…

(Menu: FileèProject Settings…)

(Shortcut: none)

Change pathnames and add, remove or modify commands.

Miscellaneous Commands

Map info…

(Menu: EditèMap info…)

(Shortcut: none)

This gives a readout of brushes (including curve patches) and entities in the map, including the total number of brushes that are not part of entities. There is also a breakdown, by type, showing the number of entities in the map.

Entity info…

(Menu: EditèEntity info…)

(Shortcut: none)

This gives a read-out of the entities in a map by their type. It allows you to select an entity, which hi-lights it in the XY Map. Good for locating lost entities.

Preferences

(Menu: EditèPreferences)

(Shortcut: P)

This opens the window for setting or modifying the parameters, paths and features of the editor. Preferences are discussed in the Installation & Set Up section earlier in this document.

Opening Menus from the Keyboard

These are the keyboard shortcuts that open up the menus. If you continue to hold down the ALT key, many of the commands in that menu may be activated with an ALT+ keystroke command.

File (ALT + F)

Edit (ALT + E)

View (ALT + V)

Selection (ALT + S)

Bsp (ALT + B) Note: Toggles between BSP & Brush. Hit enter to open selected.

Grid (ALT + G)

Textures (ALT + T)

Misc (ALT + M)

Region (ALT + R)

Brush (ALT + B)

Curve (ALT + C)

Plugins (ALT + P)

Help (ALT + H)

Tools 9: Debugging Maps

Regardless of your skills, you can almost guarantee that you are going to make mistakes building your maps. You need tools to help you find and correct those mistakes. There are two classes of map debugging tools usable with Quake III Arena. The first are those that the editor gives you. The second are commands usable in the game.

The Editor’s Debug Tools

The Q3Radiant editor has some built in debugging tools

The Pointfile

One of the most useful tools in the box, this is the “red flag” that warns you about problems with the “hull” or “shell” of the map. When you compile a map, the bsp process checks the integrity of the map hull. If a map has a hole in it’s hull or if an entity’s origin point is placed outside the map hull, the map will “leak”. Quake III Arena maps must be totally contained volumes. They cannot have “leaks” in them. Leaks are openings in the hull between the contained space (or “breathable” as one mapper has described it) and the outer void where nothing can abide.

The pointfile appears as a series of points, connected by red line segments, that traces a connecting path between an entity inside the hull and a point in the outside world.. Follow the pointfile through the map and note where it passes out of the enclosed space and into the void. In the case of an entity outside the world, it may just draw a line near the entity. You may need to turn off the display of clip and hint brushes, and curves to find the leaks. Adjust your solid map geometry to close up the leaks.

When you save the map (or an auto-save occurs), the pointfile disappears. You can bring the pointfile back by toggling this command.

Note: If you use a front-end program for compiling, such as Q3Build, you will need to reload the map file and select the “pointfile” command under the File menu.

Next leak spot

(Menu: MiscèNext leak spot)

(Shortcut: SHIFT + CTRL +K)

If you have a pointfile displayed in your map, use this command to move from point to point along the file. It’s an easy way to move along the path to the point where the red line passes out of the contained space of the map.

Previous leak spot

(Menu: MiscèNext leak spot)

(Shortcut: SHIFT + CTRL +K)

A feature just like “Next leak spot”, except that you move backwards along the pointfile.

Junk.txt

The Q3MAP compiler outputs this log file. It logs what the compiler is doing during the process; displays error messages and gives final compile times for each phase. Because the compiler works in three discrete phases, you can also use this output to gauge how far along the compile has gone. Edit the project file to change the path to the destination for this output.

Error Messages

When you compile a map, you are likely to get error messages. Most of these are not serious and the game engine either corrects them or ignores them. This is a sampling of common messages and what you should do about them.

Mixed faces: One or more faces on a brush has a surface parameter that conflicts with the other surface parameters. This is not a problem. Putting nodraw or clip on a brush that has a face that draws will cause this. That includes most all “flame” brushes, many water brushes, and just about every instance where alpha-channel textures are used to create see-through brush faces.

Bad point to polygon form factor: A curve patch is larger than 512 units in at least one dimension. This is not fatal, but may result in some unusual light artifacts on the curve.

Unknown surfaceparm: “nomipmaps” Some shaders contain old or incorrectly spelled parameters. This is not a problem.

Too many portals. Your map is broken into too many separate hulls by areaportal brushes. Try to keep the number of discrete portalled areas under 16.

Duplicate plane. During the course of manipulating brushes, you may have moved edges in such a manner that two adjacent sides of a brush now form a single brush side. Use Find brush to locate the problem brush. Use the old brush as a template or pattern, but build the new one with a single side in the place of the duplicate plane sides. One way to solve the problem is to use the Clipper tool cut off a corner instead of collapsing two faces into one. While this is not a serious problem for multiplayer play, it can create “solid” areas in the bot navigation (.aas) file. This makes the bots think there are walls in places where there appear to be none. You can check for solid areas with the “bot_testsolid 1” inside the game (after creating an .aas file). See the Bot Navigation appendix for more details.

******* Leaked *******. There is a hole between the contained space of your map and the outer void. Use the pointfile to locate the problem.

Couldn't load baseq3/pics/colormap.pcx trying tools/colormap.pcx...failed! This is not a compile error, but a loading error. Correct it by checking the hi-color textures setting in Preferences.

Loading base_light/light_flare...failed, using default shader. Just ignore this.

match token ("{") failed at line [line number]. You broke a shader while editing it. Go closely look at the shader you most recently edited. Chances are you’ll find a bracket error in the syntax.

In-game Debug tools

One of the best places to look for errors in your map is within the Quake III Arena game itself. After the map has compiled, execute your Debug Config and load your map. The commands here will help you discover the errors in your map.

General Cheats

The following are the general Quake III Arena cheat codes (they’re actually developer’s tools). You can enter them from the console, or bind them to whatever keys you prefer using the syntax bind [key] [command]. If the command is a string with spaces, then the string should be enclosed with quotation marks.

give [weapon/item/ammo/health] [amount] // Give selected weapon/item/ammo/health

give all // Gives all weapons, ammo, armor, and items

god // Godmode

noclip // Pass through anything. Use in conjunction with r_fastsky 1 or r_clear 1, or you will have hall of mirror problems when you pass out of the bounds of the map.

notarget // Bots think you're a pal viewpos // Outputs player coordinate position and facing angle.

General Toggle Binds

(Thanks to original authors GrandMaMa and Eutectic )

The following are some binds that you might like handy. Note that some of these will alter saved settings, so make sure that your preferred settings are loaded on startup, like in your autoexec.cfg file.

bind “your key” toggle r_speeds // polycount report

bind “your key” toggle r_showtris // tris triangles

bind “your key” toggle cg_drawfps // framerate counter

bind “your key” toggle com_speeds // shows all stats

bind “your key” toggle r_drawentities // ents won’t be drawn

Debug Mode: Logfile Creation

One method that can be used for troubleshooting maps where curious errors occur (usually when simply too much is going on at once) is to resort to poring over the developer output. The console buffer is limited, and error-producing maps may crash, so printing the output to a logfile is desired. This script allows the toggling of these functions.

bind "your key" vstr dbg set dbg vstr debug_1

set developer 0 set logfile 0 set debug_1 "set dbg vstr debug_0;echo DEBUGMODE ON;developer 1;logfile 2" set debug_0 "set dbg vstr debug_1;echo DEBUGMODE OFF;developer 0;logfile 0”

GL_Showtris/R_Speeds/FrameCounter Toggle

(Based in part on an article by orginal author MD)

The “gl_showtris” and “r_speeds” commands allow you to see the number and location of polygons (surface triangles) in your view. The “

Show me the Triangles

Showtris draws a white line around each triangle used to create the world when it is a part of a map’s potential viewable set (PVS). This is especially effective tool, since it shows the triangle outlines of map areas that are being “seen” by the engine, which are not always just the ones that the player sees.

Depending on your video card, this may work well, or it may not. For some (like the Matrox cards, it comes with a huge performance hit).

The Need for (R_) Speeds

This output is one of the more valuable reports you can get on a map. The numbers show you the numbers that can tell you what kind of real visual costs you are encounter. Combined with other commands that turn features like entities, curves, and multi-pass texturing on and off, you can get a realistic idea of where you’re having problems.

Here’s what those cryptic numbers mean.

When r_speeds = 1, the numbers read as follows (where the # sign equals a number)

# / # shaders/surfs # leafs # verts # / # tris #.## mtex #.## dc

# / # shaders/surfs is the number of shaders in view, followec by the number of surfaces in view.

# leafs is how many leaf nodes are potentially visible.

# verts is how many vertexes are in view

# / # tris is the number of trangles drawn by the renderer in a single pass single pass followed by the number of triangles drawn by the renderer with all passes. These are the numbers that are most often implied when someone talks about “r_speeds.” If the r_ext_multitexture variable is off, the numbers will reflect a more accurate accounting of the real triangle count (see multi-pass texturing section below).

# .## mtex #.## dc [definition under construction]

Frame Rate

There is a tendency for rate of frame display to become a sort of god (or at least a “greatest good”) for some players. Their quality of play, whether real or psychological, revolves around how fast their computer is flipping through screen updates. Everything else, to them, is throw away. While the design and complexity of a map can affect this, so can many features that are outside of the designer’s control. For that reason, frame rate is not a particularly good way to judge the quality of your map.

The “cg_drawfps 1” command gives you instantaneous frame rate readout.

Use this command string to toggle the three at once. Include the following lines in your Debug Config script:

set r_showtris 0

set r_speeds 0

set cg_drawfps 0

bind “your key” “toggle r_showtris;toggle r_speeds;toggle cg_drawfps”

Lock the PVS Table

(Author: MD)

“PVS” means “potential viewable set.” The PVS includes all the polygons that can be seen from a particular location in the map (i.e., where you are standing now). The game engine updates what is visible and what is not as you move through the map. You can stop this updating process, and see just how far the engine can see by moving until you find an area of the world that’s not being drawn. Use this to debug views where the frame rate drops below an acceptable level. Go to a place where you get a bad “fps” reading. Execute this command. When the PVS Table is locked, you can walk through the map and see exactly how far your view extends. Surfaces in view will be drawn as normal. Non-seen surfaces will show up as the Hall of Mirrors effect (unless the fast sky or r_clear options are also set). Use the information as a guide for changing what can be seen in a view.

This command string script toggles the use of the PVS table to let you do this. It also toggles on the r_clear option, so instead of Hall of Mirrors the void beyond the world is seen in fashion doll pink.

set r_lockpvs 0 set r_clear 0

bind “your key” vstr lockview set lockview vstr lockview1

set lockview1 “set lockview vstr lockview0;echo PVS Locked;r_lockpvs 1;r_clear 1”

set lockview0 “set lockview vstr lockview1;echo PVS Unlocked;r_lockpvs 0;r_clear 0”

MultiPass Texturing Toggle

(Based on an article by original author: MD)

The number of triangles that must be drawn before a frame can be displayed affects the speed at which the game is played. More triangles means lower speed. When a texture on a triangle requires additional drawing passes, it is the same as drawing an additional triangle again for each pass of redraw. The ideal video card for the Quake III Arena game is one that has a multi-pass texturing feature. What this means is that the second rendering pass on a texture is essentially free. Its triangle cost is not calculated into the r-speeds. Unfortunately, the map designer cannot plan on every user having such a card and must instead design for worst case scenarios. If you are working on machine that has a multi-pass texturing feature, you will need to find out how the other half plays. You need to toggle the feature off for this.

This feature toggles between multi-pass texturing and single-pass texturing. When multi-pass texturing is enabled, the additional triangles are masked. They won't appear in the r_speeds report.

For this feature to work, the video must be restarted. That command is included in the binding. For best results, refrain from pressing the bound key again until the video has re-initialized and the map has re-loaded. Your normal setting for r_ext_multitexture should appear also. In the key binding below, it’s been set to a value of 1, which is the most common. This way it will be properly set on startup, since this toggle can hose that setting.

set r_ext_multitexture 1

bind “your key” “toggle r_ext_multitexture;vid_restart”

Turning Off Curves and Entities

How much of the r_speed cost in your map can be attributed to entities. How much to curves? These two commands turn off the drawing of those entities. The set commands start by setting the features to their “on” condition.

bind “your key” toggle r_drawentities // entities won't be drawn

bind “your key” toggle r_nocurves // curves won't be drawn

Curves, Caulk, T-Junctions and Cracks

(From an article on the same by Martin Ka’ai Cluney)

During the course of Quake III Arena development, a number of solutions were created to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the compiling process. None of these problems is a game killer, but the presence of these little flaws tends to reduce the professional appearance of game maps.

An Explanation of “Z-Fighting”

“Z-fighting” is caused when the engine tries to simultaneously draw two surfaces that share the same plane. “Z-fighting” commonly occurs when two brushes with different textures are in the same place (see fig. X-1,) but it can also occur on some video cards when a patch is placed over a textured brush (see fig. X-2.)

An Explanation of T-Junction Cracks

“T-junction cracks” are a little more complicated than ‘Z-fighting’, and can be more difficult to track down and fix. They are caused when the vertices (control points) of a curve patch don’t match up with surrounding world geometry. They can be caused when a patch extends into the world on one or more sides (see fig. X-3,) or when there is a split in the faces that make up one or more edges of a patch (fig. X-4.)

Avoiding T-Junction Cracks and Z-fighting

The best way to keep maps free of “T-junction cracks” and “Z-fighting” is to keep these problems in mind while adding patches and supporting geometry. There are a few simple methods for adding patches. Initially, they may seem like more work that they’re worth, but they will save hours of hunting down and fixing problems that can arise through careless construction.

1. Avoid spanning more than one brush with one edge of a patch. For example, if an inverted bevel is 128 units tall, back it with 128 unit tall caulk brushes. Likewise, if the wall is made up of two vertically stacked brushes; use two vertically stacked patches of matching heights.

2. Avoid patches that extend into world brushes, unless all of the edges extend into world brushes. When adding patches, if one edge of the patch extends into the world, while the other edges line up with other brushes, there will most likely be cracking. Sometimes, particularly in the case of ‘flesh’ elements, it is necessary to extend parts of a patch into the world. In these cases, extend all edges into the world, or into surrounding patches.

3. Be Careful with vertices. Use Snap to Grid. Without it, your curves will create far more problems than they will otherwise might. Sometimes, especially after resizing patches, vertices can get “knocked off” the grid. Always make sure vertices are where they’re supposed to be. If needed, patch vertices can always be snapped back to the grid using CTRL+ G. It’s always a good idea to be completely aware of where things are in relation to the grid.

4. Caulk, caulk and more caulk. Get into the habit early of building the space behind curve patches with caulk brushes. You will eliminate Z-fighting, seal up the area behind the curves, and unless you are building a map in fashion doll pink, edges that aren’t aligned with the curves have a better chance of showing up.

Here are a few examples of common elements from the maps in Quake III Arena, and how they should (and should not) be built to avoid Cracks and “Z-Fighting”:

Jump Pads

Jump pads are probably the most common occurrence of T-junction cracks in Quake III Arena Maps. They usually extend upwards through at least two ‘levels’ (layers) of textures, so they’re a perfect illustration of proper caulking. They are also a perfect illustration of ‘binding’ curves within structural brushes.

Flat arches

Flat Arches are another good example of ‘binding’ curves with structural brushes. This is a handy technique when incorporating a curve into a complex map element seamlessly.

Rounded Wall Edges (endcapped)

This is a simple example of terminating a wall in a rounded edge. The most important thing to keep in mind here is where the vertices are placed. If the patch is extended into the ceiling or floor, there will almost certainly be cracks.

Inverted Wall Bevels

Filleting a wall seems like it would be a simple thing, but there are many cases that could cause cracks. It’s important to make sure heights are consistent, especially in the case of layered texturing, as is the case in this example.

Finding and Fixing T-Junction Cracks and Z-Fighting

There will usually be cases where, despite careful building, cracks appear. When looking for cracks that may have been missed, there are three console commands that will be a great help:

\r_clear 1: This will clear the frame buffer on each frame, eliminating the Hall of Mirrors effect.

\r_fastsky 1: This will draw the sky as a single, solid color, making it easier to see the void behind curves. This makes cracks stand out. Be aware that fastsky also disables the function of portal screens and mirrors.

\r_showtris 1: This will draw white lines around all of the triangles in the world, showing exactly how the geometry in the map is affecting the patches.

NOTE: Another good way to use these commands is to set them to toggle on a key. The Debug Config below contains these commands as toggles.

Turn on r_clear, and r_fastsky, and run through the map, looking at the patches from all possible angles. If there is a crack, turn on r_showtris, and make sure that the patch does not extend into the world, unless it was intended to. Next, look at the surrounding brushes. Make sure that no splits meet the edge of the patch. If neither case is true (it happens these case… ‘mystery cracks’), then try a different approach to building the area; perhaps splitting one patch into two, or rearranging the brushes surrounding the patch. When none of the above seems to work, experiment with as many different ways as possible. If something works, keep it in mind for the next time.

A Debug Config

The following script should be copied and pasted into a text file. Save the text file as “debug.cfg”. When you want to use these commands while playing a map, you need to load the map using the console. First type in “/devmap [mymapname] to load the map. Next type in “/debug.cfg”. This executes your development configuration. Note that this changes the key assignments of some keys (you define which one is used for each assignment of “yourkey”. These debugging tools are considered “cheats.” They will not function during normal game play.

//+++++++++++++++++++++

//toggle on/off frames per second, polygon wireframes, and polygon in view counts with one keypress

set r_showtris 0 //sets triangle display to off

set r_speeds 0 //sets triangle counter display to off

set cg_drawfps 0 //sets frame display counter to off

bind “your key” “toggle r_showtris;toggle r_speeds;toggle cg_drawfps”

//The following are some individual binds for a few debug tools

set r_drawentities 1

set toggle r_nocurves 0

bind “your key” “toggle r_speeds” // polycount report

bind “your key” “toggle r_showtris” // Shows the actual triangles that form the world

bind “your key” “toggle cg_drawfps” // framerate counter

bind “your key” “toggle com_speeds” // shows all stats

bind “your key” “toggle r_fastsky” //turns off detailed sky and turns void to sky color

bind “your key” “toggle r_clear 1” // This will clear the frame buffer on each frame.

//Show coordinates that can be related to map coordinates.

bind “your key” “viewpos” // Outputs player coordinate position and facing angle.

//Turn off Entities and Curves

bind “your key” “toggle r_drawentities” // entities won’t be drawn

bind “your key” “toggle r_nocurves” // curves won’t be drawn

//Toggle off the multi-pass texturing feature

set r_ext_multitexture 1

bind “your key” “toggle r_ext_multitexture;vid_restart”

//Output console messages to a log file

bind "your key" vstr dbg set dbg vstr debug_1

set developer 0 set logfile 0 set debug_1 "set dbg vstr debug_0;echo DEBUGMODE ON;developer 1;logfile 2" set debug_0 "set dbg vstr debug_1;echo DEBUGMODE OFF;developer 0;logfile 0”

//Lock the PVS Table

set r_lockpvs 0 //turns off any existing PVS lock

set r_clear 0 //turns “void” bright pink

bind “your key” vstr lockview set lockview vstr lockview1 //binds three vstr scripts to a key

set lockview 1 “set lockview vstr lockview 0;echo PVS Locked;r_lockpvs 1;r_clear 1”

set lockview 0 “set lockview vstr lockview 1;echo PVS Unlocked;r_lockpvs 0;r_clear 0”

//Game Cheats (for debugging purposes)

bind “your key” “give all” // Gives all weapons, ammo, armor, and items

bind “your key” “god” //toggles god mode //makes player invulnerable to everything but kill triggers

bind “your key” “toggle noclip; toggle r_clear 1”//toggles ability to pass through walls and clear function

bind “your key” “notarget” // Bots think you’re a pal (until you shoot them)

Appendix B: Entity Descriptions

This Section owes much of the background and testing research to three dedicated Quake Engine editing supporters, Suicide20, inolen, and EuteTic. It is based on version 1.1 (12/22/99) of a document that they created and gave us permission to include with the official id editor documents.

“Keys” are keywords that represent the in-game properties of an entity. Some are flags that determine whether an entity will appear in a particular game play mode. Others define extents or rates for entity movement. Others establish how much of some game effect will occur (example: damage) or how long to wait until an event occurs or can reoccur.

With the exception of properties that can be set by checkboxes, the map maker will need to type in keys (names for game function properties) and their values (numbers or strings) into fields within the entities window.

Keys that are set by checkboxes in the editor are called “Spawnflags” and will be shown in All Caps. The rest are shown in lowercase, as they should be typed into the editor field.

Basic Key information

Angle: This is the direction of facing or direction of movement for an entity. Set this value with the Angle buttons on the entity window. The angle value can be typed in as any positive value between 1 and 360.

Color: This key only affects md3 models that are built into func_entities. The color is the color of light used to illuminate the model. It is expressed as a normalized three digit RGB formula.

Entity Dimensions: The minimum and maximum coordinate dimensions of the entity box.

Light: This key only affects md3 models that are built into func_entities.

Map Entity Color: This is the color of the generic entity box used to represent the entity in the map editor.

Ammo_* Entities

The properties for ammo entities are all very similar.

wait: time in seconds before the item respawns after being picked up (default 40, -1 = never respawn).

random: random time variance in seconds added or subtracted from “wait” delay (default 0 - see Notes).

team: set this to team items. Teamed items will respawn randomly after team master is picked up (see Notes).

target: picking up the item will trigger the entity this points to.

targetname: a target_give entity can point to this for respawn freebies.

notbot: when set to 1, a bot will never seek out this item

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags

SUSPENDED: item will spawn where it was placed in map and won’t drop to the floor. Set by Checkbox. Bots will only be attracted to suspended entities if they are reachable by way of a jump pad or launch pad (trigger_push).

Notes

The amount of time it takes for an item in the team to respawn is determined by the “wait” value of the item that was picked up previously. So if one of the items in the team has it's “wait” key set to -1 (never respawn), the random respawning cycle of the teamed items will stop after that item is picked up.

When the random key is set, its value is used to calculate a minimum and a maximum delay. The final time delay will be a random value anywhere between the minimum and maximum values: (min delay = wait - random) (max delay = wait + random).

Design Notes

An ammo item can be given a negative “count” value. Taking away ammo in combat would be a bad idea but in combination with a target_give entity, it can be used to set up games mods like Rocket Arena by removing the machinegun ammunition from a player when he spawns into the map.

Func_* Entities

Func_Entities include a wider variety of game purposes than other entity classes. They are sometimes represented by simple function boxes. But many are built out of brushes, patches and models. These constructions are sometimes called “b_models”, though for many of them the word “mover” works as well, since they are made to be moving objects in the game world.

func_bobbing

Map Entity Color: N/A

Dimensions: size of map components used

Game Function: Solid entity that oscillates back and forth in a linear motion. By default, it will have an amount of displacement in either direction equal to the dimension of the brush in the axis in which it's bobbing. Entity bobs on the Z axis (up-down) by default. It can also emit sound if the “noise” key is set. Will crush the player when blocked.

Keys

speed: amount of time in seconds for one complete oscillation cycle (default 4).

height: sets the amount of travel of the oscillation movement (default 32).

phase: sets the start offset of the oscillation cycle. Values must be 0 < phase < 1. Any integer phase value is the same as no offset (default 0).

noise: path/name of .wav file to play. Use looping sounds only (eg. sound/world/drone6.wav - See Notes).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/jets/jets01.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of sound and .md3 model included with entity (See Notes).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags

X_AXIS : entity will bob along the X axis.

Y_AXIS : entity will bob along the Y axis.

Notes

In order for the sound to be emitted from the location of the entity, it is recommended to include a brush with an origin shader at its center, otherwise the sound will not follow the entity as it moves. Setting the origin key is simply an alternate method to using an origin brush. When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value. The movement of the func_bobbing follows a sinoid wave pattern.

func_button

Map Entity Color: N/A

Dimensions: size of map components used

Game Function: When a button is touched by a player, it moves in the direction set by the “angle” key, triggers all its targets, stays pressed by an amount of time set by the “wait” key, then returns to its original position where it can be operated again.

Keys

angle: determines the direction in which the button will move (up = -1, down = -2).

target: all entities with a matching targetname will be triggered.

speed: speed of button's displacement (default 40). Speed is in game units per second.

wait: number of seconds button stays pressed (default 1, -1 = return immediately).

lip: lip remaining at end of move (default 4 units).

health: if set to a non-zero value, the button must be damaged by “health” amount of points to operate.

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/pipe/pipe02.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of .md3 model included with entity (See Notes).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Notes

Setting the origin key is simply an alternate method to using an origin brush. When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value.

func_door

Map Entity Color: N/A

Dimensions: size of map components used

Game Function: Normal sliding door entity. By default, the door will activate when player walks close to it or when damage is inflicted on it. Doors move a distance equal to their dimension along the selected angle of travel, minus the “lip” key value.

Keys

angle: determines the opening direction of door (up = -1, down = -2).

speed: determines how fast the door moves (default 100). Speed is in game units per second.

wait: number of seconds before door returns (default 2, -1 = return immediately - see Notes).

lip: lip remaining at end of move (default 8).

targetname: if set, a func_button or trigger is required to activate the door.

health: if set to a non-zero value, the door must be damaged by “health” amount of points to activate (default 0).

dmg: damage to inflict on player when he blocks operation of door (default 4). Door will reverse direction when blocked unless CRUSHER spawnflag is set.

team: assign the same team name to multiple doors that should operate together (see Notes).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes. (default 1 1 1).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/pipe/pipe02.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of .md3 model included with entity (See Notes).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags

START_OPEN: the door will spawn in the open state and operate in reverse.

CRUSHER: door will not reverse direction when blocked and will keep damaging player until he dies or gets out of the way.

Notes

Unlike in Quake 2, doors that touch are NOT automatically teamed. If you want doors to operate together, you have to team them manually by assigning the same team name to all of them. Setting wait =-1 for normal touch doors makes them work erratically. Use this only for damage-only ("health” key set to non-zero value) or targeted doors. Setting the origin key is simply an alternate method to using an origin brush. When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value.

func_group

Map Entity Color: Light blue

Dimensions: Determined by dimensions of map components.

Game Function: This is not an entity. It is strictly an editor utility to group world brushes and patches together for convenience (selecting, moving, copying, etc). You cannot group entities with this.

Notes

The TAB key can be used to flip through the component pieces of a selected func_group entity, isolating individual components.

func_pendulum

Map Entity Color: Light blue

Dimensions: Determined by dimensions of map components.

Game Function: Solid entity that describes a pendulum back and forth rotation movement. Rotates on the X axis by default. Pendulum frequency is a physical constant based on the length of the beam and gravity. Contact with the pendulum instantly kills a player.

Keys

angle: angle offset of axis of rotation from default X axis (default 0/360).

speed: angle of swing arc in either direction from initial vertical position (default 30).

phase: sets the start offset of the swinging cycle. Values must be 0 < phase < 1. Any integer phase value is the same as no offset (default 0).

noise: path/name of .wav file to play. Use looping sounds only (eg. sound/world/drone6.wav).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/jets/jets01.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of entity's rotation axis and .md3 model included with entity (default “0 0 0” - See Notes).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Notes

You need to have an origin brush as part of this entity. The center of that brush will be the point through which the rotation axis passes. Setting the origin key is simply an alternate method to using an origin brush. Pendulum will rotate along the X axis by default. Pendulum cannot rotate along Z axis. The speed of swing (frequency) is not adjustable, and the “dmg” key (although set in the Q3A maps) has no effect whatsoever. When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value.

func_plat

Map Entity Color: Light blue

Dimensions: Determined by dimensions of map components.

Game Function: This is a rising platform that a player can ride to reach higher places. Plats must always be drawn in the raised position, so they will operate and be lighted correctly but they spawn in the lowered position. The plat will stay in the raised position until the player steps off. There are no proper sounds for this entity, only beep noises, so sound call paths must be adjusted (see Notes).

Keys

speed: determines how fast the plat moves (default 150) in game units per second.

lip: lip remaining at end of move (default 16). Has no effect if “height” is set.

height: if set, this will determine the total amount of vertical travel of the plat (see Design Notes).

dmg: damage to inflict on a player when he blocks operation of plat (default 4). Plat will reverse direction when blocked.

targetname: if set, the trigger that points to this will raise the plat each time it fires. The plat raises and comes back down a second later if no player is on it.

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/pipe/pipe02.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of .md3 model included with entity (See Notes).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Notes

By default, the total amount of vertical travel of a platform is implicitly determined by the overall vertical size of the brushes of which it's made minus the lip value. But if the “height” key is used, then the total amount of vertical travel of the plat will be exactly that value regardless of the shape and size of the plat and regardless of the value of the “lip” key. Using the “height” key is the best method for any kind of platforms and the only possible one for thin plats which need to travel vertical distances many times their own thickness. Setting the origin key is simply an alternate method to using an origin brush. When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value.

Design Notes:

Clip brushes can be used to create the additional size for “thin” plats. Func_plats were pulled from all maps in the final build of Quake 3 Arena due to some problems in their operation, particularly as it related to bot function. The id designers recommend using plats with care and that plats be built as “solid” pillar-like lifts (more like those in Doom).

There is a way to make plats play proper sounds. Just create a sound\movers\plats folder under baseq3 and put 2 sounds named pt1_start.wav and pt1_end.wav in it. Those can be the renamed sounds from the Q2 plats or renamed copies of the sound\movers\doors sounds you can extract from your pak0.pk3 file or new custom sounds if you're up to it. Thanks to Fragzilla for the tip.

func_rotating

Map Entity Color: Light blue

Dimensions: Determined by dimensions of map components.

Game Function: Solid entity that rotates continuously. Rotates on the Z axis by default and requires an origin brush. It will always start on in the game and is not targetable.

Keys

speed: determines how fast entity rotates (default 100).

noise: path/name of .wav file to play. Use looping sounds only (eg. sound/world/drone6.wav).

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/bitch/fembotbig.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of entity's rotation axis and .md3 model included with entity (default “0 0 0” - See Notes).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags

X_AXIS: entity will rotate along the X axis.

Y_AXIS: entity will rotate along the Y axis.

Notes

func_static

Map Entity Color: N/A

Dimensions: Determined by components

Game Function: Static solid bspmodel. Can be used for conditional walls and models for different game types.

Keys

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/bitch/fembotbig.md3).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Notes

When using the model2 key, the origin point of the model will correspond to the origin point defined by either the origin brush or the origin coordinate value. Because the map has only a single bot navigation file, Func_Statics cannot be used to make significant changes in game play flow between differing game types.

func_timer

Map Entity Color: Dark blue (0.3 0.1 0.6)

Dimensions: (-8 -8 -8) (8 8 8)

Game Function: Time delay trigger that will continuously fire its targets after a preset time delay. The time delay can also be randomized. When triggered, the timer will toggle on/off.

Keys

wait: delay in seconds between each triggering of its targets (default 1).

random: random time variance in seconds added or subtracted from “wait” delay (default 0 - see Notes).

target: this points to the entities to trigger.

targetname: a func_button or trigger that points to this will toggle the timer on/off when activated.

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Check Boxes/Spawnflags

START_ON: timer will start on in the game and continuously fire its targets.

Notes

func_train

Map Entity Color: (0 .5 .8)

Dimensions: Determined by components

Game Function: Trains are moving solids that follow a string of path_corner entities. Trains in Q3A are very basic, they also require an origin brush (see Notes).

Keys

speed: speed of displacement of train (default 100 or overridden by speed value of path).

target: this points to the first path_corner of the path which is also the spawn location of the train's origin.

model2: path/name of model to include (eg: models/mapobjects/pipe/pipe02.md3).

origin: alternate method of setting XYZ origin of the train's brush(es) and .md3 model included with entity (See Notes).

light: constantLight radius of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 0).

color: constantLight color of .md3 model included with entity. Has no effect on the entity's brushes (default 1 1 1).

notfree: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Free for all” and “Tournament” modes.

notteam: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in “Teamplay” and “CTF” modes.

notsingle: when set to 1, entity will not spawn in Single Player mode (bot play mode).

Notes

1. Trains always start on in the game.

2. Trains do not damage the player when blocked.

3. Trains cannot emit sound.

4. Trains are not triggerable or toggle-able.

5. Trains cannot be block-stopped just by getting in their way, the player must be wedged between the train and another obstacle to block it.

Holdable_* Entities

holdable_medkit

Map Entity Color: blue (.7 0 1)

Dimensions: (-16 -16 -16) (16 16 16)

Game Function: This is a Medkit that can be picked up and used (once) later. Brings the player's health back to 100 when used. Player can only carry one holdable item at a time.

Keys

wait: time in seconds before item respawns after being picked up (default 60, -1 = never respawn).