How to set starting player properties? (plus 2 other probs)

[Sat42]

Greetings,

A number of problems naturally arose when I began mapping with UED 2!
1) Important! I'd like to have the player "wake up" a la Vortex Rikers, and wish for the starting player's health to be at a low 12 HP and also a completely empty inventory (no Dispersion Pistol).

2) Music starts only when the player starts moving at the moment - I'd like the Music trigger to kick off as soon as the level's finished loading (the trigger I set up apparently needs an active player "bump" into it to start working, presence alone doesn't do it - as the player does appear within the trigger's radius). For some reason I couldn't emulate other existing maps which achieve this.

3) Might as well mention this: "complex doors" (2 parts moving apart from each other, then sliding back to keypoint 0) even set to "dynamic lighting" seem to "flash" into blackness once they slide into carved space in the wall. Not systematic, but annoying. Tried to increase lighting on both sides to avoid this. One part of a door even blinks into blackness before reflecting light again during movement, but blinks into complete darkness once it is about to reach keypoint 1. 2 parts of 2 separate doors seem to cope fine though, so I might duplicate those and use them to replace the ones with lighting problems.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[makemeunreal]

I can help with your first.

1) Go to view.
2) Level Properties
3) Click on Level info
4) Search for this: DefeaultGameType
5) Fil lthe gap with this: Class'UnrealShare.VRikersGame'

You will start with that "wake up" stuff, with no DP and 12 HP!

[Sat42]

Hey makemeunreal! Thanks a lot for your help! Indirectly, you even provided an answer as to how I can name and sign the map!
Mapping with UED 2 is awesome, just spent the whole day doing this!
cheers!

[makemeunreal]

Hehe. I am glad I could help you.
I hope you'll release youur first works
Those are the most special, and exciting ones.

[Sat42]

I will release my first work for sure! I just can't say when, but I'm taking this first map very seriously - I might have to be careful not to be overambitious, but my initial idea of just making a "WTF" map as a first step certainly didn't suit me.
I actually make backups of my map every time I save my slowly progressing work, so I can guarantee that something - good or bad, but SOMETHING will come out of my fooling around with this editor!!

[Frieza]

2) Just set up a default music track in the level properties, Level Properties > Audio > Song and select something from the music browser. Can even set a specific song section if needed

3) This is a problem even experienced mappers will run into, I haven't really found out a cure that will work 100% of the time. You could try toying with the BrushRaytraceKey setting or toggle bDynamicLightMover on or off in the Mover Properties > Mover tab.

[Sat42]

Thank you Frieza!! 2) is solved, and I'm glad to hear 3) isn't just down to a dumb mistake on my part! I'll try toying around with the properties you mentioned - a few trials with rebuilds might end up producing a good result, since some door parts seem unaffected by the lighting problem.
Cheers!

[Sat42]

I ran into another issue this morning, concerning inventory items:
- if I want a classic Unreal model for a weapon, I just pick it up in the Actor class browser and position it in the level; but though I do use Oldskool, it seems that when I play my map, the weapon is displayed as the UT counterpart by default. I went back to open my map in the editor and within it, the weapon is nonetheless the desired model. What's the workaround? I've played several SP maps which display classic Unreal weapons without any problems...
- this extends somewhat to the universal translator: I applied a 0.5 scale to it as when I first added it to the level it was huge; after saving the changes, opening the map within the editor displays the translator just as I want it (scaled down) but playing it in UT oldskool shows the translator oversized...
- any way of modifying the default amount of ammo in the weapon upon picking it up?

[makemeunreal]

Help with the ammo.

Right click to the weapon->Properties.->Click to Weapon->And then set the PickupAmmoCount.


Anyway, I can't help with the Oldskool stuff, since i never used it.
I bet you'll find a lot of interesting stuff in the properties.
Good luck.

[Sat42]

Thanks again makemeunreal! That's one more thing sorted these little details like the ammo count might seem like not much, but to me they're paramount!

[Frieza]

The OldSkool thing is probably something you'll have to go into OldSkools settings to fix, not anything you can do mapping wise. Probably OldSkool has some mutator active that will automatically replace the weapons for their UT counterpart.

[Sat42]

Yo thanks Frieza, indeed adjusting the settings in Oldskool did the trick for the weapon model!

I even managed to stop the weapon from rotating continuously for no good reason which really doesn't suit a single player game IMO!
However, for some reason, the change of ammo count upon pickup doesn't register for this weapon, but I tested this function with a UT weapon proper and it did register the ammo count change... I might just delete and reposition said weapon, see if it helps.
Also the dumb translator is still oversized despite rescaling it - weird 'cause the collision radius and height changes I made were effective, it's just the display that's screwed up. Will delete and reput it in the map to see if this is just a random bug!

[Sat42]

Doesn't make much sense unfortunately:
- I only managed to successfully change the ammo count for the UT bio rifle, as in makemeunreal's example (put the count at 10, and indeed the count is 10 when weapon is picked up); all other weapons (whether Unreal weapons - this includes the GES bio rifle - or their UT conterpart) don't register the change, whether spinning or not.
- translator still too big! rescaling doesn't work

will provide feedback if anything new!

[Sat42]

Well, you can't have everything!
I gave up rescaling the translator, turns out it was I who thought it looked oversized but upon checking other maps I realised the size was normal. I'd still make it smaller if I could, but nothing critical here.
Also gave up changing the default amount of ammo for a minigun (default is 50, I wanted 40), I'm beginning to think that some settings which supposedly allow you to change stuff were only half implemented. Still, since it says you can change the pickup ammo count, I'd have enjoyed to have it my way...
If anyone has a trick, please do tell!!
Oh, and how do you take a picture of your level without actually playing it? (no HUD visible)

[SteadZ]

Play Level, Suicide, press F5 until HUD is not visible. Then walk, fly or ghost- whichever you choose
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SZ
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