How to be more efficient when creating maps

[danh]

Hello. If you read my first guide and learned how to use the udk through the video tutorials I linked, then I think you are ready for this one!

Here I will show you how to be more efficient when creating maps. The stock maps already have static meshes and cover nodes placed. Why not just copy it and rearrange them on your map instead of rebuilding them again?

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So I really like this burning house in Spartanovka. It has cover links already set around it. The debris is really nice. I don't want to remake it in my map when it is already made here. So lets select it and copy it.

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Here I zoomed in on it in the top viewport. I use ctrl+alt and left click and drag my selection box around it.

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Here it is all selected. I don't want the (1) fences and the (2) ROPlayerstart's. So hold ctrl and left click on each of those to deselect them. Next press ctrl+c to copy.

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I open up Notepad ++. If you don't have it, then you can download it here. It is more efficient than notepad. So I paste what I copied earlier in Notepad ++. I close Spartanovka and open up my map.

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I right click on the terrain and select (3) paste here.

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Here it is!

[PsychoPigeon]

I've done this and I couldn't get the cover nodes to work when doing 'play from here', is there anything more you have to do once you copy them into your map or is it because the game isn't 'cooked'?

[VietViking]

Gotta rebuild paths

[Jarhead456]

Nice tip Danh, I'll have to try this out later.

I also suggest, on a side note, to be 100x faster and more efficient when making trenches, to spend 10 or so minutes creating prefabs of the variations of trenches with cover nodes. This way, instead of adding hundreds later, they are already there. That is of course if you plan on having trenches.

[PsychoPigeon]

Is there a way to copy 'surfaces' into your map?

Like in the picture below, no xyz or copy options.

[danh]

Ctrl+shift and select surface then ctrl+c yo copy. Alternatively you can just copy the entire building. Just rebuild geometry after pasting. Ctrl+z in case you lose selection.

[Catalavos]

I've copied-and-pasted the entire Zab's house into my own map. Beware, though, as the larger number of objects you copy at one time may cause the editor to crash so you may want to copy the BSP first, then try the static meshes, etc... separately.

[danh]

Work in unlit mode to avoid crash