Before you release your map...

[Deathbliss]

Please ask yourself a few questions:

#1. Did I use a music track, or at least use the Blank.UMX method?Yes, this works with UT 2003, you just type in Blank.UMX and be sure that the file is in your music directory. If you need the file it's here in the menu to the left. PLEASE STOP USING THE SAME THREE TRACKS! There are 35 music tracks (as of the latest patch and all bonus packs) to choose from - so go through them all until you find one that fits!

#2. Did I include EVERY package I used with the level? There are two ways of handling things here... If you have only a few textures and meshes use the MyLevel trick. However if you have started a whole new theme use a seperate package with your name and the package's name (named after the theme) as the title (I.E. DeathblissRoman). You may wish to place these in a seperate folder somewhere before you zip them up so you don't have recall from memory what you used. Please ignore my FAQ which is not updated and may say differently - it is irrelevant for the most part now.

#3. PLEASE please please! Stop naming your readme files "Readme.txt"! This is SOOOoooo annoying when I'm extracting maps and I have to go in and re-name each and every one or else it gets overwritten! Just use the same name as your level - it's as simple as that! Again please ignore anything in my FAQs that may say otherwise - I've learned some things after I wrote them and I haven't updated it as yet.

#4. Is the sky animated? Please stop releasing levels with static (non-moving) skies! Do you know how big a step BACKWARD this is? Just because Epic and DE have done it doesn't mean you have to! You will find very few of these maps on my hard drive! Yes, I understand that night skies with stars don't have to be animated. But think about how much better some light, MOVING, cloud cover can look! In nay case this statement refers mostly to daytime maps - I have found MANY maps like this with static, non-moving skies and there isn't anything else I can think of that will kill a level's atmosphere faster than a static enviroment!

I'm gonna go post this in my forums too, and maybe elsewhere. Please be sure to use this as a checklist before you release your map! You'll feel better about your high quality level, and I'll enjoy playing it more!
- Deathbliss

[Lord_Simeon]

Very good points.

A tip for OGG removal is typing "none" too, that works. I got a couple of maps with loads of Ambient sounds, and music would ruin it, so i type "none".

Missing packs is a pain in the ass.
After downloading a map, with all the expectations, only to have "failed loading *insert pack name here* pisses me off immensely.

Readmes should be named after the map name.

[widowmaker]

Hehe yeah nothing like having 500 read me files all named README.txt

Missing packages sucks.

I don't know about the animated sky thing. In some cases it is a bad idea. On most terrain maps the fps is already taking a hefty hit, animating the sky only adds to that constant burden. Until we al are running a 4 Ghz with a radeon 12000 Pro I wouldn't push that too much. Eye candy is nice to look at but "Frame Rate is God."

So sayeth the LevelLord. (Not me)

[Lord_Simeon]

I agree. Some of those static skies look awesome.
Of course, animated skies look nice too, but the detailed textures of the new UT2003 skies really look great.

Like MP's new map, with the orange sky, looks kick ass.

[Gargorias]

Hey!! About that animated sky thing!
There is nothing wrong with a static sky if it is done well.
My latest map has one and I think it is okay.
Check it out here:

Show me one animated skybox where the clouds do not cover the whole sky and are repeating?
What about the trees, grass, etc, shouldn't they sway in the wind. Why not water that actually flows like real water. Can we have a sky with a few clouds moving across it that also change shape as they do and cast realtime shadows. What about a sun or moon moving across the sky with the lighting and shadows changing with it. I could go on and on.
Some things are just not possible to do at the moment!
We would all be doing it if we could!!!!!

[Lord_Simeon]

I forgot about your map, GG.
Another example of a great looking sky.

[Deathbliss]

An animated sky does not affect a map's performance significantly enough to merit using a static sky. Yes, the sky looks good on your map, but your level will loose a lot of atmosphere with the sky remaining static. I'm actually downloading it right now.. Oh and I have found maps that have animated skyies and extensive terrain work but they still run just fine. Just so you know - I only have a 1 gig processor, a GeForce 2 card, and I STILL have all the detail settings set to their highest - well not physics and models but all the world/level detail settings. I'm not having any trouble with lag at all - it seems only emitters or rather the extensive use of them bog down my system.

I'm gonna try that None trick - it's a better approach than blank.umx because it's easier to remember.
- Deathbliss

[Deathbliss]

Jump into that nice water you made, and swim around on the surface for a while. Notice the color of the water surface... Now dive down into your water... Hmmm... Where did all that fugly blue fog come from? Well guess what? This can be fixed! RIGHT CLICK on your WATER VOLUME to access WATERVOLUME PROPERTIES. Scroll down to the last section... VOLUME FOG - I wonder what that means? Open 'er up and there's that uglified blue color! The higher you set the alpha values the clearer your water will be. You probably should use fog - even though it may make you level look funky from the water - so I advise setting a dark grey (50-100 Red, Green, AND blue - all set the same) with a high or maximum ALPHA. If you don't your water may look a bit weird from underneath - unless there's a setting I missed that fixes this. In any case - WHATEVER YOU DO... Stop releasing maps with ugly blue fog in the water! YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES NOW!!!

Annoying aren't I?
Deathbliss

[Lord_Simeon]

Yeah, i hate it when bugs slip through.
I'm guilty of probably a few of these "slip ups" myself.

Damn editing.

[Spiff]

Personally i call my read-me "instructions.txt", but i take your point and will change this in future...as for the water, i think its a bit tyranical presuming to tell everyone they absolutely MUST change it from the default blue to something clearer...when they were designing the game they must have made it this way for a reason (no, dont ask me why i have no idea). Next youwill be saying "IT MUST BE AN INDOOR MAP OR I'LL SET FIRE TO YOU."

I agree with the rest of the points in principal..'specially the one about packages

[Gargorias]

A 1 gig processor and a Geforce 2 card!
Geez, I started out with a 1.2 gig and a Geforce 2 and quickly found it was no good. I couldn't play that nice map CTF-Magma or DM-Inferno and others.
I now have a 1.6 gig and a Geforce 4 MX and I love it, I can play nearly any map, with all settings on high as well!

I think Epic should change there recommended specs!

[Deathbliss]

Spiff:
I included that bit about the water because I figured nobody knew how to change the underwater fog density and coloring. I'm sure I'm not the only mapper out there that wants the water you can stand outide of and look down to it's bottom to be the same way once you get INSIDE the water - rather than this murky and fake blue color. I'm not going to sit here and say, "blue fog water maps suck" by any means. I just wanted to be sure that mappers knew how to change this - IF THEY WANTED TO! Who knows... maybe some of you guys like that blue fog in the water...

Yeah my system sucks but I'm gonna have to mug about a dozen people to get enough to upgrade, and that's just too much hassle at this point...
Deathbliss

[Spiff]

Hmm..yeah your right that murky water does still look pretty poor. Perhaps its the default to save frame-rates on under water sections...perhaps not

Anyway, the "minimum Specs" are what is needed to get to the main menu, the "recomended Specs" are usually what is needed to play the game on the lowest settings...i found this out the hard way when i bought GTA3