UE3 - UT3 How to cook the map?

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Cryosis

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Jan 19, 2008
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So I want to go about cooking my map. I know it uses frontend to do so but I don't know the fine details. Iv'e tinkered around with it and all I was able to do was get it crash... Does anyone have any tips or the location of any tutorials on it?
 

osirisrt

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Jan 23, 2008
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Orkney - Scotland
just hit the little red/orange strange looking icon top right of the editor interface and that will do it all for you. ( is next to the little play in game button)
 

Cryosis

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Jan 19, 2008
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It crashes when at the part where it loads my map..

The only errors I have are no mapinfomusic set and only 13 out of 16 playerstarts...
 

sWs»Cheapshot

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Jan 20, 2008
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1. Is there anycustom content?
2. Do you have Vista?
3. If you have Vista, did you set UE3 to run as Administrator?
4. Did you name the map correctly?...ie.. VCTF-whatever.
5. If you do have custom content, did you save it into MyLevel / MyPackage? or did you name it VCTF-Whatever?

If you didn't put music in the map it should still burn :s If you don't know how to add a music file then just go into browser and find a looping soundtrac you like and select it, then right click in map and that sound... but there are many sounds to the map you should technically add. UT2K4 was just a single track if I remember correctly.

Odd number of players might be doing it. I assume its a Deathmatch map? maybe change it to 12 or 14 and see if that does it. Just save often :)
 

Cryosis

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Jan 19, 2008
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1. yes
2. no
3. N/A
4. yes
5. custom content is in it's own package... I'm not sure how the folder structure is supposed to work with custom levels and custom packages...
 

Cryosis

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Jan 19, 2008
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heres my directories:
the map is in: C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Unpublished\CookedPC

and the custom package is in
C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Unpublished\CookedPC\CustomMaps
 

sWs»Cheapshot

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Jan 20, 2008
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There's the problem!

Unfortunately there is a lot of work to fix it.

You will have to delete all the custom content out of UE3, and re-import it back into UE3 with the exact same name of your map.
You will have to assign each material as you go or you could lose it if UE3 crashes or you have to close it, and file save in the editor... not the Gen Brows.

Make sure you delete all instances of the package... just in case you used 2,3,4 after file name... Chuck it.

*Map should be saved in the C: program files directory... unless Vista treats it different than XP. The Custom Materials are in that same file... that is why it has to be saved in the Editor.

I hope you didn't have too much to re-assign.

...and Yes... it happened to me.
 

Cryosis

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Jan 19, 2008
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ok so... my map needs to go in C:\Program Files\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\CookedPC\Maps ?
Make sure all my packages are then saving into War-Blah and then I'm ok?
 

sWs»Cheapshot

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Jan 20, 2008
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After you delete the files to make sure you don't have instances. It can cause the whole editor to crash if there are bits and pieces stickin around.

Good luck Cryosis... sorry man.
 

Horror

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Jan 27, 2008
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www.vertexmason.com
So wait...

I'm working on my first map right now. Does that mean I'll have problems if I'm working in:

C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Unpublished\CookedPC\CustomMaps

My map is called WAR-Orbitsfear and my package is called OrbitsfearAssets.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what the problem is but I would like to make sure I'm not gonna get boned when the time comes to publish it.
 

osirisrt

New Member
Jan 23, 2008
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Orkney - Scotland
One way of making sure you wont have problems, is to store any new meshes etc inside your actual map itself, abit like you could in previous versions of the engine.

when i import meshes into my map, or textures for that matter, i just select the import option , go thru the usual import routine, but the package it asks where to put stuff i select my actual map from the pull down menu itself, and store everything inside my map. saves hassle with extra packages and stuff.
 

sWs»Cheapshot

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Jan 20, 2008
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...and it won't allow you to cook it if its not in that package either.

So Horror... don't just delete the "Assets" from the end of the map name. You will crash the engine.
 

osirisrt

New Member
Jan 23, 2008
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Orkney - Scotland
lol it maybe wise.

personally ive just got used to storing stuff inside my map for a few years now. i hate havin to package up lots of different files when a maps released :)
 

Abru

New Member
Jan 25, 2008
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Since we are on the subject:

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=585642

We've gotten a lot of questions about how cooking and publishing work in UT3. If you're looking to create a new map and play it in the game (offline or online) this should help get you started:

Publishing and Cooking UT3 Community Maps

The CookedPC naming convention may seem confusing, but it’s a relatively simple process once everything is set up properly. “Cooking” bakes out unnecessary content from the map file, creates the shader cache information needed to properly load and run your map, and improves performance and loading times. “Publishing” sets up the files for distribution and puts everything into the proper directory so that other people can play what you’ve created.

Regarding the Published and Unpublished behavior:


Maps that are saved in the game editor are written to the Unpublished directory by default. This is the working directory for mod authors, and can be found here:

…\Documents and Settings\<UserID>\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Unpublished\CookedPC\CustomMaps

By default, however, the game recognizes only the Published directory when loading content. If you want to test Unpublished content, you can add the -useunpublished flag to the commandline. (The expected mod workflow is to iterate development on levels and content and run the game with -useunpublished.) When a map is ready, a final Publish will write cooked content to the Published directory, and these loading-optimized files will be ready for distribution.

The Published directory is located here:

…\Documents and Settings\<UserID>\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps

Saving a game in the editor should create the Unpublished folders. Publishing a file should create the Published folder. If either of those directories don’t exist, you’ll need to create them manually. When you download a map and want to play it, put it in the Published folder and it will then be recognized by the game and appear in the in menus. Note that files that are not in the proper directory will not be recognized by the game and will not load properly or appear in the menus.