Compiled this from several sources:
10 Units = 1 Foot
1 Foot = 0.304 800 609 6012 Meters
A person in UT is 60 Units (6 F)
A person eyes is 50 Units (5 F)
The closest a person can get to a wall is 20 Units
A persons head bobs vertically up to plus-or-minus one half foot when walking
Steps
· Any step that is 32 (2 feet) or fewer units tall or smaller is climbable.
· Any step that is 48 (3 feet) or more units tall is unclimbable. Useful for railings and ledges.
· Try to avoid steps or railings between 32 and 48 units (2-3 feet) tall, because one can’t reliably predict whether a player will be able to climb it or not.
Doors and grates
· Do not create grates on the floor where the player can walk. The player will get stuck in them. A grate is an opening that the player can stand on but is too small for the player to fall through.
· An opening 48 (3 feet) units wide or more is a door and the player can go through it.
· A player can not go through an opening 32 (2 feet) units wide or less.
· You can make tricky doorways designed to only let small players through, i.e. doorways less than 32 (2 feet) units wide. If you do this, only do it with a small doorway, not a long passage. If the player barely fits, she can go through a doorway easily but may get stuck on a long passage.
Ceiling
· For best results, the ceiling should always be at least two feet above the player's head, and it looks best when significantly higher. In regular architecture, ceilings under 10 feet high are uncommon.
· Don't create ceilings (low doorways or slanted ceilings) where the player can hit his head on the ceiling. Though these situations aren't disastrous, the engine doesn't handle them well and movement becomes choppy.
V-Passages
· Avoid passages that get progressively narrower if there's a chance the player will get stuck at the end of one. The collision system makes thin passageways difficult to deal with.
Wedge sides
· Avoid creating buildings with sides that look like wedges (30 degrees or less). The player gets snagged on these. This only refers to exterior wedges (outsides of objects), not wedge corners in rooms. Wedge corners in rooms are fine.
Grades
· A slope less than 20 degrees behaves exactly like a floor (and is actually considered a floor). Players can move on these without obstruction.
· A slope between 20 and 35 degrees is a grade. The player can move up these but she slides and must continually struggle to climb to avoid sliding all the way down.
· A slope over 35 degrees is unclimbable.
Light colour
------------
Red = 0
Yellow = 32
Green = 64
Blue = 128
Purple = 192
Red = 255
==============
Maximum Tolerances for Tools in UnrealEd
By Richard Miller
sinder@cardina.net
Cylinder:
=========
Max sides = 100
BSP fragmentation occurs at the seams of the very small triangles formed when using a high number, such as 100.
Sphere:
=======
Radial sides = x
Vertical sides = x
The two numbers can be any two whole numbers whose product is equal to 255 or less. A product of 256 (8x32) results in a 'subscript out of range' error.
Cone:
=====
Max sides =
210 - Solid cone
80 - Hollow cone
70 - Capped cone
Staircase:
==========
Max steps = 45
Spiral Stair:
=============
Steps per full circle = x
Total steps = x
The two numbers can be any two whole numbers whose product is equal to 255 or less. A product of 256 (8x32) results in a 'subscript out of range' error. Make sure the height and width of the steps are sufficient to accommodate the number of steps.
Curved Stair:
=============
Max steps = 49
Comments:
=========
The reason 255 is a common limit is most likely due to the use of 8-bit integers when UnrealEd was programmed in Visual Basic. An 8-bit integer can hold up to 256 values. That is 256 values, not numbers. Those numbers are logically 0-255. Henceforth, we cannot reach 256, which is a multiple of 8, because 0 is considered a number.
The curved stair limitation of 49 is strange and no explanation can currently be given for it. It has no significance to the 360 degrees in a circle, nor is there any known significance to any integer value. This is most likely a limitation of the algorithm or code used to create a curved stair.
When constructing levels, be careful to stay within these tolerances and don't go overboard. 100 sides to a curved pillar may look nice (and give Quake 3 Arena a run for its money), but it has a high risk of causing BSP errors due to the large number of small triangles.