Whiteboxing Textures

[fudgonaut]

I created an 18-color set of whitebox textures for map prototyping, to help me keep things visually sorted while I practice mapping and learn the editor.

palette.jpg

Not sure if anyone else might find them useful, but I'm attaching them here. Here's a screenshot of them in use.

prototyping.jpg

Cheers,
-Fudgonaut

[XaNKoNII]

These are an actual really good help. I currently use an orange and grey texture (like in the Source engine from HL2) but these are far more complete, I see myself using them to create visual diference betwen key brushes.
Thanks!, This will be put into use

[fudgonaut]

Thanks! Since making these textures I've found it much quicker/easier to iterate parts of (what will hopefully be) my first CTF map.

whitebox-screenshot.jpg

I added enough colors so that they can correspond to different brushes (movers, adds, subrtacts, semisolids, etc), or map zones, red/blue bases, etc. I added pixel dimensions then realized that that the textures get reversed depending on if you add or subtract, so I simply mirrored the pixel dimensions in the textures so that they are readable whether you're adding or subtracting.

Slightly off-topic: since this is my first map, would anyone be willing to do a walkthrough of my whitebox once it's complete? As a sanity-check to make sure the layout is okay (decent map flow, good areas for combat, etc)?

[Terraniux]

Wow, this is more sexy than the playboy from 1981.

Thanks Fudge.

[SilverSound]

I was looking for something like this! Thank you!

Spending a few hours figuring out what textures to use before you are even started on rooms is a real problem for me heh...

[XaNKoNII]

T
Slightly off-topic: since this is my first map, would anyone be willing to do a walkthrough of my whitebox once it's complete? As a sanity-check to make sure the layout is okay (decent map flow, good areas for combat, etc)?

I´m not sure what you are asking here

[fudgonaut]

I´m not sure what you are asking here

I'm asking if anyone would be willing to do a quick run-through of my map in progress, to identify anything in the geometry/layout that could pose a problem. This is my first real map, so I'd like to get a sanity-check before I commit to adding final textures, lighting, pickups, etc. I'm just looking for an extra set of eyes on it.

BUT

I have a ways to go before the whitebox is ready for a run-through, because I'm encountering three distinct issues:

1) The default actor is "Light" when I start the editor. Sometimes after an indeterminate amount of time working in the editor, it will start arbitrarily adding actors (Lights) in any of the map views, wherever I click my mouse cursor. I can't determine the reason - maybe accidentally hitting a hotkey combo? The only way I can stop it is - after removing the lights from my map - to restart the editor. It's a real PITA.

2) I'm seeing holes in my geometry in the editor - but that weird issue where you only see the hole on one facet of a polygon when it is at the edge of the viewport (see screenshot). I've had this happen even with simple, always-snapped-to-the-grid brushes. I'm making sure that I (de)intersect adjacent brush before building, so there is no overlapping. I don't know if this symptom guarantees there will be BSP issues later on, or if it is a quirk of the editor. Or whether there is some trick or step I am missing to prevent this when I am using brushes.

hole.jpg

3) I've found an odd glitch in the map I'm working on. I recreated the issue in the attached map. If you start the map, run forward into the hole, instead of landing on the ledge below, you will land on an invisible ledge where the brushes meet - even though the geometry is flush. Anyone know the cause, and/or a solution or workaround?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[fudgonaut]

After a little more testing I found that the issue has nothing to do with where the brushes meet (#1 on the diagram).

ledge.jpg

The problem is at point #2, where the player should keep dropping (red path), but instead the player lands in mid-air (green path), as if there is some kind of collision glitch. Any ideas what may cause this?

[Barbie]

I had a look at it and can verify the issue of an invisible obstacle above the opening. Sadly I cannot say why, but I guess it is a result of the complex brush/geometry at that location. I'd try to split subtractive Brush16 into two pieces: one for the cylindrical and one for the opening part.
If you stay with that Brush16, you can get rid of Brush17 and Brush18 and enlarge the cylindrical part of Brush16 instead.

Apart of that I did not notice any issues.

PS: I've often noticed such obstacles in other maps when a conical brush is used, for example Brush102 in "MH-UM-EscherStairsV2.unr".

[fudgonaut]

Thanks Barbie - my solution was to drag the vertices at location #2 up to the height of location #1. That is, I raised the vertices by 32 units to make the angle steeper - and and that eliminated the phenomenon.

[Red_Fist]

I think any pipes that create T shapes or whatever cylinder, should be ground out of an add brush and not just a subtract for the space you walk in.
Messing with a map now, stupid bots can't navigate good, brushes with yellow lines inside another subtract.

People think they can just ram brushes in or stick brushes in without intersecting-deintersecting, after a while you end up with like a map the bots act like they are blind because the BSP is slapped together with crap brushes sticking out all over the place.

[fudgonaut]

I’ve made a couple changes to my whitebox textures:

new_whiteboxing.jpg

• Made the 16-unit grid stand out a little more
• Tweaked colors in some of the .pcx's to differentiate them a little better
• Added compass circles, which should help in fine-tuning texture direction and alignment

What I’ve been doing is importing them into a .utx as needed, under a separate group called “_Whiteboxing” I use the underscore in front so that it's listed first as the default Group within the Texture Browser.

order.jpg

Then when I’m done (if I’m ever done) with this map, I’ll update the temp textures with my own, and delete the _Whiteboxing group. The .pcx files are in a zip if you want to import them into a .utx you’re using, or if you want to make your own dedicated prototyping .utx.

whiteboxing_PCX.zip

I’ve also attached a zip of the original Photoshop (CS6) file I made, in case you want to play around with it to meet your own needs (make more color textures, add text for specific uses, etc):

whiteboxing _PSD.zip

EDIT: .psd and .pcx files have been updated

[papercoffee]

Very cool thanks for sharing it.

[Buggie]

For search:
grid textures
grid texture

There request for enhancement for UnrealEd for use it in easy way:
https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTour ... ssues/1407

[UnrealGGecko]

*ahem* Necrobump! *ahem* (joking, good reply so we'll allow it)
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