UnrealEd 3.0

Saving and Packaging your map

Game Assets

Nearly all the data Unreal uses is stored in a series of packages. You can think of a package as a collection of data, such as texture information, static meshes, animations, and so on, (except for MyLevel). Typically, packages are separated byt the kind of information they contain. For example, one package holds static meshes, another package holds textures, and so forth. keep in mind that not all game assets are stored in packages. Levels, for example, are stored in maps.

A map contains many elements, or assests, all of which are necessary to convey the visual effect you want and to make sure your map is both playable and enjoyable. The map inserts these assets into your level by referencing them from their corresponding packages. For example, if you delete a texture package that a specific map uses, those textures don't appear the next time the map is played.

 

MyLevel

MyLevel is a special package name in UnrealEd. If an Unreal resource such as a texture or static mesh is listed as being in the package "MyLevel", that means it is embedded in the map, and not in a package file. The word "MyLevel" is a keyword that works as an alias for your map file itself. "MyLevel" is often called a pseudopackage.

Pros

  • Easier to distribute a map as a single file. Reduces confusion and makes your map easy to install
  • Reduces clutter in the separate folders: this is by far the best solution if you just want one or two new textures for a map, instead of adding new files with each map with the increased possibility of errors.
  • Reduces file size slightly
  • Removes the risk of texture package name/contents clashes.

Cons

  • If you have custom textures used in a lot of maps, every map would have to include the textures again.
    • Can be tricky to reuse textures in a new map (in theory it should be possible by just opening the maps in sequence, but this is considered more as a hack than a real procedure)
    • Duplication between maps will waste bandwidth time and disk space.

Embedding new resources

  1. create or import a new resource in UnrealEd, like a sound, a texture, or a class. When you are asked to give a package name, put "MyLevel". The case doesn't matter, so "mylevel", "MYLEVEL", "mYlEvEl", etc are all the same thing.
  2. use the new resource somewhere in the current map. If this is not done, UnrealEd will discard it when the map is saved
  3. save the map
  4. DON'T save the MyLevel package. If you save it, bad things happen!