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Archived Descent 3 Editing Tutorials Note: All links to e-mail accounts, tools and other programs, and the GameEdit website have been removed. However, there still might be a broken link or image somewhere, specifically one that goes to another tutorial page. If you find any of those, or find a page that: Also: If you know of any missing tutorials from GameEdit that definitely should be found and put here, you can let us know if you want. This is an archived site, but it can and will be updated as seen fit. |
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The Three Most Recent Tutorials "Scripting a Cloaking Device Powerup", by Starkiller "When Great Levels Die Part 2", by Schplurg "Level Optimization", by Argos |
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| "The Level" 10 Tutorials Start Here |
Walks the first time level designer through building a small D3 level from the ground up. All the basics, bending, lathing, extruding are explained thoroughly. Highly recommended. | Schplurg |
| Quick Tool Review | This is a great reference page(s) explaining all of the buttons and functions of D3Edit. Pictures of the toolbar buttons and graphic examples of their use are included. Very nice and a must read! | Papacat |
| Simple Room 1 | Build your first room by placing vertices, making polygons, and extruding. Use the room you build in this lesson for the rest of this three-part series. | Hydra |
| Simple Room 2 | Texture your room; interior decorating the Descent 3 way. |
Hydra |
| Simple Room 3 | Add lights and make light fixtures. | Hydra |
| Extrude 1 | Extraordinary extruding explained. Read this if you don't know what extruding (or sweeping) is. | Hydra |
| Bend Function | Bending: The Rules will show how the bend function works. | Schplurg |
| Bend Function Math | Read this before you use the bend function; simple math that will eliminate texture alignment nightmares. | Papacat |
| Lathe 1 | Lathe function is a very cool utility...not just for "round" rooms either! Try 3- and 4-sided rooms as well. What is this lathe thing anyways? | Hydra |
| Lathe 2 | Lathing Rooms | Hydra |
| Lathe 3 | Lathing Objects and Pillars | Hydra |
| Intermediate Techniques These lessons assume basic knowledge of D3Edit. These show some advanced techniques to add more complex structures and character to your levels. |
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| Extrude 2 | Making complex room shapes, and working around concave faces. | Hydra |
| Extrude 3 | Making pillars, pipes and platforms: add some realism to your level. | Hydra |
| Room Within a Room | The "room within a room" technique made simple. | Schplurg |
| Simple Complexity | Make seemingly complex structures simple to build. | Papacat |
| Terrain Construction | Create and import *.pcx files to build outdoor terrain. | Stormcrow |
| Custom Textures | Import your own textures into D3Edit. | Schplurg |
| Custom Textures Tips | More on custom textures. | Schplurg |
| Creating Rock Formations | Rock formations can look really cool when done right, and there is a quick and easy way to do them. | Hydra |
| Level Optimization | When problems in the level occur, see this. | Argos |
| Scripting and Customizing Scripting is what gives a level a life of its own. Switches unlock doors, traps, trigger HUD messages, change textures, and spawn weapons and modify robots, can all be created using scripting or by otherwise creating and manipulating custom files. DALLAS is the most common way of customizing Descent 3 Levels. |
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| Underwater Areas | Make underwater areas in D3Edit, plus many other useful tips. This lesson builds a playable level from start to finish. Includes room and level files. Difficulty: beginning to expert. | DwnUndr |
| Get DALLAS Working | Here is how to set up the D3-SDK and a compiler so you can write scripts. | Papacat |
| Breaking Glass | Build glass, script glass, and finally, break it. You should not need a trigger to break glass. Even though this tutorial includes using a trigger, try it first without using it. | Papacat |
| Make Mesh Glass Break | Make breakable mesh glass. | Papacat |
| Making Wind | The quick and easy way to add wind to your levels, like the high speed tunnels in the retail game. | Papacat |
| Custom Objects Part 1 | Learn how to create an object and get it into your level. | Papacat |
| Custom Objects Part 2 | Animate your object by adjusting some basic *.gam settings and scripting some actions. | Papacat |
| Custom Objects Part 3 | Add "gun points" using D3Tool so your object can fire weapons or spew. | Papacat |
| Seeing Custom Objects In D3Edit | How to make your custom objects visible in D3Edit in both the Render Window and Level Window when textures are on. This makes it easier to position and orientate your custom objects. | Papacat |
| Custom Robots Part 1 | Quick and dirth method to set to create a custom robot (assumes you completed Custom Objects 1, 2, 3). | Papacat |
| Custom Weapons Part 1 | You want to make a custom weapon? There is a lot involved in creating a weapon so I'm going to spread out over several tutorials. | Papacat |
| Building a Custom Door | If you don't like the retail doors or can't find one to suit your level, make your own. | Krags |
| Creating a Custom Ship | After creating your ship model, look here to find out how to add it to your mission. | David Julian |
| Scripting Introduction | Scripting: basic understanding of what it is and how to use it. | Starkiller |
| Scripting a Teleporter | Scripting a teleporter. | Starkiller |
| Scripting a Spew | Scripting a spew (smoke and flame effects). | Starkiller |
| Scripting a Cloaking Device Powerup | Script a cloaking device powerup. Warning: for elite scripters only. | Starkiller |
| Troubleshooting Keeping your level "error free" will ensure that there are no problems when people play it. Strange and unwanted problems include holes in the level, the "house of mirrors" effect, texture "warping", and unreliable online play. |
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| Finding and Fixing T-joints | It's easy! This is a short tutorial on cleaning your levels of these pesky little creatures. Hint: use "E" key to cycle through edges. | Hydra |
| Concave Faces | Description of what a concave face is and how to fix it. | Hydra |
| Finding and Fixing Bad Shells | When shells go bad; if D3Edit tells you there is a "Bad Shell" in your level, this is how to fix it. | Hydra |
| Adding and Removing Face Vertices | In some cases in D3Editing you have to edit the amount of vertices on a face. This might be because you have a T-Joint or maybe just because you want an extra edge to your face... | Hydra |
| Understanding Normals | What is a "Normal"? Read this. | Hydra |
| Design Theory | ||
| Single Player Level Building | Things to consider when planning a Single Player level. | Hydra |
| Anarchy | Discusses weapon balance, placement of energy centers and other items...plan ahead before you build. | Hydra |
| Team Games | Designing levels for team based games. Discusses balance between the 2 (or more) bases and some ideas to keep things interesting. | Hydra |
| When Great Levels Die Part 1 | Thoughts on why many great levels go virtually unplayed online. Tips on level design and promoting your level to give it a fair chance of being played. | Schplurg |
| When Great Levels Die Part 2 | Continued. | Schplurg |
| The Sirian Method This extremely in-depth tutorial series was originally posted in the "D3Edit Forum" by Sirian, one of D3Edit's beta testers. |
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| The Sirian Method 1 | Building a Quality Shell | Sirian |
| The Sirian Method 2 | Multiple Layer Shells | Sirian |
| The Sirian Method 3 | Multiple Extruding | Sirian |
| The Sirian Method 4 | Multi-Planar Extruding | Sirian |