Nightmare's Descent 3 Editing Tutorials
From the origninal Game Edit.Com and GameEdit.net



Picture of the Moment


I took down the the other versions of the site because it was too much maintenance for a hobby I am no longer involved in much at all. I decided to put up the static html pages at least for those who may find this of value. There are several tuts I don't have back up for other games because they were coded with php and am not sure I will ever take that time. My name is Nightmare and you can find me at ripteam.com's public bulletin board if you have a request. Enjoy..


Files: HTML

Hydra's Tutorials
Papacat's Tutorials
Starkiller's Tutorials
Schplurg's Tutorials

Reposted 11-02-2006
Game Edit.Net Moving Forward

 
"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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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