Level Screenshot

A screenshot is just that: a saved picture taken from the monitor display. It also means the pictures you see in the game when you're choosing a map: screenshots of the map that are embedded in the map.

You might be looking for:

Making Screenshots – taking shots of the game; recommendations on how to clean up, present, etc.
taking shots of UnrealEd – insert brain (hit PrtSc like in the rest of Windows and paste into your favourite graphics application)
Screenshot (UT) – adding a screenshot to a UT map

The rest of this page is for UT200x.

Screenshots in UT200x

To add a screenshot to a UT200x map:

1 Make individual screenshots

Take your screenshots & clean them up. Resize them to 512x256 pixels.
Import The Textures:
- Package: MyLevel
- Group: (you can leave this blank)
- Name: (anything you like; it's easiest if the screenshots are numbered for a material sequence)
- Uncheck Generate Mipmaps
Apply texture compression: Do Material Context Menu → Compress → DXT1
Avoid ugliness at lower texture levels: Do Material Context Menu → Properties, and then expand Textures and set LODSet to LODSet_Interface

2 Make a sequence

Now your screenshots are in, you need a MaterialSequence that will display them in sequence and fade between them.

The SequenceItems array of materials will look like this:

(Show Shot1)
  +- Material=Shot1
  +- MSA_ShowMaterial
(Fade Shot1 to Shot2)
  +- Material=Shot2
  +- MSA_FadeToMaterial
(Show Shot2)
  +- Material=Shot2
  +- MSA_ShowMaterial
(Fade Shot2 to Shot3)
  +- Material=Shot3
  +- MSA_FadeToMaterial
(Show Shot3)
  +- Material=Shot3
  +- MSA_ShowMaterial
(Fade back to Shot1)
  +- Material=Shot1
  +- MSA_FadeToMaterial

To make this, do the following:

Create a new material:
- Package: MyLevel
- Group: (same group as the screenshots)
- Name: (anything)
- Class: Raw Material
- MaterialClass: Class'Engine.MaterialSequence'
In the MaterialSequence properties do the following:
- Click SequenceItems → Add
- Minimize the properties window and select your first screenshot from the texture browser
- Go back to properties and click SequenceItems → [0] → Material → Use
- Set the time to 1.5
- Add another Material under SequencedItems. This time, use your second screenshot, 1.0 for Time, and MSA_FadeToMaterial for Action. This is the transition to the second shot.
- Add another SequencedItem just like the first except with your second screenshot again.
- Continue adding 2 SequencedItems for each of your following screenshots.
- Once you have all of your screenshots set, add one final SequencedItem. Use you first screenshot, 1.0 for Time, and MSA_FadeToMaterial for Action.
- Finally, set FallbackMaterial to your first screenshot.
Do UnrealEd Main Menu → View → Level Properties
Set The Resource Property LevelSummary → Screenshot to the new MaterialSequence.
Save your level and be sure not to save the MyLevel package. Just leave it and everything will work.

Related Topics

MyLevel pseudopackage
MaterialSequence class

MadNad Shouldn't this title be Level Shots ?

MythOpus Nods In Agreement It Should Yes

Tarquin: interesting idea. Any further opinions?

Wormbo: It's a preview image of the map, which is a screenshot of the map in most cases. How about a redirect from [Level Shots]? to this page?

SuperApe: I'd name it Level Screenshots, as it's named in Ued. Isn't it? Anyway, I've noticed in UT2004, that the game is saving a cache of info from the maps in your Maps/ directory. If you bring new version of your custom map into Maps/, the game will not recognize new level info, most noticably the Level Screenshot. To get around this, remove your custom map from Maps/, run UT2004, browse your available maps, exit UT2004, and move the new copy of your map into Maps/. I hope that a) makes sense and b) is helpful.

Evolution: Or just run 'ucc exportcache MyMap.ut2' after closing UnrealEd, if you've changed the screenshot (note: in the next patch, UnrealEd will automatically perform this step whenever you save the map )

SirKline: Another way is to delete the mymap.ucl file in the system directory. Then you'll see the shot.

Splenge: I can't seem to import an image to the textures. i have followed all the instructions and when I press OK the texture browser window comes up with all the textures that are open. Does anyone have any ideas? the type of fil I am using is a bmp and i have resized it to 256x256.

Tarquin: Check the list on Import The Texture. What's the colour depth?

MythOpus: Also, if you try to import a texture and it doesn't work. take a look at the UnrealEd log.

Splenge: I should really be putting this on the UT page but i've still got a BIG problem. The only way i can put a screenshot into the textures is by putting it into the textures file. the problem is when i load up the test run it says error and then a message about init or something.

Tarquin: um ... what were you trying to do? Do you mean "MyLevel" didn't work?

Otter: Completely different question: perhaps I'm wrote, but I could have sworn there was a way to use a camera in game to create a realtime animated texture. Say, for example, a security camera that relays a 256 x 256 image to a screen located elewhere. Where can I find info on this?

Wormbo: That's done using a ScriptedTexture, but will only work in UT200x with the D3D renderer.

Off-Kilter: I'm with SuperApe that this should be called Level Screenshot or Level Screenshots. I found this page searching for 'screenshot'.

Graphik: Renamed.

LionsPhil: It's worth noting that, although the desired texture resolution may be 512x256, it isn't displayed to that aspect ratio (2.0), but instead to something more akin to 1.5, meaning that you want to crop to, say, 512x384 (or use something like The GIMP's crop tool to do the calculations for you ), and then do a non-aspect-ratio-preserving scale down to 512x256.

Category Mapping