Custom Spraypaint Logos in ChaosUT2

With the first few version of Chaos for UT2k3 we had a spraypaint feature that would allow the user to select their spray paint from up to 100 or so that we have provided for them. A majority of them came from the user base but it was huge strain on us to manage all of these images. However that was never the goal. The goal was to provide HL-like spray paint where the user could make their own and use that. Sad to say that we probably won't be able to, due to the limitations of the Unreal engine and potential security issues.

With that said we have the next best thing. You can have your own Spray Paints for off line games. You can also have your own for on-line games, but there is a catch. The players on the other side need to have the file your logo is in or else they'll just see a default Proxy logo.

Making your texture: Just to warn you, this is not a tutorial on how to make a texture, but there are plenty of those available online.

1) Make a image in your favorite imaging program. 256x256 is the standard size for logos.


Also the texture should have an alpha mask unless you want your image to be a big block. This mask will hide parts of the image you don't want seen.

The following is what that alpha mask does in game. The black areas of the mask allow the background (represented by the solid red color in this picture) to show instead of the image.


2) Take your image and import it into UEd. Make a new texture file and remember the name of the file and image. Also make sure when you import it that you check the alpha option.


Note the Package (MySpraypaints) and Name (Example). Whatever you call your Package and Name, you will have to remember them for a later step. Also make sure the Package is something no one else will probably use.
In the texture properties, make sure you have the UClampMode and VClampMode clamp set to TC_CLAMP, so the texture does not tile all over the place.


It's also a good idea to compress the texture here to save file size. Save the texture file and exit UEd (or add more images if you have them).

3) Finally add the image name to your ChaosGames.ChaosUT settings of your ChaosUT2.ini file (located in UT2004\ChaosUT2\System) :

[ChaosGames.ChaosUT]
TurretLimit=5
TurretAmmo1=50
.
.
.
SprayPaintTextures=ChaosGraffiti.KA_SprayPaint
SprayPaintTextures=ChaosGraffiti.KS_SprayPaintb
SprayPaintTextures=MyTexturePackage.MyTextureName
(So in my example, I would have put SprayPaintTextures=MySpraypaints.Example here)

If you entered everything correctly your logo should now show up in the spraypaint selector.
If you want to make sure all people on a server can see your spraypaint, you need to convince the server admin to make your texture file available. To do this they need to put the file on the server and add it to their ServerPackages lines. If this is done correctly, other clients will automatically download your texture(s) when they first connect to the server.
We realize it's a bit of a limiting system here but we have tried to make it the best we could while living inside of the limits of the UT2004 engine.

Spraypaint instructions written by Melaneus

 

c'2004 Chaotic Dreams