Some of the best
CTF levels are the mirrored type, where both
sides of the map are exactly the same, with some
sort of middle area connecting them. Here's how
to create a mirrored level without having to
create both sides from scratch.
Only build one
half of the level. It doesn't matter which side,
blue or red. Create exactly half of the map,
including texturing, entities, lighting, etc.
Once you have the entire half done, and to your
liking, you're ready to perform the mirroring to
create the opposite side.
CAUTION!
When performing each of the following steps, be
sure to save your work as a new file each time
between each step. Q3R doesn't really like to do
what we're about to do!
With your
half-level saved, goto file->load and
pick the same .map file you just saved (your
current, finished, half-level). Q3R will load a
fully-selected copy of the map on top of the
existing map you had loaded.
Now, left-drag
inside that selected mess and move the whole
thing over to basically where you want it to
wind up in the map. It will move very, very
slowly, so be patient.
When it's done
moving, you will use the Z-axis rotate
tool to turn it around. This will reverse the
selected half of the level so it's a mirror
image of the original. You will need to press it
twice, to get the full 180deg rotation.
Once it's rotated
around, you can move it into position, exactly
where you want it to be, by left-dragging inside
the selected area. When you've got it where you
want it, press ESC to unselect that half
of the map (and then Q3R will move a lot
faster!).
All that remains
after performing this are a two things. Firstly,
you will have to change any blue or red textures
in the newly created second half of the map so
they are opposite of the original. For example,
if you created the red side first, then
performed this mirroring, you need to change all
those red textures to blue in the new half.
The second fix
you will need to do is modify the entities.
Change the player starts, the flag, etc. Also,
any entity you have an angle key set on
will need to be reversed, since the entity is
now supposed to be facing the other direction.
These last two
steps aren't as bad as they sound. Once you get
rolling along, it goes by much faster than if
you were to create both sides of the level from
scratch.
Hal9000
