Written and compiled by Carth.
Last Modified: 7 Aug 2005
- Content
- Q: Where can I download custom maps for Alien Swarm?
- Q: Can I play with more than 4 marines in single player?
A: z0mg! you're already here!
A: Alien Swarm was really designed to be played with 4 marines because single player is much more tactical. But there is a mutator available that adds support for more than 4 marines, available on our mutator page.
- Mapping/scripting
- Q: Can you give some useful mapping links?
- Q: What are the Black Cat mapping links?
- Q: Is modifying Alien Swarm allowed?
- Q: Where can I get webspace to host my map?
- Q: Can I make a custom campaign?
- Q: Why do I get errors when I open Alien Swarm files in the editor?
- Q: I get errors compiling scripts for Alien Swarm. How do I compile them?
- Q: How do I play a game with a mutator?
- Q: How do I stop the camera from "sticking" to walls and not scrolling? How do I stop marines from jumping out and how do I stop the camera from being blocked and getting weird sound problems?
- Q: When I play test the level from UED it treats it as a normal UT level and I get errors. How do I stop this? (thanks BiG_D)
- Q: How can I add custom music to my map?
- Q: I added a ZoneInfo to my map, but nothing happens when I reach the exit area. What am I doing wrong?
- Q: Where do I put the various files for maps or mutators?
- Q: Are there any useful console commands for mappers? What are the console commands/cheats for Alien Swarm?
- Q: Can you give some optimization tips for Alien Swarm mapping?
- Q: Help! My viewports disappeared and I can't see anything in UED now, how do I get them back?
A: 3D Buzz Tutorials - Video tutorials, requires free registration
Architectonic - UnrealEd 3.0 Tutorials - good for beginning mapping with UnrealEd 3.0
Unreal Wiki - lots of tutorials and resources
UnrealEd Tips - Recommended reading, it will save you a lot of time and frustration
UTGhost's Map Making Tutorial List - Extensive listA: Basic level principles
Doors
Placing Aliens
Objectives
Game World ObjectsA: Yes. Feel free to make your own maps, campaigns, models, textures, or change the code. Don't modify any existing packages if you want to be able to play online.
A: The IAF Database will gladly host your map.
A: Yes, thanks to a mutator by Smattbac and Butters. It allows you to string any maps together so they follow on with marine stats. You can download the mutator on our mutator page. For more info and tips on setting up a server with the mutator go to the Black Cat Games forums.
A: You need to use AlienSwarmEd instead of UnrealEd. You can find it in UT2004\AlienSwarm\. This starts UT2004 with the right resources for Alien Swarm mapping.
A: You need to call "ucc make -mod=alienswarm".
A: Start up Alien Swarm, bring up the console and type "open Ao-Rescue?mutator=package.class" (the map is Ao-Rescue in this example). If you then vote for a map (using F1), it should continue to use your mutator. This means you can use a mutator in a campaign, simply by loading a map with the mutator and then voting for a campaign.
A: Have a read of the mapping docs. You need to carve an area of height greater than 512 units for the camera, and make it wider than your level so that the camera can scroll out of walls. Give it a texture of Engine.BlackTexture. Place a blocking volume above your level to stop the marines from escaping out.
A: Go to View --> Level Properties --> LevelInfo, set DefaultGameType to AoPrototype.AoGameInfo. (source)
A: The MyLevel package allows you to import custom music and textures into your map (source). For custom roster music you need to use an ambient sound. See this source for the method.
A: First of all make sure you have properly zoned your map. This requires you to add zone portals to your map. To add a zone portal, create a sheet brush with the required dimensions that will section off an area without gaps. Then click the Add Special button. Select 'zone portal' from the list of presets and click OK. Rebuild your map and click the Zone/Portal icon above the 3D viewport. The exit area should be a different colour to the rest of your map. Then add a ZoneInfo inside the exit zone, and give it a ZoneTag of 'Exit'. A common problem is not completely sealing an area with zone portals. Don't forget your map doesn't have a ceiling, it has 512 or so units subtracted above the map. Use the Zone/Portal view to check. Another common problem is setting the LocationName or EventTag to 'Exit'. This won't make a difference, you need to set ZoneInfo->ZoneTag to 'Exit'. The Unreal Wiki has more information on Zoning
A: in the following locations:
*.u --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\System or UT2004\System
*.ut2 --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\Maps
*.utx --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\Textures
*.usx --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\StaticMeshes
*.uax --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\Sounds
*.ukx --> UT2004\AlienSwarm\Animations
*.ogg --> UT2004\Music
(source)A: A lot of the console commands from UT2004 will work. Refer to this page in the UnrealWiki for these. There are also some Alien Swarm specific console commands. Amongst these are:
marineinvun - makes all the marines invulnerable
clearhouse - removes all aliens and disables spawners
idkfa - gives you a rifle with 1000 bullets
alienpls - summons an alien
crawlerpls - summons a big alien
parasitepls - summons a parasite
smoothandbythenumbers - completes the current mission
explodelevel - makes the level explode
aliendebuginfo - debug info for aliens, how many are pathing, how many are hibernating etc.
alienblood - change alien blood colour
(Sources: 1, 2, 3). For further commands, look in AlienSwarmUser.ini, anything assigned to a key can usually be typed in the console too.A: First of all, two very useful threads: here and here. Basically the major cause of slowdown in Alien Swarm is the aliens. Ideally you want all your aliens hibernating until the marines are near, too many aliens set to MoveToNearestEnemy is a bad idea. You should also limit the possible number of aliens on the screen at once. UT2004 is a CPU intensive engine, and while your graphics card might not struggle, your CPU will have difficulty processing all of the aliens moving and dying. Zoning might not help as much as in normal UT2004, but it's probably worth dividing your map up into a few zones. You can use "stat all" and "aliendebuginfo" at the console to help you identify reasons for slowdown in your map.
A: Go to View->Viewports->Configure... choose one of them, the left one is a nice default view, and click the OK button.
- Playing tips
- Q: There are too many lamers playing, where can I get a good game?
- Q: Where can I get some tips? How can I get better?
- Q: What are unassisted kills? How do I get more of them?
- Q: How do you get akimbo pistols? How come I sometimes don't get them?
- Q: What are the console commands/cheats for Alien Swarm?
- Q: How do I show the number of kills, player names or my ping? What's the number in brackets after kills?
- Q: How do I melee?
- Q: How do I get past the lasers on Research?
- Q: How do I unlock Uplink?
- Q: I've reached the dropship on Barracks, but nothing happens. How do I complete the level?
- Q: The end of Barracks is too hard, can you give some tips on completing it?
- Q: How do I finish Ort1-Boarding? I'm at the end and nothing happened.
- Q: Why don't the lift controls work on Ort3-Cargo? I can't get to the end.
- Q: I'm lost on Ort4-FlightDeck, where do I go?
- Q: I heard there was more than one ending for the last level (Ort5-Navigation). How do you get the other one?
A: You can usually find a good game on the Swarm.Pickup servers. Come and idle in the IRC channel to see when a game might be starting (irc://irc.quakenet.org/Swarm.Pickup) You might also find some like-minded people in the official channel at irc://irc.starchat.net/AlienSwarm. If you can slap enough people in IRC you should be able to muster up a good team.
A: This thread has some good playing tips in it. Also check these more specific links:
* Medic tips: click
* Shotgun tips: click
* Autogun tips: click
* Tech tips: clickA: Unassisted kills are ones without autoaim (source). You can get unassisted kills with non-autoaim weapons or by killing eggs or marines.
A: You get akimbo pistols for an entire campaign by killing at least 20 aliens with the pistol. Note that eggs are not included in this, so often just 20 "kills" isn't enough. If you are going for akimbo pistols, I recommend counting how many eggs you've killed as you go along, then subtract this from your kill count. Always get at least one more kill to be certain. Also note that if you die, you will still have akimbo pistols after being revived/cloned.
A: see 2.14
A: You can assign keys for all of these things in settings. The default key to show kills is K, the default to show player names is N. To toggle your ping there is no key by default, but you can set one. The number in brackets after your kills is the number of assisted kills (i.e. those with autoaim).
A: The default key for melee is B. This is a hard key to reach, and I recommend reassigning it if you don't want to be telling aliens to "GO!". Use melee to get an alien off you while reloading - it pushes them back slightly as well as doing a very small amount of damage. Another useful tip, is you get more range with melee the further away your crosshair is from yourself, i.e. move your crosshair to the edge of the screen to get more range and less chance of getting hurt.
A: You need to jump from the table onto the chair in the middle, then to the gap, then up the second table and jump to the computer where you can hack. You can also use a map exploit and jump on a raised part of the south wall. (Source, Illustrated source)
A: There is a computer you need to access on Research. (Source)
A: You must have all marines under the dropship. You can only leave the level if you have completed all objectives, in other words did you remember to hack the computer? (Source)
A: There are many strategies, some better in online play, some better in single player. This thread has some good tips in it.
A: You missed a hack or didn't get all the eggs. There are a total of 20 eggs and 3 turrets to enable. Check out the Ortega walkthrough maps in the manual section to help you make sure you get everything. (Sources: 1, 2).
A: The lift will work after you destroy 20 eggs or seal off the 2 bulkheads.
A: Follow the green flares on the floor in a generally north-west direction. When you get to Command Station 2 at least one person has to stay behind to open the door for those going to enable the deck shield.
A: When you get to the hacking console, there are two. The upper one gives you a boss ending, the lower one gives you a "run the gauntlet" ending.
- Technical Questions
- Q: How do I play back a demo?
- Q: How do I record a demo?
- Q: Why doesn't the flashlight work? Why don't the flares work?
- Q: Why do I get a missing package error (AO-MiscIcons)?
- Q: What's all this about IRC? How do I join things like #Swarm.Pickup?
- Q: How do I bind a suicide key?
- Q: Is it possible to automatically record demos?
- Q: Where are the savegame files? Where are online/offline campaigns and records saved?
- Q: How can I save/continue a campaign on my server?
A: Put the .demo4 file in UT2004\Demos. Create this directory if it doesn't already exist. Now start Alien Swarm as if you were going to play it. Bring up the console using the ' key (same key as @ on most keyboards) and type "demoplay demoname", where demoname is the name of the demo, and without the quotes. If the demo is with a free camera, right click to view a marine, and use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom out (you can get the topdown view this way).
A: The command is "demorec demoname" at the console, where demoname is the name of the demo, and without the quotes. It will be saved in UT2004\Demos as demoname.demo4. If you record it in single player it will have the free/behind camera. If you record it while on a server it will have the topdown camera. When you restart the demo will stop recording.
A: You need to have projectors and dynamic lighting enabled. They are on by default since the 1.1 patch.
A: This is because you have version 1.0 of Alien Swarm and are trying to play on a 1.1 server. Or the other way around? Update Alien Swarm to solve it.
A: IRC stands for internet relay chat. If you're new to IRC, get mIRC.
* mIRC
* The IRC Prelude - good guide for beginners.A: Find AlienSwarmUser.ini in \UT2004\AlienSwarm\System. Search for the key you want to use (in my example delete), and change it as follows: Delete=Suicide|Say [suicide]
The | is a pipe - the same key as \ (backslash) on most keyboards.A: One of the UT2004 patches gave support for this, but it doesn't always work. The best way is to bind a key. Find AlienSwarmUser.ini in \UT2004\AlienSwarm\System. Search for the key you want to use (in my example insert), and change it as follows: Insert=demorec %p_%m_%d_(%t) This will record a demo when you press insert, and save it as PlayerName_MapName_Date_(Time).demo4
A: In v1.0 AoCampaignGame.ini in \UT2004\System was used. After v1.1 this was made obsolete (but remains in the directory for anyone who played v1.0). In v1.1 onwards your savegame is kept in \UT2004\AlienSwarm\System\AlienSwarm.ini. This is the same for a server and for a single player game. (Sources: 1, 2)
A: From the console:
open
AOL-CampaignLobby?Game=AoInterface.AoCampaignLobbyGame?CampaignSlot=3?NewGame=No?CampaignType=Sigma
(in this case the campaign is saved in slot 3, and the campaign is Sigma).
open AOL-OrtegaCampaignLobby?Game=AoInterface.AoCampaignLobbyGame?CampaignSlot=15?NewGame=No?CampaignType=Ortega
(in this case the campaign is saved in slot 15, and the campaign is Ortega).
For a dedicated server:
ucc.exe server AOL-CampaignLobby?Game=AoInterface.AoCampaignLobbyGame?CampaignSlot=3?NewGame=No?CampaignType=Sigma -mod=AlienSwarm
(in this case the campaign is saved in slot 3, and the campaign is Sigma).
Slots 0-11 are for Sigma, slots 12-23 are for Ortega. A campaign that was voted for on the server is saved in the lost slot, i.e. 11 or 23. (Source) - Inane Questions
- Q: FF is ruining this game, can you give an option to turn it off?
- Q: I think Alien Swarm is too dark, can it be made lighter?
- Q: First person view rocks, can we get it in this game? (thanks Butters)
- Q: This game is too hard. Can you lower the difficulty a bit?
- Q: The AI is stupid, can you give it some more abilities?
- Q: I joined a public server and it was full of abusive/noob/badly behaving players? Is there anything I can do about this to have a better game? (thanks Butters)
- Q: Charstealing is so lame, can't we ban these people?
- Q: What does Sarge's cigar do?
A: There has been much debate and arguing over this, and we have come to the conclusion that FF should be left on. Read through this thread or this thread and search the forums for various arguments.
A: Alien Swarm is meant to be dark, it was designed that way. The solution, albeit a lame one, is to turn your gamma up. Also, flares will illuminate dark areas, and the flashlight will project a grey texture over dark areas. Search the forums for closed threads on this matter.
A: No. Alien Swarm was designed to be played with the overhead view, among other reasons, to enhance the tactical/co-op aspects of the game. It doesn't take long to get used to it, and you will probably find that it feels just right. The issue of different viewports has been discussed at length: you can sample different opinions in these threads: 1, 2, 3
A: Before the 1.1 patch easy used to be a lot harder. Also, in the beta stage parasites weren't even curable (source). The difficulty has been lowered enough now. Once you get used to the game you will find you are one of the people that thinks easy is too easy.
A: Originally posted by Dalai:
We particularly didn't want to make the AI too smart while following, since in tests this resulted in you basically running through the level in a group, with these AI aimbots killing everything. No strategy, or thought, it quickly became boring. So we limited the marine skill in follow mode, to encourage players to position the marines manually, to make decisions as to where to have them hold and cover, to set up firing zones one by one to safely move through dangerous areas. (source)
Another reason for the AI behaviour is the huge swarms of aliens you can get on the screen. With improved AI there would be a lot of slowdown and lowered fps.
This thread has some further views on the smart AI vs. a puzzle for the player discussion.A: Like any other online game, Alien Swarm is not free of occasional players that make their duty to spoil other's gaming experience. The best way to proceed is to report their behaviour to the server's admins (usually an email contact address or an IRC channel is given in the server info) and to let them deal with it. Server admins normally take these issues seriously as they want to offer the best possible service. Be aware that they run public servers as a favour to the community, and they are under no obligation to answer all queries. Try to record a demo or take screenshots if you want to report something.
A: Yes it's lame when someone steals your character mid-campaign. Just start a kick vote and I'm sure people will vote yes. Usually after a kick vote is started the character is given back anyway. A lot of leaders are very understanding too and won't start until you get your character. There's no need to tell us how annoyed you are on the forum. Suggestions have been made about keeping marines across missions, but it was decided that it isn't viable. (Sources: 1, 2, 3)
A: It gives out cigar smoke.
