5 things about CryENGINE 3 Sandbox Structure:
- Executors and editors for CryENGINE are in Bin 32 and Bin 64( Bin 64 is a lot faster and stores more than the 32, it is recommended if your computer can use it).
- Contains the game folder this is really important as it holds all the pak files, where all the animations, sounds, materials, etc are.
- There is a file called System.cgf this is not supposed to to be touched nothing needs to be edited in it. if you do need to add any comments then just create a new document.
- It is recommended that you switch on the setting mangers at least once then install the plugins.
- sdk.crytec.net is a website that allows you to install plugins for your sandbox and also has some help guides that may assist you with the engine.
10 Things about the sandbox interface:
- The viewport is normally set on perspective view this is the one that it is used the most normally 90% of the time. If you do want to change the view you just need to click on it and you can choose either front, top and back view.
- The search panel that is on the top of your viewport can be very handy, if you type in the name of an entity in the level it will be isolated and allow you to edit it by it self making it less crowded around that entity in the level when working on it.
- If you want to move a lot more faster around the viewport you just need to change the number in the speed section on the bottom of the screen.
- If you click on AI Physics it will be like your in game mode except you are able to see the level without the game character in it.
- Go to position on the bottom of the screen allows you to place co ordinates that you may want to go to in the level and it will immediate take you to that position .
- Anything that you will be creating, editing or even bringing into the level will be from the roll up bar which is on the right side of the editor.
- "Export to engine" in the file tab in the left hand corner will export the level you have created into pure game.
- The group Tab allows you to group entities and objects together this will make your editor more organized and easier to handle.
- If your textures and shaders are not updating in real time not coming up on your entities or objects instead of exiting the editor you can go to the tools tab and click on "reload textures/shaders" and it should work.
- The view tab contains all the panels that you can use in the editor just click on the tab and then open view pan and you will be able to see the list.
- One last tip if you know how to use 3ds Max or any program that is similar then CryENGINE should be very similar because it is the same format and has pretty much the same controls.
5 Ways to customize the Sandbox Editor:
- Using a mouse drag and drop small windows open in the sandbox into one window, that way you have everything that's open in the sandbox in one window. For example Material editor and time of day in the same window.
- You can turn on and off tool bars that you may not need, this makes your sandbox editor less crowded, making it easier for you to see everything you really need.
- You can customize your editor and turn on Auto Back up, so if you your a person that does not regularly save their work then, Auto Back up can do this every 5, 10 minutes depending on how you set it up (you can set it longer).
- Turn on show shortcut keys in screen tips, when you hover over (using your mouse) a certain button in your sandbox it will show the shortcut key for that button or command.
- You can create your own tool bar allowing you to put in it what ever buttons or commands that you need making it easier to access cause all in the one area that you created.
3 Ways to move around your level:
- Clicking the middle button on your mouse will allow you to pan around your Level.
- The W key on the keyboard moves you forward, the S key Backwards, A key left and the D key right.
- If you don't want to use your keyboard to move around your level, just click on the middle mouse button and the right mouse button at the same time and this will allow you to move forward, backward and sidewards.
5 Shortcuts or buttons and their functions:
- Clicking M on your keyboard will open up the material editor.
- Pressing Shift while moving around your level will allow you to move faster.
- Crlt + G will switch the editor into game mode allowing you to play in the editor to exit press ESC.
- Crlt +Z this will undo the last thing that you have done or changed in the level.
- Select box, click on 2 on your keyboard this will activate your rotate tool on the box or object and it will allow you to rotate that item.
