Hiding Actors

When you open an Epic map for the first time, you think "sheesh! what's all that!". Maps are full of stuff, even more so with the higher level of detail in UT2003 maps.

So, to keep some shred of sanity, there are several ways in the UnrealEd Interface to hide parts of a map while you focus on a small piece of the action.

Hiding by type

Under Viewport Caption Context Menu → View there's a list of types of things that can be hidden or shown.

For example, set the 3D viewport to show paths, hit Q to hide the BSP, and W to hide static meshes. This gives a really clear overview of the [botpath network]?.

Hiding specific objects

Show Selected Actors Only
Hide Selected Actors
Show All Actors
Invert Selection
Change Camera Move Speed

Why should You hide actors on the editor?

Makes selecting smaller items easier
On large maps speeds up compiling if the "Only visible actors" is checked
Decreases danger of accidentally moving things
Makes things look easier

Groups

You can use the grouping thing to hide actors in Your map. The grouping is not very widely used - maybe because it brings in new stuff to learn. (it's also buggy, or at least complex enough to seem unpredictable) However - I guarantee it is worth the pain; especially if You are working with a complex map with lot of actors in it.

Here are some guidelines on how to make grouping a bit easier:

Precede the group names with a number and leave gaps in between so You can add groups later in the gaps. UnrealEd shows the group list in alphabetical order.
Never let actors to belong in more than one group. Doing this makes things confusing.
Do not group actors by their class hierarchy - this would be useless (grouping pathnodes, brushes, ...) Instead group them by their location or use whichever seems to be more suitable. I use grouping by location since this enables me to build the map one room at a time.

To see grouping in full action look at [JB-12-Cubes]. It has 12 cubes (what did You expect) and these can be build separately. This grouping speeded up the compilation a lot.

Category Mapping