Getting Started With QERadiant
 The
first thing you need to do in order to make levels for Soldier of Fortune
II: Double Helix is install the full version of the game on your PC's
hard drive. Place Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix CD #1 in your
CD ROM drive and the autorun feature will bring up the install screen. I recommend
doing a standard install for the purposes of this article. When prompted, do a
full install to the default directory: C:\Program Files\Soldier of Fortune II
- Double Helix. Placing the install in this directory simplifies the Soldier of
Fortune II tools setup.
 Once
the game is installed, you need to download and install the 1.01 patch. The 1.01
patch is available from Activision's
support website as well as a number of Gaming File sites and Soldier fan sites.
Once the game is fully installed, patched and you've re-booted your computer,
you need to download and install the Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
SDK provided by Raven Software. Point your web browser here
and click on the download hyperlink for the server that's nearest you. Selecting
this link will allow you to commence downloading the tools. (I also recommend
visiting and bookmarking the Q3Radiant Manual, which is available in HTML format
here.
The document weighs in at a hefty 163 pages and is an invaluable resource for
learning the ins and outs of QERadiant. But I digress...) Download the 10 MB SoF2SDK-101.zip
file and save it to your desktop. Once you've successfully downloaded the tools,
double click on the .zip file and open it with Winzip.
Extract the files inside the .zip file to your desktop.
 Double
click on the SoF2SDK-101.msi file to start the installation of the tools. Follow
the on-screen instructions, agree to the license terms and install the SDK to
the default location, which is C:\SoF2SDK\. Check the box that says you want to
install it for everyone who uses the computer. Click "Next" and the tools will
install. Click "Close" when the install completes successfully.
Once the 1.01 tools are installed, download the SoF2SDK-101a.zip file to your
desktop and unzip the four files and the readme to your c:\SoF2SDK\bin folder.
The four files are EntitiesSP.def, RadiantSP.bat, spradiant.exe and sof2SP.qe4.
You can download the SoF2SDK-101a.zip here.
 Once
you've installed the tools, browse "My Computer," go to C:\Program Files\Soldier
of Fortune II - Double Helix\base, and find the maps.pk3, textures0.pk3, textures1234.pk3
and therest.pk3 files. Use WinZip
or a similar decompression utility to extract these .pk3 files into your C:\Program
Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base directory. (If Winzip won't do
this automatically, right click on the individual .pk3 files and select "Open
With" and point it to Winzip to create a file association between .pk3s and Winzip)
This will unpack all of the game's maps, textures and other critical files so
you can use them within the editor to make your own maps. This operation will
take several minutes on most machines because the .pk3 data files are a whopping
800MB in total size. If extracted properly, your once neat and tidy C:\Program
Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base directory will now be filled with
more than a dozen folders and a bunch of config files.
 Are
you with me so far? If so, you now you have Soldier of Fortune II: Double
Helix installed and patched up to 1.01, the two tool releases downloaded
and installed and the .pk3 files extracted. Double click the RadiantSP.bat shortcut
in the c:\SoF2SDK\bin folder. Doing so will launch the QERadiant level editor.
The first time you launch the editor, it will likely ask you to set up your preferences.
 Moving
from left to right, top to bottom in preferences, you should have the interface
optimized for Quake III and the mouse option set to 3-button. There are four options
for views/rendering for you to choose from. Select the first one, which has the
Z checker on the left, the X/Y view in the middle, the 3-D view in the upper right
and the texture field in the lower right. In the Game Path/Tool Settings/Stuff
That Wouldn't Fit Anywhere Else field, make the path C:\Program Files\Soldier
of Fortune II - Double Helix\sof2.exe. Once you've made your selections, click
"Ok" and the Q3Radiant editor will launch. If, for some reason, the editor launches
without asking you to set these preferences, you can set them manually by going
into the Edit menu at the top of the editor and scrolling down to Preferences
to bring up the Preferences window.
 When
the editor first loads up, none of the windows will be set up correctly. You'll
need to drag the windows around, expand them and place them to your liking. Now
that you have the editor up and running, go to File and select Load Project. Point
the dialogue box to C:\SoF2SDK\bin\, select sof2sp.qe4 and hit Open. Once the
file loads, go to File - Project Settings to bring up the Project Settings window.
For "basepath," make sure it says C:\SoF2SDK\base, "mapspath" is blank, "rshcmd"
is blank, "remotebasepath" is c:\SoF2SDK\base, "entitypath" is c:\SoF2SDK\bin\entitiesSP.def
and "texturepath" is C:\Program Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base\textures.
Once these are set, click Okay, close down Radiant and re-launch it with RadiantSP.bat.
The editor will remember your preferences from this point onward.
If the steps are followed properly, when you re-launch the editor and go to the
Textures menu, you should have a bunch of texture sets to choose from, including
Airport, Armory, Cemetery, Colombia, etc. In the Textures menu, scroll down and
select "Cemetery" as a test, as it is one of the smaller Texture directories to
load. Your textures should load up and show in the gray texture preview window
in the editor. If you right click on the white, top down editor grid, a drop down
menu should appear with all of your entity options in it (client, door, emplaced,
func, etc.). That means that your project settings are pointing to the correct
entities.def files.
 The
numbers 1 through 7 on your keyboard (not on the num pad) change the grid size
of the map from 1 pixel to 64 pixel increments. Press the number 6 to make the
map grid size 32 pixels. Left click, hold and drag the mouse cursor in the X/Y
view and make a brush that is 14 grid units (448 pixels) long and 14 grid units
wide. (The insert and delete keys will zoom the X/Y view in and out so you have
more room to work.) Once the box is the appropriate size, release the mouse button
and you will be free to move the cursor around. To re-size the brush, simply move
the mouse cursor to the outside of the box in the X/Y editing window, left click
and drag the edges of the brush in or out until you find the proper fit. If you
make a mistake, you can press the Backspace key while the brush is selected (highlighted
in red) and the brush will be deleted.
 Once
you've successfully created the 448 X 448 brush, go to the Z check window on the
left side of the editor, left click below the highlighted box and drag it down
so the bottom of the box is at -32 pixels. Left click above the box in the z-check
window and drag it upwards so the box stretches from -32 pixels up to +288 pixels
in the window. Open the Selection drop down menu at the top of the editor, go
to CSG and select Hollow. (Note: There is also a button below the Brush drop down
menu that will accomplish the same hollow function) This will hollow out the solid
box, leaving you with a square room that is 384 pixels long by 384 pixels wide
by 256 pixels tall. In the texture window, left click on the Marble_Tile texture.
This will apply the texture uniformly to the entire room you have selected. Press
the Escape key and de-select the room. Once you've deselected the room, go to
File and select Save As. Direct the map to save in C:\SoF2SDK\base\maps and save
it as test.map.
Using the Arrow Keys and the D and C keys on your keyboard, move the camera in
the X/Y view inside the room you just made. The forward and back arrows move the
camera forward and backward and the left and right arrows allow you to turn the
camera left and right. Pressing the D key will increase the camera's height and
pressing the C key will decrease the camera's height. These six keys will allow
you to easily move the camera in the X/Y view of the map so you can view your
work in the 3-D window view. To jump the camera around in the X/Y view, move the
cursor to where you want the camera to be and then press the Control key on your
keyboard and the middle button on your mouse. Middle clicking your mouse in the
X/Y view field will also point the camera in the direction of the click while
the camera remains in a stationary position.
 In
the X/Y top down view, right click at the center of the room and you'll bring
up the entities menu. Go to the Info tab and then select Info_Player_Start. Selecting
this will create a player start spot entity, which will appear as a red box in
your X/Y and 3-D Camera views. Use the Z Check window to move the player start
spot to the floor level at zero height. Deselect the player start spot using Escape.
Right click in the X/Y view, bring up the entities menu, and select Light. This
will make a light entity, which will appear in the editor as a green square with
an X in it. Move the light in the Z-checker window and raise the height of the
light so it sits at 192 pixels off the floor. Center the light in the room. Deselect
the light with the Escape key and save your map with the File/Save menu.
Select the BSP drop down menu from the top of the editor, scroll down and select
bsp_FullVis. A DOS dialogue box will come up and show the progress of the BSP,
which processes the data from your map and exports it into the C:\SoF2SDK\base\maps
directory as a .bsp file. In this case, since your Map file is saved as Test,
the .bsp file is called Test.bsp.
 Once
the BSP is finished, copy the Test.bsp file from c:\SoF2SDK\base\maps to C:\Program
Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base\maps, minimize the editor and
launch Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix from the shortcut on your desktop.
Make sure the game CD is in your CD ROM drive. Once the game launches and loads
up to the menus, hold down the SHIFT key and press the ~ (tilde) key to bring
down the console. Type "map test" (without the quotes) and hit Enter. This will
load your map into the game. There you have it. One room with a player start and
a light successfully imported into the game engine.
This is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg. If you are interested in learning
more about designing levels for Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix,
I recommend you visit these websites:
- RUST: The most
comprehensive mapper's guide on the Internet. The site features tutorials
for nearly every modifiable 3-D game on the market and their forums give you
access to dozens of map makers who will answer your mapping questions.
- Q3Radiant
Tutorials: A site dedicated to the Q3Radiant level editor and how it works.
There are detailed instructions on how to do just about anything with the
editor from making a basic room to doing complex curve applications.
- PlanetQuake
Editing: An information and resources for all things Quake, including
tutorials, tools and downloadable information for Quake, Quake II and Soldier
of Fortune II: Double Helix.
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix © 2002
Activision Inc. Developed by Raven Software Corporation. Published and distributed
by Activision, Inc. Activision® is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc.
Soldier of Fortune® is a registered trademark of Omega Group, Ltd. This product
contains software technology licensed from Id Software, Inc. ("Id Technology").
Id Technology © 2002 Id Software, Inc. Quake III: Team Arena™ is a trademark
of Id Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks and trade names
are properties of their respective owners.
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