Modern games that allow custom level design

Old Duck · Aug 31, 2019

Long ago I used to make custom "levels" for games like Unreal Tournament. While I sometimes did this for gaming purposes, I more often used it as a tool to model real-life architecture. It was really cool to walk around a room in a game that I've been in IRL.

Later I switched to Sketchup and various ray-trace rendering software, but now that I'll be getting a PC with the power to do more advanced real-time graphics, I'm wondering what, if any, games out there allow custom level design like I did back in the days of Unreal Tournament and other games. I'll pay for the game, but my preference is to use free (or really cheap) level designing tools.

I've been out of this arena for years now, so I'm assuming I need more than just the basic Unreal Engine to do this. Is that correct, or can I make a complex 3D model and "walk around" in UE without extra game code on top of it? If so, is UE and the developer tools free for private use? Are those tools easy to use, relatively speaking?

I'm interested in both modern and futuristic architecture with at least decent lighting options. So Skyrim really isn't what I'm looking for. The game engine doesn't need to support real-time ray tracing, but I do want multiple light sources, quality dynamic shadows, reflections, etc. It would also be a big bonus if the map data can be exported into a file that I could feed (after some material modification) to an actual ray-tracing renderer for those photorealistic stills.

And kinda on topic but different - what are these guys using to create internal fan art renders of Elite Dangerous ships? How are they getting those models out of ED in order to modify them?

PLEASE NOTE - I'm not talking about "base building", but actual CAD-like design.

Mole HD · Sep 2, 2019

Old Duck said:
Long ago I used to make custom "levels" for games like Unreal Tournament. While I sometimes did this for gaming purposes, I more often used it as a tool to model real-life architecture. It was really cool to walk around a room in a game that I've been in IRL.

Later I switched to Sketchup and various ray-trace rendering software, but now that I'll be getting a PC with the power to do more advanced real-time graphics, I'm wondering what, if any, games out there allow custom level design like I did back in the days of Unreal Tournament and other games. I'll pay for the game, but my preference is to use free (or really cheap) level designing tools.

I've been out of this arena for years now, so I'm assuming I need more than just the basic Unreal Engine to do this. Is that correct, or can I make a complex 3D model and "walk around" in UE without extra game code on top of it? If so, is UE and the developer tools free for private use? Are those tools easy to use, relatively speaking?

I'm interested in both modern and futuristic architecture with at least decent lighting options. So Skyrim really isn't what I'm looking for. The game engine doesn't need to support real-time ray tracing, but I do want multiple light sources, quality dynamic shadows, reflections, etc. It would also be a big bonus if the map data can be exported into a file that I could feed (after some material modification) to an actual ray-tracing renderer for those photorealistic stills.

And kinda on topic but different - what are these guys using to create internal fan art renders of Elite Dangerous ships? How are they getting those models out of ED in order to modify them?

PLEASE NOTE - I'm not talking about "base building", but actual CAD-like design.

Here's what I found after a 5 minute browse...

31 Best games on Steam with a level editor

I'm not aware of any that allow the old level creation thing we used to do...no doubt there are some and I've just not heard of them. The closest I get to that these days is editing some 3D textures and creating aircraft historical paint jobs using Blender or some other free texture editing software for Rise of Flight or IL2 Battle of Stalingrad...strictly for my own use offline...hardly skilled work...but I like to keep my hand in. I haven't quite got the patience or mindset for it these days.

Shinji Ikari · Sep 2, 2019

Garry's Mod

Vasea Azure · Sep 2, 2019

Pretty much all games that runs on Valve Source engine like Counter Strike, Half Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal allows complete freedom for map designers and modders.
You are allow to make stand alone fan games with the Source, and of course all kind of level design. I know folks on Steam that are making their own maps and small games from scratch using Source SDK so I think this is what You are after.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://steamcommunity.com/app/211/discussions/

As far as extracting 3D models from ED , I never tried this myself but here is a quick vid on how folks do it (using blender or any 3d app to render exported ship):

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLxCm3SyPU

Old Duck · Sep 2, 2019

I just found out that Unreal 4 is completely free and actively supports experimentation and development. Now that may be a too "close to the metal" (I don't want to build an entire game from scratch), but I'll do more research on it as I have time. I do want to use a modern engine rather than something from years ago, particular for the lighting / shading effects.

Fishy · Sep 2, 2019

Blender is open source and should cover all your modelling needs.

Unity or UE4 will allow you to do something with those models afterwards. GoDot is an open source alternative but you own't find as expansive documentation, assets and forums. Note that Blender used to have its own game engine too ages ago, not sure if it's been maintained since though.

Old Duck · Sep 2, 2019

Fishy said:
Blender is open source and should cover all your modelling needs.

Unity or UE4 will allow you to do something with those models afterwards. GoDot is an open source alternative but you own't find as expansive documentation, assets and forums. Note that Blender used to have its own game engine too ages ago, not sure if it's been maintained since though.

I was wondering (and hoping) that I might be able to use something like Blender to build and then import my models / levels. I haven't tried Blender in AGES, and after a quick look at their page, it seems the software has come a long way. I want the ability to do photorealistic stills using true ray trace rendering, which this would allow me to do.

I guess I'll need to "go back to school" and relearn some of these tools and see how they all interconnect.

I wonder, a game based on UE4 that also supports modding, would it let me import a level created in Blender? I still like the idea (and the laziness) of having the "walk around and interact with things" aspect of the model taken care of for me.

Oh, and as long as I'm talking crazy, does something like FSX allow aircraft models to be imported from Blender? I could see grabbing a Cobra from ED and converting into an aircraft for FSX, for my own private use of course. It'll be the next best thing to atmospheric planets, especially if I also import an ED moon base and put it out on some remote area like Siberia

Navigare Necesse Est · Sep 2, 2019

I dont know how to design 3D environments well. I did lots of maps for strategy games. Most editors are just compicated and not intuitive at all.

Fishy · Sep 2, 2019

Old Duck said:
I was wondering (and hoping) that I might be able to use something like Blender to build and then import my models / levels. I haven't tried Blender in AGES, and after a quick look at their page, it seems the software has come a long way. I want the ability to do photorealistic stills using true ray trace rendering, which this would allow me to do.

I guess I'll need to "go back to school" and relearn some of these tools and see how they all interconnect.

I wonder, a game based on UE4 that also supports modding, would it let me import a level created in Blender? I still like the idea (and the laziness) of having the "walk around and interact with things" aspect of the model taken care of for me.

Oh, and as long as I'm talking crazy, does something like FSX allow aircraft models to be imported from Blender? I could see grabbing a Cobra from ED and converting into an aircraft for FSX, for my own private use of course. It'll be the next best thing to atmospheric planets, especially if I also import an ED moon base and put it out on some remote area like Siberia

Well, don't take my word for it, but basically, Blender is mainly a modeller. Its function is to allow you to model shapes, textures, skeletal animations, etc. Then afterwards, it can export the design to a number of formats. Up to you to find out which formats the engine you're using (Unity, UE4, Source, GoDot...) supports, export model from Blender to that format and import it into your engine where you should be able to use it as a 3d asset. Same thing for FSX I'd say, not sure what format it accepts but it should be the same process.

I'm afraid I can't help much with the specifics however, it's been a while since I last played with that, but I was exporting my models with skeletal animation from Blender then using them in a Python 3d engine (Soya3D).

On the other hand, Unity/UE4 also have their own modeling tools, so you can also skip Blender at the cost of locking your work a bit more into the platform.