Setting Up An Advance Level!

Requirements:

This is a comprehensive guide on how to setup an Advance map. So lets break down what is needed for Advance game type. Advance is a game type that has a unique flow that is determined by the players. It requires a certain level of complexity to the level and a level large enough to allow for the rules governing the Rally Points and Platoon HQs. The level needs to be somewhat large, but also have enough cover to allow for these things to work well.

Preparation:

To start off you need to make sure the level is prepared to add game play to. A level ready to be game play prepped does not have the following:

1. Spawns (DHSpawnPoints or PlayerStarts)
2. SpawnAreas (ROSpawnArea or DHSpawnAreas)
3. Minefields (except for those used as bound extents for the level)
4. Objectives (unless these are already ready)
5. LevelActors (any actors that won't be needed that could affect gameplay)

A good tip for making sure the level is prepped is to use the actor search tool and search for "DH" or "RO" in the name section.

General Actor Specifications

Fundamentals (required for any level)

• DHLevelInfo
• DHSpawnManager

Objectives

• Use DHAdvanceObjective for easy setup (for a guide on how to setup Advance objectives: )
• Its best if you have the objectives spread evenly apart, ideally with enough space in-between to place a HQ

DHSetupPhaseManager

• This actor handles the initial phase before the battle begins
• Contains the initial spawn tags
• Contains the reinforcements for each team (values are scaled based on # of players)

Main Spawn Actors

DHSpawnpoint

• Should have bMainSpawn = true, this is important so a team can construct an HQ if they don't control an objective

Enough space and hints for infantry and vehicles

• Important to have enough vehicle spawns, so they don't spawn inside each other and go flying

Hidden spawn room

• This goes under the terrain, but inside the protection volume
• This is required for hard spawn protection to work and for the game engine

DHMainBaseSupplyCache

• Have a couple static supply cache crates to indicate its location for players
• This allows supply trucks to drive back to main to get more supplies

Volume

• This is a simple Volume for hard protection (players can't be killed by enemies in this volume)
• Make sure the hidden spawn room is inside this volume and reasonably positioned

Black Boundary Box

• This is a DH_DestroyableSM which goes away once the round starts
• The DHSetupPhaseManager handles disabling these actors

DHRestrictionVolume

• This goes over the spawn hints, to prevent griefers from building things to trap the spawns in

DHMineVolume

• This is to prevent enemies from coming near the main base, it should be larger than the protection volume

Additional Initial Spawns

• Is another DHSpawnPoint with bSpawnSpawn=false and any desired hints
• Also make sure to have additional surrounding black boundary boxes

Spawn Setup Steps

1. Paste spawn actors (Axis and Allies): Spawn Actors
2. Move spawn actors to desired locations (make sure volumes/boundaries aren't floating)
3. Remove undesired initial spawns (or add more if desired)

Tips: The actors are setup with groups to make for easier selecting. Also when positioning hints, its easy to position them by select a corner hint, then band selecting the rest then you can rotate them on a pivot where the first hint you selected.

Additional Setup Steps

1. Move the setup phase manager near the DH_LevelInfo and set reinforcement values
2. Make sure the DH_LevelInfo has the gametype set to Advance
3. Make sure the DH_LevelInfo has infinite time (set to 0) and enough reinforcements for setup phase (1000 will do)
4. Add proper vehicle loadouts to DHSpawnManager (add supply trucks)

Additional Info

Main Spawn Actors:

Open this link in a new tab and (use Ctrl+A to select all) and then copy and paste into the editor (with your prepped level open) to add 174 actors which make up both the Axis and Allied main spawns.

Setup Phase Manager:

The setup phase manager handles a lot of functionality for Advance. The beginning of the Advance round is very important for many reasons, therefore it is important to have the proper variables setup for the manager. Lets go over the variables and give recommendation on each.

• bPreventTimeChangeAtZeroReinf: By default when a team runs out of reinforcements, the round time is changed, we don't want to have this functionality even though we will likely have infinite time on. (Recommended: true)
• bResetRoundTimer: You can choose to have the round timer restart when the setup phase ends. Because Advance should have no round time, this is mostly for Cutoff. (Recommended: false)
• InitialSpawnPointTags: These are the tags for the spawns you want active during the setup phase, they will deactivate after the phase is over.
• PhaseBoundaryTag: This should be the tag you use for each black box boundary for each spawn players can spawn at during the setup phase. (Recommended: "SetupBoundaries")
• PhaseEndReinforcements: This is used to change the reinforcements after the setup phase is over. Useful for cutoff where you want limited or no reinforcements. (Recommended: default)
• PhaseEndSounds: These are the sounds players will hear when the phase ends, optional for each side.
• PhaseMineFieldTag: If for some reason you need minefields active during the setup phase you can tag them here, better to use the black box boundaries though.
• SetupPhaseDuration: How long should the setup phase be in seconds. (Recommended: default)
• SpawningEnabledTime: How long until players can spawn. (Recommended: default)

Random tips to add as notes throughout this guide

1. You can reduce actors by reusing volumes, for example using a restriction volume for the spawn protection volume.
2. Make sure each spawn point has enough spawn hints for vehicles and infantry.