UT3 Custom Maps & Characters and Cached Maps

{DvT}JonahHex

EDIT [8/2/08]: The information below has been updated by a more complete discussion, including screenshots, HERE.
EDIT [4/11/09]: Uninstalling UT3 custom character skins is less than straightforward. A program for uninstalling skins and instructions on manually uninstalling them are available HERE.

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[12/14/07]
[NOTE: The information here may be incomplete and will possibly require updating when further information becomes available. At this time, the only information I have is when the downloaded map from a server consists of a single file. In UT/2K3/2K4 it was possible for a single map to consist of multiple files (the map, static meshes, textures, etc. files) UT3 does not have separate texture and meshes files -- what I don't know about UT3 at this time is whether there could be more than one file associated with a map or whether it will always come as a single file.

Update: Yes, a map can have more than file...at least when you get the map in a .ZIP file. It can have an .ini file and a .upk file in addition to the .ut3 file (the actual map). These three file types (.ut3, .ini, and .upk) all go into the same folder discussed below: CustomMaps. This list of file types may still be incomplete.

Update ( 2/17/08 ): A map may have TWO .ini files with the same name, which must be installed in different folders. The short version is: the larger of the two goes in the Config folder while the smaller one goes in the CustomMaps folder. See the discussion at the end of this article under "Problem 2" for the long details.]

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Q: Where do custom maps that I download go when I extract them from the .ZIP file I downloaded?

A: In one of two similar places, depending upon how you have UT3 configured to play.
1a. Standard Configuration, WinXP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps

1b. Standard Configuration, Vista:
C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps

...where <user name> is your Windows Log-in Name.
Example: C:\Documents and Settings\Hex\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps
[my log-in name (or user name) for WinXP is "Hex"]

2. When you use the "-nohomedir" parameter when running UT3.exe, WinXP or Vista:
<UT3 home folder>\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps

...where <UT3 home folder> is the drive:folder where you installed UT3.
Example 1: C:\Program Files\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps
Example 2: H:\UT3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps

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Q: Where do custom characters that I download go?

A: In exactly the same place that the custom maps go EXCEPT...the last folder name in the path shown for the custom map (which in every case is "CustomMaps") is changed to "CustomChars".

Example: If your custom maps properly go into H:\UT3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps, then your custom characters go into H:\UT3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomChars.

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Q: I didn't download the map from a website as a .ZIP file, I downloaded it directly from a server that I joined that was playing the map. Where is it and what do I do with it?

A: The short, but incomplete, answer is that these maps go to the same folder as the maps you get from a website.

The long answer is that these maps, like the maps you got directly from servers in UT, UT2003, and UT2004, are saved in your UTGame\Cache folder with a 32-digit hexadecimal number file name and a .uxx extension. Also, as with the previous versions of UT, the translation of the hexadecimal.uxx filename to the 'real' filename is found in the cache.ini file (also in the UTGame\Cache folder). However, unlike the previous UT versions' cache.ini files, the 'real' filename will not have an extension on it.

The procedure for manually installing a map from the UT3 cache is essentially the same as it was for UT, 2K3, and 2K4:

1. Look in the cache.ini file (in the Cache folder) to find the 'real' filename that is associated with the actual file in the Cache folder.
2. Copy (or move) the actual file to the CustomMaps folder, as discussed above.
3. Rename the file in the CustomMaps folder from its 32-digit hexadecimal name to its 'real' name.
4. Change the .uxx extension to .ut3
5. The new map should now be listed when you look in the appropriate (DM/TDM/CTF/etc) map list in Instant Action. As with previous UT versions, you also should be able to join servers offering the map without having to download it again from the server.

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PROBLEM 1:

When you first look in the appropriate "UTGame" folder, you probably will not find a "Published" subfolder of the UTGame folder. If you do not find the "Published" subfolder you need to create it yourself. Then, of course, you will need to create a "CookedPC" subfolder of Published and then "CustomMaps" and "CustomChars" subfolders of "CookedPC".

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PROBLEM 2:

A map may have TWO .ini files with the same name, which must be installed in different folders. The archive (.zip or .rar) file should tell you more or less where they go, if you look at the archive with WinZIP or WinRAR. One of them, usually the larger one, goes in the UTGame\Config folder, which also contains (among others) your UTEngine.ini and UTGame.ini files; the other one, usually the smaller one, goes in the CustomMaps folder, as discussed above.