Level Editor/Menus/View

The View menu changes how the editor shows the map: the camera, the layout, which kinds of things are drawn, and how the map is lit while you work. Nothing here changes the map itself; saving, exporting, baking and playtesting always use the map as it is.

Items

Item	What it does
X-Ray Mode	Draws geometry see-through, so you can see and select what is behind walls.
Show Grid	The construction grid on the floor of the 3D view. On by default.
Reset Camera	Puts the camera back where it starts.
Focus Selection	Flies every view to the selection: the 3D views frame it, the 2D views center on it and zoom to fit.
Center Views on Selection (Ctrl+Shift+E)	The 2D views center on the selection and keep their zoom; the 3D views frame it.
Perspective (Numpad 5), Top (Numpad 7), Bottom (Ctrl+Numpad 7), Front (Numpad 1), Back (Ctrl+Numpad 1), Left (Ctrl+Numpad 3), Right (Numpad 3)	Turn the view you last worked in. The keys turn the view under the mouse.
Layout: Single View / Layout: Four Views	One 3D view, or four views (3D, Top, Front, Side). See Four views.
Maximize Pane (Ctrl+Space)	Fill the window with one of the four views, and back. Only with four views.
Show Collision Brushes	Collision-only (clip) brushes, in every view. Hidden, they cannot be clicked or built against either.
Show Zones	Zone brushes, in every view. Hidden, they cannot be clicked or built against either.
Show Nav Region Volumes	The boxes of nav regions.
Show Water Volumes	The boxes of water volumes.
Show Prop Collision	Every prop's collision as the map will export it, as lines: cyan is collision the model brings with it, orange a shape made from its mesh. Off by default.
Show Player Figures	A player standing on every spawn point, facing its way, inside the player's collision hull, for scale. Editor only. See Spawn Point.
Show 3D Skybox	The 3D skybox drawn full size round the map, under its own fog. 3D views only; nothing of it can be clicked.
Fullbright	Every surface at its own color, with no light or shadow at all, baked shadows included.
Real-time Shadows	Every light's real-time shadows. Shadows baked into the lightmap stay; Fullbright removes those too.
Effects (fog, glow, SSAO...)	All of the screen effects at once.
Headlight	A light from your eye that lights whatever you look at: the quickest way to see a dark map.
Viewport Rendering...	Opens the window below.

The show and hide switches are remembered between sessions.

Viewport Rendering window

When a map is too dark or too foggy to work in, change how the editor draws it here. The note at the bottom says it: Only this view changes. Saves, exports, bakes, playtests and screenshots keep the map's own look. The settings are remembered the next time you open the editor.

Setting	Type	Default	What it does
Display	List	Normal	Normal is the map's look. Fullbright (Unshaded) is every surface at its own color with no light. Lighting Only shows the light alone, Overdraw how many surfaces stack up on each pixel, Wireframe the triangles and Normals which way surfaces face. F9 in the viewport steps through them.
Real-time shadows	Check box	On	Real-time shadows from every light. Off, the sun lights everything it faces, but shadows baked into the lightmap stay.
Headlight	Check box	Off	A light from your eye that lights whatever you look at, baked surfaces too.
Headlight strength	0 to 4	1.00	How bright the headlight is.
Exposure	0.25 to 8	1.00	Brightens or darkens the whole picture, baked light included. It cannot lift pure black; use the headlight for that.
All effects	Check box	On	Every effect below at once.
Fog, Volumetric fog, Glow, Ambient occlusion (SSAO), Indirect light (SSIL), Reflections (SSR), Global illumination (SDFGI), Color adjustments	Check boxes	the map's	Each of the map's screen effects on its own, for your view.
Anti-aliasing	Check box	On	Smooths edges. Off, the viewport draws faster.
Resolution	25% to 100%	100%	The 3D resolution as a share of the viewport's. Lower draws faster and blurrier.

Reset to Map Look puts every setting back (Display to Normal too). Close closes the window.

Note: Raising the map's ambient light does not help you see a baked map: surfaces with a lightmap ignore it. The headlight works on them.

Related pages

• Viewport and camera
• Lighting and lightmaps