Level Editor/Getting started

This page gets you from opening the Level Editor for the first time to having a saved map you can work on. For a full build from an empty map to playing it, follow Your first map afterwards.

First launch

When the editor opens you see an empty map: a floor grid in the 3D view, the toolbar along the top, the scene tree on the left and the tool and selection properties on the right. The status line at the bottom says Ready - TeamSpec Map Editor.

Tell the editor where TeamSpec is

Before you can run or playtest a map, the editor needs to know where the game is.

1. Click Settings in the top bar.
2. On the General tab, next to TeamSpec Executable Path, click ... and pick TeamSpec.exe.
3. Click Close. The setting is kept for next time.

If you forget, the editor opens Settings for you the first time you press Run or Quick Playtest / Apply, and the status line says Set the TeamSpec executable in Settings before launching.

Optional: your TF2 install

Only needed if you import Source maps and want their materials and models. The editor finds Team Fortress 2 through Steam on its own; if it cannot, set TF2 install in Settings to the folder called Team Fortress 2.

Maps are folders

A map is saved as a folder, not a single file. The folder holds the map's level, its gamemode scripts (server.gd, client.gd, bot.gd), its baked lighting and the custom assets you imported. You keep working on this folder; when the map is ready you export it to a .tsmap file that TeamSpec loads (see Exporting and publishing).

Saving for the first time

1. Choose File > Save As... (or press Ctrl+S on a map that has never been saved).
2. The dialog is titled Save Map As: Choose an Empty Folder. Make a new folder for the map and choose it.
   • An empty folder is used as it is.
   • A folder that already holds a map asks That folder already holds a map: Replace overwrites that map with this one.
   • A folder with other files in it is refused: holds other files. Choose an empty folder, or a map's folder to replace it.
3. The status line says Saved map to: and the folder.

From then on Ctrl+S or File > Save saves to the same folder, and auto-save saves for you a few seconds after each edit (3 seconds by default; see Settings). Auto-save only runs for a map that has been saved once.

Opening a map

File > Open... asks you to choose its folder. Pick the map's folder (the one with meta.json in it). A folder that is not a map is refused with is not a map folder: it has no TeamSpec meta.json.

New map

File > New clears the editor for a new, unsaved map.

Warning: File > New does not ask whether to save the open map first. Save it (Ctrl+S) before you choose New. Quitting does ask: You have unsaved changes. Do you want to save before quitting?, with Save, Discard and Cancel.

A new map comes with a working starter gamemode: walk into a zone named CapturePoint to score for your team, first to 10 wins. See Scripting a gamemode.

Undo

Almost everything you do is one undo step: Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes. Edit menu: Undo and Redo.

What to read next

• The interface
• Viewport and camera
• Your first map
• Keyboard shortcuts