Red Faction Level Editor Plus
The RED+ guide
RED+ is the Red Faction level editor, RED.exe, with Direct3D 11 rendering and much better lighting. It is built on Alpine Faction. This guide covers every RED+ feature and how to use it.
RED+ is in private testing. This guide describes build 57. What changed in each build
What RED+ adds
- Repeatable bakesBaking a level twice gives the same lightmaps, on any number of processor threads. RED+ adds ray-traced shadows, ambient occlusion and bounced light.
- The SunUp to eight Suns, baked into the lightmaps. In Alpine Faction 1.4 with Direct3D 11 they also light placed meshes and the player.
- Lighting that comes out rightRED+ corrects where RED's lighting goes wrong: light through thin walls, shadows that stop at corners, and lines where faces meet.
- Relight Changed LightsRelights only what the lights you edited reach, without a full bake.
- Texture BrowserFilters, file details and favourites, a check for textures other players will not have, and replacing a texture across the level.
- Convert to BrushesTurns a placed mesh into brushes, one per part, so the bake lights and shadows it like the rest of the level.
- Complete packfilesCreate Level Packfile also packs the level's custom sounds and the frame textures of animated textures.
- Alpine Faction levelsRED+ saves levels for Alpine Faction 1.3 and 1.4, and keeps its own settings in a section of its own in the level file.
Browse the guide
- Getting startedInstall RED+, find its settings, test levels in the game, and report a problem.6 pages
- LightingHow RED+ bakes lighting, the settings that control it, the Sun and spot lights, and the tools for emissive faces, light cookies, follow lights and lightmap seams.15 pages
- GeometryRebuilding geometry, finding the holes in a level, and scaling brushes.3 pages
- MeshesBrowsing meshes, their shadows, and resizing, re-centring or converting them to brushes.6 pages
- TexturesThe Texture Browser, checking a level's textures, fitting and wrapping textures, and which texture file is loaded.5 pages
- EditorWhere the RED+ commands are, shortcuts, preferences, viewports, mods, saving, packfiles and opening levels from other editors.9 pages
- ReferenceEvery setting in redplus.ini and every command-line switch.2 pages
- TroubleshootingAnswers to common RED+ problems with starting the editor, settings, Play, mods, logs, crashes, lighting and the 3D view.
- About RED+What RED+ is, what it is built on, where it stands, and the licences that apply to it, as the package's about folder states them.
- Source codeWhat RED+ is built from, which parts are open source, and how to get their source code.