A template really isn't necessary. First off start a new map from the blank map option.
Ok real basic of the basic stuff.

1)In your content browser window find the "viscera" folder and right click it, select Fully Load and let it load up all of the games assets for you.
2)Again in the content browser window, find the Object type section (at the top near the search bar), and select "static meshes", The content browser should now show all solid objects, these will be your walls,floors,ceilings,pillars,door frames, greebles etc..
3)Select the item you want to place, then on the 3d view window right click and select "add static mesh"

Right at the top of the editor window you'll see "file" "edit" etc, under "tools" you'll see the icons for your placement options, move,rotate.scale, use these to edit the placements of your meshes.

That should be enough for you to get the shell of a map going.
Stuff like doors, trash, blood, any thing you can touch or interact with in some way will need to be placed differently, for those I highly suggest BlackEagle's guide to making maps
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=323918819

Hopefully this helps you somewhat, at least enough to get started. If you need any more help, I'll be happy to do my best to guide you.

Edit:
Infact, let me get you a video made, I have no mic, so I'll be just me doing stuff, but it's something at least.

Ok here's me just making a basic square room, I tried to keep it slow-ish and add in a light to show how that works.
https://youtu.be/pUUx8tJVoXg
The editor, for making your map base, is really just a big jigsaw puzzle where you decide what fits where.

cannonfOdder you are a god among men thank you so damn much

No worries, if you get stuck with anything and the guide doesn't help I'll be happy to help out some more.

Question- is there a way for me to move things smoothly instead of the default? I need to move a wall to the right about half the amount it moves when I pull it over lol

Nevermind figured that out lol

make sure map has a lightmass importance volume too blank map doesn't have one=
you dont want it to take 3 years to build the lighting lol


in future if you dislike the blank template (i hate it with avengance as its missing a couple of important actors and wont centre the level on the navmesh=blue void grid and kill z settings drive me mental

heres how to stop the morning miday and night templates from crashing the editor on next load

load one of those
delete the dinosoar head (exponential height fog
make the sky smaller (skydome is too big) if want sky but if not see sky (indoor map) delete it
move the red cube (builder brush)
click wireframe mode and delete the blue cube brush where the red cube brush was before you moved it go to build and build the geometry=now the white cube is deleted
put a floor mesh on top of the white slab
delete the white slab
go to view
world properties
click blue arrow
vcmymapinfo choose that
in mymapinfo
set punchout handler to general=normal punchout
saving=none
click blue arrow and select vcsavegamesetup
go back in map go to build and build all
go to file
save as and save it as your maps name (do not have a space in the name or it corrupt ya map)
save it in a new folder in the mods folder
go to open and open the new udk file you saved
now go to town on it=you fixed it from crashing

click don't save on editor exit if it ask to save gp something etc as if you save that it bricks the game
reinstalling isn't fun
to get rid of it asking to save gp something on exit play ya map in the game and look for something thats missing textures as that usually causes it
open the editor find the offending item and delete it or copy the same material for it and make new material same as original one and put the new material on it
save as ya map again exit editor should get rid of asking to save gp something
never press the red button next to the green pie button or editor load forever
if accidentally pressed that go in config folder delete all ini files with editor in its name and verify the game cache to fix that

stick with the guide fodder gave you
making maps in this game is lots of fun
what i wrote will help you not to accidentally break the game=simple never save a vanilla file only your files and ya wont brick the game or its multiplayer
community and workshop forums also a good read

take ya sweet time slow n steady wins the race=takes a while to get used to the gremlins=
editor has a mind of its own and will crash when it feels like it so save often=normal editor crashes lots even if doind something like clicking a mesh n moving it=lol
autosave is a pain in the hole disable it=goodbye 12gb saves folder that expands like the big bang
disable steam cloud from right click game in library settings
delete all your autosaves including backup ones in autosaves folder=
new map fail to upload to workshop if the game autosaves it
set autosave to 0 disabled ingame
use manual saves

incase ya wondering why it wont upload to workshop when ya finished making a map

get stuck post something fodder n myself will help ya:)
most importantly have fun and don't add too much mess(carthief or 4kant lol or resize debris objects or it go all wonky client side if do that or say that annoying red server net actor saturation try n stay below the mess cap for that n it be fun in multiplayer

unsub from all workshop maps if get confused of what is vanilla and custom content
that help get used to the content browser easier
not a good idea to use custom content from other workshop maps or it will need those levels to work=like required dlc etc
cities skylines a good example if a workshop map wants you to sub to 30 mods n 6 other maps:)

if ya use vulcan or hoh content when its on workshop go to add required dlc and choose those
using santa or shadow warrior stuff doesn't count as required dlc its all together with the vanilla content

if you accidentally break the game backup your map files and the saves folder in a folder on your desktop
open vicera folder keep the saves folder and delete everything else then verify the game cache to fix the game
paste backup map files back into the game directory/s

verify game cache is totally useless if you don't delete anything 1st it will skip it if not nuke it=still broken

that should help you have more fun making maps instead of swearing at it if it breaks=prevents that from happening if do those things

if ya subbed to office 2.0 keep that installed
reactivate office if reinstalled the game=instructions on workshop page for the office mod
never delete the saves folder of ya lose ya office treasure
its safe to delete all autosaves=steam cloud for vcd must be disabled or it reinstall deleted saves every single time ya start the game and it cause new map to fail to uplod to workshop if ya played it in the game before uploading
play map in the game is a must do before ya upload=helps fix bugs/missing textures etc

dont copy incinerator from caduceus its buggy trigger volume wont burn bullet shells properly=everyone will complain about the fire
copy it from any dev map exept caduceus
if moved something while copying something from another level when you open your map it ask t save that map press dont save so ya don't brick the map you copied say the incinerator from:)

circle of doom used to be the main template map devs took it down but it still exists
sub to circle of doom enhanced and delete all the mess add a lightmas importance volume delete the walls and build out from that if want to use that as a template map as it already has lights and machines
my 1st map station 7 was circle of doom

take ya time its lots of fun

keep carthiefs maps they very vanilla themed with vanilla content load em in the editor to see how everything setup=makes it easier to see what thing does what

this also useful vs getting to know udk as it not covered in blackeagles guide
https://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/tutorials
its a good read esp the kismet guide
ignore the u script stuff
devin sherry and horences on youtube very handy in thier ut3 stuff=most of it works in vcd if whatever the make in kismet isn't missing from vcd kismet as it same engine build of vcd 2013 ue3 esp since epic deleted the the ue3 community forums

cannonfodder is very helpful he posted lots of useful stuff above

nobody is a noob bad word
when i made my 1st map there was no level creation giude (thats why station 7 has about 100 map updates) and i didn't know what a level editor was
i winged it with circle of doom and took a wild guess its taken 7 years to learn what i can do now
stick with the vanilla theme before ya go crazy on mods like a bat out of hell like i do:)

yes my spelling is terrible=hardest part=not to make typo in the editor=lol

With the level creation guide and the stuff canonfodder said and the links I posted here
It's actually really easy to make a vanilla style map in a day or two
Mods take much longer

this help too
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/246900/discussions/4/357284767239018005/
ignore the ancient publishing video devs have a new publishing guide for rustmk2 when ya finished making a map
if you have soda factory unsub from that backup your map files and the saves folder and delete everything exept the saves folder and your map files in the viscera folder and verify the game cache to UNBRICK the game=clean install
soda factory corrupted the vulcan dlc sattelite beacons crash the game n it wigged out multiplayer
medical rust stops multiplayer working in every map if client not subed and you host it=unsub or all sub to fix multiplayer as the radio in every map tries to play 2 csgo songs which interferes with multiplayer connections
aquarium tunnels bricked something too but i fixed that and made aqualand out of it
hundreds of bugs in aquarium tunnels=it scary in the editor=errors everywhere n also invisible bugs all over the place too n can't see em) n took me over a month to fix it before i could mod it into a new map(original aquarium tunnels udk file is corrupt had to copy it to a new udk file and fix several hundred more bugs)
reinstall the same way if ya played aquarium tunnels unsub before delete n reinstall
the safe to sub to maps list is my collection look at that=those maps wont break the game!

so did the latest game update that broke something too= i had to reinstall twice after the latest game update=steam failed to delete old redundant files
will notice if something wrong
ambient sounds freak out (attenuation broken) and the camera load in strange random places instead of where ya saved last and swarm also went roge and failed to build lighting=ran forever=jammed
latest game update screwed something up
clean install fix it minus the above maps as that screwed something too
Next time ya load the editor it will tell you if something is wrong with one of your maps in a popup box or when you exit the editor after saving ya map it asks to save gp something press don't save open map in the game look for something that missing textures.
Open the editor fix whatever it is that caused that save map and exit and it just exit instead of asking to save gp something again.

Never save a vanilla file and you will never break the game=more fun building less time fixing the game

always backup your saves folder and all of your map/s files so ya don't lose em
reinstalling the game via deleting everything in the viscera folder exept your saves folder and verify game cache monthly is a good idea=(only way to properly fix the game)
saves weeks debugging ya maps esp if subbing to someone elses map breaks the game then ya know what caused it and how to fix it
after reinstall copy your map files back into the game and reactivate the office same way as office 2.0 so the office doesn't wig out after a reinstall
my office stash is 7 years old never delete ya trophy saves=
can get fired as many times as ya want and still keep your collection

how to reactivate office or office 2.0 after a reinstall=
go in main menu press clear office button and clear the office
go to office pause the game and save it
move all the crates n stuff to a place where none of your collectibles are so your collection doesnt respawn inside em
use the office exit door
now it wont bug out and achievements etc will work properly
exit the game and restore backup trophy save as clear office deletes all the bob stuff
now play a map and it won't crash at punchout and the doors ans stuff wont malfunction
vanilla office ya have to hack the door code again

ie
several years ago there was buggy stairs in the sewer water in the office n devs fixed it heaps of times=went to the office and it was still broken 4 years later
cleared n reset the office=holy moly the stairs are fixed=killnearestmess to delete all the stuff that clipped under em(hooray i finally got clean freak)=its why clean freak bugged out and it also why the red keycard achievement bugged out and the all collectibled achievement wouldn't count the shotgun and the green armour behind the gate=many game updates saved a corrupt office save doing the above give a fresh office save and fix it but have to restore a trophy save as clear office button deletes some of your collection use a backup trophy save to get ya stuff back:

wondered why it deleted bobs trunk full of red keycards and another bob trunk full of lightsabres and another bob trunk full of bob notes and it also deleted the 14 bobs in my office bathroom
restore trophy save to get em back after resetting the office
only have to reset the office after a reinstall or major game update esp if devs changed anything in there too
If the office does crash at punchout
Doing that to the office will fix it
Resub to workshop maps you collected custom objects from too
If not want workshop map that had that stuff go in office and destroy the custom objects before you unsub
Just incase that causes it to die at punchout

Sorry for the book but a useful list of stuff to prevent the game going bonkers when using the editor and how to fix it if it breaks

Lol I can't remember how many times I accidentally stuffed the game up Or how many times someone else's map broke the game:)
S#1t happens n the 1st symptoms is multiplayer stops working
Everything is fine with my copy of the game and multiplayer works fine
VCD also fun to play on my phone too:)
If have a wireless mouse and keyboard one can use the level editor on ya phone via steam link app too!
Why not sit in the backyard and make a map or fall asleep n smack yourself in the head with ya iPad or Android device=lol

If you find Bob in one of my maps it's not the real Bob it's his identical twin brother Bobby as I cloned Bob in vcd beta before Devs patched it from being copied so Bob's doppleganger won't Fire Bob achievements

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thank you so so much you're literally my favorite map maker

two questions- 1, i don't remember what i did but the skybox is no longer visible in editing mode, only when i playtest it. how do i get it back? and
2, i've downloaded a lot of maps with flashlights, how do i implement those???

right click on something
visibillity=show all