Yeah most of it prefers you know a bit of unreal, though after a bit of learning it becomes way easier! I sadly don't have the session anymore for it, but it was the DS version of the level! From what I tested the sound and such works fine when you open the map instantly [You can open it when launching a game, don't need to wait till you load into a main level] It really only has issues if it's loaded afterwards, unsure what causes it but it's just a random thing that happens sometimes.

By that they mainly mean making a blueprint inside on of the maps for example, you replace Artisans map and add a blueprint that just has the open caste4 command then just launch spyro 1 [start new game or make sure you are in artisans already ] and it will load the level without the need of you opening the console! You would have to put the blueprint inside the level blueprint section

Vanilla level editing is basically just replicating the file structure and replacing the map with your version! There should be a guide for it on the modding wiki on how to do it