Level Mania 2

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Text File | 1995-11-26 | 12.4 KB | 330 lines

This is a file to explain a bit better how to use the various utilities here, and get you started with the basics of creating new levels. Let me first make it very clear: If you aren't comfortable with hex editors, the notion of doing hard work and lots of trial and error, then I suggest that you don't attempt to do much more than play around with editing the maps. Getting a fully-functional scenario off the ground requires quite a bit of work, lots of which you will have to do by hand. Just read PART 1 if you want to find out how to use some new scenarios. This is not a comprehensive document describing every single thing you need to know. Mainly because I don't know everything about ths type of editing myself. PART 1: How to use new missions =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There are 2 ways to use new missions. The first way (given to me by Vladan Bato) is much easier and the preferred method, the second way is a little bit trickier. Method 1: --------- You have the text information for the scenario all worked out, and have the map image you want. Combine these into a single file by copying the map onto the end of the text information: copy scen.txt+scen.map newscen.scn Now all you have to do is rename this new file (newscen.scn) to a particular mission (such as scg01a.ini, which would replace the GDI mission 1). To get a complete listing of all the available mission names, extract the mission information near the end of the general.mix file, or look at the unofficial strategy FAQ. The file must be the exact mission name, with the .ini extension. Now put this newly renamed file into the same directory as your game.dat file, and whenever you play the mission you will get the new mission instead. If you use a savegame to access this mission number, you will have to reload (abort->reload) to get this new information. Thanks Vladan! Method 2: --------- [you need the general.mix file on your HD for this method] This method is to permanently alter the general.mix file. This has the advantage of not needing to bother with little files about the place. It may also be the case that you will need to do this if you wish to edit the multiplayer maps (I haven't thought of a way to use Vladan's method for the multiplayer scenarios). What you have to do is have your two files as above (your text file containing the scenario information and the map image). Then you need to work out the addresses in the general.mix file where you want to change the information (use a hex editor or some other method to find this out). It doesn't matter in which order you do it (its probably easier to do the map first), but: use map-p to replace the current map with the new one. This takes a very short time as all the maps are the same size. use shuffle to insert the text file at the appropriate point in the file. This takes a while to do as it is creating a new file called general.new. This program takes account of the differing sizes of the text information and adjusts the internal file pointers appropriately. You have a new file called general.new, change its name to general.mix (or whatever you have called it), and whenever you access that mission the new information will come up. PART 2: How to create new missions =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Hope some of you are still with me. Now we get into the nasty part - actually creating the new scenario in the first place. I'm assuming that you have used cc-scen to create a data file which contains all the information you want in regards to the map itself, and the placement of overlays, terrain, structures, units and smudges. Now you want to create the two files (one text file with the scenario information and the other a map image) from this file. Use convert to do this, and you should end up with the appropriately named files. This produced text file is nowhere near enough to do a complete scenario, so you'll need to obtain another file which contains an example of a complete file that you can work with. Use extract.exe to grab the mission information from the general.mix file (from the one which you want to replace would probably be best), and you can now work with that file. The first thing you want to do is open up this new file and delete the entries for [OVERLAY], [TERRAIN], [STRUCTURES], [UNITS], and [SMUDGE]. As it doesn't really matter in which order things appear in the file, you can then just insert the new information for these entries into the file (just make sure you don't insert it part-way through another entry). Now, you could just use this file as the complete scenario information, and all will be happy, but there are a number of other things which you will need to edit first. 2.1 INFANTRY ------------ There is no way to edit the infantry using cc-scen (and there never will be), so if you want groups of infantry, you will have to edit them by hand (you could just cheat and delete the infantry all together). Entries for infantry have the following format (generally): 044=GoodGuy,E2,256,1017,4,Area Guard,0,None ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. this is simply the number of the infantry piece. They count backwards to 000 (always a 3 digit number), and stuffing up the ordering is probably a stupid idea (or not good practice anyway). 2. this is the team the controls the unit. It can be GoodGuy, BadGuy, Neutral or Special (can also be things like Multi1-6, but its probably best to stick with the 4 mentioned). 3. This is what type of infantry piece it is. 4. the health of the unit (a value of 256 means it has max. health) 5. ths is the cell in which it is in 6. this is the position within the cell (values range from 0-4, so you can get 5 infantry in the same cell by giving them the same cell value but differing positions within that cell). 7. the action that the infantry is currently undertaken 8. ??this might be the direction in which the infantry is facing - it would make sense?? 9. any trigger event associated with this infantry unit. 2.2 UNITS --------- You can use cc-scen to place the units around the map, so there are only a few things that you may need to edit for this entry. They have the form (usually): 008=GoodGuy,MTNK,256,2382,0,Area Guard,None ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. simply the unit number (this is done for you). 2. the owner of this unit (done in cc-scen) 3. the type of unit it is (done in cc-scen) 4. the health of the unit (256 means that it is at max. health, anything lower means it is damaged to some extent). 5. the cell it is in (done in cc-scen) 6. the direction the unit is facing. This is set to 0 by the converter. 7. the activity the unit is currently dong (there may be more than one entry for this, escpecially when doing Move's). 8. a trigger associated with this unit. 2.3 STRUCTURES -------------- Agan, you use cc-scen to place the structures around the map and to set ther ownership. There are a few other things you may wish to look at (as usual). The format is: 013=GoodGuy,FACT,256,314,0,hunt ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. is the number of the structure (this is done for you) 2. the owner of the structure (done is cc-scen) 3. the type fo structure it is (done is cc-scen) 4. the hit points of this structure (anything less than 256 means that it is damaged). 5. the location of the structure (done in cc-scen) 6. this is the direction the structure's weapon is facing (only really useful for the gun turret) 7. the trigger associated with this structure NOTE: not all the civilian buildings (V01-V37) for in all the different theatres. 2.4 OVERLAY ----------- You don't have to worry about editing this by hand, it is all done for you in cc-scen. 2.5 TERRAIN ----------- Most of this is done for you in cc-scen. However, there are a few things you might like to know. They have the format: 3443=ROCK1,None ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ 1 2 3 1. the location of this terrain piece (done in cc-scen) 2. the type of terrain (done in cc-scen) 3. ??I think this is a trigger associated with this terrain?? Note that terrain pieces cannot be destroyed (so setting a Desteoryed flag for their trigger is pretty useless). NOTE: not all terrain types for for all theatres. 2.6 SMUDGE ---------- This is mostly done for you, but there are two parts that you may wish to edit by hand. The general form is: 3541=CR1,3541,0 ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ 1 2 3 4 1. the location of the smudge (done in cc-scen) 2. the type of smudge (done in cc-scen) 3. ??don't know what this is, it just seems to be a repeat of the cell it is in?? 4. ??don't have any idea what this is at all?? To be safe, when converting the data file, I have set the default value for #3 to be the same as the cell number, and #4 to 0 (I have yet to see a value other than 0). 2.7 BASE -------- I'll be honest and say that I have no idea what this is used for. There isn't a 1-1 relationship between entries in this section and the actual number of structures. The Count= represents the number of entries in this section, not the actual number of structures. The format is: 007=SILO,218118912 ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ 1 2 3 1. just the entry in this section 2. the type of structure it is 3. ??I have no idea at all - there is no visble commonality between the numbers and the structures?? 2.8 WAYPOINTS ------------- You will have to do this by hand, as it is not part of cc-scen. I'm not sure, but I think that the waypoints are used in various actions (such as Move). They have the format: 27=2080 ^^ ^^^^ 1 2 1. the entry in the section 2. ??I think this represents a cell number?? 2.9 CELLTRIGGERS ---------------- You use this if you want to associate a cell with a trigger (usually with the flag Player Enters). You will have to do this by hand as cc-scen doesn't do this. The format is: 3593=delx ^^^^ ^^^^ 1 2 1. the cell to associate a trigger with 2. the trigger to associate with this cell. 2.10 MAP -------- You will have to do this completely by hand. It has the format: Height=59 Width=61 Y=3 X=1 Theater=DESERT TacticalPos=3438 Height: the height of the map (in cells) Width: the width of the map ((in cells) Y, X: point to the address of the top left hand corner of the map image for the map. Theater: which graphics set to use (winter, desert or teperate). TacticalPos: determines which part of the map you start of seeing (it represents the top left hand corner). 2.11 BASIC ---------- You'll have to do this all by hand. The basic form is: CarryOverCap=-1 CarryOverMoney=30 Intro=x BuildLevel=9 Theme=No theme Percent=81 Player=BadGuy Action=x Lose=BANNER Win=x Brief=NOD9 CarryOverCap: ??I've no idea what this is - maybe the carryover silo capacity?? CarryOverMoney: the maximum amount of money you can carry over from the previous mission (multiply by 100 to get the actual amount). Intro: the video to play for the intro. BuildLevel: just seems to represent the level of the mission (it doesn't affect what you can build). Theme: if set to Untamed Land, then a different piece of music will play when the scenario is begun (you may also like to try J1) Percent: ??I've no idea what this represents?? Player: which units you control Action: the video to play Lose: the video to play if you lose the scenario Win: the video to play if you win the scenario Brief: the video to paly as a briefing 2.12 TRIGGERS ------------- You will have to do these by hand. I don't know what most of the triggers do, so don't ask me. They have the form: atk4=Time,Create Team,170,GoodGuy,gdi4,0 ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. the name of the trigger 2. the trigger itself (what causes the trigger action) 3. the trigger action 4. ??seems to be associated with the Time (the others have it set to 0)?? 5. a side associated with a trigger 6. the team associated with the trigger (from TeamTypes). 7. ??no idea?? There are a number of other entries, but I've grown very tired of writing this up. You'll just have to look at the entries in general.mix and work out what things are. Andrew