Duck and Cover

Few more questions.

How do you change what the starting items in a campaign are?

How do you get it to bring up the briefing menu at the start of a mission?

If I make an entity have certain items in it's inventory when I create it in teh entity editor, and then I put it in a map, it shows it as holding nothing and having nothing in it's inventory, is the stuff actualy there?

Does anyone have a list of every single file and it's location that determines every aspect of an individual campaign? (like the maybe the file that determines the starting items, all those type of files.)

Ruzhyo wrote:Few more questions.

How do you change what the starting items in a campaign are?

Starting items are hardcoded and depend on which tag skills you choose, you can either edit them into other items, just keeping the filename the same, or get rid of them entirely. You cannot change them otherwise.

You can find a list of the starting items In this thread and how to get rid of them here.

Ruzhyo wrote:How do you get it to bring up the briefing menu at the start of a mission?

The briefing window should open automatically if you set up a speech node in your speech file like this MISSION_BRIEF = {} or MISSION_01_BRIEF = {} the important thing is that the node title ends with _BRIEF and you have the briefing text enclosed in brackets, once you've imported the speech file into the map when you play the map the briefing will start automatically.

Ruzhyo wrote:If I make an entity have certain items in it's inventory when I create it in teh entity editor, and then I put it in a map, it shows it as holding nothing and having nothing in it's inventory, is the stuff actualy there?

Yes the items will be there when you start to play, the entities inventory is not part of the map unless you use F4 edit entity in the level editor to add items.

Ruzhyo wrote:Does anyone have a list of every single file and it's location that determines every aspect of an individual campaign? (like the maybe the file that determines the starting items, all those type of files.)

I don't think so, but the main files are,

• core/locale/game/items.txt = all the item and weapon descriptions.
  
  core/locale/missions/missionname = all the speech files for each mission.
  
  core/locale/game/characters.txt = all the names and backgrounds for the recruits.
  
  core/gui/char/*.zar all the character portraits
  
  core/locale/game/generic_mission.txt = has the list of the map names so you can change the name that shows up in the world map.
  
  core/locale/game/ammo.txt = is the list of ammo if you want to rename the ammo or add new ammo.
  
  core/tables/campaign.txt = the main file to change status (and number) of maps, random encounter info as well as quarter master, recruit and prefab info. Needs to be imported into your cam file through the campaign editor when you make a change.
  
  core/locale/game/misc = here you can rename the months (you can't change the day and year as it's hardcoded but you can change the month) or the ranks etc.
  
  core/locale/game/weapon = here you can rename attacks or create new attack names, for use in the weapon mode section in the entity editor.

Most things that can be changed are in core/locale/game but most changes are cosmetic i.e. you can rename a perk but you can't change what it does or who can use it.

Thanks!

Another question. I want to make another campaign, but I want the mod's campaign files seperate. How would I arrange the folders and such.

Oh yes and, many of those files you listed are actualy in the directory you listed. Do I make them and and if so in what format?

Make a new folder next to your core folder i.e. Ruzhyo, so you'd have

Program Files\14 Degrees East\Fallout Tactics\Ruzhyo or what ever your path is. Now under Ruzhyo copy the directory structure of the core folder

i.e.

Fallout Tactics\Ruzhyo\campaigns

etc

Then copy your short cuts on your desktop and in the properties add -path ruzhyo to the end of the line so you'd have something like

"C:\Program Files\14 Degrees East\Fallout Tactics\BOS.exe" -path ruzhyo

and

"C:\Program Files\14 Degrees East\Fallout Tactics\FT Tools.exe" -path ruzhyo

or whatever the path is for where you've installed FOT. Now when you use the shortcuts and make changes the changes will be saved in the new directory. You'll know if you've done it right because when you go to open up a file in the editor you'll see two sets of folders, though it won't matter which you open.

Just edit the files, most of them are simple text files, copy them into your new directories and edit them with notepad.

requiem_for_a_starfury wrote:core/locale/game/generic_mission.txt = has the list of the map names so you can change the name that shows up in the world map.

This is also a good place for Holodisk text nodes. If you include them here a player will be able to access them on any map they are on, not just the one they were found on.

The only real problem w/ doing this is that the player will have to upload them on every new map he/she enters. However, it's the best solution that can be had in FoT.

Cheers,

OTB

Oooh, I have questions:

I renamed the "Depleted Uranium" decriptions for ammunition in ammo.txt to something else... but FOT still displays [Depleted Uranium] as the ammo type.

(the new description simply read "Armor Piercing", and "AP++" for the short version... but FOT didn't register the change, yet registered changes for the other variants).

...can you introduce new ammo modifiers - like Shredder (+100% damage, -50% penetration), or Gauss (normal damage, +200% penetration)... or are those things hardcoded too?
Im on a hunch that they're in the .ent file in hexidecimal, but it's only a hunch.


To Ruzhyo:
One thing I did to modify the starting items was to simply modify the entity files themselves.

If you dont want an mp5 to start - make the mp5.ent (or whichever it is) into something else - like a pistol or something. Same with other items.

It's a shitty way to do business, since it effects the game globally. But if you're making a new campaign with new maps it's not a problem at all (and i'd encourage you to make up a bunch of your own gadgets too - to make the campaign even sweeter... there's bunches of .spr files out there to work with).

However, the starting items that your initial buddies have are simply set by the map - just like any other entity there (like how you can give some baddies different weapons than they'd normally have - adding to the inventory and forcing things into hands).

Which answers the other question too - the map editor can modify the items a character has by adding them. If nothing is listed in the hands/armor/inventory... they wont have extra items in addition to the ones normally given to them by their entity file.

(sorta like how all "Sniper" Raiders have ak-47's... but earlier maps force them to use hunting rifles instead... and certain Beastlords have unique items)

Did you just edit the ammo.txt file? Don't forget as OTB posted yonks back there's a spelling mistake in the hardcoding of depleted uranium, you need to change the text file to {name_Depleted Uranuim} = {Armour Piercing} and {short_Depleted Uranuim} = {AP}.

You can add new ammo calibers with BoSEE, but I presume the damage modifiers are hardcoded.

Damage Modifiers:
As I feared. I was hoping that the editor placed the name of the ammo variant and then placed the respective modifiers right after it (in 4byte or 1 byte or whatever-byte chunks).

That'd work WONDERS for me if I could mess around with those - cause BI got the entire list of modifiers screwed up and not many of them can be used to generate really accurate results (plus, they're all odd numbers - like 179% and 11%... doesn't make much sense).

Hmm, wonder if I can find those numbers in the bowels of the hardcoding... it'd be worth it just for myself to do it. (okay, time to place bets on which file they'd most likely be in - im guessin the 5mb bos.exe - or that mysterious 31mb .pck file that sits innocently). If I figure it out... i'll send word.


...so I guess im not the only person who's noticed Black Isle's shitty spelling team, hope the fuckers burn in hell :badgrin:

I saw a mention of a pck file utility the other day, I think it was something to do with Commandos 3. Not sure if it would be in the same format as FOT's pck file though.

Probably best to wait and see what results JJ gets from his request to MF. Wouldn't want you to sour any chance at the sprite editors by hacking the game.

How do i change weapon descriptions? i made a new weapon, and followed the DAC tutorial, but it wouldn't work. It still said "No description aviable", or what ever. sorry for my bad english.

Most things in FOT are case sensitive, so double check your display name in the entity is exactly the same as in the items.txt.