DFLWMED
DFLWMED
DFLWMED
This Mission Editor tool is a slightly modified version of the actual tool used by NovaLogic Mission Designers. Although some of the campaign programming has been disabled, you will find this tool extremely flexible when it comes to designing your own missions. This manual will only cover the basic requirements for successfully creating a mission. Because mission design has so many complex components, this tool is intended for the advanced user. Use at your own risk.
Table of Contents
Section 1: Navigating the Tool ..........................................................................................................................2 Section 2: Creating a New Mission...................................................................................................................4 Section 3: Editing General Information & Mission Briefings...............................................................................5 Section 4: Groups and Layers...........................................................................................................................6 Section 5: Waypoints ........................................................................................................................................7 Section 6: Inserting Items.................................................................................................................................8 Section 7: Area Triggers and Events ...............................................................................................................10 Section 8: Exporting and Playing Missions......................................................................................................11 Section 9: Hints and Tips................................................................................................................................12 Appendix A: Terrain Types...............................................................................................................................13 Appendix B: Trigger List..................................................................................................................................16 Appendix C: Sample Mission ..........................................................................................................................18
The Mission Editor Tool requires a minimum screen resolution of 800x600. For best results, we recommend that you set your resolution to at least 1024x768. It is also recommended that you have at least 160 megs of memory free when using the tool.
Mouse Commands:
Left Button Selects or unselects an item in Select Mode or Inserts a new item in Insert Mode. You can left click on the Unselect All button or you can hit the U key to unselect all selected items. You can select more than 1 item at a time. As you select items the attributes of the most recently selected item will appear in the lower left side window in the tool. While an item is selected you can left click on the Selected Information Box in the left corner to pull up the Item Attributes window. Left Button with SHIFT held down Selects everything within the box you create. Left Button with CONTROL held down Unselects everything within the box you create. Right Button Brings up a menu for copying, pasting and selecting. Right Button with SHIFT held down Click and move right or left to quickly zoom in and out of the map. Right Button with CONTROL held down Centers the map at the point you clicked on
Keyboard Commands:
Keypad 2,4,6,8 - Scrolls map down, left, right and up respectively. Page Up, Keypad 9, Keypad Plus - Zooms map in. Page Down, Keypad 3, Keypad Minus - Zooms map out. INSERT - Toggles between Insert Mode and Select Mode. DELETE - Delete selected items. ALT Hold to use hotkey listed in the toolbar menu. For example, pressing ALT + E pulls down the Edit Menu. After that, pressing ALT + I will open the General Information window. ARROW KEYS - Move the objects you currently have selected in very small increments. Using Control + Arrow keys will move objects in greater increments. U - Unselects all selected items
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Screen Buttons:
C Character Map Press this button or the F1 key to show a full color representation of the terrain. H Height Map This button and the F2 key will bring up a topographical view of the terrain where the lighter the color the higher that part of the terrain. Solid dark areas are usually low, flat spots which is good for bases or airfields. D Depth Map This view simply shows the contour map of the terrain. The closer the lines are to each other, the steeper the grade. Solid black represents perfectly flat areas. You can also use the F3 key to see this map. P1 Page 1 The Delta Force: Land Warrior Mission Tool allows you to have two different missions open simultaneously. This feature is good for comparing missions or for copying/pasting elements out of one mission into another. P2 Page 2 Press this button to display the second mission that you opened. Note you must be on this page when you open the second mission or it will replace your page 1 mission. XY Coordinates This gives you the grid location of the center of your screen. Click on this to type in new coordinates and the screen will center on them. The units are in meters. Layers This option brings up a box that allows you to select which layers you would like to see and which ones are hidden. See Section 4 for more information on Layers. Unselect All This button (or the U key) will automatically unselect all items. Grid Items that you insert while the Snap box is checked will move to the nearest grid intersection. This is particularly useful when you want to line items up precisely. The View box will toggle the grid overlay on and off. Use the Plus and Minus symbols to increase and decrease the grid resolution (size). Show By checking the appropriate boxes, you can choose which items you see and which are hidden from view. This is useful for finding specific items in a map full of various item types.
Selected Information Box When you select an item, its most important statistics appear in the lower left corner of the screen. Click anywhere in this area to bring up the Item Attributes window.
The red box on the terrain map displays the maximum size of the terrain. Any items you place outside the red box will be forced to the inside edge of the red box when you export that mission. The green box shows you the suggested area in which to make your mission. Placing items outside of the green box may make the mission excessively long.
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Dont forget to save your work often. Mission Designers will typically keep several back-ups of the files just in case they make mistakes on their current file.
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Secondary Teammate - If the player chooses to be the same character as your primary teammate, this indicates the character the teammate will change to. Map Type Select what type of mission you are making. For single player missions, select Cooperative. Terrain Overrides You can raise the water level in your mission (measured in 1/2 meters). We recommend that you do not go over 130 for most maps or the entire mission may take place underwater. If you want fog in the mission, select its level here (1-7). 0 is off, 7 is extremely thick and 1 is so thin it appears as an overcast day. Between 4 and 5 is best for missions with fog. You can also alter the color of the fog by manually setting the Red, Green and Blue settings. Fog is best when Gray (50,50,50). Other examples of colors: Bright Red = 255,0,0 Yellow = 0,100,100 Medium Green = 0,120,0 Black = 0,0,0 Dark Blue = 0,0,25 White = 255,255,255 Sky Settings With these settings, you can add weather effects such as rain or snow and set the position and brightness of the sun or create a night mission. Be sure to check the Night box in addition to selecting a night sky, as this will properly adjust certain art elements. Win and Lose Conditions You can set up to four win or lose mission goals in this area. The win and lose conditions are for goal information text only. The actual win and lose conditions are set up through the events (see page 10). Fire Missions Available Indicates the number of artillery support strikes the player can call with the laser designator. Wind Settings If you want wind to play a part in your mission, set the wind speed and direction here. Light Wind = 25 kph, Heavy Wind = 50 kph, Hurricane Wind = 90 kph
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Groups
Groups are used to classify related items such as a squad of enemy soldiers and set an identity for Events and Waypoints. It is often better to give each unit its own orders so that it doesnt interfere with other units. However, placing multiple units in a group may save you time setting up the mission. You can rename the group to any name you want and automatically select all units within a group from the Group window, under Edit. Click Print List to save the list to a text file for printing.
Layers
Layers are vital to sorting out all of the items within a mission. You can create up to 32 individual layers for sorting. Under the Edit menu, you can change the Layer Names to whatever has meaning to you. Some examples of names are Enemy Base, Friendly Waypoints, and Foliage. When you just want to see a certain layer of items, hit the Layers button on the main screen and check the ones you want to see.
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Section 5: Waypoints
Waypoint groups tell vehicles and soldiers where to go. Set up Waypoints under the Edit menu. Again you can name a waypoint group with whatever name you chose. The Waypoint window will show you how many individual waypoints are part of a waypoint group. If you check the Waypoint does not loop checkbox, then the vehicle will come to a stop at its last waypoint. Otherwise vehicles reaching their last waypoint will attempt to head back to their first waypoint and start again. You place waypoints (found under Markers in the Insert Item window), as you would insert other objects. Click Print List to save the list to a text file for printing.
Placing Waypoints
A waypoint is designated by 2 numbers, such as waypoint 1-1 or 2-4. The number before the dash indicates its Waypoint List number. The number after the dash indicates its Waypoint Number. Waypoints are numbered from 0 up, not 1 up. The reached waypoint triggers follow this logic. So to the trigger, the second waypoint in a list is 1 no matter what they numbered the object as.
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Weapon Accuracy: This number represents how well the unit shoots. Lousy shots are 10 and under, good shots are around 30, great shots are anything over 50. However, anyone will hit fairly quickly at close range. Also, the longer someone continuously fires at a target, the more accurate they will get. Perception: This is a rating of how well the AI can see, 30 is near sighted, 50 will notice most stuff at short ranges, 80 will notice you across a valley. NPC Primary Weapon: If the AI unit can hold a weapon, this is where you assign the type. Grenades: Select the number of grenades the unit will carry. Waypoint list: This is where you assign groups to waypoints. You can name and organize waypoint lists the same as groups (Left click on Edit and Waypoints). The number field is used to number waypoints. For King of the Hill Centers adjust the Distance to increase the size of the hot zone. AI Attributes: You can assign several different attributes to people or vehicles. Ignore Gunshots: The unit wont react to nearby gunshots. Ignore Yells: The unit wont react to nearby yelling. Ignore Footsteps: The unit wont react to nearby footsteps. Deaf: The unit wont hear enemies. Blind: The unit wont see enemies. Deaf and Blind are good for keeping hostages from running away from firefights or keeping a blackhawk from engaging enemies as it flies overhead. Standing: When at Red Alert, the unit will not drop to a crouched position to fire. Good for units standing behind bunkers. Prone: When at Red Alert, the unit will drop to a prone position. Good for snipers. Break Left: When at Red Alert, the unit will head to its left unless it has specific waypoint instructions. Break Right: When at Red Alert, the unit will head to its right unless it has specific waypoint instructions. Guarding: Unit will stay at its position. Good for units in towers. Strong Silent Type: This unit will not yell for help. Afraid To Swim: This unit will only enter water up to a certain point. Rolls Over: When prone, the unit will periodically roll over. Coward: When the player gets within a certain distance, this unit will cower and surrender. Hovering: Used for helicopters to put them into the air.
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Events
One of the most complex and powerful parts of the mission editing is creating events. With this tool, you will be able to set up a series of actions that only occur when certain conditions are triggered. Each event is set up as an IF-THEN statement; in other words IF a condition is met by the game, THEN the event takes place. Here is an example of how to set up a win condition for Delta Force: Land Warrior. Say you wanted the player to win the game if they destroy a certain building: 1. While in Insert Mode, place a building on the map then return to SELECT MODE. 2. Return to Select Mode and select the building. 3. Right click the building with the mouse and click on Edit Item Attributes. Select a unique Group Number under AI Variables. 4. Open the Events window and click on << New Trigger >> to open the Event Triggers window. 5. Select Group for the Trigger Type. 6. Select All Destroyed for Trigger Condition. 7. Under Trigger Variables select the buildings group # that you just placed then hit OK. 8. Now click on << New Action >> to open the Event Actions window. 9. Select Blue Win for the Action Type. 10. Finally, for ease of identifying it, give the event a unique name at the top of the window such as Win by destroying building. Reset after (seconds): Once this event has been triggered, the mission can be set to automatically reset the trigger after a specified number of seconds has elapsed. Delay (seconds): This is how many seconds must pass before the actions will execute. 0 delay means that the actions will be carried out as soon as the trigger conditions are met. See Appendix B for a complete list of Triggers and Actions.
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The file will still export, but only the first Y objects of that type will be exported (Y being the maximum number allowed for each category). The number of objects should be reduced to the limit or unpredictable things could happen as a result of the excess items not being exported. To play your custom mission, start your Delta Force: Land Warrior game. In Quick Mission or Multiplayer Hosting Screen, select your mission from the list of games.
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THEN Statements
Action Types
Null: Always False. Can be used as a temporary placeholder. Redirect Group To: Make Group go to Waypoint X-X. Kill Group: Immediately kill all members of Group. Change Group AI: Change an AI attribute of Group (See AI subtypes below) to On or Off. Vaporize Group: Remove the Group from the game. Blue Win: Blue wins! Red Win: Red wins! Group Velocity: Change the movement speed (KPH) for vehicles. SubGoal Won: Sub Goal X has been achieved. SubGoal Lost: Loss Condition X has occurred. Change Team: Change the team of Group. This is useful for changing civilians to enemies if the player shoots them.
Action Subtype: AI
Null: Nothing. Can be used as a temporary placeholder. New Weapon: Change the current weapon Guard Bit: If he has waypoints, he will follow them and never stop to shoot at or follow an enemy unit. If he has no waypoints, he will not move, but he will shoot at enemy units. Stander: Will shoot while standing (default is to crouch and shoot). Proner: Will shoot while prone (default is to crouch and shoot). Red Alert: Be alert for enemies. Yellow Alert: Heightened state of awareness. GreenAlert: Everythings clear. Field Of View: Change the angle of Field of View. Accuracy: Change the Accuracy level. Perception: Change the Perception level. Silent: Wont call for help (but may make noise while dying). Blind: Doesnt see anything. No Water: Doesnt go in water. Rolls Over: Does roll over animation when prone. Coward: Will surrender when player is in proximity. Deaf: Doesnt hear anything. Deaf to Gunfire: Doesnt hear nearby gunfire. Deaf to Friendly Fire: Doesnt hear yells of allies. Deaf to Footsteps: Doesnt hear nearby player footsteps.
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A - The upper left side of the map shows the starting position for the player, a teammate and black widow. The blue lines are the players waypoints to the enemy base.
B - The lower right side of the map shows the enemys base and the red lines are the enemy waypoints. In this mission two guards will patrol the camp, while a third remains inside a building. Another guard will be stationed up in a guard tower.
C - There is an additional patrol of 2 terrorists who will only show up on a multiplayer game with 3 or more players. Notice how the mission designer has added the word Ramped to his Group labels to help differentiate these objects from the objects that appear in the single player game.
There are 5 events in this mission: (0) 1st Goal Accomplished - If the player kills all of the terrorists in the enemy base, then they have successfully completed the first mission goal. (1) Win Condition - If the base has been cleared (event 0) and the player reaches the extraction point, then they have successfully completed the second goal and won the mission. (2) Loss Condition - If Black Widow is destroyed (which is highly unlikely in this mission), then the mission immediately ends in failure. (3) Black Widow leaves Insertion - After the mission starts, Black Widow will wait 4 seconds, then head off to its waypoints (ending up at the extraction point). (4) Ramped patrol comes to defend camp- If there are 3 or more players and any of them enter the camp (marked off by area triggers), then 2 more terrorists will become alert and head to the base. Trying changing some variables of this mission, export it and play through it to see your changes. It will appear in the Quick Mission list.
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